Antigua is amazingly beautiful, filled with great places to
eat, and surrounded by amazing scenery.
Last night a group of us went out for a special treat of Crepes filled
with nutella and bananas.
We sat down in
the shop to enjoy the fantastic culinary creations.
All of the sudden I felt like my stool was
moving so I braced myself on the table, but it was moving too.
I turned to my friend, Ginger, and said, “Did
you feel that?”
I thought Ginger said
no, so I thought I was going crazy.
Then
I felt the movement again.
My immediate
reaction was, “This is an earthquake; I need to find a doorway to stand
in.”
But still, no one in the shop
reacted to the shaking.
I put it out of
my mind until we went back and started talking to some other racers.
They told us that the movement was an
earthquake created by a nearby volcano that is active.
I have to admit that it was cool to have
experienced an earthquake for the first time, but I’m sure it is a scary thing
for the local people.
This morning a group of us woke up early to run up to the
top of the hill where we finished the race yesterday.
By the way, the climb to the top includes
over 300 stairs.
The cobblestone streets
are tough to run on, but the scenery makes the run enjoyable.
At the top we took some quiet time while we
watched the clouds moving over the volcano.
This morning Clinton and I went to the bank and were able to
get money with the check card, so that is a huge praise.
Then we headed out to look for the Lutheran
Center of Guatemala.
We are in need of
housing for the next three nights.
My
home church, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, has a contact here in Antigua
at the Lutheran Center.
The Center is
surrounded by a cement wall and iron gate.
That is a great thing, because security is a concern in Guatemala.
Beautiful flowers of every color blanket the
gardens surrounding the facilities.
The
center itself is so beautiful with an open courtyard and fountain.
I am so grateful that my church family is
there to look out for me and provide for me.
We talked to the secretary about getting rooms, but she needed to talk
to her boss about rates so we promised to return in the afternoon.
This afternoon our local contacts, Gary and Nancy, came to tell
us about the available ministries. They held up a map of Guatemala and pointed
to various regions spread throughout the country. The choices for ministry include
street evangelism, dump ministry, a Christian school, and an orphanage.
Gary then told us that he had talked to the
Lutheran Center about having us stay there.
So, we went back this afternoon and made arrangements to stay.
We are going to set up our tents in the
soccer field in order to save money.
They have bathrooms available and we are going to pay for one room to
keep our valuables in.
As I was typing this up, I heard fireworks outside, so I ran
out and caught the tail end of the show.
Every night since we have been here I have heard fireworks.
My team is praying that God will show us
which ministry we are to work with in the next month.
Today we received a new member on our team,
Josh Daniels.
We are so glad to welcome
him to our team; he will be such a great addition.
We finally have six members like all of the
other teams.
Lutheran Center of Guatemala
