Words from Sharon - January 12, 2015

Words pretty much fail me to describe the last day and a half.   And since I´m using the internet connection of a young woman in my host family, I´ll just summarize.

We arrived in San Andres Itzapa around 5 p.m. yesterday and went immediately to the church which is our Sister Parish.   Christ Episcopal Church provides scholarship support for some of the children in the 5th grade this year (the school is ¨free¨ but the children are from families where shoes for school and school supplies would keep them from attending, and school is only compulsory through the 3rd grade here).    Most of the scholarship children were there, along with many of their parents, as well as the ¨Committee¨ of the San Andres church.   The chldren had prepared some dances of welcome, and several parents and children gave speeches of welcome.  Then the committee served sandwiches and drinks to everyone.   All shared as twilight fell on a big open balcony overlooking the mountains.  Before we went to our host families we sang and prayed with the (tiny) congregation there.

I was assigned to a family along with another delegate, Lissa Grunert.  Our hosts are Otto and Basilia.  They have been wonderfully gracious and we´re getting around both our lack of fluency in Spanish and learning some of the logistics of their home.   It has everything needed for living.  

Lissa wasn´t feeling well yesterday evening and this morning, so I got as much mileage as possible out of conversational topics like names of children and grandchildren, and ¨cuantos anos tiene el perro´_ (how old is the dog?).  Good will and smiles cover a lot of ground.  Food is simple and delicious.  

This morning the group along with the commitee members met in the outdoor courtyard here at Otto and Basilia´s, and listened, through translation, to Otto describing to some degree the history of San Andres but much more the history of his part of the freedom movement in Guatemala.   He was a freedom fighter of the Che Guevara era, and told the story of the people´s struggle in Guatemala with beauty and passion.  It was a very special morning. 

After lunch we walked to the ¨Church of San Martin." ¨San Martin¨ is a non-saint, and not accepted at all by the Catholic church.  He is almost an anti saint (?)   Some really weird legends about him, but a lot of devotion to this shrine, and apparently is regarded as somone who can help petitioners.   I´m still processing that experience.  Don´t think there´s much there for me. 

This evening, though, Otto and a woman from the committee celebrated a very elaborate and ancient Mayan ceremony calling on their ancestors to protect them (and us).  It was a very solemn ceremony and I´m very sure that God listens to his children; however, they cry to him.   They are good Christians and see no dissonance there.   Nor did I. 

Probably used enough of this gracious young woman´s computer time.   Thanks for your prayers and good wishes.   I loved hearing from a few of you about what´s going on there.   I don´t seem to be able to connect to the internet from my phone, but I believe a voice call would reach me in an emergency.   I´ll be here tomorrow night so will check email. 

Sharon