Guatemala City all done!

Well today we're leaving Guatemala City and heading to our host families in Antigua! I love it here but I'm excited to get settled down and start the missions stuff. We've seen some really cool stuff here in GC though. Yesterday we went to the national cemetery, which sounds creepy but was so cool! Some of the tombs were bigger than houses and beautiful, and others were just holes in a huge stone wall. From the back of the cemetery we could see the city dump, which is the biggest one in Central America, and it broke my heart. There were vultures everywhere and people scrounging around looking for things in the dump they could sell for money. It reeked! Also when a family stops paying for their tomb, the bodies are just chucked into the ravine, so we saw a casket on the cliff all broken and rusted. We couldn't tell if there was a body in there. I fell asleep on the roof yesterday trying to read (sounds like me huh) so I have some real goofy tan lines! I'm getting better about eating beans and rice...even starting to like it! Today was really cool, we went to the slum city on the ravine where they live on $2 or less a day. The houses were made out of aluminum scraps, dirt floors, it broke my heart. We visited a guy there who grew up with Rigoberta Menchu and experienced all the horrors of the violence from the civil war...he had to escape his village and was shot and a lot of his family members were raped and killed. Some of his neighbors are garbage scroungers. We visited his house and his sister's house, which were made of concrete, and his sister's had a cool view. I took tons of pictures. He spoke to us (in Spanish) and it amazed me that he kept saying that he thanks God he's alive. We asked him if he still communicated with Rigoberta, and he said money changes people. It's better to stay poor (Mejor ser pobre). There's wild dogs everwhere and I've been taking tons of pictures of little kids. They're all so happy with so little. Well we're all packed up here at SEMILLA so it's time for lunch and then off to Antigua! Please be praying for my host family...that they will enjoy having us and that their hearts will be opened. Oh for those of you who know, the roommate situation stayed the same so that's good news! I also found out that my friend Mary Kreps is studying like a half hour away from Antigua...so I'll have two non-Bethel friends there! (Matt Hanson too). I really appreciate you reading this, it makes me feel connected and loved. Thank you so much for your prayers. I couln't be happier.