feliz dia del padre (and my first attempt at 7 takes)

Happy father's day from Guatemala!  I can't believe it is already father's day because that means that I have been in Guatemala for 3 weeks already!  Crazy how time can speed by.  Happy father's day to the world's best (in my opinion lol) dad :-D.  Today was a hard day for being away from home...guess I noticed missing home a little more because it was a special day for my dad and I have always been at least in the country for the last 22 father's days haha.  But as I have said before I have some of the most supportive friends on this trip and I know that God has so wonderfully blessed me with them.  While at church today, I mentioned to my friend Asia that I was missing my dad today and she turned, gave me a hug, and in a (histarically) deep voice said, "I'll be your dad" hahahaha.  When your friend says she will be your father in a funny deep voice you can't help but laugh and remember how what a blessing it is to have such wonderful friends.  And don't worry another friend Julia offered to be my mother hahaha.  Laughing with friends is such a wonderful blessing and I can't thank God enough for the gift of laughter and the many times that it has been so helpful during this trip.

So a dear friend of mine also writes a blog and she does this wonderful thing called 7 takes.  She gives 7 takes of things that she wants to talk about or that have been going on in her life.  It is a very cool way to share and I figured I'd give it a try as I share about my long weekend excursion :).

1.So thankful for weekends away: This past weekend, myself and the other students from my group had a four day weekend in Antigua, Guatemala.  Unfortunately no we were not on the island of Antigua which caused great confusion for my worldly traveling aunts and uncles haha.  It was so so nice to not only have a trip away from our "normal" lives here but also to be with close friends.  I could not have asked for two more wonderful roommates this trip.  We laughed so so much this weekend and I loved every second of it.  We were able to tour ruins and old churches and eat tons and tons of delicious food.  There was this one place that had the worlds best cheesecake...I think we went almost every we were there haha.

2.Sleepovers are not only for kids: One of my close friends in the program came to my town on Wednesday and had a sleepover at my home stay!  We went to the festival in town and played on the swings in the park with my host brother and sister.  I love love swings and we laughed and took pictures and it was just wonderful.  In true sleepover fashion, we fell asleep sideways on the bed watching Forest Gump....so so wonderful :).


3.Party party: This past week there was so much partying happening in my town!  Every year, the town celebrates the saint who the town is named after, which for me is Saint Anthony.  My host dad who works part time for the town, brought home a schedule of events for the week which went from 5am to 10pm every day.  And let me tell you, there was literally music and fireworks going off every day all day.  One day we went to an event where the town chose the queen of San Antonio for that year....it was a wonderful cultural experience and I loved getting to see the traditional outfits and how many people showed up to the event.  It seemed like the whole town!  Everyone was so supportive and there was this cute old guy sitting near me who clapped so loud for every candidate lol.  My host sister was wonderful and was my little translator during the ceremony :).  


4.I got to talk to my brother!!!!:  I know I shared this in my last post but I was so excited to get to talk to Jimmy on Friday!  Because we are 8 hours apart with him being in France and me being in Guatemala, it was such a blessing to chat for a little and hear some about his adventures :).


5.Schools out for the summer!: My host brother and sister finished school for the year!  They were so excited to tell me how they finished and passed today when I saw them.  I had not seen them all weekend because I had been gone since Thursday and they couldn't wait to share some celebratory Oreo's with me that their mom had gave them because they had done so well in school :).


6.Dance machine: I got to go dancing this weekend!!! It was so so much fun!  Three friends and I found a place to go dancing while on our trip.  I think the Guatemalan people thought we were so funny with our crazy American dancing hahah.


7.Prayers please :): First, thank you all so much for all the prayers about language barrier and being comfortable here and adjustment and for my mamma being sick.  I wanna ask for prayer for my best friends grandma who was taken to the hospital last week with some heart issues and some beginning signs of dementia.  Pray for her and her family as they adjust to this diagnosis and figure out what the next step is for her grandmother as far as her living situation.

Ruins from an old church in Antigua :)

Thank you as always for reading and I hope everyone has a wonderful start to your week!  Adios amigos :-)