Rainy Days and Memories

I am reposting this picture to illustrate to those living in
Canada's Atlantic provinces that what we are going through
could be worse.  My prayers are with you in your struggle.

Over the past week it has been raining incredibly hard and consistent.  In some areas here they recieved over 300mm of rain.  That could likely be considered close to the yearly average for some places not too far from my part of the world.  Instead of letting the rain get me down I simply remembered what we went through in Guatemala.  There we survived a volcanoe and a tropical storm in much more rugged terrain, so this week here has been a breeze.  That being said I know there are people here in my town who were flooded out of their homes and will have to likely endure the pain of remodeling their basements and such and my prayers are with them.

Since I was thinking about Guatemala I figured it would be a good time to write another one of my entries from my journal.  It is great to see that the experience that I shared there was not lost and that it has allowed me to cope with some of life's challenges here more effectively.  My journal entries are shorter as we are preparing to leave Guatemala after a long, stressful wait for the airport to re-open and book our flights.  The weather has eased and became very warm in Antigua as I start to go into the familiar shell I retreat to when any of my adventures start to come to an end.



The streets all possessed stunning scenery and were very
walkable.  Everywhere God's creation was inspiring.



June 3, 2010

I took it easy today so I would be rested for our long travel day tomorrow.  We went to breakfast at Don Luisa again and once again I was enthralled with the atmosphere of this old restaurant.  Photos and pictures on the wall and the many small rooms filled to capacity, with people carrying on lively conversation (You wouldn't have know that the region was in complete chaos.)  The plants and the openess of the place really appealed to me.



We returned to the hotel afterwards and spent most of our time playing some cards.  It was hot, muggy day and a good day to do little.  Eventually I took some clothes to the laundry mat a block down the street before joining some others for a walk to the grocery store (should not be confused with the market, as they are nothing alike) even though I didn't really need anything.  It was a great day and I didn't want to waste it in the hotel.  We grabbed an icecream cone, two scoops for 10Q ($1.10) and sauntered along the very walkable streets watching the various people walk past or sitting in the shade.

Once again we went to Los Palmas for supper since they had treated us so well the night before.  Again tonight they provided incredible service and great food.  The mood was a bit more sombre tonight as we hoped yet were saddened to think that it was our last night in Guatemala.

After supper we returned to the hotel and packed our bags in preparation for our 3am departure time.  I had a hard time sleeping as I was worried about our flights being delayed.  I was also troubled by the fact that I didn't feel like I had helped the people in Guatemala enough.  I had hoped that earlier that day we could help out again at "Common Hope" or elsewhere but that opportunity never materialized.  I feel that we could have looked into that a bit harder, and worked harder to make it happen.  I was a bit disappointed in myself here, not anyone else.  I should have made my feelings known more emphatically, but I sat quietly and followed everyone else.  When I had the chance to lift my voice...when it could have counted for something...I didn't.  God please help me learn when to lift my voice to serve you.