This morning we met up with Pastor Javier. He has only been in Aguilar for about 3 months, so he wanted us to go around with him to meet families and invite them to the service in the evening. We were to prepare a children’s program and a program for adults would follow. The first house we went into was owned by an abuela or grandmother. She immediately found chairs for us and our awkward conversation began. The pastor does not speak English, we speak little Spanish, and most of the adults speak Chol and Spanish as a second language. We were able to learn a little bit about the woman’s family and invited her to church that evening. The conversation was coming to a close when she offered us something to drink. Talia said, “Esta bien,” meaning we are okay and don’t need a drink. But, the woman took it to mean okay yes we could use a drink. The next thing I heard was the sound of running tap water. All I could think of was Montezuma’s revenge. The woman brought out some Jamaica juice that was from concentrate and she had added the tap water. Clinton said the missionary prayer is, “Lord I’ll get this down if you can keep it down.” I prayed that our stomachs would not be affected by the water full of parasites. And we yelled out the door for our teammates to start praying for us. The juice was not bad so it was easy to drink. We never experienced any affects from drinking the juice. The Lord protected our stomachs.
We visited many more houses and in each one got to know the family, invited them to church, and asked if they needed prayer for anything. In one house we prayed for a woman that had chronic knee pain, two boys that are continually sick, and a woman with a skin allergy. The people are so willing to receive us into their houses and to receive our prayers. It is such a privilege to be able to glimpse what life is like here in rural Mexico. We are not the only ones that are curious; as we walk down the street everyone stops what they are doing to observe us. Once we turned around to see a dozen people standing on the road watching us for about 200 yards back. Wherever we go we usually have a bundle of kids holding our hands or chattering away in Spanish and Chol.
About twenty kids were peacefully sitting in the church with their hands folded nicely on their laps waiting for our arrival. They were shy when we asked them their names and played around with them. We started the children’s program by introducing ourselves; we said our names in a way that was easier for Spanish speakers to say. We then did a skit about Creation using lots of props and motions and narrated by the Spanish Bible. Then we broke out some games and songs and ended with a message and prayer. The language barrier was definitely a hindrance in communicating the rules of the games, the message, and the lyrics of songs. But, the kids that were sitting with their hands folded nicely on their laps came out of their shell. By the end we had about 50 kids that were giving hugs, kisses, high fives, and jumping all over the place. The time came to begin the adult service and the pastor communicated that we could begin. We had not prepared for an adult service and he wanted music and a message. So, Ginger pulled out some music and played in English then attempted a Spanish song. Clinton gave his testimony with Talia translating. She gave it her best effort, but we could really use a translator to communicate better. It is really difficult to communicate the correct tense of the verbs and also know the vocabulary. Then Talia asked anyone that needed healing to come to the front for prayer. We had about 10 people come to the front so we prayed for each one mostly in English. The service ended and we invited everyone to come back every night. The kids followed us home skipping and holding our hands saying, “Hasta manana, girlfriend.”
