Offering Some Encouragement

Thursday night we were invited to the village of Nueva Jerusalen La Laguna to attend a special service for the women.  The village is about an hour away.  The pastor and another man met us at the store in La Torre to show us the way.  He wanted us to be there at 3:00.  Why so early? We didn't know other than the fact that they wanted to spend the afternoon visiting with us (the service was scheduled for 7:00).  When we arrived we spent about thirty minutes in the pastor's house with him and his family.  They served us a cup of coffee, a store bought cookie, and a can of Super Cola. 

The church and pastor's house

David, Cruz, and the pastor- Bro. Luis outside of the church.  There are 24 families living in this small village.

This is the church sign, and the way most of them look at K'ekchi' churches.  It says Nazareth Baptist Church in the village of Nueva Jerusalen, La Laguna

Instead of lace fabric (like most churches) they used this platic Christmas table cloth to hang from the ceiling for decoration

Soon afterwards we walked to a neighbor's house to eat.  The treasurer of the women's group served us a meal.  We had fried chicken, black beans, tortillas, and Pepsi. 

me with Dominga (the treasurer)

Some of the others that helped prepare our meal.  They held Cruz in the kitchen while we ate.

We spent the rest of the afternoon back at the pastor's house visiting with him, his wife, and his kids.  It turned out to be fun just hanging out with them and seeing how they live and interact.  It was also a long language lesson for us, which was good.   We ate again- caldo with chicken, tortillas, and coffee,with the pastor's family before the service.

David and Cruz outside of the pastor's house

Three of the pastor's seven kids.  The oldest is 17 and the youngest is 3 months.

inside of their house 

a typical K'ekchi' bed

the bathroom- it was not built for tall people!

the pastor's kitchen

Most K'ekchi' homes are two seperate buildings.  One building is where they all sleep and the other is where they cook and eat. 

their stove

All cooking is done over an open fire.  Here the pastor's wife, Esperanza, is making our tortillas.  In the black pots are our caldo and coffee.  If you look closely you can see her in the background.  She has her baby strapped over her head and carrying her on her back.  She held the baby this way the whole time she cooked.  You can also see the baby's little foot hanging out. 

Here are a few more photos we took before the service began- 

The 7:00 service started promptly at 7:35, ha.  Being there that long really wore Cruz out.  By the time the service started he was TIRED.  All he wanted was his mama and to nurse.  I was exhausted having to hold him that long, and he would not go to sleep.  It ended around 9:30.

The purpose of the service was to encourage the women.  There were a few men there, but mostly the church was filled with females.  They asked me to lead the hymns and David shared some scripture and his testimony. 

Once the service ended we were invited back to the pastor's home to pray for his family.  He told us that he was leaving the church at the end of the month and taking some time off.  We realized then that our day was not just to encourage the women but to spend time with and encourage this pastor as well.  He will be returning to his home village of Se' Tul.  We had a time of prayer over them and they all but begged us to stay the night.  We felt bad to leave, but didn't go prepared to stay.  We returned home around 11:00, very tired, but happy for the time we had spent with them.  Please keep this pastor and his family in your prayers.