Well, today was a very good day. There was Sunday morning service which included singing and dancing by the children. That was such an amazing experience. I think what made it so special is the zeal the children expressed about participating in the service and how sincerely they demonstrated their love for God through song and dance. There was no shyness or bribing the kids and no pulling their arms...they genuinely loved what they were doing. It was simply lovely to behold.
After service, the women who work (I like the word serve better, actually) in the ministry served homemade tamales. What an experience! They started making tamales the morning before and practically worked the entire day on just the tamales. I had no idea it took that much work to make tamales...cleaning the corn husks, all of the boiling and rolling...I was feeling tired just watching them work. But it was a labor of love for them and they never even broke a sweat. To see about 200 hundred people being fed and enjoying every bite was reward enough for them. Gilma (pronounced Hilma), the team lead, is really someone special. She truly, truly loves to serve the people in the community through this ministry and puts her all in everything she does, and she's the sweetest person you could ever meet. She's simply remarkable.
Lidia's Update
Yesterday, I wrote about our night trip to the mountain to see Lidia. Lidia was in service today with her beautiful, bashful smile and a pretty white dress. After service, the doctor came back to town to work on Lidia's legs. He came equipped with topical anesthesia and other medical supplies and treated her legs. Once he cleaned off the dead skin, believe it or not, he used pure honey as an ointment to help heal the wounds. I need to mention that he is actually a beekeeper and harvests the honey himself. Amazing!! Where do these people come from? Well, they are everyday people like you and me who happen to be on assignment and know their tasks, trade, or skill whatever you choose to call it. Here's what I know for sure, all of us have abilities, skills, and/or something we are good at doing...something that comes naturally. The real question is, is it all about us or do we use any of those things to serve others on a regular basis? If not, why not? (rhetorical question) It really is rewarding and it usually helps the person who is giving just as much, if not more than the person on the receiving end.
Oh, I need to go back to I believe Day 1 and answer the question about what type of things I will be helping with while I'm here. So today, I served as the videographer and the photographer taking candid and planned shots. Tomorrow, I'm helping to coordinate the birthday celebration for all of the children who had birthdays in the last 6 months. At some point, I'll download the videos to a cd for Myra and attempt to upload them to Face Book or You Tube or wherever Myra's heart desires. I've stuffed Christmas stockings, helped with little creative ideas, and as I mentioned before, accompanied the field team on house visits and just spreading love. I'm having a blast, and I still have about 4 days to go so who knows what else I'll be helping with. My Spanish has gotten somewhat better, but it still needs work. The dialogue is helping since Spanish is the primary language and not everyone here speaks English. What's really interesting is that the people here are just as willing to learn English as I am to improve my Spanish. My experience in Italy was much, much different.
I'm learning quite a bit about the culture here in Guatemala. It's always interesting to see how other societies function. That's a topic for a different day.
Serena, it was so interesting to hear you speak of making tamales. My mom and sister do it every Christmas as a tradition and it is indeed a lot of work. But they are yummy! Did you get to try them?
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