So it has been a while since I last made an update on the happenings in Guatemala. That is because I was kidnapped and just recently escaped. Jk, late April Fool´s joke...and not very funny, well kinda :)
When in the midst of so much to write about and lacking the will to just sit down and write, the days pass on by regardless if documented or not. Days granted that have been filled with many unforgettable experiences and hopefully bits of a new language that I will not forget as well.
All continues more than well as I near the end of the time here in Guatemala. With about 3.5 weeks left of language classes it is a bit hard to believe that the 3 month period is almost complete.
I have met many persons in the time here and continue to be amazed at the importance of 2 simple things: relationships and conversations. So much of life revolves around the simplicity of these actions. And as I look back on the many things to write about or bring light to, it is the relationships and conversations I have experienced in the past 2 months(but also just in life) that are worth mentioning.
Which brings me to another 2 things: a rose and a thorn. There is a group of friends I have made and spent a good bit of time with while I have been here. They are volunteers at the city dump in Guatemala City and they help educate and feed the children that are being raised in that environment. We sometimes get together or explore the beauty of this country in travel, usually on the weekends. One of the memories I have and will never forget are the times we have sat down for a meal together and shared conversation together in a simple game known as rose-thorn. It is where you share your low-point of the day, or thorn, along with the highlight, or the rose of the day. Everyone gets their turn to speak and verbalize what the thorn and rose of the day was and it makes for great conversation and also provides rain for cultivating some good relationships.
And so as I write and am in thought about a rose and a thorn, I will share mine for today. My thorn: would have to be getting back on the blog and realizing how long it has been since I have written and wanting to write and inform about so many things but just not being able to. My rose: walking into the school here in Ciudad Vieja, where I help out 3 days a week, and hearing the kids call me by name and then receiving big hugs from them as I still have difficulty in understanding exactly what it is they are spitting out in spanish en mucho mucho miles per hour.
I recently took a week break from classes, as I was advised to at outset, to let the brain recover and soak in the information from the first month and a half. A good buddy of mine, Austin, from Nashville came and visited and we had an incredible time traveling and seeing some of the wonders in the country.
Relationships and conversations. With God, with man, with creation. After a long swim in the lake, known as Atitlan, I scaled the rocks onto a bluff that overlooked the cool, crisp, clean water where the mountains and volcanoes surrounded. And I began talking to the Creator. And though I heard nothing but the wind as it whispered by, I saw with my own eyes the beauty of a very Powerful and majestic lake, which I believe to be crafted and molded by the Power of an unbelievably powerful source. And we all swim around in our daily routines and find ourselves in circumstances unique as the fingerprints we rarely think about and as common as the air we breathe...and we long to be connected to source of our being, our faith and our beliefs. Looking and searching and only hoping our lives are ones of purpose, giving hope and inspiration, perhaps joy or peace, maybe even happiness and prayerfully life to those we find ourselves in relationship and conversation with.
And yet it is not easy, this life. Not all relationships and conversations are roses, some hurt and stick with you in a painful way. With distractions at every corner, grasping for our attention without end, yet our days go on, and unknowingly when they will end. I am greateful and appreciative for any moment when I can stop and think back to all the many roses this life has produced, in forms of family and friends, knowing the thorns are there as well and will continue to follow. So in hope and thought and prayer for all persons I have been and am in relationship and conversation with, thank you in ways grand.
The season here in Guatemala continues well, thank you for your concerns, thoughts, and prayers. My thoughts and prayers in these words and in the name of Jesus Christ.
4.08.2008
3.11.2008
A Simple Smile
(From the journal entry of this past weekend)
I write as my thoughts awaken while the announcers of the futbol match provide background noise. I have been napping and reading a book about Amos, the biblical prophet. I am here in the Guatemalan city of Zacapa, as I have come with some fellow Christians to deliver clothes and supplies from Antigua and to spend time with the children and family of a local school and church.
The alarm on my cell phone sounded at 3:30 am and at 10 til 4 I was doing pull-ups on the rim of the soccer-basketball court just across the street from the church where I was to be picked up by my ride to keep the blood flowing in the chill of the morn. A little after 4 the ride arrived and we proceeded to pick up a couple other folks before heading to the cafe to meet up with the rest of the group.
It came time to go and our driver Antonio put the van in reverse only soon after to return it to park...because he had backed into and knocked over a motorcycle. And with that, the only hiccup of the trip, we were off.
It was a dark drive early in the morning but allowed for some good practice of español as I sat in between Alfredo and Luis. A total of 18 people made the trip, so there was not much room for comfort, kind of like in my spanish conversations. The drive time was around 2 hours and as we rode along, we witnessed the effects of the rising sun, which exposed the beautiful terrain of the surrounding mountains and hills of the lovely Guatemalan morning.
I was first assigned to work with the 6-8 year olds to make hats out of newspapers but later the plans changed and I was able to assist the 3-5 year olds with a different project. I handed out crayons and construction paper to the little ones and helped them trace their hands onto the paper. I spent a good while making funny noises as I traced the hands of the niños; their laughter satisfied my antics. I then cut out many hands of pink, green, blue, brown, and yellow.
Last weekend I was up before the rising sun to make my way to hike a volcano. The trip up the volcano was amazing as it cleared a path to some breath-taking views. My camera was with me on that trip to capture some of the moments from the amazing adventure difficult to put into words. And today, I again was up before the rising sun, this time to make way to a different adventure. And since the memory card on my camera was filled last night, I am left with pen and thought to capture this weekend's amazing adventure to a school in a small non-crowded rural Guatemalan town.
A hike to 13,000 feet provides a certain type of nourishment for the soul. And then a couple hours tracing and cutting construction-paper-hands while spending time laughing and smiling and making a mess with children provides the soul nourishment in another day.
Before the arts and crafts activity there was a familiar biblical story shared. Then the children answered questions and discussed the lesson. Though my understanding of the spanish vocabularly is still minimal, the story of the good Samaritan is one very well familiar.
And in my curiosity and later reviewing of the story, I found it interesting the stories that are recorded before and after the expert in the law posed the question about eternal life to Jesus. (I tend to read from the gospel of Luke the physician, since I was named after him.) The following precedes the good man from Samaria...
I write as my thoughts awaken while the announcers of the futbol match provide background noise. I have been napping and reading a book about Amos, the biblical prophet. I am here in the Guatemalan city of Zacapa, as I have come with some fellow Christians to deliver clothes and supplies from Antigua and to spend time with the children and family of a local school and church.
The alarm on my cell phone sounded at 3:30 am and at 10 til 4 I was doing pull-ups on the rim of the soccer-basketball court just across the street from the church where I was to be picked up by my ride to keep the blood flowing in the chill of the morn. A little after 4 the ride arrived and we proceeded to pick up a couple other folks before heading to the cafe to meet up with the rest of the group.
It came time to go and our driver Antonio put the van in reverse only soon after to return it to park...because he had backed into and knocked over a motorcycle. And with that, the only hiccup of the trip, we were off.
It was a dark drive early in the morning but allowed for some good practice of español as I sat in between Alfredo and Luis. A total of 18 people made the trip, so there was not much room for comfort, kind of like in my spanish conversations. The drive time was around 2 hours and as we rode along, we witnessed the effects of the rising sun, which exposed the beautiful terrain of the surrounding mountains and hills of the lovely Guatemalan morning.
I was first assigned to work with the 6-8 year olds to make hats out of newspapers but later the plans changed and I was able to assist the 3-5 year olds with a different project. I handed out crayons and construction paper to the little ones and helped them trace their hands onto the paper. I spent a good while making funny noises as I traced the hands of the niños; their laughter satisfied my antics. I then cut out many hands of pink, green, blue, brown, and yellow.
Last weekend I was up before the rising sun to make my way to hike a volcano. The trip up the volcano was amazing as it cleared a path to some breath-taking views. My camera was with me on that trip to capture some of the moments from the amazing adventure difficult to put into words. And today, I again was up before the rising sun, this time to make way to a different adventure. And since the memory card on my camera was filled last night, I am left with pen and thought to capture this weekend's amazing adventure to a school in a small non-crowded rural Guatemalan town.
A hike to 13,000 feet provides a certain type of nourishment for the soul. And then a couple hours tracing and cutting construction-paper-hands while spending time laughing and smiling and making a mess with children provides the soul nourishment in another day.
Before the arts and crafts activity there was a familiar biblical story shared. Then the children answered questions and discussed the lesson. Though my understanding of the spanish vocabularly is still minimal, the story of the good Samaritan is one very well familiar.
And in my curiosity and later reviewing of the story, I found it interesting the stories that are recorded before and after the expert in the law posed the question about eternal life to Jesus. (I tend to read from the gospel of Luke the physician, since I was named after him.) The following precedes the good man from Samaria...
(After the 72 were sent out and returned they came to Jesus with joy and amazement that even the demons were in submission...Jesus makes mention of witnessing Satan fall from heaven like lightning and then...)
At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."
And this record follows the parable of the good Samaritan...
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
There are times when words aren't necessatily pertinent in communication. No words are needed to communicate the beauty of a volcano view. No words are needed to communicate the purity and innocence of a child. And listening, be it with ears or eyes, can do wonders.
With all that there is to know that I just don't, there are a few things I do know...
A simple smile, some funny noises, and different styles of laughter have been shared today. I don't know if I will ever see these children again, but the smiling faces of the little ones, especially the two-waving brothers through the fence as we were leaving, will not soon be forgotten. Like the breath-taking views the hike of the volcano provided, the smiling faces of the children will not soon be forgotten.
God to be praised in this moment and in this day for the many blessings these eyes are able to see. And for the things that make way to the soul in ways that cannot be seen...I am thankful I am but a child content with a simple smile.
3.09.2008
More Photographs
This is my host family. Starting from the left, Rodolfo Sr. the father, then Rodolfo Jr. at 12 years old in the brown and white striped shirt, Alejandra the eldest daughter at 16 in the bright red, Jose at 9 years and Adriana the cute 7 year old, Josefina the host mom in red with arms crossed, then Isabel, a teacher from Canada also staying at the house currently in with a group of her students from Canada, and finally, far right, Fernando, my good friend and basketball buddy
3.07.2008
3.06.2008
3.05.2008
3.03.2008
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