Sacrifice

Today is Ash Wednesday and thus begins the season of Lent. I started giving things up for Lent in high school and have found it a great way to focus in on Easter's coming. So, this year I am giving up soda. Yes, soda. I really like soda. I often crave it. And I've somehow managed to lie to myself and half-way believe that Diet Coke is almost healthy. I don't know what it is, but if I know I have a long afternoon ahead of me at work, a Diet Coke somehow makes it better (that may have something to do with the 5-year old who I get to talk to at the bakery where I buy my Diet Coke - she's just so cute!).

Belem's mom works at the bakery across the street from Mayan Families.  Belem was one of our first friends after moving to Panajachel. We didn't have a kitchen so we would eat sandwiches at the bakery a lot, and Belem would come and color with us and teach us Spanish words for muffin and doughnut.

So, anyway...I'm going without it for 40 days. Some of you may remember that I have tried this in the past. Two different years I have tried to give up soda for Lent. Both times I have failed. But here's to getting back on the horse and trying again. I've decided to post it here so you can all keep me accountable - there's no going back now. Bring on the headaches!

All joking aside, I did choose soda because I really do want a challenge. Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever feel that our lives are almost too challenge-free? Do you ever see so many things going on around you that you realize you have no way to understand their suffering because you've never been challenged in that way before? You've never sacrificed the way they sacrifice every day?

Crecencia lost her husband to diabetes and four children in a truck crash. She then lost her home because she couldn't pay her husband's medical debt. She had to move in with her sister and family. She was recently diagnosed with cancer and although American doctors operated on her in February, they only give her 3 months to live. 

Last year when we were living in the States, we would talk about our ways of giving. We would come up with different ways that we wanted to give to people we knew were struggling or give back to our community. And then we would write a check or make a donation and go on. I found it almost too easy. I know that may not make any sense, but I wanted to suffer, to sacrifice, to give until it hurt. And, the truth is, we had enough financial cushion that we could give and it not even affect our lifestyle. And that kind of scared me. It kind of made me think that we should be giving more. Giving until it hurt. So I would go on these journeys where I would try to sacrifice something, such as Starbucks, and give that money away. But in the end, it didn't really hurt that bad anyway.

I am very thankful for the many blessings that God has given us. I don't ever want to get in this comfortable phase of life where I'm not challenged or where I'm not willing to give up ______ (insert anything here) in order to serve God and His people more fully. I want to live in a community where I know the needs around me and I respond with God's guidance, no matter how much it may hurt.

So, here's to being up for more challenges. Here's to giving beyond my comfort zone. Here's to finding the beauty that lies in sacrifice.

LEATHER SHOES

Jenny starting a weaving class a few weeks ago with one of the women from a fair trade organization.  We travel across the lake to do the class in her home.  While spending time in her town, we discovered a wonderful leather craftsman, who makes custom shoes and bags among other things.  Leather thrills me.  It takes me back to my lofty dreams of being an Indian, a lifestyle like "Sully" from Dr Quinn Medicine Woman.

So I have successfully taken a step closer to that dream!

There is a lot to do before we make our flight back home to the States, but I can't help but think and get excited to the day where I can dress up in my traditional Mayan clothing and leather shoes on the plane as I arrive back in good ole Indiana...the idea of stepping off the plane, completely un-mainstream is very intriguing to me!

Q of D

"Ambition and love are the wings to great deeds."
-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Jenny's Miss List

Here is my list of things I miss (not including any people or social activities) and I reserve the right to continue adding to this list at any time ( :

• carpet
• comfy couches that you can sink into, the kind where every square inch is covered in cushion and soft clothe (I only know three famlies here who have a couch, and they're made entirely of wood)
• convenience (this includes a microwave, coffe maker, a phone that brings my emails straight to me, being able to turn on my stove without using a match, hot water from the kitchen sink, not having to disinfect every fruit/vegetable that we consume)
• clean, drinkable water from the tap
• hot, strong pressure showers
• living in a home that is "sealed" off and does not have large cracks in the doors and roof (cracks that easily allow creatures to enter, creatures that should stay outside)
• soft, chewy cookies (every cookie I've ever had in Guate is so hard you need to dunk it in coffee - so sad)

Things I don't miss:

• mega-huge grocery stores and malls
• commuting
• TV remote controls (they make watching TV too easy, so you end up watching for so long)
• car maintenance, car insurance, buying gas
• cold weather
• the entertainment industry
• politics
• speaking English all the time
• $10 & up meals at restaurants (a nice meal here is about $4.50)
• and I definitely don't miss all my stuff back home. Thinking of the boxes of things we have stored at our parents' homes is almost ironic. I can't really remember half of the things we left behind and we obviously don't need most of those things since we're living so easily without them...hmmm

So, that's what I've got thus far. But most of all, and hardest of all, I miss friends and family. The best of both worlds: everyone come down and visit us! ( :

History of Washita

There is an episode on Dr Quinn Medicine Woman in Season 3 titled "Washita".  The episode educates viewers on the conflict between the Cheyenne Indians and US expansion (White Soldiers).  The show does a good job in general of providing perspectives to bridge understanding of cultures, but this episode in particular was very intense and saddening to realize the degree of ignorance and injustice in our history's past.

The term "Dog Soldiers" refer to the Indians who were "rebels", "extremists", or "fighters" for their people and customs. The "Dog Soldiers" are accepted by the other, traditionally peaceful, Indians only because their raids and killing of Whites provided them with food and survival. The US Army is called into the scene because of the outbreak of "Dog Soldier" raids. The scene clips are in 10 minute segments, but in this first video the important dialogues occur between the beginning until the 5 minute mark.

It is interesting to relate dialogue heard in this show from the 1990's (but set back in the mid to late 1800's) to the events and happenings of our world today. For instance, can you imagine the use of a phrase similar to "they can all burn in hell", as said by the injured railroad worker in the opening scene of the clip?  Then you have the propaganda-like comment by General Custer quoted as "enemies to our civilization".

The episode continues. In this clip, the important dialogue occurs between the 4:30 through the 10 minute time frame. 

After viewing the complete episode, Jenny turned to me and said "and the sad thing is it's true".  The killings did take place by both sides; and both sides were looking to protect their way of life.  And still today people live different "ways" of life, so were those killings worth it?  Nobody is ever going to be the same, so why do we seem to expect to be able to change the way someone lives (or think everyone should live like us?)  And more so, are unnecessary killings still occuring today due to our way of life differences?  Where are the active "Dr Quinns and Sullys" of our culture (ie seeking to bring all sides together)?

You can begin your own research on the history of Washita by clicking this Wikipedia Link

If interested, you can own your own seasons of the Dr Quinn show by clicking this Amazon Link

David's Miss-List

Last week we were relaxing and catching up from busy schedules and we came to a point of reflection thinking about the "things we miss" back home (other than family and friends).

So here's my list of "what I miss":
1) Rally's french fries
2) Paved streets
3) Not seeing stray dogs
4) Being able to shop without being "begged" to buy something
5) Convenient drinking and teeth brushing water
6) an oven and microwave for cooking (we only have a gas stove top)
7) People being on time, informally (when you say 7pm, then that likely means the person will leave to come at 7, rather than arrive at 7)

Here's my list of "what I do not miss":
1) Constant advertisements
2) Driving: I like walking and riding my bike between places, or taking a tuk-tuk
3) Cold weather
4) Humidity
5) Smart-phones (I'm coming from the perspective that they are addictive and consuming of time...I've only used a Blackberry for one year prior to moving here...I even enjoy not having the quick access to text, because it helps rely on other, more natural communication)
6) the "staples" (i.e. Milk and Gas). Since we've lived here, we've paid $0 on gas and $6 on milk!  In five months, we've bought powdered milk 3 times (we only use it for cooking and cereal, though, no drinking)
7) Traffic, construction and stop-lights (our town does not have one stop-light...everything is common sense yielding or right of way, controlled by several patrol persons on different corners throughout town).

Not that that is my list of pros and cons of living here, but it is enlightening to become aware of cultural lifestyles and weigh the options of what is actually necessary as a way of creating personal or communal change.

It was very nice to be able to watch the Superbowl last weekend, however extra difficult to see all the special landscapes of Indianapolis. It looks like it was a very well hosted event, and made me miss the old-stomping ground quite a bit.