After a wait in the Atlanta airport, a plane ride, a “bus” ride, a traffic jam, and an altogether 18 hour travel day we made it up 7,000 feet in the mountains to Quiche, Guatemala! Our ministry isn’t ready for us to work with them until Monday so we have used this week to get accustomed to the city.
Quiche is a city of Mayan descendants and we are the third group of missionaries to ever visit. So it’s almost like a parade when we walk down the street because everyone wants to see the gringos! It’s fun to get them to blush when we say hola or giggle at my attempt at Spanish.
Yesterday was my favorite day in Quiche so far. A group of us went to visit the Mayan ruins and walked there and back. The walk down was full of Guatemalan countryside while the walk back was sprinkled with trucks of children throwing water on us. (The day before Independence day is “Water Day” where they throw bags of water on each other to celebrate).
We also stopped at a Pentecostal church on our way back from the ruins and they were extremely welcoming and excited to host us. The service was broadcast over a megaphone to the little village. One of the girls with us was asked to speak to the congregation in Spanish. Marissa told them that God is our joy, our peace, and our life. The pastor then asked her to sing a song, luckily in English. While trying to decide what song to sing the pastor started singing “Joy, joy, down in my heart.” It was funny because the only word he knew in English thus far was welcome. So we sang joy in my heart for the church.
When we were at the ruins we played ball with some boys there playing soccer. We walked to the caves and the boys would run ahead of us to see our reaction to each new thing. Kids here love to say “good morning” or “bye” in English. We also got our faces painted with the Guatemalan flag to celebrate Independence Day!
This morning we got to enjoy the Independence Day parade. It was amazing to see all the different groups marching and dancing. Although, it was extra hard to sit through the music and not dance; It is illegal in Quiche for Christians to dance so we clap instead!
Tomorrow we start work at the hospital and we are all excited!
