OOPS!

I am all too familiar with embarrassing situations and being the center of them. It happens even more frequently now that I'm operating in a culture I'm unfamiliar with and a language that I don't always understand. Let me share with you my most recent cause for "verguenza" (shame).

Katie teaches English at a community center, and the managers of the center, Pablo and Nilda, decided that each month they will have a party to celebrate the adult students' birthdays that month. Even though my birthday was in September, they wanted to include me in the October birthday celebration, which was a very sweet gesture. To prepare for the fiesta, Nilda, Katie, and I went to Canete (about 30 minutes away in bus) to buy food, decorations, and presents. At this point, I didn't realize they were going to be celebrating my birthday or that they'd get me a gift. Nilda saw a music box that opened and had a little diary in it that she loved, so while I wasn't looking she snuck off to buy it for me. At that point, Katie gave me the heads up that they were celebrating my birthday, and that I shouldn't ask questions when Nilda came back with a present.

We finished buying our things, and I went to the center to help decorate. The party started and things were going really well. There were about 20-25 adults there, and it was fun getting to know them and dancing and eating. Then the time came to open the gifts. We bought Spanish-English dictionaries for the students who had October birthdays, and Nilda had the music box wrapped and waiting for me. They had me stand at the front of the room, Katie presented me with the gift, and I opened it. I acted surprised, and I thought I should show everyone that it opened and played music and had a diary inside. So, I started lifting one side of it - the wrong side - and completely ripped the lid off the music box. OOPS! I glanced at Nilda, and she looked slightly horrified and pained that the cute little present was broken. Katie was trying not to laugh at me, and our Peruvian friend Christian was laughing at me. He kept looking at me and saying "mucha fuerza, mucha fuerza" (you're really strong) and cracking up. I had conflicting emotions. I felt horrible that I broke the gift that Nilda loved, I was embarrassed that all the people I just met saw me break a gift, and I also really wanted to laugh about the whole thing (and I did a little bit).

Before we left for the night, I made sure to thank Nilda again and explain that I could fix it (just needs a little glue). Later, we told the story to our friend, Gino, and ever since both Christian and Gino tease me about the incident all time, but I don't mind. In fact, I think it made us all better friends, and it's a never-ending source of laughter.

I think it's another example of how God can turn the mistakes in our lives into good. Thank God for grace, for working through us, and especially for working in spite of us.