What is a Mennonite?

What is a Mennonite? What do we believe? Where did our faith come from? How are my beliefs as a Mennonite different than my host family's beliefs as Guatemalan Evangelicals? This last week during our evening devotions, these questions began to surface. I attended a small Mennonite church last week for the first time, and loved it. The service is different than Park View Mennonite, but it's also similar. The small community of faith was refreshing after having attended the mega church for over a month. The knowledge that these people have a faith similar to mine was encouraging and inspiring. The message was aimed at me, as a Mennonite. I never thought I was that rooted in being Mennonite, especially in a different culture.

These questions came as we sat down for devotions after supper. Before we had even opened the Bible we had started a discussion about faith, and the importance of keeping our focus on God's will instead of on the material things of the world. My host sister had just found out that she hadn't passed her exams to get into the medical department at the university, but she has another chance in October. We tried to encourage her saying that we believe if she studies again for these next exams, she'll be successful in her studies and will enter the medical department. But what if... what if she doesn't. Does it really matter? Is it then God's will and direction for her not to enter even though it has been her dream for years to become a doctor? Perhaps. But more importantly, this event is not the deciding factor in her spiritual journey and salvation. More important than entering into the medical field is our faith, our beliefs, our actions as children of God. After mostly listening to this conversation, Adan, the dad, asked if I agreed. Of course, I said. But it's much harder to say and believe that when you're in the middle of those decisions than for us to say them to her when we aren't struggling with those choices right now.

Then we came to the Mennonites. Why is it important for me to go to a Mennonite church in Guatemala? Well... I miss community. Oh yes, said Adan, I know community is really important for Mennonites. What else is different? What else do you believe? Who are the people that wear the cape dresses and bonnets? Horse and buggy, you say, what's that? Amish... Conservative Mennonites...Liberals...me...confusion. From my few minutes of talking about my personal faith, they decided I needed to educate them on Mennonites. My first reaction...no. I can't explain Mennonites, and I don't want to be their stereotype of a Mennonite. I'm far from perfect as a Mennonite, Christian, and human being. I'll make mistakes, then they'll think that all Mennonites are like that. No, they reassured me, we know you're human. We just want to know about your faith, so maybe we can understand you better, and what you need for your spiritual growth. Fine. I can do that. But give me two weeks to prepare!!! A date was set, October 4th I believe, I'm going to educate my family about Mennonites. But really, that means I need to educate myself about Mennonites! I'm already reading Naked Anabaptist, and I hope to finish before then as I believe it will help me express my own beliefs. And I went onto the Third Way Cafe website to look at how they describe Mennonites.

But really, the reason for this post is to ask for help. Many of you reading this are Mennonite, and I'd appreciate your responses. What does it mean to you to be Mennonite? What are the essential beliefs of Mennonites that are important to share with a Guatemalan family? What makes us different from other denominations? Any and all responses are appreciated :)

White and Blue

White a blue, the colors of the Guatemalan flag. The colors of independence, freedoms, democracy, patriotism. It's strange to experience patriotism in another country. They celebrated Independence Day on the 15th, yesterday, and I got to experience some of their celebrations. In the US if someone is super patriotic, I tend to be a little turned off, but here I embrace it and get excited for their independence day. What's the different? Perhaps it's the fact that Guatemala isn't known for wars, it's presidents, slavery, consumerism and wealth. Perhaps it's the fact that Guatemala feels like it deserves to celebrate amidst the difficult political time, violence, poverty. Don't get me wrong, Guatemala is not a sad place to live. In fact, I think maybe that's what brings me back here time after time. Amidst financial difficulty and violence, these people are kind, warm, loving, welcoming, faithful and hospitable. I am always welcomed into whatever place I find myself. There is always a drink or pan dulce to share, greetings to exchange, and stories to share. Guatemala, full of blessings and hospitality.

Along with this theme of patriotism, Guatemala successfully held elections on Sunday for mayors, congressmen and women, and president. I went with my host parents to the voting station where I actually saw the top presidential candidate come to vote. The elections are somewhat different here. Instead of few parties, they have many. There were 10 candidates for president alone. You can imagine how difficult it is to find a good candidate out of 10, and how much harder it is to get enough votes for that candidate. Out of the 10, the two that receive the highest votes then face another election (which will be November 6th) for the office of president. However, if one of the candidates receives 50% + 1 vote, he or she is then president. That didn't happen this time, so Guatemala will have elections in November between two candidates. The candidate that I would have supported did not make it into the top two, and of the people I have spoken with in Guatemala, it seems that of the top two, it'll be voting for the lesser of two evils. A little disappointing for a country that already struggles with much corruption and distrust in government. I am thankful that the country seemed to be relatively calm and peaceful the week leading up to and after the election. I can only pray that will continue through November.

Last week in school, we finished our first unit (of two) for this last quarter of classes. This meant a "short quiz" for the students, and some time to recoup and plan the next lessons for me. With the third grade class we celebrated by having a party. They had learned food words and party things as their vocabulary for the unit, so we decided to have a party. Each child brought in a different food, napkins, silverware, plates, etc. and we partied in style. We even had party hats and balloons! Ninoshka commented during the party that the kids seemed almost too excited to actually eat! When else were these kids going to be able to eat pizza, popcorn, jello, cake, ice cream and juice all in one sitting? It was a feast. I don't think they will ever forget.

The party with my 6 third graders and Ninoshka!

On Independence Day the family along with the uncle, aunt and grandma went to Tecpan, the city where the dad and his siblings were born and where the grandma had lived most of her life. We left the house around 7 and then it was an hour and a half drive.  When we got to the city, the grandma and aunt went to find the market, and we didn't see them again until we were leaving :) The rest of us went to find the parade. We ended up standing on a street corner with a lot of other people, and watched as the parade went by. There were lots of schools representing themselves with dances, gymnastics acts, marching bands, historical aspects of Guatemala, and strange dress up characters including Shrek and Fiona, a wolf and Sleepy from the seven dwarfs. We even had the pleasure of having four dogs fight right behind us, to the point where I was worried someone in the crowd was going to get hurt. Around lunch time we gathered food, then hopped back in the car to drive to the ruins of Iximche, the first capital city of Guatemala. It's a beautiful area, and it was a beautiful day to walk around the ruins, take pictures, and then eat a picnic lunch.

Part of the ruins of Iximche

Mitzye, Lorena, Lorenita, Julian and me

One thing that has been a struggle for the last week and a bit is that I have been fighting sickness. Last Monday night I started to feel not so great with symptoms of a fever, general fatigue, and no appetite. My family didn't exactly believe that there was anything really wrong with me, and Henry, the doctor, wasn't home to help my case. So when I finally started to have diarrhea, I told my symptoms to Henry, among others, and they said I probably had parasites. Henry gave me a medicine for parasites, and within a day and a half I was feeling much better. However, now a week later I have diarrhea again, but none of the other symptoms. I'll start another medicine today that's supposed to help my intestines heal after parasites, but not directly attack the parasites. If that doesn't work, I'll probably have to get a proper examine to see if the parasites are still there. I'd appreciate prayer, as I don't like being sick, especially here. It's hard to say I don't have an appetite when I'm not the one serving myself food, and they don't tend to pay much attention to my request for small amounts.