A Jam Packed Weekend! (written Monday 1.10.12)

In this entry I just wanted to update you on the goings on of the weekend as it ended up being quite busy!

The weekends activities started on Saturday morning after a lovely lie in (got up at 9:00 as opposed to 7:00 which is the time I have to be up for school every other day!). I met Nahum in the central park of Antigua which is a beautiful place with huge old fountains, benches, mass areas of lush foliage, and at the weekend – lots of locals and a big market. We continued to find the bus stop together (which is quite hard when you consider that they aren’t actually marked in any way - you just have to walk around and listen out for a person shouting the destination you are aiming for!), and got on a chicken bus we were about 50% sure was the right one. The journey was fine, if a little breezy with all the windows and doors open, as well as a little unnerving when we realised it was going a different way to the last time we went on it! But by chance alone we managed to get off at the right stop in San Lucas where we met Suzanne and a Suisse strider called Murielle. We all then walked to Char and Benjamin’s house (who have been in Guatemala for 2 years as striders with their 3 boys) which was located in a really nice area just a short walk from the busy main road and the rows of crowded shops. The purpose of the afternoon at their house was to meet as members of Latin Link to eat food and pray (so all good stuff really! ). Not only did me and Nahum get to meet Char, Benjamin and the kids for the first time, but we also got to meet the Marroquin family who are Guatemalans going with Latin Link as striders to England for a couple of years. We ate curry, chatted in English, chatted in Spanish, prayed for each other and updated each other on how we were doing individually, and also prayed for other Guatemala Latin Link members who weren’t able to make the afternoon. It was a really encouraging afternoon and it was lovely to meet everyone. If anything, today was possibly the hardest for me so far, as it was the first time I actually felt culture shocked! Odd, considering I was around so many English people. I think it was just because I had been looking forward to an afternoon when I didn’t have to try and speak and understand Spanish the entire time – but pretty much the whole afternoon ended up being in Spanish due to the Marroquin family not speaking any English and everyone else being able to speak Spanish very well – including Nahum as he has studied it in England the last 4 years – so I was very much the odd one out.

Getting home proved to be the most adventurous part of the day… Just the same as getting there, me and Nahum had to get a chicken bus back to Antigua. The start of the journey was spent stood up, very cramped and uncomfortable due to the fact that it was rush hour so the bus was absolutely rammed. Not only were people squished into the small seats but the whole middle aisle was a jumble of people standing up (which included us). To demonstrate how squished together we were – I personally had a woman sitting on my arm and also had my face stuck in Nahums armpit, by no choice of my own. Lovely. The chicken buses are renovated American childrens school buses and are definitely not meant for full grown adults – even Guatemalan adults who are naturally rather short! After a while stood up some people got off and so we eagerly leapt for the empty seats, despite the fact they were the ones at the very front next to the door – therefore being the least safe if someone was to try and hijack the bus or anything along those lines! The traffic was awful going into Antigua so by the time we got there it was night time and therefore very dark. As a result we missed our stop and ended up in Antigua bus station. Thankfully Nahum managed to navigate us back to the main road where I saw him off on his bus to Alotenango and then found the road that takes me back to my house the other side of the city. The whole experience was rather scary and unnerving however God definitely protected us and got us both home safely. It was a good experience to have any way, as it had to happen sooner or later, and its probably better that we’re practised in dealing with buses at night sooner, as well as at least together! :/

(Central Park in Antigua)

Sunday went from being a completely empty day to even fuller than Saturday thanks to Benjamin and Chars kindness to me. As I am trying to find a church to settle in in Antigua, the day started with me accompanying them to their church a few streets away from where I live. Just as Suzannes church was very different to the Bolivian church we visited in London, this church was very different also… in fact, it was on a completely different level. It was craaaayzeee. To help set the scene for you, it was located in a room in a hotel in which they had closed off all light and filled with smoke for a dramatic atmosphere. The only lights were on the stage which were projected onto curtains and random bits of fabric in various colours. The worship was modern and actually well played (something that hasn’t been the case in the other churches). They sung a lot of English worship songs that had been translated wrong – so that was interesting…. The weirdest part of the service had to be the sermon, as oddly, instead of someone going up to preach, we had to watch a recording of a man preaching to us on screens, which Char tells me is played to lots of churches in Guatemala. I had an earpiece for me to listen to a live translation to English, however it was temperamental, unclear, and the translator often stopped speaking if he didn’t know the English! Overall, the service was like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and although I’m pretty sure I won’t be returning another Sunday, it was fun to be part of just the once to add to my encounters of various different Guatemalan churches!

After church I went back to Char and Benjamins house in San Lucas. It was great to play with Jonah and Daniel for a few hours before lunch as I really miss helping out in Junior Family Church at home, having done it for so many years. I also had some cuddly times with Elijah who is only a few months old which was lovely  Lunch was an amazing pizza homemade by Benjamin which was a refreshing change to the carb on carb meals I’ve been eating day to day at my house, which include lots of bread, tortillas, vinegary vegetables and rice (I will go into more detail about food in a separate blog post soon).

At 3.30 we then picked up Suzanne and all went to a ‘quince años fiesta’ (15^th birthday party) for the pastors daughter from Suzannes church. The only thing I can compare it to is a wedding. In Guatemala, becoming 15 is a big deal, especially for girls, so they make a pretty huge event out of it! The daughter was wearing a beautiful green prom-type dress and was positioned at the front throughout the service after making an elaborate entrance (just like a bride at a wedding, after the family all walked in and sat down). The service included worship and a talk about the gift that life is. The general theme of the event was very much a thanksgiving to God for her life – it even included her making promises to live a life pleasing to god, to stay pure until marriage, etc - again very much like a wedding, or like a baptism. After the service we all had to line up to greet her and wish her a happy birthday, then continued to eat reaaaally yummy food under a big white marquee (it was raining as per ) and had chance to chat to others. I sat with a guy I had met at Suzannes church last week called Alex, who did Stride a couple of years ago - going from Guatemala to Essex for a year, along with some of his friends. The whole event was so amazing and I absolutely loved it all. It was really great to experience such a culturally special event which I may never get to do again.

(The brother giving a speech about his sisters birthday at the quince anos fiesta)

To finish of a great day I was also invited to a whole night of prayer and worship on Friday with the Christian union of a university in the city, which Alex and his friends go to - so I’m really hoping to be able to go to that.

This is only one example of the way God has already started answering my prayers about being lonely and wanting things to do in my vast amount of free time at the moment.

I have also gone from an empty Sunday where I would have to try and find places in Antigua to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on my own (because the accommodation deal doesn’t include food on Sundays) to having a jam packed day of much fun and lots of different events with Char and Benjamin.

In addition I have also been invited to Nahums church in Alotenango by the pastor on this coming Sunday to celebrate ‘dia de la niños’ (day of the children) which will involve lots of games, piñatas and that kind of thing! There is also a few other things I now have lined up for the week including a few activities with the school in Antigua and a meeting with Suzanne.

Chatting to Benjamin yesterday was also really encouraging as he was able to relate from when he was a strider in Bolivia when he was younger and experienced similar feelings. He was able to suggest practical things for me to do for the occasions when I do have a lot of time alone which will benefit my relationship with God. As a result I now have outlined a few things for me to do solo if I find myself feeling lonely during the next few weeks, and am overall feeling so much better about the whole situation, which is a great relief. Now my job is to keep depending and trusting in God that he will continue to deliver over the coming weeks, like he has already shown he can.

And that’s my weekend done! I hope you enjoyed reading about it, I’m sorry it ended up quite long – only, a lot a lot of stuff happened!

This week will be full of more Spanish study, which I am eager to do as I am desperate to improve daily! Today we finished the 10 groups of irregular verbs, so I’m excited to find out what comes next. I’m hoping we will move onto the past tense soon-ish as I can currently only speak in the present which can get a little frustrating!

I am also hoping that the rain will start to lessen now that is October (and therefore no longer the rainy season) as today me and Nahum got absolutely DRENCHED head to toe, through and through, on the 7 minute walk to the central park where we went to get some lunch. And I mean drenched. It was horrible – but an entertaining experience seeing Nahum being such a wimp in the rain ;)

(The rain we just ran through! :( )

For those who pray:

Things to be thankful for:

• That God has already started to answer my prayers and that he is such a faithful, caring God.
• That I have been able to meet other Latin Link members and that I have been encouraged by all in many areas.

Things to be praying for:

• That my Spanish would continue to develop, that God would help my memory to improve and that I would have the confidence to test out what I have learnt in public situations.
• Nahum starts teaching English this week to various groups of adults and children and is doubtful in his ability to do so well – so just that he would succeed and that the time would be beneficial to the students as well as him, but mainly that he would be filled with Gods presence, so even if he does fail, or things don’t go to plan, he would be able to rest in the knowledge that God is greater than it all and that it is God who ultimately gives him the strength and ability to do these things.
• Continuation of the last prayer points about God making my free time beneficial etc.

Thanks for everyones encouraging emails, facebook messages and comments, I really do appreciate them more than you know.

Until next time, Elle :) xxx