Semana Santa at the Rio

This is Semana Santa, or Holy Week, and it is both a huge religious celebration and vacation time.

The big positive is that this is an easy time to talk about Jesus, His death and resurrection, and what that means personally.

The big negative is that for many this is a big time of drinking.  So much so that everyone says to limit driving, drive only during the day and the morning is best, and in no way drive at night.  The man in front of Ellen at the grocery store was buying 28 cases of beer.  Maybe he's having 200 friends and relatives over and it's really not that big of a deal.  Then again, maybe he's having over a few...

We went to the river with Pastor Arturo's church on Tuesday.  They were having a picnic and baptism and would be staying most the day, but we said that we could only stay part of the day and would leave early. When we met up with the group at a central square in a nearby town there were ten people needing a ride!  We took them and realized that the Lord had plans for us to stay the whole day!

We went to a place where people go to dig out sand for construction by a river and sometimes in the river.  Because of that, the last bit of driving was rather tricky and felt more like an X games 4x4 course rather than a road... not that it really was a road!

There was a short hike from where we parked to the edge of the river.  This really had the feeling of going to the beach in the states - sand, prickers, flies, and really, really, hot!

There were about 20 kids of various ages, and about 10 toddlers.  We had several moms with us but Pastor Arturo and I were the only men.

No sooner had we set our bags down, the kids raced for the water, and the swimming commenced!!

The folks we were with don't have extra income for swimsuits so we all just swam in our clothes.  Which is still every bit as wet and fun as swimming in swimsuits!

Some of the folks went off to try their luck fishing.  They didn't have poles but rather used circular nets with small weights along the edge.

Pastor Arturo has a lot of experience and skill in this type of fishing and you can see him here making an expert throw.

The catch wasn't big... both in numbers and size, but they did fry up nicely!  If you look closely you'll see little crab legs sticking up in the front of the pan right behind the handle!!  These are like little mud crabs.  I got to taste one (shell and all) and it tasted... crabby.  Well, what was I expecting?!

When the fish are this size they just fry up the whole body and you eat it, head, tail, and all!  Yummy!  I think Arturo wants more!!

We also enjoyed the watermelon that's currently in season!  Super sweet and sometimes super silly too!

After lunch, Arturo had a word to share followed by prayer.

This was followed by a children's lesson given by Ellen and Arturo's wife, Griselda.

They used an object lesson given to Ellen by a woman from our home church in MD.  There were 16 colored plastic eggs (symbolizing new life), and in each was something to symbolize a part of the passion of Christ.

There were things like little silver coins to represent the 30 pieces of silver Judas received to betray Jesus, and a little horse shoe nail to represent the spikes put in Jesus' hands and feet, and a tiny little sign that read "Este es el Rey de los Judios" (This is the King of the Jews), and many others.  The children really seemed to love this lesson.  They were excited to be picked to come up and open an egg, and equally excited to talk about what it meant.  PTL!!!

There were also four baptisms.  Here an older woman who has just recently accepted Christ is being baptized.

Three children were also baptized including Arturo's youngest son!  Arturo's son is in the blue shirt.

We had a blast and were blessed!!  It was so much fun that we could almost forget... forget the material poverty around us and the ugly stain of sin that seems to touch every person.

Ellen is holding a beautiful little baby boy and his mother was also there enjoying the day with us.  She is 15 years old and the baby was fathered by her mother's 70 year old uncle.   The father of the baby takes no responsibility for the child and shows no remorse over what he's done.

Another young lady of 18 at the picnic had a three month old baby girl with her.  She had left her family to live with a man, but he beat her daily, and so she finally left him and returned to her family...  already pregnant.

Of course, there's the regular drinking that plagues the nation and at a peak during the celebration of Holy Week.  These are all symptoms that reflect the heart condition here.

The answer is not simply 'education' as some say or meeting material needs, but rather the need is for new life!  A change in heart and spirit.  A realization that in our own strength we are helpless to overcome and change ourselves, but that Christ has already lived the perfect life for us, that He came and died that we might live and live abundantly!

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, 

and that they may have it more abundantly." 

John 10:10