guatemala

What If Beauty Isn’t What We Expect? Lessons from Worshipping in Guatemala

A number of weeks back I was sitting in a cafe in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala when a friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in two years shocked me.

She said, “It’s so good to see you Jonathan. And it looks like you’ve gained weight since I last saw you!”

The smile on my 185 pound body quickly turned into a slight scowl, and I waited for her to continue.

“You look great. You were too skinny before.” After pausing to reflect on her own body, she continued, “I wish I could put on a few pounds. I’m too skinny.”

My scowl transformed back into a smile. I burst into laughter thinking about the absurdity of her comment.

As I composed myself, I told her, “I can’t imagine this exchange happening in the United States.” And after a few minutes of explaining how people often view each other’s bodies in the United States, we each continued dinner with our enculturated views about weight and beauty challenged and expanded.

The next morning Rev. Juan Pablo Ajanel picked me up from one of the many parks in the city and we rode in his pickup truck to a Methodist Church a few miles away. As we made our way through busy streets, I didn’t know what to expect in worship that morning.

Click here to read the rest of my guest post at Seedbed.com.

To read this article in Spanish, click here.

Here are some more photographs from my trip:

La Casa Del Mundo – Jaibalito, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
This was my hotel one night!

Paragliding with Realworld Paragliding Company – Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

El Parque Central – Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala

June 20, 2013 by Jonathan Leave a Comment

Lake Atitlán :: Guatemala, Central America

One year ago I traveled to Central America to learn Spanish and work with the Evangelical Methodist Church of El Salvador.

I had a life changing summer as I learned a new language, embraced a new culture, and made many new friends — both inside and outside of the church. I knew little about the countries I was headed to before I left. However, one friend told me that I HAD to make it to Lake Atitlán (Lago de Atitlán) while in Guatemala. This advice was confirmed when I found Lake Atitlan listed in the book “1000 Places to See Before You Die” while I was packing my bags.

My friends and I made it to Lake Atitlán. We were not disappointed. The crystal blue water of the lake fills the cone of a collapsed volcano, leading it to be the deepest lake in Central America. The lake is surrounded by three volcanoes and over a dozen villages in which Mayan culture still holds strong. Aldous Huxley once wrote of Atitlán, “Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing.” There is no telling how many photos and paintings have been made of this beautiful place.

While the city of Panajachel is the hot-spot for most tourists in the area, we stayed in the village of Santa Cruz at La Iguana Perdida. Santa Cruz is only accessible by boat, and our hotel offered us spectacular views in a fun Euro-Hostel setting. Throughout our time on the lake, we traveled by boat to many of the villages, relaxed, and enjoyed perfect weather. My friends were also kind enough to spend sunrise and sunset alongside of me and my tripod.

I’ve included some of my favorite photos from Lake Atitlán below.

But before you look at them I’d love for you to know a little more about why I love photography. Lately, I’ve felt the need to more fully integrate my photography with the theological content of my blog. Perhaps one day I’ll write a post detailing how my photography fits into my work as a Christian and future pastor. For now, I’ll let this quote from John Calvin explain why I love taking photos, particularly ones of nature:

Wherever you cast your eyes, there is no spot in the universe wherein you cannot discern at least some sparks of his [God’s] glory. You cannot in one glance survey this most vast and beautiful system of the universe, in its wide expanse, without being completely overwhelmed by the boundless force of its brightness. The reason why the author of The Letter to the Hebrews elegantly calls the universe the appearance of things invisible (Heb. 11:3) is that this skillful ordering of the universe is for us a sort of mirror in which we can contemplate God, who is otherwise invisible. (Institutes, I.V.1)

May 20, 2012 by Jonathan Leave a Comment

Faces of Guatemala

One of the highlights of my trip has been getting to know the people of Guatemala. I’ve been living with a local family, hanging out with Guatemaltecos I’ve met in the city, and becoming friends for the first time with people who do not speak English.

While I do not personally know everyone in the portraits below, these faces represent a people I have come to love and a people that bear the image of God.

I met Juan in Parque Central in Xela, Guatemala. He was the first person I struck up a random conversation with in Spanish.

I had the opportunity to visit this woman’s house where she and her family made blankets and other goods that were usually sold to students in language school.

I came across this man in Momostenango and he asked for his picture to be taken. Later, I printed out the photo and sent it to him with one of his friends I knew.

A man in Salcaja, Guatemala told us about the history of making fabrics in the city and how this art has been passed down generation to generation. Each town in the area has a unique weaving pattern.

Alma was one of my teacher’s at Sakribal. We always had a great time speaking Spanish, laughing, learning about our cultures, and becoming friends.

These friends in San Andres Xecul, Guatemala were very eager to have their picture taken together in the midst of their games in the street.

One day we traveled with our teachers to a city park called El Baul in Xela and enjoyed going down the concrete slides on plastic Coke bottles.

I happened to have my camera out when the boy on top was celebrating a victory in his wrestling match with a friend in the street.

June 27, 2011 by Jonathan 1 Comment

Cooking in Guatemala

One of my favorite things about traveling is the opportunity to sample foods that I don’t normally eat. At school my diet consists of cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and something quick and easy for dinner — Panda Express being my favorite in this latter category. Here in Guatemala, it has been a true blessing to have fresh meals cooked each day by my house mother Aldina. The menu for the past month has consisted of combinations of:

Breakfast – Pancakes, eggs with salsa, tortillas, black beans, toasted sandwiches (ham, hotdog, tomatoes, onions, ketchup, and mayo), fruits (papaya, mango, watermelon, pineapple, plantains), corn flakes with warm milk, and mosh (similar to very milky oatmeal)

Lunch and Dinner – Carrot soufflé, rice, tortillas, cucumbers and tomatoes in vinegar, black beans, eggs, chicken (covered in onions, bell peppers, and salsa), hotdog tacos, carne asada, vegetable soup, carrots and potatoes, fried plantains, tortas (similar to hamburgers on tortillas), paches (rice, steak, and mole), green bean rellenos, and plantain envueltos.

Here is Aldina cooking my favorite food in Guatemala, fried plantains, by candle light one night when the power went:

Each day we have fresh tortillas that are made at a tortilleria named Los Comalitos that is only a block from my house. Three ladies operate this business, and they go through 75 pounds of corn per day as they hand pat 2,000 tortillas. They work from sunrise to past sunset each day. Here is one photo of Mary and Norma (18) who have both been doing this for ten years and another of me making my first tortilla!

At my Spanish School, Sakribal, we have weekly meals where the students and teachers cook. The first week I cooked fried oreos (Oreos fritos) and they were a huge hit. Since then I have watched globalization take place as three of the teachers at the school informed me that they went home and made them as breakfast items for their children. All of the kids loved them, and the teachers added a little fruit surrounding them for a little more balance!

Last week at the school we had some of the best pork I’ve had in a very long time. We had fresh chicharrones (pigskins with a little meat on them) and carnitas which are traditionally eaten by families on weekends.

Other random food finds:
These are macadamia nuts at the Nueva Alzenaia planation. We visited there last week and were able to see the processes they use to produce coffee, macadamia nuts, spring water, and biodisel.

A Chocolateria in Xela:

If you buy a glass bottle Coke, most stores will pour it in a bag for you so that they can keep the bottle and give it back to the manufacturer for refilling.

Every Guatemalan I’ve met loves to put ketchup on top of their pizza. I sampled this trend when I bought Dominoes for my family one night, and I can report that it tasted exactly how I expected. It wasn’t great and it wasn’t terrible, and the whole time I asked myself why I put ketchup on top of a perfectly fine slice of pizza.

And finally, here is a picture of the family I live with and some of their friends eating Shrimp Creole that I cooked last night.

June 7, 2011 by Jonathan 9 Comments

Starting out like a bebé

I began this blog four years ago in order to chronicle my travels through Europe during my junior year of college. After much thinking, “Traveling Boots” seemed like a fitting title — a friend had given me the nickname “Boots” my freshman year. After Europe, I continued to blog at Furman and then as I moved up I-85 to Duke Divinity School.

Now I find myself traveling once again. In December, I accepted aninvitation from Duke, along with three of my good friends, to participate in an International Field Education placement. We will be spending the first portion of our time in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala (more commonly known as Xela)in language school. Then, we will move to El Salvador where we will continue our language studies while working with the Evangelical Methodist Church of El Salvador for six weeks.

Today counts my 12th day in Guatemala, and my 12th day of living in a world dominated by a completely different language and culture than I am accustomed to.

It also counts my 11th day of speaking Spanish to other people. Unfortunately, I was one of those hip kids in high school who thought that it would be more cool to study French than Spanish. After all, the French have the Eiffel Tower, Crepes, and Mt. Saint Michelle. At the time I vastly underestimated the Spanish language and its influence around the world — particularly in my own backyard. In high school I began to think about how the ability to speak Spanish to the Latinos in my school, city, and Church would enable me to love and be loved by them in new ways. Throughout college a desire grew to one day learn Spanish, but I was unsure when or how this would ever occur. Now, God is allowing this desire to come to fruition, and I intend to serve him with my new abilities this summer and throughout my ministry in the future.

However, learning a new language has its challenges. Throughout my spring semester I began learning Spanish with Rosetta Stone. The program moved slowly for me and I found it very comfortable. Now, I am in class for five hours a day with a teacher learning one-on-one. We speak Spanish the entire time. And then I go to my host family’s house where I sit quietly at the table and on the couch formulating sentences in my head, speaking them, and trying to understand the responses. Many times I’m met with blank stares, corrections, and ah-has as people figure out what I’m trying to relay.

I’ve made the classic mistakes. Saying “dog” (perro) instead of “but” (pero). Saying “I am United States” (Yo soy Estados-Unidos) instead of “I am from the United States” (Yo soy de Estados Unidos). And more. The other guys on the trip with me, Brad Hinton, Chad Bowen, and Robert Flowers, all know Spanish better than me so it is easy to feel like we’re a family and I’m the youngest brother. As a college graduate who will have a Master’s degree this time next year, this experience is humbling.

Growing in humility is a good — but tough — path. And as I inhabit this world where I talk and comprehend things like a baby (and yes, people have given me that nickname), I’ve found it helpful to keep in mind Jon Acuff’s recent blog post to keep me from despair or discouragement.

“Never compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.”

One of the great temptations for us as leaders and dreamers is to compare the start of our new adventures to the middle of someone else’s. You work on your first book and pick up Max Lucado’s 14th book and say, “Mine isn’t as good.” You post your first blog post and look at Michael Hyatt’s 100th and think, “Mine is nowhere near as great as that.” You give your first speech and watch Ken Robinson’s 1,000th at TED and think, “I’m not great like that.”

It’s true. You’re not. Yet.

This is just your beginning. Give yourself the gift of time. Love your dream and your adventure enough to allow it to grow slowly.

This is the beginning of a great journey. I’m unsure of how God will use this time and my knowledge of the Spanish language in the future. But I’m excited and hopeful. And the past 11 days have been thrilling.

May 26, 2011 by Jonathan 3 Comments