Easter, Communion, Good Bye Fido!

Well its been a busy weekend here in Guatemala.

Friday I got to go to Antigua with the team. We took the brand new 15 passenger Toyota Van. This thing is really nice, or at least it was. On the way to Antigua we were cruising along at about 60mph when out of no where a dog comes running onto the road. Sam only had enough time to take his foot of the gas before he hit the dog with the front right fender. Well that little stray mutt did a couple hundred dollars in damage. He shattered the air filter casing, and the the secondary air intake for the engine. Well it is a relief that the car still ran fine, and that no one was hurt.

The rest of the journey to Antigua was not nearly as event full. We expected to run into all sorts of traffic since it was Good Friday. But we really didn't have any trouble till we actually got into the city. But Antigua was so packed. Catholics here celebrate the death of Christ with these huge processions. They carry this giant floats with figures of Christ 'virgin' Mary, and other 'saints'. The procession then walks through the streets over alfombras which are carpets made out of colored saw dust (pictures on photobucket). But despite all the huge festivities for the death of Christ you would think that their would be HUGE celebrations for his resurrection, nope, nothing. This give you a really good window onto the Idolatry that plagues the Catholic Church.

Besides the massive amount of crowds Antigua was nice. I bought some flip flops, a hat, and some sunglasses in the Market. And I guided a couple of the team members around translating for them. I figure that maybe I should come back next year and hire myself out as tour guide for all the tourist that come down from the states. I also got the meet up with Dana, the guy that I met while I was studying in Antigua. We had a coffee and then spent some time catching up and sharing stories of our ministries.

After we had our fill of Antigua we loaded up into the van and headed to they city where we where staying that night. We stayed in the airport guest house, which is a house that has been converted into a hotel. We had been inside for about 20 minutes when we heard the car alarm going off. Peter looked out the window and said that he saw someone inside the van. Well the door was looked from the inside and needed a key to get out of the hotel. So after about 30 seconds of trying to get out the girl finally came and unlocked the door. So in that 30 seconds this happened. The guy jammed a screwdriver into the door lock, breaking the lock trying to open it (dumb), then he took the screwdriver and broke threw the window on the sliding door. He then opened the door and got in, he took the faceplate for the radio, and then left. So he caused a lot of damage for a faceplate that wont even work without the radio. So Sam and Pete were pretty ticked that on the first trip to the city with the van all this had happened. But the team felt really bad about it too, so they are going to pay for all of the repairs, which is really nice of them.

No much else happened on Friday. We went to a nice dinner for the teams last meal. Then we went back to the hotel and had a debriefing time and a time for the team to share what this trip taught them.

Saturday after seeing the team off Sam and I went to go do some shopping. I went to a mall and bought a new pair of shoes. They were so expensive. They were about double the price that I would have paid in the states. But I wanted a good quality pair of shoes that would last me awhile through whatever I put them through. We got back to Zacapa around 2 and I spent the rest of the day with the Wadells in house one. We celebrated Davids 5th birthday. He got a bike that he just rode around and around the basketball court. And he only wiped out once but got right back up and kept going.

Sunday I spent most of Easter with the house one kids. We made Easter eggs, then had an Easter egg hunt for the little kids. Then they gave Easter presents to the kids. there was even a little present for me! I got a pencil and a stuffed bear. Actually they were for their eldest Son Buddy, but since he is at college they gave them to me. Then we just sat around til about 3 when we went out for Easter dinner. We went to El Establo steak house with all of House of Hope. It was really, really good steak. We even took communion with grape soda and bits of stale bread. Then we came back and watched the Passion of the Christ. It was in Spanish subtitles and since I didn't want to spend the whole time trying to read them I came back up to my house and cleaned. Then Jason came over and we just hung out, and then he spent the night. So overall it was a good Easter away from home.

Your Brother in Christ
-Justin Friel
1st Timothy 4:12