1st off HUGE GIANT SHOUT OUT to
my SUPPORTERS! It is because of you that neglected children with multiple
sclerosis had someone to love on them feed them and sing to them, and that a
little orphan girl had a lap to sit on during church, and that a boy had
someone to playfully fight with during lunch, and that a road got paved in a
few days rather than a few weeks, and so much more! Thank you I love each one
of you!
Oh my dear blog readers. I fear that I have
failed you this past month seeing how this is the 1st blog I’ve
written all month. Ok so allow me to catch you up. Here is a play by play
Left Puerto Barrios end of June took a
lovely air conditioned bus at 3am to Guatemala City where we arrived round 7am!
From the bus stop we all piled into taxies that then took us to the monostary
where the rest of I-squad was awaiting our arrival with a baited breath. With
little sleep being had on the ride it was nap time!
After
nap time it was mall time. Yup that’s right we all headed off to the mall,
which so happened to be one of the nicest malls I have ever been to. I had my 1st
salad since I had left the states and walked around with I-squad friends catching
up on the last month, while enjoying all the air conditioning and no bugs.
The
next morning we packed up our circus and headed to Antigua on a chicken bus. In
case you are wondering, a chicken bus is it’s simply a bus made out of
chickens. Ok that was a lie, it’s a colorfully painted old school bus that
stops at every little stop to pick up people and sometimes those people have
chickens, hence chicken bus. However, I think that it should be called sardine
bus, because they pack us in there like sardines in a can!
Ok
moving right along, we arrived in Antigua, a lovely little tourist town, July 2nd
mid afternoon. It was here that we did our debrief (talking n reflecting on
last month) and met up with G-Squad who started their race last August 2008.
Furthermore, we had a few nights of worship and teachings which were amazing!
We
hiked to the top of a volcano where I got to witness lava being birthed out of
rock. It was incredible! We roasted mallows and some people brought up the
fixins for grilled cheese and had those! It truly was something that will go on
the coolest things I’ve ever done list, even if it was quite rigorous. The last
bit of the hike was extremely steep and you’re walking on loose lava stone. It
was kinda like hiking up a coral reef, if you fall you get tons of little cuts
that kill to clean, sorry Taylor. 
A
few afternoons we went to a hospital for kids and adults with multiple
sclerosis. We got to hang out with the patients that had it so bad they are
bedridden. We helped out the overloaded nurses by feeding and dressing them,
and Kelly Rampmeyer and I serenaded them with every Disney song we could think
of! It may not have sounded like the original soundtrack but pretty darn close!
They were the sweetest people full of life and so happy that someone cared
enough to spend the afternoon with them.
We
also had our first “race” which NEON came in dead last. However I’m not too
competitive and I had fun, so I’m chalking it up to a great race regardless. Ok
wrapping up Antigua: got to kick it with my I-squad friends/family, had some
great food, got a good chance to reflect on June, got some great worship in,
met some new friends, and of course hanging with my new friends at the
hospital.
So
to keep this already somewhat lengthy blog a little less lengthy I’ll bullet
point our travels from Antigua to Omitempe, the island in lake Nicaragua where
I am as I type this blog!
*July 7th wake up catch a van to
Guatemala City *Hop on a bus to San Salvador, El Salvador *lost Josiah and Ryan
along the way, sad sad day, but they are doing great on their own *Arrive in El
Salvador late evening *crash *have to stay an extra day due to bus schedules
*Oh meanwhile I’m sick with some cold fluey stuff so I lay low all day *saw
transformers ii in theatre (I would not recommend it) *Wake up 3am on the 9th
n hop a bus through Honduras to Nicaragua then a 15min taxi ride to a 1 hour
van ride all together a lovely 12 hour travel day! *Arrive stayed at Matts
house, a hostle called Casa De Mateo *next morning jumped in another van to
jump on a boat to jump on an island into another van to El Zopilote an Italian
owned hostle in the forrest (I suppose you could call it that) where I slept in
a hammock for 3 nights surprisingly comfortable! *Finally the orphanage was
ready for us and on the 13th we arrived to our new home for the next almost 3
weeks!
So
far we have finished paving a driveway, mixing the cement by hand/shovel and wheel-barrowing
it up a hill, helped out in the kitchen, and with the kids. It has been
wonderful! My team is with Azaraha this month! All the kiddies are so adorable
and they are treated so wonderfully and the place is nice. Totally opposite of
the last orphanage we helped out at. It’s amazing the difference in these kids
lives and the kids back in Puerto Barrios, just goes to show how life is truly
unfair. The owner of the last orphanage we helped out was in cahoots with the
Guatamalan government and kept any donations made to the orphanage and the kids
were poorly dressed, not well supervised, and showers seemed to be few and far
between.
Hereis practically paradise compared to the last place. The older kids take care of
the younger ones, they have tons of clothing, the little girls like to change
multiple times a day, they have supervision, showers, food, and so much love. It’s
quite refreshing because I didn’t know what to expect. Don’t get me wrong it’s
still heartbreaking that these kids don’t have parents, but they have a
Heavenly Father that loves them very much and is taking good care of them!
Ok
I do believe that’s PLENTY for now! I will write more soon! NO@W, if you’re a
parent go ahead and tell your kids young or old how much you love them and give
um a big hug n kiss if you can, and then call your parents and tell them how
much you love and appreciate them (even if you aren’t a parent)! Whether or not
you have a good relationship with your parents at least you have parents! 
Mom and Dad I love you so very much and
appreciate you more than you will ever know! I thank God for giving me you two!
