Last night a few of us girls went to the other house down the street where the kids are taught, to watch a movie called Wives and Daughters. The first half was good enough to hold my attention, and I haven’t been able to sit down and indulge in a movie, which is why I lazily said no when Leister asked me to join in a skit they’d be performing the next evening in church that would be “better with a sixth person”. Then some of the volunteering girls came upstairs again to tell me I needed to be a model in the Everything skit by the band Lifehouse. I did the skit years ago with my youth group and loved it, and felt guilty not participating, so I went downstairs to see Shane teaching Emily the beginning of the main part. “Have you ever seen the Everything skit?” asked Leister. “Yea, I was in it.” “Oh! You were in it! You were the model?” “No, I was the main chick.” “OH! YOU WERE THE MAIN GIRL! Ok, trial run with Rachel as the main girl!” So we ran through it once with a few mishaps, but it was obvious I knew most of it, so I was wordlessly accepted into the part. Tiff had fun throwing me into my pantomimed vomit and poking my eye with her gun, and everyone else had fun pushing me around and onto the ground. It’s fitting that the main girl is the smallest of the group.
On the way home, I walked a little ahead of Tiff, Em, and Beth, who were walking slowly because they were trying to hide from the slight drizzle under an umbrella. When I was standing in the kitchen waiting to make sure they got in ok, I heard Em say “Rachel! Come here, there’s something wrong with one of the puppies!” I rushed out and saw Tiff holding a toad half as big as my head. The saying here is “Everything is bigger in Guatemala!” WHen I get ahold of it, I'll upload the picture of me kissing my prince. He turned into a really obese Guatemalan man who ran away chasing flies.
We performed Everything, along with a few other that didn’t come anywhere close to how dramatic and intense the Everything was ;), last night at the church that Deb and Dave go to. Performing is one of my passions; I was in theatre for 5 years and would continue to be, if I didn't dislike WU's theatre program so much. The skit went fairly well, except Andrew, who played my lover boy, messed up and didn’t caress my face with his flower like he was supposed to. He also reminds me of a red-haired version of Edmund from the Chronicles of Narnia.
Afterwards, Leister preached a bit about God’s Love and the importance of being saved, closed us in prayer, and told the tiny congregation of natives that if they wanted to accept Christ as their savior that he or any of his team could pray with them. During this, Rosa kept turning around and staring at me, which is a little weird, even for her. When I caught her, she’d smile. After a few times, I told her to sit on my lap. Next, the preacher spoke in Suto Heel (spelling??)which is the language that the Mayan natives speak. The service usually lasts from 6-9 P.M. but thankfully!!! Only lasted until 7:30ish. When it was over, the congregation got up to have meet and greet time, in which Jeamy came up to talk to me. She is a very pretty 13 year old, and told me she wanted to go up when Leister asked if anyone wanted prayed for, but was too afraid. I was shocked. “…Why did you want to go up?”
“Um...well, I don’t want to talk about it now.”
“Can we talk about it when we get home, please?”
“Ok!”
Then I looked below my chair to find my camera, and it wasn’t there. I looked around…and panicked over no sign of it. My camera is a little over a hundred dollars, but I love it like a child, and my dad would be furious if I lost it. I asked around, and then Vidalia walked up to me and asked “are you looking for your camera?” “Yes…where is it?” I asked the mischievous little twerp. She grinned and said “I don’t know!” Then looked at Mrs. Willman, one of the new volunteers who arrived a few days ago, who was suspiciously rolling her eyes away from the rectangular bulge in her pocket. So I dumped a bit of water from my water bottle on Vidalia’s head. She was soooo mad, she continually hit me and chased me around trying to grab my water bottle to dump some on me until we got into the van. Not only does she have an attitude and likes to pull tricks on people, but she holds pretty good grudges. When we got home, I took off my glasses and watch and handed her my water bottle. She threw some on me, handed it back, and held my hand as we walked up the steps and into the house.
Someone put on this popular song called “Los Ninos” that has a funny dance to it. Jeamy asked me to teach her how to dance so I started dancing like I do at dances. She just stared at me, then said “No! Like…normal dancing!” So I started doing the Macarina, the Electric Slide, and the Cha-cha Slide. Then I taught a bunch of the kids the chicken dance, which they thought was hilarious.
Jeamy’s bedtime is 8:30, so we didn’t have time to talk. This morning she met me in the baby room where I was sorting Rosa’s clothes, sat across from me cross legged, and spilled. She thinks she isn’t saved. She says she used to be, but fell back to her old ways. She freely admits that she struggles with lying, gossiping, and being mean. She wants to be kind and not fall so easily into temptation, which she says she can feel the devil pulling her with. She says she prays a lot, but only for other people. Her mother gave her and her siblings away when she was 9 years old, without her father’s knowledge. Her parents went to church and were even in the praise team, until they started fighting with each other a lot and wouldn’t allow their kids to go back. She also pointed out what her adopted sisters do that is obviously sinful, even though they claim to be saved, and how it confuses her. I told her that even as a Christian, it’s a constant struggle not to go back to our “old ways” and give into temptation, but the difference between Christians and non-believers is that we try to break free from that sin, and with Jesus in our lives, we’re not addicted to it anymore. She said that she’s talked to her parents (the kids call Dave and Deb their parents) but they told her to pray by herself, which surprised me. She said that all she wants is for someone to pray with her; so I took her hands in mine, and prayed for her family’s salvation, for God to strengthen her against temptation, for others not to get her down, His super-natural peace, for her to feel His Love, and for His glory to shine through her so that others can see what Jesus can do in their lives. She thanked me a dozen times before she went downstairs, and said she felt better. I felt better too, as I finally got to do the kind of ministry I love best.
Right now I’m upstairs in the loft above the kitchen, sitting in a comfy reclining chair, waiting on Tabby to get off the internet. Jamie said something about Tabby’s boyfriend, and then asked if I had one. “No” I stated, “and I don’t want one!”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because they’re pains in the butt.”
“Why?”
“Because boys are stupid.”
“Oh. Well then I’ll never have a boyfriend.”
“Good! Well…just be really picky about who you choose.”
“No, I’ll never have one! Well, except Jesus. I’m already in a relationship with him.”
I high-fived her. :)
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