How Ten Days Can Change Your Life Pt. 2

This has taken me way too long to write. Much longer than expected. I'm sorry!

Sooo.. While we were in Guatemala, we went to a village called San Andres. We stayed at Hogar De Vida (Home of Life). Which houses about 30 kids from ages 1-18. A few of these kids are actual orphans, while most of them their families just couldn't take care of them, pretty much. 

While we were there, we did three days of VBS with the kids in the home. In addition, each kid got to invite a friend from school (who didn't live in the home). So we had a lot of kids for VBS, which was awesome! 

These kids are really fortunate to be in this home. They have awesome staff who are parents to them, and that was something that I really realized while I was there. They have a safe environment to learn about Jesus and have proper role models.

The School we painted (after the painting)

We also went into two different Aldeas (villages). The first one we went to, we painted a school. Let me begin by saying, painting is not my favorite thing to do. But, this was an awesome experience because we painted alongside parents and children of the village. That was so cool. Even though we didn't know their language, we still got to serve alongside them. It was an awesome experience. A lot of the girls would just really love to sit and watch us paint. They are really quiet, and it was cool to be able to interact with them, despite not being able to speak. One of the neatest experiences of my trip was painting with a man at this Aldea. We were painting the back of the school, and he was up on a ladder, and I would hold his paint bucket and dip his brush or roller in paint and hand it back up to him. Serving together with these people was an awesome feeling because it was two cultures coming together to help a great cause (this school). It was awesome.

Girls at the first aldea

The next day, we went into another Aldea where the original plan was to wash hair. I was so excited about that opportunity because it's something that I do everyday, and it's intense to think of a place where that doesn't happen (pretty much) everyday. But, this aldea didn't have running water. Which is even more intense. So, we had to change our plans. We decided that the women would do hair, and the guys would play soccer and other games with the boys. So that's what we did. After that, two of our team members gave their testimonies to the kids and to anyone else who were listening... We also brought a parachute (which we used at Hogar De Vida, too). It was so fun to watch these kids play with it. I learned here that play is international. You can play and laugh and have fun with someone who doesn't know your language. It's awesome.

Girls in the second Aldea

Boys from the second Aldea