Saturday, April 21, 2007

Semana Santa and beyond

So Jason and I headed over to Guatemala for Holy Week to visit my cousin and his family. It was our first time visiting a neighboring country to Honduras (although we have been to pretty much every part of Honduras), so it was interesting noticing the differences between the two cultures. We spent the week just hanging out with Brian and Jenny, and their two daughters- Ellie (4) and Lena (9 weeks). They are in the process of adopting Lena, which is why they are in Guatemala now. They live in Antigua, which is a small, touristy town outside of Guatemala City, and it is a huge destination for Semana Santa. Tons of people from all over Central America go there as sort of a Catholic pilgrimage and participate in Processions of icons around the city. It was fun just to participate in the general atmosphere of the place and to see the processions and the carpets (alfombras) that they make out of sawdust. One day we went on a day trip and hiked an active volcano that is close by. We got within 10 meters of a river of lava! It was amazing. We got up to the top when it was getting dark, so everything was glowing! If you want to see pictures from the trip, click here (I'll put up pictures from the volcano soon).

Recently, I've been playing a lot of guitar at church, which takes a lot of time, but I've had some great experiences. A couple of weeks ago, our church worship band opened up for a really well know Latin Christian singer in front of over 4000 people. We just put out a CD of original worship songs that our music pastor wrote, so we played songs from that. People really enjoyed it and we even got an encore as the opening band! Besides that, I've been playing at the church for regular services and I'm starting to play in another rock band with some teachers from another school. Right now we're working on getting some shows set up at different clubs around before summer comes.

Thursday I got another haircut- the first since my students shaved my head last fall. I decided to go with something distinctively Latin, so I got a faux-hawk/mullet type haircut. I think it turned out fairly well. Check out the pics:





The major thing that is on my mind right now, though, is the decsion about next year. I have several options that I'm thinking through and several doors that have been closed recently. I might move back to the States and do some sort of construction while I continue to figure out what direction to head in life (maybe Wheaton, Wichita or Tulsa). Or I might stay here and teach another year. People would really like for me to stay here, but I have kind of decided that teaching isn't what I want to do with the rest of my life... so I'm not sure whether it would be the best career move. But it is a great ministry (that i get paid to do) and I could continue to learn Spanish and enjoy living in another country. So I would really appreciate all of your prayers while I try to decide where God would have me next.
God's peace to all of you.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Off on another trip

I don't have much time to write, but I wanted to update you guys a little bit. I have been REALLY busy recently- we had the teacher's retreat, then Nathan came, then we went on a three day field trip around the country, then grades were due, we parent teacher conferences and now we have the whole week off! It is for Semana Santa(Holy Week) and so Jason and I are leaving tonight on another trip. My cousin, Brian White, is living in Antigua,Guatemala for the next six months and so we are going to visit him for the week. We're taking an overnight bus tonight- it leaves at 10PM and gets in at 11AM the next morning. So it could be interesting. Right now we are going to watch a futbol (soccer) game at the National Stadium. One of the local teams from Tegus is playing (Olympia), so we're going with some friends. I'll keep you updated...