This last week was Holy Week which is a week highly revered here in Guatemala as well it should be as it is a commemoration of what Christ has suffered for us. The only thing sad we experience each year is that all of the emphasis is on Jesus's suffering and there is not much emphasis on the miracle of His resurrection. For many the weeks reflection bascially ends on Good Friday and then the remainder of the weekend is more focused on vacationing during which time the pilgramage is to the beach. Here is a picture of one of the beaches. Not sure I would find much fun in that, but others wonder why would anyone want to golf!
There are some more articles and pictures in the local paper.
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2008/marzo/23/index.html
As Lisa is an intern, she did not get the week off as other medical school students; however, she did get off early on Wednesday and then went on call on Thursday. The good in this is that she got off early Friday and then had the remainder of the weekend off. Thus, we decided to pamper ourselves and stay at a hotel with a pool Friday and Saturday night. We also got to enjoy the pasttime of channel surfing which we are glad we do not get to enjoy all of the time. One of the best decisions I think we have made is not having cable. It has allowed us to get much closer in our relationship with each other and allowed more time for reading, etc. Now we do get bored sometimes but living in Guatemala that is a good thing as life is a little slower in some ways and that has been a good thing. Then of course we do still need our fix of Law and Order which we have some DVD's of. Not sure why we are hooked on a show about criminal activity but we are. :)
Recent news - we purchased a different vehicle. The Suzuki is great but is just kind of small for traveling, especially when we have groups in town. So we purchased a 1999 Nissan Pathfinder that does not look to beat up and is in pretty good condition. So far we just put some routine maintenance into it and it runs great and the mechanics are giving it a thumbs up so we will continue to pray that it runs good. You just never know purchasing a used vehicle, especially here since most are wrecked vehicles brought from the states to here. We will continue to use the Suzuki here in the city as it is awesome for the city - small, can park anywhere and lives up to its name of "buggie, buggie". The students that drove it for a month on the back roads of Chichi would probably not think of it much as a buggie buggie! More bumpy, bumpy! Plentyo f headaches caused from crushing your skull on the ceiling of the jeep when hitting a big bump. Once we leave the city we will sell it which will be a sad day.
Yesterday I headed to Chichi for a visit. The house still stands and it does not appear anyone is trying to breakin - great news! I had a chance to visit with everyone Monday and Tuesday which was great. The fact of being withdrawn continues to be the hardest part of the time in the city. Everyone in Chichi seems to be doing well and the clinic ministries continue to grow in most areas. Today was the 3rd class for all of the volunteer health promoters. We have now clocked about 10 hours of training in different topics such as when to go to the hospital, basic first aide, have to give an injection, emergency preparedness, medicines, etc. Today the topic with dentistry taught by Marcos Lux. I did not get to be part of the class as I was trying to rush what I needed to do and then head back to the city, but they had a good turn out with about 15-20 promoters. As we mentioned blessed, we still cannot explain how blessed we are to be working with this group of people.
Sheri returned from the US today after a week of vacation and everyone starts clinics tomorrow. Monday we also had clinic in Lemoa and the clinic continues to grow providing more oppurtunities to share with those who visit us. We now have some "regulars" who we also get to see improvements in their lives. Marcos had a visit from a local school the other day to perform a dental exam on each student and make recommendations for the parents.
We want to thank each person who follows our blogs and who continues to keep us in your prayers. Blessings and grace continue to abound in our lives and we are truly grateful. God bless.
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