The thing about Buena Vista is that you've just come from a large city with its streets crammed with cars and buses, driven past miles of storefronts, markets, and signs, and now you find yourself in a place where there is no running water, no electricity, no pollution and the "main road" is made of fine dirt and is probably less than 12 feet wide where the railroad used to come through.
Can you imagine a place where there is no television and there never has been? No one is reading fashion magazines or the Wall Street Journal to keep up on the latest news. There isn't any traffic because no one has a car. The only motorcycle I remember seeing in the past two months was that of the guy selling chicken out of a box on the back. This is a place unaffected by the loud voices of commercialism that so dictate our American society. 
Each Wednesday we travel two hours to this secluded village of probably several hundred people (impossible to know how many live here) and set up our teaching areas under the banana and mango trees. It's a bit of a surreal feeling as it's so quiet compared to Guatemala City where we live. Shortly after we arrive the ladies and even a couple men begin to stroll "in" and the children look to see if Oscar, Ruth and Julian will have something special for them today, which, of course, they do. The adults sit on a six to eight inch slice of tree that's resting on two tree stumps, while some 
have the luxury of sitting on one of the few plastic chairs that we borrow from the lady next door. Manuel and Sandra lead them in a time of worship with songs and prayers and hearing the Word of God. The children gather on pieces of cardboard or the drop cloths that Wausau left behind and enjoy a time of singing songs, hearing a Bible story and doing a craft. There is one school, public, where approximately 170 children attend. Their morning break comes midway during our activity, and typically a dozen or two kids come running down to try and get in on at least part of what we're doing. It's a sweet time of learning and growing in the truth of God's Word.
The shanties in Buena Vista are spread out, each person having quite a bit of land to live on by Guatemalan standards. But these shanties are much like the ones in Guatemala City and Amatitlan, being made of tin with trees of maybe four inch diameter used to hold up the walls and roofs. Of course, without running water, there are no bathrooms...only a hole in the ground. Isn't God funny to send this "me no likey camping
chick" to a place such as this?!?! But He seems to have done just that! We've seen life in the dry season, with moms and children standing at the pilas (wash tubs) doing their laundry, sweeping the dirt, playing outside. But I'm curious how life will change in the rainy season when the dirt turns to mud, the wash takes days to dry, and children spend days inside their dark shanties because it's raining.Oh, this is only the surface of life in Buena Vista. I haven't yet introduced you to the many people whom we have met there at our Bible studies or on house visits. It will be a pleasure to tell you some of their stories!
