Saying goodbye…

We are down to the wire here in Guatemala, only 5 days before Andi and I go home. It’s going to be sad leaving all of this, but I am SO excited and so anxious to be home. We’ve fulfilled our purpose here and its just time, you know?

 

Haven’t had a whole lot to do this past week, we’ve had our regular kid’s ministries and church stuff, but other than that, we’ve mostly just been hanging out around the house. Due to extreme bored-ness, we have started riding the crazy “chicken” buses to Antigua and San Lucas around here to hang out. Its not as insane as it was made out to be-I actually really enjoy riding them. Plus it gives me an opportunity to get super close with all the Guatemalans…we sat four to a seat the other day. I was basically sitting in this woman’s lap!

 

Tom and Elizabeth and Cheryl Leigh took us out for breakfast yesterday at this awesome restaurant in the Hotel Santo Domingo in Antigua. They had a breakfast buffet….and oh man, it was so good. Probably one of the highlights of my trip. I’ve probably gained atleast 10 pounds since I’ve been here because I eat so much, I feel like I’m a middle-school aged boy or something, it’s like my stomach is a bottomless pit. I’ve taken a worm pill, so I don’t think that’s it. Maybe things will get back to normal when I get home, otherwise I will probably be a fatso before long! Haha.

 

I’m very much looking forward to: washing my clothes with a washer and dryer….hot showers…no flies….my mom’s awesome cooking…..sitting on couches (they don’t have many here!)……seeing signs in English…..and talking to people in English (!)….and much more. It’s going to be great to be home. I’m so blessed to have had the opportunity to spend the summer here and meet so many wonderful people. I don’t take that for granted whatsoever….but I’ve realized how awesome home is!

 

God has made me so grateful for what I have, He has opened my eyes to seeing the needs of others, He has given me a boldness that I didn’t know existed in me. He has done so much more in my life that I can’t even explain, and if nothing else was gained from this trp, at least I can say that He brought me out of my habitual life and spent 8 weeks working in me. Before I came to Guatemala, I really liked God. He was pretty cool, and I trusted Him to take care of me and stuff. I even tried to spend everyday reading the Bible and saying a 5-minute prayer, probably so I could give myself kudos and feel good about it. It’s nice to be able to say that I really am in love with God. I spend time in His Word everyday because I enjoy learning about Him and what the life of a Christian should look like. Praying is still a struggle for me because I may be ADHD….but I’m working on it. He has definitely matured me as His daughter in the past 8 weeks, and has drawn me closer to Him and to being the woman He desires for me to become. I’m not sure what my life is going to look like in the future, but I feel ready for anything! One thing I have learned from working for Hearts for the Children is that we should always be prepared for things our plans to dramatically change; I may not be completely ready, but I’m closer to whatever that point is.

 

I’m pretty sure this will be my last post before I get back to America. It will be a crazy and emotional week of goodbyes, but ”all good things must come to an end.”

 Thanks to all who have taken the time to follow me throughout this summer. I appreciate all of the encouraging messages and emails. It meant so much to know that someone cared enough to follow this, so thanks for reading! I am blessed to know people like you, and am so thankful for all of you. My flight will be landing Tuesday night around 6pm EST, so please pray that we will get there safely!

 

Dios le Bendiga

Updates!

(Sorry not to have written in a while! I’ve tried to post the twice before, but the site wasn’t letting me get on. This was all supposed to be posted sometime last week.)

 

 

This past week has been the craziest by far! A group of 19 from Marietta, GA got here last Saturday for a week packed full of work. The group was made up of a lot of youth, adult chaperones, a doctor, dental hygienist, and OBGYN nurse. We went to several places including Sosoya, Gorion, Embalauda, October 20, the city dump, and our own clinic at the Mary Magdalena house downtown setting up medical/dental clinics. At each place we went, there was triage, a pharmacy, the doctor’s station, a place to de-lice hair, a room where the nurse did pap smears, and a teeth-cleaning station. It was hard to keep everything organized, but by the end of the week we had things down. We saw over 600 patients this week!

 

Some days, we split the group and the guys and me and Andi also did some construction on the church building over in Embalauda. I cut the grass with a machete. It felt really cool…but it was hard! Most of what we did there was cut grass and clean rebar, we were supposed to pour cement but weren’t at the site as much as we would’ve liked. Hopefully the cement will be poured, otherwise this group will just have to come back next year and cut more grass and clean more rebar, and there will never be progress. That part of it was a little frustrating.

 

Wednesday we went out by Antigua and zip-lined through the mountains. It was really fun! It started raining about the 4^th platform and got pretty chilly, but I just think it added to the experience.

 

This group worked HARD and didn’t get much down time, even though I think they deserved much more. We had late nights and early mornings, so everyone was pretty exhausted by the end of the week. We had so much fun with these people, I felt like a part of their group and a part of a family. They were a huge encouragement to us and we miss them already. They live only 2 ½ hours away from us though… so hopefully we may see them again!

 

Andi and me are getting down to the last couple of weeks of our trip. It has been a great experience being here, but we are excited to go home! Seeing everyone packing up and heading to the airport Saturday made us a little jealous, but next time it is actually our turn, which is hard to believe. We are both apprehensive about what the next two weeks will hold! Pray that God will give us patience so that we can enjoy the time we have left here.

 

Dios le bendiga hermanos y hermanas!      

 

 

“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” –1 Peter 1:13

Feliz Dia Del Padre!

Good news: I finally took a shower. After four full days of no shower, I am clean again. Baby wipes definitely help but..it’s just not the same. I’m going with the braids again, wish I could pull off having dreads, but I don’t want to shave it all off when I get tired of them, so I will just stick to braids. It’s been freezing here the past few days. It rains a ton and it’s chilly since we’re up in the mountains, so we’ve been pretty cold. It’s weird to hear that at home its in the upper nineties…its probably sixties here, we’re pulling out the jackets and everything! Katy the Canadian laughs at Andi and me all bundled up, but…I mean, we can see our breath here!

 

Anywho, the past couple of days have been pretty busy, thank goodness. I was worried that with no teams here we wouldn’t have anything to do, but we have stayed busy. Thursday we went to the clinic downtown and drowned lots more pills. We were there pretty much ALL DAY LONG. We had lots to finish up, plus Tom forgot about us and we couldn’t get in touch with anyone to come get us. It was slightly annoying. Andi was sick pretty much all day Thursday with stomach stuff, but after a lot of rest she is feeling much better.

 

Friday we had the breakfast at the Mary Magdalena house. Each week more and more people are coming, some hungry for food and some just hungry for teaching. It’s awesome, because there is lady name Jeanette who speaks English, she has been an alcoholic for quite some time now but hasn’t been drinking the past few weeks and is taking a lot better care of herself. Keep praying for her!

 

We got a package yesterday from Paige and Jeremy full of….cookies! We baked some peanut butter ones last night and they were muy bueno. We even have some of the chocolate chip variety, which makes me oh so happy.

 

“Consider it pure joy, brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” –James 1:2-3

 

I was reading this verse yesterday, and thinking about how being here in Guatemala has been a lot different than I thought. For me going into this, it sounded like an adventure, as well as a neat opportunity to minister to the people here. While it has been both of those, I wasn’t expecting for it to be hard. Maybe that was unrealistic of me, but I just didn’t think it would be. I realize now that Satan tries to get us down in times when we are trying the hardest to serve God. So for me, this verse has a lot of meaning…it says that this testing that has been constantly happening over the past 4 and ½ weeks has been to develop perseverance in my faith. And to consider it “pure joy” when this happens, which is something that I ask God daily to give me, even if I feel like crap. Anyways, just wanted to share.

 

 

The team of 19 from Atlanta just got here yesterday. Our house is now full of crazy people. We have one bathroom to share among 13 women…woohoo! It should be a really great week.

 

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Panajachel

 

We are back safe and sound from Panajachel. Although yesterday we were definitely ready to be back at the ministry house, we had a great time.

 

We left for Panajachel in a hurry early Monday morning, because our driver Alfredo was just chilling out and by the time we actually left we only had 20 minutes to get into Antigua and on our 8:00 shuttle. As soon as he dropped us off, we booked it and sprinted through the streets of Antigua. Not only were we stared at because we were gringas, but because we looked pretty crazy. We made it to our shuttle on time, thankfully, and had a pretty crazy mix of people riding with us. There were men and women from Germany, England, Guatemala, and one weird man from Florida. I was embarrassed that the only other American was such a creep. I sat by this Guatemalan guy named Emilio, he looked like someone right out of a Quicksilver surfing magazine. He also spoke English, and had a lot to say about….well, pretty much everything. He ended being pretty helpful about places to stay and eat in Panajachel, since he lived there.

 

Panajachel is an incredible place. I felt like I was in the movies the whole time I was there, it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Basically, it is a crater that is called Lake Atitlan in the middle of all of these massive mountains/volcanoes. God was in a really creative mood when he made Panajachel. It really is so beautiful.

 

We spent most of our time on Monday hanging out and walking around the place. Their market is a little less inexpensive than the one in Antigua, so I did some souvenir shopping. And of course, we stopped and had ice cream at the best ice cream place EVER: Sarita’s! Andi and I are becoming addicted. We had dinner @ this place right in the heart of Panajachel called the Pana Rock Café, which is trying its best to be a Hard Rock Café. The atmosphere was really neat and the food was great. It was just cool to be able to hang out on our own agenda! Plus they had these crazy music videos from the 80’s playing the whole time…definitely entertaining. Our hotel, El Viejero, ended up being pretty ok for what we paid for it. I think it was like nine American dollars for one night…we each had our own bed,.and they even had hot water (it lasted a whole 10 seconds!) Luckily, it was right in the middle of two farms, and the roosters had competitions to see who could go the longest…not so easy to sleep through. Tuesday, we woke up and caught a bus across the lake to San Pedro. There are three or four towns you can get to …San Marco, San Pedro, Santiago, and I can’t remember the name of the other one. We were bombarded when we stopped off the boat into San Pedro to go kayaking, so we did! We kayaked for 2 hours to this island thing and spent a few minutes relaxing on the beach. It was super cheap and really fun. San Pedro is pretty much a hippie’s paradise….they are EVERYWHERE. I can see why, though..it’s a pretty relaxed and beautiful place. I definitely want to go back there and to the rest of the places around Panajachel one day…I think it would be a good place to take a husband, if I ever get one..haha.

 

We went back over to Panajachel and had lunch at this place overlooking the water. Our shuttle didn’t leave until 4:00, so we found this coffee shop called Crossroads Café and hung out there for a bit. It turns out that the owner, who was from NY, was a Christian, and was one of the nicest people I have ever met. His story, of how they ended up running a coffee shop in Panajachel, was pretty neat.

We shuttled back over here and got back pretty late, and have had a pretty restful day today. Tom came over and explained to us a lot of things that we should and shouldn’t be doing, things like getting up at 7am and not letting kids inside, etc. We really haven’t been informed about any of this until now, so it was kind a surprise that he let us know halfway into our trip. But, oh well…atleast now we know!

 

There is a big group of doctors and nurses and volunteers coming in from Atlanta on Saturday. They are going to be doing a lot of everything, including: construction, 4 or 5 medical clinics, etc. We are going to be really, really busy while they are here, so I probably won’t be able to update again for a couple of weeks. Pray for lots of energy, as it is always needed…and for Andi, she hasn’t been feeling well the past few days.

 

And happy anniversary again to my parents, who have been married now for 25 years!

Panajachel!

Me gusta Pina

Well, we are all alone again! Just me, Katy, and Andi are left. The team from Delonoga, Georgia, left this morning to head home. It is strange, yet again, to be by ourselves. It’s nice when groups are here, because we stay pretty busy. The team that was just here truly blessed us and took care of us, so it was really nice.

 

I think I updated on Thursday…so I’m going to update from that point. Thursday night, we went out to hang out with the street kids again. On our way out there, we saw one of the kids we know being beaten by a cop. They were searching him for drugs, but apparently they won’t arrest them if all they have on them is paint thinner. Whatever the case, these cops were having a major power trip by beating up on this harmless street kid. They need to go find something else to do with their lives. The kids on the street are pretty high, but they can break-dance like crazy. It’s pretty neat. There is one girl in particular that I’m praying for out there. Her name is Monica, and she’s probably 16 or so. She’s pretty thin, really dirty, has lice and bugs crawling all over her, and is most of the time pretty high, but for some reason I think she gets it more than the other kids do. It makes me wonder how these kids get to where they are… I mean, where they in school…do they have families? All I know is that they need a LOT of prayer.

 

Friday, we went downtown to serve breakfast @ the Mary Magdalena House. I feel like since we’ve been here, the number of people who come keeps growing. There were probably atleast 50 people there yesterday, so praise God for that! There is one woman who comes name Janette who used to live in the States, and speaks really good English. She’s pretty proud of the fact that she can too. She’s been involved in a lot of prostitution and alcohol, and her kids are too ashamed to call her their mom. She is making good progress, but needs to be in rehab. It’s pretty expensive, though…900 Quetzals a month, which is just over $100 USD, and would be way over her head financially. Be praying that we can find a way to get her help.

After the breakfast, the other team went sightseeing around Guatemala City. All of us interns stayed behind at the house and drowned a bunch of expired medicine from the clinic next door. It was a pretty nasty job…mixing not only pills, but antibiotic creams, cough syrups, and my personal favorite…. suppositories. It was great fun. Since the MM house is in probably the roughest part of Guatemala City, Raul stayed behind to watch out for us. He doesn’t speak much English…and we won’t speak much Spanish… so it was hard to communicate.

 

We had dinner party numero dos last night for the other team, mariachi band and all. It was a lot of fun…and the hamburgers and HOMEMADE potato chips were deelish. We were outside eating though, and it rained like crazy. I think it made the experience more memorable…especially since we’d already been through the whole routine once before.

 

Andi, Katy, and I are going up to Panajachel on Monday/Tuesday. We’re taking a bus out of Antigua and stayed the night in Panajachel… by ourselves. It will definitely be an adventure, and we’re pretty excited about it. We’ve tried to go with different groups atleast 3 times already…but something always came up…and now we’re finally getting to go!

 

It’s hard to try to explain what is going on in my head and in my heart. I don’t think words would be enough to really describe how He has changed my thinking.

The only way I can think to do this is to share something from my journal that I wrote on Thursday, so here goes:

 

“I had a wonderful God moment today on the way back from Antigua. I was in the back It of the pickup, and everything seemed perfect. The sun was setting, the mountains and flowers were so colorful and pretty, the breeze was blowing just right. Every part of creation that I could see was doing its thing just right, it seemed. It made me think about how God makes all these things do their jobs perfectly, so that I could be amazed at their beauty and be thankful for such a creative God. I feel like God wants us to do the same as people and as believers. If we all work together and play our individual parts with our unique gifts, it is a beautiful picture to Him and to those around us. Everything should work together to glorify God, whether it be people or plants or animals or stars, we were all created so that He can have moments like I had today, and can say that “it is good!”

Maybe everday is supposed to be spent have these “God-moments.” I think He just wants us to strive to act and be more like Him, and that will surely be something beautiful.

Statistically Guatemala is the 4^th poorest country in the world. Over 600,000 people are living at the poverty level, and over 500,000 live below that level. Because of this, our plans for the week have been totally changed. Instead of doing construction on the church building, we’ve been visiting villages and setting up medical clinics and feeding programs. It’s been really great to help all these people. Even though I can’t walk up to them and communicate to them their need for salvation in Spanish, I think it’s atleast something to play futbol with them, hand out medicine, or give them beans/rice/sugar with a cheerful smile and a “Dios le bendiga.”

 

The past few days have all happened differently than I thought they would. For instance, we were supposed to go to Panajachel (one of the most beautiful places in the world, apparently) on Monday, but because of crazy protestors we were unable to. We drove around on back roads trying to get there for a few hours, but ended up having to turn around ON A CLIFF anyway. Not to mention, too, that there wasn’t a bathroom in sight. It was definitely an experience for a bunch of gringos to pee on the side of the mountain in some woods with cars honking at us. Don’t think I will forget about that.

 

Sunday night at church was a huge blessing for me. I knew one of the songs… go figure! We sang “the happy song” en espanol, and I tried my best to follow in English. The group here from Georgia brought all these bubbles…which the kids LOVED. And so did I! I hope I can bless these kids as much as they have been blessing me. For some reason, I tend to work better with the little boys…maybe because I like sports… I don’t know. Whatever the case, they are a lot of fun. Most days I go next door to play soccer with Bani and Gerson, our driver Alfredo’s kids. They have this awesome field up on the mountain that overlooks everything. They have been teaching me Spanish in return for me teaching them English.

 

Here’s some people who are a part of my everyday life:

 

We have a five-star chef cooking for us this week named Mario. He is an alcoholic who needed money to pay his rent, so Tom let him work for us this week. He’s had a rough life, and hopefully we can be a light to him somehow. Leti helps Mario cook and does all the housekeeping.

 

Patro lives in the house on the property and does all the handy work around here. He cuts all of our grass with a machete, which takes a lot of time, but he refuses to use a lawnmower. That would be too wimpy, I suppose. He has a wife and a couple of kids that live a couple of hours away that he gets to see one weekend a month. He works here so that he can support them.

 

Alfredo is our driver/bodyguard. He used to work at a gym because he won this strong man contest or something. Marina is his wife, and Bani and Gerson are his sons. Even though most Guatemalans are insane on the road, he’s a pretty smooth driver. We found out he speaks English, even though he acts like he doesn’t…

 

Italo and Raul live downtown in the Mary Magdalena house. Italo is actually a clown, and does so to help with the kids and the ministry. He is awesome…and always on the phone, which isn’t always the best thing to do in lots of traffic, but oh well. Raul used to live on the street and was involved in all kinds of drugs. His testimony shows that we can get more of those kids off the street and into God’s arms. He plays soccer on a city team on Saturdays, and hopefully we will get to go to one of his games this summer.

 

Things are crazy, but great too. I am reminded daily that the joy of the Lord is my strength. I have already been here 3 weeks… which is crazy!

 

I am more amazed by God’s grace everyday and can’t begin to tell you how much He has humbled me so far. I’m looking forward to seeing Him change my life and my attitudes toward everything. I’m praying for Him to show me opportunities for me to serve more often when I get home.

 

If someone bakes chocolate chip cookies this week… please remember me when you are eating them. Homemade chocolate chip cookies are one food I definitely miss. Also, Dr. Pepper is nowhere to be found here….for SOME reason.

 

Wish I could post some pictures…it just takes forever…if i get some time, i will definitely do so! Anyway, take care friends and family. Te amo.

Buenos Dias!

 

I can’t believe I’ve almost been here for 3 weeks. It’s really weird.

We’ve spent a lot of time preparing for the team that is now with us. We had a laundry party yesterday so we could get that out of the way…laundry is a big job here. We have to wash all of our clothes by hand and hang them to dry. We’re kind of kicking it old school, and it definitely makes me appreciate washers/dryers.

 So anyway, the team from north Georgia arrived here yesterday afternoon. Most of them are around my parent’s age, but they seem to be really cool and on fire for the Lord.  They’re kind of like older hippies, plus they share their trail mix and twizzlers, so I like them. We’re going to be doing a lot of construction on the church building this week, and they brought all of these VBS supplies that we are going to put to good use with the kids.

 

Lately I’ve felt very overwhelmed with the fact that I still have over a month left. It’s difficult to be away from my home, family, and friends for so long. Although I sense God’s presence so clearly here, I also see the devil attacking me constantly about how weak I am and how easy it would be for me to just quit and go home. I’m blessed to have supportive friends here who encourage and build me up, and a God who continually “renews a steadfast spirit within me.”  It’s becoming hard for me to be still and not do anything, because I want to go help every second that I am here. I am also praying that God will allow me to be a vessel in bringing his good news to people who need to hear it. Not for me, but for HIS glory. Andi, Katy, and I have all confessed that our motives to come here this summer were probably not as pure as they should’ve been, but He has us here for a purpose. I just pray that our motives fall in line with hearts that want to serve (Proverbs 21:2.)

 

It’s really weird to hear about stuff from home! I guess when you come to a different country, people at home don’t stop going and doing stuff just because you aren’t there. It’s a crazy thing to grasp, to be honest. I am missing birthdays…weddings…my brother’s best baseball game of his life….vacation bible school….puppies….etc.

Please keep me updated on more of this day-to-day stuff from back home. Emails or messages (or letters) definitely make my day!

 

My address here:

 PO Box 661447
Miami Springs, FL, USA 33266

(it will send to this address the be shipped over on a plane here)

I´m moving to El Salvador

Hola!

We are back from El Salvador safe and sound. It was an amazing trip! We stayed in the coolest house that had a pool…hammocks..and was like 2 minutes from la playa (the beach!) El Salvador is a lot like Guatemala…except really HOT. They don´t have AC in most places either. We drove down in Tom´s pickup, so the four girls all rode in the back for 4 plus hours. It was actually really fun!

I spent most of the trip in a hammock reading…which was awesome. Apparently, el salvador is like huge on surfing. Everywhere you go is some kind of surf resort or restaurant. The Pacific is awesome with its huge waves and black sand…i´m a big fan.

I also got to fulfill a lifelong dream…I learned how to surf! It was incredibly…insanely…amazingly…awesome. My lesson was only for an hour so I didn´t learn much, but it was definitely worth it. It was also confusing because my teacher, Daniel,  didn´t know any English, except ¨take it easy¨and ¨relax.¨ But, I did it… I learned how to surf! I ´m pretty sure that made my life right there. Besides the fact that it was also pretty scary to get thrown around by pretty huge waves..haha. I am not a weanie…but that was definitely a little scary.

I couldn´t have imagined at the beginning of the year that I would have already had so many amazing oppotunities this summer. I mean…I climbed a VOLCANO…. I surfed in the Pacific Ocean…went to two new countries…its crazy. Andi and me, throughout our trip, kept saying to each other..¨Ok…we are in EL SALVADOR, how awesome is that?!?¨ God has really blessed me. I feel like He has blessed me too much, if that makes sense. I really don´t deserve to be used, and don´t know the language…have never been away from home for this long…am in a country that is loud and confusing, yet God works through me to help these people.

I´m happy to be back in Guatemala, but El Salvador is my kind of place. I´m thinking about going back to visit next summer… I could surf all day, sleep in hammocks, eat pinneaple and drink Coke from a bottle…it would be a  pretty sweet life. We will see….

We´re headed to El Salvador for a little R and R before the next group gets here on Saturday. It should be pretty awesome! the 3 from Bedowin´s left this morning…which is kind of sad because they are all awesome, but now we are officially on our own, with the exception of Tom, Elisabeth, and Cheryl Leigh. Ready for an awesome trip and then things to get crazy again. Adios America…and Guatemala…Dios Le Bendiga!

Yo tengo un amiga que me amo

The past week has absolutely flown by. The team from shelby crossings left today…which was sad. Wednesday night we almost killed some Guatemalan children. Not literally, but I think we all wanted to. Tom stuck all of us with about 30 kids who didn’t speak English. It made for an interesting night. We did an awesome skit though.. I was the Mom. Again, I do believe I played my part rather well. We had a medical clinic thursday and basically just cleaned out ALL the medicine. I also got my hair braided which is AWESOME. Now I don’t have to wash it for a while… which is good news. Please don’t judge me on this particular matter, showers are just a hassle here and if I can not take them while maintaining a soapy odor and somewhat clean hair, I will surely do so. Last night was so much FUN. We all dressed up and had dinner… and Tom and Elisabeth surprised us with fireworks and… a MARIACHI BAND! We danced and it was so cool. One of the coolest experiences ever.

Right now Andi, Katy, and I are at an internet cafe in San lucas. The earthquakes haven’t killed us… don’t worry. Actually, there have been 2 and I havent felt either. I better feel one before I leave though. Do pray for your safety… as we are under tsunami warnings and there is a ton of political craziness here. I miss everyone extremely much and am praying for you all. Please give my family lots of hugs for me. Gracias.

And now I leave you with some pictures… enjoy!