Before we left, I remember feeling that is was so unreal that we were going to be in Guatemala within 12 hours. I had no clue what to expect, and no clue how God was going to use me and impact me on this trip. I told myself that I was just going to be laid back and go along with whatever happened. I would be an open book for God to use, and I would rely on Him to work through me. Our team arrived in Guatemala with absolutely no trouble getting through customs, baggage checks, etc. Every piece of our luggage arrived safe and sound, and we met our drivers outside the Guatemalan airport to load up the baggage. They stacked our suitcases onto a little trailer hitch and we made the 30 minute drive to Casa (Casa Para Ninos Alelyuia). Now a lot of people think that Casa is an orphanage, but it is technically a children's home. Many of the children there DO have parents, they are just unable to live with them, or they were abandoned and are not able to be put up for adoption because their parents have not signed them over. I really wanted to bond with these children, but I didn't expect all the hard work that it took. There were many people on our trip that had been to Guatemala before, and they said that the children were really easy to communicate with, and, for the most part, knew English. Boy, did I feel differently. I have not taken a Spanish class in 4 years, and currently I am taking French, so my means of communication were very, very small. At the beginning of our trip, our team decided that we really wanted to focus on sharing the gospel with the older students and not just play with that babies all the time. So the first day we went out to the play yard and I just walked around hoping to meet someone. I was just walking and looking around, and I saw a little girl that was about 10 years old just leaning against one of the cars that was parked. I said hello, and I tried to ask her a few questions, but she just looked at me. She would speak in Spanish, and neither of us knew what the other was saying. It got a little better, but basically this was how it went ALL week. At least for me, it was really hard to communicate, but I had to trust that God would work through that. Language isn't a factor to Him! If He wants to speak to someone, He WILL speak to them. Well to make a long story short, I talked to this girl (her name is Marina) almost every day, and we became good friends. Sometimes we would just sit, and sometimes we would talk. She is a great girl, and she has such a sweet spirit and countenance about her.
Each morning we would wake up around 6 or 7 and shower, make breakfast and do our team devotions. This was really a great part of our day. We would get to bond as a team, read the Word and talk about what God was speaking to us while we were there. One day we talked about God's faithfulness in everything, one day we talked about being bold for Christ and not hiding behind the cameras, etc. One day we talked about letting God take control and just work through us while we were there. At first, many of us were frustrated because what could we do in a single week? People came and left all the time, and the kids were used to that. They were used to being let down, and it kind of felt like we were just going to be another group putting them through that again. But we had to trust that God would use us and even if we might not see the results, we would be obedient to Him and love on these kids and people that worked at Casa. After our morning devotions, we would clean up and work while the children were at school. The first day I went with a group and we picked up trash on one of the playgrounds. That was good until all the little boys came up and wanted us to play. We cleaned for a little while longer and then gave into them and just hung out. They were so cute and wanted us to do all these strange things. They gathered all the "Gringos" (that is their term for Americans) into a small group and made us sing the national anthem. It was really funny, and I guess they liked it! We got to know them, and it was a really good time just to hang out with them. I really bonded with a little boy there named Gabriel. I think he was 7 years old, but he was so sweet. He was very quiet, and he didn't know English but that was okay because he didn't even talk to me in Spanish. Before we left for Guatemala, I collected a bunch of t-shirts and jerseys to pass out to the kids, and I had a soccer jersey from my little brother so I gave one to Gabriel. He absolutely loved it. He wore it every single day, and it was so cute to see him happy. One day I brought out a whole stack of t-shirts to pass out to the boys and the minute that I walked through the gate, I was completely attacked and had no shirts left. Boys just grabbed them out of my hand and ran off. I went to tell their dorm mom that I had given them t-shirts and she asked me who I had given them to. I had NO idea what their names were, but she told me that only certain boys were allowed to have shirts. I guess these t-shirts were a privilege for them to have, and if they didn't have a good conduct grade then they weren't allowed to have one. Many of the boys had to give their shirts back to me, and finally all was settled. The boys loved them, and I felt horrible that I was not able to give one to all, but I did not make the rules!
Okay, well I have to go write a lesson plan right now, but I will finish later! Keep checking back for updates!
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