July 2006

I had traveled along with Marta, Consuelo and Maura from the Evangelism and Mission Committee of the Sinódica (Presbyterian Women), some seven hours, on three buses to get to San Juan Ixcoy, a remote village nestled deep within the Cuchumatanes Mountains. We passed rock-covered hillsides dotted with sheep. Women and men protecting themselves with umbrellas from the pouring rain shepherded the sheep on their journey home. We arrived with the rain still falling and were served a supper of beans, eggs and tortillas. Marta, Consuelo, Maura and I live in a more tropical part of Guatemala so we were grateful for the heavy blankets to keep us warm during the night.

The next day the Kan’jo’bal (one of the 20-some Mayan groups in Guatemala) women came to the workshop, some traveling an hour on foot, another hour in the back of a pick up truck. The women were timid and shy. When one of them had the courage to respond to a question, she looked down, and then covered her mouth with her hand, making her soft words more difficult to hear. The 24 indigenous women who gathered for the workshop on evangelism spoke their maternal language, Kan’jo’bal; a few understood and spoke Spanish; almost no one could read or write in any language.

We struggled to communicate. There were moments when I wondered if we were communicating anything at all. The women seemed so withdrawn and quiet. When we divided the women into small groups and asked them to illustrate a Bible passage, there was more activity since they could speak with one another in their own language. I am sure our smiles and gestures of friendship and concern also spoke to the women of our solidarity with them.

Then came the closing prayer and we all formed a large circle and one of the Kan’jo’bal women agreed to pray. It was then that the women “came to life!” Their voices were no longer muted or soft —  far from it. Everyone prayed together, voices rising and falling. Though I could not understand the words, I sensed shouts of thanksgiving and praise, pleas for mercy and healing.

Here in this space and time, in the presence of their God who gave them life and who sustains them daily, the women had a voice. In the presence of God they knew their words would be understood and they were free to be a daughter of the living God.

As I minister with the women in Guatemala I have had the privilege of traveling to many remote places like San Juan Ixcoy as well as large cities where women gather for workshops and meetings. Many times the women feel they have no voice, not in their family where the man rules or in the church where they have been relegated to the kitchen or the children’s Sunday school or in their communities. Often I find that in the presence of God, in prayer, they find their voice. I find great joy in helping them discover that they can use that God-given voice within their families, church and communities.

I appreciate the many ways that churches and individuals in the United State support my ministry with women in Guatemala. There are prayers that uphold me, notes of concern that arrive in my mailbox, and financial contribution s from churches and individuals. My hope is that every church that is a part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will provide this kind of support for at least one mission worker somewhere in God’s great world.

Ellen Dozier

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 64