Western Highlands

So last Friday I went with a paralegal (Beatriz) and a social worker (Delmi) from our staff to Quetzaltenango, otherwise known as Xela, to meet with a client at the children´s home where she is staying. Xela is a small-feeling (though it´s the second-largest city in the country) city 3.5 hours westward into the mountains, with a lot more Mayan presence than the capital. We worked for most of the day, and had to spend the night because we worked so late. We went out with Beatriz´s friends to a classy french restaurant where gypsy jazz/cuban jazz group (they were great!) played the night away. It was a really good time. The next morning, I caught a chicken bus to the mountain town of Almolonga twenty minutes away for one of the biggest fruit and vegetable markets in Latin America. I was soaking wet with culture. Here are the pictures.

Shenni, me, Beatriz, Lilian, Delmi

The central park in Xela.

Get your fungicide right here in the corner store.

I sort of wanna live here.

Farms amongst houses amongst businesses amongst schools and churches. Sometimes not planning leads to great planning?

Taking a break.

The market.

The bulk room.

Cauliflower.

It was all Mayan, all the time in Almolonga.

The Almolonga church.

Gente apretada.

Here´s a video of the market. Take note of leaf-on-the-head lady towards the end.

Returning Home Pt. 2

So I went home (last post) and got reinspired and reenergized for my life and work here in Guatemala. I mean, I was really, deeply encouraged. As clear as I made it that I was struggling, I want to make it equally clear that I´m in a much better place now. Certainly I will still struggle and feel lonely and even listless sometimes, but I´ve returned with all kinds of new ideas and energy and hope. In that hope, I made a game plan with some close friends for how I could capitalize on the differences of life here and not only survive, but thrive - if not in all ways, at least in some ways. So whether its more for me or for the interest of whoever reads this thing, I´ll now attempt to enumerate those ideas. Maybe you can check on how I´m doing with this stuff in a couple weeks.

* In order to feel a greater sense of purpose at work, I need to create a more important role for myself by kicking serious butt. This will be first characterized by avoiding non-work related distractions (the blog mostly exempt, however, because some of the folks paying for me to be here and/or praying for me read this thing and they have a right to know what´s going on). I will take on every task as if the entire mission of justice in Latin America rests on my shoulders at that moment. So when my team starts noticing that I´m finishing stuff really fast and really well, they´ll come to rely on me more. And that´s sort of the whole idea.


* I will appreciate what social blessings I already have here. Goodhearted coworkers. A few, close friends that care about me a lot. A darling host family. It was wrong to ever take them for granted.


* Even while getting used to the idea that I will not have 20 close friends here by the time I leave, I will seek out community wherever I can get it in hopes of having 2(ish) more close friends. I will accept almost any invitation, and go out of my way and be very bold about initiating new friendships and social opportunities.


* I will be way more consistent about exercise: pushups and pullups and situps when I wake up and before bed, waking up earlier to go on morning runs at least three times a week, joining the yoga studio and attending at least 8 times a month, checking on the once-closed and maybe open-again-by-now climbing gyms.


* I will be serious about getting enough sleep and establishing a routine that I can stick to in order to make that possible.


* I will go out of my way to create beauty whereever I can: at my desk, in my bedroom, in my bathroom, in my car. I brought some pictures of friends and favorite places, as well as a scenic Kansas wall calendar for this purpose. I´ll be on the hunt for more beautiful things to put up. (This has made an already appreciable difference. Now, when I sit at my desk in our windowless office, all my friends smile at me from the wall as if to say "Go get em´tiger.")


* I´ll be active in creating beauty. I´ll be disciplined about writing and recording music. I´ll try writing more poetry. I´ll even try drawing or painting or something visual.


* I´ll be disciplined about getting better at guitar - my new flatpicking instructional DVDs will help with this.


* I´ll not believe that indulging in material things will make me happier - but I will enjoy a movie, a weekend trip, or a meal out whenever it is appropriate.


* I´ll keep in touch better, calling at least one person every day if possible, and keeping up with emails, blogging, and maybe even snail mail. (If you want to kick off an exchange of the latter, my address is: David Burchfield/Misión Internacional de Justicia/13 Calle 2-73, Zona 1/Guatemala/GUATEMALA; If you really want to talk to me on your own initiation, you can also call my Guatemalan cell phone via Skype or Google or whatever: (502)4912-6121).


* I will do my darndest to reserve some time for just me and the Divine in the morning and at night - in meditation, scripture and other literature, intercessory prayer, journaling, dancing alone, whatever. I may begin fixed-hour prayer.



* I will read voraciously, to improve my knowledge of the world and God and people and agriculture and justice and the human story in general. Fortunately I feel the slightest, completely appropriate, bit of pressure here because of the 10 or 15 books that have been given or lent to me for this time. (I´ve finished "No Impact Man" and knocked out a good portion of "Unexpected News: Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes" in the last 4 days. A good start.)


* Perhaps most importantly, I will seek the courage to change the things I can, accept the things I cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference.


There´s my game plan. Check up on me in a little while, okay?

Returning Home Pt. 1

It is my second day of work in 2010, and my third day back in Guatemala. I went home for 17 days that were richer than I could ever hope to describe. Almost every moment of every single day I was with people, knowing that I´d have plenty of time to be alone when I got back here. I even spent some nights with people, slumber partying a few times. The coldest, snowiest Kansas City Christmas of my entire lifetime was in many ways also the warmest.

I´ve been struggling down here, and that´s not such a big secret for many of you. I, a pretty extreme extrovert, have been limited to a much, much smaller (though very good) group of people to interact with here, let alone interact with in my first and most comfortable language. I feel uncharacteristically quiet, withdrawn, and pensive here. Maybe those are good things in some ways, but they've also been incredibly difficult to adjust to. There is also, of course the cultural adjustment and new work environment, not to mention the end of a very important relationship. So I´ve been grieving that, and struggling with all this newness and differentness and I felt like I was going crazy with doubt and a loss of connection to the reasons that I came here in the first place - and then I went home.

I think words like Hallelujah were made for occasions like this. We know what it means, but it still seems to grab the edge of that ineffable elation we feel when we feel loved, or inspired, or purposeful, or all of the above together. I dove right in with friends and family, laughing and celebrating the goodness of Christmas and America and Kansas City and Togetherness. I moved forward through some of that grief and pain and confusion and cried a little in the presence of people who care quite about me and could actually hug me at the end of our time together, rather than just say goodbye and hang up the phone. I was so blessed to be loved, and so blessed to have the chance again to love my people in person - with affectionate touch, or gifts, or even just eye contact.

I was healed in some really significant ways by community, and reflected on the magic of Christmas. In the middle of this messy world, and my messy life, God incarnate came to Earth to give us direct and complete communion with him - which we often find through each other. We are the Body. Get it? I felt like I really did (and do) get it.