Even though Thanksgiving isn't a holiday in Guatemala, our school is generously allowing us to miss classes Thursday and Friday without having to make up the hours. So, we are meeting up with a bunch of other IMB people at a house near Lago Atitlan. (I understand this lake is beautiful but toxic, so I guess I won't be packing my swimsuit for this trip.) So, that makes this a 3-day school week. In reality, though, the week has been pretty long for me.
Sunday my friend Audra and I attended a baptism with my host family. My host dad's sister's daughter's baby was being baptized in a Catholic mass in Antigua. After the mass, well over a hundred friends and family squeezed into a rented bus for the drive up the mountain to the indigenous village of Santa Maria de Jesus for the fiesta. The family has very little, but they went to great effort to host a nice party. They had emptied out one of their 2 rooms to fill it with tables for serving dinner and had set up a bunch of plastic chairs outside for the rest of the guests. They had even fixed up walls of sagebrush to provide shade around the yard. I can't imagine the hours the women must have spent preparing the special dish of pepian and making thousands of torillas. They also served rum and Coke. Every time another round of rum was offered and Audra and I politely declined, my host mom felt the need to explain that our religion didn't allow us to drink. Of all of the party guests, I had the honor of being seated next to an elderly drunk man who kept pulling on my arm and talking to me. The fact that I couldn't understand a word he said didn't deter him from continuing to try. It was definitely an experience!
Last week ended with plans for me to take a test this Tuesday afternoon. (Our school has 2 books that they use for teaching Spanish, and to move from the first to the second you have to pass a 2 hour written test.) Imagine my surprise Monday morning when I get to school and our director Benjamin tells me that my test has been arranged for THAT afternoon! Monday morning my tutor Miguel worked hard to help me review and then encouraged me to be calm as I entered the test that afternoon. Then he read Phil. 4:13 to me and promised to pray for me at 2:00. I had to rush home after class ended at noon and tell my host mom that I couldn't wait until our normal 1 pm lunch time because I had to be in Antigua at 2 for the test. She hurried to cook and I ate quickly and ran off to catch a bus.
At that point, my stomach was beginning to feel a little upset. By the time my test ended at 4, I had cold chills and was extremely sick to my stomach. I didn't eat anything for the next 24 hours, and then my host mom kindly prepared very mild food for me (like vegetables WITHOUT fat added! and then soup for the next meal). My stomach is still unsteady but improving. Hopefully it won't be a problem on the 2-3 hour drive to the lake tomorrow morning or during our Thanksgiving dinner.
The good news is that I passed my test and officially started book 2 this morning!
Have a great Thanksgiving with family/friends, and remember to truly give thanks to the One who gave us everything!
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