5 am
hits and the world of Arollo Palenque is set in motion for the start of a new day.
The internal clocks of the roosters leave something to be desired as they continue their incessant crowing throughout the night and on into the misty morning.
Dogs have been up for hours either to protect their domain or to simply have some raucous fun.
Three animals roam free wherever you look: dogs, chickens and pigs.
As the day begins, loud, cheerful, Mexican music can be heard throughout the neighborhood from various houses around the community.
The men leave to farm their fields of corn, coffee, sugar cane or fruit, the women begin preparation of the morning meal.
Mexicans cook with five major ingredients which are present in some form at almost every meal: fresh corn tortillas, black beans, chicken, rice and salsa.
Coffee is thin but flavorful and sweet.
Meals are served at
8am,
2pm and
6pm.
Children leave for school around 8am dressed in their appropriate uniforms of collared shirts and pants or skirts.
Recess is at
10:30am and the day ends around
2pm.
The people here speak a dialect of Spanish called Chol (which sounds like Spanish with a lot of clicks, stops and hisses thrown in).
The children learn Spanish in the schools so many can communicate bilingually.
The smallest children and the older generation, however, speak only Chol.
Lunch is served after school is let out and the workday ends around 4pm.
At 4 the streets are speckled with workers returning with wood, corn or some other heavy object carried on their backs and secured by a strap placed from behind around their forehead.
4-6pm is a great time to visit people in their homes because it is still too hot to walk the streets.
Evenings are filled with whatever entertainment might be available from the four weekly church services to the grinding of the corn for the next day’s tortillas.
Everyone but the chickens retire around
10pm for the evening primarily because they wake early but also because many houses do not have electricity.
Houses are crudely constructed buildings with planks of wood nailed horizontally onto a basic frame and topped with a tin roof.
Concrete floors are a luxury as is any form of electricity.
Dirt floors are swept religiously only to be dowsed later with any form of waste water.
Littered about the property and houses are random assortments of modern conveniences.
Plastic bags, bottles, utensils, the newest automated corn grinder and for the truly fortunate, boomboxes.
These treasures lay among the scraps of wood, wire, firewood piles and random trash heaps and fire pits.
A Mexican woman could not function without her plastic laundry basket.
Since arriving, the baskets have been used as playpens for the children, colanders while cooking, a feeding trough for the chickens, cage for chickens, bowl for freshly washed greens and, of course, laundry.
The people wear and off series of clothing that looks like American 1980’s/1990’s.
The women always wear skirts or dresses and do even their most laborious chores in their Sunday best.
The teenagers spend their time riding around town on their bicycles and soup them up the way American teens might do with their cars.
They have the latest flashing reflectors, mud flaps, handlebar designs and are often tuning them up for optimal performance.
Religion is no stranger to the people here.
The name of Jesus is familiar but the relationship to follow leaves much to be desired.
Pastor Marcos and his family spend much of their ministry time trying to define the difference between functional and relational Christianity. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and legalistic Catholic churches via for the evangelistic attention of the people.
For some reason, the prospect of committed Christianity is terrifying to the people here.
There is an obvious oppression from the Mayan history, but greater than that is a pensive fear many would just as soon avoid discussing.
Church services here at the charismatic church feature sing-alongs to Spanish-Darrell Evans-equivalent worship CD’s.
We recognized some of the songs from our American worship sets that have been translated into Spanish.
The pastor leads everyone in loud communal prayer where everyone voices their prayers at once wither in their mother tongue or a prayer language.
He preaches topically but stays consistent to a single theme: having a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The pastor has the passion but desperately needs discipleship and training. He women outnumber the men by a long-shot and most attenders would prefer to stand outside the doorway and windows rather than enter the church.
We are learning a lot about brokenness and have been blessed by the pastor’s example in this area.
Relationships take time but we are beginning to see fruit even in the short time we’ve been here.
The children have learned our names for the most part and have stopped calling us “gringos” and “gringas.”
We have an entourage everywhere we go and frequently have an audience as we eat dinner.
Life is slow-paced but industrious.
We love swimming, bathing and doing laundry down at the river (a could, clean mountain creek that is an incredible blessing).
Please pray for Pastor Marcos, his wife Florentina and their children Adrian, Carla Annette and Gady.
Pray God would bring laborers into this field.
As Marcos says, the people here are asleep and need to be woken up to life in Christ.
Pray also for our team as we are learning how to function as such and dealing with a little culture shock.
We have very limited resources in Arollo Palenque so updates are not going to be as frequent as we had hoped!
Have no fear, I’ll bring lots of info every time I get the chance.
I’m doing really well and learning a lot.
I’ve not be sick (though some teammates have) and am sleeping fairly well (Mom, you were right, the ear plugs have saved our lives).
Enjoy some pictures of our home and the spectacular jungle mountains of southern
Mexico!
Boy´s Room
This is our church where we help with the 5 weekly services. (M, W, F and 2 on Sunday)
Our Church
This is where the women prepare all our meals.
Pastor Marcos, his wife Florentina, and one of their three children Clara Annette
Just because I know you all want to know…the bucket at the top corner is where we throw away our toilet paper and the bucket on the left side of the pic is what we have to use to flush.
Everywhere we look are mountains and it´s absolutely breaktaking.
