Holy Week in Guatemala

It is Easter week (Holy Week) and we've had an exciting time. Monday and Tuesday the kids joined us for language study in Antigua. They both enjoyed the experience of having their own teachers and learning some more spanish. Each afternoon we walked the streets of Antigua, ate lunch in the park and saw the sights.

The first picture above is of a procession in Antigua. A procession is an old Catholic tradition where men (or in this case the women) carry the "anda." The anda is a large wooden platform and on top is a statue of Jesus or Mary or another saint in the Catholic church. This is done to remember the suffering of Jesus in the days preceeding his death and resurrection. The people pay money to be a part of a procession. The people also decorate the streets with beautiful alfombras or carpets made of colored wood shavings. It really does look like a bright, beautiful carpet. This was all very interesting to see. Good Friday is a huge holiday here, but it doesn't seem that Easter Sunday is any big deal. We've been told the protestant church service will be the same as usual with no special mention of the resurrestion of Christ. Very different and interesting.

On Thursday we had the opportunity to travel to Lake Atitlan. It is the largest lake in Guatemala and is over 1000 feet deep in some places. We'll share more about this adventure in our next blog.

Today we went to an Easter egg decorating party for the kids. We ate a delicious brunch and then the kids colored bunches of eggs. They had a great time as you can see by the picture. The Dads had a fun time as well playing basketball in the School of Mission courtyard. We have spent the afternoon studying spanish to be ready for Monday. We only have six more weeks of language school before beginnning our ministry work for the summer months. We are hoping to complete Level D this month and cover most of the material in Level E before the end of May. We are both beginning to understand more and more of the conversations we hear, so this is encouraging. Keep praying for us to speak spanish with confidence and accuracy!

God's blessing to you this week,
The Webbs