Arrival in Guatemala

We arrived safely in Guatemala City this morning. Before leaving the airport in Houston, Felix led us in our morning devotions. He shared with us the idea of coming to Central America with two "backpacks"... one filled with the gifts of ministry we would like to share with our brothers and sisters and one empty that we could use to receive the gifts of ministry from our partners here. We learned upon arrival that today is Mother's Day in Guatemala. The streets of the city were filled with families taking advantage of the special day. We checked into our hotel and then hoped in a mini-van for an hour journey to Antigua. This was the first capital of Guatemala, but it was moved to Guatemala City after a nearby volcano errupted and destoyed a part of the city. We learned some of the history of Guatemala as we walked the streets of this "colonial" style city. We made a stop at the cathedral where we reflected on the construction of this massive edifice. It seems like human history is filled with stories of conquering powers who came and imposed their way of life and religion upon the indigenous people. In this case, the cathedral in Antigua was built on the Mayan sacred space and on top of that the indigenous people were used in forced labor to construct it. This evening after meeting with our hosts, the Ecumenical Council, we reflected once again on this type of oppression that exists in our world, but affirmed that there is hope as we heard a few Council members share how they are struggling with other historic Protestant churches and the Catholic church to promote justice and human rights in their context. We also shared two God moments that we participated during this first day ... one when Teresa and Ruth engaged with two older women simply through a smile and a mutual blessing in their own languages... in the middle of a shopping mall where we were exchanging money and when Felix and myself placed a hand of blessing on a boy who couldn't be much more than 5 years old but who was carrying a shoe shine kit trying to earn some money for himself or his family... surviving under an economic model which oppresses humans instead of serving them. We are asking God to continue to show us the way of hope.... the way of Jesus in our journey and through the ministries of our partners that we will discover this week.
Bob Shebeck