I know what you’re thinking: “What is a ‘tienda’?” Tiendas are a dime-a-dozen around Guatemala (Our joke is that there is a tienda every three doors). They are little convenience stores that sell sodas, chips, laundry soap, and other odds-and-ends.
Now, you are probably asking: “Who is Marlita?” Yeah…We still have no idea either.
Specifically, Tienda Marlita is the tienda that is directly across the street from our house. We have become regulars there and have become friends with the Guzman Morales family whom owns it (none of which are named Marlita). They are all very kind; Sandra (the current manager/owner/mom of the family) always calls us “mi amor” (my love), she is very sweet.
Well, last night my team was out at our bar/prostitute ministry when Pastor Roni got a call from our contact saying that we could come home now. When I heard that, I thought, “Wow…Did we really just get permission to go home? That’s weird.”
As our van pulled up in front of our house, we hear firecrackers be set off very close to the van. The sound of firecrackers is a daily occurrence in Guatemala, so we didn’t think anything of it except their proximity. I wish I could have seen our faces as we jumped out of the van as we see our good ol’ Tienda Marlita transformed from this:(
(this is my friend and teammate Emily Richardson sitting outside our favorite hangout.)
To this:
Our Tienda Family contacted out hosts and said they wanted to bless us and make us all dinner to say thank you and to give us a nice send off since we are leaving Puerto Barrios next week. Wow! Feeding all 22 of us is NOT an easy task and we were told that this family does not have a lot of money so this was a very beautiful gesture. (Not to mention, there was hot chocolate. It’s actually been cold here the last couple of days and so spirits were high just on that gift alone.)
Today we got a better view as so just how special that dinner was. Paul, our contact, told us that that family has never done anything like this for any other missionary team. He said that the closest thing they have ever come to doing anything like this was cooking a previous team a meal and selling it to them for very cheap. AND we are the largest team they have ever had here so it was definitely a sacrifice for this family.
Somewhere along the line, through our patronage and exchange of pleasantries and miscommunications, apparently we have made an impression on the Guzman Morales family. Through this God has shown me that you affect people even when you don’t realize you are and that every opportunity you are given is an opportunity to minister and to shine Christ’s light.
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