Week 1 of classes completed

well, i finished my first week of spanish classes today. it's been such a blessing to be able to come to antigua to study and refresh on my spanglish/ spanish. i feel not so scared to speak in past and future tenses. today, i believed God showed me why i am here for another reason other than i had anticipated. my teacher carolina and i took a fieldtrip this afternoon to see some old convent ruins. it's amazing to be in a place where at one time, it was the main city for central america, the 3d capital of guatemala, and some most history took place. there are 52 churches and or ruins at one time here in guatemala b/c the archbishop(? i apologize that i am not familiar with catholic terminology) wanted to go to a different church each sunday. today, there are 15 of these churches being used as churches. there is a very small and weak CoC here in antigua. jeanne and i have been discussing that this would be a great place for some of the baxter boys to come to during PAM or afterwards. anyway, back to the story of today... while my teacher and i were walking through central park after visiting some ruins, we began discussing faith and religion. she told her about her sad childhood of her father dying and mother leaving when she was 11 and having to take care of her 2 younger brothers herself. she told me that she believes in God but has a hard time with going to church and may of the catholic theries (since a preist once told her confession). we talked for a long time and prayed (which the entire time she continued to correct my spanish since technically we were in class). she is the sweetest thing. i just kept telling her that God is love and that He loves her. it seemed to be too much for her to hear. please pray for her and this situation that God will give me the right words to use with her so that she too may know the love Christ has for her. Tomorrow, Nancy is coming to pick Jeanne and i up to hang out in the city. the youth group at the church where she works is having a yard sale so that they can raise money to go to the encuentro (youth rally) at Baxter in September. ohhhh, one more story for today. at breakfast eating oatmeal and milk mush (or moosh here) with some granola in it. jeanne broke her tooth so we spent tonight in the local dentist's office getting it repaired. please pray that she will be pain free and heal without complications like an infection. anyway, i am going to guatemala city for the weekend to be with nancy moon gonzalez. love to you all. Dios les bendiga (God bless you all).