To say the least.

Yesterday was an interesting day for our family.

First of all, in Guatemala they voted for their new president.  This sometimes can be a dicey time down here with riots on occasion.  Earlier this September one town hunted down the other losing candidates on the day of or after the election and murdered them.  However, yesterday went without a hitch in our town or Jalapa.  I was impressed to see how the electoral process ran.  Similar to Canada, you are given a voting card in which it indicates which location and table to vote at.  Records are kept as to who has voted and you must provide identification and even give your finger print before you vote.  For people that live in adobe huts, tin shacks, and other squat housing they do not posses a formal address so they file into their nearest village and register with what identification they have.  As the election closed in the evening the people begin to celebrate by lighting firecrackers in the streets and on rooftops.  It sounded like machine gun fire all around which was great for a moment until you remembered that riots have happened at election time.  All was well in the end and no problems happened.

Earlier in the same day we walked to church because our truck is in need of repairs yet again (this time it is the head gasket).  At church it was great to sit and listen to our pastor.  He speaks Spanish very clear, formal, and with excellent intonation making it an enjoyable experience to translate and learn from.  At the end of the sermon he went out into the crowd and started to pray for his congregants.  He walked down our isle and began to pray over our family in English about our mission giving us the message of hope that there is much to learn about our walk with God in Guatemala and that this work will bare fruit that we may not even get to see for His kingdom.  It was a powerful moment to have someone come out and pray in our native language a message that we have been needing to hear.  Mandy and I have felt like we have been hitting many road blocks and that our productivity is low in the sense of providing effective help to these girls.  God was giving us an awesome reminder that not everything will work out to our expectations but to His and we need to be mindful of this.  Thanks to our pastors we left the morning service feeling empowered again to go out and make a change.

Typical street in Jalapa.

As we headed back home we went to a burger joint that we hadn't been to before.  Upon entering we went through the usually family argument about who wants what combo, trying to translate what the menu panel means, and interrupting each others orders to get the last second change of drink or side for our combos.  During the all of this chaos two girls approached us and began to beg for money.  These girls were a little dirty and only appeared to be between Mercedes and Gabe's age.  We declined to give them money as we almost always do, however we did ask them if they wanted to eat with us instead.  They accepted the offer and we added another combo to our order.

Mandy and I began to chat with them about where they live and how they got there.  They confessed to  us they were nine year old fraternal twins, and that they lived on the streets in Jalapa because their parents dropped them off in Jalapa three years ago and took a bus back to their home town of Monjas which is about thirty to forty kilometres away.  Digging deeper into their story they stated that they get help from time to time from a woman in town that allows them to bathe and clean their clothes.  As the food was brought out we asked them if they had heard of Casa Hogar, a girls home that aids young females that have been abused or neglected by their family.  At this time the one sister who had been doing most of the talking became quiet for a moment and would whisper to her other sister as they continued to ingest their meal.  With this change in temperament I changed my line of questioning.  We asked if they went to church; did they go to school; and where is the house that you get help from in Jalapa.  The girls' story began to change a bit.  Both lived with a grandmother from time to time but that they were with seven other kids on the street.  These seven kids had homes though and they went to school with these girls.  As the story began to change about their situation it was becoming obvious that they were lying and that there was a much different problem here.

Street market in Jalapa

After lunch we invited them to the market and we made the decision to help these girls further by getting some heavier clothes for the cold nights and a new pair of shoes for the one girl whose toes were poking out the front of her crocs.  Even though we knew there was a chance that these girls were scamming us we went forward with Jesus' teachings in the parable found in Matthew 25:31-46, where it is our mission to serve those who are in need.  During our shopping we ran into our good friend Mario who was able to interrogate the girls and the people at the market further as to what is their story.  Sure enough they were working the people at the market and they had parents close by watching them collect what they can.  In the end when the girls knew they were caught and were afraid of being reported to the authorities or taken to Casa Hogar.  They quickly stole away with their new shoes, clothing and full bellies to keep this way of life alive.

To be honest we were extremely disappointed that it was a sham, however we look at this situation through a different set of lenses.  Our large investment of eight dollars could have possibly been used better by giving it to Casa Hogar or another aid agency, but instead we invested time and compassion into two girls lives that may not receive much of either from their family and many other adults that come to the market.  Our opportunity to show love to these girls may have opened something for them later in life.

Later when we walked back to our home we saw the girls again, who were now careful to keep their distance, outside of nearby grocery store.  It was disheartening to see that they no longer were wearing the new pair of shoes or wearing the sweater that was just bought.  Whether they sold them for considerably less than what we bought them for or they dished the clothes off to their family members to keep up their impoverished appearance, regardless they 'appeared' to be back where they started.  These poor girls were nothing more than a product of their up bringing so being mad at them serves nothing to solve the problem.  Mandy became quite bitter about the deception of it all and the manipulation of these children through their parents encouragement and that we should not be a part in supporting any of these people outside of an organized institution.  When we talked some more about our feelings we came to the conclusion that despite this frustrating scenario change in these girls lives would take time, showing love consistently, and being compassionate always.  As a family we will be careful to mind the needs of others as we see them despite the possibility of being taken advantage of.  Maybe the words of our new pastor will come to light with these two girls.  Only God knows how His love can change the hearts of others but we need to be that conduit for Him.