The day starts with eggs, pancakes & bacon for breakfast at the same restaurant that we had dinner at last night. A little taste of home!
Les has hired a guide to tour us around Antigua, to see the ruins & sights. We start at central square with the main cathedral. Then we move on to a church that was ruined in a past earthquake. Here, many of our team tries their hand, or should I say shoulder, at lifting one of the very heavy floats that are paraded around during Holy Week. We didn't think it could be done, but the team did it!
We toured a Jade factory & saw some of the unique shades of jade that are found in Guatemala; green, black & lavender.
We ended our morning tour in a cloistered nunnery, where the first born daughter of wealthy Spaniard families would be sent to to live out there lives with no contact to the outside world. At the top of the nunnery was a circle of cells where the nuns would spend time in prayer & meditation. At the centre of the circle was a point where when you spoke your voice echoed back to you multiplied by the walls around. At the bottom of the nunnery was a white donught-shaped room with almost perfect acoustics. We spread out around the walls of the donught and sang worship songs with amazing harmonies. We sounded like a choir on tour!
After lunch, it was off to the market to haggle for gifts & treasures. Stalls of clothing items, blankets, trinkets, instruments, paintings & you name it. Traveling in groups of threes, our team bartered for the best price possible on items for purchase. After 3 hours, we headed back to our hotel room with bags of prized items as memories of our trip to Antigua.
After dinner, we had a great time of sharing where we had seen God revealed over the past 10 days & what each of us wanted to change about our lives back in Calgary. All of us desire more of God in our lives & will need the support, accountability and love of one another to accomplish it.
It's hard to go to bed, we don't want the day to end. We don't want the experience to end, but we must be up at 3:30 in the morning if we are to make it in time to the airport in Guatemala City for our early morning flight back to the U.S.
This is the last post for this trip. I hope you have enjoyed following along on our journeys & experiences over the last ten days. It has been fun sharing them with you, but, I can guarantee you this, it's better in person! To live for a time in another culture & watch the ways in which God works is a "must have" experience. Now, it's time to start planning & praying for next years Mission Trip. What an opportunity to be God's hand & feet.
Blessings on all of you. Thank-you for your prayers & support.
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