Of Baptisms, Mountains, Cowboys, and Comida
// October 12th, 2009 // Holy Random Batman!, Life
Sundays really are the best day of the week. We (Angela, Phoenicia, and myself) woke up early this morning to go out to our friend Daniel’s house, where we met his parents. We then followed them out to meet where their church usually meets (Daniel’s dad, Rodolfo, is the pastor). It turns out they meet in a clearing on the side of the road and set up a tent. Today, however, we said a quick prayer and headed out to the middle of nowhere in a caravan. We drove for about an hour out of town and it was absolutely some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Eventually, we turned off to a rolling sideroad which was barely paved, then drove on that for about 10 minutes while staring at all the beautiful cliffs, forests, wildlife, and graffiti (even an hour out of town into the wilderness, there’s graffiti in Mexico). At the end of the road was a little resort type camp, where we unloaded tons of food and some various gear, then packed through the gate. There were beautiful rock pools everywhere throughout the camp and a large building towards the back where we set up food and had service. A little old lady named Lori gave her life to the Lord.
After the service, everyone changed into swimsuits and gathered in one of the lower pools. There, Rodolfo baptized 7 people, much to the delight of all involved. It was a very exciting way to take a huge step of obedience for all of these people, and it was an incredibly lively and supportive group. I was absolutely blessed to be a part of this.
After hanging out in the pools for a while, we all migrated towards the food, which was plentiful and flavorful. There was pollo molé, a marlin dish, tons of fresh fruit, and a delicious pasta salad. On top of all of that, there was a pastor’s wife trying to feed me until I popped. This was one of those times they trained us for, where you smile, say gracias, and eat everything they put on your plate or in your glass. It hurt. It hurt so good.
After stuffing our faces with food, everyone decided to jump back in the pools for a a few hours of some bizarre version of volleyball, wherein Rodolfo decided to announce every move that was going on. It was hilarious. Also entertaining was everyone’s reaction to my lack of participation. I didn’t feel like swimming today and I don’t particularly enjoy swimming in pools, so I didn’t join. Daniel’s mom kept trying to hit it by me to entice me to jump in out of reaction, but it never did work.
After a few hours of doing nothing, the three of us headed back over the hills, but took our time so we could stop and take tons of pictures of all the great views and interesting stuff, including random Mexican cowboys in the mountains herding cattle off the crazy road.
The whole adventure put several different thoughts into my head. Principally, I started thinking about how we need to celebrate the rebirth that baptism symbolizes. Honestly, we put on some pomp and circumstance and make a production out of it, but is that genuine? Is that true celebration? Are we honestly rejoicing in the progression and the obedience people are displaying and committing to? Another thing I thought today was how truly evident God’s creativity is everywhere we go. How do we miss it every day? How are we constantly ignorant of it? I pray that I would keep my eyes and heart open to see the evidence of God everywhere I go.
After we got home, Stacia and I laid around in the living room doing homework and complaining about being hungry for sweets. We finally found Katlyn and asked her where the remnants of the no-bake cookies were. After we scarfed those, we set to work finishing our reading, lectures, and an assignment (we actually turned an assignment in over a week before it’s due!).
Eventually hanging out in the living room caught up to us in the form of everyone in the house gathering around us and making noise, making studying impossible. We all decided to go to Plaza del Sol, where we ate Pizza Hut (or, as I call it now: Pizza Butt) and some extremely stale pastries. After running around trying to find everyone by yelling Marco Polo, Richie and Jen decided to soap all the fountains in the whole plaza. It was not very successful, but we got a lot of funny pictures and we had a great time.
Now we’re back at home trying to organize a game of Mafia that just won’t work. Everyone’s complaining and laughing at each other and I’m just sitting in the corner as a witness to this calamity. I’ll add some pictures to this post as I get my hands on them.