Wirrell Family | In Missions
February 2009
"What does a missionary do all day?" – That was a question recently posted to us and thus we agreed to an interview. Since Charles and I serve in different areas, his answers and comments follow Red and mine in Blue.
First off let me state that we are not "typical" missionaries (if there is such a thing) in that we do not preach here. That's not our reason to be here in Guatemala. We are here as a support to those who do the preaching and teaching (though I do teach).
When we first came to Guatemala, Charles had his definite "job description". Besides teaching wood shop and auto shop, he works as maintenance director of the Christian Academy of Guatemala (CAG). I, in turn, have served in different areas of care giving, from serving at medical clinics in the "aldeas" (villages), to helping at a parish clinic in our pueblo, as well as taking care of people with multiple physical and mental challenges and now I regularly accompany medical teams.
Describe a typical day in Guatemala? If we spent a day with you and/or Charles, what would we see you doing or participating in?
Generally sunny, sunrise is about 6:00AM and sunset 6:00PM year-round. We're so close to the equator that the time doesn't change throughout the year like it does at home. Petra and I often go for a walk in the morning for exercise. We take the guard dog along for a little extra security (he's not a very friendly dog to those who he doesn't know, which is most people). Fortunately we are able to meet and greet folks we see along the way without the dog getting agitated. I teach shop classes seven times during the week. I also do a variety of repairs around the campus, today I had to fix a students locker, find out why a breaker kept tripping and try to teach shop without power. Yesterday I was building props for the high school drama production, teaching middle school woodshop and then in the afternoon after school I fixed a fellow missionaries car so she could get home.
Even though Charles and I don’t get up until 5:45AM, the "racket" of roosters' crowing, dogs' barking, and fire crackers' exploding (due to the fact that it's someone's birthday or other celebration), begins at around 3:30AM. Mind you, these "noises in the night" are part of our background music now (as well as the gunshots which we hear on a regular basis).
On our early morning walk at 6:00AM, Charles and I pass folks, who walk to their places of employment (maids, gardeners, house hold help). There are "busitos" (mini vans which are used on a regular short bus route), which are "stuffed full" with passengers as well as folks barely hanging on the outside, bringing people from the main boulevard to their work places. Also, we regularly meet two school buses, imported from the States, which are barreling down the road and careening around curves. We call their drivers "Crazy Eddie".
Once a month, for about a week, I accompany medical teams from North America as they perform surgery in the coastal regions or highland aldeas. My main purpose is translating for them from English to Spanish and vice versa, as well as explaining medical terms in lay language to the patients. Together we show Christ’s love to the people of Guatemala.
When I am not out with a team, I catch up on correspondence and simply do the work of a mom and wife.
2) What does it look like outside of your front window? What kind of town/neighborhood/city do you live in?
Outside our front window we have a small fruit bearing banana bush/tree to replace the ornamental one that was cut down. As we live behind the school administration building there is not much to see from our windows other than the back of the next building. The school is surrounded by a 10' high concrete block wall topped with a 5-6' chain link fence and razor wire. You can only enter the campus through a steel gate in front that is guarded 12 hours a day and the other 12 hours it is locked to all but those who have the key! Guatemala City has one of the highest per capita murder rates, I'm told it's 40-50 per 100,000! In the states it's 1-2 per 100,000. The guard dog is kept in a kennel next to our house and is let out each night at about 9:00 - 10:00 and then we put him back in the kennel at 6:00 each morning when we feed him. We are the only "gringo" family living at the school because of my work in maintenance. I could be called on at any time to fix a broken pipe or whatever might happen. I have changed breakers at 1:00AM during school sleepovers!
3) Where do you get your food? Grocery stores, markets, gardens?
We usually purchase our staples in Guatemalan grocery stores. However, the fresh fruit and vegetables I buy on the local farmer's market. The prices there are lower, the produce is fresh (brought in that morning), and I know the vendors. Baked goods, piruchus, pan frances etc. (buns) I buy at our local bakery. At times we buy food from road side vendors. e.g. we can purchase eggs on certain days from back of someone's van.
4) What do your kids like to do with their friends. Are most of their friends from missionary families or Guatemalans or both? Are your kids interested in being missionaries too?
As we live on the school campus we do not have the same opportunities for interaction with the local population as some other missionaries would. There are many days that our kids do not leave the school grounds (can the kids at home imagine that! Never leaving school! Yuck!).
Our son's class mates are mostly from the missionary community, as well as from business families. Here at CAG (Christian Academy of Guatemala) we have an international student body, which means there are Guatemalan, American, Canadian and Korean students. Due to the fact that we live on campus (our school campus is ringed in by a 3 m high wall and every other property in our neighbourhood is walled in as well), it is not an easy matter to interact with neighbourhood kids individually. However, quite frequently activities are arranged for the youth group or highschool students. e.g. servant projects at an orphanage, neighbourhood church, etc.
5) What do you eat for typical meals?
Sometimes we'll eat typical Guatemalan food like tamales, frijoles and tortillas but more often it is a combination of Guatemalan and American food. Contrary to popular opinion, Guatemalan cuisine is not spicy like Mexican food. Some times it can be quite bland. We often eat chicken, since tender beef is a rarity in Guatemala, probably due to the low income levels (a cut of beef can be great jaw exercise). We often have an entire banana stalk hanging from the ceiling with 10 or more bunches of bananas as that's an easy way to buy and store bananas and bananas are relatively inexpensive. We also sometimes get to experience different Guatemalan fruits and vegetables, some with names that would make you question your sanity like the fruit known as "monkey snot", a fruit with purple insides of the consistency of tapioca pudding!
Yes, we eat a lot of fresh fruit like bananas, mangos, pineapple, straw berries, water melons, honey melons etc. Also, fresh vegetables like red peppers, green peppers, chili peppers, broccoli, carrots, green beans, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, garlic. Often, I just cut them up and stir fry all together. Eggs, frijoles (beans) and fried platanos (plantains) are a good way to start the day.
6) What is one thing you greatly appreciate about the Guatemalan culture and what is one thing you miss about American culture?
In Guatemala there is no such thing as being "late". When you set up a time with a Guatemalan and you want him to try and be punctual you always tell him it's "American time" otherwise it's pretty loose.
I sometimes find it difficult to accept the issue of paying a bribe. Sometimes they are euphamistically called a "propina" which translates to a tip or a "mordita" which translates to "a little bite". At other times it might simply be the fact that I'm a gringo and I'm expected to have a little "extra money". Often there is a "gringo" price and a "chapin" price at the market or other places. It's never communicated that way but if you listen to what locals are quoted and what you might be quoted they are often different, sometimes substantially though now that we are known at the local market this happens much less as we are becoming "regulars".
Another difficult thing to come to grips with here in Guatemala is the attitude that "If it will last for today, that's good enough". I like to fix things right while Guatemalteco's are fixing things good enough for today only. This results in many breakdowns for missionaries’ vehicles and results in me having to redo many repairs that others have tried first.
I really enjoy the friendly outgoing way of the Guatemalans. Everyone talks to everyone else. Mostly it is just a friendly word, smile, pad on the back, hug, kisses on the cheek. "How are you? How is your family?" - Through simple interaction like this I know a lot of the market vendors' families, the neighbourhood people's lives etc.
At the beginning it really bothered me to be "walled in". Let me illustrate: Though the midweek worship service could be heard from the neighbourhood church behind the wall, we couldn't see above the wall. Finally I found a place which allowed me to peek across the wall, there was another wall around the neighbours' place, and I still couldn't see or chat with people. While up North we do have fences, at least during the day one can chat with their neighbour across the fence. Of course, the walls serve as protection against crime here in the city and suburbs. In the aldeas and rural areas, the homes are differently arranged. However, there are different challenges and more insecurity.
One thing I miss about life in North America is the freedom to walk through the woods, to go for a hike, without constantly having to be on highest alert.
7) What are some of the day to day challenges you face in your ministry? Share some of of the greatest joys.
For me it can be a challenge to find the parts to fix things. Many items are brought in special from the states and not necessarily sold locally. It is not uncommon to have a simple part made when in the states you would just go and buy it pre-made. Sometimes it can be a challenge to try to fix things in what we would consider a "safe" way as the locals are used to dealing with repairs that are worse than questionable in the states. That can mean that when I want to repair something "correctly" the locals can't see the need to go to that much trouble or expense when a "band aid" solution will work for the short term too.
I offer to teach the local Guatemalan's here how to do carpentry or mechanics and it is a joy when they complete something on their own and can see that they are capable to actually build a piece of furniture or, repair the car or, wire a room. They may chuckle as I do things my "gringo" way but I try to explain and show why we do things a certain way and hopefully they'll see the benefits as well.
We befriended the family of the school's gate guard. His son, Kevin (6 years old), suffers from cerebral palsy. He is not able to walk and has a hard time verbalizing. A father of CAG student has a wheelchair ministry. We were able to introduce the gate guard and the missionary to each other and today, praise the Lord, little Kevin received a custom fitted wheelchair. Though he was unable to verbalize, Kevin's eyes shone in wonder and also his mother's eyes were very moist. A burden was lifted off the parents' shoulders. Now they don't have to worry so much about their son hurting himself, due to convulsions or unhygienic conditions on the dirt floor. It was a great time to witness God touching folks with renewed hope and healing.
This is just one incident of God choosing to work through us to let a sliver of His kingdom break into our world.
8) What does it take to be a long term missionary? What kind of skills, character, experience etc. is important to have?
As a missionary you need to expect the unexpected. Here in Guatemala there is no guarantee that water will come out of the tap when we turn it on! In fact the school gets water from the city only for 8-12 hours every 2-3 days. When we get water it goes to fill the cisterns so we have water available when the city is not providing it to us (we can store up to about 7,500 gallons on campus in our cisterns). When the cistern runs dry then we need to call the water truck to come and refill it. As a maintenance person here at the school I need to "think outside the box". In the states you often simply go and buy a replacement part while here I need to patch what is broken until the part needed can be made. Other times I know how I would do something in the states but the parts or materials are not available to me here in Guatemala so I need to come up with an alternate solution. I guess patience and creativity are important for my work.
When we are out driving a common Guatemalan signal is having either the driver or passenger wave out the window. We've come to understand that to mean "Watch out, I'm about to do something you don't expect, and can't imagine I'd be crazy enough to do!. If you were to visit us you'd quickly find out that a stop sign is really only a yield sign and sometimes even less that that! If you were to stop at all the stop signs you'd likely be rear ended in your first hour or two of driving!
In a few words, I would say missionaries need to be flexible, adaptable, have a sense of humor, not to take everything too serious and to be able to laugh about themselves.
9) Do you think short term experience is important before committing to long term? What role has short term missions played in your life?
We had only been on one short term trip "overseas" before committing to the long term. I think a short term experience is important but more important is the ability to be flexible and accommodating because the only certainty is that it'll be different tomorrow!