Today I felt more sad than I can remember in quite some time. I felt like I, and the team, was able to build some great relationships with the people of the community in Trocha 8, Calle 10, of Nueva Concepcion. It is really fun when you can remember multiple faces and names. And when I am saying fun, I mean tons and tons of fun. A big contributor to the fun is that my Spanish is getting dramtically better every day. I have found that I am much better speaking spanish than understanding it, unless it's just people nodding their heads and pretending they understand me ;)
Today I was a teacher all day, I helped with the well for about a half-hour in the morning but then switched to the hygene team for the rest of the day. I taught three classes about general rules of hygene, mostly a review class for them, by using pictures and having them explain the good and the bad things of each picture. I did my best to speak the whole thing in Spanish and use Blanca, my translator, as little as possible. Of course this made for some great laughs as I said many words wrong. The first 2 hour class was with the kindergarten through 2nd grade, the second was with the 3rd through 6th graders. The school there ends after 6th grade. The final class session was with the adults, mostly ladies. We also did a funny skit about how to use the new well properly. I acted as a chicken, while Josh acted as a dog (animals are not supposed to be around the well at all). It created many laughs throughout the communidad. We also playedtowel toss with water baloons, and many yard games with futbols at recess.
We had lunch for the third time at Jaime and Juana's home. They are so amazingly sweet. My heart broke today though when I was talking with Jaime anfd he explained to me that he had decided he could not be a Christian because he liked to drink alcohol. I was very sadened by this, one that he could not stop drinking alcohol, but two that he beleived he could not commit to being a Christian because he had a problem. Thank goodness we can still be a Christian and have problems. But it is a different culture than the one I find myself in at home inAmerica. Here in Guatemala it is a huge deal here if one drinks. It is such a big deal because the testimony of Christians is held at such a high standard, they talk about this high standard very often. So for Jaime, he knew friends that claimed Christianity, but went out and drank and did other things that ruined their testimony, and since testimony is held in such high regard he said he could not commit to Christianity because he knew he would be a bad testimony to others looking to Christ. I explained to him the best I could about God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to lead us as we allow him to, most of this through Blanca of course. I was terribly broken though for not only him, but for the idea of criticizing testimonies not perfected. I mean, for myself, I do not always have the best testimony, but I know that Christ has forgiven me for when I don't, and that when I do have good testimony it is the Holy Spirit inside of me working for good. I hope Jaime was able to grasp some of my thoughts and words, I am praying hard that he did. God can continue work when we are not around. I am thankful for one more day with the communidad though.
The second time my heart broke today was hopping back into the van to leave, with the well close to finished, and the local men working on the cement and final building of the well. I have realized again and again how much I love this culture, and the people, and the beauty of everything here. I have never seen so many heart warming smiles in such a short period of time as I have this week. I am convinced there are not many places like it, if any. I am having an incredibly hard time fathoming that I may not see these kids, teens, or adults, or grandparents again. My heart has been won over with ease, and I know a piece of it will be here forever.
I have enjoyed our team as well, it has been such a fun mix of people. 2 ladies from Toronto, 3 ladies from central New York, Travis (our age) from Houston, and us. I have been able to get to know the ladies from NY pretty well because of our many van rides into the community, and Travis as he has shared a room with us, and the Canadians from working on the well together. God always has a good plan. I am incredibly thankful.
On another note I know in my heart and mind that I am committing to studying Spanish when I return home. I feel a strong calling to know the language so that Alexis and I can return on occassion. I do not have a perfectly clear dream in mind as to how this would pan out, but it is strong enough to commit to learning a lot more Spanish. Many people were asking today when we were coming back, it about killed me to say I don't know if we will, but it felt good knowing that there was at least a possibility.
.....and... Travis literally just got stung by a scorpion.... in our hotel room. wow. Just took a nice timeout, but Travis should be just fine aparently, but that was a little freaky....a lotta freaky.....
Also today it was a lot of fun getting to know our leaders a lot better. Each day has been more and more fun with each of them. Alvaro may be the funniest guy I have ever met, not exaggerating one bit. Manuel (Meme) and I get to talk a lot in Spanglish becuase he drives and I ride shotgun, he is an the extrememly loving teddy bear type. Blanca also shared a lot of her stories, and schooling experiences of life. She is such a smart, driven, and nice Senora. She has answered a lot of my questions about the state of the country, teen pregnancy, the Christian traditions, and much much more. Without these three the trip could not have been near as amazing. I thank God for the amazing work that they do, and the passion that they do it with.
Tailwinds,
Dios le bendiga,
Marcos y Josue'
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