Can I take back all the times I whined about the cold rooms at training camp? It's day 5 in Puerto Barrios and I haven't stopped sweating since arrival.
Trying to transition from busy, American time into the slow lifestyle of Guatemala has been difficult. I want to go, go, go and do, do, do, but the people here don't mind being late and/or cancelling plans without notice.
It's been a week of team building and becoming familiar with the community. Our 1st "official" day here we went to the park for sports ministry. Some of the team played frisbee and others were invited to join futbol games. And the rest of us went to the basketball court. There was a jersey'd (I made up a word) already playing so we decided to challenge them. I thought we would just bring out a can of American kick butt and call it good…HA! Those middle-aged women ran circles around me! & Should I even mention the language barrier? I would randomly run off the court and ask the natives how to say "good shot" or "good catch" and then run back to tell the other team. They laughed at me. And I laughed at me. And I decided laughter is all that needed to happen because we all understood it. I got stepped on, hit in the stomach, and collided with a girl on my team and the women would just surround me in a big hug fest and we would all laugh. After the game, Pastor Ronnie asked their team to stick around so he could share his testimony. He spoke in Spanish so all I could do was watch their faces and pray. They all looked extremely uncomfortable and I kept saying "please God please God please God." When he was finished, I was looking around trying to figure out what was going on and the boys beside me said the family of 4 had just accepted Christ! I. almost. peed. my. pants. We all hugged that family like we had known them for years. I love them already. And we get to see them again on Monday when we go back to the park!
A few fun happenings we've experienced:
Drinking coconut milk straight from the coconut! That was straight from a tree!
Cold showers that are amazingly refreshing.
Markets with meat just hanging around. And even more flies.
Using a pila to wash our clothes (like an old fashioned wash board). And they smell like mildew the next day. Hopefully we'll get better at that!
Saw the ocean yesterday!
Chocolate bananas, popsicles, and glass bottle cokes from random tiendas on the street.
Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll become a tad bit organized and have more ministry experiences so I can tell you all more about God's goodness! Mm.
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