Lost In A Foreign Land!

I have added some new pictures! I hope they give you guys a better idea as to what some of my surroundings are like. I will try and add pictures like this as often as possible.

Thank you for all the prayers and willingness to help with the computer situation here! You guys rock. Some of you guys have asked about sending some old computers here. YES! We will take anything you can send, just contact my mom or dad. We'll turn it into a Linux box, or put it in a teacher's room (the teacher's rooms don't have a computer OR a desk for the teacher,) or in the office, or to a student at Shalom who is really wanting to dive deep into this computer stuff.

I have been in Guatemala for exactly one month today. The past two weeks have been completely different from the first two weeks I was here. My social life went from doing something everyday with friends in Antigua to doing nothing here in the city. I have no friends here. So that made me sad, but now that I have a car (THANKS DAD!!!!!!) I can go to Antigua on the weekends and hangout with friends I made in the first two weeks I was here. The cool thing about Antigua is that there are always new people coming in from other countries every week.

Yesterday I was going to go to Antigua right after I was done with school. I had never driven there on my own before so Mark drew out some directions for me. I excitedly got into my car and headed off to go hang out with friends for the first time in two weeks. As I carefully follow Mark's directions, I come upon a "Y" in the road with no signs telling which each road was (in Guatemala, they assume that you know where you are going, so they have very poor signage.) The problem was that I wasn't expecting a Y in the road and was forced to take the left road. After driving for I while, I realize that this was definitely NOT the correct way, so I try to get back on the road I was originally on. Now, for those of you who have experienced driving on a freeway in Guatemala, you know that you can't just "pull a U'y" and start going into the other direction, but you have to drive several miles in places you have never seen before and try to point your car in the direction of the road you want to be on and pray that you get there. Well, somehow I got back on the freeway and took the Y to the right.

Suddenly there is yet anther Y in the road. Following with consistency, I take the road to the right while thinking to myself why Mark said nothing about there being "Y's" in the road. Soon I come upon a roundabout and cut off 3 cars while trying to get off from the inner lane. They had some nice hand gestures for me as I made my way down the road that I hoped was going to take me to Antigua. After driving for about 20 more minutes I am no longer in the city and I see signs leading to San Salvador. Very frustrated, I pull over at a "rich people neighborhood" and ask the guards where Antigua was. After telling me a whole bunch of crap in Spanish (none of which I understood) I got back into my car and headed the other direction.

Well, I didn't quite make it to the highway again, but somehow made it into a really bad part of town. As I lock my doors and pray that this chubby gringo in a nice car won't get shot, I keep driving hopping to get out of the bad area so that I can ask for directions in a safer place. Well, I drove for what seemed like forever and a day and was still in the ghetto. I have heard that a lot of people's worst fears is being lost in a foreign country and not being able to speak in their language. Well, not only was I lost in a foreign country and only really knew how to say, "My name is Sam. What is your name?" But I was lost in the GHETTO of a foreign land by myself with no cell phone.

Suddenly I see a bus driver washing his "chicken bus" on the side of the road, so I mustard up some courage to go out there and ask him for directions. The whole time I am walking towards him, I am thinking in my mind, "I am so much bigger than your little Guatemalan self! I could take you any day!" I was still scared out of my mind, but was even more scared when I approached him and this beast of a Guatemalan steps out from behind the bus and looks me over (I was dressed in nice clothes because all the teachers at Shalom are expected to dress nicely.) As I try to ask where Antigua was in my horrible Spanish, the guy keeps looking me over like he is trying to see if I have some serious money on me or something. After I was done with my questions, he stares at me for a few seconds and then looks at the street I parked my car on and points and says just go down that street and you will get there. I say thank you and walk away thinking to myself, "Does this guy think I am an idiot? Just go down a street in the ghetto and you will reach Antigua, YEAH RIGHT!"

I quickly get back into my car and lock myself in and get the heck out of there. So, like a "stupid gringo" I followed the man's directions and at least got out of the ghetto, but there is still nothing familiar in sight. I asked two more people where Antigua was and they both said different things than the others. Realizing that I can't understand nor trust anyone's directions, I just pick a road that "looks right" and take it. Only by the grace of God did I find one of the highways I had been on before. "Thank you God for bringing familiarality back into my life!!!" Anyway, here come the two deadly Y's in the road again and I say out loud at the second one, "Ok, I went that way last time, so now I must take you -- you are my last chance and only hope!" (I seriously think I was going crazy at this point.) As I take the left road of the Y I soon realize that I am headed back into the ghetto. Ignoring all cars and traffic signs saying not to make a U-turn, I make a (highly illegal) U-turn before you can say "I don't like being in the ghetto of Guatemala."

By now, my gas is running low, so I pull into a gas station and ask the guy who was filling my tank where on earth Antigua is. He said the same blasted thing every Guatemalan had told me before. "Just go straight on this road and you'll see signs for it." BULL CRAP! I don't believe you! Why should I believe you!? (Note: I did not say these things to these people for several reasons; 1) It would not be a very good light of Christ, 2) I don't know how to say it in Spanish, and 3) I might have gotten shot had I said it.) But I did think them in my mind as I frustratingly got back onto the same blasted highway I had been on like a million times before. I thought to myself, "OK, I have taken every possible route on this road and all of them are wrong." So as a last-ditch effort, I stop at another gas-station to ask for directions. When I ask the guy where Antigua is, a smile creeps up on his face and he says, "Friend, it's just that way," and points in the opposite direction I had been going this whole time. As it all starts to make since in my mind, I thank the man and he said, "God bless you" in English. As I headed in the opposite direction, I came upon a sign that said "a Antigua" (to Antigua.)

When I finally got to Antigua, I checked into my hotel (it was really nice with parking and everything for $30,) and went to the central park to sit down and be thankful that I made it. In the hotel, I looked into the mirror and saw something on my face that wasn't there when I left the city - a zit. I guess it was the "asking for directions in the ghetto" part of the trip that mustard-up enough stress to cause such a blemish.

That night I got together with a bunch of old friends and met some new ones. We went out to a place called "Sky Cafe" to eat dinner and celebrate Regula's birthday. Afterwards we went to a place to drink some hot chocolate. I saw a Guatemalan guy there that I had met earlier and I offered for him to sit with us. After talking with him a while (in Spanish mind you!) he asked me why I was here, and I shared with him that God had laid it on my heart to come down here and teach computer stuff. After telling him this, he was like, "I knew you were a Christian." And I asked him if he was and he said that his family was but he wasn't, and I asked him why. He basically said it wasn't for him and started talking about something else. Right before we were going to leave, he asked me for my email address and he said he was going to try and email me. I gladly gave it to him. It looked like he was wanting to ask me some questions via email. Please pray that I will be a light to him, and that he won't see me, but he will see God through me.

Sorry for such a long entry! I hope Jason Matthews didn't fall asleep and blame me for being late for work again! Do you remember that? HAHA! :p

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