Last few Days in Guatemala

Today is our last day in Antigua and our last day of class! YAY! Tonight at the school we are having a big fiesta with our families and teachers. Tomorrow we are going to Lake Atitlan, you should google the pictures cause this place is AMAZING! Our hotel is called Posada de Santiago and is one of the really nice ones on the Lake. Basically we are going to be spoiled and love every second of it!
Also I am coming home Tuesday! Im super excited! I have really enjoyed my time here but ha now that home is so close I am ready! Things are going to be very different ha but I cant wait to see everyone!
Please pray for safe travel to the Lake and coming home
I love yall! Have a great weekend!
I think all of you should read Isaiah 43 i have been really encouraged by it lately and it is incredible!

Wanna take a class with me?!

I decided to take step aerobics on Tuesday and Thursday from 340-430. It says its restricted but you can sign up anyway! I think it would be really fun and I would love to take a class with any of you!! Let me know if you sign up! Please do it!
And Monterrico was amazing!!

There is a lot going on!

Well i have been in Guatemala for 3 and a half weeks now and I am getting used to my life here. I really enjoy Antigua, its a beautiful city and has a lot a character! Last friday night was the founders day ha hilarious i must say and by far my favorite day thus far! We woke up about 9 went out about 10 to walk around and hang out, class from 2-6 then went out to dinner. I love going out to dinner, because i really like a change in the food every now and then. Anyway then we went to this movie cafe, which is awesome they play movies in english with spanish subtitles but today was Fight Club and i was not interested, for like an hour. After Maddy, our friends Elise and Patrick decided to have dessert- cheesecake and coffee and talk. The park is always a hoppin place at night but it was packed tonight! then went to park sat and listened to this concert in spanish. HILARIOUS ha 2 of our friends walked up and wanted to dance so we made our way to the front row and danced for like 30 mins to music none of us understood haha and loved every second. It was a great night and really fun to explore the city at night it is completely different! Saturday went to Honduras it was great. Things that happen ha a long ride, our bus broke down- Africa boys sound familiar?, men with large guns, we went to mayan ruins and they were incredible! and crazy big, Copan is a very interesting city but our hotel was beautiful! I have great pictures and stories to tell yall about good ole Copan.
I learned how to say hilarious in spanish its divertidísimo! and of course i say it all the time. My spanish teachers is awesome and we laugh basically the entire 2 hours. My sts class, is very different- not really in love with it. I have to come up with a research paper topic and outline this weekend, and i will have 3 days once i get home to write it ha.
Vamos a ir a la playa este fin de semana aka We are going to the beach this weekend!!! Its called Monturico and it has black sand. Its really exciting cause we will be living in paradise! Our hotel has a pool and we are all super pumped, warm showers!! Cant wait!! I will tell yall how that goes next week!
Madeline made a list of things to do once she gets back. I love this ha and made my own! Not in any particular order-
1. make and eat rice crispy treats with chocolate and peanut butter melted on top!
2.Stameys
3.Chick fil a
4.Hug my family! I am a girl who needs lots of lovin and hugs!
5. Snuggle with HENRY!! i miss him!!! and hes huge!!
6.See improvements on the new house
7.eat brownies ha most likely with lots of ice cream
8. go on a very very long run
9. drink sweet tea
10. happy hour at DD with my sisters and mama
11. eat some chicken parm
12.hang out with everyone in the boro before going back to sweet raleighwood
13. Talk to my Nana
I thought yall would like to know all that haha but i love you guys and i will talk to you all very soon!
¡Qué tengan un buen día! means Have a great day!
Listen to advice and accept discipline and at the end you will be counted among the wise. Many are the plans in a human heart, but it is the Lord´s purpose that prevails. - Proverbs 19:20-21.

Upcoming events!

So the last few days have been relaxing. Monday morning i woke up not feeling well so Madeline and I decided to take the day off of volunteering and spend the morning resting and hanging out at a cafe doing out work and writing in our journals. It was incredible! Well the same thing happened on Tuesday, ha except we went to McDonalds. The McDonalds here is beautiful and has a huge flower garden so Maddy and I went to get french fries and ice cream at 10 (such a healthy diet i know, but our food is terrible) and we sat in the garden and took fun pictures and laughed a lot! Basically we have realized the more we are together the more we are alike and think the same things haha. She is pretty great!
Friday, July 25, is the Founders Day of Antigua! I forgot to tell you but everything in Antigua is based around the central park which is beautiful and in the middle of town. The festivities begin tomorrow night with concerts of all kinds of bands and celebrating. Friday everyone will be hanging out in the park and dancing! We dont have to volunteer that morning so we will be able to go experience the celebration! Saturday morning we are getting up early and going to Copan in Honduras! Its about 5 hours away and i think mostly Mayan ruines. Ha I think this should be very interesting and I am excited! Bus rides here are a lot different than in the states, Jared im sure you know what I am talking about. really bumpy and crammed.
The Lord has definitely been teaching me a lot since I have been here, especially about trusting and putting all my hope in Him. Please continue to pray for time well spent.
A side note- the keyboards here are different and it makes me laugh when i hit this ç, ha what is that? ha there are several keys like it and ha i dont know where they come from. The first night we tried to use the computer ha we couldnt find the @ key because you have to press like 3 keys all at the same time but we figured it out! ha i thought yall would enjoy knowing that ha and I still havent figured out how to make a smiley face ha
Today is my cousin Anthony´s 20 birthday, it is his first birthday without both of his parents so he has been on my mind all day! But pray he had a good day and doesnt go crazy tonight.
last night I read Romans 1:12 which says-that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. It made me grateful for all of my family and friends because I have been encouraged by all of you! I LOVE YOU GUYS!
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. -Proverbs 3:5- Thanks Katie!
Madeline put up pictures so hopefully they will work for yall! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2213893&l=c8a6f&id=11816062
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/slideshow?a=67b0de21b345e66c05a0&sid=0AZNW7VszYsmTjI&auto=1&idx=-1&m=1&d=1216773656200

It´s official I am not cut out to hike lots of mountains!

haha So this morning we met at 8 to leave for the volcano. So apparently I am crazy cause I didnt realize how difficult hiking a volcano was going to be. The hike was about an hour and half but the air is so thin it is REALLY hard to breathe. We got to the top, Praise the Lord, and then the ground is very unstable! Half of our group took horses to the top, Lazy bums! They left before us and had to wait because we all had to climb another 10 minutes or so to the top. While we were walking you could feel the heat from the molten lava and the molten rocks were sharp and scary to walk on cause you would start slipping but unable to grab anywhere because its hot and it would hurt! Anyways I made it! YAY! And I achieved my goal as to poking the Lava! haha and Phil I still have all 10 fingers! It was pretty awesome!! haha I think that was the first and last time I will ever do that! But I am pumped to say that I did it and have pictures and it was very scary and hot! ha Oh and my stick caught on fire, pretty hilarious ha I started screaming haha! Another note considering I am not the best of friends with the guys here, they did a great job helping me around haha I grunt all the time when I am scared I have noticed and it made me laugh everytime! But it was sweet the guys we lending their hands and willing to help me. Charles you know how that is! But I was proud of them!! And I have realize what incredible guy friends I have and I am very blessed!!!!!! Africa boys I have been thinking a lot about yall cause there are things about this place that remind me a lot about Uganda! I miss yall!
The weather has been terrible by the way! Yesterday, today and I think the next 5 days it is supposed to pour! Snuggie I feel like you in NYC cause we walk everywhere and get very wet!
This was our first real weekend in Antigua so Madeline and I decided we would finally go and hang out with people! Friday we went to the bar- cafe called Cafe No Sé really great food ha everyone had drinks Maddie and I at Nachos haha. Then we went to some bar that was over crowded walked in and left instantly because we had no room! But it was late anyway! Then yesterday we went to the local Market and went shopping it was awesome!! We had a great day then last night we went to this place called Cafe 2000 which plays Movies and you can order drinks and food! Kill Bill 2 was playing and I am not interested in that but it was fun to hang out and enjoy the atmosphere!
A couple funny Stories- so I am pretty sure at my work this guy named Carlos has a crush on me haha. He is from here and he like basically keeps the clinic and pharmacy clean. I work with this woman named Thelma and I love her but she was trying to set us up last week! Pretty Hilarious! They only speak spanish but I some how got talked into going on a walk with him and he showed me all around San Pedro, which is a beautiful city! haha He took me up near his house, which I didnt realize or I wouldnt have gone, but it was totally fine I met his mom, sister, and brother. haha real funny! Then I am partnered up with this guy named John at my Clinic. John is awesome and we always laugh a lot. But we get dropped off at the Clinic around 8 and it doesnt open until 830 so we sit on the curb. We it rained monday, and there was still a puddle of nasty guatemalan water chillen in the street. WELL the cars fly through the streets and we were sitting on the side and the car came flying down the street and soaked us with that nasty water. haha it was straight out of the movies! But I thought it was hilarious and we look across the street and there are 2 old people standing the bent over laughing at us. We heard the car coming, I was reading and tried to hide behind the paper and John hid behind me!! haha real funny!
keep the emails coming I LOVE to open my email and have sweet messages!
Pray for a busy week!
Thanks for all your prayers!
I love yall!
Rachel sent me this verse and it is very applicable to my life now- "Rejoice in the Lord always...do not be anxious about anything, but in
everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God...whatever is true...think about such things.
The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus...And the God of peace will be
with you." Philippians 4:4, 6-9

Mi vida aqui!

My life here: Last week I forgot to tell yall about Salsa class! HA it was most likely my favorite thing we have done so far. In our group there are 8 guys and 26 girls haha bad ratio. Out of those guys 1 is a great dancer ha the rest were struggling but man it was funny. The instructor was this little woman who only spoke spanish and way always telling us mas sexy! haha Any way we learned how to salsa and merengue and we had to go around and dance with all the guys, really funny and awesome!
Ok here is my typical day schedule. Wake up between 630-650. Breakfast at 7 ish have to meet at the school at 730 to go volunteer. I am volunteering at a pharamacy in a town called San Pedro, I dont remember the name right now. I will tell you more about that later. I am there from 8 until 1230 ish then lunch at 1. I have an hour before class which is 2-6. Then sometimes i check my email and go home for dinner around 730. And hopefully the plan is to be in bed before 11 to start another long day.
I switched families and I now live with Madeline. I love my family,they are awesome! There are 3 niños, 2 girls and 1 little boy! They have a big house and currently are hosting 10 total exchange students! Our meals are decent, I really like breakfast! Basically things are going a lot better than before. I am starting to get used to my crazy schedule!
This weekend we are hiking Pacaya, a volcano! Some people are taking horses but we are going to hike it! haha I think this is the only volcano in the world where you can actually play-touch the lava! So i am going to poke it with a VERY LONG stick! pretty pumped though to say i have been there!
Please pray for safe travel and a great weekend in Antigua!
Pray I will show Christ to my fellow students on this trip!
Pray for time with the Lord, I really need this!
I love yall!!
But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, who´se confidence is in Him! - Jeremiah 17:7

Yo fui a la cueva y es muy mal!

Hopefully that says I went to cave and it was very bad! Last week we went to Semuc Champey it was a beautiful place just very different than I was expecting. Our housing was buggy and tarantula infested. It took us about 7 hours to get there on Wednesday and we all just went swimming in the river. There was a small 10 foot platform we jumped off and a small swing but the current was strong so we couldnt just hang out in the water. Thursday we went hiking up a mountain to the top to over look the pools of water below. It was .8 miles straight uphill, like no kidding, and 2 miles down. The hike was awesome and really hard. We drink a lot of water! We played in the water for 4 hours or so which was incredible! The water was freezing and there were little waterfalls and areas where we could slide around. So this one point I accidently took Madeline out. I dont know how to make a smiley face but there would be one here. She was taking her time down the slippery rocks when I lost control and slammed into her. oops ha I couldnt stop laughing but she was hurt and didnt find it funny at all. But we are ok now. This is just a minor incident in comparison to how the caves went. For some reason everyone, including myself, thought it would be a good idea to go in a cave with a candle as our only source of light, not to mention there are bats, freezing water, COMPLETELY PITCH BLACK, and huge sharp boulders of stalagmite and stalagtite. You can only imagine! So this was a 2 hour tour with Rojo who only speaks spanish. Our Professor and translator was at the very back of our group, and i dont really speak spanish. Anyway, everything was going fine until about an hour and half into when I started to feel claustrophobic and we had not turned around yet. While in the cave, I jump off the side into the dark water it was about 15 feets, ok fun, swimming with a candle, different, swimming with one arm, dont recommend it, we went through a waterfall and climbed a latter next to it, ok fun, we swam through bats homes, not so fun, swimming under water while being kicked and kicking others, not so fun, and sliding down a waterfall between 2 boulders and not knowing what was going to happen to me, NOT FUN and NOT FUNNY! ha So heres the story. We were taking the faster way out because everything was takin so long and our candles were getting to small so we were in a hurry. There were 17 people in our group. Ok so I am in the middle and Meredith is right behind me and MAdeline behind here, Remember the order. I dont like small spaces especially in the pitch black and having no idea where I am going to end up. I am about 2 people away for the waterfall and the only directions I was given was lay on your stomach and go feet first, the hole was about a foot in diameter. So I lay down and disappear once it is my turn. I find out that I am behind to huge rocks and its about a 7-10 foot fall, in the waterfall. I smacked the crap out of my face basically and thought I was bleeding, but it turns out I just hit my head really hard in about three or four places. There is instant swelling. I honestly thought I was going to drown because I couldnt see anyone, didnt know where I was or where anyone else was, and I was a little dizzy and in LOTS of pain. Rojo, praise the Lord, grabbed me and was laughing. Ok never laugh at me when I am hurt, first but its ok cause he saved me and didnt speak english. He pulled me to the side and was trying to talk to me, who knows what he was saying, and I was very frazzled. I got to the side and Madeline somehow came down next, or at least thats waht it seemed like. I knew Mere was behind me but i thought maybe they switched. Madeline was flipping out and I grabbed her and brought her to me, then Rojo and our only light source went to find Mere. Somehow she was trapped on the other side of the waterfall having to pull herself up on some rocks to breathe while screaming HELP ME! Once we finally all were together, Rojo went away again, he went to tell the rest of the group not to come down that way because something was wrong. He was gone, no kidding at least 10 minutes which seemed like Eternity!!!!! Oh and it was me, Maddy, Mere, and 3 other girls sitting in the dark crying and panicing. Not the best situation! Holy cow it was scary but finally Rojo came back had the rest of our group and we got out of the cave. That is my near death experience in Guatemala hopefully it was the only time!!
Oh a better note- They had a huge rope swing that we went on and flipped into the river. I really like it! Also we got to ride down the river on tubes all together it was fun not as relaxing as I would have liked it but great! We got back yesterday night and I met my family! I really like them! However, Meredith left today to go home. I already miss you Meredith!!!!!!! So I am switching houses to be with Madeline, they were roomies and I am currently living with another girl who has or had mersa. haha quite the bounch of people! Please Pray for a smooth switch in families. Also tomorrow we start class and volunteering. For our spanish classes we are paired one on one with a professor so hopefully I will be a baller at spanish when I get home. I have been pretty amazed at how much I do remember, but some of the time I understand what people are saying just dont know how to respond.
Oh a funny note, all of the computers here have skype and I was trying to set up an account today but its all in spanish so it is going to be a couple more days haha. Also while we have been sitting in the cafe they played Fix You by Coldplay, which I loved listening to right before I came, so that was exciting!
I got a cell phone and was able to talk to some of my family today which was great! If yall want to call it is cheaper to call from a landline but my number is 01150251739777. Dont leave a message cause I dont know how to check it and its in spanish. Also I think I will getting online at night here so like between 8-11 yalls time, not every day maybe every 3 days or so. But get on facebook if your hanging out and we can chat. I will let you guys know if I get skype cause that would be really fun too. I love you guys!
Things to pray for-
Not having Meredith
my face will heal, I am going to have a purple forehead in pictures for the next 3 weeks!
school and volunteering
our loving family and we will get to hang out with them
my mama as she worries about me, love you mom!
and That I will make time for the Lord daily!
¨Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you are working for the LORD.¨- Colossians 3:23

We have Arrived!

The first day/night has been very interesting. When we arrived we found out 7 of our classmates flights were cancelled from Raleigh and so we are waiting for them to arrive sometime today. We are currently in Antigua, which is where we will be living. It is a beautiful city with lots of ruines. We have definitely experienced a little frustration with the language barrier but things are getting better. We are picking up vocabulary left and right. Tomorrow morning at 5 we are leaving for Semuc Champey and we will be there until late saturday night. Semuc Champey is supposed to be beautiful, so of course we are all looking forward to it. :) We are going to get cell phones today. We will have free incoming calls and not that expensive for us to call but i think it will be expensive for yall. I will let you guys know the number when I get one.
Antigua is about 45 minutes from Guatemala City. We went on a tour yesterday and we are meeting at the school in about an hour to find out more about everything. Our teacher scared all of us yesterday with trying to keep everything safe but we are trying to make adjustments. Things are very different, but great all at the same time. :)
Last night Madeline, Meredith and I all slept in the same room :). Our hotel is pretty sweet and we share a bathroom which is pretty hilarious. It was a rough night but we are learning to trust. Please pray for rest and we will give everything a chance.
Tonight we are having our first salsa class! YAY :) We are all really looking forward to this.
On Sunday or maybe monday I will try to update and tell you guys about Semuc Champey. :) It takes about 6 hours to get there because its the rainy season and thats another reason we are leaving at 5 to beat the rain in the afternoon.
I hope yall have a great week! Love you guys!

Getting ready to go!

Hey Everyone!
I leave in monday morning for Guatemala and things are beginning to get crazy! Me, Madeline Bersch and Meredith Wright have to be at the airport at 4:45am and we arrive at 11:30 in Guatemala time (I don't know the time zone). Please pray for safe travel and a quick adjustment to the culture. On Tuesday, we are going to visit minoan ruins in Honduras and travel around the country on a field trip until Sunday July 13th. I don't think I will have internet access the first week because we will be traveling a lot, however feel free to email me. It will make me feel special :). They recommended that we make a blog however to prevent us from having to email so many people and spending a lot of time on the computers. I will not have a personal computer, so in order for me to check email and update the blog I will have to go to internet cafes. Thanks for caring about my trip! I know all of you will get excited to hear all about Guatemala! :)
Prayer Requests:
-Pray for my nerves to be calmed and I will depend on the Lord.
-Pray my heart will continued to be opened to my host family and the people of Guatemala. I want to love them and not miss Africa and all my friends!
-I will glorify the Lord in everything I do.

"I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." - Psalm 34: 1-5.