My sister Nancy is married to a wonderful Guatemalan man, Ramon. Ramon is temporarily living in Guatemala and Nancy went down to visit him recently. They know they can't see Erik (per Erik's wishes) but they wanted to "be in the same area" he is, just to feel his presence so they made the long trek, overnight, by bus to Quetzaltenango from Guatemala City to spend a day there. Here's the email my sweet sister sent me. I love you Nancy. Erik will love knowing you were there too. Love, Diane
So......Ramon and I made a roadtrip to Erik's town on Friday, It took some time, we left Guatemala City around 1am and got to Quetzaltenango around 6am. Not the smartest thing, but neither of us could sleep, and we wanted to get there in time to spend the day and get back to the City for Dinner with Carlos (my Brother in Law) on Friday night.
It was a humbling road trip, we went through an area that had been very hard by Agatha, we came upon mudslides just as they had happened. We said a prayer and put our faith in God that we would be safe. Erik's town is on the other side of a beautiful mountain pass and his town sits in a valley. To me, it is one of the cleaner cities in Guatemala, I took pictures, I'll send them soon. We tried to find his address, we did ok, we were in the general area, I took lots of pictures. At one point, we spotted 2 Missionaries walking down the street and our hearts started pounding! We turned around to pull over and talk to them. One was Elder Lopez and the other I believe was Elder Burton. They knew of Erik but not too well, as they were just in the office for a meeting but this was not their area. I asked to them to tell Erik that his Aunt and Uncle were in the neighborhood and said hello. I hope this was ok. They gave me directions to the office, we drove by but didn't go in out of respect for his purpose of being there. I cried a lot and got emotional just knowing that we were in his town and experiencing the culture and people. It was very much worth the trip. On the way back it was daylight and we were able to really see the destruction from the mudslides, I cried so hard, as I watched people trying to clean mud and trees from their destroyed homes to salvage what little they have anyway.
We also went to Ramon's Aunt's house to visit in Ville Calle's outside of Guatemala City. This town was hit hard by the Volcano. Her roof (which is tin) was hit by the rocks from the eruption, it brought tears as well. Ramon is with her today, working on her house and trying to repair what they can.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I made it to Erik's town, it felt good to just be there. I know that you know how special your Son is, but I wanted you to know how lucky I feel to be his Aunt!!!
I read his blog, I just read from yesterday and cracked up about the "Spanglish". I teased Ramon that he and Erik will be quite a pair when they both get back, hopefully we can understand their stories!!!
Love ya,
Nancy
It was a humbling road trip, we went through an area that had been very hard by Agatha, we came upon mudslides just as they had happened. We said a prayer and put our faith in God that we would be safe. Erik's town is on the other side of a beautiful mountain pass and his town sits in a valley. To me, it is one of the cleaner cities in Guatemala, I took pictures, I'll send them soon. We tried to find his address, we did ok, we were in the general area, I took lots of pictures. At one point, we spotted 2 Missionaries walking down the street and our hearts started pounding! We turned around to pull over and talk to them. One was Elder Lopez and the other I believe was Elder Burton. They knew of Erik but not too well, as they were just in the office for a meeting but this was not their area. I asked to them to tell Erik that his Aunt and Uncle were in the neighborhood and said hello. I hope this was ok. They gave me directions to the office, we drove by but didn't go in out of respect for his purpose of being there. I cried a lot and got emotional just knowing that we were in his town and experiencing the culture and people. It was very much worth the trip. On the way back it was daylight and we were able to really see the destruction from the mudslides, I cried so hard, as I watched people trying to clean mud and trees from their destroyed homes to salvage what little they have anyway.
We also went to Ramon's Aunt's house to visit in Ville Calle's outside of Guatemala City. This town was hit hard by the Volcano. Her roof (which is tin) was hit by the rocks from the eruption, it brought tears as well. Ramon is with her today, working on her house and trying to repair what they can.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I made it to Erik's town, it felt good to just be there. I know that you know how special your Son is, but I wanted you to know how lucky I feel to be his Aunt!!!
I read his blog, I just read from yesterday and cracked up about the "Spanglish". I teased Ramon that he and Erik will be quite a pair when they both get back, hopefully we can understand their stories!!!
Love ya,
Nancy
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment