Facing the Giants | Kris Repp
Thursday, September 2nd 2010
A Note From the Author:
I am in Guatemala. My last trip here was almost 4 years ago. I am working with the precious children and staff of Escuela Integrada, a school for the extremely poor in Antigua...cleaning their teeth with my ultrasonic scaler. It is wonderful to be able to bless them.
Many things have changed since I lived here in the 90's. Violence is on the increase. The home of my missionary friends, the Lovealls, with whom I stay, is now under 24-hour armed guard. Sad to think it is necessary.
There are many things that haven't changed. Like, the buses. The attached picture was taken in 2004! It is true, I can feel pretty tired by the end of the day, but just riding the bus home can perk me up...enough to put that smile back on my face. I decided to write about my experience to let you step into my shoes...Thanks so much for your faithful prayers. In His love -Kris
FACING THE GIANTS
by Kris Repp
It is now dark and the heavy rain has made puddles in the mud surrounding the micro-bus (pronounced: me-crow-boos), a miniature version of the well-known 'chicken bus', at the end of the bus park. Colorful letters read San Bartolo. It’s the micro-bus that will take me to my stop 10 minutes down the road. The bus is full (by American standards) but the driver enthusiastically encourages more passengers to board. I squeeze in, crunching things in my backpack against the seated riders and find a place toward the middle of the dark bus. As I sit down, the respectfully large woman in the single seat we now both occupy lifts a brilliant artificial flower arrangement in front of us to keep it from getting seriously rearranged. People continue to board, each person greeting the busload of strangers with a cheerful “¡Buenas noches!” I have no idea how long we will sit here before leaving…how more people will possibly fit in this space that my flower bearer aptly describes as “Choqué!”, or how any of us will manage to get out of the micro-bus at our destination. As the passengers “sardinar “(a Spanish verb I invented which means “to squeeze together like sardines”), the driver is fiddling with something under his well-padded steering wheel. In fact, his seat, dash and front of the micro-bus are all well padded with tuck and roll style vinyl. Pictures of the Virgin Mary hover like guardian angels over his head. I decide he is hot wiring the motor when suddenly a 3x5 photo lights up on the front ceiling with a 3-D like picture of a little hippie warrior in full armor. The neon blue light gives the picture a surreal depth. The little figure truly looks alive. I watch closely to see if his chest moves. Soon, I hear the ignition key turn and the engine hesitates but starts. Tiny red fire-fly like lights surround the hippie warrior and are flashing in sync with the mariachi music that now booms loud, unclear and fuzzily from the radio speakers at the driver’s control. We are on our way. The chassis groans and clanks from the all too familiar excessive weight it is carrying. One windshield wiper clicks over the spider web break in the windshield to clear the rain for the driver’s vision. I am relishing this experience and giggling inside. It is true… small things give me great pleasure. As I am thinking about how I am just one ingredient in this human soup that is so cozy and content to be out of the rain, rocking and rolling down the road to the rhythm of horns and accordions…I hear the driver say, “Gigantes!” He pulls the micro-bus over to the side of the narrow road and turns off the engine. Could I have heard him correctly? Giants? What giants? Just as I am beginning to doubt my Spanish ears, I see 4 giants…about 8 feet tall, looming before our micro-bus and dancing to music coming from a truck parked in the middle of the road. I am not sure how the little men under the frames are managing to maneuver their huge puppets but it is clear the driver of the micro-bus is not going to fight with these giants. I sardinar to the front, pay my 13-cent fare, get off and experience the ‘gigantes’ firsthand before walking home.
Comments
Adriana/ Wa. -
Tuesday, November 9, 2010 @ 5:01 PM
Kriss, u probably do not remember me, but I just wanted to let u know u have being heavy on my heart latelly, praying for God's will for u where ever u are right now and specially for strenght and God's providence. Blessings to u my dear encouraging friend and sister in the Lord. Your dearlly Missionary friend and sister in the Lord. Love Adriana
