So here I am in Guatemala! I've come here for two weeks to go to Spanish school. I'm having five hours teaching a day with my own personal teacher so I'm hoping to return to Reynosa with at least a little more understanding and an ability to have a conversation! Antigua is beautiful....surrounded by mountains, paved with cobbled streets, filled with countless gorgeous coffee shops and restaurants. It really is a blessing to be here, there are so many friendly people around, I'm just smiling and saying hello all day! I arrived on March 25th and have been here for two weeks. I think my Spanish has improved, although Boystown will be my real test! I didn't realise it before I booked but the final week before Easter is HUGE over here. And it seems that during Semana Santa, Antigua is the place to be. Every Sunday during Lent there is a procession from different churches, then during Semana Santa there are processions everyday and in different churches on different days there are velacciones These are like huge murals that people in each church make and display at the front of the church, they depict different times in Jesus' life. The processions are unlike anything I have seen, the men are dressed in purple robes with hoods and carry huge almost like statues but they're more like 3D scenes from Jesus' life, particularly His final days on earth. There is a lot of incense also and bands that play music especially for this time of year. Although the processions wouldn't normally be my style it's been really interesting to see them. I was thinking aswell about how the church is such a hub of activity here, everynight this week people are at the different churches making flower displays, murals etc and also eating and drinking together. It's been lovely to be part of it. On Maundy Thursday there are people out in the streets from morning until about 4am Good Friday morning making alfombres which are 'carpets' on the streets that the processions will come down, they are amazing, so bright, colourful and real works of art. After going to church at the YWAM coffee house just down our road, then for a meal that I had won in an auction at our favourite restaurant on my first day here we wandered the streets till about 2am admiring the carpets and soaking up the atmosphere. It was wonderful.
AND one procession that I did love was on Palm Sunday. I had decided not to church but to go for a coffee and a read instead. I was just wandering up one of the streets by the main square when I heard lots of shouting and saw palm branches waving in the air. I was curious as it seemed to be different to the other processions. As the shouting got louder I could see about 30 people heading towards me all dressed like they were living in biblical times, they were dancing, waving palms, shouting hallelujah. I was drawn in, I didn't know where they were going but I wanted to follow them. I started to walk behind them as others did the same, we wound our way down to the main square and everynow and then as walked around, the 'procession' would stop and act out different times from Jesus' life and the Gospels. This wasn't a procession with cordoned off streets or big organisation like it needs to be at home though, this was just people walking through town, drawing a crowd, just like I imagine it was in the Bible....by the time we had reached the main square there was hundreds of us! As we were walking someone from the crowd would shout 'Jesu, Jesu' and it was the man with a sick daughter, another lady touched Jesus' cloak and everyone stopped, then we saw a mad man running towards us but Jesus healed him.....it was amazing, I couldn't help but follow these people, the words that I had read that morning from the Gospel of matthew were coming alive in the streets of Antigua. I started wondering who I would have been if I was a girl when Jesus was alive, would I have been amongst those who welcomed Him one week and crucified Him the next? Or would I have given my heart to Him and been amongst the women who went to anoint His body with oil. I wish I would have been the latter but I guess I'll never know, I do know that it got me thinking about all the times I have welcomed Jesus into my heart or areas of my life with shouts of hallelujah and then days or hours later I have stolen them back from Him and crucified Him all over again. It also got me thinking about how I don't want to be someone who believes God only when He has proved Himself I want to trust Him for who He says He is not just what He does. I want to be someone who never takes back my welcome to Him.
I'm really looking forward to getting back to Reynosa but I'll be sad to leave Antigua too, a few highlights have been:
AND one procession that I did love was on Palm Sunday. I had decided not to church but to go for a coffee and a read instead. I was just wandering up one of the streets by the main square when I heard lots of shouting and saw palm branches waving in the air. I was curious as it seemed to be different to the other processions. As the shouting got louder I could see about 30 people heading towards me all dressed like they were living in biblical times, they were dancing, waving palms, shouting hallelujah. I was drawn in, I didn't know where they were going but I wanted to follow them. I started to walk behind them as others did the same, we wound our way down to the main square and everynow and then as walked around, the 'procession' would stop and act out different times from Jesus' life and the Gospels. This wasn't a procession with cordoned off streets or big organisation like it needs to be at home though, this was just people walking through town, drawing a crowd, just like I imagine it was in the Bible....by the time we had reached the main square there was hundreds of us! As we were walking someone from the crowd would shout 'Jesu, Jesu' and it was the man with a sick daughter, another lady touched Jesus' cloak and everyone stopped, then we saw a mad man running towards us but Jesus healed him.....it was amazing, I couldn't help but follow these people, the words that I had read that morning from the Gospel of matthew were coming alive in the streets of Antigua. I started wondering who I would have been if I was a girl when Jesus was alive, would I have been amongst those who welcomed Him one week and crucified Him the next? Or would I have given my heart to Him and been amongst the women who went to anoint His body with oil. I wish I would have been the latter but I guess I'll never know, I do know that it got me thinking about all the times I have welcomed Jesus into my heart or areas of my life with shouts of hallelujah and then days or hours later I have stolen them back from Him and crucified Him all over again. It also got me thinking about how I don't want to be someone who believes God only when He has proved Himself I want to trust Him for who He says He is not just what He does. I want to be someone who never takes back my welcome to Him.
I'm really looking forward to getting back to Reynosa but I'll be sad to leave Antigua too, a few highlights have been:
- Wandering around (not driving!), having coffee in lots of lovely coffee shops with courtyards full of flowers and friendly people reading and writing in my journal.
- Staying in the same house as a girl called Jenni from Dallas....we got on really well and had a lot of fun together!
- Going to 'Pena de sol latino' a cafe/restaurant I went to on my first night with other people in my house, they were so welcoming, had live music every night and great cakes!
- Meeting an English guy who lives in New York now and told me that there was one word American's don't understand when he says it......do I need to tell you?!
- Going swimming three or four times....it felt great.
- Sitting on the balcony of our house overlooking the volcanoes that surround Antigua. Almost felt like I was in Wales.....almost! Ah.
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