Making Friends

These 4 women have become very good friends to me. Nolly introduced me to a hair solon where I get my color and cut. She has also taken me walking to a terrific fresh market very near the house. To celebration the National holiday on September 15, four of us went to the National Theater for a Marimba concert. There were 10 marimba groups, all playing simultaneously. Each group has nine members—7 play the xylophone looking part, one plays base fiddle, and one plays the drums. The people in the audience applauded and yelled enthusiastically after every musical number. One song was such a favorite that the people got up in the aisles and began to dance and sing along with the music. There were 3 encores.

Nolly also guided me on a trip to Antigua, the ancient capital city of Guatemala, and a major tourist attraction.

Even before arriving in Guatemala, I had prayed that I would make Guatemalan friends and that I would be able to have a Bible study in my home, and even that at some point I might be able to lead a Bible study. Of course, my Spanish does have to improve a bit before I can do it alone. With this in mind, I had a little party last Saturday night to get to know as many of the ladies in my little neighborhood (30 homes) as possible. I handed out the invitations and prepared the food, waiting expectantly to see who would show up. Thirteen ladies came, of these 5 were completely new to me. A fairly young woman and her two little girls live on one side of me. I thought she was rather unfriendly or very busy as I had only seen her in passing and she was always in her car. It turned out that her husband had died in June of this year after a long illness. She really didn’t know anyone in the neighborhood because she had been so busy caring for her husband. I had to ask one of her daughters what was her name so I could address the envelope. No one in the area even knew her name—Elida. She stayed until the very end and seemed so happy to be in the company of all these friendly ladies. Two of my missionary friends also came, one to help and one to talk about a Bible study she leads. Several of the ladies were enthusiastic about a study right here in the neighborhood. We hope to get it going in January.