Getting to Know the People

I really love this place! It is a wonderful mixture of the old and the new. There are cows in the fields in the middle of town, and of course the odor. Bicycle taxis that ferry entire families to Church—the driver looked like an over worked horse. Little tiendas on every street and Wal Marts along freeways. Though there is as underlying feeling of poverty, no one here seems to have given up or to be looking for someone to give them a handout. Whole households work long hours for meager wages, banding together to make ends meet, and, in spite of their poverty, they are a very happy and friendly people willing to give you some of what little they have.

On Tuesday, Chrise and I went to what we thought was going to be a family home evening at the home of a member. Two elders were to join us. When we got there with our cookies and music, we found that no one was a member or knew what family home evening was. So we combined family home evening with a missionary discussion to grandmother, mom, nine year old daughter, and five year old son. Chrise played the keyboard and we all sang I Am a Child of God in Spanish. They loved the song so much that they asked to sing it a second time, and then they wanted the sheet music we had brought with us. I don’t think any of them had ever seen chocolate chip cookies, but I mistook their reserve in eating them, especially the children. They loved them to be sure, but even when we encouraged them they held back from going for thirds. Then the grandmother spoke out, telling the kids that the remainder of the cookies were for family members who were still away working. She named each one of them. To them the cookies were a rare treat that must be shared. The mother kept disappearing and returning and finally she came back with a whole tray of rice pudding in cups. I shuddered to think how much work had to be done to pay for this, but they insisted that we eat.

On another night we came upon the home a young couple, each twenty-one. The husband had just come home from a very hard day of work. The wife worked in a little tienda at the front of their house. Everything was clean and simple and meager. We sat on stools in their bedroom-kitchen-living room about eight feet by ten feet. Love was plainly there in the way that the looked at each other. Chrise asked to see their wedding pictures, and for more than twenty minutes they showed us pictures, laughing at memories, now three years old. When I asked if they would like to prepare to go to the temple and be sealed together, they glanced at each other, smiled and nodded. We will be seeing a lot of this beautiful young couple over the next several weeks.