Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day - Since many of us are apart from loved ones today, we thought we'd send a flower via the blog. 

The Monja Blanca, known as the White Nun Orchid in English, is the National Flower of Guatemala. If you look closely at the center of the flower, you’ll see where this pure white bloom gets its name: the stamen and pistils of the flower are fused together, creating a column which resembles a nun bent in prayer.

Today, we learned a lot about organic coffee and weaving, as we stopped in San Juan Atitlan, on our way to Quetzaltenango. We bussed to Panajachel & took a boat across Lake Atitlan to San Juan Atitlan where we toured Café La Voz. Fun Fact about Lake Atitlan; it is 50.2 sq miles, 1,120 feet in depth & surrounded by 3 volcanoes with 4 near by. It is one of the most renowned lakes in the world for it's beauty. Lake Mille Lacs is 536.1 sq miles and a max depth of 42 ft. 

We learned a lot about the organic practice of coffee production and even got to sample some fresh coffee. 

It was a great tour and our tour guide (pictured above smiling in a vest) was very detailed and enthusiastic. He has been working with coffee for over 30 years. The Grade A coffee beans you see Terri overlooking is sun bathed for 5 days, until the beans have a 10-12% moisture content. Jeff (pictured above) is holding 2nd level graded beans. They are stored in the red plastic bags while the Grade A beans are transported to Guatemala City (the exporter) in burlap sacks, for moisture reasons. I have many notes of the whole process but something that was very interesting is the name of the coffee plant. Café La Voz, which means, The Voice; which is derived from John 1:23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'" 

Our next tour was of Tinte Maya, where we learned about weaving. 

The detail and knowledge of dyes and weaving is extremely interesting. A lot of craft, hours, & experience is crucial in making thread for their beautiful shirts, dresses, bags, & scarves (just to name a few). Did you know the color found in the threads comes from plants? 

The picture shown here represents different plants that each help make different colored threads. (Thread is cotton and is naturally white)

Once the plant is chopped, cooled, boiled, and removed from the boiled water, the thread can be added to the boiling water and the thread gets it's color. This plant made blue thread. 

It's truly amazing how long it takes to make a dress or scarf. A dress can take up to a month make. Sure, factories make shirts and dresses much much faster but Guatemalans want to preserve the historical skill and culture that goes into it. 

It was very humbling to see it all and we came away with much appreciation of their work and culture. 

We look forward to seeing Sadoc's family for breakfast tomorrow before church. We are also excited to see Moises and Maya and their church family while we worship at Emmanuel. Please continue to pray for Patty as she will try to join us tomorrow. 

"Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Love until it hurts, and then love more." - Mother Theresa