Walking through the dimly lit streets of Guatemala, all that could be heard was the faint sound of music in the distance and our feet sloshing through the many rain puddles that covered the cobble stone. Filled with anticipation for my first Guatemalan Fiesta, all I could think about was how does one act at a Fiesta? I was already an American living in a modest, Mayan culture, so social norms were completely lost to me. All our teams have to go off of was what German, our ministry host, and Dave our ministry contact told us about how to respect the culture we are living in.
Entering in the courtyard, I could hardly see anything happening due to the multitude of bodies squished together. It seemed as if everyone in town had come to celebrate the election of the new mayor. Once I pushed through the big crowd, I realized everyone was so tightly squished together because there was a huge open area in front of the stage reserved for dancing. I thought, “Guatemalans must not be into partying,” because not a single one was dancing. Every Guatemalan was standing on the sides, completely stoic, listening to the loud music.
Seeing this as a prime opportunity to worship God, dancing being one of our favorite forms of worship, two of my squad mates Nick and Corbin asked Dave if they could go to the center and dance. Dave told them to go and honor God the way they wanted to, and to just be themselves. With the stamp of approval, these two American boys ran to the open circle and busted out their favorite dance moves. In typical world race fashion, you never do anything alone because we are all in this together. Before we knew it, all 20 of us Americans were dancing our butts off to Spanish music in front of a couple hundred Guatemalans.
Then a breakthrough happened where God was pushing His people out of their comfort zone. We started pulling Guatemalan kids from the sides and inviting them to dance with us. At first, every kid had a look of fear and nervousness on their face, that was quickly replaced with a huge, beautiful grin. Next thing we knew, the mayor of Xenacoj was in the circle dancing with his family. Our dance party grew and grew until I looked around and saw a mixture of Americans and Guatemalans dancing, celebrating, and laughing together. God was on every single person’s heart and mind, calling them to live radically for him.
It wasn’t until a few days later that Dave dropped a bomb on us. Apparently in Guatemalan tradition, dancing is sometimes viewed as worshipping the Devil. German also informed us that most of what keeps people in this village of Xenacoj from a relationship with God is tradition. Traditional Guatemalans are caught in a spiritual warfare between Christ and Tradition. Tradition tells them to work for God’s grace, not accept it freely through Jesus. Tradition tells them that dance is not a form of worship. Tradition tells them their path is to marry young and get a job, regardless of what God says their path is.
Going into that night, Dave knew all of this and he said, “let these kids dance.” He told us that the village of Xenacoj knows why we are here and has seen us feeding the orphans and working with the widows. They know we are here to serve God. By us white, Americans dancing with joy for our God at the fiesta showed the Guatemalans what it means to have faith outside of social norms and cultural traditions. While we unintentionally broke tradition, it allowed our brothers and sisters in Xenacoj to do the same.
The fact that the people of this small village in Guatemala were breaking away from the chains society has placed on them that night by dancing is living proof that God is fighting for His children. God is at work in the lives of His children everywhere, fighting for their freedom. Often times as Christians we are so caught up in working our way up to God, we miss that He has already come down to us. For one night, the people of Xenacoj stopped working up to God, and let Him come down to them. Too many people, dancing is just the physical motion of moving your body to music around you, but I understand that for my family here in Guatemala, it’s freedom. God is at work here, breaking down strong holds that the enemy is hard at work trying to keep in tact. And for one night, they were broken. My God has and is still fighting for freedom for His children.
