The Village by the Road

On Friday afternoon, I met with our translator’s friend, Serafin Menjivar, who lives along the road. He has 4 children. His 2 older daughters were at the dump when we arrived, looking for 2 and 3-liter plastic bottles. They can sell 100 bottles and get 10 lempira (about 53 cents).

Serafin had 10-15 bags of empty bottles stacked beside his house. He built the house of adobe block as a squatter on government-owned right-of-way, as did most of the other families living there. He has water from the town of Quimistan, but no power. Water is only available in the evening and at night, and costs 30 lempira (roughly $1.60) per month. He lives in the third home on the left from the bridge. No homes above his have water, and no homes along the road have power. The homes above his on both sides of the road get their water from the river. Their biggest needs are food and medical care. Most of the children attend the school at Luz de Valle.

Serafin works part time at the brick kiln in town as a kiln firer. In fact, he has been hired in the past to work at the kiln in Santa Clara. He attends the Monday and Friday night services now and then. He says the services are usually led by a church member, not the pastor.

We went back later for the evening service. It was an amazing scene! Once everyone arrived, there were around 175 present, about 100 of them children. The church had prepared a meal, and after the service everyone was fed a small plate of rice, vegetables and chicken, with 2 flour tortillas and a drink.

The service was started by the youth/children’s director, then the pastor spoke for a while. The service concluded with an evangelist from El Salvador, a friend of the pastor’s. He closed with an altar call, to which about 40 children and adults responded.

WOW, what an evening to behold! The Lord was truly present there by the road. The light for the entire building was provided by a single Coleman gas lantern hanging from the edge of the lean-to porch /patio.

Praise God for small miracles! Everyone was fed a small meal, and Martha gave out small bags of rice and flour to every family present.

George