I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations

I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
I will sing of you among the peoples
For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

 ~ Psalm 108:3-4

I am so blessed to be able to praise my Lord and Savior among the people of Guatemala and to see Him through these people.  He is so good.

So a little more of my story.... (I apologize for not writing sooner)

Wednesday was an absolutely wonderful day.  I took part in a home stay with one of the local families near where I am staying.  Two other students and myself stayed in a wonderful family's home.  In Guatemalan standards, they were very well off as they had electricity and running water.  One of their daughters, Sofia, was currently attending university for Psychology.  She knew a little bit of English and was so patient and kindhearted.  She helped us a lot with our Spanish and encouraged us.  The other students had stayed the evening before at their place, as I, unfortunately, was sick all day Tuesday.  Nonetheless, Wednesday was a new day and I felt a lot better.  So after morning classes, we had a Guatemalan lunch at their place - chicken, rice, and soup.  My whole group then had the privilege of going to Casa Jackson.  This is a home for extremely malnourished children under the age of 5.  It is part of the organization that I talked about before, Our Godchildren.  When we arrived, all the children were napping.  Once they started to wake up, we were able to play and simply give them love.  Originally, I was caring for a girl named Laura.  She was one of the worst cases they had ever had.  She was three and only weighed 12 pounds.  It was so heartbreaking.  However, she reached out to me and just wanted to be held.  She smiled and enjoyed life but had obvious developmental setbacks.  After feeding time, I held a beautiful boy named Alberto.  Alberto had a severe fungus rash on his bottom and was unable to leave his room

as he could not wear a diaper.  My friend Cabree was holding him earlier and when she put him down in order for us to change our coats (they had coats for each child to decrease the spread of any possible diseases), he started to cry and got very anxious.  Once I picked him up, he immediately quieted down and snuggled into my arms.  All he wanted was love.  Since he was confined to his room I have no idea when the last time he was held for hours straight.  You could tell that he needed to be held and cared for more than just in the physical sense.  I quickly realized that he didn't want to play but just to be snuggled.  So I held him tight in my arms and started to hum Jesus Loves Me.  He quickly relaxed and nuzzled his ear so it was right over my heart.  I was so blessed to be able to spend an hour just giving my full attention and love to Alberto.  It was so hard to put him down when it was time to leave.  I wanted to take him home and just be able to give him unending love.  I was so reminded about God as the Father.  He is always there for us with his arms wide open, inviting us to climb onto his lap for the greatest hug ever.  He is always giving us his unending and perfect love.  He protects us and gives us a place to come and rest.  Praise God that we are able to have a relationship like this with our Creator!

After Casa Jackson, we returned back to our home stay for dinner.  It was so great to be able to communicate with our family and learn more about their culture.  Slowly throughout the evening and the next day, a friendship was built.  Sofia and I traded email addresses and communicate in Spanish, which is so great!

Friday, we spent time with the family and also went into town.  Cabree and I found a wonderful cafe and got blended coffees.  We then sat in the main square and chatted with an older man.  A cultural difference was made really clear as he kept asking us if we had boyfriends and why we were single.  He wasn't asking in a creepy way at all but just because it was unusual.  This conversation got me thinking a lot about relationships and what I valued.  The next evening in Honduras a few of us in the group had a really good conversation about this and just how in cultures like this and also some Christian communities, it is almost expected that you are dating and married young.  It was really encouraging to hear some of the grad students talk about their journeys and how it will happen when it is meant to.  Rewind just a little bit... Early Friday morning we left for a 7 hour

drive to Honduras to see the Copan Mayan Ruins.  When we arrived it was the middle of the afternoon and the power was out.  I was probably the hottest that I have ever been and close to heat stroke but we found a hotel that had a generator and made the best smoothies that I have ever had.  The next day we went to see the ruins, which was totally surreal.  They were so beautiful and it was amazing to see an ancient culture.  The carvings were all so intricate.  I cannot even begin to imagine how carved each stone and put it all together.  We were told that some of the carvings took two years to complete - talk about a lesson in perseverance!  

 After the ruins, we started the drive back to Guatemala.  Sunday we attended two different church services in Antigua - one was catholic and the other evangelical.  It was every interesting to go to both services back to back.  I am still sifting through what I observed and what I have learned from both services.  I think that as an evangelical Christian, I have a lot to learn from the Catholic church.  However, I am still thinking about this and will post a blog later specifically about Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity.

Today, Tuesday (Happy Birthday April!), we hiked the Pacaya Volcano.  It was an intense hike but very interesting.  Although through was no active lava flow, it was so interesting to see hardened lava and feel the heat from the volcano.  We hiked up in the morning so it was not too hot and thankfully, we hiked up through the clouds so it was almost refreshing.  I conquered the volcano and am glad to be able to add this to my life experiences!

Wow, what a week!  I only have one more week until I leave Antigua to go and work with Impact Ministries.  How time flies!  

Many blessings.