The first weekend

The first weekend here was relaxing. I´m feeling pretty settled in with Elsa and even though I can´t come up with many words to describe everything that I´m doing, we nonetheless have nice conversations at each meal. Maybe feeling a bit overconfident, I committed myself (and Tony) to go to the big (and by ¨big¨I mean ¨huge¨) open-air market in Antigua on Saturday morning to practice my Spanish and possibly buy some stuff. I was overwhelmed by all of the stuff; not just your everyday wares (e.g. clothing, CD´s, etc.), but also produce, meat, and other foodstuffs (the best was the whole chickens cut open to show you that they left all the organs and gizzards inside). I chickend out (no pun intended) and decided that it would be better to have a list of things to look for than to try and just randomly stop and buy something; so we didn´t buy anything that day. Armed with a small list, however, I will be able to head back another day to test not only my Spanish skills but my bargaining skills as well.

Sunday, we enjoyed a beautiful liturgy at La Merced. They had a large youth music group that played very beautifully. After four days of liturgies in Spanish, I began to see why Hispanics have some difficulty when they come to the States. By Sunday I was already beginning to be frustrated in prayer because I couldn´t understand what was being said. True, the Mass is the Mass, but trying to achieve ¨full, conscious, and active participation¨becomes much more difficult when you can´t understand the words that are being said, or the responses you are supposed to give. It will get better as the weeks continue, however, I´m sure.

I continue to just walk around and see different sites in Antigua. There´s a lot to see, for sure. I´m looking forward, however, to possibly getting away from here to a little less ¨touristy¨place soon to see a little more of the native life of Guatemala. We´ll see what next weekend brings. As always, thanks for your continued prayers. Please feel free to send me any prayer requests you have, as long as you don´t mind that I pray for them in Spanish :)