Let´s Catch Up

Five days have come and past since my last post, so I have a lot of catching up to do.  Between the food, water and other unknowns, sickness is not so uncommon to travelers, so if you haven´t guessed it already, I have time today because I am sick.  So I will catch you up with what has happened since my last blog and go till I am up to date.  Hope you all enjoy! I miss and love you all!

The 21^st a day in Antigua.   

Antigua used to be the capital city prior to Guatemala City and is a highly visited spot and after a day there, I can see why!  The colors, the food, the churches and architecture, the climate and the people all mixed together make the perfect spot.  I will share my favorite part which was spent at El Hermano Pedro´s church.  Hermano Pedro is the first saint of Guatemala.  In 1954 he started is profession as a brother.  He taught, read to kids, and tended to the sick and poor.  He founded a hospital and school along with starting a religious community, Casa Belin.  At night he would walk the streets ringing a bell and asking people to pray for the souls in purgatory, “Holy God, ever strong & immortal, have mercy on us.”  What a powerful and true prayer.  He died in 1667 and in 1729, Benedict XIII authorized the beginning of the process towards his beatification and in 2002 Pope John Paul II declared him a saint.  I attended mass in his church, which was my 2^nd Spanish mass (today I am on my 7^th, I almost understand everything, a few more times and I should have it down).  It is powerful to witness another culture celebrating the same mass we celebrate daily, but how certain things are done differently; there is without a doubt a huge devotion to Mary, Saints and Jesus in Guatemala.

The 22^nd A Traditional Wedding Day, Take One 

I am very lucky to have traveled down to Guatemala with a native.  Fr. Sam Perez is originally from this area, so I have had the pleasure of staying with is family, they are wonderful!  While I am here, I get to experience the traditions of a marriage, for Fr. Sam´s youngest brother is getting married.  The Guatemalan culture has to perform two ceremonies, the civil, which was Saturday and the Church ceremony, which is this coming Saturday the 29^th in Quetzaltenango, which is about 2 to 3 hours from San Lucas. Before the civil ceremony started I attended mass and although in Spanish, left feeling this: Jesus lives in each one of us and he wants us to possess and feel the love he has for us and for others to reflect the love we have for one another.  Peace, love and acceptance.  We all must embrace these things and be Christ like for Jesus lives within us.  With that, we have one life to live and that it should be a taking up of the cross and if we follow his way with love, the load we carry shall be light.

 

Once returning to Casa de Perez it was wedding time.  The grooms parents stood at the gate, greeting the all the family and friends who traveled many hours, the ceremony started once a judge and his council arrived.  After about an hour of talking and signing of papers, the party began.  There was music, food and drinking.  The families were enjoying themselves and it was a beautiful thing to witness the combining of two families in a different culture.  I think there´s a few customs I´ll bring back with me! 

The 23^rd Lago de Atitlan.   

This is for another time and a blog all of it´s own, but this Sunday consisted of a boat trip around the most beautiful lake in the world.  We had three stops and it took all day, amazing adventures, and lots of stories so that and pictures are soon to come! 

The 24^th San Lucas Mission, I´ve never worked so hard in my life. 

Now growing up on a dairy farm and being, well let’s say “privileged” to experience the work ethic of a farmer, I thought I knew what hard work was.  Once pictures come up, you may see better, but today I helped build a road.  Now let´s remember this isn´t MN or SD anymore and everything here is on a hill, so me and a group of others, for many hours hauled huge rocks ranging from 15 to 70lbs up a hill to lay the foundation of this road.  The vision for this mission is to not come here and think we are helping the people and providing them with things we think they lack, but it is all about solidarity and learning from the people.  We are not here to stand ahead and pull or be behind and push, we are here to walk beside!  It is so awesome, it provides such an amazing learning experience.  The people here are dedicated in what they do and everything is done by hand!  There are not machines!  It takes time and teamwork.  The work day is from 9 to 12:30 then 2 to 4.  We also were shown every project that the mission is working on from coffee plantations, a women´s shelter, a housing development, a clinic, a reforestation project and roads.  If you have questions or want to hear specifics about any of those project areas please ask, I´d love to share more.  After a hard day of work we traveled back up the hill and had a traditional Guatemalan meal of tamales, bed shortly followed.

The 25^th A day in the Clinic

I started the morning the same as other, woke with the sun, hiked down the mountain, attended mass, but during mass I started to feel a bit sick.  Now many of the other American volunteers have been getting what is called the “amebas” (don´t quote me on that spelling) but it’s a bacterium that causes stomach illness.  Well after a morning battling with fainting spells and a horrible stomachache, I ended up in the hospital.  I was somewhat hesitant to go; A. I don´t speak much Spanish and B. what would the care be like.  We´ll I couldn´t have been more pleased, and I am happy this happened to me to rid me of my ignorance.  The nurse and doctor were both exceptional and with some help from Fr. Sam and some sign language exchange, we pulled through and fixed the problem.  I was wondering though, with my group why it had to be me who got sick, but this afternoon while I sit in a room with another sick woman, Sydelle, I soon came to find out why God chose me to be ill today.