For several months we planned this trip to Chiapas. We were prepared for the worst. Our host, Mauricio, lived in a small adobe home with his father, three brothers, and a sister-in-law. The house only had two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a room used to dry the coffee. Did I mention the bathroom? No… that’s because there was no bathroom, no toilet, no sink, no shower, no running water, zip, nada.
We had no idea where we would stay for five weeks. As far as we knew, we would stay with Mauricio at the house with no bathroom. However, the brothers were very loving and provided us a house. The bathroom was a little concrete block building separate from the main house.
The bathroom had a toilet, but did not have running water. Whenever we used the toilet, we had to grab a bucket of water from a large water basin and flush the toilet with it.
To take a bath, we would grab two 5-gallon buckets of water from the basin, and give ourselves a “sponge bath.” This water was ice cold. Fortunately our sister Amparo had a little electric device for warming the water.
Every house had a huge water basin that supplied water for flushing the toilet, water for bathing, water for laundry, water for washing dishes, and water for cooking.
When I think of my brothers’ struggles in Chiapas, I forget about my own struggles. These don’t come close to what our brothers in other parts of the world go through. Yet, they are content and pray that we remain loyal to our Father.
Lesson learned #1: BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE.
When I think of my brothers’ struggles in Chiapas, I forget about my own struggles. These don’t come close to what our brothers in other parts of the world go through. Yet, they are content and pray that we remain loyal to our Father.
Lesson learned #1: BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE.
El viaje a Chiapas lo planeamos por varios meses, y no sabíamos dónde nos hospedaríamos. Nuestro anfitrión, Mauricio, vive en una casa de adobe con su padre, tres hermanos, y su cuñada. La casa tiene dos recámaras, una cocina, y un cuarto donde se seca el café. Lo único que faltaba era un baño con agua potable. Los hermanos fueron muy amorosos y nos proveyeron una casa. El baño estaba situado en una casita aparte, hecha de bloque.
El baño tenía inodoro, pero no tenía agua potable. Para vaciar el inodoro había que ir a una pileta de agua y llenar un cubo con agua. Para bañarnos, echábamos agua en dos cubos de cinco galones. El agua estaba helada, pero nuestra hermana Amparo tenía un aparato eléctrico con que calentábamos el agua.
La pileta de agua era enorme y usábamos el agua para vaciar el inodoro, para bañarnos, para lavar ropa, para lavar trastes, y para cocinar. Cuando pienso en cómo luchan nuestros hermanos Chiapanecos, me olvido de que tengo problemas. Nuestros hermanos en otras partes del mundo sufren mucho más que nosotros, mas viven conformes y oran por nosotros.
Lección aprendida #1: Vive conforme con lo que tienes.
No comments:
Post a Comment