San Lucas Tolimán, Sunday, November 1: Kites floated in the sky above the cemetery on our last morning in the village of San Lucas Tolimán. The “Day of the Dead” feast day as we witnessed it in San Lucas was neither secular nor commercial. Rather, it was a religious, personal and touching event. As Father Greg Schaffer and some of the church members read names of the departed (including names we ourselves had submitted), the children sang in Spanish and the people gathered around the altar submitted more names and brought small offerings, a few quetzales in honor of the dead. At one point we recognized the melody of Minnesota songwriter Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind. Hearing it brought back images from the 1960s and added an emotional and geographic connection to our experience of this Central American/Mayan/ Christian ritual.

As these and other events unfolded in our 2009 trip, even those of us who have traveled to Guatemala many times were reminded that each trip is a new experience.  In both of our mission connections, Lutheran and Catholic, we had new opportunities to observe how empowerment can make a difference in all our lives.  In Guatemala City, we witnessed a new ministry establishing roots in a challenging urban setting.  High on the hillside above San Lucas, we helped adults and children carry blocks for stoves to be built in their modest new concrete homes in the San Andres settlement, developed by San Lucans out of generosity to their neighbors who had survived Hurricane Stan.  We visitors were welcomed into homes and onto work sites, joined by the Mayan residents who shared their skills with us.

While some of us helped build stoves, others assisted a team of surgeons from Michigan, working together with Dr. Rafael Tun, who grew up in San Lucas Tolimán.  Some of us revisited the mission school, which has progressed from classes taught by American sisters, with few books available, to a school where indigenous teachers serve in all roles from principal to teachers and librarians, choosing books for a library and running computer classes and providing library services to the community in the evening.

Up on the hill where we helped build stoves, we realize that perhaps they didn’t really need us to carry bricks. We help because we have been invited to walk beside our Guatemalan sisters and brothers.  The village of San Lucas Tolimán is thriving under the guidance of Father Greg Schaffer, the direct involvement of the village leaders and with the presence and help of a caring and loving God. The parish and the village have made much progress in forty years -- to the point that they can share their resources and knowledge with others outside their immediate boundaries.  One San Andres resident, Ordelia, shared her story with us and her gratitude for the new opportunities they now enjoy.   Yes, we provided funds to help them purchase the bricks and other materials.  But the riches of the world have been unevenly distributed and providing funds to build stoves is one way we are trying to restore some of what society has denied our Guatemalan friends – a chance for decent wages, housing, and good health. We are rewarded in return by their hospitality, their blessings and their gentle ways.  These all serve to remind us to respect others and to breathe and observe and live life in a greater awareness of the many gifts that surround us.

For more information:

ILAG http://www.ilagpartners.org/about.cfm

San Andres community: http://www.sanlucasmission.org/comm_sanandres.php