Thursday, May 21, 2015

Wait... So is there Snow at the Top of a Volcano?

Yep, you read that right. That was a question someone asked at dinner tonight. That just might show you how tired we are and how much fun we are having this week. In my opinion, the trip has been life changing and fantastic, and today was no different.

We started today off with breakfast 'just the way you like it' and with a devotion by Aracely. She brought up some Bible verses such as Isaiah 41:10 that talked about not having fear. Her message was that we should not have any fear because God has our backs. It was very comforting to hear.

After the devotion, we went to Gonzalez Park. It took us about an hour to get there with traffic. I was surprised to see that the place we were going to have our faith lessons was somewhat small for the amount of people we had to fit in it. We also had toilets that flushed, which was fun! After we arrived, we went on house visits. I went with Melissa V. to visit her sponsor child's home. The house was very interesting. The walls were made up of cement, and it had two rooms. The ceiling was made of tin roofs. The first thing I noticed when I walked into the house was that there were many pictures of Jesus and there were many prayers on the walls. It really cool to see. We talked with the mother for about an hour, and we prayed for her. It was so amazing to see her faith because she fully trusts in God, and one can tell that she has a huge heart for people.

After lunch, we started the faith lessons. I worked with the youth during the week. When they started arriving, I started to talk to one girl who was in school. She was learning English, and it was pretty cool to help her pronounce some words like 'secretary' or 'officer.' I also enjoyed it because she would ask me about the colors in Spanish, and I would give her the English word. It was a pretty cool experience because I was able to talk to her in Spanish, and we were both able to help each other pronounce words.

During the faith lesson, we played a fun ice breaker, and then we read the Bible story about Barnabas encouraging the Christians (Acts 11:19-26). We had discussion questions for the youth, and we related the game we played to encouraging others. We finished each lesson with an activity. The youth would get a piece of paper, and they would draw their prayers requests instead of writing them out. For instance, many teens drew pictures of their family, school, a house, etc. They really seemed to enjoy the activity. After they finished drawing, they talked to a partner about their requests, and each person prayed for their partner. It was really sweet!

When we left Gonzalez Park, we went to another 'Punto de Misterioso,' and it was really cool to see! I don't want to spoil it for future travelers, but all I can say is that it was beautiful to see. After that, we went back to the house and enjoyed some dinner cooked by Ginny.

Also random fact, I learned how to plunge a toilet this evening. Woo hoo!

I wanted to finish the night with three random facts I have observed in Guatemala that I think an American would find interesting:

1. When I first arrived, I immediately noticed that gas prices were 24.89! The thing is that Guatemala currency is in Quetzals, and it takes about 7.5 Q's to make 1 US Dollar. So gas is really around 3 dollars per gallon.

2. Even though the election for president is not until next year, almost every single sign on the highway is some political campaign. Guatemala does not have two main political parties like we do, but they have multiple ones. I've seen at least six or seven canidates running for the next election.

3. Even though some of the people here do not have the same luxuries that we do in America (ex. running water and electricity in their homes), they have such a faith that I cannot describe. The people here experience God in a more emotional way, and they run to him because they are not distracted by things like technology, school, or the latest gossip. Instead, they are filled with God's true love and anyone can see how much they trust in God. It's so inspiring!

God's Blessing to all who read this!

Melissa Dailey

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