Guatemala: Concrete and Kids!

6-25-2012

Today I woke up at 6 with everyone else in my cabin.  This gave me the opportunity to have some quiet time in the main room for a while before breakfast.  I was pretty tired, because I had stayed up so late, so I had a few cups of coffee with my breakfast.  After breakfast Jason led us in a Bible study on unity.  Each person on my team shared what strengths and talents they believed they brought to the team.  After this we all got ready to work on some stairs on base for the missionaries.  I got to share my brothers' adoption story with Doug's wife then went to help carry buckets of concrete to the guys working on the stairs.  I had so much energy, it was crazy!!  Must have the been the coffee . . . or God! =)  We worked on the stairs all morning and a little into the afternoon.

When we were finished with all we could do on the stairs for the day we changed for children's ministry.  We had some time to rest up a little.  I got to go on the roof of the bunk house.  From the roof you can see into everyone's yards.  The houses were very small shanty type houses.  Nicer than some of the houses I had seen in the dumb in Nicaragua, but still very small with dirt floors and animals crammed into their tiny yards.  We also took a walk to the tienda.  The second I stepped inside the tiny shop a little girl named Chelsea attached herself to me.  She was precious!  We chatted a little and she walked with us as we headed back to the base from the tienda.  

Me, Jessica, in my lap, and one of her friends

Painting faces

After we had some time to relax and catch our breath from the construction work we got our supplies together for children's ministry.  I was pretty tired and almost fell asleep, but I regained energy when I saw the huge line of kids from the neighborhood lined up outside waiting for us to bring them candy!  We walked with all the kids to the soccer field where the older boys played soccer, the younger kids played baseball, and the little ones did face paint and nails.  I helped with the face paint the whole time.  I was surprised again that I was able to hold some longer conversations with some of them.  I painted butterflies, flowers, hearts, poka-dots, and even a car on a little boy named Thomas!  I accidentally painted a bug, so, after I pointed it out,  a little boy dumped a big handful of them all over me!  We wrapped up the face paint, nails, and games, and we walked back to the street in front of our base to have the B team perform "La Casa Se Quemma."  Then Pastor Chris played a game where he gives a prize to the first kid to bring him something like a shoe, a necklace, or a jacket.  The last thing he asked the kids to bring was a gringo, so me and a few others from my team were immediately grabbed, dragged into a mob of kids, and shoved at Pastor Chris.  It was during this "program" part of the evening that I met Jessica.  After the "program" we brought the kids into the base and helped serve them dinner.  This is something the missionaries do every week, and it's probably the best meal a lot of them get all week, and maybe the only thing they get to eat all day.  When all the kids had finished eating, I went back out to the street and just played with the kids there in front of the base for hours.  Jessica was attached to me the entire time.  I would be holding her and then she'd call me a grandma, so I would pretend that I was too weak to hold her and collapse on the ground, so she would start to yell "You're not a grandma!  You're young, you're young!!!!"  To get me to stand back up and hold her.  She thought it was hilarious.  Eventually it ended up in kids attacking me and creating a dog pile.  Then I hung out with Jessica and a group of her little girl friends and they taught me a few hand clapping games.  Their names were Lizzy and Daniel, and Chelsea from the tienda also came and played with us.  They all held onto my hands and arms and told me I was their favorite and they loved me.  A few people from my team and I stayed on the street playing with the kids through dinner until a while after dark when Pastor Chris made us come in.  It was awesome!

Me and Jessica

Jose, Mauri, Me, Chelsea, and Matt

God gave me a few jobs today that I didn't really care for.  They were definitely not my forte.  1. I have no clue how to build things or mix concrete.  I felt very helpless and was worried about getting in the way or messing up while helping with the stairs. 2. I am not an artist.  I don't know why the kids kept coming back for my blobby butterflies and hearts, and I knew the other people doing face paint were better at it than me.  But, missions trips are not about me.  I need to give my all in every task I'm given and have a good attitude about it, which God helped me with!  It ended up being one of the best nights of the whole trip!