to fall or not to fall...

"And now, I'd like Jasmine to come up to the front of the church for prayer..."

What??? My head snaps to attention. I have been sitting in church for the past 2 hours, doing my best to understand what is going on because it is all in Spanish. My new friend, Ricky, brought me to church this past Sunday. He is very religious, as most Guatemalans are, so I decided to check out a Guatemalan Evangelical church with him. I thought I made it all the way through the service with no problems until I hear the pastor call me up for prayer. I don't have any problems with being prayed for, in fact, it was a sweet gesture. The pastor wanted to pray for my safety in Guatemala and for my soul. The whole church was super excited to see a gringa at their service so I couldn't really refuse prayer in front of the church. The one thing that crossed my mind however, was this: Do I have to fall over?

I have grown up in the church. I have seen a million different things happen in a church. However, this is the only church that I have ever attended where everyone falls over after they have been prayed for. The pastor had a great sermon...I now know that Zarza means bush in Spanish as the sermon was all about Moses and his standing before the burning bush in Exodus. When he did the altar call at the end about 20 people responded and went up for prayer. As the pastor went around and prayed for each person, I noticed that he kept praying for them until they fell over. I don't want to get into church theology in this blog, but traditionally, when someone falls over during prayer it is reffered to as being "slain in the spirit." It doesn't happen all the time or to everyone. When it does happen, it is real. That person really is in another state. However, at this church, it seemed like falling over was just the end of the prayer. Most of the people got up immediately after they hit the floor. I was watching this with much curiosity and then I hear my name and all of a sudden I am in front of the church ready to receive prayer.

I was a little nervous. For one, I haven't been to church for a while. Secondly, the pastor was talking to me in Spanish in front of everyone and I was trying so hard to understand him. Third, I kept having this thought running through my head, "Do I have to fall over?" The pastor starts praying for me, hand on my forehead. We started off at the stairs to the stage, him standing on the middle step and me on the floor. When the prayer was finished we were about 5 feet from the stage. As he was praying he kept pushing on my forehead...with force! I decided I wasn't going to just fall over to end the prayer. Needless to say, I kept stepping back because of the force of his hand on my forehead. It was hurting my back. The pastor kept on praying and praying for me. After what seemed like ages, I think he realized this gringa wasn't gonna fall over, so he quit praying. I actually wish I could talk to him about the whole situation in English.

Afterwards, a bunch of people came over to greet me. I am standing there, feeling like an idiot, doing my best to answer all the questions in Spanish. By the time I got home, my brain seriously hurt. I had Spanish brain...I had been hanging out with Ricky for 5 hours and doing all my communication in Spanish. It is so tiring after a while. That night, though, I actually had a dream in Spanish so I know my language learning is coming along quite nicely.

My church experience was actually really interesting. I got to meet the family of my friend and see his home. Being at this church reminded me a bit of my church back home and that was comforting. I am not writing this blog trying to dis any church or religion, just trying to relay how awkward my experience was.

Dios le bendiga!!