Casa Maria: aka: the "grandpa house" old folks home: Many of the patients there have dementia and some are largely unable to speak. So it shouldn't be hard to guess that it was a very heavy, draining, and at times difficult ministry for a lot of people. For me, some days were better than others but it was def tiring most of the time. Not knowing very much Spanish can be both a blessing and a curse here, but it doesn't make things easy. At times, it was a blessing not to be able to understand some of what the patients were saying because it was really sad and hard to hear (when translated after the fact) without even knowing most of it.
Casa Jackson: a center for malnourished babies: This place had my heart not only since day one, but to some extent even earlier than that! Pretty much all this ministry consisted of is loving on some cute babies and helping the staff take care of them for a few hours. We mostly carried and played with the babies, but also fed, changed, and dressed them as needed. (reluctantly) Ryan even changed his first diaper! 🙂 We had to wear masks and scrubs for health reasons, but out of habit, most of us still smiled for pictures anyway. haha
Hospital w/ children who have CP: At times, this was a fairly draining experience emotionally as well. However, I loved being there to help out. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do quite as much as I would've liked due to the fact I fractured my ankle right before we began working there. Even though I wasn't able to run around or push any kids in their wheelchairs, I was still able to play catch, laugh with them, use the super minimal Spanish that I've picked up, and just love on them the way they deserve. It was tiring and on certain days very emotionally draining due to a sense of heaviness & sadness that was there, but I wouldn't change the overall experience there for anything.
Homeless / Dumpster Ministry: We sang worship songs in Spanish and English then Brian gave his testimony. Then the guy in charge of the ministry (with help from a translator) told a true story about a man who, after a few days of being trapped in the desert with his arm stuck in between 2 big boulders for a few days without food/water, made the decision to cut off his own arm in order to save his life. He made the correlation between that story (with an arm that was literally cut off from the man's life) and the variety of struggles people face everyday that cause them to figuratively cut them off their lives. Afterwards, he asked who wanted prayer and who had things they knew needed to be cut out of their life, regardless of how painful the cutting process might be. Then we handed out sandwiches, talked to some of the people there, and left before it was too late.
Last day of school: mono loco skit: Initially, our teams were supposed to work in the school system of Antigua this month, but plans were changed (a couple times) when we got here and found out they were about to begin summer break. My team was able to go there one day and the 6 of us did a couple skits for around 5 classes. They were "values classes" and 1 of the skits we were given to do was about how stealing is wrong. The other skit we did involved Brian as a monkey, Kearston as a tree, and Ryan as a hunter to reflect being trapped in sin. The hunter placed a banana (inside a water jug) in the tree to trap the monkey, and instead of just letting go of the banana when he found out it was a trap, the monkey held on tight to it and wound up being caught by the hunter. We followed both skits up with an explanation, Bible verses, and feedback.
