I am currently sitting in a coffee shop called Café Barista in Guatemala City. The sky is cloudy and a few raindrops have been scattered over the city. I sit here in awe of how life has change dramatically over this past year. I am in engaged and moving to a developing third world country. Who would have thought?
I arrived late Friday night and Guatemala took my breath away. However, this breathlessness was not just because I saw my finance, BJ, for the first time in a month, nor was it just because the sights of the streets or very different architecture. No, this breathlessness was also because of my first ride in the streets of Guatemala City. What we (Americanos) would consider a 2 lane capacity road quickly became 3, cars were mere inches away from your mirrors, motorcycles zoom in-between and here I am grasping my seatbelt with my left hand, the passenger’s door handle with my right and trying push my foot into the floorboard for bj’s truck. All the while BJ calmly maneuvers through these hectic streets with ease and a sort of sophistication. He calls it a video game. A GAME in which you try to get ahead of everything otherwise you quite literally will never make it to your final destinationwhen we finally made it to the home I am staying at I found a magnificent bouquet of roses, chocolates, and a sweet valentine’s card from BJ. We then decided since it was after midnight we would go head and exchange gifts. Afterwards we talked for a short while and then we decided to call it a night and bid each other goodnight. I settled into my room a little more after BJ left and soon crashed into bed falling asleep midway.
Saturday. That morning we ventured out again and headed to Antigua for a day of sightseeing and cultural education on the type’s of people in the surrounding areas. The city was beautiful. From the cobble stone streets to the rustic ruins my eyes strained to take every detail in. there 2 main groups of people here, the Mayan Guatemalan and Spanish Guatemalan. Therefore, a lot of the building structure and ruins were able to help me grasp the difference between the two cultures. Later that night we set aside the history lessons and went to a quaint romantic restaurant that we had made reservations at earlier in the day. It was the perfect Valentine ’s Day Dinner.
Sunday. We went to BJ’s home church and met several of the church members. They all had heard of me and I was so touched most remembered my name. BJ continued to translate for me as I have not learned very much Spanish YET. We had the opportunity to tour the church grounds. The church is actually one of BJ’s most recent projects and openly seeking to work with World Orphans in hopes of someday having an orphan home built on their property and has been involved in orphan care for many years. Currently, they have several children from a nearby girl’s home that attend the church regularly as well as several family members that also have been taking care of orphans for at least 2 generations. The orphans that have been with one family now actually have children of their own. It was such a neat experience to see where one of our homes could possibly be built and meet the families that already are taking care of the orphaned and abandoned.
Later that day we met with the pastor’s son and a CAM missionary and went to pizza hut for fellowship. The CAM missionary was a young woman named Kimberly. She works at a girl’s home called OASIS. The OASIS home is where the girls who attended church that morning are from. It was a great experience and I was able to connect with Kimberly. She has been able to offer me a few tips on how to deal with some things around here and practice my Spanish as well. BJ and I will be visiting the “OASIS” home on Thursday to see how a typical orphan home, run by mission organizations, is set up. Kimberly will give us a tour and hopefully see the girls living situation as well.
Later this week I will also be visiting a orphan home with BJ and his roommate, Wosbeli. Wosbeli volunteers at several catholic orphanages that allow him to teach the bible. It will be a good idea to be able to compare homes and see the difference between ours and other organizations. My mother asked me what the hardest or most difficult things going on so far and I really only had two. So if you would please pray for me on these three things:
1.) The language barrier- I am certain I will learn a lot here but the constant reminder that I do not yet know the language is very heard at times
2.) The car rides- my uneasy, queasy self is not enjoying the car rides.
3.) My molar- one molar has decided to make himself known and is now entering the top of my pallet and headed straight for the middle of my tongue- painful to say the least.
This week looks to be exciting but I have to run now and practice my Spanish lessons…your prayers are felt and greatly appreciated…
I learned 2 Spanish saying that sound very similar to each other but mean very different things:
Tengo hAmbre= I am hungry.
NOT
tengo hOmbre= I have a man
OR
tengo verguenza= I am embarrassed
NOT
estoy embarasada= I am pregnant
I was glad to learn those because knowing me I would have said the wrong words. :)
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