Saturday, August 3rd, 2013 . . .

Today was my first day back in the States and I ma be having a bit of trouble recuperating.
     In the time between my last post and my arrival in the Asheville airport we poured cement for a sort of safe house for the two kids that were being held in return for money. We went to the Jungle, a VERY poor part of Zone 18, Guatemala  City which (the Jungle) consists of tiny, one-room houses made out of weak cement or rusted, holey sheet metal. While in the Jungle we were taken to several people who lived there and they told us all about their lives in the Jungle.
     Today I woke up at about nine due to jet lag and didn't eat till about ten. I didn't have lunch and then ate a big steak dinner at around five or six. We were going to go to Longhorn Steakhouse but my mom fixed steaks on the grill because we found a homeless kitten (too young even to tell if it is a boy or a girl cat) by the side of the road and we brought it home and gave it some leche.

Monday, July 29th, 2013 . . .

Today we wet to the farm and while my mom and some of her friends pulled weeds and dug around in the garden, some of the men and I tore down about half of a cement building using nothing but hammers, a rope, and a truck. A bit before lunch mom and her friends came and helped a bit as we moved the rubble off of a bank and then we ate and finished and went to the building in Guatemala City. While we were eating supper, Jose came and told us that some gang members had studied the patterns a lot and had found out where two children would go and were contacting the mother, saying that unless they got $3,000 they would kill the kids. The kids were taken to a safe place and we all prayed for them and then we came back to the seminary.

Sunday, July 28th, 2013 . . .

I have been in Guatemala for three days now and love the place. The weather has been perfect and the food is wonderful. It has never been over seventy degrees Fahrenheit. I haven't been able to write because we could never find the Internet password and now it is only in about twenty-five square feet.
     The first day we arrived we went strait to the orphanage which, as it happens, is not an orphanage at all. It is actually two places and the one that we went to first was a sort of farm/day care. I am on limited Internet so I will have to be a bit vague. When we arrived we met Jose's (the leader) father and he set us to do some work. We worked and then went to the other building where the kids are picked up by their parents and ate supper. On the way to the seminary several people had to use the bathroom. First, one of them did whatever they did in a bottle and then threw it out the window of the bus and then everyone got off of the moving bus and ran across the street to a McDonald's and then ran back across and got back on the moving bus (there were riots for lack of water so traffic was about a mile every thirty minutes [literally]).
    Yesterday we went to Antigua and did some shopping and sight-seeing and I got a t-shirt that says DU YUS PIKIN GLISH? (DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?) and a nice marble chess set. Today we went to church which was two-and-a-half hours long and then walked around some with Jose and then came back o the seminary. One of the others on the mission trip yelled something that was an unintelligible mixture of "HOLY COW!" and "O MY GOSH!" before saying, calmly, "Internet."

Thursday, July 25th, 2013 . . .

We have finally arrived at Asheville and our plane leaves for Guatemala tomorrow. We are staying in a Days Inn. When we first pulled up I looked up out the window and saw on the second story a hairy over-tanned man in a pair of white boxers standing out on the balcony smoking and drinking at the same time while staring at the clouds as if they were something strange and new.
     I am currently in my room and we are about to go to bed. I'll have to get up at around 4:15 am to get showered and down to breakfast on time. Not really a lot to report so I'll post again tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 . . .

Just last Sunday was the party at Karen's house. We ate and talked and then went out tubing on Lake James.
     It just so happened that I ate a bit too much chocolate éclair cake or maybe it was the chicken but I kept flipping the tube and we had to take everyone's weights and see who would be most fit to ride with me. But I wasn't the only one. One of our interns also seemed to be cursed. We each flipped out about five times each.
     And yesterday we went to the pastor's house to eat and swim in his river. We ate and talked some and then we all went down to the river. There was a HUGE rock that we all took turns jumping off of. The water was probably below thirty degrees and was pretty fast moving so it was a it hard to swim easily but everyone had a great time. It is now two days until we leave for Asheville.

Monday, July 15th, 2013 . . .

It is now eleven days until I leave and the rest of my money has been put down to my mission trip. I have finished the book that I had to read and the last mission meeting occurred last night. All of the families with people going on the trip are going to one family's house for a sort of eat-swim-talk-get-together thing.
     I will probably only write one more post before we leave and then one every day while in Guatemala. After that I will do one more to conclude the whole event. As of right now the only thing we have to do is pack and show up on the plane so there isn't much to write about. It feels like the trip is coming on like a snail and like a freight train at the same time

Wednesday, July 10th, 2013 . . .

In sixteen days I will leave for Guatemala and I still need a pretty big amount of money.
     I helped my grandmother with cleaning out her cabinets and got a hundred dollars and I will be going to by cousin's house to help with her farm and basement stuff this Thursday so that will be a job as well. My grandfather wants me to start mowing his lawn. And my mom is the owner of a bath products business and she said that if I help her with festivals and farmers markets I can get some money from that.
     While in Guatemala we will be staying in a seminary. There will be Internet so I'll be able to post on the trip. There are tons of things about Guatemala that we have to go by such as (a) don't separate from the group or you'll get kidnapped (b) don't drink water from a faucet of any kind and (c) et cetera, et cetera. I love trying new foods so I should have no problem with not offending anyone and my mom made Guatemalan beans and rice and it is very good. All in all I am set to go and can't wait.