The sights, sounds and smells of Antigua. Every year I am captivated but being here again....
We survived the long travel day. I saw a lot of sleepy faces today, but we are all snug as a bug in our host family homes and ready for classes in the mornin'.

Our patience may be tried, we may have some uncomfortable circumstances, but the reason we are even here, and have put so much effort into making this a reality is because it's not about us, but about Him and what we can do to increase, and not decrease, the kingdom. Short story- while we were eating a much anticipated meal in Guatemala City at MCDonalds, a much nicer fast food chain in Guatemala then in the states, and there happened to be a pastor seated with his youth group nearby. They noticed our Guatemala T Shirts and was curious about what we were going to be doing here. The pastor spoke with Fernando, the director of SI, and he explained who we were and what we do as well as what Students International does. Great opportunity to share and visit! 

We were assigned to our host families, and Arturo Miranda, the director of Centro Linguistico Maya, the language school we are attending this week, assigned all our students with their host families. We then got our luggage and he transported us the few blocks away to our houses with a map, address, and phone number of the place were staying. On the map is also included a route of the city as to how to get to the school.  There we all slept for around 4 hours until we met for lunch/dinner at Mono Loco, a popular restaurant for tourists in Antigua paid for by SI. 

Tomorrow morning begins classes and we will meet our language teachers! 
Please pray for the team as at this segment of the trip, adjustments are being made, students are needing to be flexible rather than impatient, we are out of our technology crazy world in the states with WiFi, and kids are not able to call, text and communicate as they do at home. Looking forward to the week ahead and the highlights yet to come: a trip to La Pinada, a poor village to distribute 
shoes to them, a visit to a coffee plantation here in Antigua, a salsa dance class, a hike to the cross, a 
visit to Lake Atitlan and surrounding village Panajachel, and a bilingual church service on Sunday. We I'll do all this before welcoming the others on our team and beginning the 2 week outreach. 

Thank,you for your thoughts,prayers, and support. Connie