Orientation

Disclaimer: Don't be intimidated by the length of this post. Most of it is pictures! haha J

On Thursday the 30th I flew out of Baltimore in the morning, had a 4ish hour layover in Miami, and finally made it safe and sound to Guatemala around 9pm local time (which is 2 hours behind EDT). Mike and Sandi, the Camino Global missionaries, picked me up at the Guatemala City airport. Their daughter Maria and another intern, Katelyn, were with them as well. We stayed in a guest house overnight in Mixco (just outside Guatemala City), about a 5 minute drive from the Glicks house. On Friday the 31st we drove to Antigua (city neighboring Guatemala City), where we did some sight-seeing and picked up Lauren, another intern. Katelyn, Lauren and I are all doing 8-week internships but in different locations in Guatemala. We've been together since Thursday/Friday for orientation and sight-seeing these past few days, and tomorrow morning we head to our respective locations for the next 7ish weeks! Here are some more details about the past few days, along with pictures (click on the pictures to enlarge them).

THURSDAY the 30th.

Guatemala City from above, just before landing. Since it's rainy season in Guatemala, I enjoyed watching a thunderstorm in the clouds (from a distance, thankfully) while we were still in the air! For those who don't know, I absolutely love thunderstorms. J

FRIDAY the 31st.

Lookout point over the city of Antigua on Friday. This place is called Cerro de la Cruz (hill of the cross).

Lunch on Friday after we picked up Lauren in Antigua. She was at a language school there for 2 weeks before Katelyn and I arrived in Guatemala. (Clockwise from left: Lauren, Sandi, Mike, Maria, Katelyn.)

Lauren, Katelyn and me in front of Cathedral  Merced in Antigua.

San Francisco Cathedral in Antigua, with ruins on the right side from an old monastery.

The ruins at San Francisco.

The iconic arch in Antigua.

After spending the day in Antigua, we went to Mike and Sandi's house for dinner. And, of course, I had to befriend their dog, Maya. J

SATURDAY June 1st.

Lauren, Katelyn and I had some fun on a couple rope swings we passed in a park on our way up to a lookout point over Guatemala City.

It was pretty cloudy up at the lookout point so we could barely make out Guatemala City.

Here's a non-foggy view of Guatemala City from the highway.

For lunch we stopped in Mixco at Pollo Campero, a popular fast-food chicken restaurant. It was started in Guatemala but now has restaurants in other parts of Central America, Mexico and the U.S.

The central park in Guatemala City.

A cathedral next to the park (so many cathedrals!). In Guatemala, there is always a cathedral to the east of the central park in each city, with the government buildings along the other sides of the park.

The President's Palace along the north side of the central park.

Mike and Sandi drove us through the cemetery in Guatemala City. It's the biggest cemetery I've ever been in, almost like its own little town, with legit streets that run through it. All of the tombs are original (as far as I could tell...didn't see any cookie-cutter tombs), and quite beautiful--although a sad/somber type of beauty, of course.

Another view of the cemetery.

We walked to the edge of the cemetery, which looks out over the city dump.  It's one of the largest in Central America. There were scores of vultures in the heaps of trash and circling above. Many people also rummage through the garbage in search of anything of value. People in Guatemala get paid to recycle, so people often look for plastics, metals, etc. among the heaps. According to a documentary Mike and Sandi showed us, those yellow trucks deliver the equivalent of 35 Boeing 737 airplanes of trash to the dump every day.

On Saturday evening Mike took us to La Luz Brilla ("the light shines"), a women's transitional home that Mike and Sandi run. Mike showed us around the place and introduced us to the young women who live there. He also picked a bunch of mangoes from the mango tree in the backyard, one of which I got to take with me and I'm looking forward to eating at some point. J

SUNDAY the 2nd.
This morning (Sunday) we went to Mike and Sandi's church. When Mike picked up Lauren, Katelyn and me, he already had a few of the young women from La Luz Brilla in the car. Then we stopped by a children's home to pick up several teens who live there. We managed to fit 12 people in the 5-seater SUV! But don't be too impressed, apparently their record is 21 people!! Yep, driving is a whole different ball game here in Guatemala. Whatever driving laws are in place don't seem to be followed very closely or enforced very strictly. Driving is pretty much like a real-life video game here. It's terrifying but thrilling at the same time. haha

At church, the pastor had Katelyn, Lauren and I introduce ourselves to everyone (about 50ish people? I'm not good at estimating numbers of people). Anyway, after finding out I speak Spanish, the pastor then asked me if I would say a prayer over the children, who had gathered at the front of the room before heading off somewhere else during the sermon. I have adequate Spanish-speaking skills, but praying in Spanish was not easy because it wasn't the vocabulary I'm most familiar with. But at least God knows what was on my heart, and one of the young women from La Luz Brilla told me afterward I did a good job, so that was encouraging (not that praying is a "job" to be done well, but that I communicated effectively in Spanish so the congregation could understand me). By the way, Lauren also speaks Spanish, but she had her turn being put on the spot two Sundays ago since she came early for language classes in Antigua. ;-)

The worship team at church getting ready to start the service.

After church the 12 of us in the SUV got tacos for lunch, stopped at the grocery store (first time I got to spend some of the Quetzales I exchanged at the bank on Friday), and then went to Mike and Sandi's house for Bible study/youth group and to hang out for a bit. I got to speak in Spanish with many of the people and get to know them a bit. They're really neat and a lot of fun. I'm kind of bummed I have to leave here tomorrow and won't see them again until the end of July before I head back to the States. But I'm also excited to head to the Oasis tomorrow so I can finally meet the people I'll be serving and living with for the next 7 weeks!


Here is a Facebook album with more photos from orientation. You should be able to view it even if you don't have a Facebook account.


Here's how you can be praying for me:

• Pray that I would genuinely love the girls I'll be living with at the Oasis and the missionaries who are the directors there (not Mike and Sandi - a different couple whom I haven't met yet).
• Romans 12:9 "Let love be genuine."
• 1 Thessalonians 3:12 "May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all."
• Pray that I would constantly refocus my mind and heart on God throughout the busyness of each day.
• Pray for health and safety (this will pretty much be an ongoing prayer request J).
• Pray for me as I adjust to a new setting at the Oasis and settle into life there.

You can also ask the Lord to lead you in how to pray for me because at this point it's still hard for me to know exactly what to ask prayer for.