Christmas in Guatemala

Christmas is a very big deal in Guatemala. In some ways that is good and in some ways not so good. It is good in that no one objects to being wished a Merry Christmas, the term Christmas, or Navidad, is still used in all the shops, and the reason for Christmas is celebrated without fear of repercussions. On the other hand, traffic from now until after Christmas will be a perpetual snarl. I can joyfully say that I will not be sorry to miss that. I leave for my homeland two weeks from Thursday.

The poinsettia in this picture grows on the hillside just behind my apartment. It is not as tall as some that grow here, but it is by far the most beautiful.

November has been a very busy month here in the mission house, with three teams in as many weeks. The last team left this week, some on Monday and the remainder Wednesday. Tomorrow will be spent with my neighbors, who are gringos, celebrating Thanksgiving.

This has been a good year for groups coming to the mission house. Many houses have been built, much food has been handed out, many people have received medical attention, and the gospel has been presented with good results. Only eternity will reveal all the fruit of the laborers. In 2009 there were 22 teams that came and spent a week at the mission house and as of right now 2010 promises even more with 27 teams scheduled. HELP!!!!!!!!!

The word "Thanksgiving" takes on new meaning here when people tearfully express gratitude for a house not even as big as my dining room made from a few posts and some sheets of tin. It goes without saying that my outlook on "things" has drastically changed over the last four years. Happy Thankgiving to all.

Memorial Day Guatemala...Sort of

This is just one end of a block long market where vendors are selling flowers for November 1st, a holiday known as Day of the Dead. The people do pretty much the same as we do in the states except they carry it a little farther. They not only decorate the graves of departed loved ones, they go to the cemetery and have picnics and spend the whole day there. It is also the day of the national kite festival.

Can you believe it has been a month since I have posted to my blog and I thought it had only been a few days. October and November are beginning to shape up a lot like this past summer, with one team after another.

The last team that was here, one from Wilmington, N. C., built 15 houses in a village about an hour and a half drive from the mission house. Sometimes I wonder how these people ever found these places to build a village. I went to the village to help with the food distribution, always an humbling experience. Can you imagine lining up outside a little church with 150 other families with a little ticket in your hand that entitles you to go through a line to receive a small bag of rice, sugar, salt, pasta, oatmeal, and a few other things? I can't. But they do it and are grateful for everything they get. I am grateful God has allowed me to be a small part of this.

As I write this, it is about 4:00 on Halloween day and it really looks spooky outside with dark clouds, lightning, and thunder. I expect Freddy or Jason or some other creepy crawler to appear any minute.

I decided to go to town today, and should have known better. The day before a holiday is always chaos traffic wise. The traffic cops try hard to direct traffic, but even they give up eventually and just let the people fight it out amongst themselves.

Maybe it won't be a month between posts this time...and maybe it will with three teams coming in November.

The Spirit of Fear

I've done a lot of praying for courage over the past few weeks. A couple of years ago, there was an occurrence on the road to el Tejar that scared the bejeebers out of me and I had not been back down that road since....until about two weeks ago. The city is putting stone down on the other road to Chimal and it is blocked. Since staying on the mountain for three months without going to town was not an option, I prayed for courage, got in my Patrol, started out. The road is in such bad shape that my mind was too occupied with missing the holes to be afraid. God does answer pray in strange ways sometimes.

FTSS Guatemala branch is going good. Last week I bought enough food for ten families and by the end of the day only had four bags left. Those were gone very shortly. This week, I bought enough for fifteen families.

Max Lara is doing much better. I went by to see him on my way back from Antigua yesterday and he and Teresa had gone to Chimal. His daughter said he is doing fine.

Due to some family difficulties, Berto and his family have moved from Santo Domingo. Laurie King and I found their new home last week, in Chimal, and paid them a visit. He is about the same and in good spirits as usual.

The fall is rapidly becoming as busy as the summer. We have six teams scheduled for October and November.

Favorite Things

Today is Sunday...my favorite day of the week. The time spent in God's house this morning was, for lack of a better word, good. It's not FFBC, but it is pretty close....except for the language. The music is lively and uplifting and is one of the few churches here that doesn't blast you out of the building with speakers as big as all outdoors. After church I usually have lunch at Los Cebollines and think about my favorite people I used to have lunch with in the states.

It is so quiet up here on this mountain on Sundays that a person can hear the corn growing down in the valley. If I want noise, all I have to do is go a couple of miles to Chimaltenango.

My friend and resident nurse, Laurie King, and I went to visit Berto Friday to take him some stronger pain medicine and some antibiotic. He is so thin his arms look like bones with skin on them. Laurie made the comment when we left that she hoped that if she were ever in that situation, she would have the same attitude he does, always grateful and thanking God. I ditto that.

Tomorrow is back to work painting the inside of the mission house.

Luisa

FTSS - Guatemala Branch

We are in business! With the money sent by FFBC, I was able to buy enough food for ten bags and nine of them have been given away this week. Each bag contains rice, beans, consumme, dry soup mix, margarine (that doesn't have to be refrigerated, yuk), cooking oil, Incaparina (a vitamin fortified drink), and moosh (oatmeal) and the cost of each was approximately Q43.50 or $5.50.

Right now, each family is limited to one bag per month....that may change to every two weeks depending on circumstances. I tell them not to tell anyone else and they say "no tenga pena", don't worry, we won't, and I know they can't wait to get back to the village to tell someone. The one thing they would like to have that I don't provide is sugar. IMHO sugar is poison....clogging your veins, rotting your teeth, and causing all sorts of health problems. So if they want sugar, they will have to buy that themselves. See my mean streak.

I now have two English students, my gardener, Freddy, and Manuel Chavez, the dentist. Now I wish I had paid closer attention in English class, although it probably would not be helpful now if I had, it being 50 years since I sat in an English class.

Rain, Rain, It's Some Other Day

Normally, it would be pouring down rain about now, but this is obviously not a normal year. It has been about six weeks since we have had any significant rain. According to one of the local papers, the corn corp this year will be down by about 40%. That is devastating for a people whose staple food is corn. They can't eat a meal without tortillas. The road to Chimaltenango cuts through corn fields where there are corn stalks fifteen plus feet tall with tassels and small ears. If it doesn't rain soon, and a lot, the ears won't get much bigger. This is a crucial time for corn as it needs moisture to develop the ears. Some of the gringos who have lived here for over 30 years say they have never known the rain to stop for this long in the rainy season.

I went to see Berto yesterday to take a few things to him and his family. He is in a lot of pain and at this point, I think he is ready to go to the hospital. Whether they will take him or not remains to be seen. Please pray for him and his family and for us as we try to help make him as comfortable as possible and for wisdom to know how to deal with the situation. He is so humble and grateful for everything that is done for him. It hasn't been all that long ago that he was cutting wood, loading it on his donkey, and taking it to town to sell. Now he can hardly get out of bed.

Now that summer (for me) is over, maybe I can keep up on the blog a little better, you think?

Luisa

Where'd Everybody Go?

Every morning since May 28 there have been people staying here in my apartment and in the mission house. Thursday morning when I got up, it was deathly quiet. Everyone had sneaked out in the middle of the night and left me all alone. :-) There will be one more team coming Sunday and then a respite until October.

For the last three or four weeks it has been truly "The Land of Eternal Spring" in Guatemala. There has been a break in the rain and the weather has been too beautiful for words.

Sometimes I wish FFBC were here with the Feed the Sheep Shop. The word has gotten out that if you go talk to Senora Luisa, she will give you money for food. Now I'm not talking about lots of money. I'm talking Q5, Q10, Q20....that's from less than $1 to $2.50. Maybe I should never have started it, but when a mother comes here with a baby in her arms and three or four more hanging on her skirts and says they are hungry, I can't turn them away. Maybe I'll just start my own Feed the Sheep Shop.

Luisa