After school today I went to the hospital to volunteer again. I was really hoping to help with the babies, but they had enough volunteers, so I went back to visit the Abuelitas. One of the abuelas was sitting in front of a mound of laundry, folding the clothing. After we exchanged pleasantries I decided to help her out, so I jumped right in to folding clothing too. I folded about three articles and was working on the fourth when I looked over and saw the abuelita refolding what I had just folded. Maybe I did not fold it exactly how she likes to fold, so I watched her fold a shirt. I folded the next shirt in the exact same manner. Once again, she picked up my shirt and refolded it. A woman standing nearby shook her head and chuckled at me. So, I decided to move on to a bed in the corner where a kind faced woman was resting in bed.
The woman’s name was Maria and she greeted me with an amazingly cheerful smile. I understood about 20% of what she was saying and I don’t think she understood many more of my words. That did not stop her from having a conversation with me. I think we talked about Antigua, the mountains and her family. She started to cry when she talked about her daughter, so I tried to comfort her. I pulled out a Spanish Bible and she asked me to read to her. After I read a passage she said, “That’s beautiful, but I don’t understand it because it is written with Spain Spanish.” I asked if she wanted me to read more and she said, “Yes, I don’t understand, but it’s beautiful.” I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with the abuelas that had gathered around Joy. She gains quite a crowd when she pulls out her paper and markers to make portraits of the women.
When I had some free time I headed over to Angelica’s store to hear the rest of her story. She continued explaining that she has lived with her sister for the last 5 years since she became a Christian. Her mother will not recognize her as a daughter because she left the Catholic Church. I admire her sacrifice and dependence on God. We talked more about life as a Christian and especially how difficult it is to please God with our words. Towards the end of our talk an Elderhostel tour bus dropped a group of tourists off, so a number of people came to the shop. Once again I served as the translator for Angelica. It was interesting to talk to the tourists to hear about where they are from and where they were headed. They seemed more willing to buy after talking to me and because they were able to ask questions about the product. After the tourists would make a purchase I would let them know that they really should try to get the price down before they make a purchase. Within about 15 minutes Angelica had sold about 6 items. At that point she told me I should stay in Antigua and if I did she would offer me a job. I always leave her store in a better mood; I hope provide as much encouragement to her as she has provided for me.
I found these US coins the other day and was amazed by how small and light they seemed in comparison to these Guatemalan coins.
