10/14/11 It rains EVERY day in Guatemala. It’s hard not to let that affect your mood sometimes, but in spite of the dreary weather, there is a constant joy in my heart since I’ve arrived. — We spent our last day of launch training on “Adventure Day,” which involved a 2500 meter hike up a Volcano! All 52 B squad Racers hopped on a bus and rode up the steep, windy roads to Pacaya, an ACTIVE Volcano in Guatemala (Don’t worry, my teammate Channele gave me some Dramamine, so no throwing up was involved). We spent the morning huffing and puffing our way up the steep inclines of lava rock and sand in the pouring rain. Thankfully the rain held off for a bit when we reached the top, so we had time to take in the breath-taking view of the valley below and the mountains in the distance. Guatemala is absolutely beautiful. The icing on the cake was that we got to roast marshmallows over a steaming hot cavern. Yes, you read correctly: we roasted marshmallows on a volcano. We then ventured into the cavern through a tunnel and stood inside a small “room” that was probably about 125 degrees… maybe more? It was like a sauna, but hotter. Don’t worry, no lava was to be seen except the dried pools of lava at the bottom of the volcano. I took lots of pictures, so check them out here: https://picasaweb.google.com/117064514875629275911/OctoberGuatemala — The next morning my Team ZOI and Team Spicy Mustard were picked up by our ministry contact, Maureen, who founded the orphanage, Los Gozosos. We have since spent the last 2 days waking up at 4:45 a.m., playing with the 10 children, feeding them, dressing them, fixing the girls’ hair, preparing meals and doing dishes. We are also working on special projects around the orphanage and school such as clearing out and organizing classrooms and sheds, and I have all of the sudden become quite the seamstress! They asked a couple of the girls if they could sew, and I quickly volunteered, thinking, “I used to sew the hems of my school uniforms–I can do anything!). Little did I know that rigging a sewing machine is much more involved that pulling a needing over and under by hand. Luckily, on of the Spicy Mustard girls, Taralah, (http://taralahneff.theworldrace.org) is a sewing expert and has taught me well. Yesterday, we worked on sewing three shoe racks for the children’s shoes, and hopefully we’ll finish them today. It is a blast! In the future, I may get to partake in painting a mural on some of the walls of the orphanage, so that gets my crafty side pretty excited. — One really exciting thing is that apparently Maureen has been praying for a speech pathologist to come to Los Gozosos for a long time now. I mean, does God know what He’s doing or what? So I’m excited to see how I can use my skills to help these sweet children communicate! —- I have already made a few friends. Daniel is a precious boy, he is 16 years old and SO smart! He loves to sing and dance with me, and and when we sit down for prayer and singing hymns each day, he literally knows every hymn in the entire hymnal by heart, in order. I could not stop giggling last night because before the hymn we were currently singing was even over, he would begin the sing the next. His joy is so contagious. And we are going to teach him to ride a bike! … If it ever stops raining! He makes sleeping 8 abroad on a concrete floor in a tiny classroom and showers every 2 days totally worth it :)Â
