So here�s an update from the time we�ve been in Guatemala� I had a blog written last week, but it didn�t get saved. I got blog discouraged and didn�t rewrite it till now. Some of this may be random thoughts to which you may want to ask for more info, so feel free to ask (except Momma). Our schedule is the same each week, so here�s what we do every week and some details about what has happened on some days.
On our last off day, we had a crazy bus ride on which we were riding at 78 mph, 60 mph in the sharpest curves, and we were sliding back and forth in our seats as bags fell from the racks and people fell in the aisles. Forgive me for telling you that, Momma. We were going to Panajachel and Lake Atitlan (beautiful). The bus ride back involved the most painful urge to use the potty ever! Hence the blog title.
On Mondays we visit Teen Challenge where men have voluntarily decided to enter rehab from drug or alcohol abuse. We play soccer with them on Monday and Thursday afternoons. Spending time with them has possibly been my favorite ministry the whole year. I left the States expecting to enjoy the best time with babies and kids, but I�ve most enjoyed this ministry with older men.
Tuesdays through Thursdays we spend time with children, teens, and adults on the streets of Guatemala City. Like typical kids, they are usually running like chickens with their heads cut off around the streets of the capital city. Here though, you rarely see a parent and you don�t have much of an idea where the kids live. One day, I watched a kid that had been playing with run out in the street and got hit by a car. It was pretty traumatic, but we found out after he visited the hospital that he was okay. Whew! Turns out he has 9 siblings and his mom is a prostitute.
Sometimes it bugs me that the people on the streets are always huffing what my granddad would call mineral spirits (a.k.a. paint thinner, solvent, etc.). The first day we did ministry, I got headaches from breathing in the stuff while we were building relationships with the people. Does that mean I got high while doing ministry? Please tell me it does! Forgive me Jesus� and Momma.
On Friday afternoons we go to this wealthier neighborhood to this house where these abused/at-risk women come to make different things with their hands. The guys get to play with the kids of the women and the ladies on our team work with the women. They are cool kids. They even told the Bible story of David and Goliath for us. Some of the kids and I acted it out. We also went over the core values like we do in Highlands Kids.
Some days we visit an area we�ve learned to call the bus terminal. Here we help some folks teach the street kids and give them what will possibly be their only education. We play with the kids, read books in English and Spanish to them, and color with them. Most of the kids there call me a name they completely came up with on their own�Profe Gusano�which translates to Professor Worm. At this particular place a half-drunk guy talked to me in Spanish for about an hour and I understood about 14% of it, but by the end of our time together, he was crying simply because I had listened to him. Edwin called me his brother, and he gave me the jacket off his back. I thought I was the one who had something to give away to these people�
