Motos and Mayhem

You know your life is adventurous when even the other missionaries around you are shaking their heads and listing all the things that have happened in your three week tenure on the mission field!

On my last post, I mentioned that I was going to Guatemala City with the other ladies to get away. We did. It was full of fun, laughs and shopping for the church and our homes at Price Smart (like Sam's) and Hieper Paiz (like Wal-Mart). We headed back to Antigua loaded down with stuff (mostly a plethora of toilet paper... who knew a church needed so much??), and everything was just peachy, until what I am starting to think of as my "jinx effect" kicked in. One lady, Tammy, asked, "What is that smell, and is it US?" No sooner had the prophetic words left her mouth then all the dashboard lights went on and the van went off. Praise the Lord, we were near a shoulder, which isn't always available around here.

So, here we were, 7 ladies (one pregnant...not me) on the side of the road with a van full of stuff (did I mention the t.p.?). Amazingly, some very nice people stopped and tried to help. They couldn't, but we thanked them and invited them to church on Sunday. Then, a car of 3 men pulled over...and "coincidentally," they were mechanics with plenty of tools! They started working on the van while we waited for some men from the church who were on the way!

In the meantime, we waited, snacked on some of our goodies, and one brave woman (Tonja) even chased away some stray dogs with a wrench.

We made it back safely, albeit exhausted. So, Friday, I decided to try a getaway again. This time, Amber went with me to negotiate furniture prices, and we got some beautiful, inexpensive things that make our house so much homier. This went so well that Amber mentioned that I hadn't had any adventures that day. She shouldn't have said that. We went together to get haircuts, and I was brave (foolish) enough to get my roots done. Well, they're done. Sort of a grayish done. The foiling was just like I'm used to, but when the girl rinsed my hair and then ran out of the room to get something, I started to panic. When she began RUBBING some foul, bleachy smelling stuff into my hair, I felt like I could go into that hysterical laughing, crying thing. I didn't. Until later.

Amber kept saying, "It looks really dark, " and that was putting it very, very kindly. Let me just say I am missing my good friend Betty Klepacki.

Since that didn't go so well, we decided to try a movie. At a cool place we found, the movie is free if you buy food, and 27 Dresses was playing. Well, I can honestly say I have SEEN the movie, but HEARING it was not to be. Apparently, a school program/awards ceremony was taking place literally on the other side of the wall, and it was on surround sound instead of the movie. Amber and I could do nothing but laugh. Oh well. The moto ride there and back was enough fun for the night!!