Diving back in...

LOOK: Mom, Dad, Len, and Carrie at breakfast at the Quetzal reserve. This picture is especially for my favorite big brother Mark and all the crap he's been giving me!!!! ;)

School has proven to be somewhat of a "break" after the busyness of Semana Santa, but if you know me at all you know that I never have an abundance of the elusive free time. Here's an update on what's been happening both in and out of the classroom.

1) Freshmen English: I assigned "The Prince and the Pauper" over Semana Santa, and as an assessment I'm having the students write a comparison/contrast paper between the novel and the movie "Freaky Friday" which we watched in class. Mostly, I want the students to examine why the concept of switching roles/places is so rampant in media. One morning in class I started them thinking in this direction by telling my "life story." I told them I was born with a terrible blood disease that would lead straight to my death (insert lots of dramatic details here), but someone offered to give his blood in place of mine, to take my place and give me life. At this point, the students were upset that I lied to them...I never lied though, I was born with sin and without Christ's blood in place of mine, I'd be dead.

2) Middle School Basketball: This is my current greatest disappointment of my time here. I was/am so excited about coaching middle school girls' basketball, and the girls just aren't interested. We have a great group of 6th grade girls who are enthusiastic and hardworking, but we only have six people--four of whom are new to basketball. We're going ahead with it and teaching the girls as much as we can, but it's hard without the possiblity of scrimmaging. I'm learning to rework my expectations to match the reality of what's happened, but I have a really difficult time understanding people who don't LOVE basketball :)

3) Freshmen girls Bible Study: After many roadblocks and issues to work around, I finally have a Bible Study/discipleship group going for this quarter. Six of the ten girls are coming out, which is more than I was expecting! We're using the time to explore a little bit about how Jesus' teachings really play out in the day-to-day life of a freshmen girl. Let me tell you, after leading YL Bible Studies for the past four years, it's a whole different world jumping back into the Christian School Bible study scene. My prayer is that the girls will drop their inhibitions and be real with each other in their struggles, questions, and thoughts.

More to come soon--pictures of Middle School and High School banquet...but I didn't want to overwhelm anyone with too big of a post!

Proession Video

Len and Carrie asked me to post a proessio video...check it out--it's worth the time it takes to upload!

Also...BACK OFF about picture choice. I said that I have many more pictures--I picked the ones that best show what we ALL saw!

Semana Santa (spring break): a photo tour

Semana Santa is over, and I spent a MOST WONDERFUL week with Dad, Mom, Len, and Carrie. (sorry Mark) The first leg of our journey included a trip to the famous Mayan ruins in Tikal, Peten, Guatemala. This was my first trip to the northern part of the country, and the living history was impressive. This is the temple of the Jaguar, the most famous of the Tikal ruins.





As the Mayan empire began to decline (due to climate change), the kings took matters into their own hands and started offering more and more animal and human sacrifices. Since it didn't work, the people lost faith in the kings, and began to move. This is an altar on which humans were sacrificed. It was pretty oppressive to be standing in the very place that someone stood before being offered to an unanswering, unavailable, oh--and not real--god.










We left Tikal and traveled through the Peten to Coban. Our journey included a water taxi over this river. Check the description, according to Moon Traveler's Guide: "Sayache is a rough and tumble kind of town and reports of shoot outs in the street are not uncommon, though security forces were reported to gave gotten at least partial control on the situation in late 2006. Still you may want to limit your time here to that required to cross the Rio La Passion on your way south. The river and surrounding town nowadays serve as a transshipment point for the local cocaine cartels said to operate in this region for some time now. Although they don't tend to get involved with tourist, it certainly adds to the remote lawless frontier atmosphere that seems to permeate this town." Herm and Len actually took a person fairy across without knowing this info...OOPS!



We ended the second leg of our journey in Coban and spent the day at Semuc Champey. Trisha, her friends ANna and Deborah, and I jumped about 30' off the rock on the right and into the river below!


Just one of the beautiful churches we saw along the way. This one is in Coban overlooking the entire city.

Good Friday in Antigua offers an opportunity to gain insight into traditions and faith of Guatemalan Catholics. Processions (which actually started months ago) begin for the day at 5:00 am and continue throughout the whole day. The men wear purple until 3, the time of Jesus' death, then they change to black. One float can weigh up to 3 tons! This is obviously Jesus carrying his cross to his death, with the volcano Agua in the background.





The people spend HOURS preparing carpets--symbolizing the laying of palm branches under Jesus' feet. Some are made of colored saw dust, others (this one) flower petals, and others fruit. It's amazing to see the time and effor they put into preparing for Jesus. Something we Protestants could learn a little from...

At night I went down into the city for more processions...this MASSIVE float portrayed the Grim Reeper pulling a dead Jesus in...it was followed by an empty throne awaiting Jesus' resurrection. Seeing the "face of death" makes me so thankful that for Christians, DEATH IS NOT THE END!!!! He is risen indeed.

I have TONS more pictures and stories, but this offers a glimpse into our experiences and reflections over the past week!

Updates

First, and to some most importantly, here is an update on the race for sweet Guatemalan food in the end of June:

Phyllis: 12 posts

Hannah: 8 posts

Aunt Marlene: 7 posts

Mom, Mark, Aunt Jo, Len and Carrie, Herman: 5 posts

Late starters: Kendra, 2; Bela, 1

Winning by default due to his cute smile and apparent genious is Noah: 1 post :)

Dia de Gozo: This past weekend we had the opportunity to throw a party for children that are currently being helped through the legal process by the International Justice Mission (ijm.org). IJM in Guate focuses on children who suffer sexual abuse and, for various reasons, cannot be heard in court (not enough money or status, no families, etc.). The day went really well--it was fun to see the children playing games, and just as fun to see their parents/guardians playing with them. I was in charge of indoor games, so I made TONS of cupcakes for a cupcake walk, and also set up bobbing for apples, pin the tail on the pig, and Bozo's Buckets. I would love to show pictures, but in order to protect the delicate situations these children are in, IJM asked that we not post pictures. So, if you want to see them you'll have to ask me later. Overall, it truly was a day of joy for these children.

While the day was definitely filled with joy, it was also difficult knowing that each CHILD present knows so much more pain, lonliness, abuse, and despair than many of us will ever know. A reminder that we have a great responsibility to "the least of these."

Avon Run: Here's a good laugh...I ran in the Avon Run against Breast Cancer this past Sunday. Out of 4000 contestants, I took 53rd place in the 5K. I laughed pretty hard at that. The athletic culture for women down here is a little different than in the states, that's for sure!

Sherry, one of my coworkers, and me after the Avon Run. We "went to our church" because it was the closest reliable parking to where the race started.

We're part of another running group that happened to meet on the same Sunday afternoon. This is the view of the city from the apartment we met at.

This is the closest I'll get to a snow peaked mountain this spring break!

Hombres Verdes y el Raton!!!!

The weeks are flying by, and I am constantly amazed at God's faithfulness in day to day life. From energy and wisdom in teaching to little blessings like good coffee and sunshine (well, I guess that's big blessing for Michiganders!), we serve a GOOD God!

A few funny stories from life in Guate: first, the green guys. The cops down here wear BRIGHT NEON green vests--think sixth grade safeties...but green. They set up random road blocks at which they randomly select cars to check. If the car is missing any, again, random item: orange cones, reflectors, insurance, lights, fuzzy dice, whatever, you get a ticket. Let's just say I get nervous whenever the green guys enter my line of vision. I've avoided encounters so far, and hopefully will not ever get randomly selected!

My other current dilemma is the health conscious mouse that is currently living in my house. Ever heard the story, "if you give a mouse a cookie?" Well, our mouse began with avocado, moved to oatmeal, nibbled on some beans, destroyed a few tomatoes, and then moved to our COOKIES--all while avoiding the three bags of poison and trap with the oh so traditional cheese in it. We've only had two sitings...one which consisted of a lot of screaming, running around with brooms, and culminated in our neighbors stopping by with machetes--and the mouse lives on!

FYI: "raton" is used for rat and mouse, and apparently chipmunks, making "Alvin and the Chipmunks" "Alvin y los ratones." Green guys, health conscious mice, Alvin and the Rats, just a normal day in Guate!