We have a personal policy to never give anything away. The main reason for this is for personal effectiveness in reaching our goals. As missionaries it would be very easy for us to walk into a village with suitcases full of clothes/medicine/candy/school supplies and have everybody repeat a prayer after us before we give them anything and tell our supporters in the States of the thousands we have saved every month. We know you can do it because lots of other people do. We just read about somebody in another Central American country that held a medical clinic, but before they let people see the doctor, they gave them the plan of salvation and asked who wanted pray with them. They were amazed by the high percentage of people who were so "open to the gospel." In the States we would never think of making a statement of faith just to get something for free, but here there are a lot of cultural things that make it ok.
First of all, you never tell somebody no in Guatemala because you don't want to offend them. A typical conversation I have: "Are you coming tonight?" "Yeah, we're on our way now." "Are you just saying that to be nice or are you really coming?" laugh laugh "No, I'm really coming." End result, they don't come. Why lie? Because Guatemalans are extremely sensitive. If you catch somebody stealing something and then tell them they stole something, you are the bad guy and rejected by that entire family for hurting their feelings.
Secondly, they are used to a religion where they repeat a prayer after somebody. They don't know what anything means, but they can repeat words. In fact, that is how they are taught in school. You repeat. Want to learn english? Write "See Spot run." 30 times tonight for homework. Want to learn math? Write "2+2=4" 30 times tonight. No story problems. No logic. No thinking for yourself. Just repeat after me. So when you give somebody here the option to repeat, they are already pre-programmed for it.
Another reason we can't give stuff away is that after we start we won't be able to stop. People don't understand that we have a limited cash flow. If we give something to one person, in their minds we should be able to give that same thing to everyone. Then when we say no, we would be accused of playing favorites, or "buying people" (That's a real reason people used to try and get us kicked out of a village once.)
The final reason is for our own benefit. If we give stuff or money to somebody, and then that person does accept Christ, or becomes a faithful attendee to our Bible Studies, what are we to think of their decision. Unfortunately it would taint our thoughts about that person, always wondering if they were there or said the things they said because of what they received or what they wanted in the future. Although we have had people come who were only looking to get something from the Gringos, eventually they leave when they realize it's not going to happen. At this point we know that the people who come, do so because they genuinely want to know more about God and His book, and not because of a free hand-out.
We of course do things to help the people here. We provide services. We don't hand out clothes but we have painted their schools and refinished their desks. We gave away school supplies, but not pens and pencils and paper for the kids, but instead boxes full of stuff for the teachers to use and keep.
At our first medical clinic we were faced with the dilemma of wanting to tell people the gospel and why these doctors came, but also wanting to avoid false decisions. We came up with this idea: We charged people Q1 ($.13) to come through the clinic. This prevents people from going through and is the same price the government charges. However, when announcing door to door we told people that if they asked, Jimmy would pay it for them. My wife was in charge of registration (filling out a card for them with their name and symptoms.) We had two stamps, one in black ink that said "Cancelado", translated to Paid in Full, and another in red ink that said, "Cancelado por Jimmy" or Paid by Jimmy. Every time somebody tried to pay, my wife would say, "If you ask, Jimmy will pay for it." Most people would go ahead and ask, however some would say, "That's ok, I'll pay for it myself." After seeing the doctor and receiving their vitamins, medicines and parasite medicine, we prayed with each person before they left. Not in a repeat after me make an eternal decision right now prayer, but instead a prayer asking God to use the medicine to make them feel better. Then we would follow up. In a personal way afterwards, with nothing available for them to receive we could make the parallel between asking God to pay their debt of sin and Jimmy paying their debt for the clinic visit. They didn't have to pay, but it was their choice whether they did or not.
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