***Saturday, April 16***
We left home at 3:00am and began our journey to Guatemala. This made for a long day for sure! The flights were bumpy due to weather, but we arrived. The only major hiccup in the process was our delay in Atlanta because they didn't have a pilot for our flight! That was a first for us.
Once we arrived in Guatemala, we were picked up by Obed and Carlos. They are incredible men of God that are serving with Iglesia Del Camino. Obed is native to Guatemala, but spent much of his life in South Florida. He is great for international teams since he understands American culture and the English language so well. Carlos is amazing as well! He is from El Salvador and has been serving in Guatemala for the past few years. It was refreshing to finally get to meet some of the faces that are serving here with the ministry in Antigua.
After some lunch at Pollo Campero, a quick walk around the city, and dinner at the church building, we called it a night and prepared for a great night's sleep!
***Sunday, April 17***
Palm Sunday... so we are in Antigua during Semana Santa (holy week)! This is an amazing week to come. The town is usually about 40,000 people strong. However, this week it has up to 1/2 million people here! They streets are lined with "alfombras" or "carpets" that are made with pine needles, flowers, saw dust, bell peppers, etc. They are beautiful! Then there are huge processions that go through the streets celebrating the story of Easter. It's pretty cool.
After a few hours of getting to know the city some more, we walked across the street to Iglesia Del Camino. It was a bilingual service and we enjoyed the opportunity to worship alongside some of the believers here in Guatemala.
The afternoon was filled with Semana Santa activities. We visited the cathedrals, visited the local markets, and just walked around town with Steve Otto (our host). This was an interesting experience to say the least. After watching a processional, we attempted to make it out of the streets. The only issue is that there were so many people, we were literally stuck. Everyone was stuck. We had to push our way through a sea of people to get to our next destination. I've never been closer to a group of people in my life. After about 10 or 15 minutes of squeezing our way through the mob, we made it to a clear spot in the streets..well, clearer. Jess was the first to notice that her bag has a slash in it. She was pickpocketed! Fortunately, they cut into the section of her bag with medicine and wet wipes, so they weren't too excited about what they found. Haley was next, she realized that the sneaky pick pocketer stole her wallet! This was unfortunate, but she was a good sport. Finally, Lynsie found her bag slashed as well. She, like Jess, didn't have anything taken! Praise the Lord the team was safe.
That evening we went out to dinner to a unique restaurant that had a live band. It was a very cultural experience and a nice way to end our "free day".
***Monday, April 18***
We woke up bright and early, put on our rattiest clothes and set out to move an entire house. The ministry here has these small homes that they build for families. Well, our objective for this day was to move a house from one location to another. The family that was living in this house had to leave it vacant due to landslides that were threatening their safety. When we arrived, we were surprised to find a family squatting in the house. This was an uncomfortable place to be for sure. Our objective was the move this house for a single mom to use, but in the process, we were moving another family out. However, we found out that they had a home next door, they were just using this one since it was a little bigger and a little more stable. After many phone calls, arrangements with the city, and a few hours with the neighborhood kids, we finally were given the green light to move this beast.
It was a long process, but we got it all disassembled and made it to the new location. The new location was full of surprises as well. The government had laid the concrete slab for the new house, but the only problem was that they made it too short. The house wasn't going to fit on top of the slab. We used some creativity and figured it out (as best we could). The house was 90% completed and the local crew just has to put up the final wall (once the foundation is extended a bit). This was a lot of work, but worthwhile to contribute to the work Iglesia Del Camino is doing for the needy families in this community.
We then headed home shower and enjoy a delicious home cooked meal at the church building. After some dinner and a quick stroll around the city streets, we called it a night and enjoyed a good night sleep... or did we...
***Tuesday, April 19***
We both got sick throughout the night and have been sitting in the hotel all day long today. Jess started to feel better around lunch time, while Justin started to fell worse. We missed out on the opportunities for ministry this day, but are grateful that we have gotten to rest and allow our bodies to heal up... It is very frustrating to be on a short term trip like this with limited days already and then end up missing an entire day due to stupid stomach issues! Pray that we get better soon and that whatever is in our systems will work itself out.
The team today got to work with a Catholic Hospital this morning that met the needs of children with sever physical (and sometimes mental) handicaps. They said it was quite an emotional morning, but rewarding to serve these precious kids. After that, the team went to "El Club" in San Lucas. This is a VBS program for the kids in the community. Our group was challenged to teach on the story of the Good Samaritan. The team had the opportunity to share with these kids how to be a good neighbor to everyone!
Now, we're gearing up for dinner (we'll see if the two of us actually get to eat) and then we'll try to sleep again. Is it possible to sleep anymore today? We've literally been in bed all day long! We'll try...
