When we arrived at La Guitarra, we were welcomed by the president of the Presbyterian Women, Ana Coc Pop. She asked us if we would speak to the women during the meeting the next day, “just something to encourage them,” and maybe give a little Bible study. As we settled into the house where we were staying, we wondered what to say. Ruth came to mind immediately because the whole book is about a friendship between women and about women using the power they had to care for themselves and each other. We chose to read the most famous part of that book, Ruth’s speech to her mother-in-law Naomi: “Where you go I will go, and where you live I will live. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May God do so to me and more also if anything but death parts you from me.”
We were clear among ourselves and with the women there that we were not casting ourselves as either Ruth or Naomi in this story. Yes, we had spent time and money to come to be with them, but we could not and did not say, “Where you go I will go.” We were there to visit for a few days, and then were coming back here to our far safer and more comfortable lives. We saw God moving in the story of Ruth and Naomi in the same way we saw God moving in their gathering and in their lives and in their work with each other. We had the blessing of being witnesses to God in action. We saw the officers step up into leadership roles that Soni had seen their reluctance to accept last year. We saw the delegates speak up to challenge their leadership at times.
We also saw Boaz in their story, in the support they were given by one of the men present. There were a number of men present. The Presbyterian Women’s organization in the presbytery has an “advisor,” who according to their bylaws must be a pastor and is therefore a man because there are only four women pastors in the whole country. The executive council of the presbytery (all men) was also there, along with the pastor of the host church, Pastor Gerardo, who has come here to visit before, and several other pastors who had accompanied their delegations for security. At one point during the reports by the different churches, a question arose about finances, and the men began to take over the conversation. After a few minutes, though, Pastor Gerardo stood up from his seat near the front. “This is not a men’s meeting,” he said. “This is a women’s meeting, and the sisters need to do the talking.” Then he walked to the back of the sanctuary and sat down. The men shut up, and the women spoke up. It was beautiful to see.
Sometimes people here wonder why we have this partnership and what good it does, as we don’t do “mission trips” to build schools or put in water systems. We do offer some financial help, sending it to the presbytery for them to decide how it should be used, but mostly this is a matter of building relationships over time. And the growing understanding and support for women’s leadership among the women themselves and among at least several of the pastors and male elders in the presbytery is part of the contribution we have made—not by saying, “This is how it should be,” but just by showing up. That is part of our gift to them. Part of their gift to us is the friendships we are making, and the opportunity we have to witness the Holy Spirit at work there as She is here.
-Carrie Bridgman
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