Happy Solemnity of Pentecost! Today we celebrate the birthday of the Catholic Church! We started the day with breakfast at 7:30am. I say this every year, but the food the sisters make us is absolutely delicious! For breakfast we had an egg bake with peppers and onions, refried pinto beans, tortillas and the most delicious crepe stuffed with apples and strawberries and a chocolate drizzle! I forgot to take a picture of it, but trust me, AMAZING! We also had orange juice and so I had to take a picture and send it to Fr. Mark (the priest that came with us last year) as a bit of an inside joke!

We then said goodbye to the group from St. Thomas Moore and then walked up the hill into town to attend Mass at the local parish, fittingly also named “St. Andrew the Apostle” so I felt right at home!

My Spanish isn’t that great, so while I can understand some conversations I had a hard time following the homily and so I read a meditation from the Laudate app and it just reminded me how perfect it was that our first real day of serving fell on Pentecost. I’m going to share a snip of the meditation below, but I was just struck by the fact that Jesus tells the disciples that before they can go out and minister to the people and evangelize and build the Church here on earth, they first must receive the Holy Spirit and how we too as missionaries first must receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts before we can go serve the people. It was so fitting that our week of service started with Mass giving us an opportunity to receive Jesus in the Eucharist and to invite the Holy Spirit into every encounter we have this week.

After Mass we walked back to the convent and on the way we stopped to take a group photo at the San Andres welcome sign and then popped into a corner store for drinks and snacks. I got a Gatorade, but it came in a glass bottle and so since they recycle the bottles they just pour it into a bag and give you a straw so that you don’t have to bring the bottle back or drink it right there in the store!

When we got back to the convent we said goodbye to friends Heather and Chris. Fun fact, Heather (Miss Plumb) was my high school English teacher! She is also good friends with Tony so they came to town to celebrate the quinceañera last night as well! I hadn’t seen her in quite some time so we joked that we had to come all the way to Guatemala to see each other.

Then we did a bit of a room shuffle and all moved rooms. (Last night we had to condense and share rooms since St. Thomas Moore had a pretty big group, but once they left the sisters cleaned the rooms and now all 10 of us have our own rooms which is great!) After I got settled into my room for the week it was time for lunch. We had friend chicken, french fries, salad with mango and apples, tortillas and watermelon.

After lunch (around 2pm) we loaded the bus and drove about 10-15 minutes to a small village called Corrales. It is technically part of San Andres, but is in a more “rural” area so to speak. We went to the home of three siblings in order to help build a chicken coop for them. Today was just part one of that project, so we placed the cinder block foundation, put in the posts that will hold the chicken wire and roof and then poured a concrete floor. I’m always amazed at the work the masons are able to do with their hands…no fancy electric tools, just shovels, buckets and every once in a while a machete! The family had the cutest little puppy named Rex that we got to get some puppy cuddles in with as well! My group today consisted of Edy and Brandon (our masons who help us build everything), McKenzie (our interpreter who I happen to know from back home, we have mutual friends and went on a bachelorette party together last summer), dad, Lilly, Eli and Noah.

Around 4:30pm we had finished what we could for the day and drove back to the convent. We had a couple hours until dinner so I showered, laid on my bed relaxing for a bit and then we all just hung out on the rooftop as a group. Then a few of us took a quick walk about a block away to see the Monastario de San Jose which is a cloistered Augustinian Nuns. This is my third time here and I’ve never been in, and it was absolutely stunning! The crucifix was unlike anything I have ever seen and was double sided! We took some time to pray and then walked back to the convent for dinner.

When we got back to the convent it was about time for dinner. Tonight’s meal consisted of stuffed cannelloni pasta, a yogurt/apples salad, refried pinto beans, tortillas, and a soup…I can’t remember what they called the soup, but it is some sort of local vegetable, and the soup was green. It was really good! Dessert was a fresh slice of pineapple.

After dinner we sat around and talked for a while in the dinning room before moving up to the rooftop to enjoy a cigar (adults only). We sat and talked for a few hours listening to the rain fall on the tin roof before it was time to hit the hay for any early morning tomorrow!

Buenas noches from Guatemala!