MY FINAL DAY

This is it, my last day here. I leave early in the morning. Susy is going to take me to the airport. This morning has been laid back, waiting for Susy to get ready and then we are going into Antigua. Finally got off for Antigua. Susy, Kalissa, Olga, and I went. Did a couple of errands and then decided to go to the Epicure restaurant again like we did last Saturday, Kalissa had never been there. I got to see Clara and Faostina who were selling at the maket across the street from the restaurant and say goodbye which was nice. The food was good and we enjoyed the time together. Then Susy thought of a place she knew of that is a coffee shop with a delicatessent. It turned out to be a great place. It had different speciality coffee drinks and we all got something different and they were all good and it was fun. By the time we got back to the base it was 5:30 already and Dessie had prepared dinner and had it ready. Karin Bedford stopped bye to say goodbye which was nice and then Susy, Olga, and I went into town for Soul Patrol. I saw Lea and her daughters and said goodbye to them. it has been another very good day. When we got back I had to start packing. I am about done and ready to leave at 5:30 in the morning so I will say goodnight.

RESTAURANTE EL TENEDOR

Yesterday morning we were up and off to pick up Olga's parents to go out to breakfast at a restaurant called El Tenedor. It's up the mountain a ways and is a beautiful place with very different artwork around the grounds. It has amazing views of all the volcanos and the city of Antigua. It was a beautiful morning, a beautiful place, great food, and an awesome time of fellowship with great people. There was Susy, Kalissa, Olga, her mom and dad, and me. I really enjoyed it. We got back to the base just in time to hurry and get some lunch ready for those here at the base. We were still full from breakfast and didn't want lunch. At 2:00 Olga and I took the bus into the market and met Karin Bedford. She was doing her maket shopping and had told me of a place in the market where a lady she knew sold roasted macadamia nuts. I have never seen any macadamia nuts roasted like that and they are different but kind of tasty in their own way so I got some. After dinner we cleaned up and I did some prep with Susy about what I would say at the Pastors breakfast this morning. Susy was in charge of it and had asked Olga and I to talk and Susy interpreted for me. I got to bed late and then we were up and going at 7:30 this morning getting ready for the Pastor's Breakfast. I helped in the kitchen until we got everyone served. It was waffles, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, tortillas, orange juice and coffee. It turned out nice and Susy did a great job with the presentation. After it was all over and the final cleanup was done we were all exhausted and went to our rooms to rest. Kalissa made some "monkey bread" and after dinner we went over to Bri and Aaron's to see the new apartment they had recently moved into. We took the monkey bread (which turned out very good) and had coffee and visited for a while. Their place was pretty nice. When we came back Susy made popcorn and we watched a movie.

3 DECEMBER 2014

Today is Wednesday and I want to catch up on the week so far. On Sunday Susy, Olga, and I went to church and then afterwards we went to the Macadamia Nut Farm to eat. I had macadamia nut pancakes and they were delicious as usual. We stayed for a while and read and relaxed, it's beautiful there. Monday Olga and I took the bus into town and went to the park to see if we could find my friend Maria who sells near there but we didn't see her so we went to MacDonalds. I had a piece of Tarimusu cake and a latte and enjoyed them both. Then Monday night was church as El Camino. Tuesday afternoon Olga and I went into Antigua in the bus to find Clara Luz because I was going to buy something from her. We found her and then we found Maria also. Maria is kind of a loner and often seems sad but Clara is outgoing. I got Maria to sit down with Clara and Olga and Olga told then stuff about our DTS and working with YWAM. They seemed to really enjoy Olga's stories and we had a great afternoon. Tuesday night after dinner Kalissa, Susy, Olga, and I watched the movie Christmas with the Cranks. It was a fun evening. Now that brings me up to today which has been a big day. First thing this morning we did some work here at the base in preparation for the "Pastors Breakfast" they are going to have here on Friday morning. my job was to paint a wall. We had lunch and then all of us went over to a ladies house, Tonya a friend of Susy's, and played cards. There were eight of us and we had a good time. Came back to the base and rested a while while Susy did kids club and then we drove into Antigua to find Maria. We found her and I had a gift I brought to give to her. Susy was able to talk with her and we found out a little about her life. We prayed with her and I am thankful I had was able to connect with her. After that we went to the Wednesday night Bible Study and then finally home to get some dinner. Now I am going to bed.

HAPPENINGS LAST WEEK

Well I have not been a very good blogger this trip, I keep getting behind the curve. I will try to capture the highlights of last weeks happenings. On Monday we were still in Monterrico so Tuesday November 25th Susy and some others were driving into Antigua so I caught a ride with them and went to MacDonalds, one of my favorite places here and had a latte. Hung out there for a while and then took the bus back to help Kalissa get lunch ready. Wednesday I only remember driving into Antigua for the Bible Study and we stopped at the bakery Dona Louisa's and got some yogurt and bagels to have here for breakfast. Thursday was Thanksgiving. There is a store called PriceSmart that is like a Costcos that they have around Central America. The closest one is in Guatrmala City. Kalissa needed to stock up on things for here at the base for a big group of 16 that is coming in a couple of weeks. So a few of us headed out in the van first thing in the morning for PriceSmart. It was a pretty good trip but we got back just in time to head over to Mark and Dayle's house for thanksgiving dinner. Dayle is a good cook and she had prepared a good Thanksgiving meal. Susy, Olga, and I drove over separate because Susy had to leave early. I left with Susy and came back to the base and had a few hours to relax and have some downtime to myself. I enjoyed that. Then later that night Kalissa, Susy, and I watched the second hunger games movie on DVD because we were going the next day to see the new one. Olga had left to go over to her sisters and spend the night. Friday morning Susy, Kalissa, and I went into Antigua to Camino Church to the women's Bible Study they have there. It was pretty interesting. It's a good group of women who attend, I enjoyed it. About 4 in the afternoon we left to drive into Guatemala City to Oakland Mall that has a theater that shows movies in 4D and watched the new Hunger Games movie. It was good and the 4D was interesting. The crazy part was the traffic driving into the city. The traffic was totally unbelievable it was sooooo bad. It took us over 3 hours to make a drive that should have been less than one hour. Saturday Susy, Olga, and I drove into Antigua. We took Olga to the Eye doctors to have her eyes checked and she does need glasses. After that we went over to the small market area they have on Saturday and Sunday where Clara and Faostina both go and sell and I saw Faostina for the first time this trip. It was good to see her. Across the street from where we were is a restaurant and deli called Epicure. We went in and ate and the food was very good, I liked it. Saturday night we came into town for Soul Patrol. I saw Faostina again and Susy and I talked to her. I enjoyed that. Sunday night we came back in for Soul Patrol and it was a good night again. I went into Cafe Baristta and had some food for the first time this trip and it was good. That was my week in a nutshell.

GREAT FOOD & DRIVING BACK

We made it back safely, thank you Jesus. It was a different driver and he was much better but the van was once again totally full which I don't like. The Monterrico beach experience was good and like most things in Guatemala "interesting". It's a small, funky, Guatemalan town with the main road into town being paved but a lot of the side streets were dirt. The two main Hotels that I am aware of that are right there on the beach are both on dirt roads and they do not fall into the category of four or five star hotels but they fit right in. It is a beautiful area. We ate one main meal each day for three days. The first two days we walked down to Johnny's Place and ate there and both days the food was very good, way better than I would expect from what the Hotel was like. Then today we ate at our hotel and the same thing, the food was very good. I ate shrimp every day and every time it was delicious. We ate breakfast at our hotel Sunday and Monday mornings and it was good also. Well besides the great food, the beauty of the ocean and the area, I was blessed to have had awesome company. I couldn't have three better people to spend time with than Susy, Kalissa, and Olga.

MONTERRICO - DAY TWO

Beautiful morning. Got some coffee and went for a short walk on the beach. The beach here does not have many treasures for me to find. I did find some rocks that Susy said are pumice stones which I find pretty cool and I plan on using them. Then we had breakfast which was pretty good and played ping pong. Now back to are room with the air conditioner which feels great. On my first day blog I ended by saying I didn't remember what I had done the end of that first week. I don't know how I forgot because on Thursday, Friday, and Half day Saturday Susy, Olga, and I went to a conference in Santa Lucia Millas Altas on "The Father Heart Of God". It was put on by a church from Houston Texas called Catch the Fire Houston that a missionary couple Denny and Phyllis Scheminske who had ministered here in Guatemala for 5 years now attend. I enjoyed it and it was a good conference. Then that Saturday afternoon Eder, Carolina, Emma, Renzo, Kalissa, Susy, Olga, and I headed out for Lake Atitlan where they were planning to talk to some Pastors and share in churches about YWAM and a DTS they wanted to do there in the fall. Last night I couldn't get the Internet to work so I will finish this up this morning. We came here Saturday morning and it is now Monday morning and we leave this afternoon. The weather has been beautiful. It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is in three days when I am sitting here on the beach sweating. We walked back over to Johnny's Place for lunch yesterday afternoon. It was very good once again. Afterwards though we went to get some Italian Gelato at a place that was way down the beach. We started walking and walked and walked, I felt like I walked off every calorie I had just eaten. It was exhausting and hot with the sun beating down on us. It really was Italian, the guy running the place was from Sicily. It turned out to be good even though I felt like it was torture to get there. Walking back to the hotel wasn't as bad, we went up to the road and out of the sun which was better. This morning we have been outside looking at the ocean, relaxing, and having breakfast. Life is good, God is good and He has been very gracious to us in giving us this time together.

MONTERRICO - DAY ONE

I am going to jump past what I did this past week to write about what I am currently doing. I left this morning with Kalissa, Susy, and Olga on a shuttle for the black sand beaches of the Guatemalan pacific coast to a town called Monterrico. i did not like the shuttle van driver. He drove way too fast most of the time and it was pretty terrifying for me. Praise the Lord we arrived safely! I enjoy seeing the country side and driving through small towns in Guatemala. The scenery is always beautiful and the towns I find interesting. They are different and yet almost the same. There seems to be only 2 hotels right here on the ocean, one called Jonny's Place and the other Hotel Delfin. I talked with people who had stayed at both places and we chose Hotel Delfin. The town is pretty small and real typical, once off the main road into town the roads are dirt. Both hotels are real mediocre but they are on the ocean and I am happy with our room. Most rooms here do not have airconditioning but we got one that does and I am very thankful for that. OutSide is pretty hot and muggy and our room feels very nice and comfortable. We got here at 10:30 a.m. And couldn't check into our room until one so we walked down the road to Johnny's Place because I was told they had good seveiche and the food was pretty good. Now I have never had seveiche but I have been wanting to try it. When we went to order I chickened out and only Susy ordered it, she has eaten it before and likes it, and I said I would try hers to see if I liked it. It was good and Susy said its the best she has ever had. I ordered nachos and shrimp tacos, Olga ordered pizza, and Kalissa had some battered and fried fish. We all tried everything and the food was surprisingly very good. I would like to go back there tomorrow. We checked into our room and then rested for a while, it had gotten pretty warm outside. Later Susy and I walked down the street and got some icecream which was good and then we went out to the beach to watch the sunset and just hung out there for quite a while. Now it's bed time and it has been a good day.