So we leave Guatemala in like 10 days and to say the least, I’ve cried about it multiple times. Not because I’m not excited for our next countries, but because there is just a lot of things I will miss. So here is a list I have been making on my phone since I got here, of all the little things in Guatemala that I know I’m going to miss:
1. When people are in a big group and someone roasts someone else for something funny they did, everyone makes this “shhhhhh” noise that sounds like they’re telling you to be quiet, but its their way of like laughing at the person. Its hard to explain, but I absolutely love it. It used to catch my team and I off guard until eventually we figured out what was going on.
2. The chicken bus rides, when I actually have a seat, and I just get to look out over the mountains and volcanoes of Guatemala.
3. When something is funny the kids and even adults do this finger snapping thing that they have all tried to teach me, but sadly I literally cant do it.
4. In Spanish laughter is translated to La risa (pronunciation being – la reesuh) so every time I say my name I just pronounce it as Reesuh, because they physically can’t say Rissa, and they always say “ohhhh like hahahahaha” and it is the cutest thing ever. Thanks mom for naming me laughter.
5. When we first got here it was rainy season and sometimes it would rain so hard that we couldn’t even hear each other talk in our rooms because of how loud it was on the tin roofs. It was absolutely beautiful.
6. When the kids at our school would come up to us and say “hello, goodbye” really fast, just to show us that they knew some english. Then they would run away to their friends laughing and smiling at how proud of themselves they were.
7. Maria Elena, the woman at our bus stop, would always give us a huge bag of like 6 different kinds of sweet bread to take home with us after ministry everyday. It was always warm and wow so good.
8. When the cute little abuelas would kiss us on the cheek.
9. The bus guys would stand by they their bus and yell, “misiones misiones misiones” at us, until we would finally go get on their bus. We made a lot of bus driver friends.
10. There was this woman at Lake Atitlan who sat outside our hostile, and often came inside as well to try to get us to by her food. She would always say the same thing every time she saw us, “hola chicas, banana bread? Very good, very fresh.” It was definitely not good, but we bought a lot from her anyways because she was adorable and extremely persistent.
11. Helping our cooks Sandra and Teresa make tortillas for dinner while trying to speak some broken spanglish. Making tortillas looks easy until you try doing it and they break in your hands every few seconds and you have to start all over again.
12. Ok this is pathetic, but I really am going to miss Taqueritos. They are like these twisty crunchy chip things that are limey and spicy or you can get them cheese flavored. BUT no worries I found a website where I can order them at home so really I’ll only miss them for the next 6 months.
13. At the end of prayers they always say “amen y amen” (in spanish “y” just translates to “and” in english) which I have now adopted into the end of my prayers as well.
14. How you get to eat and drink things out of bags. Coke. Put it in a bag with a straw. Ice cream. Put it in a bag and squeeze it out through a whole in the side. It’s a snack and an activity all in one.
15. The little girls taking off my rings and saying “ohhhh blanco” from my horrible tan lines and then wearing them around showing everyone “señoras anillos.”
These silly little things probably don’t mean much to you, but they mean everything to me. Leaving here is going to be hard because it’s going to be a long time, if not forever, until I get to hear and see some of these things again. However, God asks us to make disciples of ALL nations, so, on to the next country and then onto the next and then onto the next. I kinda hope thats how the rest of my life looks like.
Simply onto the next.
