Guatemala 2009 - Day 3 - Santiago Atitlan

We had wake up call at 6am every morning and had breakfast at 7am. Breakfast in Santiago was always a great experience and nothing can compare to the coffee there. I’m not a habitual coffee drinker, but I drank 2 cups every morning we were in Santiago.

Where we ate our meals in Santiago

Hard Work

The church we partner with in this city is the Iglesia Alfa y Omega. They always have many projects in progress and on this trip we got to help with a project called “Campemento David” near some new government housing. They had already built a soccer field for youth in the area to use and are currently in the process of preparing to build a retreat center. Our strong and determined men took on the challenge of assisting in this preparation by hauling cinder blocks and sand, digging huge rocks out of the ground, digging ditches for concrete to be poured, and chiseling rocks so they could make their own concrete.

Our men leaving to work in the rain

Parade in San Juan

Our first morning when the men went off to work hard, the women took a little boat trip to the small town of San Juan to see an annual parade and to visit the tutors who taught Anika and Ms. Joanne Spanish. It took a while to figure out where the parade was to be held, then discovered the actual parade had been postponed due to the rain. Have I mentioned that it rained literally every single day we were in Guatemala?? For those of you who know me even a little bit know that I am not a fan of rain, but thankfully God gave me grace to still thoroughly enjoy every moment. We made our way to an open-air gymnasium where we scoped out some good seats (we thought) to watch the show. Soon, however, we realized that in order to see anything, we would have to squeeze our way through the crowds that had arrived late and pressed in front of us. Rather than fight for a better view, we settled for people watching and had a blast!

Girls on the boat to San Juan

Packed out "parade"

San Juan had some incredibly steep hills. We got our daily workout just walking around the city!

More Hard Work and New Friends

After a yummy lunch at a corner restaurant back in Santiago, the girls from the youth team joined the men and helped with the manual labor. I got to help dig a ditch to pour concrete and made a couple of new friends… an eight-year old boy named Roberto and a young guy named Francisco. Unfortunately for my co-laborers, I tend to place greater importance on developing relationships than I do on digging ditches, so I talked with (and possibly distracted) my new friends in horribly broken Spanish and the men’s team eventually referred to me as “mucho blah blah blah.” However, I still maintain that I was able to work and converse at the same time.

Fogata

After we got back to the hotel, cleaned up and ate dinner, we joined the youth from Alfa y Omega for a “fogata” or “bonfire.” However, when we entered a building with a large fireplace, we realized that our definitions for “bonfire” were quite different. The activity was still great fun, and we had a service that included singing worship songs in both Spanish and English, hearing a message from the youth pastor and translated through Wayne. We had a brief time of prayer and fellowship with our brothers and sisters then headed back to the hotel. After such a long day, I went directly to sleep!

New friends from Iglesia Alfa y Omega at the fogata