What is Missions Like?

Recently we received an email from a college student who had been diagnosed with severe depression and after some counseling realized that they were depressed because they were "resisting the call to the mission field" and wrote us to ask what being a missionary is like. Here is my response. By the way, one of my pet peeves is when people talk about suffering and the mission field as if they are one in the same. Missions is not miserable... I'll talk more about this in a later post.

H-----,

Missions is the most exciting and fun thing you could ever do with your life. Each day there are new opportunities for ministry and to my wife and I there is nothing we would rather be doing. The best thing about missions is that God wants to use whatever you are good at. He gave us gifts for a reason and wants us to use those specific gifts for Him.

Having said that, each day there is also a new set of challenges. These challenges can be just normal cultural, frustrating things, or sometimes they can be life-threatening. In each of these situations the missionary has to be very sure of his/her calling to be where they are. This is not something you can do just because you want to. There must be a definite call on your life to cross cultural boundaries and take Jesus where He hasn't been. It is only a certainty in that call that will help you through the hard frustrating times, and give you peace in the terrifying times. It is the sureness you have that you are exactly where God wants you to be that gives you the strength.

I pray that you find God's best for your life. Don't force it, but look for the opportunities God gives you to minister, in the ways that you enjoy, using the gifts He gave you. God's calling is not a punishment, or a banishment, or a life-sentence of suffering. It is the most fulfilling, joy-filled life you could ever experience.

Striving to make heaven a little more crowded,

I also directed them to visit our blogs to see a day to day synopsis of our lives.

Wipers While You Wait?

The rainy season has started in some parts of Guatemala, but here in Petén we've just had miserably hot days waiting for it to finally rain. There have been a couple days of storms, but it's been a while now. Because it is so dry for so long, you can forget about your windshield wipers. Mine had not been replaced since buying the Micro. Even when you pay for it at the service places, you don't always get them (that's happened to me twice) and you will wait a few extra hours while they find it from somebody else, get it delivered and then figure out how much to charge you for it.

Another option is to find these car door to car door salesmen. I found this guy at a Pollo Campero about 2 hours outside of Guate. He had two wipers the right size and installed them while I went inside and ordered. Total cost= $10. We hit our first rain 30 minutes later.

The stuff draped over his arms is a door sealer. It is way overpriced and the guys will put on twice as much as needed and then try and charge you per foot instead of per yard. Don't let them get away with it.

A Whole Meal!

So I got a couple zucchinis the other day that weren't worm infested. By this time we had a stockpile in the freezer, so I decided to make a meal out of things from the garden.

I did cheat and use one onion from the store.

Here are the green beans frying. Notice the bacon? They're southern style...

And here is my second attempt at fried okra. Shelley said they were like eating candy.

Here's the other two sides with some baked chicken fingers. When Shelley lets me cook, I have to make it count. Usually the kitchen is such a mess that it is easier for her to cook and clean up after herself than just do the cleaning after I'm done. At least it tasted good!

Jimmy Who?

A year ago we had the transmission rebuilt for our Blazer. I had to ride a tow truck 8 hours to Guate to drop it off, then catch a flight home, then Shelley and I flew back 10 days later to pick it up. The mechanic's name was Hugo and he has his own shop. I found him through a knowledgeable Guatemalan friend here in Petén who had had USA made vehicles worked on by this guy.

Hugo met me on the side of the road to guide us to his shop and I spent over $1,000 on Blazer repairs. We talked quite often and he assured me that he knew what he was doing and that everything was on time. I was actually happy for the first time with a mechanic here. The best part was his 2 year guarantee on the transmission.

I am used to people remembering me. There aren't very many Gringos from Petén, and especially if I spend a lot of money somewhere, people remember who I am. So yesterday I called up Hugo to see if he could help a friend with his Mercedes. I was expecting a cheery greeting but instead the guy drew a blank. I explained further, "You worked on my transmission a year ago...I'm the gringo from Petén who you met in the tow truck..." He still acted dumbfounded. Then he said, "I don't work on transmissions." I said, "Yes you do. I have a receipt here with your name on it and your address and even a guarantee for 2 years." "No, you must be mistaken. You have to have special tools to work on an automatic transmission and I don't have those," he replied.

It was then that I understood that he thought I was calling about the guarantee. I explained, "I just need a phone number for somebody who can work on a Mercedes transmission. My transmission is fine."

"Oh, well yeah I have a phone number and address right here. How's everything going in Petén? Do you still have the Blazer? ...well if you need anything give me a call..."

At least I got the information I wanted. Not sure that I would trust it. Sorry Mark.

The Excited Plumber

In Santa Elena we had a plumber who was excellent. He really knew his stuff, such as how quickly to add acid to a pipe so that it wouldn't eat the pipe. He was also very slow, but he learned this during his day job working for the local government's water department.

He was amazed at every little advancement in technology and especially anything remotely "Gringo." For example, one day he asked to borrow my plunger while working on a drain problem. When he returned it to me, he said, "You brought this from the States didn't you?" "I knew it, you just can't buy plungers like that one here. It's high quality." It is actually the normal wood and rubber one you can buy cheap anywhere in the States, but he loved it. Anybody want to start a plunger import business?

Another day, after taking him to the hardware store to buy some necessary parts, I hit the garage door opener. This was the only house here we'd been in that had one. He saw me hit the button and then saw the door start to swing out. His response (in a very excited tone) : "Isn't technology wonderful? We've come so far as a country. Now you can just hit a button and the door opens just like that. Imagine that."

Take joy in the little things...

Another One Bites The Dust... Instead Of The Children

I was sitting on the sofa eating supper while watching a movie with Shelley tonight. Both boys were asleep and we were enjoying the time together. All of a sudden next to my ear I hear a loud thump as if something heavy fell on the sofa. I turned my head and didn't see anything and looked at Shelley who had a concerned look on her face. She had seen something dark fall and hit the sofa as well, but with her glasses instead of contacts she can't focus on her periphery. A search of the area found this guy under the end table:

He fell out of the plant on the wall to the left of the sofa. He's the second scorpion in the living room we've killed in as many days. I hear only the little ones are dangerous, so yippee, this one's not so bad...

Maybe it's the rainy season starting that has sent them indoors?

Petén Garden Update 2

It's been a while since I've talked about the garden. We have had a few snacks to whet our appetite, but no huge harvest to keep us eating for weeks. The worms came back to the zuchinis, but we have had a few to eat such as these: (I planted three varieties)Here are some sugar snap peas. These are the first ones which we ate raw. I have three plants and am freezing what I get from them (about three pods a little bigger than this every three days) until we have enough for a meal. I'm happy to get anything because they are supposed to a cool weather crop (of which we are not) although I got a variety that is withstands higher temps.
My first tomatoes will be ready any day now. They are Better Boy, so they get bigger than any variety I've seen here for sale and should be wonderful on a BLT. All six plants have at least one set of clusters, so I should get a nice steady progression starting next week.
Okra was made for Petén. Here's a plant that'll be ready tomorrow. Since it just started I am only getting two pods every other day, so I am blanching and then breading them before freezing so that when we want them we can drop them right in the oil from the freezer. I used Paula Dean's recipe for the breading so we'll see if Southern Shelley approves or not very soon.
And here are my first Jalapeños growing.

Of course I'm only showing you the highlights. I don't have pictures yet of my green beans, but they are Shelley's favorite thing we have growing. I am getting a handful every 4 days if there is not temp over 95 (causes all the flowers to fall off.) It is another thing being frozen. We have enough now for 1.5 meals.

I'm learning a lot and realizing that there are a lot of possibilities for our friends to grow. I show weekly pictures at the Bible Study to a very impressed group of old men who are asking for seeds. Once we get enough frozen, we plan to fix it and take as a snack so they'll be motivated to harvest on time and then eat it.

Bible Study Feedback

Sometimes during the Bible Study, when asking questions, I get some interesting answers to questions. At this point I am happy that they are finally opening up and are confident to talk. Here's a snippet from the most recent adult Bible Study. I am teaching the Ten Commandments (Old Testament and New Testament correlation) and was showing pictures of a chameleon with the projector. I had several examples of chameleon's camouflaged in their surroundings and was scrolling through during this conversation:

Jimmy: Do you know what this is?

Adult 1: It's a lizard, I mean a scorpion.

(Everyone laughs)

A2: It's a lizard.

J: Yes, but what type of Lizard?

A3: There's only one type of lizard.

J: No, there are lots of lizards but I don't know their names. Big lizards are different from small lizards.

A4: No, big or small they are still lizards.

J: I mean there is a difference between that lizard on the wall there and a crocodile.

A2: Yes, because a crocodile is a crocodile and a lizard is a lizard. A crocodile isn't a lizard.

(all adults nodding in agreement that the Gringo knows nothing of lizards)

J: Ok fine, then this isn't a lizard, it's a chameleon.

A1: It looks like a lizard.

J: It's not a lizard it's a chameleon. (Everybody repeats "chameleon") It can change color to blend into it's surrounding.

A3: (Realizing there's a correlation between the lesson and these pictures and looking at the board with the list of sins on it) Is it a sin to kill the chameleon?

J: No, you can kill it.

A2: Is it a sin to eat the Chameleon?

J: No you can eat it...

A1: (cutting off Jimmy mid sentence) What does it taste like?

J: I don't know. Probably like chicken.

A2: But you can eat it?

J: Yes. It's not a sin to eat the Chameleon, it's a sin to BE a Chameleon. You can't change who you are based on who you are around.

20 minutes later after discussing many more profound things I asked if there were any questions or comments. Adult 4 responded, "So it's not ok to be a Chameleon, but if you can find it hiding on a leaf you can eat it?"

My apologies to the soon to be dwindling population of lizards that happen to look like chameleons but aren't that good at hiding.

On a side note, this was our highest attended night for the adult and teen Bible study that was not showing a movie. We were missing some regulars, but had 4 new teenagers that I have never seen before who arrived on time.

Best Video Game Ever!

Working with the Kekchi people here Petén let's us have lots of fun experiences, and not just the ones where we are trying to adapt and end up making mistakes. Sometimes we get to show new things that they have never seen before, but that which we have always taken for granted. Petén is slowly advancing, and with new changes we have the advantage. I'm starting a new category and group of posts where we get to watch Guatemalans come to an understanding of what's going on in their own country...lightbulb.

A radio ministry (LifeWord) in the States started partnering with the Kekchi radio station here last year. It is the only radio station in Petén that is 100% Kekchi, and it is fully supported by the Kekchi Baptist Churches here. LifeWord came down with some recording equipment and held a workshop with some of our contacts about creating newer, more effective programming. As part of their collaboration (which is mainly comprised of processing, editing and finishing the programs) they wanted to help financially. They send money to buy Bibles, tracts, gas to get to new villages, etc.

A few weeks after they left I got a debit card in the mail from LifeWord in Jose Xol Pop's name. I had volunteered to show him how to use it. I wasn't even quite sure if he maybe already knew, because ATMs are everywhere here and most people that have bank accounts also have a debit card.

He came to the house and I talked to him about the budget, but that we wanted him to take out the entire amount each month. Then we went on a field trip. I have a card that does not charge me an ATM fee from the States, so we practiced using my card. José had never seen this before. He was paying very close attention to which buttons I pressed while ignoring the words of explanation coming out of my mouth. Then the machine started making it's special sounds letting you know you'll get money and out came Q100. He smiled from ear to ear. After two more times, each time José getting more excited, I let him try. He pressed the buttons exactly as I had, ignoring the words on the screen, and almost jumped for joy when that bill came out. He thought that he had just found the best machine ever.

After 4 months, LifeWord contacted me. He had a huge surplus and each week had only taken out a few hundred quetzales at a time (he was charged a transaction fee each time). It's too long of an explanation as to why he did this, but suffice it to say that I now have the ATM card and each month we have a standing appointment for him to come over to the house to pick up the offering.

Stupid Decision

So you have read about Quincho and the plan to buy a motorcycle HERE and about him getting kicked out of New Horizon with us HERE.

We decided together that it would be best for him to continue to stay at our house until we got back from the States. Then he was getting a large, lump sum that he could use to buy land and put up a shelter, rather than buy a motorcycle. What good does a motorcycle do when you have no place to park it?

He knew of some land for sale that he had chopped before. He had actually ridden a bicycle there before from his house. He could purchase the land and then have money left over to put up four walls. I told him I would help him install the electricity and plumbing. It sounds pretty straight forward and makes perfect sense.

Unfortunately Quincho has no discipline and is an easy sucker. His family kept pressuring him to get more money from me while I was in the States, so he spent 10% that way to help with some unknown medical problem his mom had.

Then when I got back he needed another 10% to pay off some loans. I later found out that these were loans from people who could retaliate and that he had actually borrowed from other people as well that he hasn't paid back. Some was receiving help and promising wages after he got his money.

After we had been back for a week Quincho is told by his family that it is his responsibility to go to Guate City and help his sister who's kid is in the hospital. So instead of buying land, he asks for half of the money he still has coming to him. We talk about the foolishness of taking that much money on a bus and going to Guate, and how he will spend it and not have anything left. We both know that there is no chance he will be able to buy land, but I could not get him to understand that the consequence is that he'd have no place to live.

He took the money and left. I offered the whole thing to him, but he only wanted half.

A week later he called me and asked me to deposit the other half of the money into his brother in law's account. I saw that one coming. By this time I had taken account of the things missing or destroyed and told him that I would deposit the money minus those items. He didn't have anything to say about it, to him he was still getting a lot of money.

I have talked to him twice since then, but now I haven't talked to him in over a month and a half. He is notorious for losing or selling his cell phone. I hope and pray that he is doing well, but this was one of those things where the money could have really helped him. I would like for him to come back, but it would be a bad decision for him at this point because he would have no job and no place to live. I hope he gets as much from his sister and her family as they got from him.

We didn't give anything away for free. We actually paid him a fair wage, and he earned it. Our dogs were healthy and nobody broke into our house. He just couldn't handle responsibility when handed to him for the first time in his life.

Here's a picture of him from the last time he got a job in Guate:

He was guarding this truck of off-brand Cola. He quit because after two months he had still not been paid.

How Not To Sharpen A Machete

Wednesday Mateo came over to work in the yard. He is a 15 yr old Kekchi teen and one of our last remaining friends from New Horizon. Starting last week I asked him to start helping around the yard by chopping the grass, pulling weeds, checking on the bananas and other various things. He needs/wants the money and it is really nice to have some help with work and twins taking up all of our time.

That day he was supposed to chop the weeds outside the fence and then spray the yard for ticks. Apparently we brought home an infestation in the mud on our vehicles from Santa Rita.

After about an hour he came to the back door holding his finger. He asked me if I knew anything about wounds. Having a well supplied medical kit thanks to my mom I told him to come in. The hand was so bloody that I couldn't see the wound so we turned our deep freezer into an impromptu operating table. After cleaning the area I saw that he had sliced his left index finger from one half of the nail to the other half of the opposite side. A nice clean cut because this boy really knows how to sharpen a machete (when he's paying attention.)

After cleaning him up and dressing the finger I began a long discussion about taking him to the Mennonite clinic (Good Samaritan) to see what the nurse there thought about it. There was much argument and he claimed everything would be fine if I would just let him finish chopping the yard and go home so he could put some weeds on it.

He argued with me all the way to the gate where he got in my pickup for the drive down the street where he protested all through the check-in process. His curiosity had him complying more than anything else because he'd never been to a "hospital" as he called it. It was really just a house with 4 rooms. After a 5 minute wait the nurse called us back. She complimented my fine wound dressing abilities (she's apparently seen too many Guatemalan weed varieties) and then argued with Mateo about stitches. She told him that if he promised to eat six eggs a day for the next week then she would let him go, but if he was going to just eat tortillas and salt the wound would take 3 weeks to heal and she was going to stitch him. He promised to eat the eggs.

Then she gave him instructions about bathing. He is supposed to keep the area dry for 5 days, so she told him to put a bag over his hand when bathing. She asked to make sure he had plastic bags in the house, and then followed up asking if the bags had holes in them. Again, this lady knows a lot about Guatemalans. He promised.

She asked him to wait in the hall and walking out of the room he asked me where the machine was that would tell him how much he weighed. He's seen too many movies. The nurse laughed and said he might as well get something fun for his trouble so she weighed him at 104 lbs which he thought was way too low. I can tell you this because I live in Guatemala where privacy laws do not exist...

After another 5 minutes they called us into the front room where they gave him tylenol and amoxicillin along with a booklet about God. Grand total was Q24 ($3). I left a bigger offering because I had benefited from their services before at no charge.

On the way home we stopped at the store where I bought him 30 eggs and some plastic bags. She didn't know that his family is so poor that Mateo doesn't know how to eat an egg, but he thought maybe his mom would know how to fix them. What I bought may last until tomorrow because the whole family will be eating them. He also didn't have any plastic bags. We argued some more about the medicine and when to take it as well as not removing the dressing. Then he finished the yard and sprayed for ticks. His biggest problem now is that he is left handed and wanted me to teach him how to write with his right hand before school tomorrow...Sorry bud.

Our next adventure will be when I take him to get a tetanus shot. He can't remember ever getting a shot and claims he doesn't need them.

What do you do with a Gringo after you grab him?

My wife already wrote about this HERE, but I'll provide my perspective. Last weekend (the weekend before Holy Week) there was a town meeting and I came up again as a topic. Somebody asked if I was was still coming in the village (they had seen me several times) and the town council acted as if that was an impossibility. Of course I wouldn't come back to get my things, even though I asked this specifically last September and was told I could come and go as long as I didn't hold services.

The town council didn't want to be held responsible, and is also in the habit of just telling people what they want to hear, so they said that they couldn't form a party and grab me, but the town should take its own responsibility and grab me the next time I came in. There was also talk of closing the gates so that I couldn't come in. Sounds like a lot of effort just to keep out a missionary right?

What I can't figure out is: What do they do next? I have a hard time believing that anybody would do something without their beer muscles (except for the crazy druggie waving his pistol...but he's not even who they were talking to). I know that mobs do horrific things in Guatemala, but this is so personal and I know these people so well that I find their ignorance humorous. Just to back myself up on this, I'll share the response I got today with a Mennonite friend who was born and grew up here. I told him what they said about grabbing me and he responded with a smile on his face, "You should go in there."

I want to be careful here to not sound like I am taking this lightly. It is a serious situation and could be dangerous without the proper precautions, but the part of me that does not care about my family or personal well being would very much like to test the waters. I would like to go talk to the president of the town council again or even show up during one of the town meetings just to see people's reactions. Fortunately, reason sets in and I realize that the person who called to give me the news was one of these guerrillas (now a new man with a new life) and only called to warn me not to go in. I'll take his advice seriously. These are ex-guerrillas who preferred to be called "guerrillas living in peace time" and still have all of their weapons after all.

I'll end with this conversation I had with New Horizon President Limas last September:

Limas: I'm sorry Yimi, but even if I wanted to I can't help you or change what was decided. The people made the decision.

Yimi: But you are the leader of the town. You have to have some control.

Limas: We just have to do what the people want. This is a Democracy. They decide and we do it. Do you understand?

Yimi: Yes, I understand. You are ruled by the mob.

Limas: Yes, exactly. The mob rules.

Not exactly the definition of Democracy, is it?

Easter in Guatemala

So yesterday was Easter. Tonight, Shelley is having a resurrection party with the kids in Santa Rita. It may sound strange to you to have it after Easter, but let me explain some things about Easter here. This is what happens in our small villages, and while similar to the rest of Guatemala in many ways, it is not exactly the same everywhere.

First, there is no such thing as Easter. There is no word for it. If you want to describe that particular Sunday you can say Resurrection Sunday, but it's not a special day and you'd better specify Sunday because most people don't know exactly what day He rose again. Here they celebrate Holy Week. That means that most people are off work and nobody goes to school (like spring break) so basically you have a lot of men sitting around with nothing better to do than drink.

There are special activities sponsored by the Catholic church during this time. On Monday, if they didn't do it the week before, the deaconess or priest goes around from house to house asking for money and in return will give a blessing. One day they take the idols/statues out of the Catholic church and parade them around town. This is usually on Friday, but varies with the schedule of the person who has the key. If that person is in one of the other villages they work in, it could be any day.

One extra special activity is the burning of Judas. About a week before Holy week, a man will appear tied to a tree. He is usually made of sticks and decorated with various items. Last year he had cowboy boots and a six shooter on his hip. This year he had a baseball cap and an empty bottle of whisky. He also has a piece of paper stapled to his chest that says, "Judas."

Also dependent on scheduling, the town gets together and lights this man on fire. It doesn't necessarily have to be after the crucifixion parade on Friday. This year in Santa Rita they did it on Tuesday. It is a big event, although nobody really knows why they are doing it.

After Friday with the big parade of Jesus on the cross, the partying stops. Saturday is quiet except for the drinking and Sunday everything returns to normal as people try to sober up or binge one last time before going back to work.

My saddest observation in all of this is that they are missing the Hope. Without the resurrection there is no hope. Everybody dies, but only one person was raised from the dead with the power to carry away all of our sins.

We're here to bring hope. And you can do that any day of the week.

Review: Food Sanitizer

Disinfecting your fruit and vegetables is a must here and has become second nature to us. I don't think we could go back to the States and not wash everything we bring home from the store at this point. The thought alone makes us sick.

So you have a few options. There are several kinds of chemicals you can buy at the stores here. They are supposed to be tasteless, but we always had a problem when soaking soft-skinned fruits such as blackberries (found once) or strawberries. You can also use bleach to wash your stuff, but the same thing with the taste issue.

Some friends of ours were planning their big move to Mali and told us about a product they had seen and were considering buying. It is the Lotus Food Sanitizer. It claims to sanitize using ozone (O3) which kills everything using that radical extra oxygen molecule. I can say that we haven't gotten sick from what we ate in our house in over a year of using it now. It comes with a spray bottle that you can use for 15 minutes after charging it to clean with, but it does not help with grease or anything else that plain water would have a hard time with. The problem is that there's no way to know if it's working, so we just go back to regular Lysol. It also claims to neutralize odors on things like dog beds, but in this heat our dogs are way more powerful than some stray oxygen molecule.

The best thing though is that there is no taste left at all. A con is that if you are water conscious, you have to refill the bowl each time you use it, which means 4-5 times for us after a once a week fruit and vegetable shopping trip. It also has to be pure water (I'm not sure why since it should technically make the water clean enough to drink) so if you don't have a filter for your water you'll be using a lot of your bottled water to do this when you can just use regular water for the chemical way.

Another recent use we discovered is that it is great for disinfecting baby toys. No soapy residue and no chemicals. After they dry they are good as new.

You have to buy cartridges which cost $5 each but last three months. We are glad we have it, but I would not say this is a life changing purchase like other invaluable products.

No Hay Luz

We have frequent power outages here in Petén. The main reason is that there is no redundancy, therefore we all share one long extension cord, and if anything happens along that cord, everybody afterwards loses power. We are constantly losing power because of something that happens in P0ptun, 45 minutes south of us.

Because of this you learn to cope, and you have to realize that after dark, things can happen to cancel your plans. Tuesday night, during the adult/teen Bible Study, the power went off just as we got to point/question 1 of 10. It was dark, but nobody made a move to get up. I turned my flashlight on and finished that point. Still, nobody made a move. Then I saw shadows towards the back and realized people where still arriving (late as usual). I was surprised, thinking that no power would be an excuse for people not to come, but I continued on. After another point I had the idea to back my truck up and use the headlights to light the place so I did that until the lesson was done.

Not wanting my battery to die, I turned off the lights and asked if there were any questions. Just so you know, there are NEVER any questions. For some reason nobody asks for any clarification. I think it is fear somebody will laugh at them. In the states everybody secretly hates the person that asks questions because it makes you go longer when you just want to go home, but Tuesday night in the dark it seemed everybody had a question. And not about the lesson. The first question was why God made people different colors...

So we continued that way in the dark for another 30 minutes. We might have to turn the lights off during question and answer time more often...