Just The Way You Like It

Alright we started our morning with breakfast at 6am with "the Berwin meets Des Plaines meets Joliet Holiday Inn style just the way you like it without the waffle maker" (Kevin). Then we loaded the vans by 7am and were on our way to Buena Vista.

Upon arrival we applied numerous amounts of bug and sun sauce. We helped set up bible lessons, then we went to the local school. When we first arrived at the school, they were still in session. The school allowed us to enter and observe their classrooms. The school had 5 classrooms; the classrooms were very full, one teacher had 51 students in one classroom that should only contain about 20-30 students. Also one of the classrooms were empty because it was a pre-school and now there is no desks or a teacher in that classroom. At the school the playground was in the center of all the classrooms and it had a mini stage and a couple tires in the ground. The children out at recess at the time were running around and playing tag, all the children seemed interested in us because they all kept looking at us, as if they were unsure about us. When we left the school, waiting outside were these two little boys Minor and Juan. They stuck to Andy instantly and followed him the rest of the day.

After leaving the school, we broke up into groups of about 5 and 6 to go on house visits. My house visit (Casey) was to the family where Deaconess Betsy sponsors one of the sons. The son was at work in the rubber tree farm, so we met with his mother, grandmother, sister, and brother. The mother was extremely grateful for us coming and visiting her. It was good to hear that her son is doing very well in his studies and at the top of his class. The siblings were also very excited to meet us and they were interested in what we all were studying in school. There was one part during the house visit that was so awkwardly funny that it is worth sharing. There were guard pigeons everywhere. So during the house visit we were standing in a little half circle. It went myself, Anna, and then Andy. In the middle of our conversation, one of the guard pigeons decided that it was an appropriate time to fly into the house by flying in between Anna and myself. Anna jumped just a little but a few minutes later another pigeon decided to join his friend in the house as well. This time, the pigeon flew between Anna and Andy. Anna jumped way more the first time and she said she felt the bird flying past her head and was on alert the rest of the house visit. Back to the house visit, the mother was very grateful for us being there for her and praying for her and her family. 

On my house visit (Yasmine) we visited a young girl named Suzy. She just finished high school and was trying to get a job at the sugar cane plantation to work in the office. She has to wait until she is 18, which will be this Saturday. This girl is one of the only children to complete high school in her village. She is very successful in her studies. While we were there she showed us how she uses the machine to grind the corn to prepare it for making tortillas. After she had showed us this, she asked us to sit down. We talked about our families, her older sister also finished high school and is married with children. She also has a younger sister, who decided she will no longer attend school; she was in 3rd grade. Suzy now wants to go to the university to study to become a nurse but her mom wants her to stay in Buena Vista and be at home. After we prayed and said our goodbyes, we all encouraged her to go back to school to persue her dream of becoming a nurse. After leaving, I realized that Suzy is an inspiration to me and her village because she worked hard to continue and finish school, whereas most people in the village are unable to finish school. After that we went to the local river, where they wash their clothes and dishes and also take baths. When we got down to the river, Haylie was holding Marvin's (Guatemalan missionary) hand and was stepping along the rocks. She slipped and fell in the river and she was fine but it was intertaining. There was a women down there washing her clothes and it occured to me that she had to carry this huge basket of clothes back up this steep and slippery trail. I was honestly heaving breathing on the way back up; I could not image carrying up laundry and a child. I am also adding that Haylie tripped twice going back up and that was pretty funny too. But she is okay, so it is fine. Then we headed back for the faith lesson.

Faith lesson time. Although yesterday's children were very talkative, these children took some time to warm up to us. To start the faith lesson, Oscar (Guatemalan missonary) introduced us to the group of children. Then we started with the songs, and today they went very well. The children knew all the words and we were all in sync. Following the songs, Jack taught the kids the memory verse, Hebrews 3:13. The verse was the introduction to the skit. The skit consisted of Nick, Andrew, Emily and us two. But what was new about today compared to the past two days, was that Oscar suggested us wearing beards. So Andrew went and found beards somewhere in the house last night. So today everybody except Casey wore a beard. But in my defense (Casey), there were none left and I used my hair to make a beard, so it's all good. The skit went good in the end. After the skit, we introduced the kids to the craft. The kids loved it and it was great to see.

(Casey) The highlight of my day was before the faith lesson started, I was reading booking to children. The children were a little distracted, which was understandable because there was about 125 children gathered in one space. While I was reading a book about a cat and sitting on a stool, this little boy comes up to me and puts his arm on my back and looked over my shoulder at the book. It melted my heart, it was so sweet to see that they were interested in anything that we were doing.

(Yasmine) The highlight of my day was meeting a little girl named Estella she was 8 years old and she was the sweetest thing. Estella asked me to read with her, then she smiled at me the entire time we were singing, she sat by me during the craft, and then held my hand and walked around with me to give the other kids high fives. She was just so cute and her smile warmed my heart. I am truly blessed to be here and have the opportunity to have such and amazing expirence.

We are both very thankful to be here! The experiences and encounters with the people of Guatemala have been truly amazing and an once in a life time experience. There are not enough words to express how great these past four days have been.

-Casey and Yaz