Myrna Sanchez was 20 years old when she died. A few years ago they discovered she had a brain tumor. Thankfully, she was able to go to the States to receive treatment and have it removed. Everything looked fine and she returned to Belize. We got to meet her when we arrived here about a year and a half ago. She didn't get to stay long, however, because the cancer came back. This time the treatments weren't successful. She died a little over a week ago.
A great thing happened on account of all this though. Myrna became a Christian shortly after finding out she had cancer. Her two remaining years of life showed that she had truly been changed. We can be sure that even though her body died, she's alive with our Lord.
The funeral was good and different than anything I’d experienced before. It began under our church building with Bob Farley leading and Pastor Santos translating. Others were allowed to share in turn after Bob was done. One thing that was so different though was the fact that people were letting their children walk around, talk, be loud, go up to the casket and touch it and try to pull on it, etc. There were even some boys playing soccer out behind the church at one point. So that was a bit different.
After the time of sharing, men loaded the casket into the back of a truck. They needed to take her to a part of the river that’s accessible to boats. The plot of land she chose to be buried on is across the river. Her grandfather and sister are buried there too. There was a procession of people walking behind the truck to the sound of a boom box playing some upbeat Spanish music.
Loading the casket into a boat made me nervous to watch, but they did it just fine. Two other boats were taxiing people across to the other side. Each boat held 10-15 people so it took a few trips to get us all across (there were about 100 people). Once on the other side we followed a little trail through the wild bamboo to a clearing. The other above ground tombs were there and Myrna’s casket was placed beside her own while they finished concreting the inner walls. There was another short ceremony that Bob led.
Then it was time to view the body and put her in. This part was very emotional. Many of the people and family began crying and wailing loudly. I didn’t even know Myrna very well but I also got emotional at this point. Not so much over her death, but death in general. Watching old and young alike crying, sobbing, and bawling made me think of one thing, “Sin is horrible.” Sin brought death into this world and now death brought all this that I was experiencing. It hurt to watch, but they didn’t greave without hope. We have assurance that Myrna was a believer. Her previous bout with cancer a few years ago was used by the Lord to draw her to Himself. But still, for those who loved her it hurt to see her go. One of her sisters (probably 13 or 14) was especially having a hard time.
They lowered her down and put boards slightly lower than the top rim of the tomb. They then covered those boards with the paper from the bags of concrete they previously opened to begin mixing. On top of the adjacent tomb they piled the powdered concrete, sand, and poured water down in the middle of it all. Two men with shovels began mixing it all together and dumping shovel loads of it into 5-gal. buckets. Bucket load by bucket load was poured on top of the tomb to make the top. This was all being done while everyone watched. Most of those participating in this were her brothers and even her father was helping with this part. I couldn’t believe it. I would have been an emotional mess. Having to actually pour the concrete on top of my daughter’s tomb? I’m not sure I could do that. But it’s just part of how they do it in this culture. I think they see it as their responsibility, maybe even an honor.
It was moving. I’m glad I went. I pray God will use her passing to work in the lives of many people in that village that don’t yet know Christ.
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