We are in Guatemala! Let me start off by saying thank you for all the prayers over our traveling. It was the easiest trip I have ever taken. Both personally and missions. From airport security, to very smooth plane rides, going through customs, and of course traveling with first-timers Brianna and Sydney, all of it...it was a breeze. Charlie and I knew that the Lord had been before us to prepare the way. I have never traveled with so much peace!
Watching the girls has been fun. When we left the airport we traveled through Guatemala City. Sydney saw a man on the side of the rode peeing. I guess "just going" on the sidewalk when you are walking to your destination is normal here. As we left the city and went through the towns, her comment was, "wow mommy. they're really poor." Miss Brianna slept the whole car ride.
One interesting fact about Guatemala (that Rebekah failed to tell me, I might add) is they do not flush their toilet paper. It gets thrown away in the trash cans. YUCK!!! Their plumbing pipes are to small to hold toilet paper. When you go to the bathrooms, right next to the toilet is a large trash can. Again, YUCK!!! Another fun thing that we get to do before we leave is go to the clinic. Not to lay hands on the sick, but instead to get teseted for ameoba's and other hitchhikers. Guess how they do that. I will let you figure that out on your own! I told the girls and if you could of seen Brianna's face. LOL! It was priceless!
The place where we are staying is beautiful and peaceful. We have our own "little suite" where we can have quality time as a family. There are 2 bedrooms that share a livingroom and a bathroom. Its nice to be able to go into our area and close the door and have privacy. We are surrounded by 3 volcanoes and lots of mountains. One of the volcanoes is active and you can see the lava running down the side that we are facing. Rebekah says that at night it is beautiful when the volcano is active. i hope i can get some good pictures. We are actually trying to decide if we want to hike up that volcano. I want to, but I'm scared to take my girls. You actually get to jump over the lava flows and such. WHAT AN COOL (should i say HOT) OPPORTUNITY!
We met with the Pastors today. We connected with them and PC shared with him some of things God was showing him for his church and the service on Sunday. (FYI-500 people at their Sunday morning service) They became very excited. We are teaching tonight at their leadership institute and we are expecting 80 people. Our schedule is very full. I will be at the missionary womens bible study tomorrow and the topic is "Healing the Wounds". How appropriate, God has great timing! Please keep the meetings in your prayers. They have high expectations for our meetings. Talk about pressure.
I will write again tomorrow and fill you in on the 2 meetings and let you know about the rest of the week. God is opening things up for me in the spirit realm and i'm amazed. All I have to do is lay down and close my eyes and I start to hear and see things about the area I am in! Dreams kicked in immediately too! WOW!!! What is He up to?
We miss and love you all! Pastor Marissa