Yesterday we made a visit to Wal-Mart (many things the same here) on our way to Gazacapan, or more accurately a village next to Grazacapan, where Pastor Pablo grew up. We met his family and enjoyed lunch together before surveying the land on which he wants to build a church building and visiting with a family near the area who would attend. Later in the day we spoke with a pastor from a neighboring city about church planting strategies and his willingness to support our work. It was a good visit and we learned much about churches in the area.
Some interesting extremes struck me through the day. The first was the temperature. We are staying in San Lucas which is on a mountain just outside of Guatemala City. It is chilly hear and light jacket weather. In Guazacapan, which is not far from the Pacific, it was hot, like Houston in May.
Another extreme was the conditions. Pastor Pablo’s parents live in an open air concrete structure. Clothes are hung on a line in a porch that slopes back from the road. Hammocks hang from the rafters and are tied out of the way. We walked through the bedroom to the eating area and noticed that there are mosquito nets above the beds. Again, this is all open air. There are walls but no doors. The kitchen is half covered and half in the open. The sink being in the open area. The bathroom is an outhouse with a 3/4 door. This was more of the picture I had in coming. The place in which we are staying is more like a traditional home back home, though it hasn’t any air conditioning or heat. It is hard to imagine living as they do. We did enjoy the hammocks as we talked together. The family we visited in the area lived in a 3 room concrete structure, open air with a drainage ditch through the living area. It reminded me of conditions in Africa. In the evening on the way home we stopped in Antigua, about an hour from Guazacapan, that is a popular tourist spot. Celebrities own homes and come to vacation here. We stopped and took pictures at a five star resort, $1500 per night. It was beautiful and peaceful. Previously it was a convent and they played on that theme with soft Gregorian chant playing throughout.
