Guatebella! (:

The drive to Puerto Barrios from Guatemala City was pretty amazing and interesting. There were mountain ranges the entire way and it was so beautiful! It was a great time of laughter and practicing our Spanish with Melvin and Christian (our talented drivers). The drive was literally about 9 hours long even though were told it was only 5 hrs long… haha. About halfway through we blew a tire and it was pretty terrifying but Central/South Americans are pretty great extreme drivers and we stopped safely. Meanwhile, we were surrounded  by nothing and we all had to use the bathroom. We decided to form a semi-circle around a tree and hold branches and made a “pee circle”. Great team bonding.
 
Our first ministry in Guatemala was at the “parque” and we were all playing basketball, soccer and Frisbee. There was a game of 5 v 5 going on in a basketball court with goals and they were all wearing jerseys. Then, something amazing and unexpected happened… some girls came up to me and started talking to me in Spanish and when I translated what they said in my head, they wanted me to play with them because they were a player short! I was so shocked and I had to convince the “jefe” (the man in charge) to let me play even though I was an “extranjera” and “gringo”. I just simply said “Puedo jugar?” in the nicest way possible and apprehensively he let me in. I was so psyched and this was an opportunity of a lifetime that I don’t even have a picture to prove. However, I did score the only goal and won the game for them! It was so unreal and Pastor Roni asked me to share my testimony with the women I played with and I did. It was different doing it in Spanish but so great! We all prayed and Pastor Roni asked me to pray in Spanish and it was definitely a first time of praying in a different language. Before we left the park, the people who were playing basketball all circled around and Pastor Roni talked to everyone and out of the group, 4 locals were saved!! It was so amazing and it was only one day of ministry!
 
Fact: There are a million “Andrea’s” here.

Slang:
Chilero: cool
Que Oondas?: Whats up?
Chapin: Guatemalan
Cinco: Pound it