Prayer
Walking in Palenque
The
sun is breaking through the clouds. A thick heat fills the air. The birds sing
out around us. Lush green vegetation and bright flowers surround us at every
turn.
Krystle,
Katie, Lindsay, Stephanie, and I pray together before beginning the 30-minute
walk into town. We are praying that the Lord will lead and direct our steps and
relationships there and that He will reveal truth about the city.
As
we cross over the street and into downtown Palenque I begin to notice and underlying
heaviness to the city. There is such a lively façade: brightly colored
buildings, beautiful, vibrant landscape, and vivacious Latin music. However,
underneath this lively exterior is a sad weightiness to the hearts of the
people. No one smiles. Rarely does anyone make eye contact. As I walk through
the streets praying, I feel again the division so prevalent in this city: the
division of religions, languages, cultures, and socio-economic backgrounds.
This division at every turn strikes me. Nice cars driving up the street right
beside the old man with dark skin, gray hair, and tired eyes pushing his ice
cream cart straight up hill. Next I notice a woman in traditional Mexican
dress. She is wearing a colorful, full skirt and a white, ruffled, off-the-shoulder
top. She is clearly holding tightly to her traditional cultural values. Right
around the corner there are a group of eclectic musicians carrying their
instruments up the street attempting to bring new culture to the city. I see
these paradoxes throughout the city.
As
we are taking a short break on the way to the city center, a small boy comes up
to Krystle and me. His young eyes that should be innocent and joyful share the
same sad weightiness as the rest of the city. Juan begins to ask for money because
he is hungry and needs to buy food for his family. Krystle takes him to get
lunch. As they stand in line for food, I look at Juan and smile. All of the
sudden his face lights up into a big, wide smile. I will never forget the
drastic change from those sad eyes to that smile.
Yesterday,
when the Kiatera ladies were eating dinner at a restaurant in town. We were 
sitting outside on the patio enjoying fellowship and our first real taste of
local cuisine. Suddenly a small boy appears by our side. Juan has found us
again. “Tienes hambre?” (Are you hungry?) we ask. Juan nods slowly. We ask our
waiter to bring another plate and we invite Juan to join us for dinner. We
attempt to fill the silences with our broken Spanish. Sometimes Juan answers
our questions other times he seems content to just sit silently at our table.
Before our food arrives, Juan’s gregarious older brother, Manuel, joins us as
well. We have discovered (if we understand their Spanish correctly), that the
two boys have no mother, haven’t seen their father in 5 years, and live with
their five siblings and maybe a grandmother. Juan devours his food as soon as
it is placed on his plate. Juan and Manuel say goodbye and disappear as quickly
as they came.
On
the way to and from town each day, we pass by a small store run by Cati and her
two sons. Cati smiles and waves from the doorway, “Buenas tardes!” We stop each
day and buy ice cream or another small snack from her shop. We listen to her
stories, talk about life in Palenque, and listen to what changes need to be
made in Mexico. Each day she seems genuinely excited to see us and invites us
to come again tomorrow and talk to her more.
As
we walk the dirt road back to Shekinah, I am overwhelmed with how faithful the
Lord has been in crossing our paths with specific people in Palenque. These are
World Race beginnings: seeking the Lord, building relationship, daring to look
foolish with our broken Spanish, and hearing people’s stories. And tomorrow we
return.
*On our
first day off we visited Agua Azul, one of the large waterfalls near Palenque.
To see a video of our day at the falls click here.
