Beautiful Sunday...

This morning my dad facetimed me (think Skype for IPhones/IPods) during Youth Worship at the church. My internet has been going on and off all day, so it cut out a couple of times while we were talking. However, even though I couldn't always hear what he was saying I could see all the kids smiling and waving to me. It made my eyes water thinking about all the love and joy I would be feeling if I had been there this morning. I am loving my time here, but I am missing home a lot. However, every time I feel myself getting sad about missing out on fun things going on at the church or with my family/friends back home I have to remind myself that in May I am going home to everything/everyone I love. I know I am incredibly blessed to have been allowed this time off to come experience serving the people of Guatemala, and that I couldn't have asked for a better situation. That being said though it doesn't mean I don't have many moments here where I think about/miss home greatly.

Anyways, Guess what Heather and I did today... We roasted a whole chicken for lunch!! We had a couple that Heather had met a couple of times over for lunch today, so yesterday when we were walking around the market we decided to roast a whole chicken. We bought one from the market (a whole chicken for $5). Neither of us had ever roasted a whole chicken before, but we bonded over the fact that both of our dad's watch BBQ shows on the food network, so surly we could figure it out. Heather prepped the chicken then carved it when it was done and I was in charge of the veggies. I also checked on our little pal every 20 minutes and basted him. Here is Heather putting the herb rub in the chicken.

Here is our cute little birdie before he went into the sauna. You can't tell, but there is a herb olive oil rub all over and under the skin along with some lemon slices.

Our finished product! Not going to lie Heather and I were VERY proud of ourselves (keep in mind we've never done this before). We googled how long it should take to roast a 5 pound chicken, so we thought it would only take an hour. However, we have a propane stove here that would only get up to 350, so it took about 2 hours and 15 minutes until it was finally done. Such a pretty little bird.

 I found this quote the other day at the coffee shop here that I love. I thought it was beautiful.

Today after lunch Heather and I went to a worship service called Solomon's Porch. It is held in a coffee shop in the back of a bigger coffee shop (I know that may not make sense, but it's the best way to describe it). Also just to make it funnier outside the bigger coffee shop that open up to the street there is a huge metal dinosaur on the sidewalk. Anyways, the couple who run the coffee shop/church is in the States until next week, so the couple that we had over for lunch are leading it while they are gone. It was a small group of both English and Spanish speakers sitting around a couple of tables and reading the bible. Next week the leaders will be back and there is suppose to be music and more of a worship setting. I've excited to go back next Sunday afternoon and check out how it usually works.

On the way home from church Heather and I stopped at the Dispensa (it is a grocery store here that looks like a small warehouse and is owned by Walmart Central America). I bought a bag of dog treats for a couple of dollars and handed out treats to all the dogs on the way home. I am going to start carrying a small bag of treats when I'm walking around town to hand out. When I walk to town I probably pass 30 or 40 stray dogs on the streets. They make me incredibly sad, so I thought the least I could do was be that girl who passes out treats. :)

This is going to be a CRAZY week! Not only is tomorrow the first day of school, but there are also 2 mission teams working at Salud y Paz this week and 3 staff members from a church in Washington who everyone refers to as the 3 VIPs. It is going to be very hectic in the village, but I'm so excited to see all the kids and start meeting them all and learning their names. I know it's going to be a challenge to communicate with them (I've been told it is so much more difficult to talk to the kids because they speak very fast and don't know how to figure out what you're saying like adults can). Tomorrow we are leaving Pana at 6:30, so we can get to Camanchaj in time for the opening ceremony for school. Janet and I have to present the flags in front of the school (apparently it is a VERY big deal if you do it wrong and when Janet was showing me last week how to do it right she couldn't remember exactly how to do it).

Anyways wish me luck tomorrow...