JB Trips - Guatemala 2006 - Picking Corn with Juan

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2006.02.02 - Picking Corn, and the skit

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Events of the day:
Helping Juan pick corn
Coloring
Bazzar

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0515 - Got up and made coffee, using the Silver Bullet again.
Another quiet morning. I sat out on a chair on the porch, and made the mistake of scratching a dog's ear... :-) It never stopped wanting more! Took some pictures of across the valley from the compound.

0630 - Started cooking Breakfast with Jessica and Elaine - Pancakes, eggs and fried ham

0730 - Breakfast.

0800 - Bible Study. "Meekness"
Being "meek" doesn't mean "week". Finds power in God's grace, and not in one's self.

0900 - Headed out to La Esperanza.

0930 - Assigned to Juan's field, to pick corn.

Now, I'm not the "farmer" type by any stretch of imagination... it was HOT and dry, and there wasn't any breeze at all in the corn stalks... it wasn't the funnest day I've had while there, but I had a good time.

Juan explained to us the method, and we went at it. We had some sort of tool that was a wood stick with a nail through it to help shuck the corn, which was VERY dry

It was VERY unlike the corn we grow here... its sole intent was to be ground up.

Dry and hard, it wasn't shriveled, it was just hard. It had a good color to it, and looked like it was in pretty good shape.

Juan was happy about it... so I guess it was good. :-)

It was a HOT day, but we had a good time trying to talk... and Juan sang "A-lab-bor-a-ah" with us... it was fun. He pointed skyward at one point, after motioning to the growing pile of corn and said "Christos"...

We worked through the morning, and about noon, we broke for lunch. Juan had us load up a bag with corn, and he had me help pick it up, and he used a strap around the bag - and his head - to carry it up to the houses... we picked up our packs and followed him... he's got a tough neck!!!

1215 - Lunch

Once back at the village, we ate, then broke out the coloring books. The folks from the village piled in the schoolhouse, and we dispersed the crayons the best we could... and the coloring began in earnest.

They take it seriously.

It seemed to me that the adults were more into it than the kids were! It was a fun time of sharing, trying to talk, and enjoying everyone's company

1400 - Meeting with the men and women.

The women of the team first washed the feet of the women in the village, and rubbed them down with lotion... then they talked about "women's issues".

The men, meanwhile, went outside, and sat on a hill on the edge of the village, and we talked about Alcohol and Drugs, which they asked us to do.

They then asked about how to deal with it should it become a problem. It was also a good time of sharing prayer requests, both theirs and ours...

1430 - Soccer game!

While the women set up the Bazzar, the kids, young and small, played a game of soccer... again, they take their games VERY seriously!

1500 - Bazzar.

They set out a bunch of items they made, and let us look it over and purchase what we wanted... There was some nice stuff. I picked up a book cover, a placemat set, a table runner, and a pretty nice throw blanket.

The women watched from outside... :-)