October 21, 2004

Dear Friends,

“If you put a piece of newspaper on your stomach covering your belly button and abdomen during a terribly curvy car ride, it will help you to avoid getting nauseous.” This advice I’ve been given by several Guatemalans during several recent trips up and down the winding mountain highway leading to Quetzaltenango to visit the different communities where this year’s Young Adult Volunteers will live. I asked: Why newspaper? How does that work? But, after some reflection, I realized that I don’t need to be able to explain these different Guatemalan wisdoms in order for them to be valid. This country is full of such rich and such drastically different shared wisdom from what I have learned previously. I’m allowing myself to listen and to live with ambiguity.

A few years ago a Central American friend solved any acne problems I might have had with one offhand comment: “Don’t eat chocolate or nuts, and you won’t have acne.” This concept was right on for me—I now can predict exactly when I’m going to break out with pimples by counting two days after my last big dose of chocolate fudge nut brownie. The Young Adult Volunteers are swallowing whole garlic cloves to try to prevent stomach upsets, following the advice from one pastor who also has studied natural medicine. That pastor also says that we should be drinking wormwood tea to further strengthen our stomach defenses. I’ve learned over these years in Central America that you’re not supposed to iron your clothes and bathe in cold water one right after the other, or drink cold water when you feel hot, or put hot food in the cold refrigerator, because the mixing of temperatures is harmful to the body. Why? I’m not sure. I’m allowing myself to listen and to live with ambiguity.

I’ve been working here in Guatemala for three months now, as of mid-October. I’m already swamped with doing lots of things: communicating with groups, taking Young Adult Volunteers to the doctor, visiting many communities, meeting with my administrative committee, coordinating retreats, not letting administrative tasks and calculations slip through the cracks. But underneath all that, I still believe what I learned during my participation in the Reconciliation and Mission program a few years ago: that our being and listening is much more important than what we do, especially during the first year in a new country. I am meeting with people who ask me to listen to them, observing and learning from my Guatemalan co-workers in PRESGOV, asking many questions, hearing many very different analyses of the struggles and promises in the Presbyterian Church of Guatemala, and thinking and praying to discern in what way God has called me to serve here in this position.

I’m even putting newspaper on my stomach in the car because the Guatemalans tell me it helps prevent nausea. On the last trip up the mountain road I felt great with the newspaper on my stomach—maybe that was because I sat in the front seat of the car instead of the back seat, but maybe the newspaper helped! The Guatemalans’ shared wisdom and way of being doesn’t have to make sense to me in order for it to be valid, but neither should I accept it all without question. I’m listening and allowing myself to live with ambiguity, and, gracias a Dios, I’m quite enjoying the process.

Marcia