2-14-07
Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Guatemala and is called, Dia de Carino. The kids took empy egg shells and filled them with confetti made out of tiny clippings of chip bags. They covered the hole with tissue paper then decorated the outside. They smash the eggs on each others head so they had confetti covering their head and hair.
Josh, Clinton, and I got up early this morning to watch the sunrise over the bay. Despite the early morning we passed many people already at work and saw a lot of fisherman out on the water. The sun rose in a deep red-orange color then hid behind the hazy clouds.
The pastor planned an outing for us to go up the Rio Dulce (Sweet River) to visit a pastor and his church then to swim in some hot springs. We boarded a long narrow brightly painted wooden boat called a lancha. The boat rocked a little bit when we shifted our weight, but it was neat to be so close to the water. The mountains rose up on either side of the river as we traveled farther inland. Houses sat right at the rivers edge or even on the water. Some were very nice houses or hotels while others were simple wooden or cement structures. Eventually we came to a pink church sitting on the waters edge. We pulled over and hopped out to meet the pastor. I think it would be pretty cool to drive a boat to church. We met the pastor and prayed for the church then we climbed back into the boat.
Along the side of the river was a cement barrier where our captain parked the lancha. Steam was spilling out of holes on the side and off of the water. The water smelled like sulfur from the hot springs so I was a little hesitant about jumping in. Rosalia and her brother jumped into the water and joyfull splashed around. It did not take long for me to join them; the water was cold in some spots then there were spots that were so hot I almost could not stand the heat. I sat back and relaxed in the water and started to think back to Antigua. We were praying as a team and I prayed for a roof over our heads so we would not have to camp out. My team thought that was funny so I joked and said I also wanted air conditioning, a swimming pool and a hot tub. Well, at Mildred’s we enjoyed a swimming pool and air-conditioning and now I was sitting in a natural hot-tub. God definitely has a sense of humor.
This evening we attended a service in the church. Again the whole service was in Q’eqchies with some Spanish songs and a message. The members really got into the singing, especially one boy sitting in front of me. He belted out the songs, reminding me of the little girl in the movie Prancer. We sang some songs in English for the congregation which brought applause. After the service ended the whole family lingered to play and hang out with us. We played with a futbol and jump rope. They are so full of joy and laugher and seemed to love spending time with each other. Something I like about the rural towns we have been in is the amount of time the families and friends spend together. I fell asleep to the sounds of laughter seeping out of the Pastor’s house.
