A Very Happy Guatemalan Birthday

          Yesterday (September 20th…I wrote this on the 21st.) was my 22^ndbirthday and God blessed me with the opportunity to celebrate it with my amazing team in Guatemala. Little did I know the celebration would start at 5AM.  I heard rustling outside of my bedroom door and then a round of firecrackers exploded as my whole team flooded into my room and began singing Happy Birthday. I have become accustomed to hearing those firecrackers around Guatemala and so my roommates were more scared of the firecrackers than I was. =P I quickly figured out what was going on, but I was so confused as to why they would decide to do that at 5AM, but Kevin told me it was Guatemalan tradition.
We all went back to bed and then when we woke back up, we went out into a neighborhood in Santo Tomas and asked families if we could pray for them. I was walking around with Joel, Emily N., Amanda, and Jordan, and while we were roaming around we came across this little tienda (a little snack shop) and decided to stop and talk to the family who runs it. They were so kind and hospitable. They brought out chairs for us to sit on and they gave us each a small Coke. We talked for about an hour and prayed for them. Joel told them it was my birthday and as we were leaving one of the ladies gave me a small watermelon as a gift. I have to say, that is one of the coolest gifts I have ever received. On our way back to the van, we met a lady who owned a little tortilla stand. Joel heard her singing, stopped, and we ended up singing with her and then praying for her.
         That afternoon, we broke into different groups and went into a bar district to pray for more families living in that area. This time I was with Alex, Jordan, Kathy, and Derek. We only made it to one house because the first lady we came to was so kind and welcoming and talked our ears off. She welcomed us into her house, made us coffee, gave us sweet bread, and introduced us to her kids. She talked really fast and we could barely understand what she said, but she was so nice that it was just nice to be around her.  Her daughter even asked for all of our email addresses so she could find us on facebook. If that was all I did for my birthday, that would have been a heck of a birthday,  I was so blessed by meeting all those amazing people, but God continued to bless me.
          That night, after feedback, Katie and Tracey walked out of the kitchen with cake and ice cream (the best cake ever, I might add!). According to the candles on my cake, I turned 43 years old. They said that they were the only candles they had at the store. =P Then they presented me with my gift, which was a giant card (it was originally a Valentine’s Day card which they modified to fit the occasion) that they had all signed.  We then had a dance party and then played charades. It was the best birthday ever. During feedback, my friend Walker said that it was a pleasure getting to spend my birthday with me…But really, it was the greatest pleasure to spend my birthday with all of them.