As soon as the plane landed in Guatemala city, I felt alive! More alive than I ever do on a regular basis each day. And oh, how I long for that feeling here at home... All the people moving about, the colors, it is all so beautiful!
These were my first thoughts arriving into Guatemala. Day one (Saturday) of our trip was basically all travel time, so there's not much to share on it. It was mostly about gathering my bearings, getting to know my team mates - especially Jessi and Chris. (More on internal team happenings in a later blog.)
Day two, however, was very much more eventful. Atleast, for me it was. We started out the day like an average sunday and went to church. Well, I guess it's only average if you get to go to church in Guatemala every sunday. It was great to worship with other missionaries who were all stationed there. The service was not too different from the ones I am used to at Eternal. Children were playing in the lobby while the adults had some coffee, we sang some worship songs that I've never heard before, and we listened to an inspiring message.
Later, after lunch we walked through the market. Chichicastenango is home to the largest open-air market in the western hemisphere! (More on the market later, too.)
Monte Flor was our next stop. This is a beautiful property that Pray America is building various arms of their ministry onto. There is a shoe factory, a prayer chapel, and a new girls' home completely finished. There are plans for another orphan house, and other buildings on the property. You can find out more about Monte Flor at www.prayamerica.org. After touring Monte Flor, Bill (from our wonderful host family The Gardners) offered to take those interested on a hike up the mountain. Apparently, there is a site used for burnt sacrifice by the locals to their "gods." My blood was already pumping pretty good, as I had already tried out a few of the steep hills and jogged most of the way to Monte Flor, so I was excited for another chance to get my body moving and curious to see parts that I had not already seen. "OK," I said, "Let's go!" Only God knew where this path would take me!
Seven of us hiked up past the prayer chapel to the back line of the property and across the ridge toward the spot. Bill confidently led us along the path until a point where the ridge intersected an adobe house. We followed the path which traveled down the mountain, eventhough we knew up is where we needed to go. This is the point in our trek that I start to wonder if Bill knows where he's taking us. I am sure he's been up here before, perhaps we just forgot one of the turns. That's when Bill speaks up, "I'm sorry guys. I don't know where we're going, let's go back."
As we all made a 180 to go back up the hill the way we came, here comes two young Guatemalan men walking past us. Bill, in his best spanish, asks them for directions; and off we go, into uncharted territory, hiking up the mountain, a different way, without a trail. Finally, out of the jungle-like terrain, we walk into a patch of corn - a sign of civilization. Barking dogs is the very next sound we hear. Now I can sense danger around us, and all my senses are on fire taking in every little thing around me. To our rescue comes a little Guatemalan lady named Michaela as we later come to learn. The dogs scatter with a small sounding "Ssk, ssk!" from her mouth. She tells us we are close and points us to the top of the hill where the site is.
It is amazing how we even made it to his point. It is only at this point that I discover that Bill has never hiked up here before, and never met this woman before. Looking back, I see how it was all by God that we found it. So, that's how we got there; look for the next post on what happened when we got there.
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