Photo Blog: Week 4

These are pictures from my final week in Guatemala, which was spent serving with the Fickers in Canilla. I wish I had gotten more photos of the clinics and everything, but it's hard when you're trying to be discreet and your busy trying to be helpful.

Setting up for clinic in the school.

They made lunch for us to eat afterwards.

This is the crab that invaded our porch.

This is the clinic in Canilla before it's all set up.

Abby and Grace hanging out on the four wheeler.

The road was pretty terrible right here so we had to get out and walk.

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Rachael talking to a girl and her mother in the clinic in Canilla.

Photo Blog: Weeks 2&3

These are pictures from my second and third weeks in Guatemala. The second week I was by myself at the home and the third week was spent serving with a team from Illinois.

Lorena being sang to on her 21st birthday.

The kids lined up to get some birthday cake.

Then it was Venancio's 4th birthday.

This girl, seriously. So adorable.

Alicia really enjoyed her "worms and dirt" pudding.

Oscar's shorts were a little too big. They kept slipping down and it very cute and silly :)

Next was Samuel's birthday.

We went to a parade celebrating the anniversary of one of the schools.

Luis playing with the school marching band.

There were some pretty impressive floats.

Cata and Wendy walking with their class. I'm not sure what the theme was...

Julio is one of those robot things.

Could he be any cuter?

Photo Blog: Week One

Pictures from my first week in Guatemala with the Summer Servants team. Click on the pictures if you want to see them bigger.

Our whole team at the Rochester airport.

The guys playing with kids at the first aldea we visited called Pujera.

The kids were fascinated by the bubbles!

Their beautiful heads of hair all washed and styled :)

Even some of the moms and teachers let us do their hair.

This is what you do in Guatemala when....

...the bridge looks like this!

It was completely destroyed by previous rains and washed out roads.

Ashley and Sebastian translated for Livy as she shared her testimony
at the second aldea we visited.

The kids listened so intently.

Tie-dye with the kids at Hogar de Vida.

Kate helping Oscar. He's just the cutest kid ever.

It takes a lot of concentration to string fruit loops onto licorice!

Angelita and Chepa showing off their new dresses after our girl's night.

More pictures coming soon (or maybe not so soon) when I have time to take a break from all my studying.

Goodbyes and Coming Home

It's been almost a month since I got home from Guatemala. It was a tough transition at first, but since school has started I've had plenty to distract me. Plus, I've had a lot of people praying for me, which helps even more. Of course, I'm already thinking of when I'll get the chance to go back again and little things every day are constantly reminding me of the kids and other things at Hogar de Vida. I'm so looking forward to returning again. I wish the world was just a little bit smaller so that I could drop by on a weekend or something like that :)

I meant to tell you all about the last couple of days that I spent in Guatemala, but once I got home there just never seemed to be the time. So I'll just catch you up on the highlights really quick. 

• Saturday we had clinic in Canilla and the doctors were still visiting so I got volunteered to translate for one of the OB/GYNs while she did ultrasounds on all the pregnant women. It was a little bit difficult, but not as horrible as I would've thought. There were a few communication errors, but overall I was proud of myself for being able to speak so much Spanish. But it also made me really aware of how much I still don't know.
• Sunday we had clinic in SAS again. I weighed some more babies in the nutrition program and there were two tiny newborns who came. They don't start children on the nutrition program until they weigh them over 2 or 3 weeks and see that they are losing or not gaining any weight. So we just checked over the newborns and weighed them for now. Because really, it's best for them to just have breast milk now anyways. I don't know what's happened with them since then, but I pray that they are thriving and doing well.
• After clinic, we stopped by Hogar de Vida to drop something off. I was happy for that because I had a chance to say a real goodbye that time. It was overwhelming to hear all the kids calling out "Teresa! Teresa!" when they saw me. And telling me happy birthday (it was two days before my birthday) and that they would miss me. What really put me over the edge was talking with Oralia, Sebastian and Lorena. They thanked me for all the work I had done there and told me I was always welcome to return and that it was my home now too. I told Sebastian that I didn't want to leave and he said "Well, it's better if you just stay." I wish I could have.
• Then, on Monday I left to go home. Usually the trip home gets dragged out by a long 5 1/2 hour bus ride into Guatemala City. But this time, Duane flew us out to the city in his plane which only takes 20 minutes and it was such a beautiful view of the mountainous country. It would've been more enjoyable if it didn't mean I was leaving my favorite place.

 That's all for now. But, I'm hoping to update later with a few photo blogs since I could never get pictures posted while I was in Guate.

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 :)

Going back again...

God is so good to me. He gives me the desires of my heart even though I don't deserve them. I am returning to San Andrés and to Hogar de Vida again this summer. I leave this Saturday (eek!) and I'll be gone until August 20th (one day before my 21st birthday!). Please pray for safe travel and against any kind of sickness for those on our team. I'm going to try to be better about updating my blog while at the home this time. We'll so how that goes :) 

Here's part of a letter I wrote to friends and family that explains what I'll be doing while I'm down there this time.

"I’m very excited to be writing this letter to all of you to tell you that I have been given the opportunity to travel back to Guatemala this summer! Ever since my first trip to San Andrés in 2007, Guatemala has been in my heart. I absolutely cherish every minute that I get to spend there. As some of you may know, I was able to go to Guatemala for an extended trip this past summer to study Spanish and to spend time serving in children’s homes and clinics. It was an amazing experience and God really used it to show me a glimpse of what He wants for my future. I really feel called to work in missions work in some capacity and I believe that God is using each of these opportunities, past and present, to prepare me for whatever He will have me to do in the future.

            There is a group of high school students from my church that is going to San Andrés, Guatemala this summer. I was asked to be a leader on this trip and I couldn’t be happier. The group is made up of 19 of us that will be going in July for a ten day trip to work alongside missionaries, Norm and Vickie Sutton, at a children’s home called Hogar de Vida (Home of Life). This orphanage is home to 30 children from babies on up through 19 years of age. While in Guatemala, we will be staying at the home, doing work projects, serving in the villages and churches of San Andrés and ministering to the kids and staff of Hogar de Vida. 

            After this ten day trip, I will be staying in Guatemala for a little while longer. I will be staying at the home and working alongside the staff helping out with everyday tasks such as cooking and doing laundry and I will also be helping the missionaries host another team that is coming after ours leaves. I will also have the opportunity to work with the Fickers, who are a missionary family that runs medical clinics in poor villages and towns throughout this region of Guatemala. I’m excited to get to use the nursing skills that I have been learning in school to help them with their ministry!"

Rainy Day Memories...

Between this crazy thunder storm we're having right now and the team from church coming home from Guatemala last week, I've been thinking a lot about my last trip to Guatemala. I was there during the rainy season so it rained most days which gave me some pretty good memories of rainy days. Here are my top three favorites :)

1. During my last week at language school, I volunteered at a children's home in Xela for a few days. I had told one of my friends that I met at the school about it and she said she wanted to go check it out, so I brought her along with me one day to show her the way. It was pouring so hard that our umbrellas were pretty much useless. We got to parque central and had to cross the street. Since the roads in this area of town are super old so it their draining system, so the street was basically flooded. My friend, Sonal, was wearing flip flops so when we ran across the street, through the "river", her shoe fell off and went right down into this big drainage thing that was on the side of the road. She was fishing through the dirty water to try to find it, but we both knew it was gone forever. Luckily, we were close to the market in parque central so she didn't have to walk too far shoeless (although I don't think I'd want to walk anywhere in Guatemala shoeless haha). We went and bought her some new sandals. She had to get a guy's pair because she's tall so she has bigger feet than most Guatemalan women, which I thought was pretty funny :) By the time we got to the home we were soaked all the way through and when we were working with the kids in the doctor's office we left puddles behind us where we had stood. It was pretty laughable :)

2. One of the first weeks that I was at school there was a pretty big storm and the electricity went out, which really isn't all that uncommon in Guatemala. Me and Tim got home from school and no one was around. There were a few pots sitting on the kitchen table to collect rain that was dripping from the ceiling, but other than that, it seemed like no one was home. So Tim and I had nothing to do but be there, in the dark. We decided to use his flash light and play pictionary in the dark kitchen with water dripping all around us until the electricity came back on. It was a fun time.

3. One night at the home, it started raining on our way home from church and of course I was sitting in the back of the pick up truck with a bunch of the kids and a couple girls from the team. Luckily, the church isn't far from the home at all so we didn't get too wet. When we got back, me and the girls were hanging out with the kids and Benny kept trying to push one of them out from underneath the roof and into the rain. Emily won and pushed Benny out into the rain before he could get her. So, he ran back into his room and changed into a different, dry sweater. Then she pushed him out into the rain again and he got soaked again. So, he went in and changed into another dry sweater. And this happened several more times. It was pretty funny. Benny is such a goof ball.

So there's my three memories :) I can't wait to go back to Hogar de Vida. I think about it almost every day. I miss that place so much! I just have to wait for God's timing.

Only a few more days...

I can not believe that I've been at the home for two whole weeks! The time has flown by so fast! Forgive me for my lack of posting, but I've been kind of busy here. The first week I was here, a team of 11 from a big church in Omaha was here. They were great, very spiritually deep but also really fun people at the same time. There were a couple of high school students and three young couples on the team. It was an interesting group of people. There was also another woman from the same church who came along to help Norm and Vicky host the team. She's been here a bunch of times and I actually knew her already because she helped host one team that I was on before. So we were both here to help host the team. My responsibility was breakfast. I got up each day and helped Norm prepare the food, which wasn't much work because the team helped out some too. We went out to a couple of aldeas (villages) in the mornings and the team performed a mime/skit and shared the gospel and we also washed, cut, and styled hair. We went to schools both times so we had around 100 kids each day, so that kept us busy. The other days we did some work projects around the home. I helped paint some primer on the new playground and did some other small jobs. The kids had a few days off of school that week too so we had some extra time to spend with them which was nice. Our nights were spent hearing testimonies of the missionaries here, worshiping with the team, and going to church a few times.

One of the guys on the team is a physical therapist so he worked with some of the kids here who needed his help. He looked at Alicia (the baby who was brought here at 3 days old when I was here with a team in November). They're worried about her because she's over 8 months now and doesn't roll over or put any weight on her legs. Also, her one hand is always in a fist and she can't fully straighten it out. So Matt looked at her and worked with her a little bit. He said something might of happened before she was born, like a stroke or something. Earlier this week we went to the Ficker's (medical missionaries in a town nearby who have a weekly clinic here in town) for a worship night. Vickie asked them if they thought it would be worth getting her looked at further to get a diagnosis. She said the there was supposed to be a neurologist coming into Quiche on Friday and, amazingly, that was the same day that Norm and Vickie had been planning on going to Quiche! God is so good :) So they took her to see the doctor yesterday- they had to take her in a baby swing strapped in with the seat belt because they don't exactly have a car seat here haha. The doctor examined her and noticed that the back of her head is unusually flat which most likely means that she wasn't able to move around in the womb much and still can't now. He said it could be a hormonal imbalance or something like muscular dystrophy and he recommended that she get some blood tests and scans done. If it's something hormonal, it can be treated with medication, so that's what we're praying for.

The team left early Sunday morning and Norm and Vickie didn't come back until Tuesday afternoon, so I was the only gringo here for a few days! Sunday morning I went to the clinic in town to work with the Ficker's. Lesley started the ministry with her husband like ten ish years ago and she's and RN and works with her daughters in law who are also RN's and other volunteers that come to help out. They see a bunch of patients in one morning so it can be kind of hectic. I started off by helping with the kids in the nutrition program. I weighed the kids and wrote down their information and gave out formula and food. Then I helped with the chronic and general patients. Lesley let me give a shot, which is a pretty big deal because I've never done that before! Other than that, I mostly just did blood pressures and blood sugars and observed a lot. Overall, it was a good experience and I'm going to be going back again tomorrow morning.

Since the team is gone I've been eating breakfast and lunch with the staff everyday so it's back to eggs, beans, and tortillas! But surprisingly, after a week of American food, it really doesn't bother me to go back to eating beans. When Norm and Vickie came back on Tuesday, they brought two other friends with them. One is a missionary in Antigua who works with disabled children and she also works with a ministry who gives out wheelchairs. She came to look at Chepa, a girl here with a brain tumor who has been pretty weak and unstable for a while now. Shes been in a wheelchair for the past few months but its not the best fit for her, so Pat is gonna work on getting her a better one. The other is a girl from Pat's church who just graduated from high school and came to Guatemala to work with her for a couple months this summer. Pat had to leave yesterday but Katie liked it so much here that she decided to stay until I leave. Then, when we went to the Ficker's for worship the other night, we also acquired another person. Amanda is another girl who just graduated and came here for a couple months to work with the Ficker's. She wasn't really enjoying her experience with them a ton so she decided to come here for a few days and see if she would rather be here. So now she's going to be here for about another month as well. So I haven't been completely alone here :)

This week I've just been trying to lighten the load of the staff by helping out wherever I can. I've done dishes for hours and washed, hung, and folded lots of laundry. I help a little but with cooking lunch but once they start to make tortillas, I'm pretty much useless. I tried to learn how to do it but the only thing it did was give everyone around me a good laugh :) Around three ish, I'm usually done with helping and can take a short nap and then go play with the kids.

I really don't know how I'm going to leave here on Tuesday! I wish I could stay here just a little bit longer. Or a lot longer :) It's hard to leave when you're not sure when you'll be back again. I really hope it's soon.

Mi Discurso

This is the short speech I gave at the graduation dinner on Thursday night. First in Spanish, so that you're impressed :) and then in English...

Yo no puedo creer mi tiempo aqui en Xela esta terminando muy pronto. Fue una experiencia muy buena y yo deseo la no tiene que terminar. Yo vine aqui para aprender espanol, pero you recibi much mas que eso. Yo encontre muchos amigos durante mi tiempo aqui y la experiencia no seria el mismo sin ellos. Yo aprendi mucho espanol desde mis maestros. Norma dos, Norma uno, y Joaquin- ustedes son muy intellegentes, amables, y pacientes. Muchas gracias por ensenarme. Hicieron apreder espanol muy divertido. Me gusta mucho sus historias y nuestros paseos alrededor Xela. Yo quiero decir gracias a los maestros que planearon las actividades. Ustedes hicieron el mes pesado una aventura divertida. Tambien, gracias a Edna por encontro un buen lugar para mi a hacer trabajo voluntario esta semana. Yo lo disfrute mucho. En el futuro, Yo deseo regresar y hacer esto el otro vez, pero sin la quemadura de sol, los verbos irregulares, y los frijoles.

I can't believe my time here is Xela is almost over. I have had such a great experience and I wish it didn't end so soon. I came here to learn Spanish, but I got so much more than that. I made some great friends along the way; my experience wouldn't have been the same without you guys. I learned a lot of Spanish from my teachers. You guys are so great- Norma, Norma, and Joaquin- Thank you guys so much. You are very patient, smart, and kind. You made learning Spanish fun. I enjoyed your stories and all of our walks around Xela. I also want to thank all the teachers who planned the activities- you made this past month a fun adventure. Also, thanks to Edna for finding me a great place to volunteer at this week- it was an awesome experience. In the future, I hope I can do this again, only without the sunburn, irregular verbs, and the beans.

Okay so that translation isn't exactly word for word and I know I made some mistakes, but everyone still understood what I was trying to say and that's the most important part. The dinner was a fun time to hang out with everybody one last time before I had to leave. I ending up sitting with a bunch of the teachers so I had to speak Spanish the whole time! But, it was a fun night and I tried to take a lot of mental pictures so that I'll always remember. It's sad to have to leave, but now I'm on to the next part of this adventure, which I'm so excited about. I'm sitting in Pollo Campero (fast food chicken restaurant) in Quiche right now waiting for Norm and Vickie and the team from Omaha. I've been here for about five hours and have about another hour left to wait because the team's plane was delayed! Can't write too much more because my computer is about to die and I haven't found an outlet, but hopefully I'll have time to update everyone while I'm in San Andres.

5 Things I Won't Miss....

It's kind of sad thinking about leaving Xela and everyone at the school. So instead of focusing on the good things, I'm going to focus on the things I won't miss about this place...

1. The Smell. Xela does not smell very good at all. The cars and buses always give off this terrible exhaust smell and sometimes you can smell garbage burning and other gross odors, like when you walk by the meat store with all the raw meat hanging from the ceiling. I realize this is probably Guatemala in general, but San Andres isn't as big of city as Xela is so it has more fresh air, definitely looking forward to that :)

2. The Food. I'm pretty sure I've had enough scrambled eggs, black beans, and tortillas for a life time. I actually stopped eating tortillas and tomalitos a week or so ago because I just don't even like them anymore. The food at my house is so repetitive and uncreative. Sometimes its really good, but most of the time its just eggs and beans. And we hardly ever eat fruits and vegetables! Hopefully when I get to Hogar de Vida my meals will be a little bit more varied.

3. The Bugs. I realize there are bugs everywhere and when they're outside, it doesn't bother me so much. But when they're in the house, in my room, and in the shower, that freaks me out a little bit. The house that I live in has lots of areas when the only thing between the inside and the outside is a screen or nothing, so it's pretty easy for all sorts of bugs to make their way into the house. Gross.

4. Strange Sounds in the Middle of the Night. Guatemala is a noisy place. There's dogs barking and roosters roosting and fireworks going off at all hours of the night. I've gotten used to those sounds. But then every once in a while I wake up in the middle of the night and hearing banging on the roof (it's a tin roof so it's pretty loud). I just kind of ignored it but when Tim switched rooms and moved to the same part of the house as me, he heard it too. He asked Ana what it was and she said "It could be cats, dogs, or robbers. But don't worry about the robbers because there's no way they can get into the house." Remember, how I told you that there's multiple areas of the house with nothing or only a screen separating the inside of the house from the outside? Well, apparently Ana forgot about that. I've slept with my door locked ever since she said that.


5. The Weather. It is so cold here! People told me before I got here that Xela was cold, but I always thought well I'm from NY, cold in Guatemala is warm compared to cold in New York. And for the most part it is. Except that they don't have heaters in their houses, or even walls in some areas, so it feels a lot colder than it really is. There have been a few times when I've woken up in the middle of the night and was freezing and had to put more clothes on. I brought a bunch of pairs of shorts which was completely unnecessary- I've only worn them once!

Yesterday I went back to the home to volunteer again. Another girl from school came with me too because she wanted to have a tour of the place to see if it was a place that she would like to volunteer at for the next few weeks. When we left it was pretty much down pouring. By the time we got to Parque Central, which isn't even half way there, I was feeling pretty drenched and soggy. We got to this one street that was completely covered in water, it was basically a river. Sonal was wearing flip flops and lost one when we crossed the street. She went to grab it but it slipped down the drain before she could! It was pretty funny :) We stopped by the market to get her some new shoes before we kept going.

When we got to the home, they thought I was the psychologist girl again so I explained to them that I was nursing student, so they sent me to work with the doctor at the home for a little while. Me and Sonal worked with the doctor to cut all of the kids finger nails and toe nails and to clean their ears- there's over 80 kids so it took quite a while! When the doctor had to leave, she said we could go too, but I asked if we could go help with the babies until it was time for us to go and she said sure. So I got to go see the cute little kids again. There were so many kids that needed their diapers changed but I could only find one diaper so the baby that peed on me got it- the sqeaky wheel gets the oil :) When the woman working with the babies finally returned, she got more diapers for the rest of them. But, again the kids were unsupervised when we got there and some of the babies were wearing the same clothes that I had put them in the day before. It makes me really mad that these kids aren't getting better care. I'm going back tomorrow for one more day and to hopefully see the little ones again.

Tonight is the graduation dinner for this week. I have to give a speech! In Spanish! It's gonna be pretty short and to the point because I hate speaking in front of people. Joaquin was trying to talk me into singing something, but that was never going to happen haha. I can not believe that tomorrow is my last day! I'm getting a little nervous about figuring out how to get to Quiche from here because no one seems to know what time the bus leaves exactly. Hopefully, I'll get all of that figured out before Saturday morning!

Hogar Temporal

Yesterday during class, Joaquin showed me the way to the children's home that I'll be volunteering at for this week. We went with another girl and her teacher and on the way we stopped for snacks. The teachers got these things that looked like snow cones except they put actual fruit on them instead of just juice and the one teacher got chili powder or something put on hers too. I tried hers and it tasted like puke, so I didn't get anything haha. I don't understand why you would ever think to put spicy powder with fruit.

When we got to the home, they gave us a tour of the place. There are almost 80 kids that live there and the majority come from abusive situations or were neglected. We saw some parents visiting with their kids but the visits had to be supervised by a social worker. I think the woman showing us around said that most of the kids can't be adopted because most of them still have parents. I couldn't understand a lot of what she was saying though because she talks really fast. They showed us where the kids sleep and it basically just these huge rooms with tons of bunk beds lined up and crammed in. It didn't look much like a home. The whole experience was just really sad. Then we went into the baby room and there was a volunteer in there with two super cute babies! She actually spoke English so that was nice. I decided to volunteer there three days this week because a lot of the activities this week are repeats, so I've already done them. I went yesterday and I'm going again today and Friday.

When I went yesterday, I got lost on the way there and couldn't find it. I asked a woman if she could help me but she said she didn't know where it was and then thankfully, another woman walked up to me and asked me what I was looking for and I was actually really close to the home, it was just around the corner. When I there I had to give them a letter from the school that explained my experience and when I wanted to volunteer, as well as the same information for the other girl who is going to volunteer there. They were mistaken and thought I was the other girl, who studied psychology in college. So they sent me to work with the psychologists. When I explained that I wasn't her and that I just wanted to help take care of the kids and play with them, we went up and got some babies and brought them back down to the room to play. One baby was new, so he cried pretty much the whole time. The only thing I could do to get him to stop was give him candy :) He had this big scar on the side of his face and the psychologist said it was from his parents. The other baby looked maybe 1 yr old, but she was actually 2 1/2! She was just beginning to learn to walk and she was so tiny! After a while we brought the kids back up to the baby room and there were more kids in there, probably about eleven. I'd say the majority were under 2 yrs old, but they were all under 5. When we got there to bring the kids back they were completely unsupervised. They were just in the room with the TV on. The babies were in cribs crying or with their bottles propped in their mouths. I think the majority of the time the babies are in their cribs, even when they're awake. There was this older girl (maybe 4 or 5) who kept trying to pick up the babies and I kept telling her no, she could've so easily dropped them. Then this other baby kept climbing all over the furniture- she somehow got on top of a dresser, so dangerous! There was only one woman assigned to work in the room and she was taking the babies out to give them baths and then bringing them back. She obviously needed help, so I'm glad that I could be there but it makes me wonder what happens when there's no volunteer. When she was changing some of the babies, she just walked away and left them on the changing table! They could've rolled right off! And the diapers were way too big for the little babies so there's basically no point in them wearing them.

I kept comparing it to Care-a-lot, the day care center I work at, and thinking how many laws they were breaking and how many things could go wrong. Ugh, it was so sad to see the kind of care these kids are getting. I mean, yeah its better then where they came from, but really, they need so much more to thrive and grow. A baby cannot stay in a crib all day and hardly ever be held. I'm glad I can volunteer there, even if it is just for this week, to give these kids a little bit more attention then they usually get.

My last week of Spanish school!

I can not believe this is my last week at Miguel Angel Asturias! The time has flown by! I'm getting really excited about going back to Hogar de Vida though.

Saturday I had a pretty relaxing morning because I decided to not do the activity with the school. They were going on a two hour bike ride to see a historical church and then to ride the two hours back again. That's not really my idea of a good time haha. I slept in and the walked around and ended up at a cute little cafe for a little while. Since it was Tim's last day, when he got back we went to Blue Angel to finally try their burritos. They were pretty delicious. Then Jodi met up with us and we watched a movie and afterwards we went to another restaurant because Tim really wanted to try a mango mojito before he left. It was a nice relaxing day. I went to bed early because I had to wake up at 5 AM the next day to leave for the market in Chichicastenango. It was a little difficult getting out of the house because the older son parked his motorcycle right in front on the door! Good thing I'm small or I wouldn't have been able to squeeze around it. I kept thinking please don't fall over, please don't fall over haha. Thankfully, this time we did not take a pick up truck, we were in a nice comfy microbus and I even slept a little :) The market was huge and crowded. I got to practice my bargaining skills and I think I got some pretty good deals. I bought all the stuff I wanted to and only spent $15! It seems like you're spending a lot when you're shopping because its like Q115, but then when you do the math and it's only $15, you realize that you hardly spent anything at all.

Sunday night we got a new student at the house. Good thing too because I didn't really want to be alone. Sometimes you just need someone you can speak English to. She seems nice and she's in med school like Tim was. So many med/nursing students come to Miguel Angel Asturias.

Yesterday during class, I had Joaquin take me to get a new phone. We went to the mall and I bought the cheapest one they had which came with 100 minutes and was only like twenty bucks. Then, I got a text message saying that Tigo (the phone company) was giving me a whole month of texting for free! I was pretty excited about that. Afterwards, we went to Taco Bell! I got some nachoes and they pretty much tasted the same as they do in the states except that they had guacamole on them. But, whats really weird is that they have french fries!

Today I'm going to a temporary children's home to play with some kids :) I can't wait!