From Antigua Guatemala

So the sabbatical has begun.I’ve started the summer off with a language immersion in Antigua, Guatemala. My daughter Erica is with me.Erica took Spanish in high school and though she has not used it since, an immersion like this brings it back. She’s doing remarkably well, conversing with our host family (they don’t speak English) and people all around town. I stand there and smile, occasionally nodding my head when she does so it's not obvious that I don’t have a clue. I don’t.This immersion involves five hours a day of one-on-one tutoring and then about four to five hours a day of study, review and memorization. My teacher speaks very little English, only a little more than I speak Spanish, which is “nada”. But I’m really good at, “Hola" (I now know the “H” is silent), Buenos Dias, etc.I actually am learning a lot, but it’s like drinking from a fire hydrant. On day one, I was totally lost. I think my teacher was ready to request a change :-). After day three, I can actually understand much of what she is saying and I can also pick up bits and pieces of other conversations. My goal is to simply hold simple conversations with non-English speaking people by the end of the summer. I’m realizing that will probably be possible if I stay with it.I’ve not just been lost in class. This is the first day that Erica and I have not gotten lost in town.Antigua is an interesting place. It was built in the 16th-17th centuries. It was once known as Santiago and was the colonial capital of all of Latin America. When a series of earthquakes destroyed much of the city in the late 1700’s, it was mostly abandoned. In the last century, it has been resettled and the name became “Antigua Guatemala City” (Old Guatemala City). Now it is just known as Antigua. But it’s past is evident everywhere with dozens of buildings that date to its colonial days and ruins from the 18th century earthquakes almost everywhere you look. The streets are the original colonial cobblestone. It’s like stepping back in time, only to be nearly run over by one of the hundreds of scooters and old Volkswagens and Datsuns that zoom up and down the cobble stone streets.Poverty is everywhere and only the tourists have anything close to what the poorest in America have.But there is a special kind of wealth that is growing in this country. When my teacher learned that I was a pastor of an "Iglesia Evangelica”, she told me that in 1950, the country was 100% Roman Catholic. Today, it is 40% Christian. “Christian not same as Catholic,” she said.There is a revival taking place in this poor country. I think that kind of wealth supersedes anything we Americans can boast of.Thanks for praying and please keep it up!