First Week in Guatemala City

The weather has been absolutely delicious. Having some humidity has been great for our skin. The sky has been clear and blue. It is hard to believe that it is January! The vegetation is a nice change of scenery after a long time in the desert. Even though we are in the center of the capital, full of buildings and streets, there is still plenty of green with all the trees and flowers! We have already tried some new fruits and vegetables that grow here. We went to the temple on Friday. It isn’t very far from where we are in the city. Everything was small, but very beautiful. We went at a time that wasn’t very busy, but on the weekends many people travel there. There is a small distribution center and cafeteria, and a missionary training center next door. On Monday we leave for Quetzaltenango (“Xela”). We are very excited to get to know the area there. Everyone tells us that it is very beautiful and life is much slower there. That will be quite a change from the capital! The traffic here is tremendous. I’m sure there are rules, but not so certain about the enforcement. Don’t get me wrong, there are “enforcers” everywhere you look, but traffic is the least of their concerns. Another adjustment as far as traffic goes is the lack of vehicle regulations. With the sounds and smells coming from the cars and buses, I have come to appreciate safety and emissions regulations. We finished teaching our first two workshops at the Employment Resource Center. I think our teaching has really improved throughout the week. It is rewarding to have participants that make contacts and develop their resources. Many of them are aware of the talents and abilities they have, but don’t know how to adequately express them to a prospective employer. Others don’t realize that their past experiences have armed them with skills that are attractive to employers. After realizing this and learning to express themselves, their confidence is boosted and they have hope. When we arrive in Quetzaltenango, we are doing a workshop for the stake presidents and other leaders there so they can promote the workshop and see how it can help the people. Needless to say, it is an intimidating task, especially with so little experience in teaching the workshop. We will do our best! We read a poem today that we found quite hilarious. It was a sign on a green wooden wall which was one side of what looked like a little voting booth (but wasn’t) on stilts on the side of the street. If you don’t know Spanish you’ll have to read this to someone who does. It said: Orine feliz, Orine contento, Pero por favor Orine Adentro. Besides that, the highlight of today was finding a bakery! We have been looking for one all week. There aren’t any grocery stores in this part of the city, just expensive restaurants (for the rich American business men) and street vendors (which we promised to avoid). We got some delicious croissants, a few small loaves of bread, a doughnut with chocolate frosting (I was craving chocolate), and a triangle-shaped pumpkin-flavored pastry with some lemon-like filling. Life is good.