Sorry it's been a while
since my last post! I was really sick last week….Down for the count on Thursday…no work, no play, nada! lots of rest and medicine. When I say sick, luckily, I don't mean sick with a parasite….I mean sick with a bad cough/chest congestion and a sinus infection. Although I thought it would be fairly warm here, it is actually their rainy season here, so it rains EVERY day! In the mornings, there is sometimes sun and clear skies, but after lunch it always rains. Also, the house I am staying in gets very cool in the evenings because it is cool outside….sooo…I'm pretty sure that's how I got sick, along with the small fact of being in a different country and all 😉 Still fighting off this cold, but feeling much better than I did. Friday afternoon, I suggested that we MAKE a pizza together, so Carlos and I went to the store on Friday to get the stuff to make a pizza. It was so fun hanging out with the family and doing a home made pizza together. We made one 'North American pizza' and one “Guatemalan” pizza. They turned out great 🙂 After dinner, we all hung out and talked and I taught everyone here how to play Euchre…so any of you guys coming in August, they know how to play now!!! 😀 Saturday, I spent the day with Antonietta and her family. I got to know her other sister, Lesbia, who is married with 3 children. They live in a nice home because Lesbia's husband is a mechanic. However, her husband does not have love for her anymore and often is out with other women. Lesbia is sad often because of her husband and he has told her that he will be leaving her soon. Although she is in a rough spot, she was still full of smiles and seemed so happy to have company. Saturday evening, I went over to Mark/Gina and Chris/Holly's house. They had a woman named Berta over, along with her 6 children. At first, Berta was very shy…but as the evening went on, she opened up a lot. She is a widow…her husband died in a car accident 7 years ago. She had 5 children with her husband, and she has a 2 year old son that was with another man after her husband died. Now, she is pregnant (due in August) with her 8th child. The newborn is also the child of this man. Berta confessed to us that she was afraid to tell us that she was pregnant again with this other man's child because she was afraid we would not understand her situati
on and that we would judge her. She said that this man is not her boyfriend because her children do not like him. The man was going to move in and marry her, but Berta said no because her children dislike him so much. Apparently, he drinks often, and is not kind to Berta's children. As our conversation went on with her, she opened up more and more about her life. Mark and Chris continued to talk with her and tell her that we have no right to judge her, and that we all have problems. They told her about the love of Christ and how he forgives and how we can find joy only in Him and in walking with Him. You could just see the fears of unacceptance, judgement, etc. rolling off of her shoulders. She talked and talked and it was easy to see that she felt comfortable with us. How cool! Sunday (yesterday), I wasn't feeling well again, so I rested for the day. Today, I worked in the cooking school….which I really enjoy! After lunch, Antonietta and I went to Matild's house, which is in Buena Vista (about 15 minutes or so away). Each Monday and Wednesday (sometimes Saturdays), I am with Antonietta, and I am getting very close to her. I was able to share my testimony with her today, and I think she was super surprised that I don't have a “perfect life” and that I did not grow up in a Christian home. I could tell that she was grateful that I shared with her, and she told me so. I think of everyone here, I will miss her the most when I leave. We got to Matild's house around 2pm… Matild walks everyday to Magdalena with her children to get to the cooking school (which is about an hour and a half walk one way). Her son, Jose, who is enrolled in the Art School is very sick. He has a LOT of pain in his stomach…so much so that he is unable to walk or do anything at times. The medicine for Jose is about 300-400 Quetzales, which is about 40-60 U.S. dollars, but the family is unable to pay for the medicine for Jose. I have support money here, and I plan to use some of that money to buy the medicine that Jose needs.
I am also using a part of the money to buy a bunk bed for Christian's family (the family that has only 1 room/1 bed for 4 people). A bunk bed here with a matress costs about 200 U.S. dollars. So, thank you again to all of you who have supported me financially and prayerfully to be here….you are a huge blessing to the families here.