Copan

This weekend Mallory and I traveled to Honduras to visit Mayan ruins. Living in Guatemala for the last few weeks has given me the opportunity to learn a little about the Mayan culture by listening to locals share their knowledge of the ancient society. This weekend Mallory and I had a well-spoken guide at the ruins that taught us a lot about the Mayan way of life.
I am not going to focus on all the interesting facts I learned. I do want to point out why I think the society desired to worship God but fell short of the truth we know as Christians. Think about the tidbits of information you know about the Egyptians, the Roman Empire, the Mayans, and or Incan civilization. You might not have visited the Mayan ruins last weekend but you can apply what you know about these civilizations to help you understand my argument. They were all powerful societies in their own time but at different times in history.
The Mayans had a belief in a good god (god of love) vs. bad god (god of war) religious system. It was important to have a dual god system to create balance in their belief system. They had too much rain so they must have done something to make the rain god mad. Luckily there was a sun god they could worship to solve this problem. It was typical for them to sacrifice animals and humans to sway the gods in their favor.
They had a well-divided hierarchy of power within the civilization. Kings ruled and the people followed orders within their field of work. It is important to know the kings believed they were Gods. They were sent back from the world of the Gods,possible the afterlife, to rule the people. Them being Gods added power to their status and people believed their words to be true. In contrast to the Mayans beliefs of their kings, Christians have a king that came to earth to live as a normal person. He was a carpenter. Jesus wasn't interested in political power. This is a big difference in Mayans beliefs and Christians believes but it is really awesome to serve a king that chose to be ordinary to meet us in our status in life.
This weekend it was striking to me the similarities between Mayan culture and Christianity. In the Old Testament, the Israelite's sacrificed animals as an offering for atonement for sins. There is a detailed description of the ceremony entering the holy of holies and the sacrificial process. In comparison, the Mayans sacrificed animals and made human sacrifices to appease the Gods. At the ruins, we looked at several vase shaped structures where the Mayans burned blood from sacrifices. They believed the smoke would rise up to heaven and please the Gods. The bible speaks of sweet aromas and incense.
It blows my mind how Satan confuses our lives, beliefs, customs from the truth to a similar reflection of the truth. First of all these people weren't worshiping the one true God. There practices were similar to Old Testament practices but they misunderstood to whom they were to be worshiping. Secondly, they were not aware of the gospel. The Mayan civilization was after the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ. They didn’t know this good news. It is amazing and frightening to realize how Satan can trick an entire society into believing something that resembles the truths of Christ.
I can't point fingers at the Mayan culture and laugh at them for missing the truth or not seeing reality. I misunderstand how to best worship God each day. It is easy for me to not treat the people around me as God desires me to treat them because I have my own ambition (idol/god) I am choosing to please.
All weekend I kept thinking about how many similarities the Mayan culture resembled Christianity but they missed the truth. People today are still amazed by the sophistication and intelligence of the Mayan yet they miss the truth. Many people I have talked to here in Guatemala love studying the Mayan culture. These same people are not Christians. I believe some of them are interested in the culture because it meets a need inside of them. They like that the Mayans were devout worshipers but they don't understand they can worship the living God. The Lord is moving and working in Guatemala. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Lord chooses to bring people to himself by using these peoples’ love for the Mayan Culture.
 

School Update

I love my new teacher. She is very friendly and she is correcting somethings the other teacher didn't correct. Both teachers are great but I'm glad I took my Guatemalan family's advice and changed teachers. At lunch today, they said my level of spoken Spanish has improved this week. That was encouraging.
Today I took my first test at school. I made a 90. Let me tell you the test was much harder then I expected so making a 90 was awesome. The test included an oral exam (lessoning to a short story and answering questions about it, answering conversational questions, and telling the director a story about a picture he placed in front of me) and a written exam (matching English to Spanish voc., translating English into Spanish, answering questions, and Conjugating verbs). My Guatemalan family said the tests are really hard and I am happy to move forward in my lessons.
The Spanish lessons are divided into levels,"Grado A-H". Here I come "Grado B"! Moving to the next level is my very exciting news of the day. I am celebrating right now.... by doing my homework from my first lesson in level B.

8/15/11

A continuation from the last post...
The young guy I met in the park is differently a christian. Before I left the park, I noticed a Jesus bracelet on his arm. I asked him if he loved Jesus and he said he did. We are now friends on Facebook and he has posted a lot about his walk with the Lord. He was truly a God Send.

Update on the school situation...
I decided to change teachers this week. It is a normal thing to do to hear a different persons pronunciation. I wanted a change to have a breathe of fresh air. My new teacher is great. The time at school flew by today.

This weekend...
Mallory and I went on a weekend trip to Semuc Champey, Guatemala. It was a beautiful sight but more importantly it was a really neat opportunity to meet people.10 people went on the trip including our guide from el salvador, our driver from Guatemala, a few people from England, one from France, one from Australia, one from New Zealand, and 4 of us from the states. We had a variety of accents flying the whole weekend.
One girl's ears perked up when she found out Mallory and I are missionaries. She is a christian and truly considered being a missionary when she graduated from college. It was interesting to hear her talk about the stipulations she has created in order for her to be a missionary. I told her more than once, "I said those exact words within the last 2 years. Watch what you say." Pray that she will follow the Lord not her fears.

The week 8/14-8/12

Sunday- Mallory and I ventured out in the world of Antigua to find a church. We located a beautiful catholic mass in the back of the most beautiful hotel/ruins I have every seen. We realized we weren't in the contemporary church we were looking for when they started lighting candles. We left and ventured out to find the contemporary church we had heard so much about in the last week.
We walked back across town from the catholic church to found the modern church just a block away from our school. The service and songs are in English and Spanish. Missionaries and students in language school are the typical demographic for this church.

School- I am now learning words and verbs beyond the ones I came to school knowing. This week has been a little frustrating for me at times because of the lack in ability to be able to communicate with my teacher. I obviously don't speak Spanish well but, I'm referring to my teacher having difficulty understanding what I was trying to say. In conversation, the native speaker often guesses what the learner is trying to say and then helps them with the words. Our conversations were a mess because she would think I was saying one thing but I was trying to say another thing. CONFUSING! I was also very frustrated with myself during a good portion of the lessons because I continue to make the same mistakes. I have to recall the words, verbs, conjugate the verb (present, past, or future) and make the words plural or singular correctly. I know everyone makes these mistakes and a lot of them when they are first learning Spanish. That realization hasn't made me any less frustrated.

After class most days this week I have wanted to cry. I don't do that a bunch so I wrote in my journal. Yesterday I sat in the beautiful and busy park to do a little writing. I was really concerned that I was having difficulty comprehending stories my teacher read to me in Spanish during class yet I could understand and respond to people in the street. I have been about to understand most of the conversation with my Guatemalan family and with locals in the streets (random people for directions and conversing with friends).

When I was writing, a guy probably in the 10th grade sat down at the bench with me. He started talking to me in Spanish and we had a conversation in Spanish for the next 2 hours. He lives in one of the villages near Antigua and told me all about the educational system and the transportation system for students. We also chatted about the kite flying festival that takes place in his home town each November. It's a big deal! His family will work on one kite for a year to 3 years before they fly it in the festival. CRAZY!

When I left the park to return home for dinner, I reflected on the experience in the park. I believe the Lord gave me that opportunity to prove to me that I can comprehend and talk. I may be having difficulties in school but I can survive in conversational Spanish after only 2 weeks of lessons. Thank God for that kid being bold enough to sit down beside me. I needed some encouragement.

Funny Thing I said in Spanish:
I meant to say: I am hungry
I said: I have men

There is a proverb in Guatemala that goes something like men are like avocados. Some are good, uncut & firm, and some become guacamole. I then said, "the guacamole is tasty" not realizing that I was referring/saying that some men are tasty. My face turned red after I said it. I figured out the meaning of what I was saying as I was saying it. Learning Spanish can be really silly!

Whitney

I have to tell you another story of how God has shown me that he is in control and that I am doing what he wants me to do. Read the last blog about Mallory before You read further. Yesterday at Eternal, the church that meets at the YMCA in Baxter, it was Mission Sunday. From what I hear, the service was about the mission work the Lord is using the members of Eternal to do around the world. We ,Eternal, have a family serving in the mountains of Guatemala, a family serving in Peru, several missions trips to the mountain area of Guatemala, and I will be working with children in the city of Guatemala. The two missionary families and myself made short videos to update the congregation about our mission.
Yesterday a girl named Whitney visited Eternal. She was in Fort Mill visiting her boyfriend for the weekend. They missed the service at his church so they stopped in at his neighborhood church. During the service, the video of me updating the church came up on the large projected screen. In the video I mention that the Lord has sent me a friend, Mallory, for this portion of the journey.
Let me remind you, Whitney is sitting in a random church in a town she is visiting. Here is the good part of the story. Whitney is Mallory's best friend. The really cool part is that Whitney had been praying for God to send Mallory a friend for language school. Mallory and I have been talking for the last week about God answering that prayer. It seems us chatting about it and praising him for doing this for us wasn't good enough. Our God wanted to prove that he answers prayer to Whitney and to you. Many of you have e-mailed me about Whitney's experience so it is apparent the Lord wants you to see his power.

The language school adventure beginnings

Hola mis amigos! I don't want you to miss any of the adventure I am about to tell you so I'll write in English...The trip to Guatemala was wonderful. I made many friends and met a lot of interesting people on the plane including a fellow Spanish learner traveling to the Lake region and sitting with the priesthood. I'm not kidding the priesthood surrounded me on my flight from Houston to Guatemala. An elderly Guatemalan lady asked in Spanish to have my seat. Therefore, I took her seat which was located in the center of a group of 11 young men in school studying Catholicism. Interesting experience to say the least.
When I arrived in Guatemala, I took a hour long ride in a very nice van to Antigue. I was probably riding in the nicest vehicle on the road which ruined my opportunity to practice "fitting in". Even though, my blue eyes and white skin ruin my possibility to trick the locals into believing I'm Guatemalan.
When I arrived at my Guatemalan families home, I promptly answered inappropriately to a question I was asked in Spanish. I was shown to my very nice living quarters and I was introduced to my new roommate for the next 5 weeks. Her name is Mallory. Here is where the story gets really exciting. This is an example of why us Christians don't have to stress about where the Lord will lead us.
Mallory lives in Raleigh, North Carolina and she knows no Spanish just like me. After language school, she will be working for an organization in the Dominican Republic to serve orphans. Yep, I am living with a girl with my same story! DID I WRITE THAT CLEARLY!!! DID YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE FOR ME!
I put my luggage in the house and we headed to the streets to explore. We sat at a cafe and swopt stories about the lives the Lord has given us and discussed caring for orphans in our prospective areas. Amazing!!!!
Language school is intense but Mallory is a wonderful friend to practice with when we aren't in school. Thanks for your prayers. The Lord is listening.