The joys of living in another country are sometimes as great as the frustrations! Halloween came and went last night without much thought. We had plans to visit a church last night so we told the kids we would do "Halloween" today. So, we will let them dress up today and do a scavenger hunt for candy around the house, bob for apples in our kitchen and then say, "Happy Halloween!" One year Greg's mom was coming near Christmas time so we changed when we would have Christmas, since no one here celebrates like we do, it is easy to change the day to accomodate our plans. That is the JOY of living here!
I have been trying to upload some pictures but our internet does not want to do that! Sometimes it is faster than other times. So, I will keep trying to upload it throughout the day. It is a picture that will give you a good example of how dark this time really is around here.
Today is the first "Day of the Dead" in our village. I have learned more about this day through our maid. She is 18 and has been married for four years. She had a baby that died when it was about 8 months old of bronchitis. This happened about 3 years ago. The custom is to go to the grave at night and place food on the grave so that the spirit of the dead person will come back and visit with you. They will eat and enjoy fellowship with you. Tonight is the night for those who died as infants. Tomorrow they will have Mass for those who died as adults and they will ask forgiveness for the sins of those who have died. She asked me what I thought about visiting the spirit of her dead baby today. (she is a new Christian and really wants to do the right thing) I asked her if she believed her baby would come back and eat the food and visit with her. She said she didn't believe that but was confused. We talked about how after a person dies it is too late to ask forgiveness for their sins. She said the people here don't believe that babies sin very much and that is why they don't need to have a mass for children. She said she believes the spirit of her baby was in heaven. I assured her that the spirit of her baby wasn't hungry and didn't need to come here to eat! I told her I like to imagine my grandma rocking her baby in Heaven. She said she liked that idea too! So, she said she would go and pray for herself but she didn't think she needed to bring food or pray for her baby. Please pray for Rosa and Chavo today as I am sure they will be pressured to do many things that they no longer believe is necessary.
This blog was started in 2004 when Annie was badly burnt. Over the years we have seen how God has continually provided for us and answered our many prayers.
