Xela Special Meeting

Even though I'm home again, I decided I really wanted to finish my Guatemala blogs!

I had the very special privilege of going to my very first Guatemalan special meetings. We went to Xetzaltenango, where Esa's grandma and grandpa used to live (they now live with their Esa's aunt and uncle in Guatemala City), early Sunday morning. I have many wonderful memories of the day, but I will just share the ones that were captured in the photos.

After meeting we encountered a small group of children playing delightedly with a roll of toliet paper they had found (or possibly swiped). Two kids would stand at the end of the grassy field, each holding one end of a long piece of toliet paper. Then the other kids would come racing toward them, and the first one to break through won. In this picture you catch a glimpse of Marco Tulio (Esa's dad) doing a great fake-out!

Even after they used up the toliet paper, the fun wasn't over...

They just tied it in a knot and it was good for another go-around.

Picking up after the meeting. The tall worker, Loren, was visiting from the States... It actually felt kind of weird to get to chat in English!

A line of women in traditional dress.

Me, a long ways off.

Ready to go...

And they're waiting for us!

After special meeting we went to soak in some natural hot baths (the water is supposedly heated by a volcano). But... there was a REALLY long wait.

A couple of grimy faced Guatemalan children, sneakily shot by Esa.

A long, long line = Katie sleeping in the car and Esa taking self portraits in the car windo.

We finally decided it wasn't worth waiting any longer and headed to Xelapan for some supper.

They are famous for their wonderful breads, tradional of the area. We enjoyed the sandwiches in the conjoining restaurant.

The Visa- Anticipation & Elation

The night before: we couldn't believe it was really happening! It was something we had thought about, talked about and planned for as long as we had known each other... and tomorrow was the big day! We were nervous but as prepared as possible. We had vehicle titles, house titles, business patents, university transcripts, bank balances, etc. After having done our part, there was still a lot we didn't have control over. We were so thankful to be able to trust in God's power.

The morning of... even Kashpi, the neighbor dog, got up early to see us off!

My handsome Esa, folder in hand.

The birthday girl!

The appointment: (time for a little narration)

• We arrived at the U.S. Embassy at 7:45 am. Esa's appointment was scheduled for 8:30, and we wanted to be at the front of the line! When we got there though, we found that for an occasion as important as this, the city was full of early-risers. We took our place and waited.
• Around 8:30 someone led us all inside. On the way in Esa was assigned appointment number 81. That seemed like a lot since it was still so early! I had my U.S. passport and was crossing my fingers that they would let me go in with him and wait. They waved me on through but firmly told me I would only be allowed in the waiting room, not in the actual interview.
• Once inside I left my cell phone and camera at the front desk (no electronics permitted), and we stood in the waiting room because all of the benches were filled with people.
• We waited and waited. A man came around with baby wipes to clean hands because electronic fingerprints are required before going into the interview. We thought this meant we were close! Esa was pretty quiet. I thought he was just nervous, but he later told me he was rehearsing in his head (every possible question and answer) the entire time we waited.
• A man began to call numbers: "40-55, come with me."
• We kept on waiting. Then we tried to play some little games to distract ourselves.
• 
• After awhile we decided to go to the bathroom, which was a stroke of luck. The bathrooms were actually in the area where all of the interviews take place. The area consists of two waiting areas and a wall with about 10 windows. An interviewer sits behind the window and conducts the interview over an intercom. There is a scant space at the bottom of the window to pass papers back and forth. We were delighted to get a peek at the room that had haunted us for so long! Of course it was nothing like we had imagined. We also formed a plan. If they stopped me from going into the embassy with Esa, I would wait a little while, and then enter to "go to the bathroom."
• The numbers called kept getting closer and closer. Until we finally heard "71-80!" It was almost 11:00 am.
• We sat on the edge of our seats until they finally called "81-90!" Relieved, we followed our guide back into the heart of the embassy to wait some more.
• At a little before 1:00 pm we were finally called up to our window. We had been watching the interviewers and had picked out the one we hoped to get: a kind looking young red-haired lady. Of course when it came right down to it, we got our last choice, the bristly-bearded white-haired suspender-wearing stern older man. After a quick glance at Esa's form he asked him (in Spanish) "Why on earth do you want to go to North Dakota? There's nothing up there! Or are you going to visit someone?" Esa gestured to me and said that he was going to visit me and my family. Then the interviewer asked, "where is Cando anyway? Is it close to Hatton?" I breathlessly ask him if I can speak in English. We go on to discuss his grandparents' farm outside of Hatton, our Norwegian heritage, lefse, ludefisk, Mayville State College, etc. After chatting for about 5 minutes, his coworker came and reprimanded him for getting off subject. He waved her away, talked a bit more, and then said, out of the blue, "Oh, and he gets a visa." You can't imagine my disbelief, relief, and excitment. I began elbowing Esa and whispering excitedly (but somewhat inconspicuously I hoped) to him. He then handed us the yellow ticket (the kind you get at a ball game for 50/50, except this one gets you into the U.S.A), asked him if he was going to finish school in Guatemala, recorded a couple of things in the computer, and sent us on our way. I think the only thing that kept us from jumping and screaming was that if we seemed to excited, maybe they could still take it away from us!
  

Talking to my mom on the phone... I knew how anxious she was so we called her before anyone else! She even got a little choked up.

Then Esa had to call his dad...

We ate a celebratory lunch (birthday and visa) at Tre Fratelli, a very yummy Italian restaurant. My dear mom treated us. :) Both of us smiled until our cheeks hurt, and we still couldn't stop.

I lost count of how many times I said that day, "Esa, you have a visa!" Both of his parents have tried to get visa's and been turned down, an uncle and cousin have also tried. Everyone in Guatemala wants a visa, and it's next to impossible to get one. What happened to us never happens. A famous tv reporter had her appointment ahead of us, and we watched the interviewer grill even her. We on the other hand didn't have to extract ONE paper from our well-prepared folder.

We ate at one of those tables. There's a fancy little stream running around the edge of the platform.

The visa came to the house the next day! We were so happy to see it.

The famous yellow ticket :)

*More blogs to come... I had to do the visa one first even though it wasn't next in line. :)

Landon and Alyssa

We had heard that Landon and Alyssa Carlson (a young couple from California) were going to be honeymooning in Guatemala but didn't know exactly when. I was so excited to walk into Sunday meeting and see two more Americans! Laura, me, Landon, Alyssa - that made 4! They actually got married on Saturday, flew overnight, and got to Guatemala on Sunday morning. What a couple of days they had. When the meeting was informed that they were celebrating their first day as a married couple, they jumped into planning mode, and before we knew it, a cake had appeared. We sang a hymn for them, ate cake, and drank soda. (They asked me what we sing at weddings... "Happy Birthday??" But we all agreed that wouldn't be appropriate.)

After cake we went to the fruit stand near the house. Landon apparently developed excellent watermelon picking skills during his years as a single man, and he did me the honor of sharing some tips. Knocking is required, as well as acute hearing.

And it really worked!

Unloading their things... Abraham, always of service, met them at the airport at 5:00 am that morning and brought them to meeting. Landon and Alyssa had lunch with us, and then Esa, Laura, and I took them to find a hotel. They spent the rest of their time in Guatemala traveling and seeing all that they could see. We were so glad we got to meet them!

*And I almost forgot to mention: thanks to Laura for the photos!

Aniversary Breakfast

Our 15-month anniversary fell on Sunday, so before meeting we went out to breakfast together at Cafe Saul, a delicious favorite (made even more appealing by the 2-for-1 breakfast offer with the Prensa Libre card). We sipped coffee, sat cozily on the same side of the table, and moved closer toward our goal of trying ALL of the breakfast menus!

Farewell Dinner

The night before the girls left we went out to an Italian place for one last farewell. I ate a delicious vegetarian panini (a kind of fancy name for a hot sandwich), and enjoyed everyone's company once again. A few of Laura's friends came as well. Linda, Laura's apartment-mate, also a teacher at the school, is sitting beside me. Next to Linda is Kelly, Laura's mentor teacher. Then it goes Roxie, Heidi, Laura, and Merra, Leslie, the other girl that came from Wyoming to student teach, and Courtney. We made lots of promises to do our best to see eachother again soon!

A Fabulous Shot

We were driving along in the inner city when I was struck by this graffiti. I said to Esa, "Stop, stop!" and realized I had a good man when he did, in fact, stop. (I later chalked it up to the red light.) Anyway, I managed to snap one single picture with no cars in the way, and this is it. There's so many things to love about it. Take note of the grandma feeding the baby a piece of mango!

Mtg. and Big Macs

Judging by the title, you might be wondering, "Now just what IS the relationship between meeting and Big Macs? Frankly, there is none. We just happened to go to McDonald's for Sunday dinner, which was more than okay with a group of 6 American girls!

This picture is of Wednesday night meeting the day the girls got to Guatemala. They were very tired but determined to take in the whole Guatemalan experience! They also wanted to get to meet Ken Johnson, one of the workers here in Guatemala. He has been here for around 30 years, and getting to know him, it didn't take long to figure out why he's always spoken of so warmly... He's a very special, easy-going person.

And their last Sunday before they headed back to Wyoming (minus Laura, thank goodness!). We spent most of the day together with my nice Esa taking us wherever our little hearts desired.

Enjoying my standard grilled chicken with bbq sauce... It actually has something that resembles whole wheat bread!

And the other side of the table... Poor Esa didn't appear in any of the pictures, but he WAS there. :)