I spent a very interesting Easter Sunday at a tiny "Metodista" church in Arica with my colleague Mabel Varas. It seems that the United Methodist Church did missionary work and established schools throughout South America, and Mabel's father was a student at one of them as a child. On the one hand, so much was familiar to me - the look of the church, as you can see, and a book of hymns with an introductory message from none other than "Juan Wesley!" Some of the hymns were in Spanish, but I recognized the tunes as Protestant hymns. For example, we sang, "Nos hemos reunidos" to the tune of "We Gather Together." On the other hand, this was not exactly my grandparents' Methodist church! Some of the songs had a little Latino flair, complete with a woman in the congregation who played the tambourine and the minister who played the guitar. I had to go up in front of the congregation with the microphone and introduce myself, and then everyone sang "Bienvenidos a la casa del Senor" (Welcome to the Lord's House) to me. Very nice, although speaking into a microphone in my second language is not at the top of my list of favorite things to do! In the photo to the left, you can see the minister's wife and children handing out little bundles of chocolate eggs marked "EL SENOR HA RESUSCITADO" (The Lord is Risen). I find it interesting that the word used in Spanish is the cognate for "resuscitated," which seems a bit more graphic to me than "risen!"
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