Well, A, I can’t believe it’s almost October. It kinda feels like fall here which makes my heart happy seein as how that’s my favorite season. Though I ain’t gonna get to go to the pumpkin patch this year, I have gotten to watch quite a few football (American soccer, but close enough) games.
Monday is our last day of ministry in Quiche. Ministry this month has been amazing for me y’all. Although every day has differed, Guatemalan days have been a little like this…
Wake up at 5:25ish and hop into the shower. We are blessed to have hot water this month and I sure don’t let that opportunity pass by.
Bible study with my team at 6. Startin off your morning with some Jesus (and coffee when somebody has boiled the water. Yes, we run on instant) and people you are sharin life with has been such an uplifting way to start the day.
We leave for ministry from the compound at 8:30 so the time in between is spent having breakfast (we are given a budget as a team for our breakfast and lunch so we alternate what to eat/who is gonna cook breaky. We eat a lot of cereal, but eggs and oatmeal have also been popular for us. French toast has been hot in the kitchen these past few mornins from other teams so we may just do that soon.
So we are close enough to Dos Anos Dorados that we can have a nice little 30 minute walkin journey to get there. However, on the days we are running behind, we grab a 5 consales tuk tuk ride. The roads here are another story. We are hitting the end of rainy season and the mud is insane. There is never a good time for road construction anywhere in the world, and Quiche isn’t any different. They have been tearin up a lot of the roads. So it’s a maze for the tuk tuks. But it’s kinda like off roadin so I’m all about it.
As everywhere should be, the first thing we do at ministry is greet everyone. Kisses on the cheek and hugs are the best way to greet this whippersnappers. Most of the senior citizens speak Quiche, not Spanish, so there are 3 languages floating around ministry everyday. There’s a lot of acting out what we are trying to say. But we all get around just fine.
Sweeping comes next. I don’t know how that much dust can accumulate overnight/every day but every time I sweep I fill the dustpan. Then exercise time. It ain’t abnormal to have people come in during the day and help out. We had Zumba the other day out in the field. I die. It was so funny. I loved it. Norma, who is in charge, has had me teach yoga a few times. Momma, I’ve done some modified sun salutes and they have gotten around just fine 😉
Then we help in the kitchen to prepare breakfast. They get a hot drink that’s normally a little like oatmeal and my favorite has been a roll fresh from the bakery filled with egg and ham. Paola and Lydia work in the kitchen and they are pistols let me tell you. They also love to ask us about our love lives. Guess girls are curious about love everywhere!
Between meals the senior citizens weave baskets, sit in the sunshine, talk about nothin I’ll never know, laugh with us. We have gone on a few field trips to the women’s clinic or to get acupuncture so this is when we would journey there.
Dishes are a constant here both after breakfast and after lunch. They get pretty hearty lunches and then a snack at the end of the day. We help with lunch and always get offered a plate of our own, but normally just stick to gettin some rice and fruit and eat the sandwiches we brought.
We leave ministry at 3:30 and don’t have anything scheduled until din din at 6. So during this gap, we either go to the market to get more food (this happens at least every other day..you can’t really get that much food when you are sharing a mini fridge with 54 other people), head to the cafe for wifi and coffee, work out when it ain’t rainin outside, or just come back to the compound and hammock or chill with everybody here.
We rotate cooking dinner for the whole squad and eat community style. It’s been fun to see what everyone comes up with cookin. After dinner, we have team time and talk about the day. We also have squad wide sessions some nights given by our Squad Leaders. Grandma Han is still a sleepy child here in Guatemala but every night before bed I make it a point to journal and recap my day on my iPad.
Our days have been more packed than I thought they would be. I’m zausted normally every night but to say that I’m enjoying my race would be an understatement. I already feel like I have learned so much and the habit of reachin for my phone left about 24 hours after leaving America.
