A Little Bit of Heaven on Earth



On Saturday we got to do a little sight-seeing with this small group of three. We picked up a wonderful Guatemalan family that we had made dobladas with the evening before. A doblada is a native Guatemalan dish which is a little like a perogy but it is a corn tortilla filled with cheese & then fried in oil - they are so yummy with salsa. This couple had 3 children - 2 teenage boys and a little seven year old girl. We also invited a young couple along that are to be married in November. We drove for a long way to Semuc-Champey. What fun we had! When we got to Lanquin, a little tourist town, we decided to leave our van and negotiated a ride up the rest of the way to Semuc-Champey in a 4x4 truck, for a small fee of course, as the road was not good ahead. Before we left though, several of us needed to use the washroom. We had to pay to use the washroom - each of us paid our 1 quetzal (~15 cents) and we were handed some toilet paper and a receipt. To flush the toilet we had to get a pail of water from a nearby barrel and pour it down the toilet! We laughed and had so much fun with this experience.

We all got into the truckbox and finished our rough journey up the mountain road to the site of the most beautiful turquoise waters casacading over rocks into pools deep enough to dive into. The sun was shining into the canyon. It was wonderfully warm and humid. The pools were surrounded by canyon walls covered with the trees of the rain forest. We had a picnic lunch and then swam or lounged around in the warm waters while tiny fish kissed our toes. The little girl stayed by my side in the shallow waters. Giggling became our way of communicating - I heard agua (water) and pescado (fish) a lot. :) This was the first time this family had been to this place, even though it is not that far away for them.

Later on Al and I walked upstream of the pools over the rocks & found a rushing, roaring, pounding river plunging down underground; underneath where we had been swimming, diving and lounging around. It was amazing - what an incredible tourist spot, still so natural and primitive! All of the signs describing the area were in Spanish, but we got the message.

Back where we had our picnic, a lady from Canada got to share with and encourage a Guatemalan brother. She felt that she now knew why she had returned to Guatemala - this was her 7th time here. Again we talked and laughed on the way home and became good friends.

Sunday morning we went to the little church cell group that this Guatemalan family has helped to begin in one of the classrooms at the Purulha school. These Guatemalan brothers and sisters worship the Lord with such passion. I keep weeping everytime I am in any worship service. God is so close.

This morning we said good-bye to a team - 3 new friends; a couple from Boston and a lady from Edmonton. If we don't see one another on earth here again, we will see one another in heaven. What a party that will be!

Bendiciones, Judy