I have been in Guatemala for 19 days now and it seems normal being here and in this culture. It seems like forever ago that I left Canada but in reality it’s only been a few weeks. The adjustment to life here was relatively easy and I am so happy to have such good living conditions for the first month. We do ministry Monday-Fridays and although it is hard to come up with a “normal” schedule here because there really is no such thing when doing ministry this is what a typical day usually consists of:
5:20- Wake up and exercise
6:30- Get ready for the day
7:00- Bible study with my team
7:30-3:30- At our school doing ministry
3:30-6:00- Either go to the market, an internet cafe or return to Agape in Action headquarters to relax
6:00- Dinner
The evenings consist of hanging out, sometimes we have worship session or other meetings as a squad and every night we do team time which is pretty much just a time to hang out as a team and talk about the day.
The weekends we are free to do what we want. Last weekend I went to Lake Atilan for the weekend. It was an absolutely beautiful lake surrounded by three volcanoes. On Saturday we hiked up a waterfall and had a delicious meal and on Sunday we just relaxed and had a kind of church service as a team before heading to a market and coming home. This past weekend I just stayed at the headquarters and relaxed. A lot of the team has been getting sick and I wasn’t feeling the greatest but it was nice to just be able to relax and have time to reflect and journal and watch a couple good movies.
It rains pretty much every day here. I am beginning to think I almost like snow more than rain. At least with snow it seems justified to be cold and your prepared to be cold. Here it is just a damp coldness that makes it almost impossible to warm up. People often mock me because I am the Canadian that is always cold. But there is something nice about wrapping up in a blanket with a warm cup of tea or coffee. And I have to say I am very glad because last weekend I almost lost my toque into a lake (that story will come later) but I was able to retrieve it. I lost my iphone (from water damage) but am so thankful my toque survived.
You can be praying for my team. There is a bacteria virus spreading through our squad and about half of the team has gotten sick. Some people have been pretty severe and needed to be hooked up to IVs and things like that, one guy had to spend a night in the hospital. We are blessed to live right next door to the hospital and have a nurse as the contact we are staying with but pray that people will make a quick and full recovery. I have not gotten sick yet, praise the Lord for that.
Thank-you to everyone who has been supporting me financially or through prayer. I am currently at about $8,500 towards my goal of $16,252. You can support me by hitting the support me tab on the right or by sending cheques to Innisfail Alliance Church with Stefani Brewster’s mission trip in the memo line (4804 44 St. Innisfail Alberta, T4G 1N4). Thanks again for your support and taking time to follow my journey.
