The US Embassy had just opened for business. The Guatemalan “cowboy” and the young woman were an unlikely pair to be on the US citizen side of the Embassy. It was easy to see that they were confused, and I was bored. Maybe it was a chance encounter or maybe God ordained. Whichever, the meeting became much more than I expected. The young couple from the country had come to the city to get US passports for their two young daughters who were born in Rome, Georgia. Their challenge was 6 pages of forms written in English and needing to be completed in English. I was sitting waiting to get a document notarized. Seeing that they could not read the forms, I offered to help. They proudly showed me the pictures of their little girls and explained to me how proud they were that their children were American citizens. After completing the forms they were told to go to the embassy web site and make an appointment for interview. There are internet places all over the city, but for them to use the internet was definitely not going to be easy. I gave them my cell phone number and shook my head thinking about the obstacles ahead for this couple. I never expected to see or hear from them again.
A few weeks later I received a call on my cell phone from Alicia. At first I thought it was a wrong number and then she reminded me that we had met in the embassy. She told me that they were at the US Embassy with their children and that they had no money and no place to stay. What could I do? I am here as a missionary—one sent to help people. I called a taxi to pick them up and bring them to my house. (I don’t know the way to the embassy and back.) My missionary coworkers advised me to be cautious and not to leave them alone in the house. Therefore I was excused from work to stay with my house guests. Alicia, Lindolfo and the children had traveled on a bus for 10 hours to get to Guatemala City from their little village near the Mexican border. The children had not eaten since they left their home. Like children just about anywhere in the world given the choice of where to eat, they chose McDonald’s. They don’t have one in their little village, but they remembered from living in Georgia. The precious little girls, ages four and five, ate everything in their “Happy Meals.” It was easy to see how hungry they were.
They had appointments at the US Embassy for Wednesday morning and this was Monday afternoon. They were exhausted from their travels so they all went to bed fairly early getting us through Monday. Tuesday I decided to take them to the zoo. It is right next to the airport so I knew how to get there and back. None of them had ever been to a zoo and really didn’t know the names of many of the animals and I didn’t know all the names in Spanish, so it was a learning experience for all of us. The best attraction was seeing a squirrel with a huge avocado it its mouth. Avocado trees are more common here than any kind of nut tree. I just never thought of avocados as being food for squirrels.
Wednesday morning they gathered up all their belongings and headed back to the Embassy and then the long trip back to their country home where they live crudely, cooking over wood fires. Try to imagine how often you would cook if you had to gather wood and chop it and then build a fire to cook, and all you have to cook is rice and beans. Back in Georgia they had lived among other immigrants and managed without learning more than a few expressions in English. They worked at Tyson chicken processing plant. They had to return to Guatemala because Alicia’s mother was ill and could no longer take care of Alicia’s invalid 10 year son. Please pray for this family. Their needs are great and they do not know a loving God. I will see them again. They have to return to get the passports when they are ready. They promised to call, and I am certain that they will.
