Av Luiza Gabriella da Silva Reis, Hald student 2025-2026
One of my favorite Brazilian short stories is called “The Mirror”, written by Machado de Assis. It is about Jacobina, a man who has a theory that everybody has two souls: an inner soul and an outer soul.
The inner soul, according to the text, represents what a person truly is in their essence. Who are you without your titles, your religion, your culture, your fears…? The inner soul reveals subjectivity. The outer soul, on the other hand, is more about appearance and social image. What others think about who you are. In “The Mirror”, the outer soul becomes evident when the main character sees himself in front of a mirror wearing clothes that make him feel important to others and to himself.
Since I arrived in Norway – first spending two months at Hald, living with more than 50 international students, and then six months in Egersund, living with Bowie from Hong Kong and Murilo from Brazil – I have met so many new people. And I have answered the question “Who are you?” countless times, usually by saying my name, my home country, about Hald and my work with the Norwegian Missionary Society in Egersund.
Answering the question “Who are you?” implies considering the different aspects that shaped who I already was before coming to Egersund. Where I came from, which language I speak, what my culture is like, who the people are that have been part of my life, what kind of food I have grown up eating, what my education is, what the geography, flora, and fauna I know are like, what my vision of who God is, what kind of weather I am used to, and so on…
I think this exchange experience sometimes makes me feel like I’m living a life that is not really mine, it makes me go out of my comfortable zone every day and I learn so many new things with others. Living so far away from the people who have always known me, and experiencing situations so different from what I was used to, makes me surprised at myself about who I really am.
“How did I (or didn’t I) have the courage to do or say that?” and “Why did I (or didn’t I) say or do that?” and “Am I doing this or that for whom?” These surprises and feelings of strangeness within myself have taught me more about who I am.
I can also say that being in Egersund, in a safe and warm environment with the NMS workers and volunteers at Misjonshuset, NMS Gjenbruk, and at church, has helped me to just be myself – to know, accept, and care for both my “inner and outer soul”.
But unlike Jacobina, Machado’s character, I have been searching beyond myself and others for the answer to who I am. I believe that every time I fix my eyes on Jesus Christ, I see my whole self more clearly.
I am dust (Psalm 103:14), yet I am made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). I am loved by Him (John 3:16). I am His child (1 John 3:1). I am saved (Ephesians 2:8). I am healed (Jeremiah 17:14). The identity of who we are in Christ, according to the Bible, is immense! And we can look at the Bible as our mirror. And even when we don’t like what we see – because it can be
ugly sometimes, we can rest knowing that God sees us (Genesis 16:13) and He is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4). That being said, I challenge you to reflect on the question: who are you?