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| With my two favorite boys at VBS on Friday. |
On Saturday, we had the opportunity of returning to the City of Children orphanage. In the morning and the afternoon, we got to just go and play with the special needs toddlers. It was the best thing we could have done with our Saturday that is for sure. Whenever we go to City of Chilrdren, we normally have lots of activities and a schedule to follow. This time it was different and I loved that. We had no planned activities, no schedule to follow, no teams to keep track of...just time to play and hold these babies. When we walked into the home for the special needs toddlers, we were of course immediately greeted by all of them jumping all over us, hanging onto our legs, trying to get our attention. What they did not understand was that they did not need to fight for our attention. We were there for the sole reason of loving on them. We just wanted time to hold them, hug them, play with them, and care for them. Never do we ever have the chance to just hold them and give them the love of another human.
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| I became the official Rainbow artist at VBS learning about Noah's Ark. |
When I was there and seeing their conditions, it once again broke my heart. You probably think I am the most emotional person for telling you how many times I have almost cried the past two weeks..sorry! To see that these babies sleep on uniform cribs, no sheets in sight, bugs flying around, and just plain white everywhere. They have caretakers but not enough for each child of course. And I have learned that the love of another human is of the utmost importance to a child in their upbringing. They need to feel your touch, your heart beat against theirs, and hear your voice. We were not allowed to bring our cameras in...I wish I could just show you how special and cute these kids were. They were so desperate for love and so full of personality. I loved every minute with them. The more opportunities I have with special needs children, the more I hear God hinting something to me. He has given me the gift of being able to touch their lives and given me the love that I have for them. I would not be surprised if working with special needs children is in my future.
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| Let me just say...Pizza Hut is AMAZING here. And they have these fabulous desserts! SO GOOD! |
Today was quite the adventure. All I am going to share is that we went to church just like normal. After church, we went to a "water park" with Israel (one of our translators), Krista (the Long Term Buckner Volunteer here), Maggie (one of the Buckner girls that lives with us) and Guillermo (our Driver and friend). The highlight of the day was certainly being a part of a baptism. Baptism is an amazing thing and to be a part of one in Guatemala means so much to me. I am so very thankful that the church considers us family enough to invite us to that special event today. Today, the Pastor was at the water park with us and said to us "IgleCafe is your family church now!" That was so sweet and thoughtful of them. They all want us to be their family and are starting to recognize us each week. We even got to hang out with them at a "water park" instead of just the church building... so cool! After a long, fun day of bonding, we are back home all ready for bed and very excited about our North Park team coming tomorrow! It is four couples.. so we are very excited to have some parents for the week! We miss our families!
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| Power of Baptism. |
This trip has really been an eye opening ministry experience and I am so very thankful to be here. While here, I have made such awesome friends and I feel like in order for you to fully understand my experience here, you have to know these people. So, from now on, I will try to share with you just a little bit about them!
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| Guatemalans really take Politics seriously...someone had some fun with a paint ball gun. |
Recently, one of my friends here has really been on my heart and I want to share it with all of you. This is just a reminder to me how you never ever know whose life you are influencing just by that relationship. So, Guillermo, if you are reading this, know that we love you so much. Guillermo started out as our driver. The first day he drove us, he did not tell us he spoke English. So, a couple days later, he drove us again and asked one of us if we were the girl with the story about... clearly showing he spoke English and never said anything! As we tell him everyday, SNEAKY SNEAKY GUILLERMO. As the days go on, Guillermo becomes more of a friend to us than a driver. Then, more a brother than just a friend. It is amazing to me to see just how well you get to know someone in this kind of experience in such a short amount of time. When the Mother/Daughter team was here, Guillermo became our friend, someone we felt we could confide in and talk about just about anything with. This past week, when it was just us interns, we got to have Guillermo show us around his city, Antigua, and share his stories with us. We have gotten to joke with each other, bring up serious conversations with each other, ask relationship questions, laugh with each other, and just understand the faces that we make across the room. He has become family to us interns and we are so thankful to have a cheerful, happy person pick us up each morning.
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| Guillermo and I at the Coffee Farm. |
The most amazing thing for us to watch happen through Guillermo is how God is working in him. There is nothing like sharing the love of Christ with another person and for us to have that common thing with Guillermo is so exciting. And right now, it may not seem like a big deal. But, it is very big to us and means the world to us just to have someone like him with us everyday. Everyday at our sites, we have lots of kids. And all of the boys immediately gravitate to Guillermo and his contagious energy. Every morning, we start by reading a devotional out loud. We spend the beginning of the car ride reflecting on that and discussing how God is working. One morning at the beginning of the week, he turns around and asks, "Can I listen?" All of us immediately respond with "Of course!" So, we sit and read the devotional together before we leave for the day. There, we see a little something. Then, today, he comes to pick us up for church in the morning..he is not normally our driver on Sundays. So, we were surprised. Then, we asked if he was coming in with us to church, he said yes. And that made us so excited! He came to church with us and that meant the world. Just to know that he was there with us listening to the same message, singing the same songs, learning about our same God. Amazing. And I cannot wait to see how God continues to work in him these next two weeks with us.
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| Guillermo showing off his American Girl Grin Pins! |
Please keep our team in your prayers this week as we work with the North Park Team! Yay! Gonna be a very busy week... but I will try my best to keep you posted! Thank you so much for all of your support and love! Your words of encouragement always mean so much!
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