Night time

Our first night in Aurora 8 de Octubre was Saturday the 30th of October. As I laid on my wood planked bed and gazed through the gauzy pink mosquito netting up at the metal roof, I was at peace. The sounds of crickets, laughter and marimba filtered their way through the snoring of some of the delegation to lull me, and remind me once again why I love it here in Guatemala.

After another long day of travel… but this time all but the last quarter mile were in our bus… we were greeted on the gravel road first by several of the elders, the church president and some boys who had walked out to meet us. They boarded our bus and soon we saw before us 30 or more members of the church waiting for us by a bridge. They had palm branches waving in the air, smiles on their faces and a beautiful home made banner of Mary, the churches name is Virgin of the Rosary, stretched out for us. We all got off the bus and processed together, American and Guatemalan, hand in hand towards the church… palms waving all the while as if Christ was once again coming… Hosanna! In a way, Christ was coming once again… for the community, we were Christ incarnate in their midst and for us, they were greeting us as Christ… that we were indeed brothers and sisters in Christ could not be doubted.

When we got to the limit of where the road could take the bus, we unloaded all our belongings and the parish members all grabbed a bag until all we had to hold were the hands of the children as we continued to the church. That evening we were fed and we worshipped together… each of us received a morrale that a woman from the parish had made… and the delegation presented their gift of a new bell to call people to worship.

As the sun went down, the activity in and around the church continued since they have electricity, but we retreated to our beds that were a gift as well since while we slept in the beds they slept elsewhere… one of the hardest gifts to accept.

That night I wondered what the days ahead would bring, but I also trusted that the Holy Spirit would indeed use these days for good… and the next morning at about 5:45am we were greeted with the sound of a bomb (think of those bang fireworks on the 4th of July) which was sent skyward to tell parish members it was time to begin to gather for the days activities and worship.