Thursday, August 31, 2006
First, Shelly is feeling better. She has had a tough week trying to get over this sickness. She still has some cramping in her stomach but we are going to talk to the preacher/doctor at Bible study tonight about it. We shall see what he says. She is much better though.
August has flown by. It seems like just yesterday we moved to Antigua and now we only have a month left here. It has become home for us over the last month. It is amazing to see the progress we have made in speaking and understanding the Spanish language since we first arrived. I knew nothing!
I always find it interesting to study what things cost in different countries (especially third world countries). It gives me a feeling of where they are economically and how far a dollar truly goes. I want to share some expenses, incomes, costs of things here in Antigua, Guatemala. Thinking about this reminds me how blessed we are!
Guatemalan money is called Quetzal. $1 = 7.62 Quetzales. This will give you a reference on how much the following is:
My teacher makes Q15 an hour (He works 8 hours a day, 5 days a week).
The average yearly income is $2,000. (Honduras is $600)
6 small homemade corn tortillas delivered to your house costs Q6.
1 childhood vaccination costs Q500.
A combo meal at Burger King (Whopper, fries and coke) costs Q21.
A coke in a can costs Q5.
1 pound of laundry (washed, dried and folded) costs Q5.
1 ½ pounds of whole cashews cost Q30.
A phone call to the United States costs Q1 per minute (with a calling card).
A bottle of Pedialyte costs Q21.
A small bottle of Philip’s Milk of Magnesia costs Q16.
A nice supper out on the town (according to US standards) costs Q80.
A gallon of gasoline costs Q28.
.10% of a paycheck goes to Social Security which functions as health care in most businesses.
Being on this adventure = priceless.
I had to throw that last one in. We found out today that the church staff was going to Rafferty’s for a celebration lunch for Margaret’s 5 year anniversary at Berry’s Chapel. We bought a calling card two weeks ago and decided to use some of it to make a surprise call to them. We finally caught them on Margaret’s cell phone (what did we do without them?) traveling back in the van to the church building. It was so good to hear their voices and have a short conversation with each one. Hello again Margaret, Will, Jerrie, Alejandro and Guilford (I know Guilford is reading this)!
Shelly and I have regressed ourselves to listening to Barney in Spanish. That is what we are doing right now as we type. What you will do to learn Spanish and entertain yourselves at the same time! We better concentrate on Barney so we will talk to you again soon.
We love each and every one of you!
Chad
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Pictures of Historic Antigua
Ruins from the cathedral pictured below.
This is the cathedral.
This is the cathedral.You can see the 12 apostles
with Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit in the center.
You can see the volcanoes smoking.Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Historic Antigua
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
We went on an amazing walking tour of Antigua last Saturday. We began the 3 hour journey in Central Park at the big fountain. Chad and I have yet to see the fountain running, but that is another story. The park is surrounded by government buildings. We first went to the building where the mayor’s office and the office of property tax are located. There we had a tremendous view of one of Antigua’s three active volcanoes (you can see it smoking on the left in the picture above). We had not been able to see that volcano until the tour.
We left that building and walked across the park to look at the other government building. While the tour guide was talking, a procession came driving by. In front, there were men in the back of a pick-up truck all dressed in red and white robes. The next vehicle was a tractor trailer truck pulling a trailer. On the trailer were men in robes, tons of flowers, a statue of Jesus and a box that looked like a coffin. Then there were about 8-10 more cars behind that with lots more people dressed in robes. There was a big PA system they were using to announce that Jesus is alive and He does good things in our lives. They had a great message. (A picture is included above)
After we talked a while in the park, we went into the main cathedral. There was a first communion just getting started as we entered. It was really strange inside. There were all these real life figures in showcase boxes that people go to pray. There were candles lit on tables in front of each one. The tour guide told us that the majority of the Catholics are Mayans. They worship differently than the Catholics here in Antigua. They have a different language that they speak also.
We went in and sat down for just a few minutes, and then we walked down the side of the sanctuary to the back door. There we entered the ruins of the old cathedral. An earthquake came through Antigua in 1976 and knocked a lot of the building down. We went down into a crypt that was in there. It was a little creepy to me. Then we walked around and looked at all the restoration that they are doing to that building since the earthquake. You are going to see at the end of this journal that one of the main themes of our trip was “CRYPTS”.
From there we went by a place called the Popenoe House, which is a home that is a typical colonial Guatemalan casa (house). They were not open, so Chad and I are going to visit there Thursday or Friday. We then went to the Jade factory and listened to the history of Jade in Central America and had a tour of the workshop. We then got to shop in the Jade showroom. Of course, I found a ring that I really liked, but it was $500 so we passed on that. The website for the Jade factory is www.centramerica.com/jades.
Then, we went to Elizabeth Bell’s office. She was our tour guide for the day. At her office she gave us a lot of her personal recommendations of places to go in Antigua. Beside her office is the Hotel Casa Santo Domingo (a 5 star hotel). It was an Old Catholic Cathedral and a family bought it to excavate and build on. We visited 3 museums inside there. Then, before we left we visited 2 other crypts. Those were bigger than the first one we went in. They also had actual bones in them that the archeologists had found when doing their archaeological digs. The hotel is gorgeous also. We of course have not had the opportunity to stay there but just the aura of it is amazing. Their website is www.casasantodomingo.com.gt. This is a site you don’t want to pass up.
This was a neat experience and I am sure that we only brushed the surface on the history of Antigua. It was very informative.
Shelly
We went on an amazing walking tour of Antigua last Saturday. We began the 3 hour journey in Central Park at the big fountain. Chad and I have yet to see the fountain running, but that is another story. The park is surrounded by government buildings. We first went to the building where the mayor’s office and the office of property tax are located. There we had a tremendous view of one of Antigua’s three active volcanoes (you can see it smoking on the left in the picture above). We had not been able to see that volcano until the tour.
We left that building and walked across the park to look at the other government building. While the tour guide was talking, a procession came driving by. In front, there were men in the back of a pick-up truck all dressed in red and white robes. The next vehicle was a tractor trailer truck pulling a trailer. On the trailer were men in robes, tons of flowers, a statue of Jesus and a box that looked like a coffin. Then there were about 8-10 more cars behind that with lots more people dressed in robes. There was a big PA system they were using to announce that Jesus is alive and He does good things in our lives. They had a great message. (A picture is included above)
After we talked a while in the park, we went into the main cathedral. There was a first communion just getting started as we entered. It was really strange inside. There were all these real life figures in showcase boxes that people go to pray. There were candles lit on tables in front of each one. The tour guide told us that the majority of the Catholics are Mayans. They worship differently than the Catholics here in Antigua. They have a different language that they speak also.
We went in and sat down for just a few minutes, and then we walked down the side of the sanctuary to the back door. There we entered the ruins of the old cathedral. An earthquake came through Antigua in 1976 and knocked a lot of the building down. We went down into a crypt that was in there. It was a little creepy to me. Then we walked around and looked at all the restoration that they are doing to that building since the earthquake. You are going to see at the end of this journal that one of the main themes of our trip was “CRYPTS”.
From there we went by a place called the Popenoe House, which is a home that is a typical colonial Guatemalan casa (house). They were not open, so Chad and I are going to visit there Thursday or Friday. We then went to the Jade factory and listened to the history of Jade in Central America and had a tour of the workshop. We then got to shop in the Jade showroom. Of course, I found a ring that I really liked, but it was $500 so we passed on that. The website for the Jade factory is www.centramerica.com/jades.
Then, we went to Elizabeth Bell’s office. She was our tour guide for the day. At her office she gave us a lot of her personal recommendations of places to go in Antigua. Beside her office is the Hotel Casa Santo Domingo (a 5 star hotel). It was an Old Catholic Cathedral and a family bought it to excavate and build on. We visited 3 museums inside there. Then, before we left we visited 2 other crypts. Those were bigger than the first one we went in. They also had actual bones in them that the archeologists had found when doing their archaeological digs. The hotel is gorgeous also. We of course have not had the opportunity to stay there but just the aura of it is amazing. Their website is www.casasantodomingo.com.gt. This is a site you don’t want to pass up.
This was a neat experience and I am sure that we only brushed the surface on the history of Antigua. It was very informative.
Shelly
UPDATE
Chad scored a 93 on his first test.
He graduated this morning from Grado A to Grado B.
Way to go Chad!!
I am better today also. I am still very weak, but I am sure the more rest I get and the more Cipro I take I will get back to normal. Thanks so much for all your prayers. Chad is going to send our journal later this afternoon.
Love to you all!
Shelly
Monday, August 28, 2006
Journal #12
I have to make this short because my head is barely above water with so much to do. I will fully update you in a day or two but here it goes...
First, Shelly is sick so I am taking care of her. Her stomach started cramping on Friday afternoon and has not really settled. She has run a fever at times. She rested it out all weekend but was not feeling better this morning so I knew we needed to call a doctor. (I have a journal article in the waiting on how God provided in this situation.) The preacher at church is a medical doctor so we called him this morning and asked him to come to the house and check on her. She did not go to school. During our break, I went back home and he had come. She has a digestive infection and he told her to take 2 bottles of Pedialite today. She is also to start the Cipro we brought with us. (Thank you Larry Crockett for the prescription.) She is not to eat anything more than crackers and soup. I believe this will make her feel better. God will take care of her!
That has really been my weekend. We did go on the walking tour Saturday morning before Shelly started feeling really bad. It was so interesting! I will post pictures and tell you about it later.
I am swarmed right now because I have my test tomorrow. I am not as fluent as Shelly and got frustrated today with some oral practice. Sometimes it just does not make sense. Oh well, I will survive.
I need to go to the pharmacy right now to get Shelly's Pedialite, then tend to her and then study for the rest of the day. Please say a prayer for her infection. I will continue to take care of her. We are in this together. She should start to feel better tomorrow if not this afternoon.
Chad
First, Shelly is sick so I am taking care of her. Her stomach started cramping on Friday afternoon and has not really settled. She has run a fever at times. She rested it out all weekend but was not feeling better this morning so I knew we needed to call a doctor. (I have a journal article in the waiting on how God provided in this situation.) The preacher at church is a medical doctor so we called him this morning and asked him to come to the house and check on her. She did not go to school. During our break, I went back home and he had come. She has a digestive infection and he told her to take 2 bottles of Pedialite today. She is also to start the Cipro we brought with us. (Thank you Larry Crockett for the prescription.) She is not to eat anything more than crackers and soup. I believe this will make her feel better. God will take care of her!
That has really been my weekend. We did go on the walking tour Saturday morning before Shelly started feeling really bad. It was so interesting! I will post pictures and tell you about it later.
I am swarmed right now because I have my test tomorrow. I am not as fluent as Shelly and got frustrated today with some oral practice. Sometimes it just does not make sense. Oh well, I will survive.
I need to go to the pharmacy right now to get Shelly's Pedialite, then tend to her and then study for the rest of the day. Please say a prayer for her infection. I will continue to take care of her. We are in this together. She should start to feel better tomorrow if not this afternoon.
Chad
Friday, August 25, 2006
Journal #11
Shelly is sure studying hard!
SMILE!
We are at Trae Frateli Italian Restaurant after Bible Class. The best in Antigua!
Happy 26th Birthday TJ!
These were the after-dinner mints that came with the bill.None of us had sore throats though!
We just finished another week at Christian Spanish Academy (www.learncsa.com). That makes 3 weeks completed and 5 more to go. It gets frustrating at times because you want to speak Spanish so badly but your brain is not ready to do so. Thinking out all the correct tenses and such can be a headache. One step at a time will get us through. It is hard to only take one step though.
We had an enjoyable evening last night with our friends. We went to Bible study at 6:00 pm and then went to a great Italian restaurant (it is actually a franchise out of San Francisco) called Trae Frateli. We were celebrating T.J. McCloud's 26th birthday. He and his wife, Holly, are from Nashville also. We did not know them before we moved here. She bought him a cake which was like tres leches (three milk cake) with strawberries and the restaurant served it to us. It was good. We enjoyed our time together.
Tomorrow we are taking a walking tour of Antigua's ruins with Elizabeth Bell (an American woman who has lived here for 30-40 years. You can look at her website at http://www.antiguatours.net/. It starts at 9:30 am and ends at 12:30 pm. I am looking forward to it. There is so much history in this town. We will be able to see it up close and personal tomorrow.
The rest of the weekend will be spent energizing and studying. I finished the first book today and will have my test on Tuesday. I need to review and make sure I have everything in my brain. We will talk to you again on Monday. Have a great weekend!
Chad
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Picture of the Iglesia de Cristo in Antigua, Guatemala
Here they are finally! Today is a good computer day. These are pictures of the church building we have been attending. They have a great flower committee! We will go back tonight for Bible Study at 6:00 pm. We plan on going to supper after with some of our friends to celebrate one of their birthdays. I believe we are going to try the Italian restaurant we have heard so much about.You won't believe what happened today! We were eating lunch in our house with our family and Ana Julia (the daughter-in-law) left the table to go to the kitchen. Each day we have what they call "fresca" which is a watered down version of some kind of fruit punch. Today it was raspberry. She reappeared out of the kitchen with a bowl of ICE! Yes, you read correctly. She had ice and she was going to actually put it in our glasses WITH our drinks. Can you believe it? It exists in Guatemala. I don't know why she chose today to put ice in the drinks for it was as lukewarm as any other day, BUT now I know there is ice in the house. I will have to investigate some more on it. It tasted great. I used it as far as it would go with 2 small glasses of ICE WATER!
I have two more chapters in Book A to finish tomorrow and I should take the test early next week. I know many of you are curious on how that will turn out. You will have to wait and see!
I am working on a great journal about 2 "domesticas" at our house. It will be one you will not want to miss. Stay tuned. Thanks for reading and keeping up with us.
Chad
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Journal #10
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
For the next 2 months I cannot imagine how much rain is going to drop out of the sky here in Antigua. Monday, August 21, 2006 began the rainy season that lasts until the end of October. I have been told there is more rain during these next 2 months than there is all year. Isn’t that amazing! Have you ever thought about what you think about when it rains? Chad and I were out purchasing my celebration cake today when the rain began. We hurried home and as I sat at the table in our room watching the rain fall harder and harder, I got to thinking. The lightning and thunder were very strong and there was a thick cloud of rain as far as I could see. I got to thinking that only the one and only Almighty God could do something like that. I got to thinking that maybe storms are a way that God uses to show us some of His characteristics; powerful like the rain that hits the ground harder and harder, mighty like the wind that blows the storm in, awesome like the lightning that streaks across the sky, and nourishing like the rain that fills our earth with the water it needs. It is just such a blessing to get to see God in the many ways that we do each and every day. Isn’t it amazing how truly wonderful our God is? I know there are many times that I overlook that it is He that created everything. I am so glad that He opened my eyes to a better understanding of His power.
I took my first test yesterday. I got to class, my teacher and I had our normal 30 minute conversation to practice what I have learned, and then we began reviewing. At about 9:15 we walked upstairs together, got the test from Homberto, the teacher coordinator at CSA, and returned to our table. It was now 9:30 a.m. We usually have break at 10:00, so I thought she would wait to start the test after the break. Nope! She handed it to me and said just do what you can until the break, take your break and then you can finish when we come back. I could not believe how quickly I was going through it. I thought either I have no clue what I am doing or she has really pounded this stuff in my head that I was just writing without thinking about it. Anyway, the hard part was yet to come. I had to wait until I was completely finished with the written part before I could do the listening and comprehension section. I was dreading that part because I did not know which story I was going to get. There must have been many people praying for me because when the prompter read the title, it was the one I had done the best on during review. She read one sentence at a time, VERY SLOWLY, and after each sentence she asked, comprende?, which means “do you understand?” I just nodded my head hoping she would just continue so I would not forget parts of the story. Anyway, I got all 5 questions correct. Little did I know but the worst was yet to come. I had to sit at the table with my teacher while she graded my test in front of me. I have never had a teacher do that in my life. It was like waiting for that trip to the beach in the summer and it is only January. It took FOREVER!! She went through the test and reviewed the 2 ½ points that I had missed and said, “Very good, Shelly! You are a very good student.” I then got to go upstairs to Chad’s table and show him my grade. He was so excited fro me. Then, we went to Homberto again to get my new books. Lucy showed him my test and he gave me a stamp that had Fred Flintstone in the middle and it says in Spanish, “Congratulations, you are a very good student.” I felt like I was one of the students in my Kindergarten class. I was so proud of how well I did and I was so excited that I got a stamp.
We were at lunch and I was telling the family about my test. Chad announced that we would have cake for everyone at dinner to celebrate my test score. We went to a bakery, bought a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles, and served it at dinner. It was so fresh and chocolaty! Even the maid girls got to enjoy it. The greatest thing about it was we only paid 45 Quetzales ($6) for this cake that would easily feed 15-20. It was so amazing that it was so cheap.
Dios le bendiga! God bless you!
Shelly
For the next 2 months I cannot imagine how much rain is going to drop out of the sky here in Antigua. Monday, August 21, 2006 began the rainy season that lasts until the end of October. I have been told there is more rain during these next 2 months than there is all year. Isn’t that amazing! Have you ever thought about what you think about when it rains? Chad and I were out purchasing my celebration cake today when the rain began. We hurried home and as I sat at the table in our room watching the rain fall harder and harder, I got to thinking. The lightning and thunder were very strong and there was a thick cloud of rain as far as I could see. I got to thinking that only the one and only Almighty God could do something like that. I got to thinking that maybe storms are a way that God uses to show us some of His characteristics; powerful like the rain that hits the ground harder and harder, mighty like the wind that blows the storm in, awesome like the lightning that streaks across the sky, and nourishing like the rain that fills our earth with the water it needs. It is just such a blessing to get to see God in the many ways that we do each and every day. Isn’t it amazing how truly wonderful our God is? I know there are many times that I overlook that it is He that created everything. I am so glad that He opened my eyes to a better understanding of His power.
I took my first test yesterday. I got to class, my teacher and I had our normal 30 minute conversation to practice what I have learned, and then we began reviewing. At about 9:15 we walked upstairs together, got the test from Homberto, the teacher coordinator at CSA, and returned to our table. It was now 9:30 a.m. We usually have break at 10:00, so I thought she would wait to start the test after the break. Nope! She handed it to me and said just do what you can until the break, take your break and then you can finish when we come back. I could not believe how quickly I was going through it. I thought either I have no clue what I am doing or she has really pounded this stuff in my head that I was just writing without thinking about it. Anyway, the hard part was yet to come. I had to wait until I was completely finished with the written part before I could do the listening and comprehension section. I was dreading that part because I did not know which story I was going to get. There must have been many people praying for me because when the prompter read the title, it was the one I had done the best on during review. She read one sentence at a time, VERY SLOWLY, and after each sentence she asked, comprende?, which means “do you understand?” I just nodded my head hoping she would just continue so I would not forget parts of the story. Anyway, I got all 5 questions correct. Little did I know but the worst was yet to come. I had to sit at the table with my teacher while she graded my test in front of me. I have never had a teacher do that in my life. It was like waiting for that trip to the beach in the summer and it is only January. It took FOREVER!! She went through the test and reviewed the 2 ½ points that I had missed and said, “Very good, Shelly! You are a very good student.” I then got to go upstairs to Chad’s table and show him my grade. He was so excited fro me. Then, we went to Homberto again to get my new books. Lucy showed him my test and he gave me a stamp that had Fred Flintstone in the middle and it says in Spanish, “Congratulations, you are a very good student.” I felt like I was one of the students in my Kindergarten class. I was so proud of how well I did and I was so excited that I got a stamp.
We were at lunch and I was telling the family about my test. Chad announced that we would have cake for everyone at dinner to celebrate my test score. We went to a bakery, bought a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles, and served it at dinner. It was so fresh and chocolaty! Even the maid girls got to enjoy it. The greatest thing about it was we only paid 45 Quetzales ($6) for this cake that would easily feed 15-20. It was so amazing that it was so cheap.
Dios le bendiga! God bless you!
Shelly
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Big News!!
Two Big News Items Today!
SHELLY MADE A 97.5% ON HER TEST TODAY!
She moved to Book B after the test.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD!
Chad
SHELLY MADE A 97.5% ON HER TEST TODAY!
She moved to Book B after the test.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD!
Chad
Monday, August 21, 2006
Journal #9
Monday, August 21, 2006
Saturday, we met Nancy (Moon) Gonzalez, Erin Keckley, and Jeanne White (Baxter’s President’s wife) for an early lunch. We enjoyed talking to them. Nancy used to work with Mission Lazarus in Honduras and now is living in Guatemala City working with a church with her husband. We are going to stay at their house in 2 weekends and get to know the work they are involved in. The rest of Saturday was taking it easy and studying. It was nice to not really have anything we had to do.
Above, we have included pictures of the Iglesia de Cristo in Antigua. They have recently purchased this building which is a converted house. There are rooms for classes for the children. They do a wonderful job of decorating with flowers in the “auditorium.”
On Sunday, we arrived at 9:00 am (which the sign indicates) but soon found out that services did not actually start until 9:30 am. I guess they plan for latecomers. Worship lasted from 9:30 until 11:30 am. I have a new outlook on Children’s Education though. I had the opportunity to work very closely with Berry’s Chapel’s Education Department and I really enjoyed it. I do have to pass on a thought to the Education Executive Team though. Imagine having children in class for 2 hours. That is exactly what happened on Sunday at the church. And it is a regular occurrence. For all those who complain about teaching for 30-45 minutes, what about 2 hours?
We had 3 others go with us to worship and we joined about 50 members of the church. It was encouraging to see that many worshipping in a city that is concentrated with Mayan Catholicism. God is working in the hearts of those people. There were 6 responses after the lesson in which each person stood and said what they were struggling with to the congregation. The lesson was based on it being our responsibility to teach our children the way of the Lord and the responses were based on opportunities each person had passed on or wanting to do a better job. It was encouraging.
Our friends and we went to a good little restaurant near the central park and had Sunday buffet. We had some good eggs, potatoes and onions, salads, quiche, and DESSERTS. I personally had 3 pieces of chocolate cake. It was a little dry but it tasted so good. The chocolate icing alone would have sufficed. Shelly and I spent the rest of the day studying and we were in bed early for a good night’s rest for the week ahead.
This week is when I am turning it up a notch and buckling down. I have not been slacking but it is time to step up and really practice my Spanish. We have told our family that we will speak no English this week. They love it! I plan on finishing book A this week and Shelly is having her test on book A tomorrow. Pray for her. It is written, oral, and listening. We will let you know what she thinks about it tomorrow.
It is great each day to see a new person email us. Many of you are enjoying those cold glasses of water which I appreciate. Mine is still lukewarm but I am becoming accustomed to it. I have to say that our weather here is incredible. Low 70’s in the morning and mid to upper 70’s in the afternoon and early evening. I will enjoy it for you.
Adios.
Chad
Saturday, we met Nancy (Moon) Gonzalez, Erin Keckley, and Jeanne White (Baxter’s President’s wife) for an early lunch. We enjoyed talking to them. Nancy used to work with Mission Lazarus in Honduras and now is living in Guatemala City working with a church with her husband. We are going to stay at their house in 2 weekends and get to know the work they are involved in. The rest of Saturday was taking it easy and studying. It was nice to not really have anything we had to do.
Above, we have included pictures of the Iglesia de Cristo in Antigua. They have recently purchased this building which is a converted house. There are rooms for classes for the children. They do a wonderful job of decorating with flowers in the “auditorium.”
On Sunday, we arrived at 9:00 am (which the sign indicates) but soon found out that services did not actually start until 9:30 am. I guess they plan for latecomers. Worship lasted from 9:30 until 11:30 am. I have a new outlook on Children’s Education though. I had the opportunity to work very closely with Berry’s Chapel’s Education Department and I really enjoyed it. I do have to pass on a thought to the Education Executive Team though. Imagine having children in class for 2 hours. That is exactly what happened on Sunday at the church. And it is a regular occurrence. For all those who complain about teaching for 30-45 minutes, what about 2 hours?
We had 3 others go with us to worship and we joined about 50 members of the church. It was encouraging to see that many worshipping in a city that is concentrated with Mayan Catholicism. God is working in the hearts of those people. There were 6 responses after the lesson in which each person stood and said what they were struggling with to the congregation. The lesson was based on it being our responsibility to teach our children the way of the Lord and the responses were based on opportunities each person had passed on or wanting to do a better job. It was encouraging.
Our friends and we went to a good little restaurant near the central park and had Sunday buffet. We had some good eggs, potatoes and onions, salads, quiche, and DESSERTS. I personally had 3 pieces of chocolate cake. It was a little dry but it tasted so good. The chocolate icing alone would have sufficed. Shelly and I spent the rest of the day studying and we were in bed early for a good night’s rest for the week ahead.
This week is when I am turning it up a notch and buckling down. I have not been slacking but it is time to step up and really practice my Spanish. We have told our family that we will speak no English this week. They love it! I plan on finishing book A this week and Shelly is having her test on book A tomorrow. Pray for her. It is written, oral, and listening. We will let you know what she thinks about it tomorrow.
It is great each day to see a new person email us. Many of you are enjoying those cold glasses of water which I appreciate. Mine is still lukewarm but I am becoming accustomed to it. I have to say that our weather here is incredible. Low 70’s in the morning and mid to upper 70’s in the afternoon and early evening. I will enjoy it for you.
Adios.
Chad
Friday, August 18, 2006
Journal #8
Friday, August 18, 2006
I have to admit that I am sad today. I have been looking forward to what was going to occur on Friday all week. Shelly was going to teach Ana Julia (the daughter-in-law) how to make a Chocolate Cobbler this afternoon. BUT that is not going to happen because Ana Julia was baking 2 cakes yesterday for her mother’s birthday and noticed that it was taking 3 hours to bake a cake that normally took 1 hour or less. THE OVEN IS BROKEN! That is what I get for holding CHOCOLATE COBBLER (with vanilla ice cream) so high on my priority list. I have to admit that I can taste it right now typing about it. Oh well, the new date is next weekend so I will wait.
We have finished 2 weeks of Language School. We have 6 more to go. I can not believe that August is half way over. Every Friday, our school has graduation for those leaving during our break. They get a diploma and everything. That will be the day on September 29th when Shelly and my names are called and we get that piece of paper that means very little to many but will be a HUGE accomplishment for us! I am eager to see how much Spanish we will know at that point. We are making good strides right now. You have to take each day at a time and realize that knowledge of the language is not going to come overnight but if you take it one step at a time, you will grasp it.
We went to Bible Study last night at the Iglesia de Cristo en Antigua. We finally made it on time. We had 4 others go with us which was exciting. There were a total of 10 Guatemaltecans and our 6 Americanos. They sang a few songs and then a man of the congregation gave a lesson for 45 minutes. I picked up his three points as: The church grows numerically, spiritually and organizationally. Everything is in Spanish so it is a great experience for us to pick up on words we know and try to put together others to make sense of what is being said. We will take pictures of the church building on Sunday and put them on the blog Monday. We will be going to worship on Sunday from 9:00-11:00 am and Bible Study from 11:00 am-12:00 pm. I am sure we will do the traditional church of Christ thing and go to lunch after.
We plan on taking it easy this weekend so we will update our blog on Monday with our activities. We will probably rent a movie or two and watch them on my laptop. We have some studying to do (which is our life) and we will take Tristan on a couple of long walks to allow him to get some exercise and stretch his legs.
I have heard that this weekend is the start of football season so update me with scores (high school, college and pro). I got in the mood when a local school’s marching band marched in a parade right in front of our school today sounding as loud as the Franklin High School Marching Band. I was going to take a picture to include in the blog but we left the camera in our room. They had fancy white uniforms and everything.
Buen el fin de semana! (Have a great weekend!) Adios.
Chad
I have to admit that I am sad today. I have been looking forward to what was going to occur on Friday all week. Shelly was going to teach Ana Julia (the daughter-in-law) how to make a Chocolate Cobbler this afternoon. BUT that is not going to happen because Ana Julia was baking 2 cakes yesterday for her mother’s birthday and noticed that it was taking 3 hours to bake a cake that normally took 1 hour or less. THE OVEN IS BROKEN! That is what I get for holding CHOCOLATE COBBLER (with vanilla ice cream) so high on my priority list. I have to admit that I can taste it right now typing about it. Oh well, the new date is next weekend so I will wait.
We have finished 2 weeks of Language School. We have 6 more to go. I can not believe that August is half way over. Every Friday, our school has graduation for those leaving during our break. They get a diploma and everything. That will be the day on September 29th when Shelly and my names are called and we get that piece of paper that means very little to many but will be a HUGE accomplishment for us! I am eager to see how much Spanish we will know at that point. We are making good strides right now. You have to take each day at a time and realize that knowledge of the language is not going to come overnight but if you take it one step at a time, you will grasp it.
We went to Bible Study last night at the Iglesia de Cristo en Antigua. We finally made it on time. We had 4 others go with us which was exciting. There were a total of 10 Guatemaltecans and our 6 Americanos. They sang a few songs and then a man of the congregation gave a lesson for 45 minutes. I picked up his three points as: The church grows numerically, spiritually and organizationally. Everything is in Spanish so it is a great experience for us to pick up on words we know and try to put together others to make sense of what is being said. We will take pictures of the church building on Sunday and put them on the blog Monday. We will be going to worship on Sunday from 9:00-11:00 am and Bible Study from 11:00 am-12:00 pm. I am sure we will do the traditional church of Christ thing and go to lunch after.
We plan on taking it easy this weekend so we will update our blog on Monday with our activities. We will probably rent a movie or two and watch them on my laptop. We have some studying to do (which is our life) and we will take Tristan on a couple of long walks to allow him to get some exercise and stretch his legs.
I have heard that this weekend is the start of football season so update me with scores (high school, college and pro). I got in the mood when a local school’s marching band marched in a parade right in front of our school today sounding as loud as the Franklin High School Marching Band. I was going to take a picture to include in the blog but we left the camera in our room. They had fancy white uniforms and everything.
Buen el fin de semana! (Have a great weekend!) Adios.
Chad
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Journal #7
Thursday, August 17, 2006One of the hardest things we had to do to begin our transition into mission work in Honduras was say good-bye to our families. Neither one of us have ever lived farther than 30 minutes away from our families. Once we passed through the security gate at the airport that first morning, I knew that the HARDEST step was behind us.
I have always taken for granted talking to my parents (and others) on the phone. When we lived in Franklin, it was so easy to just call Mom or Dad and ask a quick question and be on with business. Not thinking a thing about asking them anything else. Shelly and I have a different outlook on that now. We eagerly await Monday and Tuesday nights because that is when our families call us from the States to say hello. You can only say and do so much over email. To hear familiar voices (in English) is the highlight of our week.
Shelly’s parents call on Monday and mine on Tuesday. We look like kids on Christmas morning waiting those nights for the phone to ring. We usually talk for an hour or longer asking each other what is going on with the other and what is going on in the worlds we live in. It is such an encouraging time for Shelly and me.
Our families are an encouragement to us and we would not be able to do this if we did not have their support and prayers. This is not something you can do alone. You have to know that God is on your side and that you have people cheering you on even though you may never see them or hear them doing so. We appreciate our families more than ever and have realized that we have taken them for granted for many years. What a blessing they are to our lives!
We have met a new family that is special to us also. It is our host family. God has taken care of us in placing us with Maria del Carmen and her family for these 8 weeks. They are so kind and willing to help us in any way. Can you image dedicating yourself 24/7 to a foreigner who does not speak your language very well and who wants to ask you Kindergarten-level questions about it all the time? This family provides us 3 meals a day, cleans our room every other day and makes sure we have everything we need while here. I appreciate their sacrifice. Even though they are paid to house us, they don’t make us feel like foreigners. We are part of their Guatemaltecan family.
The picture above is our host family. They are (from left to right) Ana Julio (the daughter-in-law), Ana Ines (Tristan's amiga), Maria del Carmen (our mama and owner of the house), Ana Jose (the baby of the family), and Manuel (Maria's son).
We are attending the one and only church of Christ tonight in Antigua. Bible study starts at 6 pm and we are meeting 3 others at the fountain in the park at 5:30 to walk over to the building. We all plan on going to a Mexican restaurant after to have nachos (we were told they were really good by Shelly’s teacher).
Let me challenge you to pick up the phone and call someone who you care about and let them know what they mean to you. Realize the blessing you have right before you as you talk. Have a great rest of the day!
Adios.
Chad
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Wednesday, August 16th
Hola,
This has been an exciting week so far. We are learning more and more. It is becoming easier to speak the Spanish language. I learned the past tense of regular verbs this morning and will probably have my first test on Friday or Monday. Chad is coming right along too. With him not having any background in Spanish, other than adding an "o" to the end of English words, he is doing very well also. It really helps for us to speak to our host family at meals and throughout the day. They are such great supporters and are helping us a lot.
The weather here today is really nice. This morning it was freezing. Chad and I both had to wear our jackets to school. I still have mine on. It was about 65 degrees when we got up this morning. Think about how that cold shower felt then!! I shivered for about 10 minutes until I finally had to get my hairdryer to dry my hair so I wouldn't be cold anymore.
Last night we were laying in bed just about asleep and all of a sudden there were all these firecrackers that started going off just across the street from our house. Tristan sat straight up in the bed. It continued for about 10 minutes. There were people laughing and screaming and having a good time. We asked this morning what that was all about and Maria told us it was someone's birthday celebration. That is just what they do here to have fun.
This morning we ate banana pancakes for breakfast. They were really tasty. A lot of our meals here recently have consisted of typical Guatemalan food. It is really something we are having to adjust to. Lastnight we had these things called, rellenitos. They were balls of bananas that had been mashed up with beans in the center. They were coated with cinnamon and sugar and then fried. They were good, but after a few bites I couldn't eat anymore. I guess the more we eat the more we will learn to like.
Tomorrow evening we will attend bible study at the church of Christ. In all the churches we have attended in Central America, they have mid week Bible study on Thursday instead of Wednesday.
Better go for now. Lunch is in 20 minutes and I still have to walk home.
Love to everyone!
Shelly
This has been an exciting week so far. We are learning more and more. It is becoming easier to speak the Spanish language. I learned the past tense of regular verbs this morning and will probably have my first test on Friday or Monday. Chad is coming right along too. With him not having any background in Spanish, other than adding an "o" to the end of English words, he is doing very well also. It really helps for us to speak to our host family at meals and throughout the day. They are such great supporters and are helping us a lot.
The weather here today is really nice. This morning it was freezing. Chad and I both had to wear our jackets to school. I still have mine on. It was about 65 degrees when we got up this morning. Think about how that cold shower felt then!! I shivered for about 10 minutes until I finally had to get my hairdryer to dry my hair so I wouldn't be cold anymore.
Last night we were laying in bed just about asleep and all of a sudden there were all these firecrackers that started going off just across the street from our house. Tristan sat straight up in the bed. It continued for about 10 minutes. There were people laughing and screaming and having a good time. We asked this morning what that was all about and Maria told us it was someone's birthday celebration. That is just what they do here to have fun.
This morning we ate banana pancakes for breakfast. They were really tasty. A lot of our meals here recently have consisted of typical Guatemalan food. It is really something we are having to adjust to. Lastnight we had these things called, rellenitos. They were balls of bananas that had been mashed up with beans in the center. They were coated with cinnamon and sugar and then fried. They were good, but after a few bites I couldn't eat anymore. I guess the more we eat the more we will learn to like.
Tomorrow evening we will attend bible study at the church of Christ. In all the churches we have attended in Central America, they have mid week Bible study on Thursday instead of Wednesday.
Better go for now. Lunch is in 20 minutes and I still have to walk home.
Love to everyone!
Shelly
Monday, August 14, 2006
Journal #6
Monday, August 14, 2006
Shelly and I are doing well. We had a major thunderstorm last night in Antigua which flooded many of the streets. We went to supper with another girl from school and got caught in the monsoon. We were drenched from head to toe. We had to take her home since she was alone and then run back to our house. It was about 10 blocks of running through rain you could not see through. It will be a memory we will never forget!
I put some pictures below of our house and Tristan studying his flashcards and playing with the little girl who lives with us. She loves playing with him and feeding him out of her hand. He puts up with her for a while and then runs away. She get the biggest kick out of it though.
It was good to get back to school today. The weekend can be a little long and boring. You can only study and walk around so much. The week gives us a purpose for being here.
Hope you enjoy the pictures! Adios.
Chad
Shelly and I are doing well. We had a major thunderstorm last night in Antigua which flooded many of the streets. We went to supper with another girl from school and got caught in the monsoon. We were drenched from head to toe. We had to take her home since she was alone and then run back to our house. It was about 10 blocks of running through rain you could not see through. It will be a memory we will never forget!
I put some pictures below of our house and Tristan studying his flashcards and playing with the little girl who lives with us. She loves playing with him and feeding him out of her hand. He puts up with her for a while and then runs away. She get the biggest kick out of it though.
It was good to get back to school today. The weekend can be a little long and boring. You can only study and walk around so much. The week gives us a purpose for being here.
Hope you enjoy the pictures! Adios.
Chad
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Journal #5
Friday, August 11, 2006
We went on our first fieldtrip in Guatemala today. We went to Val-Halla Macadamia Nut Farm. We met at school at 2:00 p.m. Five of us were going; Blair from Texas, Sarah from New Jersey, Jorge, one of the teachers at CSA, Chad and me. As we walked down the street just steps out of school, Blair began talking to me. She asked where we were from and then we introduced ourselves to each other. She has been here a week also and I think she was feeling a little uneasy about not knowing anyone.
We talked as we walked to the bus terminal. There we got on what the Antiguans call a “Chicken Bus.” I asked why they are called that and they literally were used years ago to transport chickens and people. The people riding would bring their chickens with them and they would sit in their owners’ laps. There were also little cages the chickens could ride in under the seats, hence the name chicken bus. We found a seat on the bus after going through “Fat Man’s Squeeze” to get to our seats. The aisle was barely big enough for one of my legs to fit through. Anyway, we all talked as we rode. We drove about 20 minutes south of Antigua. The countryside was beautiful. There was a large mountainous area that was unlike anything I have ever seen. It had the look of a patchwork quilt. There were some areas of solid dirt, others had crops, and others had trees. Each section looked like it had been measured exactly and the boundaries drawn with a ruler. It was so neat.
We also drove by a coffee bean plantation. Sarah was telling us she went there yesterday and it was such a neat experience to here about the precise way they grow coffee here. The coffee from Antigua is amazing. It is so rich with flavor and has the best aroma I have ever experienced from coffee. I think Chad and I will visit the plantation in a couple of weeks when we can go on the Spanish tour.
We finally arrived at the farm. The driver dropped us on the street and the bus was on its way. There we were four Americans and a Guatemalan on the side of the road and we all looked at each other as to say, “What do we do now?” Luckily, the teacher from school had been there before and knew where to go. There was a small entrance on the opposite side of the road where we went in.
Immediately when we stepped past the gate there were Macadamia Nut trees everywhere. We walked probably 100 yards down a path that was covered with hard brown nut shells and sheltered us with bamboo. It was very cool there with the breeze blowing as we passed through the walkway. We came upon an area that was open yet still covered with shade from the trees.
A woman came and led us to a small building that we in America would consider to be a gift shop. There she served us salted Macadamias and chocolate covered Macadamias. They were wonderful. Then, another lady came and took us on a very brief, but very interesting tour. First she told us the Macadamia nut trees are grown completely organically. They use horse manure and the shells from the nuts to fertilize. They also have big troughs of red worms that they feed leftover food from the kitchen to make compost and then they are placed beneath the trees as fertilizer also. All the nuts are gathered by hand after they have fallen from the trees. This particular farm has 415 trees, consisting of 345 different species of Macadamia nuts. Who ever knew there were that many species of one type of nut. I never imagined.
The nuts are then put through a man made machine where their green outer skin is taken off, then laid in the sun for 20 days to dry out. This machine consists of a car tire with a frame of one of those old metal round fans around it. The frame has metal bars that run parallel to the tire about ¾ of the way around. At the top there is a basket-like area where the nuts are poured in onto the tread of the tire, the tire is manually turned making the nuts go between the tire and the frame and the outer skin is ripped off. They are then sorted according to their size and taken to Ciudad Viejo, the Old City, to have their shells broken away. This process is very difficult because the shells are extremely hard. The farm does not have a machine that can do it, so they have to take it to the city to have someone do it for them. Wow! What a process. It was really neat to see. Hopefully our pictures will work for this one so you can see what I have tried to explain.
The tour guide told us there were two things about this farm that were famous; the Macadamia nuts and they had the most beautiful bathroom in Guatemala. Well, we had to take a picture of the bathroom just to say we had been to the prettiest one in the country. It was very tropical with ferns and other greenery around. It even had a turquoise toilet. Never seen one of those before.
After we toured the bathroom, we were invited back to the “gift shop” for a Macadamia oil and lotion facial. I couldn’t get Chad to participate, but it was very relaxing. It was only about 2 minutes, but it was nice. The lady first cleaned may face with a cotton pad and water. Then she applied Macadamia nut oil to my face and neck, followed by Macadamia lotion, ending with a shoulder massage. She did all of this with me sitting in a plastic patio chair with a handmade head rest while she stood behind me. It was really a good experience and I was told it would make me look 10 years younger. Let me know what you think!
After the facials we enjoyed some Macadamia pancakes, with fresh Macadamia butter and Macadamia honey. They were really good pancakes. We had a little table up on a little hill where we got to sit and enjoy the breeze while we ate. After this our last stop was back in the gift shop to pay for our tour and to buy Macadamia nuts for the road. We purchased one 4 ounce bag of just salted nuts and another 4 ounce bag of white chocolate covered nuts. We got them for $3 each. We thought that was a pretty nice price according to how much we pay in the states. And these are directly from right there on the farm.
We had a wonderful experience. Hopefully the other fieldtrips we go on will be as interesting as this one. One thing I have noticed in the two Central American countries that I have visited is that people here will do anything to make a living. Most of them try so hard to do the best for themselves, but also go out of their way to treat others with respect and appreciation. It is amazing what being nice to someone can do by way of making an outsider/foreigner feel comfortable in a different environment. These people here in Antigua have adapted to making the tourists, students, guests feel that we are welcome and appreciated. God is blessing them by bringing us to them and they are blessing us by making us feel a little more at home.
Thank you all so much for keeping up on how we are doing. Your thoughts and prayers are such an encouragement to both of us and I cannot even begin to thank you enough. We love you all and appreciate all you mean to us.
Shelly
We went on our first fieldtrip in Guatemala today. We went to Val-Halla Macadamia Nut Farm. We met at school at 2:00 p.m. Five of us were going; Blair from Texas, Sarah from New Jersey, Jorge, one of the teachers at CSA, Chad and me. As we walked down the street just steps out of school, Blair began talking to me. She asked where we were from and then we introduced ourselves to each other. She has been here a week also and I think she was feeling a little uneasy about not knowing anyone.
We talked as we walked to the bus terminal. There we got on what the Antiguans call a “Chicken Bus.” I asked why they are called that and they literally were used years ago to transport chickens and people. The people riding would bring their chickens with them and they would sit in their owners’ laps. There were also little cages the chickens could ride in under the seats, hence the name chicken bus. We found a seat on the bus after going through “Fat Man’s Squeeze” to get to our seats. The aisle was barely big enough for one of my legs to fit through. Anyway, we all talked as we rode. We drove about 20 minutes south of Antigua. The countryside was beautiful. There was a large mountainous area that was unlike anything I have ever seen. It had the look of a patchwork quilt. There were some areas of solid dirt, others had crops, and others had trees. Each section looked like it had been measured exactly and the boundaries drawn with a ruler. It was so neat.
We also drove by a coffee bean plantation. Sarah was telling us she went there yesterday and it was such a neat experience to here about the precise way they grow coffee here. The coffee from Antigua is amazing. It is so rich with flavor and has the best aroma I have ever experienced from coffee. I think Chad and I will visit the plantation in a couple of weeks when we can go on the Spanish tour.
We finally arrived at the farm. The driver dropped us on the street and the bus was on its way. There we were four Americans and a Guatemalan on the side of the road and we all looked at each other as to say, “What do we do now?” Luckily, the teacher from school had been there before and knew where to go. There was a small entrance on the opposite side of the road where we went in.
Immediately when we stepped past the gate there were Macadamia Nut trees everywhere. We walked probably 100 yards down a path that was covered with hard brown nut shells and sheltered us with bamboo. It was very cool there with the breeze blowing as we passed through the walkway. We came upon an area that was open yet still covered with shade from the trees.
A woman came and led us to a small building that we in America would consider to be a gift shop. There she served us salted Macadamias and chocolate covered Macadamias. They were wonderful. Then, another lady came and took us on a very brief, but very interesting tour. First she told us the Macadamia nut trees are grown completely organically. They use horse manure and the shells from the nuts to fertilize. They also have big troughs of red worms that they feed leftover food from the kitchen to make compost and then they are placed beneath the trees as fertilizer also. All the nuts are gathered by hand after they have fallen from the trees. This particular farm has 415 trees, consisting of 345 different species of Macadamia nuts. Who ever knew there were that many species of one type of nut. I never imagined.
The nuts are then put through a man made machine where their green outer skin is taken off, then laid in the sun for 20 days to dry out. This machine consists of a car tire with a frame of one of those old metal round fans around it. The frame has metal bars that run parallel to the tire about ¾ of the way around. At the top there is a basket-like area where the nuts are poured in onto the tread of the tire, the tire is manually turned making the nuts go between the tire and the frame and the outer skin is ripped off. They are then sorted according to their size and taken to Ciudad Viejo, the Old City, to have their shells broken away. This process is very difficult because the shells are extremely hard. The farm does not have a machine that can do it, so they have to take it to the city to have someone do it for them. Wow! What a process. It was really neat to see. Hopefully our pictures will work for this one so you can see what I have tried to explain.
The tour guide told us there were two things about this farm that were famous; the Macadamia nuts and they had the most beautiful bathroom in Guatemala. Well, we had to take a picture of the bathroom just to say we had been to the prettiest one in the country. It was very tropical with ferns and other greenery around. It even had a turquoise toilet. Never seen one of those before.
After we toured the bathroom, we were invited back to the “gift shop” for a Macadamia oil and lotion facial. I couldn’t get Chad to participate, but it was very relaxing. It was only about 2 minutes, but it was nice. The lady first cleaned may face with a cotton pad and water. Then she applied Macadamia nut oil to my face and neck, followed by Macadamia lotion, ending with a shoulder massage. She did all of this with me sitting in a plastic patio chair with a handmade head rest while she stood behind me. It was really a good experience and I was told it would make me look 10 years younger. Let me know what you think!
After the facials we enjoyed some Macadamia pancakes, with fresh Macadamia butter and Macadamia honey. They were really good pancakes. We had a little table up on a little hill where we got to sit and enjoy the breeze while we ate. After this our last stop was back in the gift shop to pay for our tour and to buy Macadamia nuts for the road. We purchased one 4 ounce bag of just salted nuts and another 4 ounce bag of white chocolate covered nuts. We got them for $3 each. We thought that was a pretty nice price according to how much we pay in the states. And these are directly from right there on the farm.
We had a wonderful experience. Hopefully the other fieldtrips we go on will be as interesting as this one. One thing I have noticed in the two Central American countries that I have visited is that people here will do anything to make a living. Most of them try so hard to do the best for themselves, but also go out of their way to treat others with respect and appreciation. It is amazing what being nice to someone can do by way of making an outsider/foreigner feel comfortable in a different environment. These people here in Antigua have adapted to making the tourists, students, guests feel that we are welcome and appreciated. God is blessing them by bringing us to them and they are blessing us by making us feel a little more at home.
Thank you all so much for keeping up on how we are doing. Your thoughts and prayers are such an encouragement to both of us and I cannot even begin to thank you enough. We love you all and appreciate all you mean to us.
Shelly
Friday, August 11, 2006
Journal #4
Friday, August 11, 2006
We have finished our first week of Language School! It is time to party. We both have made great strides in learning the Spanish language. The family we are staying with say that after Sunday, we will only speak Spanish. Conversation may be short, sweet and simple. We will see how it goes. We are going to the Macadamia Nut Farm this afternoon with our school. We are going on a fieldtrip! We will let you know what it was all about.
We did not make it to the Bible Study last night because we had the wrong times. We did walk for 30 minutes and found the church of Christ here in Antigua. They have worship at 9 am and 12 noon on Sunday. We will attend. It will all be in Spanish but it will be good to be with fellow Christians in a distant place. God will provide the understanding.
We have a request for each of you after you read this entry. You must do it!
First, get a large glass. Fill it with ice. Then fill it with pure water. Drink and enjoy! Let us know how it is. They do not believe in ice here. Everything is lukewarm. We would kill for a tall glass of COLD water. You can enjoy it for us.
Second, the next time you get in your shower, turn the hot water as hot as it will go. You know the level where it starts to burn your skin and turn it bright red. Yes, that is the level. Enjoy the heat and the pressure that is coming out of your pipes. We have a shower that spits at you at it's best and is lukewarm also. In fact, half my shower this morning was ice COLD. Why can't we have HOT showers and COLD water to drink? Life's little questions.
Third, boycott all beans for this weekend! If we never see another black bean, it will be way too soon! Black beans on toast for breakfast just does not cut it! Maybe if you all boycott beans they will go up in price and our family will not be able to afford them.
We are missing several things in our American lives. Please don't take those things for granted. The smallest things can provide the largest smiles on our faces. What we would do for HOT showers (with pressure) and COLD water to drink. Enjoy them for us!
Adios. This is the end of week 1. 7 more to go.
Chad
We have finished our first week of Language School! It is time to party. We both have made great strides in learning the Spanish language. The family we are staying with say that after Sunday, we will only speak Spanish. Conversation may be short, sweet and simple. We will see how it goes. We are going to the Macadamia Nut Farm this afternoon with our school. We are going on a fieldtrip! We will let you know what it was all about.
We did not make it to the Bible Study last night because we had the wrong times. We did walk for 30 minutes and found the church of Christ here in Antigua. They have worship at 9 am and 12 noon on Sunday. We will attend. It will all be in Spanish but it will be good to be with fellow Christians in a distant place. God will provide the understanding.
We have a request for each of you after you read this entry. You must do it!
First, get a large glass. Fill it with ice. Then fill it with pure water. Drink and enjoy! Let us know how it is. They do not believe in ice here. Everything is lukewarm. We would kill for a tall glass of COLD water. You can enjoy it for us.
Second, the next time you get in your shower, turn the hot water as hot as it will go. You know the level where it starts to burn your skin and turn it bright red. Yes, that is the level. Enjoy the heat and the pressure that is coming out of your pipes. We have a shower that spits at you at it's best and is lukewarm also. In fact, half my shower this morning was ice COLD. Why can't we have HOT showers and COLD water to drink? Life's little questions.
Third, boycott all beans for this weekend! If we never see another black bean, it will be way too soon! Black beans on toast for breakfast just does not cut it! Maybe if you all boycott beans they will go up in price and our family will not be able to afford them.
We are missing several things in our American lives. Please don't take those things for granted. The smallest things can provide the largest smiles on our faces. What we would do for HOT showers (with pressure) and COLD water to drink. Enjoy them for us!
Adios. This is the end of week 1. 7 more to go.
Chad
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Journal #3
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Only one more day and we will have finished our first week of clase de espanol. No one said it would be easy but I have caught on better than I thought I would. Carlos (mi maestro – my teacher) and I can carry on simple conversations using the verbs I know already. It makes you feel like you have accomplished something. I told him today all the names of my and Shelly’s family in Espanol. How about that?
Our day usually consists of getting up at 6 am, getting dressed and eating breakfast with our family at 7:15. We then pack up our bags and head to school to start class at 8 am. We finish at 12:00 noon and then take a small walk around Antigua and head back to our house for lunch at 1 pm. We have just finished lunch which consisted of rice, chicken, pudding, corn on the cob and pineapple juice. It was good. We usually spend the afternoons studying for 2 hours, emailing at our school and playing with Tristan.
Tonight we are going to a coffeehouse near our school called “Higher Grounds” for a Bible study at 6:00 pm. We shall see what that is like. Our supper will be at 7:30 pm and we usually sit around the dinner table and talk to our family in Spanish. Great practice. We head to bed around 9:00 pm to get enough sleep for the adventures of the next day. We are pretty predicable now and that makes getting used to Antigua a little better.
Antigua is a very historic city in Central America. We went to a history lesson on it two days ago and learned of all the political leaders who succeeded and failed and the beautiful historical churches, government buildings and such that have lasted well over several hundred years. The streets are made of cobblestone which makes driving seem very bumpy. They seem to manage even though there are not that many vehicles.
Tomorrow we plan to go with our school to a Macadamia nut farm just outside town. That should be interesting. It is said to be really nice out there. We learned the other day that Hollywood is shooting a movie here. It is called “Looking for Palladin.” We have seen them filming just down the street from our school. We have not seen any movie stars we recognize but we will have to wait until it comes out to see what it is about. We should recognize some of the scenery since it is in our neck of the woods.
The mosquitoes are getting better at night since we bought the coils at the supermarket. They seem to drive them out of the room. That is something we will have to deal with on a regular basis here and in Honduras. We might as well get used to it.
It has been encouraging to get so many emails from so many different people checking up on us and sharing what is going on with them. That is our entertainment for the day. We have no idea what is happening in the world right now besides us studying Espanol. If anything major happens, please let us know. We could have a major meteor heading right for us and we would be clueless. That may be a good thing.
Speaking of that, we had an earthquake last night. It is very common in Antigua due to the volcano just outside of town which is currently erupting (even though you can not tell). That’s what the professionals say. We did not feel it but it happened around 2:00 am this morning and Maria asked us if we felt it when we came to breakfast. Neither of us did. My teacher asked me about it also. The last major destructive earthquake happened in 1976 and destroyed many of the buildings here. They tore many buildings down after that and only built buildings with 2 stories. Nothing goes beyond there in the town now. I never recognized that until the history lady at school told us that fact the other day.
We are trying to put some pictures on our blog so all of you can see where we are and what our room looks like. It is giving me some problems but I will keep on trying.
Chad
Only one more day and we will have finished our first week of clase de espanol. No one said it would be easy but I have caught on better than I thought I would. Carlos (mi maestro – my teacher) and I can carry on simple conversations using the verbs I know already. It makes you feel like you have accomplished something. I told him today all the names of my and Shelly’s family in Espanol. How about that?
Our day usually consists of getting up at 6 am, getting dressed and eating breakfast with our family at 7:15. We then pack up our bags and head to school to start class at 8 am. We finish at 12:00 noon and then take a small walk around Antigua and head back to our house for lunch at 1 pm. We have just finished lunch which consisted of rice, chicken, pudding, corn on the cob and pineapple juice. It was good. We usually spend the afternoons studying for 2 hours, emailing at our school and playing with Tristan.
Tonight we are going to a coffeehouse near our school called “Higher Grounds” for a Bible study at 6:00 pm. We shall see what that is like. Our supper will be at 7:30 pm and we usually sit around the dinner table and talk to our family in Spanish. Great practice. We head to bed around 9:00 pm to get enough sleep for the adventures of the next day. We are pretty predicable now and that makes getting used to Antigua a little better.
Antigua is a very historic city in Central America. We went to a history lesson on it two days ago and learned of all the political leaders who succeeded and failed and the beautiful historical churches, government buildings and such that have lasted well over several hundred years. The streets are made of cobblestone which makes driving seem very bumpy. They seem to manage even though there are not that many vehicles.
Tomorrow we plan to go with our school to a Macadamia nut farm just outside town. That should be interesting. It is said to be really nice out there. We learned the other day that Hollywood is shooting a movie here. It is called “Looking for Palladin.” We have seen them filming just down the street from our school. We have not seen any movie stars we recognize but we will have to wait until it comes out to see what it is about. We should recognize some of the scenery since it is in our neck of the woods.
The mosquitoes are getting better at night since we bought the coils at the supermarket. They seem to drive them out of the room. That is something we will have to deal with on a regular basis here and in Honduras. We might as well get used to it.
It has been encouraging to get so many emails from so many different people checking up on us and sharing what is going on with them. That is our entertainment for the day. We have no idea what is happening in the world right now besides us studying Espanol. If anything major happens, please let us know. We could have a major meteor heading right for us and we would be clueless. That may be a good thing.
Speaking of that, we had an earthquake last night. It is very common in Antigua due to the volcano just outside of town which is currently erupting (even though you can not tell). That’s what the professionals say. We did not feel it but it happened around 2:00 am this morning and Maria asked us if we felt it when we came to breakfast. Neither of us did. My teacher asked me about it also. The last major destructive earthquake happened in 1976 and destroyed many of the buildings here. They tore many buildings down after that and only built buildings with 2 stories. Nothing goes beyond there in the town now. I never recognized that until the history lady at school told us that fact the other day.
We are trying to put some pictures on our blog so all of you can see where we are and what our room looks like. It is giving me some problems but I will keep on trying.
Chad
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Journal #2
Monday, August 07, 2006
Well, we awoke today at 6:00 a.m. only to see it still dark outside. Both of us woke up with Mosquito bites this morning. Our breakfast consisted of a mixture of cereals, fruit, black beans and French bread. Then, at 7:40, we were off to our first Spanish class.
We arrived at the school in about 7 minutes. We walked in and told the receptionist who we were and she said, “We were looking for you.” We felt very glad to know that they knew our names without having to check their records. We were given some folders consisting of some paperwork we had to fill out and immediately introduced to our teachers. Chad’s teacher’s name is Carlos and my teacher’s name is Lucy. We both really feel very comfortable with our teachers and learned a lot the first day.
We both were given a test to check to see what Spanish we knew already. Chad stopped at question #5 after guessing on the first 4 and so his teacher began with “Buenos dias” (good morning.) I had to stop on the 3rd page. It was getting too confusing, so my teacher graded what I had done and we began with the verbs ser and estar (both meaning to be). These verbs are the hardest for me because they mean the same thing only you use them in different situations. We had class until 10:00 with a break to get water, tea or coffee at around 8:45. The teachers showed us around the school during the first hour also. That was good. Chad’s table is upstairs and mine is downstairs, so we are separated, but in the same building.
At 10:00 they had an orientation for new students upstairs. The lady told us all about Antigua; from where to get money to what to do with your toilet paper after wiping. She was really funny. She had some visuals if you can only imagine. Then, because of the orientation we did not get a break, so back to learning. We studies until 12:00 and then spent the next hour e-mailing family and friends. That was so neat to see how easy it is to stay in contact with others. We would send an e-mail, begin another one and before that was done there was a reply from the first one sent. It was crazy. We finally had to leave to go to our house for lunch at 1:00.
We walked home and had lunch. It was so delicious. We had beef cooked with onions and tomatoes, steamed broccoli and carrots, white rice, guacamole, tortillas and a mixed fruit with cream sauce for dessert. It was soooo good. After lunch we went to our room for a little while for Chad to rest a few minutes and I started on my homework. Around 2:00 we, even Tristan, went back to school to e-mail some more. We were only planning to be there for a few minutes and when we finally left it was 4:30. Once again it was amazing to see how quickly we could talk to folks back home. While we were at the school, a girl came up to us and was petting Tristan. She has her Yorkie here and she was telling us about a vet just 2 blocks from school that does grooming and bathes dogs. That was neat to learn. Now Tristan can have a bath and haircut in a few weeks.
When we left school, we went to find a coffee shop that our friend from Houston was telling us about. It is called “Higher Grounds.” It is owned by Christians and every Thursday evening they have a Bible Study and then serve all you can eat nachos. We are going to try it out this Thursday and see what it is like. We then took our daily run to “Super Wal-mart” to purchase OFF and some mosquito eliminators. We are so eaten up with bites. Hopefully these will help. Chad has sprayed our beds with OFF and we will light the mosquito things at bedtime.
We now have studied for 2 hours straight. We both did our homework and practice pronunciation of so many words. Chad is really learning a lot. I feel right now that I am getting a huge review. That is very much needed. Tomorrow’s lesson looks a little more difficult. We also now have post-it notes all over our room where Chad has labeled everything in Spanish.
We wore Tristan out so much today that we had to include some pictures of a tired little puppy. We came home from the store and he practically died. He is eating well which is surprising since he fasted most of the first week in the apartment protesting moving. He must feel better about moving around now. We are going to try to input some pictures but will have to do it after supper. Maria is calling for us.
Supper was very light, but very good. We had some yummy pasta soup flavored with carrots and bay leaves in chicken broth, black beans (of course), bread and fried bananas. It all was very good. The best part about this meal was we had a terrific conversation with Maria’s son Manuel and his wife Ana. They are teaching us Spanish also. It is great to get to learn from them and they are so willing to help us. I am sure they want us to be able to speak to them in their language instead of our crazy Spanglish/sign language.
We have had an adventurous day today and we continue each day to pray that the next day will be even better. Please continue to pray that God will work in us and that we will be a light to all that we meet. He has truly blessed us in this endeavor. We know He is with us.
Shelly
Well, we awoke today at 6:00 a.m. only to see it still dark outside. Both of us woke up with Mosquito bites this morning. Our breakfast consisted of a mixture of cereals, fruit, black beans and French bread. Then, at 7:40, we were off to our first Spanish class.
We arrived at the school in about 7 minutes. We walked in and told the receptionist who we were and she said, “We were looking for you.” We felt very glad to know that they knew our names without having to check their records. We were given some folders consisting of some paperwork we had to fill out and immediately introduced to our teachers. Chad’s teacher’s name is Carlos and my teacher’s name is Lucy. We both really feel very comfortable with our teachers and learned a lot the first day.
We both were given a test to check to see what Spanish we knew already. Chad stopped at question #5 after guessing on the first 4 and so his teacher began with “Buenos dias” (good morning.) I had to stop on the 3rd page. It was getting too confusing, so my teacher graded what I had done and we began with the verbs ser and estar (both meaning to be). These verbs are the hardest for me because they mean the same thing only you use them in different situations. We had class until 10:00 with a break to get water, tea or coffee at around 8:45. The teachers showed us around the school during the first hour also. That was good. Chad’s table is upstairs and mine is downstairs, so we are separated, but in the same building.
At 10:00 they had an orientation for new students upstairs. The lady told us all about Antigua; from where to get money to what to do with your toilet paper after wiping. She was really funny. She had some visuals if you can only imagine. Then, because of the orientation we did not get a break, so back to learning. We studies until 12:00 and then spent the next hour e-mailing family and friends. That was so neat to see how easy it is to stay in contact with others. We would send an e-mail, begin another one and before that was done there was a reply from the first one sent. It was crazy. We finally had to leave to go to our house for lunch at 1:00.
We walked home and had lunch. It was so delicious. We had beef cooked with onions and tomatoes, steamed broccoli and carrots, white rice, guacamole, tortillas and a mixed fruit with cream sauce for dessert. It was soooo good. After lunch we went to our room for a little while for Chad to rest a few minutes and I started on my homework. Around 2:00 we, even Tristan, went back to school to e-mail some more. We were only planning to be there for a few minutes and when we finally left it was 4:30. Once again it was amazing to see how quickly we could talk to folks back home. While we were at the school, a girl came up to us and was petting Tristan. She has her Yorkie here and she was telling us about a vet just 2 blocks from school that does grooming and bathes dogs. That was neat to learn. Now Tristan can have a bath and haircut in a few weeks.
When we left school, we went to find a coffee shop that our friend from Houston was telling us about. It is called “Higher Grounds.” It is owned by Christians and every Thursday evening they have a Bible Study and then serve all you can eat nachos. We are going to try it out this Thursday and see what it is like. We then took our daily run to “Super Wal-mart” to purchase OFF and some mosquito eliminators. We are so eaten up with bites. Hopefully these will help. Chad has sprayed our beds with OFF and we will light the mosquito things at bedtime.
We now have studied for 2 hours straight. We both did our homework and practice pronunciation of so many words. Chad is really learning a lot. I feel right now that I am getting a huge review. That is very much needed. Tomorrow’s lesson looks a little more difficult. We also now have post-it notes all over our room where Chad has labeled everything in Spanish.
We wore Tristan out so much today that we had to include some pictures of a tired little puppy. We came home from the store and he practically died. He is eating well which is surprising since he fasted most of the first week in the apartment protesting moving. He must feel better about moving around now. We are going to try to input some pictures but will have to do it after supper. Maria is calling for us.
Supper was very light, but very good. We had some yummy pasta soup flavored with carrots and bay leaves in chicken broth, black beans (of course), bread and fried bananas. It all was very good. The best part about this meal was we had a terrific conversation with Maria’s son Manuel and his wife Ana. They are teaching us Spanish also. It is great to get to learn from them and they are so willing to help us. I am sure they want us to be able to speak to them in their language instead of our crazy Spanglish/sign language.
We have had an adventurous day today and we continue each day to pray that the next day will be even better. Please continue to pray that God will work in us and that we will be a light to all that we meet. He has truly blessed us in this endeavor. We know He is with us.
Shelly
Journal #1
Sunday, August 06, 2006
I have never really written down my daily activities before but I have begun a new chapter in my life which is unlike any I have done before. Shelly and I decided last September to move to Honduras to begin mission work. The day has finally arrived that we start that journey. I sit in my bed typing what has occurred the last two days.
As I type, I hear the sounds of a foreign language in the background which I barely pick up on. Tomorrow we start language school here in Antigua, Guatemala. We found our school today while walking around entertaining ourselves. Saturday was a hard day as we said good-bye to our families for the first time ever knowing that it would be a while before we saw them again face to face. It will be 9 weeks total. We made it through security with Tristan and everything and I knew that we were on our way. Everything went smooth with the flights which you never know for sure now-a-days. We landed in Guatemala to exit the plane and be stuck in a hallway waiting customs which was getting hotter and hotter by the minute. Once up to the counter, the man stamped our passports and off we were. Not once did he say anything about Tristan. All that paperwork. Nothing. Not even a word. Only in America do you have to get all this paperwork done and in a third world country they do not even check it. Did I mention, not a word was said about Tristan?
We found our luggage extremely fast (since we had been waiting in line forever it had time to circle the belt several times) and we were on our way out the door to find a man who was suppose to be carrying a sign with our names on it. We started exiting to a mob of people who were only separated enough to let one skinny person by. We had 4 rather large suitcases we had to roll through. The next thing I knew was that Shelly had dropped one of the suitcases because she could not fit through the space. A luggage carrier picked it up for her and rolled it through the mob while she did the same with another. I did the same with another man and rolled one myself. We made it to the curb. Shelly looked to her right and saw the man who was to pick us up. He was so happy to see us which made me feel better about the situation. There were tons of people crowded around and he was our rescue out of there.
Luckily, he did bring a mini-van because our luggage would not have fit in a car. He knew what he was doing. He knew he was picking up Americans. We drove about an hour to Antigua from Guatemala City to the surprise that some of the countryside looked like Tegucigalpa but much more commercialized. There was Sears, Papa Johns, a nicer McDonald’s than in the States, and to my left – Hooters. What in the world?
Our driver dropped us off at our house. I kept saying to myself on the way to the house, “God will take care of us!” I knew He would provide what we needed as far as living conditions. And that He did. We are staying with a lady named Maria who has a nice home for Guatemala standards. We have a private upstairs room with a bathroom attached. We are by ourselves up here while she sleeps downstairs along with the kitchen, den and dining room. She has a mentally challenged daughter and several married children. Her husband died in February of cancer. She shared some of her struggles with us at dinner. We picked up bits and pieces of our conversation.
When we first arrived, she gave us a set of keys – one for our room and one for the gate. We were free to come and go as we chose. She said that breakfast was at 7:15 am, lunch at 1 pm and supper at 7:30 pm. We got all our stuff out of the suitcases and put them away as best as possible. Our bed consists of two twin beds pushed together. We do have an electric heater attached to the shower head for warm water. You have to hold your tongue just right in order to get warm water out of it though. The weather is so much better than TN. The highs are in the 70s. What a change! We do not have A/C because there is no real need for it. We have 3 open windows which allow the breeze to enter our room. We do have electricity. Tile floors and concrete walls. All in all, it is a nice room. About the size of a typical master bedroom at home.
We could not wait for supper to be over and sleep to begin. For our first Guatemalan meal, Maria fixed us broccoli and asparagus soup, ham and cheese rolls and refried black beans. We were exhausted physically and emotionally. We were tucked away for the night at 8:15 pm. We did not wake up officially until 12:00 noon Sunday. It was much needed. I feel so much better now physically. I am still exhausted emotionally but we are both dealing with it one step at a time. I saw that for the first time when we did find an Internet Café which makes international calls to talk to our parents. As soon as I heard my mom’s voice, I got choked up. I almost could not talk. It was so good to just hear them. Something I have taken for granted before. The sound of their voices and the visual images of what they looked like and where they were in their house as they talked to me never even entered my mind before when I talked to them on the phone. It did this time and it meant so much. We had a good conversation.
After Shelly and I woke up finally, we decided to get something to eat. Maria does not fix food for us on Sundays. It is her day off. We are on our own. That is good for us because it will force us to get out and mingle with the natives and talk their language. All of us (which includes Tristan) headed out to see what was out there. We found a Campero’s down the road which is like Kentucky Fried Chicken but Central American style. I had a chicken sandwich and Shelly had chicken nuggets. Not the greatest but it satisfied our hunger. We walked around a festival they were having (Antigua’s version of the Williamson County Fair) and saw many booths with everything known to mankind.
We do not have a TV in our room. I can not believe I am admitting this, but that is good. It opens my mind to new things like typing a journal and reading more. I was on the hunt though for a plug adaptor for my laptop. I can play DVDs on it but we only have 2 prong plugs in our room and my laptop plug in is 3 prong. See my dilemma. We talked to 2 booths which had electronics (in our best Spanish and sign language) and came up with nothing. That was until we finally found the grocery store. To our surprise, this place is the State’s version of Super Wal-Mart. We were in heaven. The first thing we ran across was a wall of electronic stuff and guess what – WE FOUND THE ADAPTOR. You know the ones that take a 3 prong plug and turn it into a 2 prong one. I actually did a dance in the middle of the aisle. Shelly was so embarrassed. At that point, I knew we were going to make it. We had a problem placed before us and we found a way to fix it. We were successful. We solved our first problem.
Only in a third world country do you go through every aisle at the super grocery store and act surprised at what you see next. To be able to recognize things that were in there is something I cannot explain unless you go through it yourself. I felt so silly giggling and laughing and yelling at the next product we saw and could not believe they had. We bought a few things which were essential to us at the moment – squirt water bottles for brushing teeth, a plastic Tupperware container for Tristan’s food (his food in his bowl was full of ants this morning) and the ADAPTOR. What great purchases!
We made our way back to our room and guess what we did first (it was 4:00 pm) – we plugged in the new adaptor and watched Cheaper by the Dozen 2 on my laptop as we lay in bed. Watching a movie is something I have taken for granted before, but it was one of the greatest things to me today. Just to be able to do something that you have been able to do before in your normal routine in life meant so much. You have to experience it to understand.
Shelly and I had our own worship/Bible study after that for an hour. The longest we have ever done that together. It was really good for us. We both prayed and cried and really asked God for the strength we need to get through all the emotions and challenges. It is just us out here. God is with us and will take care of us. He did so today.
We left in search for dinner and found a good little Italian restaurant up 2 blocks and over 2 blocks. That is the only way you find things around – how many blocks is it up and over. We shared spaghetti with tomato sauce and each had a chocolate ice cream bar for dessert. Tristan is in heaven because not only can he walk anywhere and everywhere, he finally gets to go into the restaurant with us. He sat calmly in Shelly’s lap the whole time in the restaurant. Only in a third world country. We made our way back to our house after dark and that is where I am now.
I have typed for 59 minutes now about my life. That is a new record for me. God must be working in me. He has some new plans for my life and taking time to read, think and type must be part of the new plans. I have actually enjoyed doing all of those today. Shows me how much TV gets in the way of finding what is really important. I look forward to tomorrow and starting school. We did find it today and it is very close by. We will start bright and early at 8 am. Breakfast at 7:15. I plan on getting up at 6. I will write again tomorrow. Adios.
Chad
I have never really written down my daily activities before but I have begun a new chapter in my life which is unlike any I have done before. Shelly and I decided last September to move to Honduras to begin mission work. The day has finally arrived that we start that journey. I sit in my bed typing what has occurred the last two days.
As I type, I hear the sounds of a foreign language in the background which I barely pick up on. Tomorrow we start language school here in Antigua, Guatemala. We found our school today while walking around entertaining ourselves. Saturday was a hard day as we said good-bye to our families for the first time ever knowing that it would be a while before we saw them again face to face. It will be 9 weeks total. We made it through security with Tristan and everything and I knew that we were on our way. Everything went smooth with the flights which you never know for sure now-a-days. We landed in Guatemala to exit the plane and be stuck in a hallway waiting customs which was getting hotter and hotter by the minute. Once up to the counter, the man stamped our passports and off we were. Not once did he say anything about Tristan. All that paperwork. Nothing. Not even a word. Only in America do you have to get all this paperwork done and in a third world country they do not even check it. Did I mention, not a word was said about Tristan?
We found our luggage extremely fast (since we had been waiting in line forever it had time to circle the belt several times) and we were on our way out the door to find a man who was suppose to be carrying a sign with our names on it. We started exiting to a mob of people who were only separated enough to let one skinny person by. We had 4 rather large suitcases we had to roll through. The next thing I knew was that Shelly had dropped one of the suitcases because she could not fit through the space. A luggage carrier picked it up for her and rolled it through the mob while she did the same with another. I did the same with another man and rolled one myself. We made it to the curb. Shelly looked to her right and saw the man who was to pick us up. He was so happy to see us which made me feel better about the situation. There were tons of people crowded around and he was our rescue out of there.
Luckily, he did bring a mini-van because our luggage would not have fit in a car. He knew what he was doing. He knew he was picking up Americans. We drove about an hour to Antigua from Guatemala City to the surprise that some of the countryside looked like Tegucigalpa but much more commercialized. There was Sears, Papa Johns, a nicer McDonald’s than in the States, and to my left – Hooters. What in the world?
Our driver dropped us off at our house. I kept saying to myself on the way to the house, “God will take care of us!” I knew He would provide what we needed as far as living conditions. And that He did. We are staying with a lady named Maria who has a nice home for Guatemala standards. We have a private upstairs room with a bathroom attached. We are by ourselves up here while she sleeps downstairs along with the kitchen, den and dining room. She has a mentally challenged daughter and several married children. Her husband died in February of cancer. She shared some of her struggles with us at dinner. We picked up bits and pieces of our conversation.
When we first arrived, she gave us a set of keys – one for our room and one for the gate. We were free to come and go as we chose. She said that breakfast was at 7:15 am, lunch at 1 pm and supper at 7:30 pm. We got all our stuff out of the suitcases and put them away as best as possible. Our bed consists of two twin beds pushed together. We do have an electric heater attached to the shower head for warm water. You have to hold your tongue just right in order to get warm water out of it though. The weather is so much better than TN. The highs are in the 70s. What a change! We do not have A/C because there is no real need for it. We have 3 open windows which allow the breeze to enter our room. We do have electricity. Tile floors and concrete walls. All in all, it is a nice room. About the size of a typical master bedroom at home.
We could not wait for supper to be over and sleep to begin. For our first Guatemalan meal, Maria fixed us broccoli and asparagus soup, ham and cheese rolls and refried black beans. We were exhausted physically and emotionally. We were tucked away for the night at 8:15 pm. We did not wake up officially until 12:00 noon Sunday. It was much needed. I feel so much better now physically. I am still exhausted emotionally but we are both dealing with it one step at a time. I saw that for the first time when we did find an Internet Café which makes international calls to talk to our parents. As soon as I heard my mom’s voice, I got choked up. I almost could not talk. It was so good to just hear them. Something I have taken for granted before. The sound of their voices and the visual images of what they looked like and where they were in their house as they talked to me never even entered my mind before when I talked to them on the phone. It did this time and it meant so much. We had a good conversation.
After Shelly and I woke up finally, we decided to get something to eat. Maria does not fix food for us on Sundays. It is her day off. We are on our own. That is good for us because it will force us to get out and mingle with the natives and talk their language. All of us (which includes Tristan) headed out to see what was out there. We found a Campero’s down the road which is like Kentucky Fried Chicken but Central American style. I had a chicken sandwich and Shelly had chicken nuggets. Not the greatest but it satisfied our hunger. We walked around a festival they were having (Antigua’s version of the Williamson County Fair) and saw many booths with everything known to mankind.
We do not have a TV in our room. I can not believe I am admitting this, but that is good. It opens my mind to new things like typing a journal and reading more. I was on the hunt though for a plug adaptor for my laptop. I can play DVDs on it but we only have 2 prong plugs in our room and my laptop plug in is 3 prong. See my dilemma. We talked to 2 booths which had electronics (in our best Spanish and sign language) and came up with nothing. That was until we finally found the grocery store. To our surprise, this place is the State’s version of Super Wal-Mart. We were in heaven. The first thing we ran across was a wall of electronic stuff and guess what – WE FOUND THE ADAPTOR. You know the ones that take a 3 prong plug and turn it into a 2 prong one. I actually did a dance in the middle of the aisle. Shelly was so embarrassed. At that point, I knew we were going to make it. We had a problem placed before us and we found a way to fix it. We were successful. We solved our first problem.
Only in a third world country do you go through every aisle at the super grocery store and act surprised at what you see next. To be able to recognize things that were in there is something I cannot explain unless you go through it yourself. I felt so silly giggling and laughing and yelling at the next product we saw and could not believe they had. We bought a few things which were essential to us at the moment – squirt water bottles for brushing teeth, a plastic Tupperware container for Tristan’s food (his food in his bowl was full of ants this morning) and the ADAPTOR. What great purchases!
We made our way back to our room and guess what we did first (it was 4:00 pm) – we plugged in the new adaptor and watched Cheaper by the Dozen 2 on my laptop as we lay in bed. Watching a movie is something I have taken for granted before, but it was one of the greatest things to me today. Just to be able to do something that you have been able to do before in your normal routine in life meant so much. You have to experience it to understand.
Shelly and I had our own worship/Bible study after that for an hour. The longest we have ever done that together. It was really good for us. We both prayed and cried and really asked God for the strength we need to get through all the emotions and challenges. It is just us out here. God is with us and will take care of us. He did so today.
We left in search for dinner and found a good little Italian restaurant up 2 blocks and over 2 blocks. That is the only way you find things around – how many blocks is it up and over. We shared spaghetti with tomato sauce and each had a chocolate ice cream bar for dessert. Tristan is in heaven because not only can he walk anywhere and everywhere, he finally gets to go into the restaurant with us. He sat calmly in Shelly’s lap the whole time in the restaurant. Only in a third world country. We made our way back to our house after dark and that is where I am now.
I have typed for 59 minutes now about my life. That is a new record for me. God must be working in me. He has some new plans for my life and taking time to read, think and type must be part of the new plans. I have actually enjoyed doing all of those today. Shows me how much TV gets in the way of finding what is really important. I look forward to tomorrow and starting school. We did find it today and it is very close by. We will start bright and early at 8 am. Breakfast at 7:15. I plan on getting up at 6. I will write again tomorrow. Adios.
Chad
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