Better to go blind, than to hurt your wife

Pepa:
Marisa:
Candela:
Rodrigo:
Santiago: Pastor Santiago Ramirez
Nicaraguan 32 year old friend of Rodrigo's:

Marisa invites Rodrigo home for a home-cooked meal. House is dirty, she drops incense. Rodrigo understand, but gives her advice about cleanliness is next to Godliness. You never know when the Lord is going to visit your home.

Major thrust is what to do with sexual temptations when you are separated from your loved one or don't have one and you are Christian. Rodrigo tells Marisa and had told his pastor, as well, that both adultery and masturbation is a sin, pastor agreed. Marisa disagreed and advised him, as a concerned friend, that it was a nobler act, and kinder to his wife in Mexico to choose the latter which "only hurt himself if it hurt anyone at all" as opposed to the latter which was being thoughtless of his wife and children back home.

It was a delicate, but effective afternoon balancing the need to not dance around serious struggles of their christian life. Also Rodrigo said, we're saved by keeping the commandments to avoid God's judgment. Marisa shared with him the beauty of righteousness by faith, spending time with Christ every morning in prayer and bible study and meditation, and not focusing on oneself and how sinful or imperfect one is, but rather to focus on Christ and his life and his saving grace and love for us. Rodrigo reminded Marisa of her previous encouraging words, failures in the Christian life are not meant to mean the cleansing process is over, just like dropping the soap in the shower means the bath is over. Just pick up the soap and continue the cleansing process. Rodrigo is very frank with Pr. Sandoval who insists that both adultery and masturbation are a sin under all circumstances. Rodrigo tells Pr. that he himself is also capable of sins and, as a handsome man, may easily fall as well. Rodrigo tells Marisa that she should also seek counseling from Pr. S, but she says she can't as he is married to her first cousin. The last time she confided her christian struggles in a pastor, the whole church found out her problems with men.

Rodrigo quickly requested that Marisa drive him home, just when the conversation was getting interesting. She later realized, being alone with her might have been difficult for him, in spite of the fact that he had never given her any indication that he was attracted to her. It did seem odd, though that he requested with so much urgency that she drive him home, and that he'd wait outside for her while she closed the balcony doors and got her keys to go.

Marisa mentioned the woman at church who liked men till her husband gave up on her 30 years later. she also mentioned the teacher that was a deeply devout woman, but still had temptation when she met a college male friend who was attractive and how she wanted to be with him, and that it was a struggle especially since she had never been truly satisfied sexually by her loving, but sexually inexperienced or unimaginative husband of 15 years.

Rodrigo's oft repeated line to Ms. Paulina, was I'm still standing and am here in church as is, with all my sins, failures and mistakes. What else could he tell her when she asked him every week how he was. He simply told her the truth and was amused at her reaction whenever he told her that.