A week
earlier, some visiting friends from Arizona, Bill and Eileen Estle, and I shared
the movie, Hope, in the village Las
Ruinas. I asked the pastor of the church
if there were any other villages close by that he thought would be open to
viewing the movie. He told me about this village about 5 minutes away, Las Vegas, and I
said I would like to go.
So, the
following Saturday I recharged the battery of the projection unit , loaded up
my gear and headed out to pick up Pastor Roberto in Las Ruinas. This village is a 30 minute
drive - about 10 minutes on pavement and 20 minutes on a rough gravel road. Las Vegas was, supposedly, only 5 minutes further down the road. When I was at this village the previous week, the pastor had asked me for some medication for his wife, a Quekchi Bible, a new roof for his house and 100 plastic chairs for his growing church. This is pretty typical. Wherever I go there are needs! I was able to meet the first two needs of which he and his wife were very grateful. The latter two I had to put on the long list that grows every time I go to a village to show a film. I would so like to help everyone with everything, but sometimes I help in part and leave the rest to the Lord.
I picked up Pastor
Roberto and his son and we continued down the gravel road, past his community,
Las Ruinas, towards Las Vegas, deep in the beautiful Guatemalan landscape. “Should be there soon,” I thought but I always
get this strange feeling when someone here says “no esta lejos, hermano, solo 5
minutos en caro.” The gravel road came
to an end and we started working our way down a narrow dirt road. I could tell
by the lack of vehicle tracks that this was definitely “the road less
travelled.” This is the dry season in
Guatemala and it was obvious that the trail we were on would only passable
during this time. There were all kinds of dried up mud holes, ruts, and scarey
wooden creek crossings. We came to a small active creek and the pastor got out
and guided me across the planks and wood that had been used to build a
makeshift bridge. I sure was glad they
have an abundance of hardwoods in this area!
Some men
from the village had walked to the “bridge” just in case we had any problems. I
was a little afraid to ask how much farther because I already knew his response
would be “just another 5 minutes.” We
arrived in Las Vegas 30 minutes later, but on Guatemala time this IS only 5
minutes. Few of the people here have watches or are able to estimate time
accurately according to a clock system.
We pulled up
in front of a small wooden church. It is always very humbling to see the
“places of worship” in these small villages. On one side there were a few rough-cut benches
on the dirt floor and the other side was filled with gravel in hopes that one
day they would be able to put a concrete floor in their church. I suggested we
set up outside and they agreed. I hung
up my large sheet on the side of the building and they brought some kid sized
chairs from the small thatched-roof school house down the road. It wasn’t quite
dark yet so I took the opportunity to “communicate” with the men of the
village. Las Vegas has no electricity
and during this time of year their well dries up. They have no work near the
village but family has a small plot of land where they grow corn to sustain
themselves. The two things they needed most in their village were a well for
water and a larger building to have
church. I presented the pastor with a
new Quekchi Bible and the expression on his face was priceless. He was so
grateful for this simple gift, he could hardly contain himself (I f you would
like to provide bibles for pastors, please let me know. Less than 12 dollars a
piece!)
After the
movie the pastor prayed with the people and we packed up. What a joy it is to see the Lord at work in
the hearts of these wonderful people.
We loaded
into the Pathfinder and headed for home. “Ya, only 5 minutes to home,” I said
to myself, as I put it in 4 wheel drive and turned on the headlights.
No comments:
Post a Comment