I Should Have Worn Sunscreen...

...But I didn't, so now I'm a lobster. My legs and chest are super sunburned. And they hurt. Back up. Ok, I'm in NC visiting my aunt and uncle, and they live near the beach....and they took me. It was beautiful. I love the beach. I grew up going to the beach. It was a retreat for my family, a place where we could go to relax and have a good time. A place where we found rest.

The beach to me is amazing because it is one of the things in nature that God has given us to reflect His majesty. It represents the end of a continent...how God truly separated water from land when He created the Earth. It is a gem He has given us to enjoy and take care of.

Not only is there the huge ocean and all the sand on the shore...but I have never seen the stars more clearly and beautifully than when I am at the beach...except at this one place in Guatemala I went with my class in high school....another story completely. So at the beach I always contemplate the beauty of God's creation and watching the stars go by and hearing the ocean makes me wonder a lot of things. But I will leave those for a later post...if at all.

So...I'm really sunburned and it hurts. And no I don't want skin cancer.

Packing up my life...

...yet again. I feel like I've spent almost one fourth of my life packing it up in boxes and suitcases to be moved to another country. This time it's different, though. This time I'm doing it all on my own, and I'm not moving with my family. This time I decided (well God decided) to make the move and I can't wait.

Change and transition are a big deal, and I feel as though I'm going through it already. I think the transition process starts when one makes the decision to transition and announces it to those around them...and the transition process not only happens to the person in transition, but also to those closest to them.

So during this time of transition, I know that not only is this time for me, but also for my roommates (who are in transition themselves).

I really don't know what I'm trying to say here, just that I'm really feeling the pressure these days. I have to turn in my key to the DBU apartments tomorrow and I think that will be sad. That apartment has been my home for 3 years, my roommates have been my sisters, and I just don't see how we are all doing this.

I know what's coming is huge...and it's amazing and I can't wait for it. I can't wait to experience a culture I've never experienced before. I can't wait to learn a language I've hardly heard spoken. I can't wait to see with my own eyes places most people only hear about in movies and on the internet. I'm so excited about what God is going to teach me in the next season of my life. I know sometimes it will be hard. I'll miss my family terribly, but the Lord will be my family and my peace.

The End of the Earth and then a Little Farther

This weekend I decided to go visit with a family that my parents have worked with for about 15 years. They live in the city that we lived in part time while we also lived in the village. I went with them to the village they have served in, which is not far from our village. Hence the title of this post..."the end of the earth and then a little farther" is how those of us who have been out there describe how you get there. I hope that makes sense.

The road to get to these parts of Guatemala used to be dirt. Now they are paved. But the people are still the same. Significant differences are that there are more concrete houses on this road than there used to be. It used to all be adobe houses...sparsely spaced some with kilometers in between. Now there are cement houses every few hundred meters. This is the result of family members going to the States and sending back money for their homes to be built.

I will confess, I almost cried on this road this weekend just wondering how the little girl that grew up in that part of the world became the young lady I am today headed to somewhere completely different. I'm thankful for that piece of history in my life simply because it is so unique. I really am in awe of the childhood I had...but thankful for where the Lord has brought me.

Here are a few pictures...check them out for yourself...

Western Guatemala Country Side....a.k.a. the End of the Earth...

...And then some. The sign pointing to the turnoff to "my" village.

Tajumulco Volcano...my village is in the valley on the skirts of this volcano down the right side of it. The top of this volcano is also the highest point in Central America. One of my dreams is to climb it. Maybe one day I will climb "my" mountain.

Well, that's all for now. Maybe later I'll post a little bit about my Sunday morning experience at a Guatemalan Country Quinceañera party.

Today I Went to the Dentist...

...but I went to the eye doctor too. Which was good because I needed to get an eye exam anyway since it had been four years.

But the Dentist. Yes, the Dentist. He cleaned my teeth and it didn't hurt. This is really the best dentist of my life. I've been going to him for longer than any other dentist I've ever gone to. And I have to come to Guatemala to go to the dentist.

Two years ago this dentist took out my wisdom teeth. In his dental chair. With only anesthesia and laughing gas. I heard every crack and felt every ounce of pressure he put on those wisdom teeth. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. Plus that the whole cost of my trip down here AND the wisdom teeth extraction was probably less than my co-pay would have been had I had it done in the States. Oh, and any medical stuff we get done on the field is reimbursed 100%.

So this dentist is highly educated in Guatemla, the US, and Europe. Oh and when he took out my wisdom teeth they had just finished making Apocalypto. And he told me all about how he was good friends with Mel Gibson and the guy that produced Apocalypto. That's how awesome this dentist is.

I think I mostly like him because he's way better than the dentist we used to go to when I was little. She was a "pediatric dentist" but she was MEAN. Yeah, I ate a lot of candy so I had a lot of cavities. A lot. Like one time I had 8 cavities at the same time. That's how much candy I ate. Don't blame my parents, it's not their fault. I probably ate twice as much candy as they thought I did. So this mean old lady dentist never gave me enough anesthesia. So I cried and screamed because it hurt when she had to deal with my cavities. In turn, she told me how bad I was. I probably bit her a few times. I hope I did. She was mean because she never gave me enough anesthesia.

Oh, and then, she would ask me if I wanted strawberry flouride or orange flouride. I always asked for strawberry, but she gave me orange EVERY SINGLE TIME. I told you she was mean.

And I think some of the cavities were her fault because no matter how bad she told me I was while she was working on my teeth, or how much nasty orange flouride she gave me, I always managed to get a sucker at the end of it all. So it's all her fault.

Anyway, so now my dentist is super nice. Although, I did figure out later after going to the mean old lady dentist when I was little, that I am extra sensitive to the drilling so every dentist always has to give me twice as much anesthesia because the normal amount doesn't work. But it was still the mean old lady dentist's fault.

A Little Bit of Nothing

So I caught something. And now I'm taking antibiotics. A sinus infection or something. Which I guess I didn't really catch if that's what it is since those usually develop out of some kind of allergy. I never thought I'd say I had an allergy in Guatemala. Oh well. Such is life.

My mom and I have done some walking around town on errands and browsing in cute stores and at the market.

Oh, the other day we went into the real market, not the tourist market, and the power was out all over town. Including in the market. The real market in Antigua is like a maze of hallways with shops. Some of the hallways are naturally litten (is that a word?) and some are litten by electricity. Well when the power is out, it makes for some dark hallways. So we walked around the market when the power was out in dark hallways. It was mostly fun, but a little bit creepy. Everyone had candles lit or something so it was't too bad, but there were some super dark spots. That was quite an adventure, to say the least.

Guatemala is well into rainy season, so the rains come every afternoon. It's nice that the house is not insulated and we actually can hear the rain because that makes for some relaxing natural noise. Like one of those noisemakers, except its real. We don't have a tin roof, though, which is fine because then it would be really loud, but the clay tile on the roof makes some nice sound bytes.

Our dog, Clifford, who is a miniature daschund that is brown, has not been feeling well lately. He'll 11 years old which is 77 in doggy years. He has arthritis, and it's worse in the rainy season. So as much as I like the rain, it would be nice if my dog felt better, but he doesn't. Oh well. So he has arthritis really bad and pretty much just lays around all day now. He used to be so spunky and wouldn't stop chasing the tennis ball for anything. It was his job. I guess you could say he's retired now. I think my parents are going to have to put him down soon. Sad, but we don't want him to be in pain forever. It's ok.

Well I'm going to enjoy my hot chocolate and the rain on the roof a little bit. Thanks for stopping by!

New Blog!

Just wanted to let everyone know that Ill still be posting more general stuff here at antiguaang.blogspot.com, but for my prayer updates as I head to Romania and posts related to my time there, I will be posting at 2yearsinromania.blogspot.com.

So if you subscribe to this blog, dont unsubscribe, just add the other one too!

Love you all!

I'm Free!

I've been having a great time at home. It was fun last week catching up with my friend, Keeley, who I hadn't seen in over a year. We still know how to have fun together and try our best to stay out of trouble. No, really. The only time we've ever gotten in trouble together is when we made marshmallow cream with our hands and actual marshmallows and got it all over eachother. We were 20. Haha.

Anyway, this visit has been amazing. I couldn't have asked for better closure to this chapter in my life as well as some past chapters. An answer to prayer is that my ties to this town are slowly dwindling. People move on, and just about all I have left here is my parents and somewhat of a painful past. Part of this realization came to me yesterday. I was thinking about running into the guy that I dated my senior year in high school and first semester and a half of college in the street the other day. He's now in Canada getting married this weekend. I pray the Lord's blessings on his marriage. My point is that where I was nervous about seeing him at all, for fear of what might make me wish for my past, I should not have been nervous at all. The Lord took away all feelings for him more than friendship, acquaintance, even...brotherly love. I was surprised that I was fine after talking to him for five minutes. So my painful past is gone. I have no desire to return to it. There was no feeling there apart from what I said before. Praise God.

My freshman year, I did Breaking Free with Amanda and some other college girls in our church. That study, along with clarification from God on His calling on my life is what led me to end the relationship. But I can't say that I was ever free from it until now. I can honestly say that now more than three years later, I've finally broken free from that past. God has been so good to me.

And all this has come to me at a time when people around me, friends, are hurting from broken relationships. I'm thankful that the Lord has kept me from heartache this whole time, and pray that He continues to do so.

Thank you, Lord, for being so Good to me.