Renzo visits Viña, takes steps to recovery

Recovery for Renzo, Viña Studios’ smooth radio voice and administrative assistant, may take some time. I hope his doctors and government insurance will realize just how long he needs.

Yesterday, Renzo and his father visited Viña’s offices for about a half hour in the morning, greeting the staff here and handling insurance issues. Since leaving the hospital Saturday, just one week after his scary accident while riding a public bus, Renzo has been at his family’s home down the hill in Panajachel.

His doctor wrote a letter stating Renzo will need two weeks to recover, beginning April 22, noting Renzo suffered a blow to the head, a fractured skull and subcranial bleeding. Frankly, I find the doctor’s two-week recovery recommendation astonishing. I wouldn’t be surprised if he misses three months of work. I missed a month of work in 1997 after I was hospitalized three days with viral meningitis, but my case wasn’t nearly as severe as Renzo’s. I didn’t have a fractured skull or subcranial bleeding.

I didn’t see Renzo yesterday as I was home caring for my amoebas, but friends who did say he appeared quite weak. His desire to regain health and return to normal work duties as soon as possible is obvious, they said. He will tell you he’s fine, but he appears to have been dealt a severe blow. Which, in fact, he has! Renzo appears to have issues with his balance, speaking, memory, concentration and energy. All of these may be normal for someone with his injuries.

Guatemala’s social security system pays injured workers about one third of their salary and conducts a review, recommending how quickly they may return to work. In Renzo’s case, Viña will be working to help make up the difference.

To hear Renzo’s smooth radio voice follow this link to Viña’s website and click to play the small black triangle beside each of these clips: Novedades Betzy, Viña Training Workshop and Zapatería Rikely. Please continue to pray for Renzo’s recovery and for God’s hand on his life.

Garlic, the wonder drug, takes on gut bugs

I’m back on my gut pills, only this time, they’re all natural — garlic that is. My mouth and body odor may suffer as a result, but I’m willing to try nature’s remedies. To my way of thinking, garlic’s special powers are a gift from God, useful to his creatures.

“Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness,” Psalm 107:8,9.

Raw garlic, it turns out, is a natural antibiotic, killing bad bacteria, parasites and other things while letting one’s helpful, food-processing bacteria live to not see another day. Elena, my Ukranian sister-in-law, has praised garlic’s powers, but until recently I never paid her counsel any attention.

After taking powerful antibiotics a month ago, however, and wiping out the “good guys” inside, I felt ready to try something else. Desperation requires desperate measures, even if it means listening to one’s sister-in-law! Besides, those pills which done me wrong cost about $20, while a bulb of garlic costs just 13 cents. So I searched around on the Internet, and viola! I found numerous articles lauding garlic’s virtues.

One article claims, “Garlic has antibiotic, antiparasitic, antimicrobial, anticarcinogenic, antispasmodic and anticoagulant properties.” Another adds, “This versatile herb helps reduce cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure, thins the blood to prevent heart attacks and strokes, acts as an expectorant and decongestant to help prevent chronic bronchitis, fights infections and strengthens the immune system.” A recent scientific study even found garlic effective against “superbugs” which are resistant to man-made antibiotics. One outlandish claim sounds a bit vampish to me: supposedly blood from a garlic eater can kill bacteria.

The evidence seemed overwhelming, and I decided to put my mouth where my thinking was. My first attempt nearly ended disastrously, however. I popped a big clove in my mouth and started chewing. Aaaaaaah! Fire! Fire! My tongue and the inside of my mouth burned like hell. Perhaps it was a warning, a foretaste to scare me from God’s wrath. I quickly swallowed it, only to find it burned all the way down and nearly incinerated my stomach.

Nausea overtook me and I quickly laid down on my bed. When several minutes of that didn’t cool the flames, I sat on the floor and put my head between my knees. Even then the urge was nearly irresistible to send that garlic back from whence it came.

Nowadays, I take it slower. I’ll nibble off bits of a clove as I eat my meal. For breakfast, I chop a clove into small pieces and put them in my oatmeal. During the day, I take a couple of garlic cloves with me in my pocket to eat with lunch or dinner.

Wouldn’t you know, the other evening when I decided to try out the churrascos in the evening market they weren’t there. So, I decided to try the tacos. It had been a while since I’d eaten Guatemalan tacos. What could it hurt? Well, I got my answer. Tacos spell trouble around here, unfortunately.

I usually eat lunch with good results inside the town’s market. The market has many little cafe stalls, where each one has two long, narrow tables, and locals crowd around them in close proximity. Passing between the two benches in the middle to pay or leave often requires one to excuse oneself many times, saying, “con permiso” to get through.

I enjoy eating there. A lunch and a drink costs about $1.50, and there’s usually lots of people there, plus four or five friendly cooks and waitresses in a kitchen with floor space of about six feet by four feet. The $1.50 price may seem cheap, but there are guys at Viña Studios where I’m volunteering who bring their own lunch because the $1.50 is “too expensive.”

Anyway, I’m back eating my garlic in earnest. If you see me sometime, you’ll have to excuse my pungent garlic odor.

* For more information, try this well-written overview of garlic’s benefits, or this from a “Healing Herbs” website.

**I could not find anything written in the Bible for or against garlic. The only mention comes in Numbers 11:5 when the Jews, whom God has miraculously delivered from Egypt, recall their former diet of fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic — coveting them and complaining about manna in the desert.

Dr. Mao, it turns out, has some good things to say about garlic:

Salvation in the malls

Just came across a BBC news story: Indonesian Christians 'seeking salvation in shops,' on Muslim intimidation of Christians, forcing them to seek safer places to worship.

The Muslims are upset because almost all Indonesian churches are illegal, but to become legal the churches need 90 signatures from their non-Christian (read Muslim) neighbors. Ummmm. Any guesses who wrote that law?

Beggars, Samaritans & unlovelies test love

What comes to mind when you see a beggar? Are you drawn to him or repulsed?

Our discussion this morning at an English-speaking worship service down the hill in Panajachel touched on this subject. Ron, a friendly guy from Goldendale, Wash., serving at the nearby “Eagle’s Nest” orphanage, invited me along.

Our Bible study began in John 4, where Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman. Jews and Samaritans didn’t mix socially. Here, Ladinos (of Spanish and mixed race) and Mayans often have similar problems. Americans in our group struggle with how to relate to beggars.

Two female beggars come by the house here daily. Initially, both repulsed me, especially the one who is less polite and more insistent. Marcia, the wife of the couple who rents the house, has taken on a “mission of mercy” to these ladies, feeding them, buying clothes and even washing clothes (when she realized the “rag lady” was discarding dirty clothes and had no place to wash them). Both beggars are probably at least 50, maybe 60.

Since Matt and Marcia are gone for a while, I’ve had to answer the evening doorbell (it rings in my apartment behind the house as well as inside the house). Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:31-46 convicted me and helped change my attitude toward them somewhat. Sometimes I have some extra beans and tortillas, or an extra cup of coffee and a sweet bread.

Last night, I ate street food in the park (tacos and a “gringa”) so I didn’t have any leftovers at the house. When the rag lady rang later, I offered her a large mango, not thinking about how she would eat it; these must be peeled and sliced with a knife. Later, I remembered that she only has a couple of front upper teeth. I suppose if she were starving she might have figured out a way to eat it, but today’s discussion made me think of her: Did I give her something useful?

Sometimes our gift to someone may be time. In my case, I could have paused to slice the mango. Sometimes it’s unwise to hand money to someone; it may be better to go with them and buy them a bit of food.

Last week, the rag lady, who has unusual social habits, saw me in the market, smiled and said, “Hola amigo!” A female Kaqchikel vegetable merchant heard it, laughed and began to mock me and the rag lady. “Amigo,” she repeated derisively, laughing. It felt a bit uncomfortable. Jesus, however, was unashamed to speak with the Samaritan woman, revealing to her his true identity while veiling it from the “wise, respectable ”Pharisees who were blinded by pride.

“I who speak to you am (the Messiah),” he told the woman in John 4:26. Later, in John 10:24, the disbelieving Jews surround Jesus and ask, “How long will you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” He didn’t speak to them in the same way because of their hard hearts.

May God grant us grace to look beyond the package people may come in and love them as Christ calls us to, while also being discerning and “wise as serpents” toward wolves.

Viña employee released from hospital

Renzo, our injured co-worker at Viña Studios, was released from the hospital today, one week to the day after he suffered a frightening head injury aboard a public bus, originally reported to us as a motorcycle accident.

Edgar, Viña’s operations manager, visited Renzo again this morning at La Democracia Hospital in Quetzaltenango. He tells me he spoke with Renzo for quite a while. Renzo is walking and talking normally, and appeared to be doing much better, although it may be several weeks or longer before Renzo can return to work.

Thank you very much for your prayers. Please continue to pray for his healing.

Kidnapped man released without bloodshed

Tumult returned to Sololá Thursday after a local man was kidnapped and held for ransom before being released the next day. His captors demanded 500,000 quetzales (nearly $70,000), threatening to kill him, according to Guatemalan newspapers, La Prensa Libre and Nuestro Diaro.

Alerted by family members, local Mayan leaders rose up, gathering about 2,000 townspeople from the hills above Sololá Thursday evening. They captured three men known to be part of a band of kidnappers. Townspeople roughed up the men and took them to a school, where they spent the night. The next morning, they captured a fourth member of the band.

On Friday, 59 rural village mayors gathered with a huge crowd and presented the four alleged kidnappers to the National Civil Police, who refused to take any action without a judge’s order. At 3 p.m. yesterday, the victim was released from another location, apparently by other members of the band of kidnappers. About three hours later, locals released the four crooks.

We heard about the kidnappings yesterday around noon when Jose, Viña’s creative director, received a phone call, during a meeting two hours from here. On the way home in a chicken bus, Jose and I happened to pass by a large crowd of villagers, gathered by the highway with numerous police vehicles present. We couldn’t tell what exactly was happening, but rumors were swirling last evening, some saying locals had lynched four kidnappers.

In February, locals gathered about 20,000 to 25,000 people here in a soccer stadium, demanding officials take action to stop a wave of kidnappings, threatening to take matters into their own hands. Within hours, they burned several houses, cars and businesses owned by the kidnappers.

I’m happy to hear things were settled peacefully yesterday, without bloodshed. Please pray for God’s peace on Guatemala. To see a photo of the alleged kidnappers and practice your Spanish, reading the news in La Prensa Libre, click here.

Today’s papers were dominated by news of a fight between national and city police in Guatemala City after national police arrested a city police officer who had run over a citizen. City police overwhelmed the four national police and managed to free their buddy. It’s dismaying to see such little respect for the rule of law.

Here’s a cartoon from today's Prensa Libre, showing the fight as crooks look on, cheering, "Hit him. Hit him hard."

Plane takes off, lands safely ... without me

United Airlines Flight 808 flew out of Guatemala City at 7:35 a.m. Thursday without me, later landing safely in Los Angeles.

I was supposed to be on the plane, but given the number of my unfinished work projects here at Viña Studios and encouragement back home to go ahead and extend my stay, I decided to stay on here at least through early June — at which time my plane ticket expires.

I’d appreciate your prayers for Guatemala, the church here, Viña Studios and my work. Working here at Viña has been interesting and challenging. Please pray for grace, wisdom, holiness and unity for Viña’s 12 employees, other volunteers and myself (Gal. 4:19). Thank you. God hears the prayers of His saints, receiving them as an aromatic incense (Rev. 5:8).

I hope and pray God blesses and uses my time here for His glory, and causes His church to grow in knowledge and understanding of His Word. I believe He will. He has promised it.

“For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea,” Isaiah 11:9.

Q’eqchí Catholics to begin Scripture recording

Some 27 enthusiastic Q’eqchí Catholics turned out for a two-day “casting” session Monday and Tuesday in Cobán, reports Carlos, Viña Studio’s director of Scripture recordings who returned to Sololá Wednesday evening.

Within three weeks, their voices will assume the roles of Jesus, Mary, the Pharisees, the Apostle Paul and the other New Testament figures for a dramatized Scripture recording, sponsored by Albuquerque, N.M.-based Faith Comes By Hearing. Beginning May 12, Carlos and another Viña Studios' recording technician, Isidro, will begin the six-to-eight-week recording process.

Bible translators and others have found that audio Scriptures more effectively reach the heart of oral societies such as Guatemala’s 21 Mayan language groups.

Each reader who attended the reading test received a Q’eqchí Bible as a gift from the Guatemalan Bible Society, which cheered the group. The Bible was printed in April, 2006.

The Q’eqchí’s, which number more than 500,000, are known to use their language proudly and have the reputation for being more literate than most other Mayans. During the reading tests, however, Carlos found many who struggled to read the written text, as is common in predominantly oral societies.

Although the Q’eqchí Catholic church, to date, does not have a literacy program, those who came to read had learned on their own. When Carlos asked what led them to learn to read their language, they told him they did it because they value their language.

This will be the first recording Viña has done of a Catholic New Testament, which may include some differences from other versions. Catholics include the Apocrypha as part of their Old Testament, books the Protestant Bible does not accept. There may be some challenges for the two groups as Viña’s employees are evangelical. After the group prayed together this week, for example, Carlos said one of the group noticed that he did not make the sign of the cross and asked him about it.

Please pray for God’s grace on the recording process, that the Q’eqchí readers would use the next few weeks to familiarize themselves with their assigned texts and that God’s Word would accomplish His purposes and draw people to Himself.

If you're interested in learning more about the Q’eqchís here's a link to an informative website hosted by the National Museum of the American Indian where you can see and hear Q’eqchís speaking their language and learn about their origins, community, rituals, family and more.

Spiritual buffalo ... a Native American metaphor

I came across this tonight on Christian singer Sara Groves website. She is a talented, thoughtful singer, and I found her thoughts provocative.

Sara Groves on her 'Spiritual Buffalo' ...

There is a scene in the movie Dances with Wolves where the Sioux are on a much anticipated buffalo hunt. As they come up over a hill, they are shocked to see a field full of buffalo carcasses. The tragedy of that moment is that where the Sioux use every piece of the buffalo—the bladder holds water, the bone makes a tool, the skin is a covering for a tent- whoever has done this has taken the best part of the buffalo for himself and has left everything else to waste. There is no way to make good use of all that is lying in this field.

I was so convicted when I went to Africa that I am not using all of my spiritual buffalo. I have developed this one side of my personal relationship with God. I go to church, I have incredible worship, and I listen to incredible speakers. I have money to buy devotionals, and leisure time to do those devotionals. I have spent a lifetime grooming a personal faith in Christ, but have I been taking the best piece of the buffalo for myself? There has been a joy in discovering the good use of my life. There is a reciprocal redemption that happens when we enter into stories of helping our neighbor—not just around the world, but in our own communities. When I came home from Africa, instead of feeling guilty for my life, I began to hear God in a very clear way say, ‘that thing carries water, that thing makes a tool, that is covering for a tent.’ There is a beauty to the good use of a life, and to the acknowledgment that everything you have and do has a Kingdom purpose.

** If you want to read this from the source, go here. It's at the bottom of the page.

Viña employee continues to improve

We received more good news today about Viña Studios' employee Renzo, who was seriously injured Saturday in a bus accident. Edgar, Viña's operations manager, spoke with Renzo's father who reports that Renzo continues to improve.

Renzo is still in La Democracia Hospital in Quetzaltenango, but he is eating again and talking. Doctors have cleared him to return home this Friday. We don't know whether he's walking yet.

Renzo's head was injured by a blow received when a heavy construction loader crashed into the bus in which he was traveling asleep to Quetzaltenango for a class. The injury required more than 30 stitches to patch up. Please remember Renzo in prayer, especially for protection against infection and that he'll return to good health.

Rural road to Uspantán a bit dicey

Here are a few photos from our road trip last week with the St. Louis team. These are from the highway between San Cristobal Verapaz and Uspantán. Road construction seems to be underway in many places across Guatemala. I was happy Rick had a four-wheel-drive vehicle, and I'm glad we chose to go the back way to Chichicastenango. The deep canyons, green hills and rugged terrain did our hearts good.

In case you were wondering, yes, this is a two-way highway. Drivers have to be ready to back up to a wide spot if someone comes from the other direction.

A happy hospital visit in Xela

I can’t tell you how happy I was to see Renzo today, conscious and speaking with family and friends, especially after learning more details of the accident. Another centimeter and Renzo might not be here, certainly not without serious injury to his brain.

Brother Edgar, Viña Studio’s operations manager, invited me to join him this morning and go visit Renzo. We boarded a “Flor del Paisaje” bus at 6:30 a.m. for the two-hour-and-15-minute journey to “Xela” (pronounced SHAY-la) or Quetzaltenango.

The way our bus driver was driving, I was wondering how it would look if we wound up in the hospital, too. I often seem to find the most aggressive bus drivers, passing trucks, cars and other buses to fetch the most passengers.

After a quick breakfast in Xela, we found our way to La Democracia Hospital, a privately-run, three-story medical facility. We met his father there who invited us in to see Renzo.

I didn’t know what to expect, but it was such a relief to see him lift his head, look at me and say my name. His head has at least one large gash on the top and left side, which is stitched up with more than 30 stitches, plus a cut over his left eye.

I hesitate to say the latest version of the accident because it always seems to change the next time I hear it, but what I heard today was frightening and made me give thanks to God all the more that he is alive.

Apparently, Renzo had fallen asleep in the bus while it was driving through a construction zone. (Traffic here doesn’t pay much attention to construction zones. Cars and buses race to pass each other almost just as if there aren’t workers nearby.) Anyway, a large piece of machinery, a scoop of some kind, was working there — moving or stationary, I don’t know — and the scoop collided with the bus as it wove through the area, likely traveling faster than it should have been.

Apparently, that’s what hit the bus, tearing into it and hitting Renzo’s head. The collision caused a depression in the left side of his skull, on which doctors operated Saturday and Sunday, possibly to relieve pressure on the brain and to position the bones as they should be. His brain was not injured, doctors said, though it would have been if the depression had been even a slight bit more.

While visitors were in his room yesterday, Renzo tore loose from a restraint, binding his wrists and ripped the bandages off his head. They had to restrain him and call for help before a doctor came to administer a sedative.

Today, Renzo appeared a bit sluggish and in pain, but he was smiling faintly and greeting visitors, including his pastor and the pastor’s wife who prayed over him (pictured in photo) and brought a gift of money from the church to help cover any expenses.

So far, it appears the highway construction company is covering the costs for Renzo’s medical care. Lawyers representing the bus company and the construction company had argued over who is responsible, and Renzo’s father had to sign some papers under much pressure, but it appears most costs will be covered.

During our visit, Edgar and I and Renzo’s father prayed over Renzo, thanking God for sparing his life and for the good results from the surgeries. I’m not sure when he may be able to leave the hospital, but I imagine he will be there for at least several more days.

Please pray for Renzo’s healing and protection against any infections, and for God’s hand on his life. Obviously, God is at work in his life. Thank you.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope — Jeremiah 29:11

...being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ — Philippians 1:6

Update on employee’s condition

SOLOLÁ — We received some good news about Renzo this evening.

He was not riding his motorcycle. He had taken a bus to his class in Quetzaltenango, about an hour away. While en route, on the Pan-American Highway, the bus — which was apparently traveling at an excessive speed — skidded and crashed into a piece of heavy machinery.

As seems to be the case all over Guatemala, road crews were busy widening the highway. Huge pavers, trucks and back-hoes can be seen at many points widening and paving the highways. The stoppages make bus drivers impatient. Passengers don’t pay by the hour.

Apparently, Renzo was thrown around by the crash, injuring his head. He was the only one seriously injured. Doctors sewed up the cuts on his head with more than 30 stitches. Renzo is conscious, recognizes people and feels pain — apparently quite a bit of pain because I’m told he’s shouting and crying out a lot. He has been transferred to a private hospital in Quetzaltenango, where he should receive better care. The bus company is covering the costs because the driver was at fault.

To be honest, I feel very relieved to know he’s in pain. At least, he’s alive and has hope of recovery. When I heard “motorcycle accident” and “skull surgery,” I feared the worst. Please continue to pray for his recovery. Thank you.

Viña employee involved in motorcycle crash

A Viña Studios employee has had a serious accident on his motorcycle sometime today while he was traveling on the Pan-American highway to Quetzaltenango for some classes.

His name is Renzo, and he is in the hospital in Totonicapán. I've spoken with two Viña employees about him. Apparently, doctors at the hospital in Totonicapán performed surgery on his skull this afternoon. His parents and some Viña employees have gone to the hospital (about an hour away) to visit him, but doctors wouldn't let anyone in but his father. Depending on his status, they may try to transfer him to a hospital in Guatemala City, a two-hour trip.

Renzo is a really nice guy, well-liked by the staff at Viña. About a month ago, he traveled with me to Nebaj, when I first began my trips around Guatemala, doing research and developing contacts for Viña.

He has a background in radio, and has an excellent radio voice. When he had the opportunity to serve the Lord with his talents, he came to work at Viña sometime in the last year or two. Renzo is single and does not have a family, but lives with his parents down the hill in Panajachel. Please remember him in prayer. Thank you.

Touring the highlands seeking partnerships

When Aaron expressed his frustration at seeing translated Bibles sitting unused on bookshelves in Africa, I began to expect great things for last week’s travels.

It was our first evening together, and that’s exactly the kind of problem Viña Studios hopes to address. Viña provides oral teaching tools, audio Scriptures and vernacular media for non-literate people.

Aaron and Ryan had just arrived from St. Louis, Mo., where they are members of the South County Christian Center. Their church sent them to scout out possible ministry partnerships with Viña, Guatemalan churches and other ministry workers here.

Aaron is a well-traveled evangelist, and Ryan is the church youth pastor. We were blessed to be joined by Chris, who works for SIL International and a partner group, The Seed Co., facilitating partnerships. They all flew home this morning. In less than three months, on July 8, South County plans to bring a team of 36 people, many high school and college age, to Guatemala for a week of ministry.

Viña Studios’ leadership hopes to develop partnerships with churches such as South County and other ministries here to help produce, promote and use its “Deditos” finger-puppet videos, among other vernacular materials. The videos are designed to fill a gap in Christian education, relating Bible stories in an attractive format for children. Mayan churches have virtually no Sunday school or discipleship materials in their mother tongues, and children, unfortunately, are often neglected by the churches.

The “Deditos” videos, each accompanied by five Sunday school lessons, can serve as a tool to help build a Christian worldview, teaching children to fear (or honor in the biblical sense) the one true God and love Him as their creator and savior.

Producing one video costs between $15,000 and $20,000. Beyond that, the videos must be dubbed into the indigenous languages — Guatemala has 21 Mayan languages, in addition to Garifuna along the coast. There is a lot involved and Viña needs lots of help.

By developing partnerships, Viña’s leadership hopes to find the funding required to develop, produce and distribute the videos. Beyond this, however, Viña hopes to develop the relationships and commitments from Guatemalan church leaders necessary to implement their use. Viña is not interested in developing another product that looks great on the shelf, but never gets used, says Viña’s Chairman of the Board Rick McArthur in so many words. The hope is that it will bring blessing, growth and maturity to Guatemala’s church. In a country where half the population is 18 years old and younger, it’s an important audience.

This past week’s ministry tour took us across Guatemala’s midsection, circling the highlands to meet a variety of people who minister and work among Guatemala’s Mayan peoples.

Our tour took us from Kekchí territory in Cobán to Pokomchí country in San Cristobal Verapaz then to K’ekchí land in Chichicastenango and finally to Kaqchiquel terra firma in Sololá. I had gone ahead of the team, meeting with several, but not all, of our contacts to set up the meetings.

In Cobán, we were privileged to meet with Fran Eachus, a cheerful woman who has worked among the Kekchí (also spelled Q’eqchí) Mayans for 50 years, translating the whole Bible. She has written a well-received biography, A Cup of Good Water, which you can purchase through Amazon.com

We also met some missionary couples who represent charismatic and Baptist churches. We encountered a variety of ministry philosophies, meeting some who serve as background support and others who continue to play pivotal roles in the church; some who offer Christian materials at discounted rates, others who provide things such as food and clothes at no charge.

One future partner may be the Hands of Jesus and its feeding program. At three sites around Chichicastenango, the ministry feeds 2,000 children once each week. Prior to the meal, employees show Spanish-language Christian videos, telling Bible stories. They don’t have any videos in Kiché, the local language, but Viña hopes to dub the “Deditos” videos into Kiché, once we get funding and work out some other logistics. (One video can be dubbed for about $2,500 to $5,000. If you’re interested in contributing you can use a web-based form or contact Viña directly.)

Just outside of Chichicastenango, we met John Harvey, founder of ASELSI, a Bible institute and medical clinic. Prior to that, we met Bill Vasey, a Primitive Methodist missionary, who translated the Bible into the Kiché dialect of Joyabáj and started a Christian school in his home.

In Coban, James Wiseman, a missionary with the Assemblies of God, regaled us with stories of his sweat and toil to reach remote Kekchí villages — one which took him eight hours to reach by car and on foot, leaving him covered with mud and filth; visiting the same village by plane takes just seven minutes. Yes, you read that right: seven minutes.

Another church volunteer with the Southern Baptists, Jeff Thomas, told us how he labored for years, praying for a local Mayan man to join him in the work.

One day a young man showed up at his door, saying he wanted to work with him. One never knows what people really want, so the Baptist missionary told him he didn’t have any work around the house. The young man persisted, explaining he wanted to work with him in ministry. He had had a dream, indicating he should join the Baptist missionary. That started a new friendship in ministry.

We visited a small church about an hour from Jeff and Karen Thomas’ home, where road construction left piles of dirt at least three feet high on either side of the church. Water pooled in front. Everyone entering the church had to stop and scrape or wash the mud off their shoes before entering. Afterwards, the children had fun running in and out through the mud and water.

As is typical here, the church’s music team treated us to a deafening worship service ... until the power went out. I was very thankful to have brought my earplugs and even happier when they lost power. Even the pastor commented that he enjoys it when the power goes out because then he can hear people singing. Seven other small churches straddled the rural highway over less than about a half mile — each with its own high-amp PA system.

I slept well at each hotel, although our northern visitors were awakened at our third overnight stay in Uspantán, where roosters patrolled the rooftop. I’m glad my ears tune that noise out.

After visiting with those who have translated the Bible, started Bible schools, feeding programs, medical clinics and orphanages, as well as a visit to Viña’s vernacular media studio, our guests left considering ways to divide their team and assign them to work projects this summer. After this summer, they may have a better idea about where to focus their energies in any long-term partnerships.

In the days before the visit and sometimes along the way, I found myself at my wits end, realizing I couldn’t do what needed to be done, who to contact or where or how to do the next thing. Especially in those moments, I prayed and asked God to guide us and accomplish His will. Those were sweet times of prayer. By American standards, I’m not a rich person, but to know the Creator and Savior welcomes me into His presence, even listening to my requests is a rich, awesome thought.

Most ministries were not able to accommodate a U.S. team visit right away, but it appears the church may send teams to Sololá to help at Viña and to Joyabáj to help build a Christian school for the Kichés.

Overall, I think the week went well. God answered our prayers for the meetings above and beyond my expectations. I’m hopeful the week can serve as an template for future partnerships.

Searching the map for her assignment

Last Friday, I met an interesting lady named Grace Par in Santa Cruz del Quiché. I’ve been traveling, making contacts for future ministry partnerships and it was a delight to meet Mrs. Par. She came down to Guatemala 43 years ago as a single missionary.

In those days, she said there weren’t very many missionaries in Guatemala (there are about 500 today, I think) and the different agencies and denominations worked together, dividing up the country and assigning people to certain areas. She was assigned to the Quiché Bible Institute in San Cristobal, in the Department of Totonicapán.

When she learned of her assignment, she got out a map and tried to find it in Guatemala. Trouble is, there are about a half dozen San Cristobals in Guatemala! She didn’t know where she would be going. The same thing happened to me when I came here in 2002 to tutor three of Wycliffe Bible translators’, Beth and Boris Ramirez’s kids. Beth wrote me, saying how excited they were to have me there in San Cristobal. “Which one?” I thought, looking at my map. I finally figured it out.

Grace worked eight years as a single missionary. Then a handsome, young Guatemalan Bible student, who often came to her church to preach, won her over. In those days, single missionaries had to resign their mission if they married a national. It was a hard choice, but she decided to trust God, believing it was His plan and He would guide her.

Later, Grace and Juan moved to Santa Cruz del Quiché, near Q’umarkaj Utatlán, the former capital of the Quiché Mayans. Spanish Conquistador Pedro Alvarado defeated the Quiché in 1524 at Xelaju, killing their renowned king, Tecún Umán, and 10,000 more. When the Quiché surrendered and invited him east to Utatlán, Alvarado suspected a trap so he burned the city.

When Juan and Grace Par arrived in El Quiché they started a Christian school, Colegio Utatlán, with just 64 students in four grades. The buildings were made of adobe and boarding students stayed with them in their home. That started after a man who lived in the hills asked whether they couldn’t keep his six-year-old daughter with them.

Today, the school has grown, spreading out into former swamp lands. In 2005, the school dedicated its new three-story primary school building, designed by Engineering Ministries International. Large buildings with dozens of classrooms and athletic fields now serve the school’s 1,608 students. Over the last 10 years attendance has doubled. Most students are local, but many travel an hour or more to get to school — some even hail from Guatemala City (nearly three hours away). For far-flung students, the school offers room and board. There are 120 girls and 61 boys who live at the school.

I had ridden on a bus from Chichicastenango with students who attend a school there and live in El Quiché. So when I met a boy who lives in Chichi but takes the opposite route of the other boy, attending Colegio Utatlán in El Quiché, I asked him, “Why do you go here if there’s a good school in your town?” He answered, “Because they teach us the Bible here. They don’t teach it at that other school.” I thought it was a good answer.

During Guatemala’s civil war, especially during the intensely violent 1980s, all the other Primitive Methodist missionaries fled the country. But Grace and Juan Par decided to stay with their students, despite receiving death threats. “Their fathers were being killed. Their uncles were being killed, and we just felt we couldn’t leave them,” Grace told me. Today, Grace manages the school’s scholarship program. Some 400 students are on scholarships, especially those in the dorms.

Students receive Christian education classes three times a week, according to school Director Jacob Giron Alegria, a former student of the school. Girón stepped into the director’s role just last year as Dr. Juan Par stepped down after about 43 years as director. Girón pastored a church for 14 years and also served 13 years as president of the Primitive Methodist Church Association.

Colegio Utatlán is associated with 11 other nearby schools within the Primitive Methodist Church denomination. Here in Guatemala’s Highlands, Primitive Methodists aren’t too hard to find. In the U.S., there were just 4,502 in 2000, spread among 79 congregations. I was interested to learn the school offers three years of bilingual education in the Kiché language for high-school age students who are planning to become preschool or primary school teachers. There are nearly 250 students in this program.

Trouble on the roads

Friends have told me they’ve seen bus drivers racing each other, competing for passengers around the bend. So today’s news about two buses crashing into each other after racing side by side to reach the next passenger should come as no surprise. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Last week, when we returned from the Chuj area on the Cuchamatenes Mountains, our bus driver stopped along the road once very suddenly to confront a minibus driver. He parked centimeters from the vehicle, blocking the road and apparently threatening the man. Our bus driver wasn’t a youngster, probably about 70 years old, wearing thick glasses.

I didn’t realize what was happening at first, but I did think it was odd to park blocking the two-lane road. He went sailing out of the bus, joined immediately by the young “ayudante,” the bus helper who collects fares and stores heavy luggage on top of the bus. About half the bus’ passengers jumped up and watched, peering out the windows. Our bus driver yelled for a while and the other man yelled some too. A woman from the minibus picked up a big rock and kind of tossed it toward our driver. He called her a name, then left them.

It's too bad, but with high gas prices (roughly $4.25/gallon) and more competition for passengers (more cars, more people-packing pickups, and armies of minibuses), it's easy to see why drivers are fighting over passengers. Fortunately, for most Guatemalans, most bus fares remain affordable. Our eight-hour bus ride last Monday cost us about $3 each.

It’s quite common for Guatemala's so-called “chicken bus” drivers — really any driver — to pass around blind corners and going up the crest of hills. I guess they assume they’ll be able to quickly maneuver back in behind the vehicle they’re trying to pass if a vehicle suddenly appears. Most of the time, they’re right. But not always.

Today’s Nuestro Diario shows the result of a head-on crash involving a pickup and a minibus (2 dead, 22 injured). Notice that the minibus shows damage to the right side, which probably indicates that he was clear off the road in the oncoming lane, trying to pass a third vehicle. That’s all I can figure out. The Diario always has great photos but often lacks narrative. It’s a perfect fit for most Mayans who aren’t big readers anyway.

In another story, a poor minibus driver was killed by gunfire for some reason. They apparently shot him six times. Perhaps the gang members are demanding “protection” money from minibus drivers in addition to bus drivers. I think they’ve killed about 20 bus drivers this year, mostly in or near the capital. People I’ve asked say they believe most drivers are probably paying the extortion money. I guess I might, too.

The front page story today mentioned the discovery of two gang members bodies at a local dump near Guatemala City. They had apparently been trying to extort nearly $1,000 a week from businesses in the capital. It wouldn’t surprise me if the businesses had hired the killing. The police only solve 2 percent of the murder cases down here so it’s no wonder folks take the law into their own hands.

This last image shows a crowd beating a man as he’s being led away by police. The man was suspected of killing a woman and a girl. The crowd hoped to lynch him, believing it was obvious he had done it; they started in on him — even as the officer has a hold on him!

I actually love traveling by bus here. For the most part it’s very enjoyable and colorful. But there are those white-knuckle or hold-onto-your-wallet moments occasionally.

I’ll be traveling by bus again over the next couple of weeks, doing some prep work for an upcoming group visit to Viña from the States. If you think of it, say a prayer for the folks on the roads down here.

Oh, I’ve also included a nice page the Diario did on Santa Catarina, a village down the hill from my town beside Lake Atitlán. See, there are beautiful things in the papers here, too!

Ethnomusicology on a Mayan hillside

SEBEB, Guatemala — Mix together six guitars, four Bible stories, and eleven Mayans, stir and simmer over low heat for two days and what do you get? A half-dozen original worship songs written in the Chuj language.

So it was last week, that I got to witness and participate in Viña Studios’ ethnomusicology ministry among Guatemalan Mayans.

We traveled north 11 hours from here in Central Highlands to a remote Chuj Mayan village near the Mexican border. I joined José, Viña’s creative director, and Aaron Appleton, a college graduate and bass player from Wisconsin.

When the butterfly fluttered past our bus, I knew we were in trouble. Some roads are rough here, but the ride up the Cuchumatanes Mountains to Sebeb, elevation 9,000 feet, was so bad that it took us three hours to creep the last 20 miles.

At least the butterfly didn’t block the road. It seemed every other creeping, crawling creature somehow did. Donkeys, cows, pigs, goats, stray dogs, chickens and probably a few animals that I’ve forgotten managed to find their way in front of our bus. I remember thinking, “What’s missing?” Only sheep. All the other common animals here had their moment of glory.

Meanwhile, our young bus driver’s attention was distracted by his iPod music player, which held 1,200 of his favorite songs. He had ingeniously wired it to the bus’s stereo system for all to enjoy. Whenever a song came on that he didn’t like so much, he found it necessary to advance through the songs — reading the iPod display, not watching the road — to reach a favorite. Then, of course, he had to make and receive a few cell phone calls ... all while driving a bus with 60 souls on it. (He was actually a very nice young man, and I thought he did a good job driving.)

We spent two cold, windy days and nights at Sebeb, catching the 4:30 a.m. bus down the hill last Wednesday to return home.

Sebeb isn’t much of a town, just a few churches and a few dozen houses strung along a steep hillside, straddling the road. We stayed at the Instituto Biblico Ebenezer, adjacent to which, Dave and Helen Ekstrom lived 16 years as they toiled to translate the Bible into the Chuj language. How they survived there so long is beyond me. The locals told us the wind and cold isn’t usually so bad, but it was beyond anything we had prepared for. (On the upside, the winds had cleared the skies for fantastic views of the Milky Way — known here as La Vía Láctea, which I once mistakenly called “El Camino de Leche,” “the Road of Milk.”)

Viña offers training in ethnomusicology to encourage Guatemalan Christians to write original worship songs in their mother tongue, using ethnically appropriate musical instruments. On this trip, José hoped the Chuj Mayans could compose six original songs to accompany Viña’s six “Deditos” finger-puppet videos for children.

Three young Mayan men who are from the mountains but now live and work for the Ekstroms in Huehuetenango (a relatively large, modern city) joined us on the trip. They are beginning work to translate the video scripts to dub the Bible-story videos into their language.

At the Ebenezer Bible Institute we met eight more Chuj believers who had traveled about an hour to attend the two-day seminar. Miguel Dominguez, a Chuj pastor and musician who has recorded four worship CDs at Viña’s Sololá studio, brought the bulk of the group from his church. One who had lived and worked for four years in America drove his four-wheel drive Toyota pickup. Several brought their guitars.

The Chuj are among Guatemala’s poorest Mayans. Locals said half the population has left for America, seeking work. The hillsides are harsh, rocky and so steep they’re prone to erosion. Yet, the Chuj scratch out a living there, growing corn up and down the mountains, traveling long distances to fetch firewood for their cooking. I saw more donkeys there than anywhere else.

A well-trained donkey will pack firewood home on its own, knowing the path and obediently serving its master — hoping someone will unload the burden quickly, no doubt! This is rare, however, perhaps only 20 percent will travel home on auto pilot, one Mayan told me. The rest must be guided by a lead rope.

José began the seminar by inviting the Chuj believers to play a worship song. It had been translated from Spanish into their language. In the past, this is how missionaries introduced converts to worship music: Break out the hymnal and set to work translating it.

In many cases, believers will adopt the hymns and style of worship as their own. But it can remain a foreign form — one heard only in a religious setting that may or may not reach the heart. Hymns are not what I hear playing on Sololá’s central-park stereo system, and they’re probably not a musical form that speaks to many hearts here. (Here, the wooden marimba remains Guatemala’s most traditional musical style. Some churches won’t let the marimba in the door, however, but that’s another issue.)

José then invited the Chuj believers to read Acts 3:1-10, the story of St. Peter and St. John healing a lame man. Next, he asked them to name the important words and phrases from the story. They produced a list and set to work brainstorming lyrics.

Writing worship music requires one to know the subject well. Several elements, José said, are essential to a good song: First of all, it should be pleasing to God (not first to people), easy to sing together, easy to learn and edifying to the church.

Soon, the group composed a song based on the lame man’s healing. Using José’s MacBook laptop computer and some microphones, we recorded the song. Before we quit for the day, José explained some poetic, lyrical tools useful in song writing.

The day’s lessons excited the group, exposing them to new ideas and a new way of producing indigenous music.

“Sometimes we just adapt to the music that comes from the outside, but music that comes from the heart is more beautiful,” said Ambrosio, one of the Chuj believers.

Pastor Miguel explained that the huapango-style guitar music is very popular with the Chuj Mayans. “All of this is new to me,” he said, despite having recorded four CDs. He impressed me with his humble attitude. Most of his songs had been translated from Spanish. “I believe this is the start for making songs,” he said.

The next day, José challenged the group to write and record six original songs in their language based on the Bible stories for the six “Deditos” finger-puppet videos: Creation, the Fall, the Flood, Moses, Joseph and more. He showed them how to evaluate the songs for theological and linguistic content, asking, “Does it encourage faith in God? Will children understand it?”

Several acoustical challenges presented themselves as we tried to record: One electrical outlet had bad wiring, causing an annoying popping noise on the first recordings; plus, the neighbors frequently fired up a loud, put-put-putting, two-stroke diesel engine to grind corn for tortillas. They charged neighbors less than a dime each time.

Before the day was over, the class had divided into three groups, each one writing and recording two original songs, reaching our goal of six songs.

I think everyone left with a positive, grateful attitude, believing they could do this again. Please pray for the Chuj believers, their church and lives that they may write many more songs to God’s glory in the future.