Saleeby Family in Guatemala--Saturday

After breakfast on Saturday, we all piled in the van and headed to Antigua--one of my favorite places.  No one should visit Guatemala City without taking the 45 minute drive to Antigua.  Joseph was with the campaign team when we went to Guatemala in January, but, of course, his family was not.  

We walked to the central park, shopped at the market, ate kaq'ik (traditional Mayan soup) at La Fonda Real, rode a horse-drawn carriage around the town and took pictures everywhere we went.

We also caught up with Eric and Kindsey, a couple from our church in Lee's Summit.  They are studying Spanish in Guatemala in preparation for ministry with an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.  We had coffee with them and met their beautiful daughter, Mackenna.

We returned to the city in time to go to "Crecer," the church's intensive discipleship 2 program.  Nelson taught for an hour and a half and Joseph, with Nelson's help, shared his heart for evangelism.  

Wednesday/Thursday in Guatemala

We had a "normal" day on Wednesday except for the metal detectors that were installed in the the entrance to the hotel.  Thursday was the inauguration of the new Guatemalan president and many dignataries were staying in the Weston (adjoins our hotel) and the Intercontinental Hotel (just down the street.)  Vice-President Biden was in town to attend the ceremony (we don't know where he stayed,) but security was tight.  We saw lots of black suburbans with dark windows and there were even two German Shepherds and their handlers staying on our floor.  Even with everything that was going on, we had no problems going out in the morning or in the evening.  

Wednesday evening several of the streets around the hotel were closed off and would remain closed until after the inauguration on Thursday.  We were programmed to go to the gringo market on Thursday, but with everything going on downtown, we felt like it would be best to "get out of town," so a trip to Antigua was in order.  Antigua was a new experience for almost everyone.  The bus dropped us off at the entrance to the town and we walked to the central park.  On the way, we saw one of the volcanos spewing ash--it was a beautiful picture.

After having about an hour to shop, everyone met at Pollo Campero where the gringos treated everyone to lunch.

We left Antigua about 3:00 p.m. and drove directly to Santa Katarina de Pinulta to set up the family festival.  

It was a great, but chilly evening.  The festival was well attended, the people were very receptive and there were many professions of faith.  Praise the Lord.  

Antigua: one of our favorite places

We made great time to Guatemala, arriving at Nelson and Rosemarie's home about 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday.  Only Nelson was home because Rosemarie and the girls were wrapping up the youth camp.  By the time we got to hug Dani, Fabi and Rosemarie it was after 6:00!  After a quick trip to Walmart (found some Honey Nut Cheerios for Stephen), we had dinner and time to visit.

Thursday morning we were out of the house about 8:30 to go pick up the Pine Cove camp counselors for a free day of tourism in Antigua.  Having studied Spanish for eight weeks in Antigua in 2012, it remains one of our favorite places. 

It was lots of fun introducing the team to the cathedral, markets, arch and more.  Without contacting them, God orchestrated visits with both of our former teachers, Nanci and Corina.  Nanci and her husband live in Germany now, but were in Guatemala visiting her family for Christmas.  As I was waiting at the entrance to the market, they walked by!  Unbelievable to see them; seconds after they walked away, Corina walked by with one of her current Spanish students.  

We found a great place for lunch, visited another market and then ended our trip at the cross on the hill above the city.  Words don't do it justice, so here are some of the pictures:

 

Happy Feet Wrap Up

I've decided to do one more Happy Feet post and wrap up the week.  As I mentioned in the last post, the road to our scheduled location on Wednesday was blocked by a half mile landslide which made it impossible for us to get there.  Pastor Francisco called his sister who teaches at a school in another neighborhood and she opened her classroom to us.  I don't know how he did it, but by the time we arrived at the school around 9:30 in the morning, there were more than 150 kids waiting in line.

One of the difficult things for the Happy Feet team is trying to decide how many of each size shoes to bring.  They hate running out of a size because sometimes it means that a child won't get a new pair.  By Wednesday we were out of the smallest size, but had a good supply of most of the rest of the sizes.  For some reason, there were more older kids than usual and we almost emptied the size 4 bag before the day was out.  On Thursday, it was just the opposite, we didn't run out of size 4 shoes, instead the oldest kids needed size 3.  It was amazing to see how God worked out all of the details.

On Monday I had the privilege to translate for Emily; on Tuesday, instead of translating I was able to work by myself, washing feet, giving new shoes and sharing the gospel in Spanish.  It is so much easier to share in Spanish than it is to translate English to Spanish!  On Wednesday morning Emily and I worked together again and then on Thursday, Stephen and I were able to work together.  

Thursday was our final day and it was our smallest group of the week.  We finished with the 115 kids just after lunch.  We left all of the remaining shoes with Pastor Francisco who said he would try to get them to the children of the town we were scheduled to visit on Wednesday.  

We headed back to Chimaltenango and had an opportunity to tour the Don José León coffee roastery.  The owner, Gustavo Perez, is a member of Vida Nueva Guatemala, and he kindly demonstrated the whole process for the team and served up freshly roasted coffee. 

Each night after dinner, we had a testimony time which helped the team to get to know one another better.  Our final evening at the hotel was very special as we heard from each of the translators.  It was special to listen to several of the younger girls sharing how great it was for them to share the gospel with kids their age.  

Friday morning after breakfast and clean up we checked out of the hotel and drove to Antigua.  While everyone shopped, Stephen and I visited with our teacher, Corina, and her family.  We always make it a priority to spend time with them.  Stephen played cards with the four girls while I visited with Corina and her mother-in-law.  

Antigua Visit

When ever we go to Guatemala, we always go to Antigua to visit with our friends (Spanish teachers.)  This time was no different--we left on Monday morning after breakfast at Capistrano's (see previous post) and arrived about 10:30.  Corina and her family were all at home so we drove straight to Pastores (about 5 miles north east of Antigua.)  The girls go to school in the afternoon, so we were able to see everyone.  We were so glad that we decided to come in the morning or we would have missed seeing the girls.  

They showed us room that was built by volunteers from a Baptist church in Antigua.  Before this, all six of them slept in the same room.  Now the girls have their separate room.  

Corina and her family, minus Melany

Nancy, our other teacher, was working with a student in the morning, so she couldn't come by until after lunch time.  It was great to catch up with everyone!   Gaby didn't have school at all, so Stephen gave her a basketball shooting lesson.

We left about 1:30 and made a stop in Antigua to buy olive bread at the "best" bakery in town (according to Rosemary and the line of people that were there.)  

Luisa Xicotencatl's Bakery/Cake Shop

Stephen likes to take pictures of doors/windows.