Religion and Roadblocks

Since my last post we have been very busy with numerous projects and ministries, so I wanted to take a moment to bring you up to speed…

On Friday our family took a trip to Los Gozosos to meet with the founder and director, Maureen Casey and spend some time with the children. I have written about their ministry several times, so I won’t go into detail again. But for those who are new to this blog I will say that they are a group home for children with special needs that uses a similar model on which Hogar de la Esperanza hopes to operate. They have 12 children there, and they are loved in a family setting. You can see more about their ministry at http://www.losgozosos.org.

We ate lunch with the children and staff and had a great afternoon. Carissa will be teaching ballet to two of the girls at Los Gozosos and we will be volunteering on a weekly basis there. This home is filled with love, joy, and Jesus!

On Saturday morning we returned to Hermano Pedro where we spent time with the kids there. I don’t know who benefits more from those visits, the children or our family. We definitely love our time with the kids of HP!

Yesterday Wanda and I went with a nurse to the home of one of the residents of Hermano Pedro. Veronica is one of the teenager girls there, and she has captured our hears. Claudia, on the the workers at HP, told us that Veronica’s family is very poor. Her mother passed away a few years ago and she has five siblings who are all undernourished. We were able to take some food from Kids Against Hunger and spend a little time with them. The kids were all beautiful, but greatly in need of food.

In addition to these times of ministry, we have also been working hard to finish several large projects. I finished the shelves for the kitchen pantry and dug into building a large table for our dining room. This job was a challenge as the wood that was delivered was VERY rough and VERY wet. I have spent hours planing, sanding, and drying wood. This morning I finished the assembly, but we plan to use it for a while before the final sanding and finishing as the wood is still very wet. It is a rustic but large and functional table measuring 9’3”x3’9”. It will make mealtime much nicer.

Wanda, in addition to her normal work of homeschooling and caring for 10 children, (Yes, I counted myself in that number!) has been working hard to organize, clean, and prepare for our first team that is coming in this weekend. God is breaking us in easy with the Beyer family from Missouri. They are old friends of ours who are bringing their entire family to work with us. We can’t wait to see them and spend this time together!

On Sunday evening Wanda and I decided to go on a date for the first time since our move. Life has been full with ministry and language school, so this was our first chance to get away. We decided to drive into Antigua and have supper together. BIG MISTAKE!

Unbeknownst to us, Sunday was the first Sunday of the Easter Season and a large number of streets were closed for a parade. In Guatemala they are known for their sawdust carpets (elaborate pictures made of colored sawdust, often mixed with flowers). They place these in the center of certain streets and the parade passes by on both sides, being careful to not step on the carpet. It is not until the float that carries Jesus comes through that the carpet is stepped on and messed up. Huge crowds come to Antigua from the city to be a part of these parades, so the streets are packed.

What this meant to us was that every street we wished to turn down was either closed or a one-way street going in the wrong direction. And when we finally managed to make it to our destination, parking was non-existent. To sum up, a trip that normally takes us about 25 minutes lasted 75, and I was not in the best of moods by the time we arrived.

My mood was aggravated by both the inconvenience of it all and the religion that saturated the place. (Hang with me here, it sounds like I am bashing the culture and Catholicism, but I will end strong!) The streets were packed with families buying food and cheap trinkets and waiting for the parade to pass. Elaborate costumes were everywhere and a huge float depicting Jesus carrying his cross (in full royal robes, mind you) was paraded through town on peoples’ shoulders. And I hated it all!

Recently I was speaking with a local resident and mentioned the weekend festivities that lead up to Easter. I have been here to experience them before. I wondered out loud how big the celebration would be on Easter Sunday and was told that there is no celebration that day. “The streets are empty on Resurrection Sunday,” he told me. As a catholic society they tend to be very fixated on the crucifixion of Jesus, but give very little time or attention to the resurrection.

This mindset, combined with the religiousness of the scene and the incredible inconvenience of it all put me in a very self-righteous mood…until God gently reminded me of American traditions. Here I was in a society that, at least, acknowledged that Easter is about Jesus, having grown up in a country that has turned that holy season into a time celebrated with eggs, a giant bunny, and chocolate.

At that point, I adjusted my attitude, gave thanks that Jesus was being thought of, and prayed that God would use me to show everyone with whom I have contact that Jesus not only died, but rose again and lives in me. And I also prayed that God would help me keep my focus on Him this season.

And I encourage you to do the same! Have a great day!

Daryl, Wanda, and the Crew