April 23, 2015 (Day 5)

Many people want to do missions for a "Facebook" status and "Instagram" picture but, it's not all glitz and glam. This trip has truly humbled me in way needed. Our hotel stay was not my first choice, but it was a necessary sacrifice to be where God needed me to be at a particular time. Last night made me realize just how blessed and "spoiled" we are in the United States.

After eating breakfast in the hotel, we boarded a boat in Panajachel, which was actually formed from a volcano crater, and made our way to Santiago. The boat ride was about an hour and a half long but full of true beauty. There is no way someone could deny that there was a God after all the beauty I experienced and peacefulness of the waters. I used that time of solidarity to reflect on life and there are a lot of things that I want to change and along with God, they will.

Santiago was another island surrounding Lake Atitlan that captured both a city and country vibe. After arriving, we went to a bead store for a tour and class of exactly how they produced such beautiful and unique products. Beading is a major household income provider for a lot of families in Guatemala. Diego, the owner of the shop we were at, inherited the business from his mother. She was one of the original ladies that start making beads and would eventually go into business with her son. He makes it a point to employ women who have families to take care of amongst other obligations, because they're able to work at home doing this. He hires a maximum of 2 people from each household so that he can continue to spread work out throughout the whole island. He is just awesome! He is working on being able to travel around the world to sell the beads and help his people but, the process for getting a visa is very difficult right now. Although that is a fact, the truth is "Things happen when we pray," so we did just that. We prayed "Sweatless Victory" regarding his visa, his business prospering, and the continued support he would be able to extend to his community. It's a wonderful thing to know that he does what he does to help others and not just himself. After traveling to a small village and witnessing the women work to produce the jewelry while caring for their families, in spite of their living conditions, we made our way back to Panajachel.

After getting some food, we began our journey back to Antigua. About 3 hours later we were back to what we knew as "Home" for the week. The food in Panajachel wasn't our first choice, so we were excited to have familiar food in Antigua. A group of us separate made our way to the center of town when we ran into "Qwame," simply just asking him for food recommendations. After talking food, I asked him how did he end up in Guatemala? He said he had been researching living in foreign countries for about 4 years before moving to Guatemala. Originally from Los Angeles doing work in the IT field, he knew that there was more to life then waking up, committing to work, coming home and just making it. He made a decision to move and has never looked back. He moved here alone and said would never move back. He said it's just different. Life is just a better quality there and he can do the same thing in a foreign land, making the same money, and enjoy life even more.