Reformation Day... er... Halloween

We don't want you to think that this Missionary gig is all work and no fun. It's a whole lot of work, for sure, but occasionally, we get to have fun.

Yesterday, Halloween, we had a "day off". That means we didn't have a clinic. The day started with a visit to the hospital to check on a patient we've been following. She has been transported to Guatemala City and we don't have much new information on her. Then we got with the hospital administration and completed the process of transferring a bunch of donated stuff to them. We also got the chance to touch base with the head nurse, the folks in the Consulta Externa, and the social workers.

Then we spent some phone time with Ceritas, the local nuns who do a bunch of great work, cleaned up a few more details around our trip to Antigua with the cleft palate kids, answered two or three knocks on the door, and went to town for a few essentials.

Then came the fun part - we got to make Halloween costumes. Yes, there are a half dozen or so American missionary families in Chichicastenango and we were invited to their Halloween party. We only had about 24 hours notice, so we had to get a little creative. Both of our costumes were biblically based and only slightly tacky. Heidi was Lot's wife (post-mortem), and Matt was John the Baptist (also post-mortem). See, only a little tacky. But what's Halloween for if you can't skirt the edge of tastefulness?

Anyway, here in Guatemala, today is the big holiday. November 1 is the Day of the Dead. The festivities started yesterday with (of course) fireworks and parades. Today, they'll all be out at the cemeteries, decorating graves, writing prayers to the dead on kites and flying them up into the sky, and basically following some pretty creepy, occult practices. It's very interesting to watch except for the part about being completely at odds with Christianity.

We're quite aware that some Christians completely eschew the celebration of Halloween due to its occultic roots. However, you can, with a clean heart, dress up like a cowboy and go bobbing for apples. I asked my pastor one time during confirmation class what makes our faith any different than the other faiths in the world that people believe in just as much as we believe in ours. He asked me where Mohammed is buried, where the founder of Buddhism is buried, where the founder of Hindu-ism is buried, and where Jesus is buried. Of course, the first three are buried SOMEWHERE, it doesn't really matter where. Jesus, however, isn't buried at all. He's alive. And THAT'S the difference.You can celebrate Halloween - or at least the costume and candy part - if you want. You just have to know that we don't worship someone who's dead. And thank God for that. Our God is alive and well and wants to have a relationship with us. How sad it must be to have to send prayers on kites to those who cannot hear and even more, cannot answer.

The first pic is of Heidi and Matt with their crazy costumes on.

The second is of some of the missionary kids in their costumes.

The third is Matt (our host) and Jana (Dr. Hoak's wife).

And the fourth picture is some more of the missionary kids bobbing for apples (which had, of course, been bleached to ensure that no one gets infected with amoebas!)