The First Two Days in Guatemala

Our group on Saturday morning before breakfast, with two volcanoes in the background.

The first two days of our trip were filled with travel by plane and bus, getting to know our Michigan and Iowa team members and our Guatemalan hosts and having our first clinic this afternoon. The flights to Guatemala went without a hitch, on time and smooth. I couldn't believe how easily we went through immigration and customs. We landed in Guatemala City and took a bus to Solola, where we stayed at a hotel called the Eagle's Nest. The men stayed in one room and the women split up between two rooms. We arrived after dark, so we didn't see the spectacular view of  Lago de Atitlan below us.  The next morning, though, we were treated to a magnificent view of the caldera lake with a view of two gigantic, dormant volcanoes, and, in the the distance, an active volcano with a plume of smoke coming out the top.

Beautiful morning lake scene. Active volcano right center.

"Which is clearer, one, or two? One...., or two...." (In Spanish, naturally.)

Preliminary screening for eye diseases.

We travelled about three hours to San Marcos and set up our eyeglass clinic. We unloaded the bus and van and set up very quickly, said a group prayer, and started seeing people. When we began, there were already around 30 people waiting to see us. We eventually saw about 125 people in afternoon. Tomorrow we will start early and will probably see many more.

Our host Nury de Milian is such a blessing to us, as well as Vicki Sorensen, our team leader. Nury has been filling us in on the history of the Lutheran Church in Guatelmala during our travel time, as well as other cultural information.

Tonight at dinner we recounted how we had seen the Lord at work today. People mostly mentioned how patient and forgiving the Guatemalan people were that we served. I saw that myself with the evangelism that I did in Spanish. The people were so respectful and friendly. I never heard a snicker at my mispronunciations or awkwardness, only smiles and many "gracias" from the adults and children.

Fine tuning of prescriptions. This table was busy all afternoon. 

We are happily tired tonight and look forward to a full day tomorrow. Blessings on all the family members and brothers and sisters in our churches who are praying for us and miss us this week. We will have many stories to share with you when we return.

Tomorrow night I will post again if we have an internet connection.