Guatemala – Day 6 – 6/12/25

This morning in prayer I was reflecting on John 1:38-39a:

Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.”

And how Jesus asks each of us first “what do you seek?” – what are your hope, dreams and desires, and then after we have shared those He makes the invitation to come and see what He has to offer. He doesn’t force anyone or require anything from us, but rather just makes the invitation. If we do choose to follow Him, He doesn’t promise that there won’t be hardships or struggle, but He doesn’t force anyone promise that he will never leave us or abandon us. That if we trust Him we will receive grace upon grace!

Breakfast this morning was tortillas, beans, cheese omelettes, pancakes with peaches and a cherry on top and cereal.

After breakfast we left the convent and drove to Antigua, Guatemala which is about 45 minutes away from San Andres Itzapa. We first went for a walk and hiked up to a look out that had a large cross at the top and a gorgeous view of the whole city.

The streets in Antigua
You can just barely see the cross at the top of the hill – that’s where we were headed
Some flowers along the way
The view from the top. The mountain straight ahead is actually a volcano “La Agua” – it is not the one that erupted last week, that was “Fuego” and is to the right kind of behind the tree in this picture.
Back row (L to R): Josie, Eli, Noah, me, Dad, Charles, Ezra, Maynor, Roy – Front row (L to R): Luis, Lilly, McKenzie, Matthew

After hiking to the top we walked around Antigua while Maynor shared some of the history and pointed out some significant buildings.

This used to be a Catholic Church (Santa Anna) before it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1776

We then made our way over to an old Dominican Monastery that has been converted to a 5-star hotel. They still have a lot of the art from the monastery and have placed other religious art and statues around the property as well.

And this one is a Church…
This was where the kitchen and service quarters were within the monastery
St. Dominic

After walking around there for a while we continued our journey and made our way over to the church where St. Hermano Pedro is buried (he is the first saint to have worked and died in Guatemala). We had a chance to pray at his tomb and then spend some time walking around the Church. Photos were not allowed at the tomb, but I got a few others from around the Church. Additionally, this Church has a set of “Holy Doors” celebrating the Jubilee 2025. Holy Doors are special entrances in certain churches that are ceremonially opened only during a Jubilee year. Passing through a Holy Door symbolizes a new beginning, leaving the bad behind, and a desire for forgiveness and spiritual renewal. It represents Jesus, “the door of salvation”. Pilgrims who pass through a Holy Door during the Jubilee can receive a plenary indulgence, provided they meet certain conditions.

To read more about Jubilee 2025 check out this link

More about Holy Doors can be found here

A biography about St. Hermano Pedro can be found here

On the way to the Church we passed this building, that also used to be a Catholic Church and is now the Mexican Embassy
Some cool wood grates covering a window
So many of the doors had these ornate knockers on them…and then there was this lion?!?
Statue of St. Hermano Pedro
The main altar at the Church
Front of the Church and the Holy Doors
Our group in front of the Church

Next we started to make our way to the restaurant we were going to for lunch, but along the way we popped into the Cathedral. They were having Eucharist Adoration so we prayed for a bit before continuing on.

This is actually a hospital! (Likely also an old Church)
Inside the Cathedral
Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Cathedral
This is actually the original Cathedral, but it was also destroyed (I think in the earthquake) and they are just now starting to restore some of it – you can see the bricks at the top in the arches are new.
These are the floats that they use during Holy Week
Float used during Holy Week
Float depicting the crucifixion

We finally made it to a restaurant in town that served some more “American” foods. Myself, Dad, Lilly, Maynor, Luis and McKenzie got a bunch of flavors of wings and shared them. I forgot to take pictures of the food, but I did get a picture of my beer! Gallo is a Guatemalan beer that is VERY popular, and pretty tasty!

After lunch we walked over to the market to do some shopping. I collect Nativity scenes so I was able to pick up two new ones to add to my collection.

This one is a small bowl that looks like a cave
This one looks like a Church
And when you open it the nativity scene is inside!

Then we drove over to Parramos where we went to the Women’s Center. Several of the women who are part of the sewing group were there to share a little about their work and they had some of their goods available for purchase. We also got to see the new (much larger) building they are constructing next door in order to expand the Women’s Center. It will have classrooms, a kitchen, a play space for the children while their mother’s are learning/working, and a larger space for their sewing group to expand. After that we walked over to Yeimy’s house (which is connected and right next door to Maynor’s house) and we got to help some of the local women cook. (Being very honest, we were running late and so we missed most of the cooking, so really all we did was help blend up what would become the sauce for the meal.

Peppers, onions, herbs, tomatoes, tomatillos
They then added “tamale leaves” to give it additional flavor

After we finished there we drove back to the Convent. We were supposed to play soccer on Tuesday but with the weather it just didn’t work out. So we were able to make it over to the field to play for about 30-45 min today before dinner. I did not play, but I was a great cheerleader!

Dinner tonight was the roasted chicken with sauce that we “helped make” with rice and tortillas. It was delicious! All of the sisters ate dinner with us tonight since they didn’t have to cook a meal for us but just warm up what we had already made.

After dinner I spent some time getting packed up for the lake day we will have on Friday and I also got myself semi-packed for going home as well. Just getting all of the dirty clothes put back into their packing cubes so it would all fit back in my suitcase. I did a tiny bit of reading, but we have an early morning so I went to bed early as well!

I can’t believe we are already down to our last day in Guatemala! It has gone by so quickly and I’m not ready to leave yet! We are all already starting to make plans for next year which is always exciting!

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