Modern Wesley

Our day was primarily spent visiting with people who live in some of the more rural areas around here. It truly was an eye opening experience. One thing I should mention is that throughout Guatemala, as in many countries across the nation, toilet paper cannot be flushed in the toilet. It needs to be disposed of in wastebaskets. This has been difficult for me to get used to. However, my biggest lesson learned on this trip so far has been; always bring toilet paper with you, especially when visiting a rural area of a country you don't know very well that uses a language you barely speak. That's all I will say on that for now.

The village we visited today was at an elevation of 9000 feet! Our host from yesterday brought us up there, as he has been working with this rural community for many years and knows the people well. We visited the school and the children were very excited to see us, to have their pictures taken, and to see the photo on the iPhone screens. We got a little exercise with the PE class and then went on our way to visit a women to see her two room house being built. This is a women with (4) children whose husband left her. Her and the children were then taken in by relatives, but that resulted in many people living in very tight quarters. They had a tiny piece of land that they decided to build a small house on. This two room house was probably around 300-350 SF. Many of the people that live in this area have their own small corn fields to provide the food supply for their family, since there isn't a lot of opportunity for income.

We also visited one of the Methodist churches up here. It began ~29 years ago with only two families. Now, there are ~60 kids that are part of the church. We were also fortunate to meet with the pastor later in the day. He is an amazing person. He pastors two Methodist churches, the other is higher in the mountains about an hour walk from where we were, with no road that I am aware. That church has about 10-20 kids and is a village about half the size of the other. He also is what we might call a District Superintendant of about 12 churches. Since pastors don't typically get paid in this area, he is also a nurse and does many other things for his community. He lives among the people he serves, in this very closely spaced community, next to his church. He receives knocks on his door all the time asking for help in various ways. He helps teach his community the importance of brushing your teeth, hygiene, drinking clean filtered water, horticulture, and family planning through various programs that he does. His goal is to offer a bright and better future for these people. He is a staple in the community, and I can think of no other way to end this post then by including what Sandy said at the end of this interview to this wonderful pastor. It nearly brought tears to my eyes because it was right on: "You remind me what it means to Be a Methodist."