Wrapping up my time in Guatemala- Honduras here I come!!

 Wow- so officially counting down the days until we arrive at the Finca Del Niño! The five of us are so excited and ready to get there, but we are going to miss the beautiful city of Antigua as well as all of the friends that we have made.

Before I get into what has been going on in my life the past month, I want to start by reposting my Finca address. I can receive snail-mail and packages to:

Finca Del Niño- Emily Cook

Apartado Postal #110

Trujillo, Colón

Honduras, Central America

As I won’t be able to text, facebook messenger and e-mail- Emily.cook93@yahoo.com will be the best ways to get ahold of me. I have facetime on my computer and will be able to use that when connected to the internet, e-mail or message me a time and I would love to schedule a facetime date with you!!! For real, updates on your life, prayer requests, and current music and sports updates are always welcomed.

Anyway, one of the most popular questions that I have gotten since being here from my friends and family back home is “what have you been up to?” or “what’s new?” Well, in short, everything. Everything is new. It seems like almost every day we are exposed to another cultural experience. I don’t know where to begin, but I’ll try to hit the highlights since my last blog.

Back at the beginning of September I received a surprise 23^rd birthday party from the other missionaries with all of our teachers and the other La Union (our school) staff. We learned in the moment that when in Central America, if you host or receive any type of party, you are expected to give a speech, in front of everybody, in spanish. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming here though, so it was not bad at all.

Most of everyone at my birthday party. And yes it was princess themed and yes everyone is wearing princess party hats.

The other girls giving their speeches at my birthday party

Recently we got to experience Guatemalan Independence day (which actually lasts three days). The first day is for the youngest kids. Basically every child ages 3-7 walked in the parade with their schools. Each school had their own theme (and their are a TON of schools here) so all of the kids looked super cute. The next day is for the older kids and is also the day of the Antorcha. That means that everyone travels to a nearby town spends some time there and then runs back to their own town in giant groups blowing whistles and carrying a torch. We ran with the staff and other students of our school and ran (and walked) a total of about 6.5 miles. As we were running we passed tons of other groups doing the same thing. Pretty much all day long you see random groups of people running from one town to another and of course if you can you stop and cheer them on. The last day of the Independence day was for everybody. We went with our teachers to the parade (the third one that week), which lasted over three hours! They really go all out here!

Some pictures from the Children's parade the first day

                        posing with our school flag and some of the interns after running 6.5 miles in the Antorcha 

                                                                The five of us at the parade on the last day

Another cultural activity that we were so excited to experience was to try on and wear traditional Mayan dress. Many people hear still dress this way on a regular basis. The reason that we did this is because our school helps put out a magazine called Wow Antigua. The particular article that is going out this month promotes the small traditional towns around this area for tourism purposes so that the towns can make more money. The five of us along with the female student interns at school all wore traditional Mayan clothes and had a photoshoot for the magazine. They had us pose by the pilas, which are where people wash their clothes. Now most families here either have one at their home or have a washing machine, but some people, especially in the poorer areas still use the public one (and we will be using one in Honduras to wash our clothes).

One of the shots of all of the girls in traditional dress

The five of hanging out at school prior to the photoshoot

Besides all of that, in the afternoons we keep busy exploring the town and of course studying Spanish as much as possible. I only am able to get phone service and internet when I have wifi, which is pretty much only at school in the mornings or if I go to a coffee shop with wifi in the afternoons. I do not get wifi at home which has been a good transition experience for me. I have gotten used to not having any access to internet once I go home for dinner at 7. It was weird at first because I all of a sudden had nothing to do, but now it is pretty nice to not have internet as a distraction. I spend most evenings either studying my Spanish or playing dolls with my host sister Camilla. It is hard to say no when the cutest three year old greets you at your bedroom door with a smile on her face and doll-house in hand.

She has also been my afternoon study buddy

Again thank you for reading and of course for all the prayers and kind words that I have been receiving! God has been so great so far, but I would appreciate if you could continue to pray for my Spanish speaking ability, the ear infection that I currently have, and for safety during our 16 hour trip to Honduras this Thursday (beginning at 3 AM). Please please let me know of any prayer requests that I can pray for. I am attaching some additional pictures from other various activities the past month, enjoy!

We had the opportunity to take a cooking class in preparation for cooking our own meals in Honduras

We went on an afternoon hike with other staff and students to the beautiful Cerro De La Cruz which looks over the city of Antigua