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.