Cockroaches, Cangrejos, and Clinics, Oh My!

So just a quick update on the bugs in my bathroom...after talking to Rachael and doing some brief internet research on google images, I have determined that they were cockroaches. Good thing is, I haven't seen anymore of them since then so the prayers have helped :)

Thursday was a busy day here in Canilla. We didn't have clinic, but there was still plenty to do. Rachael and I worked in the bodega (store room/closet) in the clinic, sorting through the shelf that has all of the respiratory care supplies and medicines. It was quite a mess so we took everything off, cleaned away the mouse poop and dust and then organized everything into different baskets and bins and labeled it all and put it back on the shelves. It wasn't the funnest or cleanest job, but everything looks so much better and way more organized now so I'm glad that I got to help her with that. It's not something that would be fun to do alone. After lunch, we made a bunch of oatmeal cookies to help Lesley out because a group of four doctors/midwives/high school students came that afternoon and will be here until tomorrow morning, so we needed some extra desserts laying around to snack on. We had another time of prayer and then they were here. There's two OB/GYNs, one nurse midwife and her son. They are here in Guatemala for the week doing surgeries and clinics and the one doctor is a close family friend to the Fickers so they came here to visit and help out with clinics today and tomorrow, so we spent the rest of the night chatting and hearing stories from them.

Today we went to a clinic in a village up in the mountains called something that sounds like Tiosh-Chabaj but I know I'm not spelling it right. The Fickers have been going there once a month for the past several months, but there hasn't been a ton of people showing up so they're not sure whether to continue going or not. They don't own or rent a building for clinics there so we brought all the meds and supplies with us and set up in two classrooms at a school- they cancel classes at that school on clinic days. We drove for about an hour and a half to get there and since there was so many of us, we took the pick up truck and road in the back. There were only maybe about 50 patients that we saw, but several of them were very sick. We diagnosed 4 people with diabetes- three were all in the same family, a father and his son and daughter. The daughter's blood sugar was over 600 and the father's was in the 500s (for those of you who don't know, that's extremely high and you could die from BGs that elevated). We had only packed one bottle of IV fluids so Lesley put an IV in the father and gave him some meds and his sugar started to go down. The daughter said she hadn't been able to see out of her one eye for 5 months. It's crazy that diabetes can get that bad without her even knowing she had it. But when there's no doctor and you can't afford any kind of healthcare, what else can they do? I feel like I'm starting to learn more about the medications and what types of things to look for. I wish I could stay here longer and learn more, but I have to get back for school and read books to learn instead of actually doing stuff. 

One of the women in the village cooked us all fried chicken and beans and tortillas so we all ate together in one of the classrooms before we left and then we got back to Canilla around 4:30 (after driving home in the rain!). Three high school aged girls from San Andres came today to help translate and they come to Canilla every Saturday to help in the clinic too. So instead of getting a ride again tomorrow they are spending the night here. They are sleeping on mattresses on the floor in the living room and they were watching a movie. Rachael and I came over from the Fickers house and right before I opened the door I saw a cangrejo (crab) on the patio right next to the door. I don't know how it got all the way here, we're guessing it came up here from the river because there's been a lot of rain lately. We called the girls out and they started throwing rocks at it to scare it to move but it just opened it claws at us in anger. They held it down with a broom and said we should cut its claws off but I suggested we just trap it in a bucket instead so that's where it is now. Just another adventure here in Guatemala :)

There's no place I would rather be, but here in Your love.

My time here with the Fickers has been going by so fast. I can't believe I have less than a week here before I have to leave and go back home. It's so hard to think about leaving here. I'm sure it's not going to be easy. God has opened my eyes this week and I've realized that it's not just the kids at the home that have my heart, but it's the people of Guatemala in general. He has given me such a heart to want to serve these people and I can't imagine doing anything but that. As many of you know, I feel called into missions. I know that the timing isn't right just yet, but I know that when I go home, it will be a time of preparation. A time that God will use to get me ready for whatever it is He wants me to do to serve and bring glory to His name. It'll be hard to leave here, but I know that, for now, it's what I need to do.

Monday was a pretty relaxing day. Rachael and I spent the morning in the clinic organizing meds and supplies to get them ready for the clinic on Friday. The other clinics that the Fickers do have meds and supplies already there in the clinic, but for the one on Friday we have to bring everything with us in these two big bins. So we restocked everything in the bins and got it all ready. We also counted out kids vitamins into little baggies to hand out and we made a skin cream for scabies. It's made with sulfur and vaseline so it smelled great :) Afterwards we organized a cabinet in the clinic with all these books and Bibles. They just got lots of Spanish and Quiche Bibles so we unpacked those and put them away too. Every Monday afternoon, everyone gets together to pray for the ministry. It was a great time to just come before God and lay the ministry at His feet and ask Him to use it for His glory, to lift up the needs and requests before him and worship His name. It's awesome that they commit to dedicate such a long time to praying every week.

Tuesday we went to the clinic in Chiminisijuan. It's the rainy season so the roads get washed out and really bad. We drove for about half an hour and then parked and walked the rest of the way, which was about another thirty minutes. We took a short cut that's a trail through the woods and then got back to the road. It was good that we didn't drive because when we got back to the road we saw a pick up truck stuck in about a foot and a half of mud, trying to dig themselves out. Duane drove the four wheeler through with the supplies that we needed and we got there without any issues. The setting of the clinic is beautiful. It's a cabin that the Fickers built up there on property that was given to them. (There's an awesome story about how God worked and how they got the property and started to do clinic up there and you'll have to ask me about it sometime :) We saw 76 patients in about three hours. Armando (one of the translators that works with the Fickers) gave a message in Quiche before clinic started and then we started to see patients. I helped to weigh the babies in the nutrition program and record their weights and hand out food. It was hard to see some desperate mothers asking for beans and oatmeal, saying that they had no food in their homes. After all the babies were weighed, I worked with Lesley as she saw the general patients. I did blood pressures and blood sugars and also learned from her a lot. I got to see some ear infections and hear pneumonia and mix medications and things like that. Then we cleaned everything up and headed back down the mountain. In the afternoon, Rachael, Rachel and I walked into town to get ice cream and then we planned on going to Katie's house and having her drive us back the rest of the way. But she had already left her house to go to the Fickers for worship that they have every Tuesday night, so we ended up walking like almost 5 miles by the time we finally got back to the house. We played snaps and laughed a lot though so it was okay :)

Today was the day that the Fickers take their sabbath, or their day off. I haven't really allowed myself to have a day off since I came here because I don't want to miss out on anything. But, it was really nice to get to sleep in and catch up on emails and just spend time with everyone. I read on the patio in the shade, listened to a really good Francis Chan sermon, spent a lot of time just reflecting on how awesome God is for blessing me with a heart for this place, and we walked down to the river and spent some time there. Then we watched a movie and played cards. Overall, it was a great relaxing day. And tomorrow it's back to work organizing things in the storage room of the clinic and then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are clinic days. And Monday I fly into the city to leave. There's a worship song that keeps playing over and over in my head and the words really resonate with how I've been feeling.

"There's no place I would rather be, no place I would rather be,

No place I would rather be, but here in Your love.

Here in Your love.

So set a fire down in my soul, 

That I can't contain, that I can't control.

I want more of You, God. I want more of You."

Also, as we "speak" there is a giant bug that I trapped in the bathroom. It's one of those huge ones that makes a big crunchy sound when you squish it. I trapped it in there by closing the door and smushing the rug up under the crack between the floor and the bottom of the door. But when I moved the rug I found the bugs child, a smaller version of itself, not quite as ugly. So I bravely killed that one and am hoping that the other one doesn't escape in the night to crawl on me as I sleep. You can pray for me :)

The Journey Continues...

So I am now in Canilla and on the last leg of my Guatemalan journey for this summer. Saturday morning the team left with Norm and Vickie and I stayed behind until this morning when I went to the clinic in town and then left with the Fickers to come back here. 

Friday night at the home we had our last dinner with the team which is always a party with the kids and we eat hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. After everyone's finished eating, we all circle up and everyone gets a chance to say their final goodbyes and thank yous. I love hearing the kids thank us for such simple things and to realize how much they enjoy being loved on by the teams that come visit the home. I wanted to take advantage of the fact that all of the kids and staff were in one room and they were all listening, but whenever I started to think of what I would say I started to tear up, so I ended up just sitting there quietly and holding it all in. And then Oralia had to go and thank me for all the work that I've been doing there in front of everybody, so I started to cry anyways. 

The kids at Hogar de Vida have such a tight grip on my heart. I don't think they understand how much I love them and care about them. It is so hard to leave them without knowing when I will be back again. It's always like that, but this time even more so because this is my last summer vacation. I don't know when I'll have to opportunity to leave my life behind for a month again. And going for a short time with a team is just not the same. 

When the team left on Saturday morning, Soila, Lita, and Oralia all went with them, leaving behind only Olga and Sebastian to work in the home. They went to get away for a couple days as a short little vacation in Antigua. So Saturday I was extra hands helping with dishes and laundry and kids. The older girls really stepped up and helped fill in the gaps too. Then this morning I had my last meal with the staff and then went off to clinic. 

It was a weird goodbye because I felt like I was saying goodbye Friday night at the party. And then again Saturday night when Blanca had all the little ones say bye to me before they went to bed. And then again when I left for clinic this morning. And then again when I came back to grab my bags before going to Canilla. It was just a weird way to say goodbye. I definitely feel like I left a piece of my heart behind, but it wasn't as hard as other years. I don't know if that's because I have faith that God will bring me back there soon or if it's just because I had enough distracting me in that moment that it kept me from really thinking about it. But either way, I will continue to trust in God's plans and to have faith in the fact that He wouldn't give me this desire and love in my heart just to take it away from me.

Now that I'm here in Canilla, I'm staying in this little 2 bedroom apartment off of the clinic that's right next to the Ficker's house. Rachel, a nurse who has been here for 7 months or so and is here permanently, has one room and I'm in the other. It's nice and cozy and I'm glad I have someone to share it with so I'm not out here alone. This week will be more relaxing than my time at the home. We will have clinics Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and in between we'll prep for them and just hang out here. So I'll have more down time and it'll be a nice transition back into life at home.

So yesterday I was feeling a little off again but after resting most of the morning, I've been back to feeling good again. It seems that whatever I had has been working it's way through the whole team and lots of them have been getting a 24 hour bug type of thing. You can definitely be praying for the health of everyone here right now. There's some speculation that I may have caught something at the clinic and that's how this whole thing started. Oooops... : /

Yesterday the team wanted to make lunch for all of the kids and the team to give the workers a break. We had Soila, Lita, Oralia, and Olga all come over here to do some activities and some of the girls from the team gave them manicures and pedicures. I'm sure it was a nice relaxing morning for them compared to the usual busyness and hard work that they do. The team made pizza and let me just say it is a lot of work to make pizza, salad, and dessert for 60 people. I helped out for a little while when I was feeling good, but mostly I just got to enjoy the meal after all the work was done :)

The guys on the team have been replacing some roofing and most of the girls have just been playing with the kids and helping with cooking and things like that. Last night Sebastian and Oralia (the Guatemalan directors of the home) came and shared their testimonies with us. It was great to hear how God brought them here and is using their lives to love and care for these kids here. I've heard their testimonies a few times before, but every time they share it's different and each time I'm just amazed at how God works and how awesome His plans for our lives are.

I have until Sunday morning here and then I'm off to Canilla to work with the Fickers. Time is dwindling down and while part of me is homesick, most of me just wants to stay here and spend all the time I can with these awesome kids.

Illness and Aldeas

So turns out that I didn’t just have a headache. I actually ended up getting pretty sick Sunday night and I was in my bed most of the day yesterday recuperating. I was sitting in church Sunday night feeling awful, just praying that I wouldn’t throw up until we made it back to the home and thankfully, God answered that prayer :) But today has been pretty good and I think I’m pretty much back to normal. Getting sick is just part of being here sometimes and it really wasn’t that bad. 

The kid’s middle school is celebrating its anniversary this week so they’re doing lots of fun things at school and this afternoon there is a big parade through town. Me and a bunch of people from the team are gonna go watch and cheer them on, maybe embarrass them a little bit :)

This morning we went out to a school in an aldea (village) called Las Casas. The team presented the gospel by using a soccer ball with all of the wordless book colors on it. They also talked to the kids about how to wash their hands and brush their teeth properly. Then we washed and cut and styled hair like usual. Even some of the teenage boys came up to get their hair washed and combed. Somehow I think that had more to with the fact that young gringa girls were doing it than the fact that they actually really wanted their hair combed, but either way they did it all the same haha. The team brought lots of stuff to play with the kids and to leave behind at the school too. They had Frisbees, jump ropes, hacky sacks, soccer balls, balloon animals, etc. The teachers and the kids all really appreciated it. They went out to another aldea, Auga Caliente Dos, yesterday but I was stuck here sleeping the day away so I missed out on that.

The rest of the week we’ll be doing some work projects around the home and doing crafts and activities with the kids. I can’t believe I’m leaving here on Sunday! My whole three weeks here has just flown by.

Birthdays, Bad Roads, and Blood Pressures

There’s been a lot of birthdays here lately. This year, it’s been Vickie’s tradition to make dessert for everyone here at the home (about 45 people all together) on their birthday. In the past, the kids birthday’s would pass and they wouldn’t even really be celebrated or acknowledged. Some of the kids didn’t even know when their birthday was. 

This past week was Sebastian’s, Venancio’s, Lorena’s and Samuel’s birthdays. Vickie and Norm have been really busy with appointments and preparing for the next team so I helped them with a couple of the desserts. Let me just say that making dessert for 45 people is not easy. 

For Lorena’s 21^st birthday, I made pumpkin cake bars with cream cheese frosting. I’ve decided it’s better to not make desserts from scratch because then you don’t really know all that’s in it. The cake had 12 eggs, 6 cups of powdered sugar and four sticks of butter! For Venancio’s birthday we made worms in dirt (pudding and oreos and gummy worms). That was slightly easier to make, but it was a little challenging because they only have powdered milk here so we had to make a ton of milk for all of the pudding. 

Yesterday while Norm and Vickie were gone all day to go to the city to pick up the team and some groceries, I stayed back to help out here and I made all the beds for everyone on the team. I didn’t think that would take so long, but it was a pretty big job. 

The team was supposed to get in at 6 or 7 last night but they didn’t get in until nine because of traffic and bad roads due to the rain. I was waiting around for them to get here and then Norm called and said they wouldn’t be here for another few hours so I brought out one of the movies that I brought for the kids and we all sat and watched August Rush. As soon as it was over, the team was here within a matter of minutes, so it made the time pass nicely. And now I have many more people to share my side of the home with. There are 16 people here from Peoria, Illinois from Norm’s brother’s church. There are a few couples, a few adults, and a few high school students- it’s a nice group.

This morning I went to the clinic and helped out by weighing babies, taking blood pressures and blood sugars. It was a busy morning and I didn’t get back til around two. Next Sunday, I’ll be going again and then afterwards I’ll go back to Canilla (a town about half an hour away) to stay with the Fickers for the rest of my time here.

You can be praying for me that I will click with this team and be able to form relationships with them so that the week isn’t awkward and that I can be useful in helping to host them here. You can also be praying against any sickness for me because I haven’t been feeling the greatest today. Just a little headache and tiredness so hopefully it’s just that I need more water and more rest.

La Primera Semana

So I’ve been here at Hogar de Vida for about a week and a half now. It seems like it’s been a lot longer than that. But it’s also flown by so fast. If that makes any sense.

Last week I was here with the high school team from my church. We went out to three different villages to share testimonies and wash/cut/style hair. In each village we visited schools. The first one had 230 kids! That’s a lot of heads of hair to wash! One of the guys that grew up in the home (Alfredo) is now a teacher and the school we visited is the one he teaches at now. My favorite part of that morning was at the end. After a few of the students from our team shared their testimonies, we announced that we were going to give candy to each kid. We wanted them all to line up, but that idea quickly failed when they mobbed us and our bags of candy. So instead we had them all go back to their desks and sit patiently while we went around and passed out candy. Then, amazingly, they were the most quiet and polite kids you’ve ever seen. All for two little pieces of candy. It just made their day and I enjoyed being a part of that. We also didn’t really have planned who was going to give their testimonies when, so we kind of just sprung it on the students that two of them would have to share their testimonies right there on the spot. We had prepared them in our meetings before we went, but it’s still pretty nerve racking to find out right before that you’re going to have to share. It was awesome to see Kate and Noah step up and be out of their comfort zones to share their stories with the kids. I was impressed.

At our second aldea (village), the kids were a little less rowdy. They all waited patiently for us to do their hair and they listened so well when Livy and Sam shared their testimonies. On our way there I saw a handmade sign on the side of the road that said “Peligro” which means danger. I was thinking “Oh no, what’s that for…” We went around a sharp turn and down a steep hill and then there was the narrowest bridge ever. It was pretty much the exact width of a car and no wider and it was high above a river. We all got out and walked while the men driving took turns slowly driving over it. I’m glad I wasn’t driving! 

At each aldea the guys played soccer and Frisbee with the boys while they were waiting for the girls to be done, because the girl’s hair always takes a lot longer. We were also able to give each school a new soccer ball when we left. Our third and last aldea was the farthest away. It took about an hour and a half to get there. Riding in the back of pickup trucks, by the way. We actually had to drive through a river to get there. The water came up over the top of the hood at one point, but just for a few seconds. There used to be a bridge but the rain and mudslides from another year completely wrecked it and it’s in a bunch of pieces now. The kids at the aldea were great though.  Three more students shared their testimonies that day- DJ, Amanda, and Jaryd. It was so awesome to watch them share and think back five years ago when I was in their same shoes. I remember how scared and nervous I was to share my testimony, but after I did, I realized it really wasn’t that bad at all. 

The other two days that we were at the home were spent doing work projects. The boys and some of the girls (whom we now call BMWs- Beastly Mountain Women-thanks to Jeff) went down in the baranco (ravine/valley) and dug out a trench thing for all of the rain water to go into so that it doesn’t keep going into their soccer field down there. The rest of the girls painted in the shade all morning, while they all baked and sweat in the heat. We painted the walls of the home yellow because apparently the government inspector people didn’t think that the pastel green was a good color for a children’s home. They wanted a warmer, happier color. So we obliged and spent the next two mornings painting it a bright yellow color that makes me think of McDonalds and is actually less soothing and calming than the green color it was before, in my opinion.

Our afternoons were spent doing activities with the kids and just loving on them as much as we could. We made them cupcakes in ice cream cones and let them decorate them. We took them to the pools one day and we tie-dyed pillowcases another. Our last night we had a fiesta, like usual and lots of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs were consumed. I gave all the kids glow sticks and they had a lot of fun with them. As well as Livy, who put them through the gauges in her ears and then continued to add more and more bracelets until they connected at her chin. Her fire dance was also quite entertaining :) The next morning, everyone said their thanks yous and goodbyes and even I teared up a little bit. Mostly cause I can’t stand watching other people cry and I don’t like goodbyes, but also partly because I know what it’s like to leave those kids behind and say bye and not know when you’ll see them next, so I get how hard it can be.

I went with the team to our touristy shopping day in Panajachel and then to Guatemala City after that for debriefing and to drop everyone off at the airport. It was awesome to hear how God was speaking to everyone throughout the week and how he has grown everyone through their experiences on the trip. After everyone got on the plane, I went back on the bus to Hogar de Vida. It was a little lonely that first night and the next day because Norm and Vickie weren’t back at the home yet because they stayed in the city longer for doctor’s appointments and stuff so I was the only gringa at the home. But, today (my second day here without the team) was much better. I spent a long time hanging out with Beny, Manuel and Minque. They are such goofballs and we spend most of the time laughing. I’ve also been doing lots of dishes and laundry and helping out in the kitchen and with getting the little ones all bathed, dressed, and presentable in the morning. They’re so cute that they make waking up at 5:30 am completely worth it. It’s a handful to try to keep up with the hardworking Guatemalans and to try to entertain the little kids when it’s only me and there’s no team to help out, but I’m enjoying it all the same. 

The rest of my week will be more of the same and then a team will come in Saturday night so then I’ll get to do stuff with them. 

Side note: As I was writing this from my room at the home there was a giant bug crawling up the wall and I bravely (or maybe not so bravely) squashed it with my shoe whiling gagging and freaking out the whole time. If there’s one thing I don’t like about this places it’s the bugs on steroids. I don’t need those in my life, thank you very much :)