Jol Tulija Part 3 - Chancala Assembly Hall and “we need a truck!”

 

The Assembly Hall is located in Chancala, 45 minutes from Jol Tulija. Chancala is a small city with a market and vendors and internet cafes. Carina and the Lees are in both of the dramas for their convention in December so we accompanied them to one of their rehearsals at the Assembly Hall which they have every Saturday. This particular Saturday the Chol convention was also having their rehearsals so the group was large. The noon meal was another shared one, Carina prepared a seafood salad on tostadas that our group ate and shared with others and we nibbled on what the others brought as well. They put many mix matched tables end to end to seat all of us insisting that we all sit “together”, about 50 total. This day was very encouraging, to see the friends travel from hours away each week for these rehearsals, looking forward to the fellowship it will bring. They don’t view it as a sacrifice, rather a privilege! They have very little, yet they lovingly share it with one another. Many of these ones have moved from other parts of Mexico, leaving family and friends, to support the Tzeltal and Chol fields, their example was heartwarming.

The roof above is basically all there is to this Assembly Hall, a roof and concrete floors. Primitive bathrooms are in the side yard. A very nice Kingdom Hall sits on this property as well as a two story building with 2 overseer suites and storage rooms.

In the second photo I am in the green shirt standing at the street entrance of the property, notice the pink two story building behind me inside the wall? These are the CO suites. On a later occasion we spent the night in one of these when it was too late to catch a bus home. The CO was on the road and the guest bed was free, that room is currently storing drama props too. We had to used Queen Esthers purple velour pillows from her divan to sleep that night. Shhh don’t tell.

A few times since we arrived we have found ourselves in this predicament, away from home too late to find transportation and needing somewhere to sleep unexpectedly...not my idea of good planning and not something I want to continue doing. So we are working on that. Carina just keeps an extra toothbrush in her purse because she constantly finds herself in this situation, I however am determined not to adopt this practice, too stubborn I guess.

Well guess what, last night it happened again, we were in Palenque grocery shopping and using the internet (sending you Part 1 and 2 thank you very much!) The last van home leaves at 5pm. So by 4pm we arrive at the terminal like good responsible adults only to find that they were already closed and gone! Apparently not all of their drivers showed up and they just stopped running for the day at 3:30. Our veggies and water we purchased earlier that day were locked inside. Carina suggested we (4 of us) stay the night around the corner at a sisters tiny place...probably on the floor with no blankets. Remember, she has the toothbrush! For fear that I would have another mini meltdown, Mike kindly agreed that he and I get a cheap hotel room, so for $170 pesos or $14 we had privacy and a hot shower, a real one with a shower head and everything! These days the shower alone is worth $14, it was wonderful. We bought a toothbrush at the store and made the best of it with renewed determination to plan ahead better next time. We are continually finding that a vehicle of our own would solve most of these problems. Otherwise you are always in a group relying on someone else for transportation and whatever the group does, you do. Lots of waiting and late nights or unexpected sleepovers.

The third photo is the truck we rode home in the day of rehearsals. An elder from the neighboring congregation owns it and uses it to “haul” the friends around. Again we found ourselves away from home too late for public transport, but this brother agreed to squeeze us in as he had to pass Jol Tulija to take his group home. We were over 20 persons! Sisters get to sit on benches, brothers get to stand in the middle. A snug ride where you find yourself touching 4 people involuntarily at any given moment, but still better than a sleepover.

Hopefully you are getting the sense of what things are like here, there is definitely a flow and we are finding that you either go with the flow or find yourself struggling and uncomfortable. We are learning many things about ourselves, like the need for more flow :)

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