The Cross

This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him.

This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other.

No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

1 John 4:10-12

Adventures in the Bathroom

     The last 24 hours have provided much entertainment in the bathroom area. Too much. 

     First, Mothers, teach your sons to flush the potty. No one wants to encounter someone else’s logs.

     Second, the underwear in the shower…next time Mr. Jock works out, I hope he leaves his “panties” to dry in his room. And for his sake, he’ll have a less pepperminty workout the next day if they dry in his room instead of in public territory ;)

     Third, even though the unwelcome undies were in the shower, I decided to ignore them for the most part and enjoy a relaxing wash. It sure was refreshing! There was no hot water whatsoever, a common occurrence in Guatemala. Brrr!

     Fourth, the unwanted guest. 

Problem

...

Problem Solved!

     Fifth, the poo on the piso. Someone missed the toilet. Need I say more?

*End note: None of these occurrences are due to my lovely roommate Greta. There are a few others who share our bathroom whom we are excited to be rid of. Also, Mom, I love my soap!

Guatemala City: A Contrast Study

The Guatemalan flag and the Capital Building

     Just miles apart, the richest and poorest people in Guatemala go about their daily lives. One group picks through the trash in the city landfill. The others shop at Miraflores where a pair of jeans can cost over Q1,000. 

Cathedral

     The average wage of a rural worker in Guatemala is Q25 per day, or about $3.25. The “wage” of those in extreme poverty is whatever they find sorting through the trash of the wealthy. 

Door into the Capital

     There is essentially no middle class in Guatemala. The rich and the poor live side by side but virtually unseen by each other. 

Landfill

     The woman with the boots by Prada and the purse by Gucci doesn’t realize that the bottle held in her diamond studded hand will be in the worn hands of another woman digging through the garbage tomorrow. 

Graves

     We viewed the landfill through a cloud of vultures from a cliff far above. Behind us, the cemetery where the rich purchase land to entomb their loved ones in a peaceful, prominent dwelling. In front of us, the pit where the workers often spend the night in makeshift shelters among the waste to live another day in the shadow of the ones above. 

Finding a livelihood

A striking, painful reality.

How does my life compare?

Día de Amor

     Oh Valentines Day! What a crazy event here in Antigua... The day started out normal and steadily progressed to a frenzy of youth scurrying around the town making last minute preparations and meeting friends and others. Adults had a different approach: calm and classy. My favorite was a 15ish year old boy sprinting down the sidewalk with a bouquet of roses in one hand! Chances are his date wasn't quite ready yet anyway.

 

 Some of my favorite heart themed things...

not heart themed...but Valentines Day appropriate!

love.

love.

 love!

I Speaks Spanglish

Coming here I knew that I had a ways to go on my Spanish… My brothers in Magdalena confirmed this :) I was often teased for the way I said things or the words I chose when I just didn’t know how to say what I wanted to. The people here are very gracious and are willing to work with my poor language to understand what I’m trying to say. I’ve been learning more Spanish every day but not without mistakes! Here’s the best of my blooper reel ;)

I wanted to describe something as “slow”. I used the word “lente” where I should have used “lenta”. “Lente” means lens.

My host family said that American girls bring a lot of clothes to Guatemala. I jokingly replied that that is because we don’t want to have to wash them. Enforcing the stereotype of American girls they get from TV, I said it’s because we don’t want to wear them. Wash is “lavar” wear is “llevar”. Oops.

Apparently old people here don’t like to be called old! The correct term for “casa para personas viejas” (old folks home) is “asilo”. I think I prefer “old folks home” over a word that means “asylum”.

“Letreras” of the alphabet? No such thing. Letreras isn’t even a word. The word is “letras”. A B C…

Muscles tight from working out? You should “flexionar” them. I was “estrechar-ing” my muscles… which isn’t possible. Typical Spanglish!

Me – “I love the tortillas ‘fresas’ here in Guatemala!” Host brother – “The what??? HAHAHA!” Yeah, I guess the idea of strawberry tortillas is pretty funny and they probably wouldn’t be as good as the tortillas “frescas” made by hand that we enjoy at meals.

Tortillas frescas

To me, Greta and I are “nosotros” (us boys) instead of “nosotras” (us girls).

I saw a procession going down the road honoring the “Virgen de Candelas” (Virgin of Candles). It was pretty interesting. My host family thought it was even more interesting to hear my account of the “Virgen de Canelas”! Anyone else celebrate the Virgin of Cinnamon? No? Just me I guess. 

Virgen de Candelas

Host Family! Silly host brothers that tease me for my Spanish!

Coffee

    Ever wonder where your coffee comes from? I found out! These are some pictures of the Azotea coffee plantation near Antigua.

The short, dark green bushes are coffee trees!

Coffee cherries are picked by hand (the beans are inside).

The wheat colored stuff through those doors?

Coffee drying in the sun!

Coffee Beans

The roasting building

The finished product is bagged and exported and maybe even enjoyed by you!

The annual yield of one coffee tree equals 40 cups of coffee! 

How many coffee trees are planted here just for you?

You WILL Get Sick

     Thank you dear Guatemala students of past years for the letter to us newbies that so directly stated that I will get sick in Guate. You all know the future! Episode 1 of mysterious illness is passed! Yay! I'm not sure what it was exactly but I feel better now thankfully. My second day of language school (yesterday) was difficult due to no sleep the night before due to stomach pain. I ate all the same things the rest of the people in our house ate and nothing more...and yet I was the only one ill. It all started when I was doing my homework. The only way I can describe it is that my body felt "minty" inside and out. Freezing and burning and tingling. Waves of mintyness washed over me as I tried to do my homework. The minty feeling was kinda cool and wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't accompanied by dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, extreme fatigue, and stomach pain... Well anyway, I went to bed but didn't sleep much. It was a weird night. I'm not sure if it was the fever or just my imagination but I kept waking up to what I thought was a fierce thunderstorm...turned out to be the trucks that shake the house as they drive by my window on the cobblestone streets at night. I get to sleep to a thunderstorm every night!

The Ancient City

Antigua means “ancient”. It is called this because it was the ancient capital of Guatemala. I arrived here yesterday afternoon and settled in to a new host family. We all went to don Fernando’s house for pizza dinner and the Super Bowl. It’s only been a little more than a week since we arrived in Guate but it was nice to have pizza and watch TV :) The Super Bowl was one I’ll never forget because 1. The PACKERS WON! And 2. It was in Spanish! The announcers called the two teams “Pittsburg” and “Los Empacadores” :) It was funny to watch and it would have been nice to understand the announcers but I am so grateful to have watched it at all!

Yesterday was the first day of language school at Centro por Lingüístico Maya (CLM). My teacher is named doña Ingrid and she is easy to work with so far. The school has café and pan available for us during breaks. Yay! My mind needs a refresher during a four hour Spanish class! After school, Greta and I packed up all our things and moved to a new host family. Yup. For safety reasons, Don Fernando moved us to a new house. He didn’t feel comfortable with us living at the end of a quiet dark street 20 minutes walking time from school and SI. We liked the first house and the people there, but are glad to be only a few min from school and SI with a much bigger room as well. The only downside to this house is that it is owned by an elderly woman who has no need for Wifi…but I think we’ll live ;)

Living here is going to be very different from living in Magdalena. This is my first experience actually living in a bigish city. There are a lot of tourists from all over the world and lots of commerce. It reminds me of downtown Delafield times five. There is a lot to explore and Greta and I have already been lost once but we’ll figure it out sooner or later. And now, on to homework…yay.

Hospitals and Hosts

I got to visit the hospital in Chimaltenango where Dr. Sara works with Maureen, Francisca, and Dr. Sara. This was a new experience for me! The most surprising thing was the freedom with which we toured the hospital. Dr. Sara showed us around everywhere except the infant intensive care and the contagious diseases areas. As a visitor and patient to US hospitals in the past, I have been checked in and told exactly what I can and cannot do. Doors to different areas are locked and sterile scrubs must be worn in certain areas – like surgery. Not so here. Doors were open. People were on gurneys in the hallways…just hanging out waiting for treatment and watching us walk by. We walked by the postpartum room where about 10 women were caring for their newborns together. A father was comforting his crying newborn in intensive care fighting pneumonia. There was a woman getting blood drawn in the hallway by a nurse with no gloves and a woman in labor with the door open. We observed a shaking, blood covered woman getting stitches and staples on her forehead to close a 6 inch wound from a motorcycle accident…no painkillers. I am so thankful that I have been to hospitals where there is plenty of staff and equipment that the staff knows how to use and every precaution was taken to keep me safe and infection free.

On a more lighthearted note, Greta and I had dinner with our host families last night instead of at Cafecito. It was so much fun! We prayed and ate and had great conversation. I was teased plenty for my Spanish mistakes! Antonieta made a great dinner of beef, rice, tortillas, potatoes, tomato salsa, “Big Mega Cola”, and a jello graham cracker fruit layered desert. Wilmar said this was his favorite meal. After dinner we gave the family gifts we brought. The boys loved their Aerobe Frisbee, José said the Jelly Bellies were “muy ricos”, and everyone had fun playing the games Greta brought (although explaining card games in Spanish is a little difficult). The things we brought were all new to them so it was very fun to explain it all:) Dinner ended with a full blown laughing attack in which we were all laughing at each other laughing. Everyone was making fun of me because I cry when I try to stop laughing and I was saying my stomach hurt from laughing!

All in all, a great couple days!

Jet Leg

I am suffering from the common traveler’s ailment. Mis piernas están cansadas! My legs are tired! The day of sitting still on a plane made my legs as tired as a day of walking. The great thing was that yesterday we hiked to the Ecological Park at the top of the mountain Magdalena is at the base of. It took about an hour and a half to get to the top. There were some pretty steep parts that were made more difficult by the loose footing and altitude. My lazy legs were promptly pushed to the limit. Today I can feel all my leg muscles quite distinctly:) Nevertheless, the view and the rope swing at the top made the work worth it! As it is with most hikes. The Park was a Peace Corps project a while back. They made the trail up to the top and built some playground elements and places to sit at the summit.

Last night I slept with three pairs of pants, a tank top, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, a zip up fleece, and socks! I would have worn a winter hat if I had one! I was still pretty cold, but warmer than the night before. Greta and I woke up to breakfast of eggs scrambled with tomatoes, red peppers, and some other unknown spice or sauce of sorts, bread, and coffee. Everyone drinks coffee here, from my five-year-old brother Justin to my dad José! They make their coffee significantly weaker than we do in the US and it has a lot of sugar in it.

Today was the first day at ministry sites in El Gorrión for us all. El Gorrión is a more rural impoverished village about a 20 min walk from Magdalena. I think we were all a bit unsure of what to expect but excited to get started. SI built a brand new Community Center for El Gorrión called Centro de Capacitación Integral where the clinic is located. They also have a new doctor, Doctora Sara Romero. Today was a new experience for us all at the clinic site as it was the very first day in the new clinic and with the new doctor. It went perfectly – except for spending the entire day on my feet. Doctora Sara let me listen to heart and lung sounds and palpate a stomach for amoebas. In the words of Doctora Sara, amoebas make the intestines “feel like a bag of rice.” No amoebas found today:) My site leader is a wonderful woman named Maureen. She’s a nurse originally from California. She and her husband Nick are on staff with SI. Nick works at the school in El Gorrión. They live in Antigua and work mostly in El Gorrión.

 Here is the clinic! The closed door is where the clinic is. The hallway leads to meeting rooms and storage and the roof and the bathrooms. There is also a kitchen to the right of the hallway.

A day of sitting followed by a day of hiking followed by a day of standing…I think the worst of the jet leg is passed.

Home Sweet Home

     Here I am in Guatemala! It's a crazy thought that I live here now. When we landed we were all commenting about how we left home and arrived at home. It doesn't seem quite real yet. The flight went smoothly as did immigration and customs. Yay!

     Arriving at Magdalena was an adventure. We rode on a bus through Guatemala city and up into the mountainous area where the town of Magdalena lays. Will informed me that starting a manual on a hill is difficult. This is true. At one point we were halfway up a steep hill and had to stop. We then had to roll back down the hill in neutral (apparently there is no reverse on the bus...) and try again from the bottom of the hill. We also had to stop for a herd of cattle. Eventually we did make it :)

The cows :)

     We are definitely at high altitude here and breathing is difficult and not made easier by the steep roads! There are virtually no flat roads in Magdalena. You are always going either steeply uphill or down. Our house is really nice. Greta and I have a room with two beds and a table. There is a kitchen, two bathrooms (one for us and one for the family), a living room, the parents bedroom and a roof with a cooking school on it! The center hallway of the house where the stairs to the roof are is open to the sky - a design you wouldn't find in MN or WI!

Open ceiling with stairs to the roof. The bathroom is by the sink.

The black door straight ahead is our room. The kitchen is to the left of our room and the living room is to the right.

     My host family is great. I have four little brothers instead of four little sisters! The dad is Jose, the mom is Antonieta, and the boys are Wilmar, Kevin, Jeffrey, and Justin. The boys like sports (especially soccer) and playing cops and robbers. Antonieta teaches women how to bake cakes so they can help support their families. Jose works in agriculture. All the vegetables he grows are purchased by Wal-Mart and sold in the US. They are all really nice and welcoming. They ask Greta and I a lot of questions about home and school and our families!

     We had breakfast with our host families this morning - pancakes, bread, watermelon, and hot chocolate. We then went to church where we sang a lot (our group sang three songs in front of the congregation!) and attempted to follow a message in Spanish. Later today we are taking hike to the ecological park to see some of the beautiful nature in the area. I've heard it's a strenuous hike but worth it! Apparently there is a rope swing at the top! I'm excited to experience more of Magdalena!

1...Hour of Resting

     The moving out is done thanks to all the help from my loving family. The packing is done thanks to Will's master packing skills. The cleaning is done thanks to the floor vacuum. Everything is done. Except for the leaving...and that is coming next! Being my last night here, I don't feel like just going to bed! That seems like a waste of my last few hours. Some sleep might be a good idea so that I can function at the airport but I'm planning on sleeping on the plane. Well Bethel, well frozen tundra, well friends and family, goodbye for now. Love.

     Itinerary
3:45am - Meet at MSP International Airport and assemble group.
4:05am - Check-in.
4:30am - Security.
5:20am - Assemble at gate.
6:05am - Depart MSP.
10:50am - Arrive in Miami.
12:35pm - Depart Miami.
2:20pm - Arrive in Guatemala!!!!
4:00pm - Arrive in Magdalena/Settle into host families
5:00pm - Intro to Magdalena with Mario
6:00pm - Dinner at Cafe Mi Cafecito
7:00pm - Pre-program survey/Praise and Worship/Prayer
8:30pm - Curfew/Time with host families
Rest and Relax


"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." - Bilbo Baggins

BLAST OFF!!!!!

2...Nights of Cleaning

     Cleaning...fun. No, but really, I do enjoy cleaning on occasion. Blast the music, make some tea, and go at it. The results, a nice organized space where it's easier to think and relax. In Guatemala most families will have a lady who comes and cleans the house. It's likely that I will come home to an "arranged" room in the evenings - bed made, things organized. This will be different! I'll still clean up after myself, but it won't be the music and tea type of cleaning :)
     In Guatemala someone else will clean my clothes as well. I will take them to a laundry service where someone will wash, dry, and fold them and charge me by the pound! Something I will clean in Guate: my fruit! Precautionary washing of fruit and veggies includes "fruit cleaner" or bleach. Maybe I'll just eat fruit I can peel - like mangoes! 
     Speaking of cleaning, I have to get everything cleaned up, packed up, and moved out of Bethel tomorrow! Tonight will be a night of cleaning. As will tomorrow night as I get my room ready for Allie to move back in for Spring. I better get busy!

3...Days of Packing

     Countdown to Travel! I leave on the 29th...so soon. I have started packing - my warm weather clothes that is. My cool weather clothes I need to wash first because I'm still wearing them. I can bring one 50 pound suitcase, one 40 pound carry on, and one "personal item" - my trusty backpack with my purse inside. I will also be responsible for a "Bethel Bag" full of supplies for our ministry sites and language classes.

     Packing for a whole semester in one suitcase is an interesting task. As an American I am used to having plenty of options for clothes and shoes. In Guatemala it is not unusual to wear the same couple outfits to church or school all the time. Actually, this is the most common situation. We have been encouraged to "lay out what we think we will need for the semester and then only pack half." This idea is a little scary to me. Four shirts for four months?? I don't think so. Needless to say, I have modified the packing instructions a little. I'm going to be pretty conservative on the number of things I bring, but I am bringing things that mix and match to create more outfits out of the same number of clothes.

     Besides clothes, I am packing gifts for my host family, shampoo etc., and a "self care kit". This is the stuff that fills my suitcase and seems unnecessary. Well, the personal care kit, that is. Beano? PeptoBismol? Immodium? I don't use these things normally, but Guatemala is not my normal! I've been told I'll need them...I kinda hope not.

    The state of my room during packing! Yikes!

        Partially packed!

     Items of the "self care kit."

     I don't feel quite ready, but I'm ready to be there!