Trip to Guatemala

We had the privilege of going to Guatemala over Palm Sunday weekend to visit the only church our group has there.  The pastor is from Honduras and was sent there to pastor the church.  He married a Guatemalan wife and now they have a 2 year old daughter.  They were actually here in Honduras visiting family so our family and their family all piled into our double cab pickup for a LONGGGGGGG ride to Amatitlan, Guatemala.  Not only was it no fun having 3 kids to entertain with no carseats to contain them, but it took us 13 hours from the time we left San Pedro until we arrived at their house.  It was a very exhausting day but it made them very happy that we took the effort to visit them.

(Crossing the border into Guatemala)

(Cattle crossing on the main and only highway.)

Except for being exhausting, the trip went well UNTIL we got to Guatemala city.  It seems there is no direct route to get through the city and if you don’t know your way through, tough luck.  The pastor only knew it by the bus routes so he proceeded to get us quite lost at 8:00 at night.  He finally got out to get directions and got the bright idea to get a taxi driver to lead us where we needed to go.  But the problem was that he also needed to ride with the taxi driver.  Our cell phone did not work there so we had no communication in the middle of the busy, busy city.  The pastor told us, “Stay close and don’t let anyone in between us.”  Yeah right!   If you could have seen the way people were driving you wouldn’t wonder why I was instantly fearful.  So, Steve learned how to drive like a city taxi cab driver!  He whipped in and out of traffic, cutting people off and blowing his horn, staying right on the bumper of the taxi.  And his dear wife was in the back seat holding on to my kids as tight as I could, praying up a storm, and biting my tongue.  Thank the Lord, He helped us through and we found our way out of the city and on our way to the pastors house.  I was able to get a picture of the cabs and the city on another day.

We had told the pastor that we would stay in a motel for two reasons – 1. The last time we stayed there, the four of us were given a lumpy double bed to sleep on in a stuffy hot bedroom and we didn’t get any sleep. 2. When they came to visit in Honduras they didn’t know that we would be going back with them so I knew there was no way the wife had the house prepared for us and I didn’t want to make it difficult on her.  But after an hour trek around the tiny town, there were no rooms to be rented.  So, we went back to their house, and she cleared out the same tiny stuffy room and gave us the same lumpy mattress to sleep on.  But, this time I was prepared.  We had taken a mattress for the kids, sheets for the beds (they have no sheets), and a fan.  Thank the Lord the weather was a little cooler this time, and the Lord helped us to get some sleep.  But it was a rough couple of nights.

On Palm Sunday we visited another church in the area and then had service back with the Pastor that evening.  They hold the service on the front porch of their rented house.  Not too many people came but they were thrilled to have us there.

(This is not a very clear picture, but this is the pastor, Franklin, and his little girl, Priscilla, looking out the door of their house. The girl in the back is a neighbor.)

My task for the service was to play the old dusty keyboard that they drug out from somewhere and to lead the singing – in SPANISH. Yikes!  But the Lord helped and I was even able to make some comments between the songs.  It was amazing to myself to see the difference in my Spanish from when we were there a year ago and I had to do the same thing, but without being able to say too much.   I guess I’m learning something!

After service Irma, the pastor’s wife made tortillas and refried beans to make Baleadas – Honduran food that she knows her husband loves. A lady from the church was helping her.

On the way home we went by Jalapa, where EFM has the mission headquarters in Guatemala.  We were able to spend time with James and Rachel Rickenbach and tour their ACE school.  The road getting there made me quite nervous as we followed it up the winding mountain.  Of course there were no guardrails!

(EFM’s school)

(Daniel enjoying some homemade granola at the apartment in Jalapa where they let us stay overnight. )

The end of the story is that it took us 3 days to get home.  We left Amatitlan on Monday, earlier than we had planned because Daniel was sick with a fever.  We stopped at Jalapa and left there late Tuesday morning.  We got to the border of Honduras/Guatemala (only 2 hours from home) only to find out that it had just closed (6 p.m.) and we could not pass through until morning.  So we had to go back to a nearby town and get a motel.  We finally got home around noon on Wednesday after stopping by the coast for a few minutes to see the ocean.  I felt like we had been gone for 2 weeks and was so glad to see “home” again.  But, we thank the Lord for the privilege to get out of our comfort zone and minister for His glory!