Flores! And other such things

There is far too much to say. It has been quite a week filled with beauty, wonder, chaos, struggling to understand, and the overall reminder to just surrender.

Typical topics in the life of Melissa Montrowl.

The biggest thing that happened in the past week is that one of the volunteers went back to the United States to take care of a previous back injury that is returning with a vengeance. It’d be nice to think that he’ll go see his doctors, get better, and come back soon, but the reality of the situation is that Friday was filled with really hard goodbyes. We all knew that he would have to go home eventually and sooner rather than later, but it just came as a shock because Friday went from a normal day of resting and recovery to “Hey you’re going to Belize City in an hour to get an MRI” to “Hey if you get cleared to travel, you’re flying back to the States ASAP.” It was a lot for him to take in, but the guys’ house was constantly filled with people coming to say goodbye before he left that evening which really affected me personally to see how many people love him. It’s only been a few days without him here, but boy we do miss him. Please keep him in your prayers.

Luckily our weekend wasn’t spent just feeling the void that was left Friday night. The rest of us volunteers had been planning a little trip, so when Saturday morning rolled around, we went to Flores, Guatemala! And when I say Saturday morning, I mean we left the parish at 4:45 am. It’s only a 10-15 drive to the border and from there only another 2 hours or so to Flores. We were sitting out on a dock over a lake by 10 am! And we rented a van to get there which was great because the volunteers kind of know the guy who drives it, so he’s reliable and he generally played good music in the car for us. We did however have to implement a “No singing before 7 am rule” because really, is it necessary to be singing old 80s songs loudly at 6:15 in the morning? The answer is a big fat loud no. I’m just glad there was more than one non-morning person in the car.

So anyway we get to Flores in the morning, checked into our hostel, and hung out on the lake for a couple hours. Now Flores is an island, so if we left the city, which was only this one time for lunch, we had to walk across the bridge. And for lunch we had the nice authentic American feast of Burger King. I have never felt so happy eating at a Burger King! The rest of the afternoon was spent on our lovely little dock, watching storm clouds roll in from the distance. They never actually opened up on us though, so we could enjoy the beautiful clouds and the cooler temperatures without the inconvenience of a downpour. After cleaning up very quickly, we spent the evening at a happy hour then at dinner and then just hanging out. Between a long week and doing nothing all day and being up since 4:15, I was certainly wiped out. You would think I would’ve slept like a log, but cue the midnight fireworks that went off literally right outside our hostel. Happy Independence Day, Guatemala! Happy No Sleep, Melissa!

But here are some lovely pictures from the weekend.

Because we have painfully slow internet, you will have to be satisfied with just these 3 pictures.

The next morning we got up and went to Mass, had a lovely low key breakfast that was delicious and entertaining. Delicious because I had some of the fluffiest pancakes ever, and entertaining because unlike Belize, mostly everyone in Guatemala only speaks Spanish. And while I can figure out how to order uno café con leche y panqueques, it’s a lot harder to tell your waitress that you’re waiting for 3 more people and then she starts to pull up another table and you’re just confused. But some of my homeroom girls have taken me under their wing to teach me some Spanish. So far I can say, "I have eyes, ears, a nose, and a mouth, but I do not have contact lenses." They're clearly teaching me the essentials.

Well this is a longer update, but we had an exciting weekend. As for this past Monday and Tuesday, there weren’t any crazy morning border runs or anything overly eventful. Just busy, busy, busy trying to get ourselves re-situated now that we’re down one volunteer and our principal is talking like he might have someone who can come down. But this is Belize, so even if someone told me a new volunteer was coming down next week, I know that means maybe a month.

Oh wait! Something exciting did happen on Tuesday! I got a letter from one of my dearest and best friends, Griffin! Say a little prayer for him too, he’s spending the year doing college campus ministry, and is totally loving it.

Please keep praying for us! We all need it. I know I personally appreciate every thought and prayer (and piece of mail!) that comes my way.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.

Totus Tuus, Maria.