Ahh... Antigua!

We finally made it to Antigua. We've begun language school and have met our host family. Kara's going to say more about them later, but she has already made a good friend in their dog, Dolly.

Our first day at language school was challenging. Kara and I both realize how far we have to go before we can communicate easily with people here. But it got off to a good start as we got to know Arturo, the language school's director. He was running the school when Kendon & Wendy went through 18 years ago and has become a trusted friend of theirs. As we talked with him, he told us a little bit of his story. When he opened the school in 1983, he occasionally attended church. One of his first groups of students was a group of missionaries from YWAM. As they finished their studies and were leaving the school, they asked Arturo if they could pray for him, which they did. They surrounded him and laid hands on him as they prayed. To that point, he had been addicted to cigarettes. A few days later, he gave them up and has never smoked since. But that wasn't the only difference- his voice started to get emotional and powerful when he then started talking about the change in how much he loves Jesus. He said he and his family now attend mass every day, work with the youth, and help with the music. It was a joy for us to sit with him as he talked about what a gift it is to be able to share the love of Christ with his family.

In school, Kara and I each have our own tutors. We sit down with them 1-on-1 for 4 hours each day. It's pretty intense, but we both enjoyed getting to know them. My tutor and I meet on the roof of our building, and I took the picture of the volcanos that surround Antigua from the roof during our break.

Many thanks to all of you who prayed for us to recover from our sickness. We've both successfully eaten big Guatemalan meals now and walked all over town, so I think our recovery is complete.

We're so excited to finally be here, getting to know some wonderful people and see the Lord in new ways...