Spent this weekend with my new friend Elizabeth and the folks at the house. Saturday we did some shopping in the markets, and if Elizabeth weren't a confirmed vegetarian already, she would have become one after visiting the area in the municipal market where meat is sold. Quite the experience, seeing your prospective dinner hanging covered with flies. (Before any of you write concerned, Mari buys her meat from a private vendor who delivers it to the house. . .frozen!) I have to remind myself, though, that this is the food most of the people in Guatemala eat, if they are lucky enough to have meat at all. I guess, if I think about it, I've eaten some of this meat when families in villages have been kind enough to feed me. It's just not something I try to think about too often!
We also spent part of the afternoon with Andrea, one of my housemates who has been unfortunate enough to catch whatever it was I had last week. We watched movies and relaxed. Then, in the late afternoon, we had "cooking class" using the recipes from the cooking school I went to a few weeks ago. It was fun just to spend time with the other girls living in the house. I love it, too, when they talk with me about how I don't seem like a "missionary." I think it's a good thing. . .they tell me I'm just like a "normal" person. I tell them I am a "normal" person, who is just sold out to Jesus. It always amazes me how folks expect me to talk religion and doctrine, and seem really surprised when all I want to talk about is who Jesus is. I figure if someone meets Jesus, He and the Holy Spirit can take care of all that other stuff without my help.
Today (Sunday) Liz and I went to church, and then went with Dick over to the clinic at Hermano Pedro to check on Maria, the young widow from Tecpan who needs hernia surgery. Despite being told only one person could come with her, the better part of the family came. They are all so worried about her having surgery. So we did some arranging, and Maria and her sister will be returning Friday night and surgery will finally be done Saturday morning. I am once again struck by the amount of effort it takes to get medical care if you are poor. A wonderful friend in the US is covering the cost of the surgery, but Maria and her family have had to put quite a bit of effort into this, too. Not to mention the early morning trips Dick and his boys have made to bring them to the clinic. But, a week from now (well, maybe a few weeks from now), Maria will once again be able to carry her little ones without pain.
While Maria was seeing the doctor, I snuck away to spend some time with Carlitos. I haven´t seen much of him lately, as the more vocal kids have been demanding quite a bit of attention. He is such a cute little guy, who seems willing to entertain himself most of the time. Today, I held him and talked with him for about an hour, and then put him to work for a bit. He loved the little frogs I gave him to play with, even if he did need to check out their flavor, too. What a great kid. . .
Am spending tonight home with the "family." We've had quite a few people in and out of the house the past week, so tonight we will get reacquainted. It still seems strange to be part of a large family once again, and I'm learning just how self-centered I've become living only with Joel the past few years. God is stretching me, as I try to understand how the other people I'm living with think and feel. I have to admit that the "world-view" of my "family" here is very different from how I usually think. Once again, God is reminding me that just because I have an opinion about something, doesn't mean I'm right. . .and even when I might be right, He doesn't always ask me to share my thoughts. I guess He had to take me to a country where I still struggle with the language to learn to listen more and talk less. . .
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