Howdy!
This month (February) is all squad month in Santo Domingo Xenacoj, Guatemala. Its a quaint little town with several churches most of which (all but the racers) are either Catholic or Evangellical. At first we thought this would be to our benefit, and it has, for the most part. Unfortunately, there is a political divide between the churches and this has caused problems with our ministry. This month we are spending time with widows and doing feeding programs at a few of the schools. The political divide came to be long before we got here, and will exist long after we leave.
This divide has cause there to be bitterness between the two factions. The widows that are Catholic readily accept our help even though we are not Catholic. On the other hand, we have run into problems with the widows from the Evangelical church accepting the help we are offering. Some have denied our help outright because we are not of the Evangelical Church.
Fortunately, GOD IS TEARING DOWN THESE WALLS!
One of the first things that happened when we got to Santo Domingo, was that a widow died. She left behind her 6 kids two of which are 10 or younger. She had been battling cancer and God called her home. He called her home so that we (World Racers) could see her funeral and participate in it. That was the first time Gringos had been invited and participated in a funeral in Xenacoj. We waited so that friends and family could see the body and pay their respects. After the main room had cleared, we went in and sang a few songs. That was a HUGE first. Gringos leading and participating in worshiping the Lord at a funeral. We were there for a total of two hours and went to a funeral mass at the local church the next day. The funeral was a Catholic mass filled with lots of prayers and singing. The walk to the grave was filled with lots of prayers, singing and chanting, and a small grave side sermon.
I say all of this so you can understand how God is working here, and how little we have done in comparison to what he has been doing for a long time. Before, when a widow from one of the churches died, only the people that associated with that church would go to the funeral. So Catholics only participated in religious ceremonies with other Catholics, and Evangelicals only Evangelicals. On the day the funeral and mass happened, widows from BOTH churches attended both events. This is one giant step in the right direction for His Kingdom. We have people in need accepting help from both sides of the isle where before only one side would accept gifts.
While we have been here, there have been many gifts given. We have visited with more than 100 widows and given each of them at least one bag of dried corn. I feel redundant saying this is huge or that this is all a big deal, but to give someone that is poor a bag of corn is providing food substances for a week or more. To give corn here is to give life. This last Saturday, we were able to provide 20-30 widows with new shoes because of a Priest’s donation of 100 pairs of shoes. Some of the widows showed up without shoes on and many showed up with shoes that were possible older than I am. God provided this wonderful gift for these wonderful and amazing women and their needs.Another gift that we have given was building a widow walls for her house. Her house was just posts and a bung of corn stalk to keep out the elements. We tore down the corn stalk and nailed boards up to provide her more protection. It was wonderful to see the amount of joy that this woman had for her new walls and how much joy she had that her needs were being met in a ginormous way. We only worked for about 3 hours and we accomplished 90% of what we set out to do. God was working in us and through us and supplied the lumber and the donations necessary to provide for this widow. Since God is providing for his children here, imagine how much he is providing for everyone else. What is God doing for you?
It’s incredible to see how God is working here and all that he has provided for us to do in His name. Our ministry has been fun and helped me grow spiritually. It is amazing to see how God provides for his children, myself included. This concludes my Guatemalan Adventures. I head to Honduras later this week and will be there for all of March.
Thanks for reading my blog and your support as I travel around Central and South America!
Thanks and Gig’em
Ryan Boenigk ’14
