Orientation here in Xela

This whole week we hosted an Apprenticeship Orientation here in Xela. It is the orientation for people who are committing to at least a year with an IC team. Mine was held in San Francisco before I came to Guatemala. It was the first ever one in Spanish and held here in Latin America. We had guests from Honduras, Venezuela, and our IC Directors from England. It was a week full of learning, reflection, and celebration as 3 new missionaries joined our team here in Xela. All of them are from here,  Liz, who is the finance of Chris, Yudi, who is the sister of German and Julio who is Yudi's son. We are now a officially a team of 7!

Unfortunately last week there was also a shooting near the park in the middle of the afternoon. One man was killed, and one woman was injured. There were many kids and families that we work with who also witnessed what happened. Many are still traumatized and scared. The man left behind 4 kids and the woman is the daughter-in-law of a family we work with. As things settle down this week and our schedule returns back to normal to please for our connections and relationship with those we know in the park affected by this tragedy. 

A fun thing they do for birthdays here is wake up the person early with firecrackers and singing. This week, I got to participate in this fun little gathering and afterwards we had hot chocolate and pastries. A not so fun thing they do for your birthday in Honduras is throw raw eggs at you. I prefer Guatemala. 

On the last day of orientation we all went to some hot springs about 45 outside of Xela. While the water wasn't super hot, I guess now isn't the best season, I enjoyed being in the water and the surrounding area was lush, green and beautiful.