People

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I am enjoying this beautiful Saturday in Xela with my door and window open, fresh air blowing in, and catching up on some rest! I just wanted to write about some of the great people I have met in Xela.

Pablo is the taxi driver that took me to the airport at 2:30AM last week to pick up my parents. We spent about 1 1/2 hours of our drive talking about life, our faith, our families, etc. Then, I slept. When we got to the capital, I offered him more money, breakfast, and lunch to stay with me and take us back to Xela with him. We parked the car, and sat in the parking garage discussing our differences in beliefs for about an hour, ate breakfast at some stands on the street, and enjoyed our atol talking for a bit longer. Afterwards, I went to read and he went to take a nap until my parents got there. We finally left for Xela, and he got to meet my parents, ate dinner with us, and then we finally made it back to Xela at 7:30PM after all the strikes and fun on the road. So, we got to know each other pretty well. He is an incredible guy and so sweet. We had made it through a 2 1/2 hour wait, ate dinner, and were heading back exhausted, but he still pulled off the road at a beautiful lookout point of the mountains and Lake Atitlan. I am sure he had seen it many times, but he just wanted to share it with us. Since our 17 hour day together, he took my parents and I to the bus terminal, and I have run into him twice on the streets of Xela. I thought of him just now as I was cleaning my room because I found the bag that had held a chocolate/peanut treat that he had given me the other day when I ran into him at the market. Pablo is an example of one of the very generous and loving people that I have met on this trip.

Another new friend is a 16-year-old Carisia. She studies in a private school with a scholarship from Caras Alegres. Upon the return of her stepfather (not sure of all of this story), she ran away from home Thursday night. On Friday morning, she called my friend Andrea for help and has been living with her since. I don't have much contact with the scholarship kids, but I have since gotten to know this fiery teenager because I spend a lot of time at Andrea's house. Last night, we had dinner together. Andrea and Tiffany just moved-in here, so they went to work on unpacking/cleaning, and I sat with Carisia. I was reading a cookbook in Spanish, and she was watching the Peruvian soap opera Victoria. We ended up sharing recipes for salads, pasta dishes, and desserts, and she filled me in on the drama of the soap opera. This morning, we had a big brunch at their house, and I got to spend time cooking with Carisia. We had even more of a chance to talk a bit more about her plans now, and she asked me about church because she knew I had visited the church of a Caras employee. This opened up a brief conversation about my relationship with God. Afterwards, I was cleaning the dishes, and she came in to tell me that the next rerun of Victoria was on, and I rushed in to watch it with her. She is such a sweet girl and very open in giving advice on the work of Caras Alegres, where I should travel to next in Guatemala, and the best way to prepare her dish. We exchanged numbers, and she let me know that I could call her for any questions I had about these things. 😊 I really hope we have a chance to talk more about life, cook more together, and watch more episodes of Victoria. I also pray that she finds a stable place to live or is able to safely return soon. Please pray for her to know the peace of God during this difficult time.

I would love to share more about the people that are making my time here so rich, but I think that this will suffice for now. I am learning so much from them, and I pray that they are seeing some aspect of God as we interact.

Love and prayers!

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