Sunday-Funday!

Here we are! Finally in Guatemala and the past two days have flown by. After a turbulent plane ride we landed in Guatemala City late Saturday evening and headed into Antigua to a late dinner. Let me back up and mention that in Miami we met up with part of the team (from Louisiana and Cananda) and Mariana and I had a lovely plane ride entertaining a couple of Guatemalan youngsters. We practiced our Spanish on them and discussed important things like their favorite Disney character and ride at universal. (goofy and the Hulk in case you wanted to know.) Anyhow...after a quick dinner Saturday night, we awoke early Sunday morning to down some breakfast and have a brief orientation before some of us headed out to: zip lining, a coffee plantation, or Mayan ruins. I choose the Mayan ruin adventure along with 21 of my new friends from all over Louisiana, Texas, Canada, florida, north Carolina, and Missouri. This is a big group. We had to drive about an hour and a half outside of Antigua to see the ruins. Mt. Fuego (a volcano) was sputtering smoke so we caught some great pics of that along the way. I enjoyed catching a word or two from conversations between korina and Samuel on the coaster- korina works for Orphan's Heart and is an amazing on-the-spot interpreter/tour guide. So, when we got there we explored the ruins and wandered around the area. There is still a spot where people in the area burn incense there. By the time we finished exploring it was after noon and stomachs were growling. We ate lunch at Paulino's. We ate family style and they kept bringing out more and more delicious foods. We ate nachos, shish-ka-bobs, fajitas, various meats( steak, sausage, chicken, ribs), potatoes, and approximately 54 avacados that were used to make all the guacamole that accompanied all the aforementioned food. We were stuffed! What a fun experience! As we exited the restaurant we encountered some families selling fruits and i bought a pound of blackberries and these small plums for a dollar each. There were giant limes- not key limes, strawberries, pears, and some other tropical fruits that looked fun. They measured out the fruits using a homemade balance. We had a worship service complete with worship, testimonies, and a message from Pastor Dennis. The there was more orientation, dinner, and WOW time. It was great to hear how God provided for everyone's trip and orchestrated the circumstances and timing of everything. Tomorrow is day 1 at the center. :) Our group has broken up in to teams to take care of different areas at the center and we are all very excited to see the child's and use our gifts to serve them and the women there. The interns will be satay in the afternoons s the team leaves. Eeeee! The excitement and adventure continues! Pictures are soon to come!