Maredith with an "A"

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Early Mornings, Hugs, and Full Hearts

This past week, I once again had the privilege of translating for a team that was here, only this time they were all youth and they worked at Operation Rescue! J There were about 45 youth on the team, so multiple translators were needed… it was fun!!

Our mornings started out early, like, I had to leave the house at 5:30 kind of early… We (Mike and I) would drive down to where the team was staying in the city and then Mike would drive the bus (and the team) to OR. The goal was to leave around 6:30 so that everyone could help with the different breakfast prep that needed to be done and get ready for the day.

The bus rolled into OR at 7:00 each morning and each kid was greeted with a line of anxious highschoolers, ready to love on them and be with them for the day! The team had a skit prepared for each morning, which gave some nice variety to the “normal” devotional (which is still amazing!!), and then breakfast was served! I’m not sure the kids ever got breakfast so quickly with so many hands to make the plates and take them out. Not to mention the normal workers didn’t have to worry about cleanup. Trust me, they weren’t complaining. J

Beans and Eggs... yum!!

After breakfast all the kids went to their classes and several youth went into each classroom to help out. Sometimes they gave English lessons, other times they helped pass out materials. Pretty much whatever was most helpful to the teachers was done! Also, some of the group re-organized the one supply warehouse, which proved to be quite the job! There were also painting, cleaning, and other odds and ends things to be done. Oh, and there were kids to play with at recess too and never a lack of volunteers to do so!

The morning classes got out around 12:15 and most of the group went back to the lodging for lunch. Each day though, part of the group would climb on the bus with 90 of the kids and experience the delivery process of taking them home and seeing the areas that they lived in, as well as other parts of Guatemala. At 2:00 each day, we were back on the bus and ready to return to OR for afternoon classes!

90 Kids plus 15 gringos= full bus!!

Afternoon classes were for the older kids in the school, so there wasn’t as much work to be done in the rooms, but it was a good time to get other jobs done. More painting, organizing, cleaning, meal preparation, etc. The team did really seem to connect with the older group of kids though, which meant a lot to the kids of OR!!

Organizing the warehouse

Yay for clean rugs!!

Chillin' with the older kids

The final two days the kids at the school provided a special snack for the team, a “Chapin” snack! All of the younger kids brought something special for the class; chuchitos, tostados, rellenos, horchata, etc. It was fun for the team to be able to experience some of what the kids consider a “normal” meal, or even a special treat!!

Snack time... Guatemalan style! :)

Yummm

Final activity with the older kids

Wow… this is getting long, but hey, a lot happened!! So bear with me a little longer… J

One day we took all of the kids to a nearby soccer field complex and had an outside/soccer day with them. It was impossible to keep the soccer balls away from those kid’s feet!!!!! The morning was a bit of chaos, mostly because we had such a huge range of ages, but I think everyone had a great time!!

Crafts for the younger kids during soccer day

Of course, a real game had to be played!!

Two of the nights a small group of the teens and leaders went out with Guiseppe on his street ministry. It was really amazing to see some of the places that he goes and to meet those that he interacts with outside of the school itself. We went into some really rough areas, but I think that may be a story for another time…

Friday afternoon we all went to another orphanage/hospital near San Lucas. Many of the children at this home either have HIV/AIDs or one of their parents is positive. These diagnoses make absolutely no difference in how everyone interacts with the children, but it is a different group of kids than what many teams are used to interacting with. Guiseppe goes to this home once a month with a group of about 25 of his older students, so they all have a good relationship with the kids and workers there. It was fun to tag along and watch them interact, and to play with the kids ourselves some too!!

Group ready to enter the home

Baby time!

So sweet

Saturday morning we packed everyone into the bus and we were at the airport by 4:30, a little dazed and sleepy, but there! It really was an awesome week and I loved watching the team interact with the kids at OR and then getting to know some of the teens as well. It was an awesome week and I’m so glad I got to help out, even if it did mean some stinkin' early mornings… J

Here are a few more pictures from the week...

The "goodbye line"

Morning greeting from Guiseppe!

Getting sandwiches ready for street ministry

The organized warehouse

Devotions time

Painting!!

A few bananas?

Our fearless leader

= )

Friday, March 9, 2012

Concrete Toilets, Miracles, and Dentistry

This past week I had the opportunity to go down to Puerto San Jose to help translate for a dental team. I got a call from a friend of ours a few weeks ago and he asked if I’d be interested in translating and I said sure, why not? J Anyways, there were just 6 of us that went out there; three of the people flew in from the states and three of us from Guate. The man that flew down (Jim) is a dentist, his wife (Mary) helped him out, and Wendy was along for the ride, but washed all the dental equipment and was in charge of prayer. Then there was Mike (our friend), who did extractions and worked with all the coordinating and electrical stuff, and another translator, Vanessa. Oh, and I was there too… ;) It was really a fun group!!

The group (minus Mike)

The team flew in on Sunday, so we picked them up from the airport, loaded up the truck and began the trek down to Puerto San Jose, the coast. We unpacked that evening and set some stuff up, and then got our butts back to the hotel and crashed!! J

Monday morning we finished setting up and opened the door to the clinic which brought a steady flow of people through the door. The dental clinic was actually set up in one of the churches in the village. The church was concrete, but there were no coverings for the windows, the ground was dirt (except for a few square feet of concrete that we worked on), and we were often accompanied by lizards and ants. We did have electric, but the generator also saved us quite a few times!!

Where dirt turned to cement...

Mango tree right behind the church

View from the front door

The church/clinic

A few plugs? ;)

Lots of people!!

Behind the clinic

Anyways, we got the clinic running as quickly as we could, Jim doing fillings and Mike doing extractions. Once each patient was finished being seen, Wendy prayed over them and they were on their way! By the end of the first day we had a waiting list of over 40 people, with more people asking to be on the list. I was put in charge of the registration of all the people, which sometimes proved harder than it sounds like it should be! Often it meant explaining why I couldn’t just put them right through to the dentist or why we wouldn’t be able to see them today, but by the grace of God, I think the point always got across!! J I did also get to interact with the kids quite a bit; coloring, taking pictures, doing puppet shows, teaching them how to brush their teeth, etc. Oh, and I helped with extractions at times too…

Let the fillings begin!

Extraction station...

Prayer post-work

LOTS of fillings!

Kids coloring center :)

My "headquarters"

Even more extractions!

So we ran the clinic all day on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and half a day on Thursday. Tuesday and Wednesday evening we also did film ministry in two separate churches in the village, which was interesting! The first night we were right next to a mango tree, so there were mangos that kept falling during the movie, but nobody got hit! J The film ministry mostly consisted of setting up a “Jesus” film and then the pastor giving a word at the end. It was interesting to see how many people showed up and the different reactions, but I think that overall they went well!

Miracles were another part of the trip that I had not really anticipated, but was amazed at and loved none the less!!! For one man he came into the clinic using a crutch from breaking his femur a while ago. The team asked if they could pray over him, and by the end he was walking out of the clinic, no pain and no crutch needed!!! Upon talking to him a little later, he was actually scheduled for surgery to re-correct the bone and try to re-heal what had been broken. Wow! Another time a lady came in with dry-socket and a lot of pain from it. Following prayer, her gums were COMPLETELY healed and she had NO pain!! I think it really reminded me that God really is still in the miracle “business,” we just need to have the faith and courage to ask!

When he came in...

When he left!!

The area that we did the clinic in was fairly poor, but not completely desolate. They had concrete toilets outside, which took a little getting used to. It was nice not to have to worry about the toilet seat or flushing though! ;) I’ll just show you some other things…

The Bathroom...

And the toilet!

Homemade broom

Motorcycles, cars and pigs share the road!

Well worn feet.

Weights

Thursday afternoon we packed up the clinic (after an AMAZING lunch!) and hit the road for home. We figured that we saw about 50 people during those 3.5 days but I am praying that we were able to make much more of a spiritual impression than a dental impression!! I must admit, it was good to get home and back into my own bed, but this really was an awesome trip and I am SO glad I had the opportunity to go!!!