The Gift

A short term group from El Salvador came recently to give classes for teachers and pastors in the region.  I was able to sit in with the teachers for most of the day this past Friday and Saturday.  Teachers from Chajul, Nebaj, Cotzal were able to take part.  One class especially spoke to me and the other teachers as well.  Many of their eyes filled with tears.

The teacher of the class was an older woman named Tita.  She had obviously been a teacher for many years because she took command of the room from the start.  She insisted that the desks be put in a circle with nobody sitting behind another.  She wanted our full attention.  It was Saturday morning and the group was much smaller and intimate than it was the previous day.

She described the different temperaments and personalities of people and how it is important to know all the students that you teach.  We then took a test to discover what our predominant temperaments were.
She then used some of us as examples, describing the differences.  She used me as an example and described me so perfectly I got goosebumps.  She talked about her two daughters, how one was more calm and quiet while the other was more energetic and talkative, and how she accepted each one the way they were, even if sometimes they drove her crazy.

She had us look at Psalm 139:13-14

For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

She emphasized to us that there is nobody like us in the entire world.  We are all different and we are all special.  She wanted us to be the best versions of ourselves and not put on different masks to be who others wanted us to be.  We are an idea of God and it is impossible that an idea of God is not a good idea.  She told us to thank God today for being created exactly as we are and for transforming us day by day to the person that He wants us to be.  For Him, each one of us is incomparable.

She told us she had a gift for us.  She brought out a box with a bow on it.  She had one of the women come and look at the gift without showing anybody else what it was.  She asked if she liked the gift that God gave her this day.  And she said yes.  Tita asked her to think about the gift.  She brought another person in front of the class and had them look at the gift.  One by one all the teachers were shown what was in the box and were told to think in the gift.  I walked up to the box, curious as to what was inside.  I looked inside and saw my own reflection.  She told me to look carefully at the gift and then I went to sit down.

I was deeply moved by the gift.  How many times in my life have I wished to be different, have I wished to be more outgoing, to be more open, and yet God made me exactly as I am.  He has given me life, He has given me salvation, and I am truly unique, and there is nobody like me.

She asked every one of us what we saw in our gift.  Some people could not hold it together as they described what they saw.  I looked around the room and saw so many eyes filled with tears.  How many of us sitting in that room had been seeking things from God without realizing the gift He has already given us?  Without realizing that God made us the way we are for a reason?

She finished by saying that today, begin the act of being an exclusive model because there is nobody like you.

A Men.

Real Life

Time passes so fast.  The days blend together.  What happened to March?  I am now fully entrenched into the Ixil lifestyle.  My life here feels normal to me and so I forget to write about it, like other people won't find it interesting.  For me, this is my "real life."  But the truth is, my life and my normal experiences here are very different than the lives of most of the people who read my blog.  So it is important that I share because even the things I now find uninteresting, other people may find fascinating.  

What is "real life" anyway?  When people return from vacation or from a short term mission experience, they say it's time to go back to "real life" or the "real world" as if everything they experienced was not reality.  Real life is more than the box we make it in our minds.  There are over 7 billion people on this planet encompassing thousands if not hundreds of thousands of different cultural groups.  Real life is fascinating, it is diverse.  Don't make the mistake of thinking your version of reality is the only one or the most important.  It is demeaning to billions of people whose lives are very different from yours.  The lives of the people I am working and living with here are just as real as yours.  

I know we all know this intellectually and I don't mean to get on a soap box, but I feel like sometimes we all get so wrapped up in our own worlds (me included) that we forget that other people and other cultures have just as equal worth as our own.  When we hear of great atrocities in other parts of the world, maybe it's easy to ignore because we don't see it as "real life."  We forget that those lives are just as important as our own.  We are stuck in our own boxes, far removed from the greater reality.

I am reminded of one of Plato's writings about the people who are raised and live all their lives chained in a cave, watching shadows flicker across a wall.  One escapes and sees the sun for the first time.  At first he is blinded but once his eyes adjust, he takes in the true reality all around him.  In some ways I think all of us are like the people raised in the cave.  We are raised with our own "realities" and sometimes we need to escape from our bubbles to discover the greater reality.  Then we realize that our lives in our little caves are only one tiny, tiny piece to a far, far greater reality beyond anything we could imagine.     

   

  

The Road

The sun was shining and I stepped out the door with excitement.  I was excited to have the opportunity to walk the road on this beautiful day.  I was looking forward to the solitude and the time enjoying God’s beautiful creation.   Maybe I would have a chance to see some old friends along the way or maybe not.  Either way, I was going to enjoy my time on the road.  You never know what surprises will lay around the next corner.  You never know what people you will meet while walking along.

 The quietness on the road is only interrupted by the beautiful sounds of nature or the one or two vehicles that happen to pass by.  I feel at home.  The bus from the market passes me and drops people off.  I see villagers carrying all their produce walking along together to their little village.  All the women are dressed in their traditional colorful Mayan dresses.  I pass a girl making wapiles to the backdrop of enormous green mountains.  I see men working their land on the steep slopes.  I pass the occasional cow, horse, or sheep.  Every once in a while I will pass walkers heading the other direction carrying bundles of wood to fuel their stoves.  We greet one another, and continue our journeys down the road.  I pass through tiny villages.  People are always curious, asking where I am going.  I stop and talk with a family who wonder about me, why I am walking the road.  I give them a destination but then explain that I walk because I love the road.  I feel alive and the ways of my life begin to make sense in my mind.  I feel peace, clarity, and wisdom.  The ebbs and flows of my life are put in their proper perspective.  Things in my life that once felt like strong winds and huge waves begin to feel like a light breeze and tiny ripples.  God speaks with me on the road and reminds me of His creation.

I get lost in time, only enjoying the moment.  I sit down at a spot overlooking a cliff.  I see miles down the road, and a village way off in the distance.  I open a book and read.  The quiet is deafening.

I arrive to a familiar village, one I had developed a relationship with at another time in my life.  Things feel the same, yet different.  A woman catches up with me and talks with me, she leads to me to an old friend and we greet one another.  He is working with other men, building a new school for the village.  I go to his house and visit with his family for just brief minutes before they leave to work their land.  I head back to the road, back home.  A girl waves me over.  I talk with her and her mom.  Then I continue on.   I wave to the family working their land as I walk up the hill.  My legs are tired but my soul feels well.  I stop and rest when a pick-up truck comes barreling up the road.  I wave it down and hop in the back.  The road goes faster and I miss the slower pace.  The truck stops and two men and two boys with shovels pile in the back, coming off a hard day’s work.  I arrive back to my town.  My time on the road has ended and my energy is renewed.

Report from HOREB

Lupita swings at the park one fun Friday

6th grade class photo at the park

The first quarter is almost over for the children.  Next week will be exams and then they will have the week after that off for Semana Santa (Holy week).  The teachers have been meeting every Monday morning for devotions while the children have been having devotions every Thursday.  They have been learning how to sow and all have been working on making their own scarfs.  Their English has improved by leaps and bounds.  I was pleasantly surprised with the 6th graders last week when they went in front of the class and introduced themselves in English.  I thought I would have to guide them, but over half the class memorized everything in English with good pronunciation, good vocabulary, and with no help from me.  The 5th grade teacher leaves early most days to get to his other job and so I have been spending some time with the 5th graders at the end of the day.  I have been teaching them the song "Trading my Sorrows" in English.  The kids really pick up songs very fast and has been a wonderful teaching tool.  Next Tuesday, the children will compete in Soccer and one girl will compete in a running competition.  They are excited for that.  Thank you for your support of this school!  Here are some more photos:

3rd and 4th grade girls pose with teacher's son at the soccer field

1st grade class photo inside their new classroom

Devotion with the 1st graders

Ines helps me film a class play while Delia watches

Maria dressed up for her role in the play

A mock classroom situation

Children sowing

Children clean after school

Bearer of Good News

It was February 1st, my last full day in Cotzal before beginning my long journey back to Seattle.  I arranged a meeting with the Junta Directiva (the school board) of HOREB.  The Junta Directiva is a rather new development.  All previous dialogue about the school generally went through the Director, Tabita.  The President of the Junta Directiva, Pedro, has a daughter in the 3^rd grade attending the school.  He started the meeting by informing me of the progress that was being made to make Colegio HOREB a legal entity in Guatemala.  It is a process that takes a long time and I was happy to hear they were very close to making it happen.

Then I got to share with them the support that was going to come in from WIND of God.  What an amazing honor and privilege to act as the WIND of God spokesperson in this meeting.  I got to be the representative of so many people who have prayed for and given support for this school in the United States.  What an incredible and humbling experience to be the messenger of such good news!  I first told them that we were not just planning on leaving after just one year or two years, but hopefully we would walk with them for many, many years.  I shared the amount of support we had set aside for the teachers and other expenses for this year.  Then I got to share with them the amount of support we had set aside to purchase the land for a new school.  I don’t know what I was expecting when I shared this news but I was not anticipating the reaction. 

They became overcome with emotion.  For many years they had been praying for their own school.  HOREB currently rents space and does not have a place to call their own.  As they took in what I was saying, they realized that God was listening to their prayers.  The sixth grade teacher and vice president of the Junta Directiva, Matias, remembered a particular moment in time when all the children were praying for help in purchasing the piece of land set aside for the school.  The members of the Junta Directiva have a shared vision of a new generation transforming Cotzal and a new generation accepting Christ in their hearts.  They are dreaming big, wanting to start a Basico program (middle school), Diversificado (high school), and maybe even one day a university in Cotzal.

The HOREB 6^th graders from last year are currently attending various Basico schools in the area.  They miss the Christian environment of HOREB.  I remember talking with Romualdo last year, the Director of a Christian school in nearby Chajul, and him saying that it is at the Basico level when children really begin to grasp and think about the gospel.  At the elementary school level, the children are compliant and will believe what you tell them.  It is when they get older that they began to question and become influenced by other ideas, and it is at this time that the Christian environment is so crucial.  There is currently no Basico Christian school in Cotzal.

At the end of the meeting the president, Pedro, said that he saw me as a messenger not only from WIND of God the organization, but from the wind of God himself.  We ended the meeting in prayer, passionately praising God and praying for the next generation of Cotzal.  I got goosebumps.  I still get goosebumps when I recall the meeting.  God had given them a message through me, a message that was an answer to their prayers.  I was the only one in the meeting privy with knowledge of both sides and for them my news was nothing short of God’s providence.  I wish every person that has supported this school got to experience that meeting with me.  For them it was a new beginning to something grand that God is planning to do in the humble town.  Stay tuned.