SO, after all the hours I spent thinking and changing my mind on what I was going to write about, I decided to do something completely different. I decided to use photos to let you see what I walked through and experienced this month. This is not everything I experienced because I took over 600 photos this month. But, I hope this gives you at least a glimpse.
Please feel free to ask me any questions you have in response to the photos or about my first month in general, I would LOVE to share more with you!
Our journey started in Chimaltenango where we lived and worked at an orphanage/school for children with disabilities.
The kids easily made our time at the orphanage. This is Candi, she loves to roll up the sleeve of your arm, place a toy in your hand, hold your arm up as high as she can and say “OOOOOOOO.” It made us laugh so hard that we soon started doing it to each other as well.
This is a picture of Josue in the middle of making different animal noises. Josue arguably stole each persons heart on my team this month. Josue absolutely loves the Lord. He is a prayer warrior and a lover of the word. He loves dance parties and singing about David and Goliath and the arc of Noah. But, my favorite thing about Josue is that he calls others higher. One thing I noticed was that he didn’t let any of the kids cut corners, he always wanted them to try to do things with excellence and integrity. I hope I never forget this sweet, sweet boy and his love for the Lord.
This is Carlos, Another one that got close to my heart. I felt that I needed to include a few different pictures to show you the different sides of carlos. Carlos loved food and would often eat so excitedly that he would get it all over himself. IT was THE BEST.
Carlos loves planes and any kind of car. He would stand still mesmerized and even sometimes fall over when he came in contact with a car of any kind. Carlos and I bonded over early mornings of helping him get ready for the day, walks all over the orphanage (he needed someone to help him walk most places for extra stability) swinging together, tantrums, and sweet smiles during devotionals.
I wouldn’t trade any of it, not one little piece.
The orphanage has a total of 24 kids. Awesome right? Here are a few more pictures of the lovely kiddos.
We did Devotionals with the kids twice a day.
We took them on a walks.
Had a picnic in the park with them one Saturday and so much more!
We also went on adventures during our days off:
We visited local ruins.
Explored the city of Chimal
Went glamping at lake Atilan
We climbed Volcan Pacaya
We Climbed Volcan Acatenango
We went through 4 different ecological zones. Isn’t that awesome?
#1 Farm lands
#2 Cloud Forest
#3 alpine Zone
#4 volcanic zone (base camp)
The summit: 13,045ft
I was just a little excited when I reached the summit, and it was a little windy. “Little” is an understatement in both cases.
My heart and soul are just so happy after a day spent adventuring out in the great outdoors.
Thanks for reading this blog and look out for a blog soon on the start of our next month in Nicaragua!
