1. Two of the four of us chose verse 6 of Psalm 5 as their favorite verse: "You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors." What?!
2. For the second time today (first from my housekeeper), I heard that if you're bad, you suffer. Bad people's children end up pregnant outside of wedlock, or bad people suffer more pain when they're dying. Both times today, an example was given where someone was mean to a dog and then God punished them. I was told that one woman had to go ask forgiveness from the dog so that she could get relief from her suffering. I disagreed with their theory, but they weren't interested.
3. Yesterday Friend #4 didn't want to pray aloud for the assigned person. Today she volunteered to pray and explained that it was because today's assigned person deserved to be prayed for (in contrast to yesterday's). I told her I thought that if she couldn't pray for the daily assigned person, she should use her prayer time to pray that God would give her more love and understanding.
4. One woman said it was okay to pray silently. Another argued against her with gusto. The first said she meant that some mornings she wakes up with a sore throat and can't talk, so she prays silently. I kept silent myself.
5. After this explanation, everyone agreed that the woman with the sore throat needed to go to the doctor (which she said she had). Friend #4 said it was definitely her thyroids. The "sick" woman reported that the doctor had said it was not thyroids. Friend #4 is insistent: it's thyroids. I'm always amazed at the bizarre perspective on medicine here-- it's clear that they're familiar with the home remedy world and think that scientific medicine is no different. It's all about intuition.
Another exciting afternoon in Puerto Supe. And it's only 4:02.
As frustrating as all those things are, I am really encouraged that you have been able to get into their lives enough for this to come out.