3/16/2011 - Trisha

These last few days have been amazing! We have had the opportunity to try something different. Mark and I are meeting with the adults and talking about what the Bible says about marriage and relationships. Valerie translates for us and she is doing an great job! We have now been to three different villages and each day is a little different.

The first day we went to Las Brisas. This was the first village we went to last July when we came, so it has many special memories for us. Some of the children seemed to recognize us. As Valerie was translating some of the young boys sat beside her and read along with her in Spanish. There were more men there than I expected. They seem to genuinely care about their families, and some were even holding their children. As we were getting ready to leave one man asked us if we were coming back the next day. When we said no, we would be going to another village, I thought he was going to cry. He said they were so hungry to hear the Good News. If it had not been for the fact we didn't want to disappoint the other village, we would have dropped everything and come back. One of the things that really stood out is the children at a very early age take care of the younger children. It is not uncommon to see a small child carrying a baby up and down a steep hill. I think this is to get them ready to care for their own children, which happens when they are about 14 or 15 years of age. When we first got there a man needed to clean out the bathroom. He went to the hose that brings their drinking water from the top of the mountain. He disconnected to hose and ran it through the toilet. All the while, his young son was sucking on the other end of the hose! No one seemed to think it was unusual...except me, of course! When he got finished, he reconnected the hose to send water back down the mountain. We panic when our children shake hands with a stranger who might get a few germs on them!

Yesterday we went to Aqua Caliente. Tami's group was also there working with the children of the village, and teaching the youth Bible stories. Because of this, we were not all able to meet in the church. They found a home for us to meet in with the adults. We met in the living room. That is a very deceiving statement as it is not a living room like we know. The room was about 10'x10' and there were 14 adults and three children in there, NOT COUNTING Mark, Valerie, and me. One man sat on the floor and took notes. We finally told him we would give him a copy of everything we were saying when we got finished. The people there seemed very glad to see us. It amazes me how they have so little, yet seem so content. They work hard, not to have more, but just to survive. I saw one little girl chewing on a piece of wood. She took it out of her mouth and grinned at me, and there were wood splinters hanging in her mouth. Her mom stood right beside her and didn't act like there was anything wrong with it. My heart breaks at the living conditions for these people, but they don't know any other way of life.

When we finished at Aqua Caliente one of the men asked Valerie if we would pray for his eyes. It looked like he might be developing a cataract. Mark, Valerie, Steve, and I gathered around him and placed our hands on him and began to pray. What an experience! After we prayed for this man another man then had some questions about the Bible. He wanted to know if it was okay to have more than one wife since that is what they did in the Bible. We were quick to explain to him that yes, they did have more than one wife and concubines, but there was nowhere in the Bible where God ordained them to do that. It is another example of how we can take things from the Bible and turn them into our own way of thinking. I think he was wanting us to tell him it was okay. He was upset because his wife did not want to have a baby and he did. We told him that was a decision they needed to ask God about, NOT a decision that either one of them should make on their own.

When we finished with the adults we went where Tami and Marissa were and had lunch. Then when they were working with the youth Val, Mark, and I took the children outside and played. We were a little noisy, but had lots of fun. I've decided kids are kids no matter where you were. There were the shy ones, the outgoing ones, and even the ornery ones. Except for the language they could have been our students. I recognized several personalities. Some were even joking about who had a girlfriend. While those children were playing I noticed other children were not allowed to join. They were helping their parents work. Two little boys were going to the river to collect rocks in a rolling backpack. They made a game of their work. One would pull the other down the hill while he sat on the backpack. They would fill it full of rocks, pull it back up the hill, then take turns riding down to the river for more rocks. At the end of the day Valerie led the kids in singing "How Great Thou Art" in Spanish. Beautiful way to end the day! We had 14 people in the back of the mission van, and 3 in the front. Not a van like we think of...two seats that face each other sideways. It was very hot, but I was blessed to be there. More later...