¿Donde? En Mi Corazón

¡Hoy fue un dia muy coloroso (today was a very hot day)! But it was also un día muy sentimental (a very sentimental day). A large number of our team met the children we are sponsoring or have been sponsoring since last year or earlier. For me (Emily) personally, the experience was something I will always remember. I was able to visit the home of Karen, the girl I am sponsoring, and talk with her and her mother about their current living situation as well as our shared interests and events from my own life. I discovered that she is very artistic, thoughtful, detail-oriented, and is doing extremely well in school. It is truly a blessing from the Lord to be able to have this connection with someone who lives thousands of miles away from me and to support her education and faith.

I (Yasmine) also had the opportunity to meet my sponser child. His name is David and he is 13 years old. He is the sweetest boy I have ever met- when he found out I was coming he got all dressed up and even took a shower before-hand! He opened up to me right away, asking me several questions. David and I suprising have a lot in common. I really enjoyed listening to him talk about his family, friends, interests, and favorite school subjects. Later on I got to meet his mother who expressed a lot of grattitude and joy. I also got to meet my mother´s sponsor child. His name is Yefri and he just turned 17. He is extremely intellegent and determined to study computer programming and finish school. He asked me a lot of questions about my mom, which I thought was very sweet. I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet such amazing young men and to be able to help them grow in their faith as well as succeed in their studies.

We know that others on the team had similar interactions, as we heard stories about impactful moments throughout the day.

For the faith lessons we went to Gonzales Park. The physical space of the park was different than that of other areas we had visited simply because the ground was cement and there were benches and lots of tents. It was almost like large courtyards that made it easy to organize the kids into groups and have plenty of space to play soccer, read, run around, and jump rope. Many of the kids were super interactive and wanted to learn English words, such as colors, animals, and basic phrases. They even said "Thank you!" on the way out. Overall, they were full of energy and showed enthusiasm for learning. We were definitely worn out (and sunburnt) by the end of the lesson, but in a good kind of way. :)

When we got back to ministry headquarters, we had a delicious meal (shoutout to Ginny) of pasta and salad. Per usual, we shared our highs and lows of the day and are ready to take on our last full day tomorrow in beautiful Guatemala.

¡Hasta luego!

Yaz y Emily

So now I am giving you a new commandment: love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
John 13:34-35

Así que ahora les doy un nuevo mandamiento: amense unos a otros. Tal como yo los he amado, ustedes deben amarse unos a otros. El amor que tengan unos por otros sera la prueba ante el mundo de que son mis discípulos.
Juan 13:34-35