What a week it has been! For those of you reading this, I hope that your week was filled with lots of snow days and tons of Netflix. Here in Xjenico life has been a blast.
Tuesday German, our contact, took us to widow’s homes to talk to them, invite them to our Thursday get together and pray over them. We were sent in groups of 3 to the homes. My group was Carlie, Allison and I. As I walk into the home of our first widow, I see an older woman in a wheelchair that quickly points to the bed in the kitchen for us to sit down on. So we sit down and start to ask her questions. Valencia is her name. Valencia is nonresponsive but her son-in-law quickly comes in to translate. She only speaks kaqchikel, which is the Mayan language. She quickly lets us know that she has Parkinson’s. Her son-in-law tells us more about her, things like her age and when her husband died. She then interrupts him to tell us that she has seen us before.
We all shake our heads in agreement because our town is small and as the only white people so we kind of stand out. But she then explains she had a dream that we were coming. Ok, let me repeat that. She had a dream the night before that we were coming. With a smile plastered on both her face, and mine, I hold back my tears. God, showed this beautiful women that seemed to be forgotten that someone was coming to bring hope. We continue to ask questions. We asked her where she found joy. She told us she rarely finds joy in life anymore. I look at her and ask, “Are you happy we came to see you?” As it is translated to her, first from English to Spanish then to kaqchikel, a smile comes upon her face and with a big shake of her head she says yes.
We then let her know about the get together that we are having at our house but deep down I know she can’t come. It’s a long walk and in her wheelchair it would just be too much. So we take a couple of pictures, pray and hug. She smiles at me and says something in kaqchikel and the only word I catch is “utz”. No idea what it meant. I was thinking utz like the potato chips but who knows. So we head out and my heart is super happy.
Lets fast forward to Thursday for our party for all the widows in town. The party is just a get together with coffee, singing, prayer and some sweet bread. The widows start to pour in and after ten of them we think that no more are coming. Which is fine. We are all super happy anyone came. So I go out to talk to my squad mate who is guarding the door. He looks down the street and sees more and more widows coming up the street. I am frantic to get more coffee from across the street so I grab the pitchers and start to run across the street. I stop right in my tracks and turn to yell to Carlie. Valencia is on her way up the hill. She gets close enough to me that she recognizes me. Her throws her shaky hands out to grab mine. It was a beautiful moment. Valencia heads into our home to listen to worship. I pour coffee with a smile you couldn’t smack off my face.
As the night ends the widows line up and I have no idea why. German looks at me and says I need your help and throws his Bible at me. I open it and he says you are now the eye chart, I am going to hand out some reading glasses. So there I stand laughing and telling the women how good they look in their new glasses and I catch that word again “utz”. A widow explains to me that “bein” and “utz” have a similar meaning. It means, “good” or “great. So the women and I joke and laugh yelling “utz, utz, utz.” All the women start to head out and we hug and kiss goodbye. As Valencia leaves, we grab hands, hug and say goodbye.
So I am UTZ to say the least. This has been a beautiful week that I did not want to end
I have forgotten on the past couple of blogs but here it is
Then it was normal:
- Every man that walks by you carries a machete and you don’t even question it
- I have become the driver of the 15-passenger van.
- Lots of chips
- Hording hot sauce and peanut butter
- Using a bucket to flush the toilet
- Blowing the breaker when you try to take a shower
- Washing your clothes in a pilla, which in turn is destroying them
As for fundraising I am at 88%! Only 12% to go or $1,600. I cannot believe the support I am still receiving! Thank you to all my supporters. I would not be on this journey without you
Blessing,
Mols
