Life's an Adventure!: Dream Come True

Wow! I love being here! I keep staring out the windows, daydreaming, realizing that I am living my dream right now! I am amazed at God’s faithfulness!

I have dreamed of being a missionary who teaches English since I was 13 or 14 years old. In the Philippines, I was living my dream, but I couldn’t receive it in the way that I can now. The time I spent and the lessons I learned in the Philippines are allowing me to receive this dream-come-true. And to think- this is only the beginning!!

Yesterday, I went to many different places in Guate (short for Guatemala City). Officer Castillo, Suly and I visited a 3-D relief map of the nation, the park where Guatemala’s Declaration of Independence was signed, a famous cathedral and its surrounding park, and the National Police Station museum. The day ended with a trip to the criminal branch of the police. I taught Castillo and Suly English throughout all of the day’s adventures.

At one point, I needed to exchange money. Castillo drove around the city for a while until he saw someone he recognized. He stopped, rolled down the window, and negotiated a deal. It’s the strangest form of money exchange I’ve ever seen. But it is completely legal and normal here. Through the negotiations, I learned that the people here want one-hundred-dollar-bills. Twenties are used by drug traffickers. So, if anyone wants to visit Guatemala, they need to have big bills to make sure they are not contributing to the drug trade. And, it is ok to exchange money through a car window.

I was out and about so much yesterday that I didn’t get to teach classes in the traditional sense. But today, I did. It was so much fun!!

My class was much smaller than the first class… only 7 students. The students had so much more talk time than when I had 15 students. (The size of the first class.) They learned faster and more in depth than when there were 15. I also had time to ensure the success of each student. We are planning on having class for 2 hours every day. There has been a rumor that this weekend (and tomorrow) will be filled with fun, though. We shall see! The students (and everyone here) is already asking me to stay longer.

It is a good thing I packed everyone’s advice. I am already having to use it. ;-)

Here are pictures from the journey so far... (I am trying to figure out how to use Picassa or some other slide show widget to make viewing easier. Any advice??)

Getting Ready for the Day:

WATCH OUT WORLD! HERE I COME!

At the Police Museum

This cross and its Cathedral survived a fire when nothing else did. The following pictures are of the Cathedral and the park surrounding it.

The flowers were beautiful, but actually didn't have any smell.

Look at the size of those vines!!

Somehow, I turned into a model....

This a 3-D relief map of the country of Guatemala. It was made by this guy who went out and measured every mountain and valley, traveling on a mule. He brought the information back to create this map. It took 5-10 years to create it.