I'm in Guatemala!

I made it!!  Wow!  I can't believe that I'm actually here!  It's my first time out of the United States, and I still don't think I've really realized that I'm here.  The trip here went perfectly.  I arrived at the airport an hour early, thank you Dad!  On my flight to Miami, As we left Minneapolis, it looked like my mom's village with all the snow.  The sunrise from in the airplane was beautiful!  We made it to Miami, and then to Guatemala City without any gliches.  Going through customs could not have gone any better.  We didn't have any issues at all.  Once we got to Guate, we had a 45 minute bus ride to Magdalena.  The streets here are SO narrow.  I was super glad that I wasn't driving the bus, especially since there are a lot of hills here.  Once we had to back down a hill and try again because we were stuck.

My host family is so great!  My host dad is Jose.  He's in the agriculture business.  He grows corn and lettuce, and it is shipped to LA and is distributed to Wal-Marts around the US.  My host mom is Antonietta.  She teaches women within the community how to bake cakes, so we have a cooking shop on the roof of our house!  It's so great!!  I have four host brothers:  Wilmer, Kevin, Jeffery, and Justin.  The family was super welcoming, and I'm really excited to get to know them. 

So far the food has been great.  We ate at Mi Cafecito last night.  We had tortillas with salsa, and chicken, potatoes, rice, and veggies.  I had hot chocolate.  It was good, but different than what I'm used to.  I'm pretty sure it was dark chocolate.  Then for dessert, we had this AMAZING strawberry ice cream!  It was SO delicious.  This morning for breakfast Antonieta made us panqueques (pancakes, but panqueques is so much more fun!).  They were super good.  We also had watermelon, and hot chocolate, which was not as strong as the stuff I had at Mi Cafecito.

Church this morning was good.  Our group got up front, and we sang a few songs.  The people were super welcoming, and even though I had trouble following the pastor, I still enjoyed it. 

So far the Spanish is going better than I expected.  I'm able to understand more than I thought I would.  It also helps living with Leah.  After we have a conversation with the family, we talk about it in English to make sure we understood correctly and we piece together other parts that we missed.  I'm also able to communicate better than I thought.  When my host mom asked me how many people were on our trip, I told her dieci cinco, instead of quince.  It was funny, but I will definitely remember quince from now on!

We're eating lunch at Mi Cafecito again before going hiking.  Oh and by the way, to all of you reading from Minnesota, it's 77 and sunny here! =)

Thanks for all your prayers!  I know they're helping A LOT!

-Greta

PS - I didn't have much time to reread this so sorry for any errors.

Goodbye Minnesota Weather!

         Despite the cold and snow, I couldn't have asked for a better last month in the States.  Christmas break included lots of time at home with friends and family.  One of my mom's comments on Christmas Eve was, "How can three people have so much fun together?"  That pretty much sums up my time at home.  It was a blast!
         My last weeks at Bethel included ice skating, cross country skiing, a Brandon Heath concert, going to my aunt's and playing with my cousins Jordan and Megan, and going to several Northwestern basketball games to watch my other cousin Nathan.  My friend Annie also drove to have lunch with me today!  She's so great! =)
         I'm looking forward to spending a few more days here at Bethel, before heading home to spend my last days with my family and finish packing and all that other last minute stuff.  I'll be able to get to two Sauk Centre Girls' Basketball games which I am thrilled about!
         My next few days are going to be crazy.  I'm leaving Bethel Thursday afternoon for Sauk, and I have to be at the airport at 3:45 AM on Saturday morning.  I'll be leaving Sauk VERY early Friday night/Saturday morning.  We fly out of MSP at 6:05 and have a layover in Miami before heading to Guatemala.  It will be a long day of travel, but lucky for me Guatemala is in the same time zone as Minnesota so I won't have to adjust to that too.
         I found out today who I'll be rooming with while in Guatemala and that I will be working at a school for a month and then at the social work site for the second ministry site.  It feels really good to know a little bit more of what I'll be doing down there and who I will be living with.  Next time I write, I will be writing from Guatemala and will have lots more details about life there!  Please continue to pray for me during these next few days and weeks as they are bound to bring many changes and challenges.

-Greta

Home for Christmas

          About a week ago, I was talking with one of my roommates who will also be studying “abroad” in New York next semester.   She realized how few weekends she has left at Bethel before she leaves, and we started talking about our upcoming semesters.  She asked me if I’m nervous for Guatemala, and I told her I really wasn’t.  When she asked me why I wasn’t, I had to think about it for a little bit because that is definitely not like me to not be worried about something this major coming up in my life.  I think over the past year and a half I’ve gotten a lot better at handling different obstacles that get thrown at me without completely freaking out.  I told her that I’m studying abroad whether I freak out or not.  I don’t have a choice.  I’ve realized that freaking out is only going to make my time here before I leave less enjoyable.  Kate finds it funny that I freak out more over a discrete test than I do about living in a foreign country for 4 months…yeah I don’t really know why that is.  To be honest, up until now I haven’t really had time to think about my upcoming trip.  My fall semester was super crazy with two math classes and two Spanish classes along with a couple other easier classes.  I was just focused on getting through the semester, and I did it!!  I had my last final this afternoon, and I am now home!  I’m looking forward to my Christmas break followed by a hopefully relaxing January class with plenty of time to hang out with people before I leave for Guatemala.  Please pray for me as I prepare for my trip that I will continue to trust God with all details of the trip.