Linda is 31 years old and has five children. Her husband left them and now she is on her own, trying to make ends meet and trying to bring up the family. She has been a mom for 14 years, but she is still learning what that means. Her children are 14, 13, 9, 7, and 4, but the oldest four had never stepped foot in a classroom until last July. They audited 1st grade until October, which is the end of the Guatemalan school year, and are supposed to officially start 1st grade tomorrow (which is the first day of school for most of the town). However, Linda hasn’t enrolled her kids yet, because she herself did not go to school so she doesn’t understand the value of education. Fortunately our host knows a few principals and is going to make a few phone calls tonight to make sure Linda’s kids are able to go to school tomorrow. Yesterday we spent the afternoon helping Linda and her children move. We filled up a fifteen-person passenger van with all of their belongings (minus some firewood and a couple of cement blocks), and still managed to cram ten people in the van (plus two more hanging from the outside…). A few thin mattresses, a couple of sheets to wrap up their clothing in lieu of boxes, a laundry hamper with some towels and toys, their bunk beds tied up above the van, a small plastic table on its side with a few plastic chairs around it, and that was pretty much all they owned. Keep in mind that twelve people were still able to fit among all they owned, inside a small fifteen-passenger family van. This is for a family of six. Can any of us say the same? I am only one person, and I still need a 14ft U-Haul truck to move all I own.
Today was a heavy day, and it also was a joyful day. We met a widow, Felipa, who went to wash up when we walked into her place, but began to weep as soon as we sat down with her. She has nine children, all grown up, and isn’t sure how many grandchildren she has, but estimates she has about 23. She is old and frail, but only lost her husband three years ago. It still causes her great pain to think about life without him, and it also hurts her deeply that three of her children have been in a dispute for a while over a piece of land. She is lonely and heartbroken; part of her children are fighting and blame her for what is going on, and her other children never visit her. She lives farther away from the town (as a young and healthy group it took us quite a while to walk up a hill, through dirt, trenches, and massive potholes to get there), so she doesn’t get to Xenacoj often. She is alone and isolated, and she wept and wept most of the time we were there. We prayed over her and with her and stayed by her side holding her as her tears poured out. She kept telling us how grateful she was of our visit and how blessed she felt by us. Her gratitude and awe at this perfect timing were evident. We didn’t want to leave, but we had to. We left there with heavy hearts, but hopeful for our next visits with Felipa. Because we will visit her again.
Today we also met Marcela. Marcela is 27, and met her husband when she was 14 (the romantic in me goes “Awww!”). Sadly, her husband passed away eight months ago due to an E-Coli outbreak in Xenacoj, leaving behind four beautiful children. But Marcela is a strong woman of God. Rather than letting her sadness for their loss affect her and the lives of her children, she is happy. We walked into her house and were greeted by roosters and hens that flew around and flapped their wings as we hesitated at the door (“Are these birds going to kill me?? There are so many of them!! They’re going to plot against us!!”). She opened up the door to her house and apologized for the mess. Yes, mess it was indeed. So many things that I can’t even recall what I saw. Clutter so large that we didn’t even realize she had a fourth child until she pointed to him sleeping on the same bed we were sitting on. One bed, that’s all they have to sleep on; one bed for five people. Marcela sells children’s clothing for a living, so every other day Marcela and her mom (who is also a widow) go out and try to make some money for their families. Diego is Marcela’s oldest son; he is 10 years old and has to take care of his siblings when his mom is out working. He also goes to school and is in 2nd grade. Magdalena is her second child, she is 8 and in 1st grade. Then there’s Maria Raquel who is 4 (yes, I met a namesake! And on our “Saint Day” too!), and Juan Pablo who is 2. Four beautiful children whose smiles and laughter flooded the room the entire time we sat with them. They played around and goofed off, with their mom smiling joyfully at her children. She told us she knows that her attitudes and emotions directly affect her children, and since she doesn’t want them to be sad, she is never sad. Yes, they had a loss, but if she dwells on that her kids will also begin to drown in that sorrow. So Marcela is happy, because she wants her kids to be happy. Even in the midst of struggling to provide for her family, she says she even plays their games with them. What a beautiful mother. What a beautiful soul. What a beautiful family. I am so excited to see them again! We are going back on Friday to cook with them and help them clean up their house.
These are only three of the thirteen women we have met in this last week. Each one of them has a story, a family, and a loss. Each one of them has sorrows and pain, but they also have come to find hope and joy in their lives. Most importantly, each one of them fights. They fight because they know that life keeps going, and they have hope in a Love that surpasses all understanding, and they rejoice in that Hope.
We have so much to learn from them.
