Monday, December 10, 2012

A Beautiful Day!

We got up about 5:30 in order to make it to the other side of Petén in time for an inaugural service. I came into the kitchen about 6:00 kind of stressed saying to Jimmy that I was really sorry, but I thought I was going to be the last one ready. On really early mornings like this Jimmy usually makes breakfast - blueberry muffins in the shape of a train - in order to give me time to pack all the kids' stuff (like food, extra clothes, etc.) 
The boys love picking their train cars, it's a special treat. Well... Silas sensed that I was stressed when I came into the kitchen and he said, "You pretty Mommy, luv you." That kind of turned my day around!

The village of Tesuluclan 2 was having an inaugural service for their new church building along with their first baptismal service. This village was reached with the Gospel for the first time back in May. Domingo was the first person to visit this village after they called into the radio asking for someone to come tell them more about God. In August the Daytona team held another outreach there. They also gave money for the boards for the walls to build a church building... 2,000 feet of wood. Here is that building:
The guys painting the sign were laughing because they were embarrassed I was taking their picture! They did a great job painting the sign. I thought the church members did a great job painting the whole building too. They seems to take a lot of pride in their church!
The name of the church is The Miracles of Christ Baptist Mission. A church is referred to as a mission until it can support it's own pastor. This church currently has a mother church in another town who helps it out. 

Eden is still at the age where she doesn't mind getting past around if she can still see her mommy.
I heard the words "bow" and "baby doll" of lot that day. That is what everyone calls Eden here with her chubby cheeks and blue eyes - "baby doll" (pura muñeca!) In Kekchi they just say "muñec". Everyone is so sweet to my babies.

The church members had planned a big supper for everyone. This was their kitchen. 
They prepared "Poch" or tamalitos instead of trying to make 100's of tortillas to feed that many people. It would have been impossible to keep that many tortillas warm and nobody likes a cold corn tortilla! Tamalitos are steamed wrapped banana leaves filled with corn meal. Here they are cooking on the fire:
The tamalitos were a side to go with the beef... very fresh beef!
We arrived right after they slaughtered the bull. If I had seen him wag his tail, I wouldn't have been able to take these photos, but since we never met, I'm cool with it. 
They chopped the rib cage up among other things. I got to watch as they carried it off, piece by piece. 
They were so kind to us when we arrived with Domingo and his family. They treated us like special guests. They prepared us lunch. It was eggs and beans with dark corn tortillas. 
Purple tortillas are my favorite. They don't taste anything at all like the traditional corn tortillas here. The dark corn seed is hard to find or Jimmy would have planted some this last season at the institute. I want to find somewhere to by the dried corn so that I can make my own cornmeal... it isn't very common. I think this would make excellent corn bread. The regular corn meal sold here has a flavor I don't particularly care for... I know it's horrible. I feel bad for not liking something so attached to the country's identity. 
{Silas excited about lunch!}
The eggs and beans were so good. They had some type of seasoning on them that made them absolutely delicious! My boys liked them too! 

Right before it was time to walk down to the river it started to rain. 
The rain turned all the steep walking paths into sticky, slippery mud. I was holding E, and usually had one of the boys' hands as I very ungracefully made my way to the river. 
It was like a slip-n-slide made of mud and horse apples. I almost hit the ground several times. I could only imagine what the wet gringa looked like ankle deep is goop with her arms flailing in the air trying not to fall, which got me laughing... which made it even harder to balance.
Then I tried to take pictures while balancing, holding E and holding both the boys' hands to keep them from falling into the river! 
They had asked Jimmy to do the baptismal service. He was honored. 
It is really a beautiful scene. They sing hymns and choruses while people are being baptized. 
Everyone comes to the river to watch. It really is telling everyone in the village that you have put your faith in Christ and are starting a new life. 
16 believers were baptized that day!
Here is the line of people waiting to be baptized:
Jimmy prayed with each one in the water.
We were so thankful to get to be a part of such a special celebration!
Afterwards we met for prayer in the church building.

These girls came to sit next to Silas! He didn't appreciate it much.
We didn't stay for the evening service. It was several hours from our house and the service wouldn't have ended until after 10 for sure. Plus poor Domingo was very sick that day and he had traveled with us.
Before we left, they shared some of that bull with us! This tasted exactly like Jack Link's Teriyaki beef jerky. 
 The house where we ate was where the church use to meet before they had the building. 
They had beautiful visuals on the walls!
Please pray for the village of Tesuluclan Dos. Maybe one of our institute graduates will become the pastor of this church one day!

5 comments:

  1. Awesome blog. What a blessing to be a part of such a beautiful day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hey shelly just letting you know i was checking up on you this was exciting reading holly

    ReplyDelete
  3. You look like a gorgeous gringa, even if you were flailing your arms and balancing 2 kiddos.

    ReplyDelete

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