Guatemala: Last Day of Ministry and Saying Goodbye

6-29-2012

Puppet Master at the School

This morning I got to hang out with Juanito!  I talked with him about longer term trips before having breakfast.  After breakfast we had a devotion and talked and prayed about our attitudes when we go home.  Then we packed up the van and left for our last school assembly.  This was a bilingual high school, so many of them knew at least a little english.  One boy called out to me and said, "Hello, you are my friend.  I love you!"  I'm guessing his friends dared him to use the little english he knew. haha  We had to wait around for a while before starting our program.  My team performed La Casa Se Quema followed by the teachers at the school doing their own version of the skit.  Apparently it was hilarious, because the kids loved it, but I couldn't understand.  After that we did Jalon.  Only a few kids and one or two teachers were willing to participate.  After the skits I shared a life story!  It made me so nervous, but I think it went well.  I hope it made an impact!  Juanito translated for me, but he introduced me as "Mir-I-nda," which is a kind of soda that they have there.  Juanito thought that was pretty funny. After my testimony my team did Puppet Master and Pastor Chris spoke.

English class at the school

Basketball at the school

Following Pastor Chris's message most of the guys went to play basketball against the school's team while another group of us sat with some English students and tried to make small talk.  Mauri and I talked with a group of four young men.  Most of them were in their last year of school, and the majority wanted to be engineers.  We talked about family, hobbies, places we'd like to visit or places we have been, and a little bit about church.  There were many times we couldn't understand each other, but one of the boys was pretty good at English and ended up translating for the rest of them when they didn't understand.  He also told me I had pretty eyes.  When the guys were done with basketball we were served lunch by the tourism class.  The kids in this class were learning out to serve tourists and prepare food for them.  They did a great job; the food was great!

Missionary Juanito, and his girlfriend, our cook.
Please keep them in your prayers!  Such wonderful people! 

We went back to the base just for a little bit and then went to Antigua to an orphanage for kids with cerebral palsy.  The kids we saw were between the ages of 8 and 15, but you really couldn't tell.  They are going to be in that facility for the rest of their lives.  They were all in medal cribs that looked to me like cages.  The women who were working there are angels, but they are really under-staffed and so unable to give the amount of attention these kids need.  It's so sad.  Most of them just laid there.  Not many were responsive.  There was one little boy who was actually sitting up and I talked to him for a while.  He understood me when I would say body parts in spanish and would point to his nose, eyes, lips, knees, etc.  He would also copy me if I clapped and several times stuck his hands through the bars and would just hold my hands for a little bit.  We then helped the staff feed the kids.  I fed Diego.  They told us to make sure the kids eat all of the food, because they don't know that they need it.  Diego couldn't even hold himself up, but propped up on a pillow and with lots of coaxing for him to open his mouth and a little bit of a mess I got him to eat most of the food.  One of the boys, who wasn't in as bad a condition as most of them were, was in a wheel chair.  He was a feisty little guy and would yell at you if you didn't do what he wanted.  He was getting upset trying to do something with a toy drum and a string, so I helped him and then went to walk away, but he yelled "Muchacha!!" We walked around and tried to talk with some other kids for a little bit when we were done feeding them and then we went back to base and had dinner and played on the street with the neighborhood kids.  I had to tell the kids we were leaving in the morning.  Chelsea gave me a big hug and started crying.  It was one of the hardest goodbyes.  We had to come off the street and back inside by 9pm, so I just spent time with my team before going to bed.