Tavistock visits Chiyo Church
"Taste and see that the Lord is good." Story and Photo by Annie Wolgemuth

For Tavistock Mennonite WAL team their last Sunday with us in Guatemala proved to be very meaningful. It was prearranged that the team would attend the Mennonite church in Chiyo, later having lunch with the families of three Bezaleel students. After a traditional breakfast of beans and tortillas at the school, the team loaded on the bus for the one and a half hour breathtaking (for beauty and steep drop offs) drive to the church. The team was accompanied by the three Bezaleel students as well as a pastor from the school, since this was his home church as well.
We finally arrived in Chiyo and made our way up the winding path to the little church that sits on top of the mountain. The team members made their way inside the church and found seats only to be told that we were to come into the kitchen because they had prepared coffee for us. In the kitchen we not only found our coffee but we were met by a group of smiling, giggling women who had spent most of the morning preparing for this group. In addition to the coffee that was served we were presented with a basket of xut (a wad of corn dough with beans in the middle that is wrapped in a banana leaf and boiled) as well as a large basket of tz'u'uj (tortillas with beans in the middle). As the team began eating even more tz'u'uj was served. Despite their lack of hunger the team was very gracious for the food which the deacon's wives had so thoughtfully prepared.
The whole church service seemed to be dedicated to the visitors; every church member who took part in the service would make sure to thank the team for coming and sharing at their church. We could also tell that there was careful consideration taken so that the service did not go much past 12:00, so that the team could be at their lunch destinations on time. After the service the group from Tavistock split into two groups; one group went to the house of a sixth year student (Manuel), while the other group shared lunch with the family of two brothers; one a fourth year (Isaias) and one a fifth year student (Efrain).

Our group then split in half to go to the homes. Zach went with five to the home of the two brothers, Efrain & Isaias, while I took the other six to Manuel's home. The families were all prepared with plenty of caldo to go around, along with tortillas and poch (wad of corn dough wrapped in a banana leaf and boiled). Manuel even made sure that the bus drivers had somewhere to eat, so two went with Zach and the driver came with my group. You could tell that the driver and his helpers were somewhat uncomfortable with the offer but accepted anyhow and joined us for lunch. There were lots of pictures and questions from the team. At the end it was neat for Zach and I to compare our experiences. His group had fun; they were wearing caldo everywhere (not surprising to me that Zach had it all over him as well).

Tavistock Mennonite Church visits the homes of three Bezaleel students on a Sunday. The day included worship and dinner.

He said the family got a good laugh at watching these inexperienced gringos try to eat soup with their hands. Though my group had fun they all left with tears in their eyes. It was really a heart wrenching experience for them to see how much these families were willing to give to someone they had just met. The pastor of the church in Chiyo and his wife also accompanied us for lunch along with their little baby boy. Donna, the grandmother in group, took to the baby right away and spent most of her time carrying him around. Donna said her goodbyes to the family with hugs for everyone, which left some of Manuel's younger siblings running to avoid it. As we got on the bus to go pick up Zach's group I could tell that the group was reflecting on things, some of them already had tears in their eyes. The pastor and his wife rode back with us to pick up Zach's group and before they got off the pastor walked around and shook all of our hands as he said “chacuil acuib” (take care of yourself) to each and everyone of us. Then as he was leaving the bus his wife shushed at him to take the baby because she wanted to say her goodbyes. She walked directly back the aisle on the bus and met Donna with a big hug and of course tears. This of course made everyone else lose it as well. The pastor's wife continued her goodbyes with hugs for some and hand shakes for others. Then as they left the seven of us looked at each other and just kind of laughed at our tear streaked faces. The driver didn't know what to make of the situation. He had a CD playing loud enough for us to hear which happened to be a slow classical type song, only adding to the mood, which made us all laugh again. I filled him in that we thought the music was too good for the moment which made him understand a little, though I'm still not sure if he could comprehend a group of North Americans being so emotionally worked up and attached to a group of K'ekchi' that they just met. Eventually Zach's group came out to the bus laughing and talking about their experiences and soon we were on our way back out to the school. The visit to the church and students homes went better than we could have ever expected or planned; more than anything else the group had experienced their whole time in Guatemala, they said this was something they would never forget (and I don't think our driver will either).

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