happy monday!

Some sexy men who agreed to have their picture taken :)

Sacrifice Altar.... hehehe

Things are grrrrrreat here! I had a pretty relaxing weekend and am almost feeling 100% over my cold - hurray! Let's see... highlights from the weekend.

Saturday... spent a good amount of time in the market haggling with the venders and looking at all the crazy stuff they sell. I think that they have EVERYTHING you could imagine. I love it! The merchants are so fun to talk to too - especially because they are always surprised that I can speak spanish. I have so many opportunities to talk about the gospel too because everybody wants to know why I can speak Spanish! Yay! We went out on Saturday night but didn't find much to do because everything was closed down around 9. So... we found some chocolate milk and cookies and just laughed and talked for a while. There were just a couple of us who stayed in town - the rest went on some weekend voyages.

Sunday was a great day! I got up nice and early and got ready to go to church. I don't know what my deal was but I was SO EXCITED to go! The service was so beautiful - man I missed church in Spanish. Everybody was so nice. I met the bishop and he introduced me to an hermana who is a nurse and she and I hung out for the rest of the time. They asked me to sing a solo in church in a few weeks and I had to politely decline. Hahaha... another evidence of the musical apostasy the latin world is experiencing - if they think that I can sing... then something is seriously wrong. I told them I would be happy to join their choir. I also found out about institute classes and I'm going to go tomorrow night. I met the missionaries and we exchanged numbers so that I can go out with them if they are ever in Antigua (they don't teach too much here because it is SO traditionally Catholic). I also got attacked by a member who is a tour guide. Curse my white skin - it just yells "tourist!" around here. Oh well. Maybe he can give me a good deal haha.

I also went to a Catholic service on Sunday night - it was very interesting... I went in one of the really old cathedrals. It was PACKED! Mostly because they were having processions for the Semana Santa last night and so everybody was out and about for that. In the park there were a whole bunch of things going on - clowns, horseback rides, balloons, etc etc.... and then when it got dark the parade started. Now, this isn't your typical parade. Rather, it is a mob of people (many of them in priest robes) walking the streets with a few humongous flouts of Christ and other "Saints." It was so loud! It passed right by my house and I sat outside and enjoyed it while eating the M&Ms that my friend brought me :) Thank goodness for chocolate here in Guatemala!

Today has been really great - I'm pooped after showing a new girl all around town for about 2 hours. We got lost in the market. I LOVE getting lost in the market! Everytime I get lost I find awesome new things. Today I found a floral section. There were just hundreds and hundreds of flowers everywhere! They had all my favorites - gerber daisies, lillies.... man and it smelled so good. I also found a raw meat section - not so delightful as the flower section. Oh yeah! And an area full of pinantas! I love the market. Volunteering went swell - there was a lot of blood involved today, but I survived. It wasn't my blood.

Things are great - hope you are all fantastic!

xoxo

Rach