Many little things to write about thus far today. Church was, interesting, we think. There was someone visiting from (we think we figured out Brazil) who was preaching. Of course, he was preaching in Portugese. Would have been great for our friends that grew up or worked in Brazil. Church is really already hard enough for us to understand. Ken says he gets about 10% of it, I think I might get like 40-50%, depending on the preacher. Today we had the Portugese, immediately translated into Spanish, and then attempted to understand. I'm still not sure how the title of the sermon worked into what they preacher, and translator, actually said. It was pretty funny though because many of the words are the EXACT same, but the translator would say them anyway, and sometimes he would actually use a synonym instead. I was far more intrigued, as a language person, by trying to understand the Portugese and decipher it phonetically than the actual sermon. I think that's bad.
As we were leaving church they were selling avocadoes. Now, I'm pretty sure I remember them on sale at Hannaford being just under a dollar each. I bought 4, ready to use, for 10Q total, which is the equivalent of $1.21 American. HeHeHe. There are definitely some things that are cheaper here!
On a sad note, as we were heading to the store to buy a lemon (our trees are finally fruitless) our security guard Francisco began telling me a story. I am going to recount it, but it may not be 100% accurate - all the important details are right though. Francisco grew up with his grandparents on the coast, because his mom was down here (hours away) working to make money so they could eat. His brother and cousin were also raised by them. They lived with their grandparents until they got married (as is the custom here) and were very close.
This past week Francisco's cousin got shot at 15 times. At least 8 of the bullets went in to him. Somehow he lived (in the hospital) for three days, but passed away Friday. It is my understanding that he worked in security for something or someone. I don't know his cousin's name, but I do know that he lives behind three children - with no provider.
Francisco was unable to make the funeral, as was his brother, because it just cost too much to take the bus there. I wish Francisco would have told us, we would have willingly given him the money to go. I don't know if he didn't want to "be a bother" as he says it, or what, or if he feared getting in trouble with the condo owners. We consider his family a big part of our ministry here, and are always aggravated by how they are treated. Guatemala is sometimes related to a Hindu society because of the deep classist feelings and divisions here. Francisco is very poor, he is not Mayan that I know of, which means he isn't the "lowest" caste, but he sure isn't much higher.
Francisco is of course worried about what will now happen to those children. Please join us in praying for them. We stopped and prayed with Francisco, for God to support them and provide for their needs, and comfort them. We may not get much more future information, but we do ask that you stop now and pray for that family. Thank you.
