Showing Your Faith

Today on the way to the daycare, I saw a sign on the bus that said, "Somos Catolicos. Por Favor respecta nuesto fe" which means, "We are Catholics. Please respect our faith."  It really got me to thinking about expressing my faith more.  I have found that people here in Ecuador are very open with their faith and show it everywhere.  I had written in the past about shrines everywhere and religion all over the place, and that notion still rings true.  I can not get over their open displays of religion and faith in very public places.  Can you imagine a public bus in the US asking you to respect their faith and having a shrine on the bus or pictures of Jesus all over the bus?  People would sue so fast you would not even blink.  The other thing that amazes me is that none of the signs of faith and religion are ever vandalized.  Pretty much everything else has writing on it or is spray painted, but never do you see a shrine or picture on the bus destroyed by human hands.  Some of them are fading from the amount of time they have been there, but never vandalized.  I am going to make a conscious effort to not hide it when I pray before meals and bring up my faith sometimes at lunch to talk to other people about their beliefs.  That is one thing we have not talked about much with Ecuadorian people.  Hopefully they can teach me a few things and I can teach them a few things.  Our faith is such a huge part of why we came here and we want our kids to learn through our example, and that seems to be the one area we have not addressed with the people here.  I plan to make that my goal for these last few weeks.  God has helped us through this journey and through life, the least we can do is share that experience with others.