On Wednesday and Friday we continued our work projects of installing toilets and sinks, electrical outlets, sealing the outside of the new boys housing, building picnic tables, painting the kitchen in the eating room, and cleaning/moving bunk beds into the new boys' home. If nothing else, during this week we put some major sweat into finishing out as much of that boys house (pictured here) 
as we could.
as we could. In the end, I think we counted over 200 electrical outlets and light switches were installed, at least 12 or 13 toilets and sinks were installed, we sealed all of the 6000 sq ft boys home as well as the front of the apartment housing and some of the girls house, built 4 picnic tables, painted the kitchen of the eating room, and cleaned and moved 13 bunk beds from one side of the property to the other to the second story of the boys' housing. In other words, we worked and I was extremely proud of everyone of our students and adults. Each of them did their part to accomplish everything that was asked of us and more. As we were getting ready to leave, we were told that because of the amount of work we had gotten done in our time there, they would most likely be able to move up the move in date by a month! Praise God for giving us the strength and energy to be able to serve and accomplish all of this for His glory.
On Wednesday night, we had a praise and worship service with the children and it was really great. We sang some more songs in Spanish (some we knew, some we learned) and then Maggie 
Blair shared her testimony about some of the struggles she has endured over the past few years and how they affected her ability to find her identity in Christ...it was very powerful and the children seemed to be very engaged in her story. When she finished telling her story we sang some more and one of the interns who had been ministering there all summer shared with the kids. After worship, we went out and played...that's right we had ourselves another night of games. This time around we played a pretty mean game of Knockout before giving in to playing another riveting round of futbol.
Blair shared her testimony about some of the struggles she has endured over the past few years and how they affected her ability to find her identity in Christ...it was very powerful and the children seemed to be very engaged in her story. When she finished telling her story we sang some more and one of the interns who had been ministering there all summer shared with the kids. After worship, we went out and played...that's right we had ourselves another night of games. This time around we played a pretty mean game of Knockout before giving in to playing another riveting round of futbol. Now you may be wondering what happened to Thursday??? We made a little side trip to Antigua (not the island, but the Guatemalan city). We had an incredible breakfast at this nice 5-star resort before heading off to tour a coffee plantation.
We learned how the Guatemalans made such incredible coffee and then had the distinct pleasure of sampling what they had grown. After the coffee tour, we made our way to visit the church where the only Catholic saint from Guatemala was entombed. His name is Hermanos San Pedros and was known for healing broken bones. As you walk through the museum and church, you see many different pictures and artifacts to commemorate his ministry in Guatemala.
One of the most incredible things that we got to see was Saint Peter's ropera interiora (sp?) which means we got to see his draws. That's right, in a display case in the museum his underwear is displayed for all the world to come and gawk at. Can we say awkward?? Anyway we all enjoyed climbing in the ruins of the old cathedral 
next to the present church. It was a great morning and so we headed over to eat lunch at a place that originated in Guatemala but has now spread to many other countries...Pollo Campero (which means Chicken Farm). It's a restaurant that serves, well...chicken. And it was pretty good...most of the kids enjoyed it anyway and they got their first soft drink all week so that created some smiles. After lunch, we headed out to the market to spend some of our precious Quetzales. It seemed like machetes and hand woven purses won the day...of course, the majority of the group came back with some pretty kickin' soccer jerseys...don't worry, you'll know 'em when you see 'em. After our time at the market, we headed back to the home for another helping of black beans and whatever the complimentary addition was that night (not a complaint by the way, but we had black beans almost every night).
We learned how the Guatemalans made such incredible coffee and then had the distinct pleasure of sampling what they had grown. After the coffee tour, we made our way to visit the church where the only Catholic saint from Guatemala was entombed. His name is Hermanos San Pedros and was known for healing broken bones. As you walk through the museum and church, you see many different pictures and artifacts to commemorate his ministry in Guatemala.
One of the most incredible things that we got to see was Saint Peter's ropera interiora (sp?) which means we got to see his draws. That's right, in a display case in the museum his underwear is displayed for all the world to come and gawk at. Can we say awkward?? Anyway we all enjoyed climbing in the ruins of the old cathedral 
next to the present church. It was a great morning and so we headed over to eat lunch at a place that originated in Guatemala but has now spread to many other countries...Pollo Campero (which means Chicken Farm). It's a restaurant that serves, well...chicken. And it was pretty good...most of the kids enjoyed it anyway and they got their first soft drink all week so that created some smiles. After lunch, we headed out to the market to spend some of our precious Quetzales. It seemed like machetes and hand woven purses won the day...of course, the majority of the group came back with some pretty kickin' soccer jerseys...don't worry, you'll know 'em when you see 'em. After our time at the market, we headed back to the home for another helping of black beans and whatever the complimentary addition was that night (not a complaint by the way, but we had black beans almost every night).Back at the home, we had dinner and Amanda Pate shared her testimony with the older girls how God had helped her through a scary time dealing with her mom's back surgery. Basically she just really encouraged the girls by showing them that God hears our prayers and acts on them. After dinner, Kendon and Wendy met with our group and shared with us some stories about how they got to where they are and what God has been doing in and through them as they have been faithful to follow Him.
While part of the group was finishing up the work projects on Friday morning, the majority
went to hang out with the younger children from the home at what can only be described as the biggest indoor playground you can even imagine. It was like 4 stories of McDonald's playlands in one. This was a great experience for our students as they got to play with the children who were being rewarded for their good behavior with a trip outside the walls of the home. Everyone came back exhausted from playing so hard...they also came back happy because on the way home, they got to stop at McDonalds and have themselves a nice little meal.
went to hang out with the younger children from the home at what can only be described as the biggest indoor playground you can even imagine. It was like 4 stories of McDonald's playlands in one. This was a great experience for our students as they got to play with the children who were being rewarded for their good behavior with a trip outside the walls of the home. Everyone came back exhausted from playing so hard...they also came back happy because on the way home, they got to stop at McDonalds and have themselves a nice little meal. Friday night was our last night at NLCH so the Wheelers and their staff and the children treated us to a little party to celebrate our time spent with them. They made a slide show of our team, had one of the kids sing a song for us, had a couple of the older girls perform a dance for us that was really awesome, and then gave each team member a picture from the week in a frame with a card from one of the children. It was a really great time to be there with them and enjoy the fellowship which was capped off with some homemade ice cream that was simply amazing!! After all of the ceremony, we went back outside to the gym and played what else, but soccer!! I'm telling you these kids love this game and I think some of our students really started to get the hang of it too.
Saturday morning was the day of sadness as our time at the home had come to an end. We were sent off with a line of children waiting to hug our necks just before getting into the vans to head to the airport. I can honestly say that this was one of the best mission trips we've taken just because of how smoothly everything went. The work projects were set up perfectly so that we always had something to do. The children were warm and friendly which made the language barrier seem to almost disappear. And our hosts (Kendon and Wendy and Lee and Staci) did such an amazing job of leading us that we felt right at home. I know that mission trips are supposed to be about blessing those that you go to serve, but we were tremendously blessed by having the opportunity to work alongside these amazing people. We ask that you continue to pray with us for NLCH and all that God is doing there.
Thanks for taking this journey with us and we'll talk to you again soon.
HSM Guatemala Team '08
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