Guatemala otra vez – el dia once

This was one of the warmest days we’ve had so far. The early morning was a little on the cool side (56), but then the temperature got up to 81 today. Last night I actually had to open my window so that I could get some sleep. We had two new persons join us for prayer again this morning. Another teacher and then a student (Lutheran pastor from the States). John I think we might get that Methodist Church going at La Union after all. I think this is what they call church growth!
My class today consisted of discussing the Guatemalan government, the difficulties with the education system in Guatemala, and women’s issues in Guatemala. It was a very informative discussion. I am trying to encourage my teacher to spend as much time as possible in conversation because I can conjugate verbs when I get home, but the conversation is a little more difficult. I think most of the team members are looking forward to our time in El Salvador and are already shifting their thoughts to the experience with the pastors there.
After lunch today I had a little free time so I walked around Antigua and photographed more doors and windows. I am fascinated with the design and the colors. Every door and window is custom made so no two houses are the same.
Our activity this afternoon was a trip to San Andres where there is a church with Maximon. Maximon is a statue, but was once a man in Guatemala that combined practices of the Mayan tradition with the Catholic Church. He encouraged drinking, smoking, and prostitution. Quite an interesting church. The Catholic Church considers it to be a cult and very evil. Offerings are made to the statue of whiskey, flowers, various colors of candles depending on the type of blessing you need. While we were there, a Mayan priest was in front of the church preparing a ceremony for the fertility of a young boy. He made a circle from cubes of incense, filled the middle of the circle with wood chip type incense, poured sugar over the incense and then placed candles over the top. After lighting the offering, he placed eggs that had been rubbed over the boy around the edge of the fire. He was chanting during the entire time of preparation and offering. Another priest was anointing a taxi cab by pouring alcohol on branches and then dousing the cab by beating the branches all over the cab. On the other side of the courtyard, two young women were smoking cigars with two priestesses. I am not sure what the cigars were made of, but the intent was to have a vision of the future. Outside of the entrance to the church was a Cantina where you could buy your whiskey, cigars, candles, or anything else that you needed to seek a blessing from Maximon.
We left this site and visited a Catholic Church in San Andres. What a stark contrast! It was nice to be able to enter and actually feel as though you were in a holy place and could pray. We then returned to the school and had a brief meeting to share our thoughts and reflections. Our focus was primarily on how this experience would influence our ministry with persons from Guatemala in the future. Tomorrow we will be visiting a project for children. We hope to be able to spend a couple of hours at Mi Angel Guardián. Hopefully that will be a more uplifting experience for all of us.