After the service, two little girls came up to me and handed me pictures they had drawn in pencil – one of Copan, and one perhaps of me, with the words “Bienvenido!” and “Hola Kathy”. Several men stacked the plastic chairs on Carlos’ porch. Carlos asked if I would wait a bit, as he wanted to drive some people home, and he would take me on the way to their neighborhood. “Si,” I said. I greeted people as they left, though noticed that many were still congregating in the street. I had just walked out of the gate to join the party, when Carlos said, “OK, vamos.” At that moment, the entire 20 or so people who were in the street, young and old, all piled into the back of Carlos’ truck, standing up and holding onto bars. I was invited to sit in the passenger seat in the cab, and somewhat woefully accepted. I was dropped off quickly, as the house where I am staying was only about a kilometer away, but the rest of the people still had 3km to go. I’m not sure if I’m expected back next Sunday. I’ll try to find out soon. This congregation hopes to build their own worship space in the next year or so, in the barrio where most of them live. I’m quickly realizing that the Episcopal Church in this country, at least in the Copan Region, does not attract the rich and famous or even the upper middle class, but mostly whom we in the US would call the working poor.
La Lección de The Rev. Kathleen McAdams
Pentecostio 6 - 24 Julio, 2011
Para Copan Ruinas, Honduras
1 Reys 3:5-12, Romanas 8:26-39, Mateo 13:31-33,44-52
Me siento muy bendecida al estar con ustedes este día, y de tener esta oportunidad de hablar a ustedes. Por favor, me perdonan mi mal español, aún estoy aprendiendo.
A veces, Él señor quiere que las cosas, que necesitamos y requerimos hacer, dependa de que nos movamos, y salgamos de nuestros lugares de comodidad, ir a nuevos lugares y aprender nuevas cosas, pero no están fácil para nosotros. Igual al mercader, quien vende todo lo que tiene, para comprar una fina perla, El Señor nos invita a dejar todo lo que es comodidad familiar, para seguirlo a lugares desconocidos. Y ese es el porqué, yo estoy aquí en Honduras.
Yo sirvo a una congregación en Boston en Estados Unidos. La mayoría de la gente que tenemos, están sin casas. E igual a ustedes, nosotros también no tenemos un edificio para nuestra iglesia. Nosotros adoramos en un parque cada domingo, aunque sea invierno. Cada vez más personas de Centroamérica, están llegarando nuestro oficio de adoración, y quiero poder recibir bien a alguien su idioma, para saber cuándo alguien quiera ser parte de nuestra comunidad. Yo creo que El Señor nos ha mandado a nosotros para desafiarnos a aprender cosas nuevas, y enseñarnos a ser una comunidad más diversa.
Así que, estoy intentando aprender español. Tomé algunas clases en Boston, pero aprendí poco. Viniendo aquí, de tal manera para forzarme a practicar español, y para aprenderlo más rápido, y para aprender acerca de la cultura de Centroamérica.
Solomon no rezo’ por riquezas para sí mismo, ni siquiera para ser rey, pero después El Señor lo hizo rey, rezo’ para conseguir inteligencia y habilidad para ser un mejor rey para su pueblo. Esa oración complació al Señor. Nosotros, también, podemos rezar por regalos que nos permitirán hacer la voluntad del Señor, y para esas oportunidades usamos estos regalos del Señor para cumplir su voluntad. Esto se consigue, nada más rezando.
¿Mientras rezamos para que El Señor nos guie y gobierne nuestros corazones y mentes, como puede dividirnos de El Señor? ¡No de todos los poderes de este mundo! El Señor únicamente quiere, que sea bueno para nosotros, y nunca nos llevara a extraviarnos. Nosotros mismos decidimos, ponernos dentro o a fuera del círculo, de la comunidad de El Señor. Mientras nosotros no nos extraviemos de Él, Él Señor siempre estará cerca. Esto es cuando nuestras oraciones son egoístas, cuando rezamos para nuestros propósitos, sin respeto a lo que El Señor quiere, nos separamos del Señor. El Señor siempre está esperando para recibirnos y acogernos en nuestra decisión.
No hay que rezar para una vida larga, o una casa grande, o una cosecha abundante, ni siquiera por la buena salud de su familia, solo resale al Señor para que el, te de las habilidades y los recursos para hacer las cosas por medio de él y ponerlos en la tierra. Si nuestros corazones se alinean con el corazón de El Señor, luego las respuestas de nuestras oraciones nos hará felices. Amen.
On Monday it was back to school – Por/Para, Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, and review of direct/indirect object pronouns. Did I mention that I’m not crazy about grammar, and seem to have never learned it in English?
After lunch, I set out to walk to the ruins, as it was a cloudy day and cool for touring. I had my map, but hate to take it out in public, as I think it makes me a target (as if people can’t tell I’m a tourist without it). Anyway, I ended up on the wrong road out of town – the one that goes to Macaw Mountain, not the ruins. That’s OK. I wanted to go there, too. This wild bird park has many aviaries full of macaws and other parrots, and even toucans, owls and hawks. All the birds were formerly kept in captivity as pets, or found injured and determined to be non-releasable. Their mission is conservation, education, and breeding to restore the wild parrot population in Honduras. There are some really awesome birds there, and they’re tame enough that they don’t mind people like me stepping right up to where they are eating and staring them in the face. In fact some of them start to perform, and get jealous if you try to photograph other birds in their aviary.
On my way to the park, of course it started raining… porque it’s July in Copan. I had just taken cover under a tree, when some men motioned for me to come into their car port, just 20 meters further up the road. A large German Shepherd rested there, and I wasn’t sure how he was going to feel about my entering, but he hardly moved. The men put out a chair for me to sit in. After I’d been there for just a few minutes, wondering how long I would be waiting, one of the men came out and handed me an umbrella, asked if I was headed for “el parque”, and told me to return it on my way back. Amazing! It turns out the park was just a little beyond there, and the rain soon stopped, but I was blown away by their kindness.
On the way home, in addition to returning the umbrella, I stopped at Victoria’s Supermercado to pick up a couple of things. I needed another can of Off. The first one lasted only a week. Oh, the power just went out, so I guess I’ll turn in. It’s only 9pm, but “Good night.”
Today, Tuesday, the power is still out. It was on during the night. I know because I felt he ceiling fan come on, but when I got up this morning it was off again. Somehow Lorena managed to make coffee before it went out, but there was none at school. I’m told that it should come one again about now, as they are either rotating areas for demand, or working on the system, or something. During this time, there is also no running water, as pumps run on electricity. Apparently this is very typical in Copan. So people routinely gather rainwater in large barrels, and use it for washing up and flushing the toilet during such outages . Right now, I am sitting in a café in a hotel that has a generator- it’s cheating, I guess. I haven’t spoken to Padre since Sunday, so don’t know what the schedule is for the week. I hope to run into him soon, as I’m still a little chicken to attempt español para teléfono.
Learning another language is kind of like receiving the key to a secret code. It somehow makes the world larger, and makes relationship with a new group of people more possible. It’s very exciting! I’ve noticed, however, that once I start to feel close or friendly with someone, that I have moments when I want to just relax with them and stop playing this game. At that point I say something to them in English, and am reminded that it’s not a game at all, that this is real life, and that my new friend doesn’t speak my language, but that I am here to learn theirs.
The power just came back on, as promised. We all cheered!
