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Guatemala 2016: August 5

First of all, may I note that when Friday arrived I literally could not believe it was Friday already, and had no idea where the time went? I don't think I've ever had a week in Guatemala go so fast!

For part of the morning we split up again, with Kristen, the men, and a few adult ladies going back to San Bartolomé to do some more work and give out blankets and stuff while the rest of us went to a new school for ministry. And since all of the guys were at the work site (minus Ryan, obviously), Miranda had to drive the other van! It's ok, all went well. ;) (Well, all except for that rude little Guatemalan cut off...gotta love those Guatemala drivers.) At this school the youth did the Superhero skit first, and I think it was their best performance yet. Then Carly gave her testimony - which she had already written in Spanish - and then they did the signs skit, which also went fabulously. Then Nic gave his testimony as Katy translated. Ryan then did a little talk on the meanings of the skits and the history of the candy cane, and as they went back to class the youth handed out candy canes.


 Handing out the blankets and more construction (courtesy of Kristen)

Ryan preaching

We then returned to Getsemani, where we waited for the rest of the team to return and chapel to start. It was rainy again for a lot of the day. Once chapel began, we joined them for worship (Isaac was playing the drums) and then the youth did the signs and angels and demons skits and Sarah and Pierce gave their testimonies. Then almost everyone else went back to the compound to eat and rest, but Kristen, Miranda, Pam, Peg and I stayed to hear Ryan give his 20-minute sermon. Then we went back to eat and nap. I will say a half hour nap was not enough...oh well.

My van group - Grandpa's van (the party van - literally, we had the most fun) - left early to stop at McDonald's to pick up the 200 hamburgers. Only six of us went in (the rest stayed in the van) and Miranda (she wasn't part of our van group, but she speaks Spanish...) ordered 200 hamburgers...and a chocolate sundae for Grandpa. ;) We - Grandpa, Miranda, Kristen, Troy, Gracie and I - chilled as we waited for them to be done. They packed them in two boxes and carried them out for us and we loaded them into the coolers. Then onward to the hospice - the HIV orphanage - when we met up with the other two vans. We found out that the three times our group has been there are the only three groups Jodi has taken there, and they apparently asked Jodi why we haven't been there in a year, and they went on to tell her the exact times we were there the past two years - that's how much our visits mean to them! Incredible! We saw several kids we remembered from previous years - many of them did not grow; thankfully a couple of them had grown a tiny bit. The youth did the Superhero and sin chair skits even though we had no props - very impressive. Then Ryan spoke via Jodi for a little.

Char got out the stickers - after all, they were our last kids, so we could use them up. They were a major hit! The one little boy that Grandpa was holding for a while was putting stickers all over himself and Grandpa. :) So cute - eventually all the kids had a sticker sheet or two and were putting stickers on us and themselves. We also did some games and songs with them - Tricia (with Jodi) did "Going on a bear hunt" and I found it amusing to look around at all the dads (Ryan, Greg, Troy) being so into it. :) The kids loved it. Then we did London Bridges and they had a fun time with that! We just kinda hung out with them then before they set up for their supper of hamburgers and then we left.

We went to Pollo Compero again, but they didn't have enough tables for all of us, so as they had tables ready we split up to go eat. As we waited we watched the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, which was interesting. Back at the compound we did info, debriefing, and worship.

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