And Rueben Swept

One of the points of a short-term mission we had learned - from Pastor Jon, from our advanced readings, and from Hands for Peacemaking staff, was that we were there truly to serve and that, by doing so, we would feel especially graced and humble by the act of helping others who have so little by our Western standards.

Rueben in the Landcruiser

While we all did our jobs in building stoves and making friends among the villagers, no one among us took this to heart as much as our teammate Rueben Weeks. Rueben told us during devotions one evening that, while growing up in Fairhope Alabama, he spent a lot of his youth in the fields picking pecks of potatoes (there are 20.5 pounds of potatoes in a peck) for something like three pennies each. The farmer would get Rueben and his fellow pickers to the farm, but come payday would dock them the price of lunch and other "expenses," leaving them with a very short check. He looks back now and sees this as latter-day form of legalized slavery.

After losing his natural mother at age nine, Rueben went on to a troubled childhood which lasted well into his adult years.  Perhaps it was that humble background, along with a strong sense of justice for those less fortunate than himself, that drove Rueben to really practice what was being preached while we were in Xoxlac.

Today, at 63, Rueben is a man of strong faith who during our mission could be seen reading the Bible while the rest of us on the team might be engrossed in a good spy novel or other secular fare. We also learned that Rueben is an eloquent master of the spoken prayer and Doug would call on him frequently to say grace before meals.

Rueben on water duty

This isn't to say that the rest of us didn't work hard and show our faith by example to the village. We did. But Rueben would go the extra mile, helping the water carriers by lifting their three-gallon jugs into the large cisterns after bringing them up the hill, and helping our kitchen crew with kitchen duties like sweeping and washing the dishes. He would sometimes disappear for a time, usually to offer a hand to someone else.

On the return plane ride to Houston from Gautemala City, Rueben met a man from another mission team from Mobile, Alabama - just across the bay from Fairhope.  By happenstance they had same-aisle seats and during in-flight conversation determined they both graduated from rival high schools in the same year and knew many people in common, including one of Rueben's cousins still living in the south. So not only did Rueben make friends in the village, but just about everywhere he went on our mission. A true inspiration, that Rueben.

Rueben and I at the airport in Guatemala City