Sorry for the brief hiatus from posting about Guatemala - we just returned from a quick trip to the West Coast (I will post/blog about it later).

So here we are, picking back up with Wednesday - Day 5....

Sweet children. Kind. Polite.
Those were my first thoughts today after visiting a school and playing with the kids. I sat down with my group of kids as did the others on our team, only to realize very quickly that I needed help and fast. Remember: I really don't speak Spanish. At all. I'm not even one of those that attempts to do it at the Mexican Restaurant only because I am pretty sure my Southern accent butchers a beautiful language.
I took this shot while standing on the open play area for the school - this shows you the perimeter of the school - surrounded by homes and a really busy street.

Thankfully Mitchell - one of our 2 resident translators - was wandering around for a group, I nabbed him and we worked together with a group of about 5 kids. These guys were sooo incredibly proud of their work. We were making name plates and I had laid out an example to help teach them what we were doing. What's so funny is that they wanted to make it precisely like the example even though Mitchel kept saying "make it uniquely yours." Again, another characteristic that transcends all cultures.

Each RHCC team member split up with a group of students - we spread out all over the playground area and got to work...

Can you tell how proud they are of their name plates?

Love this one: this little guy did this all by himself -

After team time tonight and hearing everyone's thoughts on the day, it is becoming much more apparant that we all know this ia a special place forever engrained in our hearts and a marker in our walk as Christians. From each smiling face proudly showing us their foam sticker name plates or the teachers so excitedly helping us as we struggled with our Spanish, the pure joy of those kids' faces as they played with us was priceless.

These guys LOVED Eric. I'm sure it had a lot to do with him being a male and getting his attention. He's trying to get a shot of his group and their name plates, but they won't back up far enough so he keeps having to back up away from them, then they follow. It was quite the scene:

Incredible experience. Bottom line.
These kids were definitely a little better off as far as physical living conditions, but only in comparison to here in Guatemala. They definitely were cleaner and overall happier than the Paradise Kids. I'm sure a lot had to do with us being at a school vs a neighborhood on the weekend.


The 1 hour drive to Palina (Pa-leyna) not like Sarah Palin was another crazy TINA trip. The include driving anywhere here is really crazy and hard to describe until you experience it.
After playing with the kids, we headed to Pacaya the volcano (I blogged about it right before I actually left for my trip. We started at an elevation of 1200 meters and hiked up to about 2500 meters - the actual crater of the volcano is at 2800 meters. It erupted in May of 2010 so we saw of lot of the remnants from vegetation not yet growing back, etc.

This is from the perimeter of the school - one of the houses that was hit by lava from the eruption:

We had a sweet Guatemala lady, Violet, as our tour guide. She literally wore KEDS shoes, a cotton skirt to her knees (and a slip nonetheless), a guide vest and her hair pulled back. Her front teeth had two holes where her teeth were rotting.



The hike itself was a once in a lifetime experience and I say that because I had to keep reminding myself as I huffed and puffed my way up the incredible include. It was yet another physically demanding and difficult task for this trip. To say we had a day "off" was not quite accurate.

Made it to the "beach of Pacaya" and took a group shot:




If you have ever traveled outside of the U.S., you can probably appreciate this shot: just how tasty and refreshing a good, bottled coke is. Even if you don't typically drink coke: man oh man, it's the best.





I've decided for sure that this trip is all about pushing myself to the most physical and mental limits. Today's devotional to start the day was based on putting our faith through the fire (ironic since we were headed to the volcano = fire). The trials we experience as Christians only make us stronger in our walk. Just like pushing 50+ loads of 40 pounds worth of dirt, carrying 100+ pounds of reebar, shoveling dirt, or climbing the crazy incline of Pacaya - it's hard. But when we're reminded of how easy our life really is once we return to the U.S. in our comfy homes - after driving past a family of 6 hauling wood on their backs as they hike yet another mountainside to make it home (one so steep our van crawls to 15 mph because it's such a strain on the engine). Playing with those kids today was so simple. We didn't do anything special, but people noticed.

The park ranger for the volcano let our entire group in for free as a thank you for stopping by the school for a few hours. Just when we think people don't notice.
And what was that about how dangerous Guatemala is?
I thought about how unique Nathan's ministry is here. I mean really: here's a guy whose dad was called to be a missionary in Guatemala when he (dad) was only 13 years old. After marrying, Nathan's parents moved to Guatemala and dedicate their lives to working with a very small Myan tribe in Guatemala - all because God called him and he answered. Nathan is born in the U.S. (So he can keep his citizenship) but is raised in Guatemala. So he looks like a normal white guy from the U.S. He understands U.S. culture for the most part, but is Guatemalan. He speaks perfect English AND perfect Spanish. He looks like a Gringo but can knows the culture so well he fits right in. When we go around these kids, they all respect him and love him. They stand still and listen when he speaks. They have a respect for him and he commands their attention without really demanding it. He does such an incredible job of tying in all of our crafts to using it as a tool to share God's love to these kids. (ie: the Name Plates: "The only name that matters is the Name Above All Names.")
Amazing. Really. They get it and in a great way. Then to see his wife Claudia who cooks these incredible meals and loves every minute of it. She complements the ministry so well. Only a God who has His mighty hand on every detail of our lives could orchestrate something so beautiful.
As we head into our last day of construction, I was just telling Eric that while I really miss Gabbie and Brent (of course) I am really relishing my time here. I know that my life will quickly slip back into a norm of every day life. I just pray that I can stay in this state of mind where my eyes and heart are open to so much.
Since we left the airport in Dallas, I have had the song in my head that says, "Give me your eyes for just one second. Give me your eyes so I can see, Everything that I keep missing, give me your love for humanity...."
And Matt's been singing, "You Make Beautiful. You make Beautiful things out of us."
I just want those as my prayer for a few days and wait to see what God does with/through me.

Today funny stuff happened: Looking to the back of the van as Nathan (driving) yelled "BUMP!" only to see Eric literally FLYING off the back seat and his entire body slamming into the ceiling of the van.
TINA: A man standing on a wooden wagon being pulled by two bulls on the same road we were driving on. Wish I'd had my camera out - it was priceless.