Big Dreams
A story of hope in the Highlands
The
sun is just cresting over the Cuchumatanes Mountains as we climb up the steep serpentine
road leading out of Nebaj. I am riding in the comfort of a private micro bus. Joining
me this morning is Pastor Baltazar Toma Lopez and his daughter Luisa. The
journey that brought me here is one of faith and an attempt at living life as
an answer to prayer. This morning I feel exhausted, but satisfied. Ill-equipped,
but trusting. And incredibly blessed.
Pastor Baltazar has become a friend. He
is 36 years old, just a couple of years older than my daughter Amanda. When
Baltazar was four years old, his father disappeared during the violent conflict
which ravaged the Ixil region. During the war, community leaders were gathered
up, often tortured, and eventually executed. Their bodies were disposed of in
mass unknown gravesites. Baltazar told me this week that his father’s remains
had been found just five months ago, and his family was finally able to have a
degree of closure.
Baltazar
is now a prominent leader in the community and is the director of the Bible Institute,
Jorai which WIND has supported since our founding. He also pastors a growing
church in Cotzal. Luisa is his oldest child, and she turned fourteen in August.
My earliest memory of Luisa was having the honor of pinning an honors sash on
her graduation gown in 2012. She graduated from Colegio Horeb, the brightest of
her class, and she won regional academic awards for her grades. For the past
three years she has continued to excel in her education while attending the
national basico school (middle school) in Cotzal.
Luisa dreams of becoming a
doctor. She dreams of one day helping those in her community, caring for the
suffering. She dreams of making her community a better place to live. However,
her dreams were to be placed on hold, most likely to eventually dissipate like
the fog in the mountains this morning. That is the norm for young girls growing
up in Cotzal.
Luisa
was serving soup during a luncheon for visiting pastors last week when I saw
her again. I had not seen her since that graduation ceremony three years ago.
We had a chance to chat during lunch. She told me of her dreams, of her
continued academic success in basico and about her dreams being placed on hold.
She would continue on to bachillarato (high school) in Cotzal, but that would
place her on a track to become a teacher. The community is abundant with
teachers – most of which are not working. For her to realize her dreams, she
would need to leave Cotzal and study at a private school. And that, sadly, was
beyond her reach. Schooling cost for the type of high school she wants to
attend is Q250 per month, or $33, with school materials, computer and uniform
in addition to that. “Someday,” she said distantly.
So here we sit, as unlikely as it
seems, headed for Guatemala City. Baltazar and Luisa will tour a high school in
the capital and visit with a brother of Baltazar’s who has offered Luisa a place
to live and a seat at his table. I am committed to help her with her schooling if
they decide this is the right next step toward fulfilling her dream. Paul
Townsend, a longtime missionary who has served as a mentor, once told me that
there are some which the Lord will encourage us to take the next step with; to place
a bet on for the good of the community and His kingdom. Luisa would have been on
his list, and now she is on mine.
The
day has warmed. Both Baltazar and Luisa are asleep on the bench seat in front
of me with heads bobbing as we navigate speed bumps and pot holes near Sacapulas.
This journey I am on has already had many twists and turns. I am curious what
we might discover about others, about ourselves as we look beyond the next
curve. But for now, I am content to find joy in pursuit
of our dreams.
