Heidi Ho Friends!
Tomorrow will be our last day here in Antigua, Guatemala and I am a little more dismal than I was anticipating. Our time here has been quite a good learning experience through a lot of different means. Every day brought some new encounters with people or emotions I wasn’t always ready for but God always finds a way to smack my personal agenda in the face.
As I have stated in many blogs before, my favorite way to distribute or encounter information is through a list. I am going to try and hit you with the best and worst of this month… so this is a gift from me to you:
1. Freshly filled diapers are the easiest way to wake up your brain in the morning
2. Swallowing shower water can cause you to bring it back up
2 1/2. Showers are heated by electricity- located on top of the shower head (don’t touch it or you will get zapped)
3. The best Spanish teachers are small children
4. It is possible to feel like you are in the U.S. in Guatemala
5. Shipping home a package can cost 6x more to send home than what is inside
6. Guatemalans do not like to be unique. Big, loud and brightly dressed Americans are a shock to their systems.
7. If you have blue eyes and red hair, people tend to stare at you and give you excessive compliments.
8. The Day of the Dead involves eating a lot of ham and being blessed with a lot of sage. It is an all day and all night festivity. P.S.- crypts are all above ground, painted, excessively decorated and cleaned for the day. The families of the deceased will often make the favorite meal of the dead and eat it on top of the cement grave.
9. Catholics in Guatemala like to tailgate before, during and after church.
10. Children with Cerebral Palsy have a positive association with loving touch.
11. It is not uncommon for Guatemalans to abandon their children if they have any sort of mental or physical disorder.
12. Black beans are a staple for the majority of Guatemalan meals.
13. It is normal for people to have more gold teeth than normal ones.
14. The traditional Mayan languages (which involve a lot of clicking) are still in practice in small villages.
15. A full 4 hour treatment day at a spa costs US$40.
16. Quite a few American worship songs have been translated into Espanol and made their way into my ears.
17. People really appreciate free chicken from Pollo Campero (THE Latin American fast food chain)- handicapped kids, homeless people, tourists, locals… EVERYONE
18. Living with 6 other people at all times can be incredibly annoying if you don’t deal with problems as they come. Holding it all inside is basically turning yourself into a pressure cooker. Get it over with and you will grow closer!
19. Never stop obeying the Lord, no matter how much you want to resist His calling. Whether it be dealing with a conflict, praying for a wall, praying for your future marriage to Mr. Imaginary man, picking a grown woman up like a baby and praying for her, or dancing with no shame for 100 kids who can’t even speak.
20. It is hard to leave people behind and even harder knowing that you will have to do it for 10 more months.
I am not sure when the next time I will have access to the internet is, but I will be back on sometime next week (hopefully). Next time I write to you I will be in Honduras! Please pray that our team and all of the other teams will arrive in our November destinations safely. Thank you all SOOO much!
