Mama Tori Makes A Mean Ham And Cheese Sandwich

Sunday morning we went to the church we will be working with and met Pastor Marcial. Church was... interesting. The music was the sharpest contrast possible to anything that we ever sing at church. All out of a hymnal, sometimes straight from the Bible itself-which always made us laugh for some unknown reason. Most of the time I had no idea what anyone was saying. I could catch page numbers for the hymnal and different words here and there, but not a whole lot. Most members, including Pastor Marcial, are Mayan and also mumble. These two things make it very difficult to understand. I was assured that it was their accent and not my lack of Spanish knowledge, but I still feel slightly discouraged. Hopefully it will get better throughout the week.

The afternoon was spent mostly playing with Gabriel and Sophie. It was a quiet afternoon, but I really loved it. I love spending time with them and getting to know them and their hearts. Linds taught Sophie how to braid. Sophie also loves High School Musical, so we talked about that a lot. I knew God would use my uncanny love for HSM one day.

Late that afternoon, Pastor Marcial came over to talk with all of us. We started talking about things that are going on in his family, and he just looked so burdened. His son is getting married in December, and the whole situation has been very stressful in every way possible. It's a long story and I also don't feel it's my place whatsoever to be sharing it with the bloggy world (not that I don't trust you, my faithful bloggy friends, but this isn't a private blog), but please keep his family and the marriage situation in your prayers. We really felt like we needed to deal with part of this situation before we could move forward with the new church. It's so sad to see a grown man so broken and defeated. At the same time, seeing Henry and Mauricio reach out to him and minister to him was the perfect picture of fellowship in its truest form, as God intended it to be.

We went back to church that night and I still didn't really understand. In fact, I have no idea what even went on. And that's all I have to about that.

Except that we had ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner and they were the best I have ever had. The end.