Hola! Yesterday was full of new experiences for Lily and it allowed us to share our history with the mission so that Lily could better understand why we are here. We started the morning with breakfast and 9:30 mass, and moved into viewing a freshly finished video documenting the life of Fr Greg put together by Katie Wallyn. It was a great summary of his journey here in Guatemala, and what led him to be the person that he was. When it is finished and published, I would highly recommend viewing it. It's a great look inside the mission, and what they do to help the community of San Lucas. Once Lori and I wiped up our tears from our missing Fr. Greg, we went from there to visit his tomb in the cemetery.
We were able to spend a lot of time with the new Volunteer Coordinator here at the mission (the aforementioned Katie Wallyn) and it was a real pleasure to get to know her. With God's help I'm sure she will be a great addition to the mission family here, and will do a great job! Walking up the cemetery road to where Fr Greg was buried brought back beautiful memories of our journey here for his burial, and the amazing part we were called to play in helping to return his body to the people he loved so much. The beauty they expressed in their sorrow and farewell was truly a breathtaking sight, and it will be something that we never forget. If you look at the other blogs posted by me, you can find an entire blog dedicated to that trip. There are insights from his family and closest friends, as well as myself and a few lucky people that were able to attend with us.
You can see in the picture below, Lily giving her greetings to Fr. Greg. We also took a moment to say a prayer for his intercession before we went along with our day. It was a special moment to share with Lily and Eve.
A look back down cemetery road.
Here is a panoramic view from Fr. Greg's tomb looking out towards the city.
Once we finished with our cemetery visit, we continued with Katie back to the long term volunteer house. There we hung out with the long term volunteers: Katie, Brady, and Anna. They were great to be around and we had fun playing LeftCenterRight, Farkle, Bananagrams, and Scrabble. Eve even got to play with a large blanket provided by Katie and had fun wrapping herself up in it.
We then took some time back at Chona's house to relax a bit before going to visit our friends David and Anna at their place. There were some low hanging clouds that Lily thought were pretty cool.
The picture below shows Casa Spencer, which is where David and Anna stay when they are down to visit Anna's family. It's a nice little place, and they offer great hospitality. They are great friends to have!
In the process of preparing the meal, Eve again has been a hit, and made some new friends. One of the ladies helping prepare the meal asked if she could care for her while we relaxed and talked with David. It was a treat seeing Eve interact with her!
This is a look inside Casa Spencer where we spent our evening. Dave had some great beer on hand, and we were able to unwind and talk about how things at the mission are going, and also receive an update on the life of Dave and Anna as well. Anna is a native Guatemalan, and met Dave when he was stationed here as part of the Peace Corps. They are a beautiful couple, and walk back and forth between Spanish and English, which makes it really fun to talk to them.
Remember in yesterday's post when Lily frightened the kids? Well Anna smoothed things over and talked to the mother about having the oldest girl come hang out with Lily! It was great seeing them interact. They played follow the leader, hide and seek, and drew some great pictures as well. Say hi to Alejandra! It was great to see Lily so interested in befriending a local girl. She was really sweet and very polite! We even talked a bit in Spanish to help her feel more comfortable.
We are about to head out on a tour of the Mission and the projects. Lily is excited to see everything, so we will post either later today or tomorrow to share with you what we all learned!
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