Hello All. Today is Sunday is San Juan, Guatemala (on Lake Atitlan, above). February the 25th. Our day off. It has been a strange, dangerous, and sad week for Tribe 61 (I think our official name is actually ‘TEAM’ 61, but I prefer ‘Tribe’: ) As many of you may already know, we are now down one more team member. Due to some very sad situations from back in the States, Jen left on Friday to return back home indefinitely. (For the details, See Seth Barnes’ Feature Blog). Keep her in your prayers; she is such a strong woman, and we are really going to miss her humongous laughter that kept a smile on our faces and her mmm mmm good home cookin’ that kept all our cheeks nice and plump. : )
So, yes. It has been a wild, draining week for our team. I actually just got back from a really rustic Guatemalan sauna at a nearby hotel, so I am particularly relaxed and red-faced right now as I write this blog. In times like these, it’s a real perk to know people Im quickly learning. The manager of Eco Hotel Ux’Tabil (where I was today) is a man named Gasbar, the husband of one of the amazing ladies we see every day at the school where Tribe 61 is teaching English for the month. I really really love saunas, so it was a splendid little blessing. On top of that, Gaspar let me use the hotel kayacks for FREE on 2 different occasions since we have been here. Woo Hoo. First with Lena and Julian on Valentines Day — they are the German friends I wrote briefly about in one of my previous blogs, and second, with Becca this past Thursday, February 22, in the year of our LORD 2007. Oh Fateful Day. Here is the story.
After English classes on Thursday, Becca and I had our hearts set on an afternoon of gliding gracefully along the crystal waters of lovely Lake Atitlan in KAYACKS!! : ) We both love adventures, so off we went. I had brought my camera in a zip loc baggie so that we could snap some fun pictures of us rowing (you cant do something epic like this without getting a few photos). Snap snap snap…etc. We went a little snap happy, like 30 pictures in all, but it was fun. All the while, the sneaky tide had carried us completely backwards off our path. So we started rowing again, kind of irritated that we had to re-row some lost ground.
Row. Row. Row. Wait. What’s that? All of a sudden I hear a dull but ever nearing ‘Wrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….’ sound from behind. I turned around to see a 20 passenger launch boat (called a ‘Launcha’ en Español) headed right for Becca and me…. wait… for ME! Like right for my face!!!! The green and white nose of the moderately huge propeller boat was high up in the air, so I couldnt see anyone. I yelled something really loud like probably ‘Hey!!!’ or ‘STOP!!!’ but I realized: I can’t see them, they can’t see ME!!!! Now 20 feet away. I didn’t have time to pray, swear, nothing. At the last freaky second, I just dove out of my canoe and dunked my head and neck as far under water as I could. I felt the boat ride over my back… the bottom of the boat literally bounced off my back twice!! No lies. I was curled in a ball underwater waiting to get chopped. Meanwhile, Becca, from her canoe was waving her hands in the air to get the driver’s attention. Which she did. Which probably saved my life we later found out. So once I realized I was alive, I came up from underwater flailing my arms and saw Becca in shock. I can’t recall what we said (probably some choice words, honestly: ), but I finally found my bearings somewhat and climbed back into my canoe (backwards… haha.)
The boat driver was hyperventilating. I told him I was OK. But he didnt hear me like the first 5 times I repeated myself. He kept on exclaiming in his spanish accent and between american explitives, ‘You need a drink!! She needs a drink!!! Someone!! Give her a drink!!!’ I wasn’t thirsty.
That’s when I looked up at the boat full of passengers and saw what may have been my guardian angel that looked very much like an gorgeous, Latin Christophany (sadly not picture.) You guys, he was smiling at me, laughing possibly…. which was all at once inappropriate and yet oddly soothing to my jittery heart. He was really really hot, you guys. I can’t lie. So this hot man with hair like Jesus and laughing eyes, gave the frantic boat driver the remainder of his ‘SALVAVIDAS’ bottled water for me. Translated into English: ‘
Life-Saver’. My life had been saved!! (Side note, I later heard multiple stories of fatal cuts to the throat and other lake fatalities due to launch-boat incidents with unseen kayackers!! Shivers.) It could have been a coincidence. You can laugh. But I wouldn’t put it past God to assign me an amazingly hot, Latin Guardian Angel. Mmmmmm, honey. Yea, I’m pretty sure God loves me that much. (winks.) In all reality, my sister Emily said it best, ‘There’s nothing like almost dying to realize how much you want to LIVE.’ I love You, God!!!
(The three pictures above.) This is the next day, while we were waiting for a connector boat in a nearby town, my teammates spotted the actual Launch that ran me over the day before. The ‘Huracan’. Shivers. I had Jimmy take a few pics… I HAD to. ; )
Above is Stacy and I on our connector boat to Pana Jachel just a few minutes after the ‘Huracan’ sighting. It was really windy, and i’m pretty sure we got airborn a few times. That was enought for me. I had acquired a healthy fear of boats and water. We were sort of stupid looking, being the only two people with our jackets on. We didn’t care. : ) Check out the guy laughing at us.
Anyways, other than that, Guatemala has been amazing!! I love these little darling brown-eyed kids. They have so much spirit and sass!! And they actually remamber the english words we are teaching them. I saw this little girl (below) with the orange bows at the market the other day. She pointed to her hair and said ‘black.’ Yes!! My life has meaning!! (wink.) No really, the best part about being a ‘missionary’ (I still can’t get over that — so odd) is the REAL part. Pinching the kids cheeks. Praying with a 4th grade girl who lost her mother about 2 months ago. Learning how to get along with an ever-changing team. Making meals. Hand-washing all your clothes at once. Giving thousands of high 5’s. Being Hannah. Walking with God all over the world. Writing about it. (Paying millions of $Quesalas$ on Internet cafe fees. Yippee!!). Ahhhh…. sniff. Sniff. Wink. And as usual, more later. I love you all. amen. : )
