We awoke to a beautiful sunrise today. It was the first day of real sunshine since we arrived here. It was warm and amazing. We had breakfast as usual. We then prepared for our Market activity. This involved everyone being broken up into teams, provided a list of tasks to complete and items to purchase as well as $100 quetzal (sounds like consol) to buy anything that needed to be purchased. My team consisted of Karen Banfil, Christina Keuper and myself.
Graham and Joanne walked us to the Market Square and told us we had 1 1/2 hours to complete the tasks. We had to do things like buy vegetables, get a shoe shine, get a picture taken with a Police Officer in front of the Police Station, buy a tortilla hot off the grille and eat it, get a picture with a live chicken and pigs head as well as get a hair cut. We also had to find a bridge and get video of team members singing their National anthem. Christina and I attempted to do the National Anthem on the bridge. Our first try was the best but I discovered I had my camera incorrectly set so we didn't capture any video and had to try again. This time Christina and I tried again but kept getting the words wrong.....I gave up and got Karen to try with Christina and they got them right. We did very well with our list but one of the things we missed was a hair cut. We found the shot without a problem but there was a large lineup so we moved on to other things. I did manage to get my picture taken with a pigs head. This activity was a hoot and I think everyone had fun.
After the activity we had a bit of down time before lunch. I went up on the roof and soaked up the sun and read.
We had another great lunch which was beef ribs, rice, bread and fruit.
After lunch we went to a coffee plantation. Karren explained the history of the coffee trade here. She explained how this idea of fair trade coffee has really hurt Guatemala. At one time Guatemala was #2 in the world for coffee exports but with the introduction of Fair Trade coffee they slipped to #9. Many growers reduced crops or stopped growing coffee all together. Here in Guatemala a good wage in the country is $25.00 quetzal a day, or about just under $3.00 our money. Coffee workers get 2 cents a pound. Due to this poor wage many family's would be in the fields picking, this would included the children. Fair Trade coffee means no child labour. The coffee plantation was up high in the mountains. The road up was very steep with huge drops at the side with no shoulders!!!! I have pictures.. :-) After our tour we went back to the house for supper.
We had tortilla's, rice and fruit for supper.
After a little rest we walked to Church. There were many people there. The preacher spoke about us and our long trip. How we came from a land far away with lots of snow. IT was a very lively service with lots of singing and dancing. Les Peters gave a great sermon. One of the key parts for me was when he spoke about the Holy Spirit and repentance. He spoke about how we will go and ask God for forgiveness of our sins and just carry on our sinful way (path). He spoke about how people wonder whey they don't seem to ever feel the Holy Spirit. He said without repentance and changing our path we won't feel the Holy Spirit. He said change our path and we will then feel the Holy Spirit. This was a very hard hitting sermon for me that has made a major change in my life.
The Guatemalan's are so friendly.. They pray like I have never seen before. It is very loud and heartfelt. They have no issues with being loud. :-) Even the Children, while singing scream out the words. No one is afraid of what someone may think. If only we could be that free to express ourselves and to not worry about what others think. These people have so little but have so much more than we do......
God is very much alive here!!!
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