The Surreal Night Before Christmas or How I became a Jew for Jesus

After Tikal and a after a couple more day at Lago de Atitlan, a spectular volcanic lake in Guatemala, I headed back to Antigua to meet Rachel. We spent the evening there and ventured out early the next moring, heading to El Salvador.

We arrived in El Salvador and called up the family Rachel knew. They came and picked us up. On the ride over, we had no idea what we would find next.
The first sign that things wouldn´t be quite as we expected was on their garage door. One of the larger Jewish stars and Menorahs that I´ve seen, made out of metal dominated the entrance. Inside their garage is a mural of the Wailing Wall. Throughout their house are shofars, stars of david, menorahs and pictures of Israel. We felt like we were on an episode of The Twilight Zone. As they explained to us, they were Amigos De Israel, which we can only assume are one and same as the Jews for Jesus who have plastered billboards in NYC. The family we stayed with comprises the musical group Kol Hatikvah and has recorded more than one CD that any of us Jewish families at home would be proud to play. They sing songs about the Torah, in Hebrew! And being Christmas eve they were ready to perform. We had to see this for ourselves. So, we went to church, for the first time ever. Though, Im guessing this is far from the normal church-going experience. We arrived, along with several thousand other people and took our seats. On the stage was a large christmast tree, and behind that were an even larger Menorah and Star of David. Nowhere did I see a cross. The pastor did some pastoring in Spanish and then the family came out to sing and dance. The band consisted of the Father and Uncle and two sons, as well as a few others, and they were a straight up rock band (if only synogauge were this entertaining). The mother and another son led a group of dancers through the aisles. The first song was about the God of Israel and was in Spanish. After the first song there was some more pastoring and then the band returned. This time they started playing and I was pretty sure I recongnized it. As they started building I could here the words in my head, and then they started singing and I was singing along. I don´t think it would be hard for any of you to imagine how surreal it must be to hear Havah Nagilah, being jammed out a la Eric Clapton no less (and they were really good musicians) on Christmas eve in El Salvador. The dancers danced the Horah as we sat there in shock.

At the end of the service everyone had their heads pointed down, and I did the same, personally so I could sleep, being a little sick and very tired. At one point I felt a hand on my shoulder and a woman usher was asking me and Rachel to follow her to the front. At first we resisted not wanting to do anything sacriligous, but then curiosity got the better of me, and we followed her. They took us each, seperately, and sat us down, and began to tell us that Jesus loved us, and that he filled our hearts, and that with God in our lives we could do anything. At least thats as much as I understood of their Spanish. It didn´t end there. After the services were over, we were waiting outside while the post service schmoozing we Jews know as well took place. For a second time that evening I felt a hand on my shoulder. This time I turned around to a young, attractive girl. She spoke first in English

¨I´ll speak in Spanish¨
¨Ok¨
(Now translated)
¨I have present for you¨
At this point Im a bit nervous...
¨Really? What is it?¨
She drops a leather necklace with beads on it into my hand
¨I bought this today, and I really don´t know why but I have to give this to you.
I felt Jesus in my heart, a very strong feeling, and he told, go over to that boy and give him your necklace. Tell him that he´s a very special person and that I love him.¨
¨Well, thank you.¨
Not knowing what else to say, talk about shock and awe.

Now this is weird. She explained that out of the nowhere she had this strong feeling to come over to speak to me. And by the look in here eyes, I believed she really did have that feeling. Whether or not it was Jesus who spoke to her, thats up for debate, but she was a woman touched by something.

So yes, El Salvador on Christmas Eve, not quite what I expected.

Mom, Dad, don´t worry, Im still Jewish. I didn´t get dunked in any pools, I didn´t eat any crackers or drink any wine, I didn´t make any signs of the cross. But I guess there´s no denying now, that Jesus loves me.