Mi amiga "La Ameba"

A strange strange two weeks since I last wrote. On Sunday the 24th I traveled to Guatemala City to meet a group from Watchung Avenue Presbyterian Church where I will be doing my field ed internship next year and also where I worked last year. The bus ride to Guate was beautiful. I had the front seat on the bus and the best view of the volcanoes, deep green hills, and blue sky along the way. I met the group halfway through service at a Pentecostal church in zone 7. An interesting sermon emphasizing the huge divides between pentecostals and Catholics in Guatemala.
After church the group went to lunch at a nice restaurant with a marimba band. This is where I met my friend ameba, the reason for my weeks of absence from this blog. Not long after lunch my stomach was in revolt and the revolution has not yet ended.
So it is a rite of passage here. The doctor told me everyone has this problem in the winter (the rainy season). Not feeling well has made this last week harder than it should have been but still did not manage to ruin the visit from Watchung Ave. It was an amazing experience to share with friends and family a little of the reality of this country, parasites and amebas being a part of that reality.
I will write more about the visit and our travels as a group as I continue to reflect. To end - the group´s questions from last night as they prepared to leave this morning for New Jersey:
How can material things be better distributed?
Why do I enjoy speaking from the heart in a language that I don´t even speak very well?
Why were we born in the U.S.?
Why amongst all the different feelings was fear most prevalent in me during this trip?
What are the ties that bind my heart and soul to this place?
What will cause me to be more focused on how to use my gifts for good?
What am I willing to give up or let go of?
Some thoughts and reflections from a small and wonderful group of New Jerseyans (yes...I´m biased).