End of the week recap and Guatemalan prayer time.

This week has been really busy (hence the lack of blogging for a few days). Also our internet has been going out a lot and running really slow. Anyways... Here's what I've been up to the past few days.

Wednesday morning we had a parent/teacher meeting for the start of the school year (on Monday). We all met in the "library" upstairs and the meeting lasted about 3 hours. At the beginning of the meeting Janet introduced me and I had to say a few sentences in Spanish. This is what I said...

Buenos Dias. Me llamo Kelly. Soy de Tejas, Estados Unidos. Estoy aqui hasta Mayo. Voy a una escuela para aprender Espanol. Estoy feliz de estar aqui.

Very basic and simple sentences, but if you know me then you know how much I HATE speaking in front of a group of people. It doesn't matter how much I know the group or how confident I am in what I'm talking about. I still get panic attacks when I have to talk in front of them. That being said even though it was a simple introduction I was extremely happy that I was able to come up with it and memorize it in Spanish (especially since I didn't go running out of the room crying). :)

This week we have had a board member named Aubrey in town helping out getting everything ready for school to start. It has been amazing getting to know her and hanging out with her around Pana. On her last night here all the volunteers that work at Salud y Paz went out to dinner with her at The Sunset Cafe. It is right on the lake and is beautiful. It was really cloudy on Friday, but it was still a gorgeous sunset. This was the view from our table.

I sat next to Janet who is the director of the school and amazing. I know I have said this before in a previous blog, but I know how blessed I am to be working with this amazing team.

One of the volcanoes at sunset.

Heather and I with Aubrey. The 3 of us have shared a lot of laughter and great conversations. She told us to call her Granny A. I really wish she was going to be here the whole time I am.

This morning Heather and I went to the market. I usually go on Sundays (it's the biggest market day here), but we are having a missionary couple over for lunch tomorrow. We decided to go today to get everything we needed. I bought everything in this picture for about $4.50. Food is so cheap here and I love buying fresh fruits and veggies at the market and giving money straight to the farmers.

Whenever I buy fruits, veggies, and eggs I have to soak them in bleach water (or I bought some organic bleach stuff because the idea of using bleach bothers me) for 15 to 20 minutes. A lot of people here also rinse their dishes in bleach water after washing them. I have heard so many horror stories from everyone here about getting sick and I know it's going to happen sooner or later, but I am trying to be extra careful to try to prevent it. My roommate has gotten so many stomach illnesses that she is now lactose intolerant for the rest of her life. It's a scary thing to come into, but I'm praying I can make it until May without any long term effects from getting sick here.

This picture is because in my stocking at Christmas my dad gave me 2 ice cube trays that make the same kind of ice we have at the Refuge (think sonic ice). I used them for the first time today and it made me smile.

So I have joined 2 really great groups since I have been here. The first club I have joined is a knitting club on Saturdays at 3:00 (no I don't knit, nor can I remember if I have already blogged about this or not). We meet in the apartment upstairs at the coffee shop and spend a couple of hours knitting (or in my case cross stitching and drinking lots of coffee/tea) and talking. It is a group of 6 women of all different ages (a couple of which I work with which is how I got the invite) and it is always fun to sit with them and hear about all the gossip going on around town and also to listen to all of their amazing stories. Each of them have spent years overseas in different places as missionaries and I am always fascinated with their life stories. Today after knitting Adele (her and Mike own the coffee shop) and I took their dogs on a walk (all 6 of them!!) down to the river. We had a great conversation and met a few families along the way.

The second is a bible study that meets on Thursday afternoons (Janet and Heather are also in the study, so we just leave work a little early that day to get back in time). We are doing the new Beth Moore study on James and so far it is great. I have never done a study like this before, so I am excited to get into it and hear what the others in the group are thinking about it. I was worried about being lonely here, but I am constantly surrounded by so many amazing people. I am blessed.

Lastly, I want to share a most special moment that happened tonight. When I got home from town I walked into the house where Heather was sitting along with 3 Guatemalans. She explained to me that a Guatemalan women who she is friends with invited 2 people who were in town from Guatemala City to come pray at our house. I sat down and listened to them talk and read from their bible in Spanish. Every chance Heather got she would try to translate for me, but they were speaking so quickly that it was difficult. Then they stood up and Heather explained that they wanted to pray for us. This is when it got interesting. I closed my eyes and expected a prayer like I am used to back home, but all of a sudden all 3 of them started yelling (in Spanish I might add, so I had no idea what they were screaming) at the same time. I looked quickly at Heather and she had her eyes closed and I could tell was trying not to laugh. I was the same way, but once I got over the shock of them yelling it became less funny and more special. The lady who seamed to be the leader (because you know she was yelling the loudest) then poured oil on her hands and rubbed it on both Heather and I. She touched our necks, arms, face, and head with the oil (after they left Heather and I were laughing about how it just smelled like olive oil and how we were both incredible greasy and in need of a shower). This all went on for about 5 minutes (which trust me is a LONG time to be yelled at in Spanish and doused in oil) before we all said Amen and they were on their way. After they left Heather tried to explain to me some of what they were yelling. It was a lot of giving thanks for us serving in their country and reminding us to open our hearts up to God. It was a very surreal moment that made me tear up at how beautiful it was.

God... Thank you for blessing me with this time here in Guatemala and for allowing me to experience and live these precious moments. You are good to me. Amen.