Missionary Church

Last night I went to a supper for missionaries organised by the Central church of the Assemblies of God in Guatemala city. There were loads of people there - lots of missionaries - in various stages of being sent or returning - most of them supported in one way or another by the central church - as well as lots of people who were involved in missions committees, intercessory prayer groups and financial supporters. The vast majority were Guatemalan, and were missionaries to other nations (India, Spain....) and to unreached and rural communities within Guatemala. There was also a group of young people from the church who were planting a church in a community outside of the city which has no other evangelical witness. I was really inspired to see such a church so enthusiastic about missions, and successfully teaching and involving their own young people in missions on their doorstep.
(The food wasn't bad either!!)

Rainy season

It's the rainy season at the moment - which means that it's usually sunny in the mornings and then buckets it down in the afternoons. Apparently this year Guatemala has had more rain up til now (June) - than it usually has up until September!

There have been several communities that have been badly affected by flash floods, and 80 people are missing after part of the city rubbish dump collapsed due to the rain, burying those who lived and worked on the dump - sorting through the rubbish to survive. Life can definitely be very precarious here.

Bananas

I've been reading a book called 'Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World' by Peter Chapman (published by Canongate Books Ltd). It's basically a history of the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita Fruit) - but is actually very readable and even funny! In many senses it also serves as a history of Central America - as the company has had such a huge part to play in the 'development' and politics of several Central American countries - and particularly Guatemala. They were the reason why the phrase 'Banana Republic' was coined; they owned / appropriated vast amounts of land here, payed virtually no tax, and their workers a pittance, and when the government questioned the morality of this, the Company successfully led or manipulated a military coup in 1954, in order to maintain the grip they had on the country (and this seemed to be one of the factors which led to the civil war starting in 1960 and which lasted 36years). Add to that an invasion of Honduras, strong involvement in the Bay of Pigs Crisis, CIA operatives, a brief visit from Che Guevara, a Wall Street takeover gone bad, and the suicide of the Company's CEO in 1975, and it leaves you with a rollercoaster read - all the more disturbing because it's true.
More worrying still is that the United Fruit Company became the template for corporate politics, and it's practices continue to be the echoed in todays world of globalization and multi-national corporations.
If you have yet to be convinced about Fair Trade and Organic bananas, you'll definitely be persuaded after reading this book. I'd highly recommend it.

PS. Apparently if you wipe the inside of a banana skin on a mosquito bite, then it stops itching!

Ami San Lucas - San Juan La Laguna

The last couple of days I've been visiting the work of Ami San Lucas (Associacion Medica Integral) which works in San Juan La Laguna and several other communities around it. Their vision is for community development which is both sustainable and integral - intergrated into the community. And they believe in 'multiplying ministries' - so they work with community leaders, churches, teachers - all of whom can extend the work to a wider group.
They have an ongoing health promotors training programme, a basic health education programme within local schools, and are beginning to train teachers about the theme of prevention of child abuse.

They are also working with communities regarding agricultural systems. I visited one part of San Juan which had virtually been washed away by Hurricane Stan in 2005.

This picture might look like a dry river bed - but it's actually never been a river - but these huge boulders were washed down the mountain during the Hurricane. Many homes - and entire crops were washed away, leaving many families with no home and no source of income for the future.

Ami San Lucas (supported by Tearfund) were able to provide families with a young Bull each (!), and lend them money to build stables for them. They feed the bulls with grass and local shrubs, which doesn't cost them anything, but they are able to sell the resulting manure (or use it on their own crops) and then sell the bulls for twice the cost of buying a new young bull to start the process again. This programme has enabled many families to feed themselves and develop their crops again.

Ami San Lucas are now working at getting local committees together in order to design emergency plans for natural disasters, so that communities are able to respond quickly and effectively when disasters occur or to change situations so that they are less vulnerable to their effects. In the future, they would also like to look at environmental effects of their communities and initiate projects which would help communities to protect their immediate environment, and prevent pollution.

Atitlan Nature Reserve

With the group, we were staying at the Nature Reserve outside Panajachel - an incredibly beautiful spot, with a private beach on the lake, a nature trail through the forest up to a huge waterfall (the photo doesn't do it justice!) and a zip wire back down (it started to rain and thunder and lightning when I was due to do it ... boo hooo - next time!!), and lots of animals.....

Chichicastenango

Last week, I was with the Latin Venture group and we visited the market in Chichicastenango, so here's a few pictures for you.

Outside the museum there is a whole wall of murals depicted various aspects of Guatemalan life, which is really interesting - and at times sobering.

This one shows a typical scene from the civil war (1960 -1996) when many indigenous villages were massacred and burnt to the ground by the army

This ones depicts the church at Chichicastenango -and the traditional dance / swing - when men (usually after consuming a lot of alcohol) climb to the top of the 'maypole' type thing, tie themselves on and they then swing around as they are lowered to the ground.

Maize - harvesting, roasting, grinding - before they use the flour to make tortillas.

Traditional weaving techniques. Most of the textiles here are still made by hand.

My House

A few of you have been asking about my house - so here's a few pictures. I did make a little video tour of the house - but it took forever to upload to you'll have to be satisfied with the photos instead - Sorry.

Messages from God

Around Guatemala city over the last couple of weeks I've noticed several messages from God! They have appears on large bill boards around the city (Is that the modern equivalent for Balaam's donkey??), and have been short - but not so sweet.

'Que parte de 'No debes', no entendiste..Dios'
(what part of 'do not..', don't you understand.. God)

'No me hagas bajar ....Dios'
(Don't let me down. God).

'Recuerdes mi 7mo mandamiento.... No Robaras..... Dios'
(Do you remember my 7th commandment.... Do not steal...... God')

The cynical part of me can just imagine some church leader (or advertising director??) thinking that this would be a great way of bringing people to God, and maybe getting a kick out of signing off as God.
But another part of me feels really annoyed that when they chose to speak on God's behalf, they thought the most important message from Him should be one of condemnation - in the tone of voice of a parent telling off a naughter child.

On the other hand, I have been reading 'Intelligent Church' by Steve Chalke and Antony Watkis which has really inspired me. They talk about churches who strive to be inclusive, welcoming to all and generous - and as a result are 'messy'! Where people with 'mess' actually feel welcome and loved rather than embarrassed by the mess that they bring with them, or even outright excluded because of it.
'Generous churches see the good in others and respond with a spirit of kindness and open-handedness rather than judgement. Generous churches sees a person's potential before they see a person's problems. Generous churches acknowledge the issue of sin in each individual's life, but they do so within the context of recognising their own daily battle in this area......A generous church..... as a group of beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.'
This is the sort of church I want to be a part of.