Guatemala Part Tres

And the moment you all (or at least my dad) have been waiting for. The conclusion of my Guatemala trip. I think we have made it to Monday of our trip. We set of in the morning to find Manos de Colores. Another after school program. We decided that a taxi would be a good idea. Ha! The taxi driver was so lost. He did stop a couple of times for directions and even called the place. We did finally find the place. Poor taxi driver. After the meeting with our British guide Bryan, we headed for Escuela de la Calle. I really liked this program and what they were doing for at risk kids. I actually had to translate at this one. Everywhere else we had been (and would go) had English speaking people.
This is one of the teachers at the school and a few of her students. The girls were so cute and so excited to get their picture taken.

After Escuela de la Calle we took a bus back into town and got some delicious lunch. I am not a horchata fan, but the horchata came with the meal so I decided to try it. It was SOOO good. It was like Christmas in my mouth. Delightful.
*Apparently it's perfectly normal for men to stand outside of random businesses with GIANT guns. What the heck?
Our last NGO was Nuevos Horizontes (New Horizons). This one didn't work at all with what we were doing since they don't like to work with teenagers (because of the demographic of the people they help) and they require a 6 week commitment. But I really liked this one as well and would like to go and volunteer there if I had 6 weeks to commit. They work with abused women and children in a shelter. I don't know why, but this one really pulled at my heart.
It was a long, but very successful day. We decided to head to Guatemala City early the next day so we could have time to explore there and maybe make it to the temple. The rest of Monday was fairly uneventful. I think we watched Baby Mamma to keep us up past 7. :)
* They have electric water heaters right on the shower head. You have to decrease the water pressure to get hot water. Luckily Joel explained this to us early on so we could understand the art of getting the right temperature of water.
Tuesday morning we were up and on our Greyhound bus heading for Guatemala City. It was nice to have some space and I slept for most of the trip. It was actually a lot of the same road we were on coming from Pana to Xela, but I did the curvy road much better the second time around.
After another fiasco with the taxi driver we arrived at our Hostel by the airport. We hadn't been there 10 minutes when Katie was called to the front desk because she had someone waiting for her. Her friend Marco had come to find her so we got ready and headed out to see Guatemala City with our own personal tour guide.
He took us to an authentic Guatemalan restaurant. I think that was the first Guatemalan food we had. It was a really nice restaurant and we had a nice time. After the restaurant they dropped me at the temple and then they were off for more sight seeing. Katie had already been to the temple and Jamie forgot her recommend so it was just me. :)

The temple was nice. Only the second time I've been in Spanish. When I was in the MTC in Spain and we went to the temple it was always in English because the missionaries made up the majority of temple patrons in our sessions. It was fun to chat with the temple workers from Utah and the Guatemalans. I love the culture of our church and how it doesn't matter where you are, it's the same. I was standing outside the temple waiting for Katie and Jamie to return to get me and started chatting with a sister standing there. First she asked if I was a missionary. I told her I wasn't but that I did serve a mission. Then she asked me if I was married. I told her no, and she "But you're so pretty!" hahahaha. Somethings don't change, no matter the country.
Sitting in the Celestial Room of the temple I was overwhelmed by a feeling of love. The love God has for all of his children. Here I was sitting in another country and he knew me. He knew the sister sitting next to me. He loves us both. He knows our weaknesses and our strengths and he wants us both to be very happy. I was a great way to finish my time in Guatemala.
Wednesday morning came and we were off to the airport. I had developed a sore throat by this time and was feeling very worn out. The trip was so fun, but I had no idea it would be so stressful being the one responsible for getting us around and talking with everyone. I loved it and would gladly do it again, but I was glad to be going home. Next time around will be better since I'll have an idea of where I am and what I'm doing.
Katie, Marc and their girls picked me up from the airport. We went to dinner to try and avoid the traffic rush into Utah County. I also got a table for my kitchen thanks to Camille for thinking of me and Marc and Katie for fitting it into their van.
My cold is leaving I think. Just a stuffy nose and a cough every once in a while, but I think I'll survive. What a great experience.