"hola from Guatemala!"

After 3 separate flights, I safely arrived in the country about 36 hours ago and have been busy ever since!  I am currently staying with Oswald, Rita, and Jael in Guatemala City.  They are a sweet family that work at the camp which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive away.  Word of Life was supposed to have a VBS camp this week, but plans fell through, so a lot of the men are building games on the camp property while the women and youth are preparing for camp at the office in the city.  I got the pleasure of meeting a group of the youth this morning that work at the camp.  They were preparing choreography to a song for an evening chapel, but paused momentarily for a picture:

This evening we went to Jael's school to see her surprise end of the year performance.  School performances are nothing like what they are in the states.  From the video below, you can see how much time goes into preparation with the choreography, props, fireworks, confetti, etc.  Jael loves to dance, especially ballet, so I was grateful to see her perform live this evening.

After the presentation, we went to Marcelo's house to celebrate his birthday.  He is the director of Word of Life Guatemala, and is in charge of the camp ministry.  His house was full of friends and family in celebration of the special occasion.  All of the food was delicious!

Unique things of the day:

-I was awoken to the sound of "Dora Explorer."  It seems they have the same show, just in Spanish teaching English :)

-In Guatemala, there are at least 5 different "birthday" songs you sing before cutting the cake.  I think I lost count!

-There is a possibility that I may get to go to Belize for 3 days.  Word of Life is starting Bible Camps in the country, and will be sending a few individuals from Guatemala to get things rolling next week.  Lord willing, I may get to travel 12 hours north through the beautiful country of Guatemala into Belize.