jueves: Amatitlan, Soccer Balls and Crayons

Most days I jot things down in a journal so I know where I am heading with the blog before I actually write it.  That did not happen today.  Today, I just wanted to live it and not record it.  You are about to find how that worked out.

Today our morning started with devotions with the Guatemalans, as it does every week day.  Each Guatemalan ministry leader takes a turn leading devotions, and each devotion reflects the personality and passion of the individual leading it.  Today it was Julian.

Julian is about 25, married with a three-year-old daughter.  Each morning he travels to the ministry from the area surrounding the Guatemala City Garbage Dump where he lives.  He is the quietest of the Guatemalans we work with, but he has a presence that speaks with authority on his behalf.  The Guatemalans are serious students of the Bible.  Their devotions are filled with verses that expand on or enrich the understanding of their message.  This morning Julian began with Proverbs 6:23, then moved to Ecclesiastes 11: 9 and 10, to Psalm 119: 9, then to Proverbs 22: 6, followed by 2 Timothy 3:15, then Titus 2: 6 and 7, and finally 1 Timothy 4: 12.  His devotion and examples spoke to me as a parent as well as to the kids as they work with other kids and think about their future.  I am pretty sure there is religion class in it for the fall.  Check it out.  (Julian is also now sponsored completely by Trinity.  Thank you all for that.)

After devotions we headed out to Amatitlan again, first, to check on Choci who had fallen in Buena Vista yesterday and was still recovering after a trip to the hospital and then to a location in the city, Gonzalez Park.  Gonzalez Park is not exactly what we might picture when we think of a park.  It is a cracked, uneven slab of cement between two cement block houses.  It use to have a usable, albeit cock-eyed, basketball pole, backboard, and rim; now it just has the pole, half a backboard and a crushed rim that kids still throw  balls at.  Upon our arrival at the park, we broke into groups again for house visits.  Three groups visited homes, each with surroundings and stories that would have broken your heart.  Two groups mentioned in particular the especially difficult conditions of the homes.  There is no way to describe how unhealthy these living conditions are and the stories of health problems of the women and children who live in them.  Dirt floors, filth, sick chickens, cats, flies, garbage, darkness…I know, there is a pattern here, and there are millions of people in Guatemala living like that.  It is heart-breaking, and there is a sense of helplessness about it... that is, until you speak to the inhabitants.  They are beautiful people, no different than you or I in the most important ways.  They want to hear about God’s love and His promises.  And they need a sympathetic ear, just like you and I.  And they tend to be brave, unimaginably brave, in the face of every imaginable challenge.  In many ways, we have learned far more about faith and personal strength from them than they have from us.

After another round of peanut butter and jelly, we headed off to the nearby soccer field to do our lessons and play soccer with the kids.  It was hot, but with pop up tents and an unexpected breeze, it was a lot of fun.  As it turns out, kazoos may not have been as inspired as we originally thought…everyone thought they did not work.  It is not a pretty sight to watch grown gringos blowing noises into the air in hopes of convincing some very suspicious young Guatemalans that they had not been scammed…”hum into it” doesn’t really translate well.  But we had fun, and the queen of crayons with her Dios Provee coloring book had fun wheeling and dealing with kids that were determined to talk me out of more than one crayon at a time and then split with it.  It was a battle of wills, but I think I won most of the time, although the bag inexplicably takes up less space in the duffle bag this evening.  Tough job.  Coloring is serious business in Guatemala, and these kids don’t care if the tip of the crayon is broken off or is one inch long.  Most of these kids do not own crayons of their own, and who knew there was azul (for water) and celeste (for sky).  They set me straight in a hurry.

The soccer players were sweaty and happy as we packed up.  And on the way home we stopped briefly at Lake Amatitlan, a local lake surrounded by beautiful mountains that is woefully polluted, but a source of pride to the locals.  It was great to spend a few minutes there with our Guatemalan ministry friends laughing and threatening to throw each other in.  Just as an aside, we were told the number of kids and adults was down today because Sandra Colon, wife of the president and candidate for president (although it is illegal for the wifeof a present or former president to run, and she isn't the only one) was in town passing out food bags and t-shirts.  Another candidate passes out orange t-shirts, so many folks thought we were part of that campaign.  Interesting stuff.

Kara is demonstrating that God provides tigers, while Kelsey is preparing to be a butterfly and Shelby an iguana.  If you look closely, you can see Nick's rubber chickens.

This is most of us at Lake Amatitlan, on the way back to Guatemala City.

The kids in Amatitlan with their "Que haria Jesus" bracelets.

Two groups heading off to do home visits.

Jennifer and Jeannie with Jonathan from Amatitlan.  Below, Caesar and Sandra, left, with Kara and Kelsey at a home visit.

Tomorrow we do our thing again, this time with the sponsored children and families.  We will also visit Only a Child Ministry, but that is tomorrow and I am getting ahead of myself.  For now, I want to assure parents we are all happy, healthy, and savoring every moment.  As I write I can hear Emma, Emily, and Lonnie quizzing Manuel’s children in English and sharing common interests in music and just about everything else; he has five children, two that are teenage boys…need I say more?

Blessings from Guatemala and 11 grateful “Spartans”,

Jordan, Emma, Jeannie, Kara, Kelsey, Lonnie, Jennifer, Nick, Emily, Shelby, and Sally