We had to be up for breakfast today at 7am so that we could get underway early. We had 2 goals today. One was to visit the sink hole and, Two was to work!!
First though a few of the team went through and organized the bags. Again it was amazing to see the bags again and the contents in them.
We went to the sink hole first. We arrived at the sink hole and prepared for the hike up the mountain to the entrance of the sink hole. While we were gathering to head up , a group of Guatemalan's also arrived. Before this though our leader Karren spoke of what happens at this sinkhole. She spoke about how many of the people of Guatemala regard the sinkhole as a sacred place, full of power (energy). She mentioned how people come here from all over to partake in rituals preformed by a witch doctor or shaman. She identified the witch doctor or shaman by a red scarf or kerchief. She said that people now say the sinkhole has less powers because Christians have been down to it. Karren says this is a good thing!! She says now groups don't come as often to do rituals. So here we are as a group of Christians heading into this sinkhole that now has a group of Guatemalan's in it along with a witch doctor about to perform rituals. The ritual usually consists of perhaps a sacrifice of some sort. It can be animal or food, burning of candles, or perhaps a fire and chanting. We made our way up to the entrance of the sinkhole and started our way down. It was a steep and risky climb in places. At the bottom it was quite dark except for the light from above shining in. The group of Guatemalan's that came in first had setup behind some rock formations which apparently has a cross and shrine setup. You could see all around signs of rituals past. Burnt candles and other items littered the floor of the sinkhole. After exploring a bit was assembled in a circle. Karren led us and spoke about praying to God about leaving our garbage/trash behind in this sinkhole. She also spoke about praying for these people because they are lost. She says that these people don't like to have to hire witch doctors or shaman's to try to help them with their problems but they don't know any other way. I prayed all these things. While we were in the sinkhole another group of Guatemalan's came down as well. It is interesting because karren had just told us that this sinkhole isn't used as much as it had in the past but while we are in there two groups show up. It was an odd situation to have a group of Christians praying for these Guatemalan's to see the light in Jesus while they are no more than 50 - 60 feet away with a fire burning performing witch craft. We also sang while we were in there. As we were done praying we made a silent trek out of the hole.
*Karren told us of a situation of a family and what happened to them in regards to witch craft and Christianity. A couple were expecting their first child and to try to ensure its Health they went to a witch doctor. The witch doctor wanted too much money so the family opted out. The wife went full term but delivered a still born. The witch doctor then told them that their baby died because they were too cheap to pay for services. The witch doctor wanted something like $1200 dollars to perform a ceremony for the family. Wages in Guatemala are not high with the average worker in the country making $25.00/day with wages in the City being about $35.00/day, which is about $4 US dollars. The family wanting to have a child went to the witch doctor the next time they got pregnant . They could not afford 'the full ritual' so the witch doctor did a small ritual. The woman went full term, but again delivered a still born. Again, the witch doctor told them it was their fault because they didn't pay the full price for the ritual. Time went by and again the woman got pregnant. This time they went back and paid full price to the witch doctor. They went full term but again delivered a still born. After this they started going to Church and turned to Jesus. The lady got pregnant again and went full term and delivered a healthy baby. She has had two more since then. Figure that one out!!! :-)
We drove back to the house and had lunch. After lunch we went to work at the High School (Chijacorral) moving gravel to fix the driveway and a parking lot. Many of the residents came by and smiled and said Hello. The kids were curious and before long were helping us. This was tough hard work but was satisfying to see it complete. Once we had finished we went back to the house for showers and supper.
After supper we went to Les and Rita's for dessert and debrief. We heard from a young man named Hector Davide. His story was emotional and heartfelt. From him living at home with a father who was drunk and beat his mother, doing military training, to getting Teacher training and finding Les and Rita and becoming a Principal at one of their schools. I told him I appreciated his story because even though we live so far apart, my story is not much different than his. We all prayed for him. He then prayed for me!!!!
We finished up and went home to rest our weary bones....
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