Beautiful Guatemalan Sunday!

The Lord blessed us with a beautiful day today! We are so thankful to have the opportunity to be here! This morning, Dave Westhouse shared his heart with us during devotionals. Afterwards, the group jumped in the vans and headed to Antigua for day. We ate lunch together in town and walked through the marketplace and fountain area for the rest of the afternoon. There were numerous marketplace stands selling goods such as blankets, purses, hackey sacks, bags, paintings, jewelry, etc. Basically, if you wanted a specific souvenir, you could most likely find it there. Not all of us were able to see the ruins in the city from the earthquake years ago, but the town itself was just a really interesting atmosphere. There were a lot of people just hanging out by the fountain, which is weird comparing it to back home. Life seems to move at a slower pace here, not everyone is in a crazy rush all the time. When we left Antigua and got back to the mission house, a group went on a tour of the property that the mission house sits on. Paul, the owner of the property, shared some of his knowledge and wisdom with us while he gave us the tour. Turns out a coffee bean does not start out tasting like coffee; if you pull it straight off the branch and peel off the skin and pop the bean in your mouth, it has a sweet taste to it. Paul also showed us some Mayan artifacts that they've found on the property, and part of the property sits on an old Mayan temple. Paul has a bunch of different fruits and veggies growing in the garden, and he even let us pick some of it off the tree to eat it right there. Joel, a missionary who works in the urban areas of Guatemalan City, and his son joined us for dinner and lead a devotional for us after dinner. He read Luke 18:35-43, and encouraged us to be looking for Jesus outside of the normal ordinary day parade, to be different than the crowd, not to get stuck in routine. He also shared Mark 8:27-30 when Jesus asks his disciples who he is, and Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah. Joel spoke very passionately and was very encouraging! Nicole M