Religion that is Pure and Faultless . . .

La religiòn pura y sin mancha delante de Dios nuestro Padre es èsta:atender a los huèrfanos y a las viudas en sus aflicciones, y conservarse limpio de la corrupciòn del mundo.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Santiago (James) 1:27

The past couple of days, my team has been learning about Xela and about the work that German and Carla (missionaries with InnerChange) have been doing. And James 1:27 is the best way I can describe what they have been doing.

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On Monday, we met up to pray and to learn about how InnerChange started in Xela. Then we went to ''hogar de ancianos,'' a house where old men live (run by the Catholic church). The closest US equivalent would be a convalescent home but in this place, there were only 5 old men. It was very sad seeing their condition and hearing some of their stories either from them or from the women who work there. They say how they feel abandoned. If I understood correctly, one of the men has a son who visited him only to try to get money from him. Others don't have any family that visit them at all. German started going to the home regularly, just talking with the men, sitting with them. That is one place where we have an opportunity we have to serve.

Later on that day, we got into a discussion about the poor in Guatemala, about how so many men and young people go to the US to make money to send home (or to go to school) because they can't make enough money to support their families here. I read last night that one third of Guatemalan families rely on remittances (money sent home mostly from the US). One third! And I also read that 10% of the GNP of Guatemala is remittances. Wow. The article was talking about how the US has deported so many (I think it was 23,000) Guatemalans in the past year and how it will be difficult for the country to absorb them back-- where will they work?-- and for their families that they were supporting . . . Julio said that 80% of businesses in Guatemala are foreign. All of this has brought up so much in my mind about globalization, trade agreements, immigration policies . . . don't have any conclusions but makes me think hard . . .

Tuesday we made lunch and ate with one of the shoeshine boys (we expected more but only one came-- that's typical, I think-- from reading Nothing But a Thief seems like it is). He came over to German and Carla's house. Reminded me of Luke 14:12-14 . . . ''Then Jesus said to his host, 'When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they might invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.' ''

That afternoon, we met a man who has committed his life to providing a place for the boys to sleep. Each night between 25 and 30 boys crowd into a room that I'm guessing is about 15 feet by 40 feet. He and his wife live in two small rooms adjacent to the large room, I believe. He has been doing this for 28 years. For the first 10 years, I believe he had some outside (government?) help, but for the past 18 years it has only been him and his wife. Even still, there are more boys who do not come, who sleep on the street instead. The house has a leaky roof, even after trying to fix it 3 times. German said the house is just like the kids in that way-- that even after so much effort, very little changes can be seen. The boys get pulled into street life very quickly and it is very hard to pull them out of it. It sounds like often a boy will start trying to change and then something will happen that will pull him back into street life. The boy we met said that a good day for him will bring in 80 quetzales, which is about 11 dollars. On a bad day he will make 40, less than 6 dollars. Food is not a whole lot cheaper here than in Los Angeles-- a little bit, but not much. So imagine trying to live on 11 dollars a day! How do you get ahead? How do you go to school if you have to work all day to make money so you can eat? Please pray for German and Carla and the man who has opened up his home. They love the boys and want more for them, want to see them have the love and opportunities and provision that kids should have. But it is hard. It can be discouraging. German and Carla want to find a bigger home to open up to the boys so they don't have to pack into one large leaky room. But that is not easy. Please pray for open doors and for more people and more churches to take notice of these boys who could be so easily overlooked.

Thinking about the shoeshine boys . . . The boys (can be ages 8-17) leave home for one reason or another-- whether because of abuse or poverty-- or they might have been abandoned. From reading Nothing But a Thief, it seems that poverty is the main reason--whether the boys leave so they can eat or whether the stress of poverty renders their parents violent or incapable of loving their children. So going back to what I was saying earlier, yes, they left because of immediate circumstances, but what larger policies within Guatemala and within the global economy have contributed to their circumstances? I don't know the complete answer to that, but I do know that they are not where they are simply because of laziness or bad choices. They have been dealt a bad hand. So, right now, InnerChange is trying to work with the boys, to show them love, to help them make good choices-- maybe to go to school, maybe to go home, not to get hooked on drugs . . . and that is good and necessary right now . . . but that still is only treating a symptom. Ultimately, I believe God wants to heal their families so that there won't be children who feel like they have to leave home. And that will take larger changes. I don't know if we'll live to see Xela not have shoeshine boys but I will pray for it. Please join me in praying for that-- for healing and provision among families in Xela and in the surrounding areas so that boys won't feel the need to leave home.

Today, we went up to a point high above the city and prayed for the city. I don't think I've mentioned yet that the city is beautiful. I think Amelia has some pictures on her blog. The city is surrounded by green mountains, and the sky is a brilliant blue, usually with amazingly white clouds. It has been clear every day we've been here and then has rained most evenings/nights.

This afternoon, we went to a holding prison for women who are waiting for their trials to finish. Carla said that women can stay there for a year and a half to 4 years before receiving the verdict! One woman spent 3 years there and then was let go. It is really sad not only because of the amount of time that the women spend there, but also how that separates them from their families. Many of them are not from the city itself but from surrounding areas. So if their families are poor, they cannot afford to come visit them. That means that those women are slowly forgotten about. Carla goes to the prison once a week to talk with the women and have a short service/Bible study with them. What struck me the most was the amount of time they have to stay there. Four years just to get a sentence, with the possibility of being found not guilty! Wow. That's just awful. The women we met seemed so normal. I mean, I expect if I go into a prison to find lots of anger, violence . . . to feel uncomfortable, but I felt as if I was just hanging out with any of the other women we have met. There were other women who also visit the prison and at first I couldn't tell them apart from the women who were being held there. It's not an awful place to live-- I mean the conditions don't seem awful-- but to be separated from your family for so long just awaiting sentencing . . . wow. That's another place where we have the opportunity to serve.

We have seen a lot over the past few days and will be seeing more over the next few days. We hope to get to play soccer with some of the shoeshine boys tomorrow night and then visit a holding place for kids who tried to make it to the US and got deported (either from Mexico or from the US). The kids are held there until their families can come pick them up. Tomorrow morning we will also be discussing the beginning of the book Sub-merge. We'll be reading and discussing that book all summer. I've heard good things about it before so am looking forward to reading it. So far, it's been fun but also very challenging to converse in Spanish. Hopefully it will get more natural as time goes by.

Some other random things-- there is a parrot at our house that sounds like a child. The three of us thought ''whose child is that who keeps yelling?!'' But it was a parrot! It says ''¿Donde esta?'' among other things :P Also, a few nights ago, I heard what I thought were gunshots, but thankfully they turned out to be firecrackers. Apparently, people like to set off firecrackers for holidays and celebrations EARLY in the morning. That, the dog (that looks like a sheep), and the rooster are all a nice wakeup call in the morning :P We've been having beans, rice, and eggs for dinner almost every night and toast, liquidy oatmeal, and bananas for breakfast every morning. But almuerzo (lunch) has been really good. That's their main meal of the day here.

Okay, think I'm done for now. Hasta luego.