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| Our group of EMU students and us |
In Mexico during "Semana Santa" (Holy Week), everything shuts down. We were studying at a university in Puebla, Mexico, and needed something to do with our week off.
I approached Victor Pedroza, a friend of mine from our time working with Mennonite Central Committee in Mexico, about arranging for a work project for our students during Holy Week. He was pastoring a small Mennonite congregation in the northern part of Mexico City called "Fraternidad Cristiana Prensa Nacional."
At first he was skeptical. He had hosted other groups from the USA, and they proved to be rather spoiled and had difficulty adjusting to the conditions in the working neighborhood within in which he pastored. I wanted my students to experience a project in some rural place that need some hand labor. 
Victor Pedrosa, our host, and I.
After some back-and-forth, he finally agreed that his church would host us and our work project would be to paint the church.
The week turned out to be one of the most significant weeks I have ever experienced in my teaching career, if not in my life. It worked both ways. Our Mexican hosts were also transformed by our visit in ways they could not have imagined.
I wanted to write a book with the same title as this blog post, with corroboration of my students. It was difficult to get students to submit much because of their busy schedules, so I decided to write up some of our experiences and submit them as articles to The Mennonite, then the official organ of Mennonite Church USA. The result was five different stories that got published.
I have used these stories over the years in sermons and Sunday school lessons, and each time I tell them, I receive very positive feedback. Below is a synopsis of these stories.
1. Do You Know What I Have Done for You? (April 2011) This is a story about the unique foot-washing service we participated in on Maundy Thursday at Prensa Nacional. Members circulated and washed as many different feet a desired with one stipulation: they had to specify why they wanted to wash the others person's feet. Men and women were not segregated for this rite. Victor asked to wash my feet, which resulted in a powerful interchange between us that resulted in forgiveness for past misunderstandings.
2. As You Go . . . Are You Preaching or Walking? (October 2011) This story recounted how our students, without knowing, left a witness to the people with whom they encountered, whether in the classroom, their host families or on the airplane going home. It ends with the whole congregation of Prensa National coming to the airport to see us off when we left for the USA, even though it had been 3 since we had been with them. Beyond belief, this originally skeptical group showered us with parting gifts, hugs and tears.
3. Where is Your Heart? (December 2012) I discussed with a member of Prensa National what we would do if we won a million dollar lottery ticket. While I thought we should invest half so that it could keep on earning, he vehemently disagreed, saying that he would give it all away. "If I kept a part of it, it would change my relationship with my neighbors and with God." I realize how my perspective was influenced by my US American values despite many years having living in Latin America among marginalized peoples.
4. Entertaining Angels (July 2013) We were all skeptical of Abram when he approached Victor at the bus station where he was waiting to pick up our group. Victor had a fish symbol on his shirt identifying him as a Christian. Abram was asking for money to travel to Guatemala City where is family needed him. "We don't have any money," said Victor, "but you can come to stay with us at the apartment at our church, and see how the church responds." This was at a time when his church was already hosting 20 of us and didn't have resources to spare. Ironically, Abram was a painter in the USA, and he was instrumental in helping our students with the church-painting project. On the third day of his stay, the church took up a special offering for him. After hearing his story, formerly skeptical students and church members responded with enough money for his ticket to Guatemala and a meal. No more, no less. This is a story of unusual hospitality, and by so doing, perhaps entertaining angels.
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| Pedro with one of our students who gave him his Spanish-English Bible |
Nacional. Our first impressions of him were not good. He claimed he loved everything about American culture and people, but he had beady eyes, slurred speech, and wore beads around his neck. Most of us, myself included, pre-judged him because of is outward appearance. After learning to know his heart, we all came to embrace and love him. At the Easter morning service, like is customary in many churches, we greeted each other with the phrase: "Christ is risen," to which the other responded. "He is risen indeed." When I approached Pedro, I was over come with emotion and said "Christ is risen, and I see him in your face." He immediately responded, "Yes, I was dead and now I am alive. I have risen from the dead like Christ."
What a powerful week it was! I have taken two subsequent groups of EMU students back to Prensa Nacional. We have made deep relationships with the church there, and the skepticism has faded on both sides of the cultural divide.
I know it may seem odd that I am writing this some 15 years after it happened. However, this week comes back to me repeatedly, and I am continually grateful for what happened and the intercultural relations that developed and continue to this day.
Solo dei gloria.
