I’m an only child and I know God intended that for a reason. But I also know he placed people in my life to take the place of siblings for me. One of those people is Martin Cordova. I call him my hermanito (little brother), even though he is a couple years older than me. We met on a mission trip to Peru in 2009. He is Peruvian. He was our translator. I remember meeting him for the first time. He scared me. I’m not gonna lie. He intimidated me. He had this thug/gangster (American viewpoint of) look to him. We didn’t talk for the longest time. And then before I knew it, he was my translator. It was me, my friend Emily and Him in a group for a week doing hospital ministry. And it was then that we clicked.
We became super close. We kept finding all these things in common. Odd things at that. About our lives. Our likes. Our dislikes. I think God made us twins, but separated us at birth to be in different countries and at different times. This past summer, I spent some free time and guess who was my chauffeur?? You guessed it! When he picked me up in the hotel, it was awkward. Then going back to his house. It was an awkward day. A day we will never forget. But we began to be more comfortable with one another as true hermanitos should be. Spending two weeks with him, traveling all over Peru was amazing and I wouldn’t trade those two weeks for anything.
Then I come back to the States and we are separated. When he dropped me at the airport, it was one of the most emotional goodbyes of my life. I don’t know what happened, and I won’t tell details to spare Martin ;) but it was so sad!
A couple nights ago we were talking through facebook message. Him on facebook and me on my phone. And I became super sad… I MISSED MARTIN SO MUCH! It’s like when I left Peru, I left part of me there. And it is waiting for me to come back and retrieve it. I’ve never felt this way about someone. Especially never a guy! But it’s not a romantic type of love. It’s a friendship type of love. It’s a brotherly type of love. A godly type of love. And I know with Martin, God placed him in my life for a reason and I am so blessed to know him. But when we are far away from one another, there is this Martin shaped hole in my heart, that only he can fill.
And as I was thinking about this, it’s kind of light twilight. I will have my Edward, but Martin is kind of like my Jacob. I need him. I love him. Though I am not meant to be with him, he is an intricate part of my life. And it pains me to be away from him, but it’s all good. There will be a day.
