The New Adventures of a Kansas Red Head: Cafe con leche (Coffee with Milk)

Sooooooo I am just going to let you know now this is going to be a long blog... 4 days worth.

Okay so Thursday was the play day for the Texas group (Farmersville group I talked about before) and I went with them to watch them zip line and go to Pana to shop. I will be going on the zip line but I am waiting on the group from my old high school. They had a blast even though it rained on them. We ate at Sunsets and then shopped for cool things. I was able to help them barter and get some good deals. After shopping we went to Crossroads Cafe to order coffee and I got to meet the owner, Mike, this time. He was not there the first time I went, but I am so glad I got to meet him this time. He is so funny and will tell anyone he meet about Christ. He let us go into his roasting room and smell his wonderful coffee, which by the way has won best coffee in Guatemala for 2011. He did ask for prayer while I was there so here it is prayer warriors! Mike is leaving on a missions trip in August to Japan. He will be there till October and he asked for prayer for certain people, Ayako, Takashe, Aico, and Akira. They do not know the Lord and he is going there to minister to them and their friends. Please keep Mike in your prayers!

Friday I helped at the school with the p.e. testing. I got to monitor! That is the best job to have in this high altitude. I made sure the kids were running and doing their push ups right. After that I helped the Texas group move the mamas into the apartment I am staying in, plus a refrigerator. They moved all that in before lunch! During the afternoon Keely, one of the workers here from Indiana, went with me to the market in Solola. Tuesdays and Fridays are market days; this means everyone comes to town to sell their fruits, vegetables, and other assorted things. We had fried chicken and fries from a vendor off the streets, and it was delicious. They put the chicken and fries in a small paper bag with Ketchup all over them. I purchased a jalapeno, mango, and a fried pigs ear to enjoy this week. The pigs ear I have already eaten and had Keely eat some. It was good... it tasted like pork-rines. I have eaten part of the mango too. I am so glad it is mango season because the mangoes here are delicious! When we were done at the market we went back to the Eagle's Nest on a tuk-tuk (hard to explain... picture to come soon).

Saturday was a lazy day for me. I got to sleep in till 8:30 and listened to Newspring's sermon while eating breakfast. Afterwards I helped the Texas group by interpreting how to make origami hearts and swans. The group left after lunch and I will truly miss having them here. My Pastor, Mark Hoover, once did a series on Likeable people and how to be one. He said that likeable people are ones who you feel recharged spiritually, enouraged, and very blessed after talking with them. Unlikeable people drain you spiritually and emotionally. The people in this group were all likeable people. Keely and I watched the Patlan's dog, Churro, for the night as they were off campus taking their kids to camp. We had fun, even though we ended up doing a fitness test with some of the youth from the church here. Let me tell you the altitude is not my friend... also Keely and I are still sore from it.

Sunday Larry and Claire Boggs took Keely and I to San Marcos with them to visit their first church they were missionaries to in Guatemala. It was a beautiful drive there... even though it was early. San Marcos is a beautiful city 3 and 1/2 hours away from the Eagle's Nest. We took the Pan American highway there and we drove to the highest point on the highway. They call it Alaska here because it is so high and cold. The church in San Marcos is a larger church and is very beautiful. The people love to sing and sing as loud as they can; I loved it! Since we were there Larry spoke to the congregation and it was also father's day so they had a special program from the kids. The ladies did a special number before the kids did their program and told us that they serenaded the fathers at 2:00 a.m. that came to the church. I am not a morning person so more power to them! After church was done we had lunch there that consisted of pancha and bread. Pancha is rice, with a little chicken, and gravy cooked in tea leaves. It was really good. Although we had that lunch at the church, we went and ate at the Pastor's house too. The pastors wife made us very good food and we talked with them for a while. We started on our way home after talking with them for a while and drove through Quetzaltenango like we did on the way there. Larry and Claire showed me their old orphanage, the home before the Eagle's Nest, that my dad helped build when I was one. It is now a hospital. They also showed me the Volcan Santa Maria that my dad climbed. We got home late and because of our adventure I slept very good.

Today I got to help with the Father Day celebration for the little kids. All the fathers came, even the orphans at the orphanage had dads! The construction workers here had been asked to be their dads for the day and they did so happily participating in everything. It was fun to watch everyone play games and enjoy hanging out with the children. After the celebration I went to the store with Mrs. Boggs and got some food I needed. Mrs. Boggs helped me find a tortillador (aluminum tortilla press) also! I am so excited to have one now; it will be much easier to make my fruit empanadas now. When we got back I went and played with the kids for a while. Around dinner time the Boggs, Patlans and I went through how everything will happen for the next two days. We have a group of 92 people coming to do many things in a 24 hour time span. It will be so much fun! Now I am here telling you my last four days.

Here are my pictures!

Some really pretty flowers that I have no clue what they are