Braiding Grass Hats

Here is a poem I wrote about my time in the indigenous village. Hopefully it gives a better idea of what we did there. There are certain verses that are also about our week at the church planting conference in Tlaxiaco. There was no official church in the village, just 3 or 4 people.

My life is a movie
And I am but an actor
Without a script
But I never imagined
Things would come so far
That I would be where I am
For these scenes take my breath away

I have sat atop a mountain
In a house without light
Watching an old lady weave grass hats
I have driven winding dirt roads
With a truck full of people I don't know
Never wearing a seatbelt
I have stood underneath
The largest, oldest tree in the world
And laughed at the bad English signs
I have eaten a hamburger
That cost 45 pesos
And had more meat than it rightfully ought
(All other hamburgers should be jealous)
I have not washed my hair
In ten full days
Which I think is the longest I have ever gone
I have not changed
A single piece of my clothing
For three days (and two nights)
I have a better understanding
Of what a dog feels like
For the fleas have bitten me too
I have gathered firewood
With a machete and a burro
On the side of a mountain
I have followed the path
Down the mountain at night
Walking by moonlight
I have taken communion, The Lord's Supper
With a chocolate bar and Coca-Cola
(Scandalous! they cry at home)
I have seen that the treatment of the dogs in the village
Would be a nightmare for animal rights people
But I think that we are overly sensitive in Canada
I have learned when it is necessary
To eat lunch twice (and always take seconds)
When you are not hungry the first time
I have gone spelunking
Without fear
And wondered at the stone shapes in the ceiling
I have appreciated for the first time
The colors in my blue-grey eyes
And the fairness of my hair
I have found good friends
In people I thought were unlikely
And through them been blessed in ways untold
I have discovered that it is simple
To be ready to die and to die for Christ...
It is living for him and dying to yourself
Every single day
That is hard
I have stared at uncountable stars
Marvelled at my great God
Who for some unseeable reason
Has seen fit to call me to this place
And work such wonders

It is then I remember
That a movie is a shadow, a copy
Such that even the best one
Could never compare
With one day of a life