This Pilgrim's Journeys

Writing in my journal in the living room Ahhh. Waking up to Colombian coffee before walking to the corner to buy bread and arepas for breakfast. Sitting on the balcony overlooking the still-sleepy street where a few cats saunter along. Enjoying coffee in the morning on the balcony Home away from home in a Colombian house in Palmira, hosted by a wonderful Colombian woman. The house - we were upstairs That's where my brother and I stayed while visiting our coworker and her mom. They rented out the bottom portion of the house and lived on the top portion. The door from the street opened right into a staircase that turned rather dramatically to go upstairs. The balcony at the top opened into the living/dining room; from there, a tiny piece of hallway with a bathroom to the right and a staircase to the left that went upstairs to the enclosed "backyard." Next was the kitchen and then a small back room and a bedroom to the right. Small, but cozy, and it did ...

It all started with a co-worker asking if she could borrow a suitcase. Two days later, both my brother and I had plane tickets and time off of work for a five-day trip to Colombia, South America. I couldn't believe my brother had volunteered to go with me and actually seemed excited, since I had been trying to get him out of the country for the past five years to no avail. It also felt strange to be going on a trip that wasn't a missions trip. We would be visiting with our coworker while she visited family members in Colombia before bringing her mother back to the US for a month. It had been five years since she had seen her. Less than a month after purchasing the tickets, we made our way to the Philadelphia airport for our American Airlines flight to Cali, Colombia. I wore my usual ensemble for air travel; my brother wore the shirt I had brought him from Thailand and had never worn before. It had been years since I flew American Airlines; usually I flew United if goi...

Seven years of waiting. Seven years...and I finally was on my way to California. More specifically, I was finally going out to a Bethel conference in Redding, CA, by way of San Francisco. Along with my friend Miranda, we were ready for our short four-day adventure October 3-6. I couldn't believe that I could get to Guatemala faster then I could California. Seriously, what is up with that? (At least the way home was a 1/2 hour shorter than the US-Guate flight.) We arrived at San Francisco airport, got our rental car (a much fancier one than either of us owns ourselves), and set the GPS for La Quinta Inn and Suites, Redding, and started driving. The landscape along the highway fascinated me. Such dry, golden-brown hills with dark green trees that stood out like little black dots from a distance and looked out of place up close. When we got to a stretch of very flat land for a good hundred miles at least, varying between dusty dry grass and some sort of tree farms (were they al...

Ugh. My least favorite day - the day we wake up to packed suitcases and a waiting water truck to load them onto. AKA, the day we leave Guatemala. We left very early and got to the airport by 7:15. Thankfully, everything went pretty quick with getting through and we had time to eat and shop and relax. Plane number one; landed in Houston, ate, and went to our gate. Then they changed our gate and our departure time so we had to hang out a little longer. Then, since our flight was so full or something, nine of us got our seats changed - changed to up further, in Economy Plus. Hurray, more leg room! Finally we landed at BWI, grabbed our luggage and loaded onto the bus. I got to my house about 3:15 AM and went right to bed.

Even though it means it's our last day, I always love church in Guatemala! And it never disappoints, because the Spirit is always there. Worship and the sermon were good as always. It's a good thing our translator was chosen to translate that morning, because his English needed a little practice! ;) Haha, also an amusing service! After church, I finally got to see Madelin again, although I can't call her my "little friend" anymore, as she is growing into a beautiful young lady! We also got to see Juan and talk with him a little bit. Me and Madelin Lunch was, as usual on Sundays, at the steak house across the street from the compound. I think the food tastes better every year! It was sooo delicious. Back at the compound we rested a bit and then headed back to Getsemani for some of them to play basketball with the Guatemalan youths while the rest of us hung out. While there it rained a bit, and there was a lovely rainbow!   Dinner was pizza nigh...

Ah yes, our tourist day in bright, lively Antigua. The only disappointing part is that it meant it was Saturday already and our week was almost over. Sigh. Some of the group hiked up to the cross above Antigua; the rest of us walked around and shopped some, etc. Miranda and I headed out to our usual destinations in our usual order, and took our usual pictures of the arch. I got most of my necessary shopping (gifts for people) done before lunch. Lunch was of course at our usual eatery, Restaurante de Fonda la Calle Real, at four different tables. I even got my usual lunch items, with a few variations...delicious as always! Although always too much for me to finish. Our table had an enjoyable time together. My lunch table :)  View from the second floor of the restaurant Lunch! PC: N. S.  After lunch was more shopping at the two larger markets further down, where I finished my list and enjoyed relaxing a bit more than usual. Coffee at & ...

Yum, cold pizza for breakfast (left over from the night before) before we left for the site of a future house for the couple who run Getsemani school. Currently, they were working on the surrounding wall first, so that's what we all chipped in to help work on. Since there were so many of us, we kind of switched in and out to do work. It was a good half day of nailing and trying up wooden boards to pour concrete into; mixing concrete; pouring in the concrete and doing all the necessary parts to make it settle correctly, etc. And of course, we had some lunch in there, too. Some of us took little walks down the dirt street and found beautiful views. By 2:30 we were all cleaned up; we said a prayer over the property and headed back to the compound. Our work finished for the day Supper was a relaxed and enjoyable time of food and fellowship. Worship that evening was so good . Later on as everyone dispersed either to bed, games, or chatter, that was also a good time of fe...