Rainy Season is among us...

Oh rainy season... It has been raining a lot since I've returned to Guatemala. Here the rainy season is from around May to around October. Apparently when I was gone they didn't get a lot of rain this season, but since I've been back Hurricane Ernesto is hitting us. Usually it is really clear and beautiful in the mornings then by afternoon it is pouring. Some days it doesn't rain at all and some days it is a monsoon all day. There is no way to tell. I have just gotten used to carrying around my rain jacket everywhere I go. It really hasn't affected anything I have tried to do down here since I've been back. I just put on my rain jacket and my rain boots (which are maybe my favorite thing that I own down here) and walk to town.

On Monday this week we drove up to Camanchaj and noticed some rocks had fallen onto the road from the cliffs above since it had rained a lot the night before. Then when we were driving home the roads were flooded. At certain parts it was like driving through a river. It made me nervous that we were going to slide on the roads going home.

On the way home we passed several cars that were stuck (yes I was that tacky American who rolled down my window and took a picture) and one truck which has slid and flipped over. I really don't like driving during the rainy season especially on the cliff roads that we have to drive on to get down from Camanchaj to Pana.

Yesterday driving up to the clinic we got stopped driving up the cliff close to this waterfall. There were small mudslides from the cliffs above which caused huge rocks to fall onto the road. We had to wait for two tractors to clear the road before we could pass through. It rained hard the night before, but really I would have thought it would take more rain to cause that many rocks to fall down. I have been told that in the past rainy seasons there have been a lot of mudslides that have killed hundreds of people and wiped out whole villages. I am praying that since this has apparently been a softer rainy season so far that won't be a problem this year.

On the drive home on Tuesday the waterfall was so large it was coming out onto the road. The other volunteers have told me that in the past the waterfall has completely covered the road and that they have had to drive through it. Heather says that they just pull over, pray, then drive through. Let's again hope it doesn't get that big again this year.

On a happier note I am about to start 2 weeks of traveling. A guy I met at the VIM training I had to go to last October is coming to Guatemala with 2 other friends and we are going to go to Tikal next week. They are going to come to Pana tomorrow then after spending a few days here we will leave on Sunday to go to Tikal which is the most popular Mayan site in Guatemala. After Tikal we will go to Antigua for a day. Then when the group leaves to fly back to Costa Rica I will return home to Pana for a day then leave with the other volunteers at Salud y Paz to go to Rio Dulce which is located on the biggest lake in Guatemala. It is about a 9 hour drive to and from and we will spend a total of 5 days on the trip. It will take a day to drive there and back, so really we will just have 3 days at the lake to explore. I am really excited about both going to 2 "must see" tourist destinations in Guatemala and also to have these trips to bond with friends. I will have to dip into my savings a bit, but I told myself that if trip opportunities came up while I was here I would always take them. Also work will be pretty slow this Fall, but once the new year starts I have back to back teams for months it seems like. I need to take these opportunities now while I can. I don't want to look back on my time here and think about all the things I missed out on because I didn't want to spend the money. Plus at the lake my hotel room is $14 a night. Gotta love cheap hostel bungalows are here in Guatemala. :) Get excited because once I get back from the trips my blogs should get more exciting with more beautiful pictures.

Dunwoody UMC...

So the week is over, the team has returned home, and I made it through! I had such an amazing week with the team from Dunwoody UMC in Atlanta, Georgia. I really don't think I could have asked for a better team to start with. I was really nervous about hosting my first team, but we had an amazing week full of laughter, real conversations, and serving together. Here is a little recap of our beautiful week.

The team flew in on Saturday and since Jose and I were both with the team I let him go to Guatemala City and pick up the team then I was at the hotel when they arrived. I got to the hotel about 20 minutes before the team arrived and called my mom freaking out about how nervous I was. As the bus pulled up I was beyond scared about how the week was going to go and how I was going to handle everything. However, once I started meeting the team I was put at ease. They all got off the bus smiling and joyful to be in Guatemala. After I passed out keys and the team "moved in" we met for a little welcome meeting. If you have ever met me you know that when I have to talk in front of groups I get ridiculously nervous and talk incredibly fast. On a completely side note at the end of the trip the team passed out "paper plate" awards and mine was for the fastest talker. :) They joked with me all week about talking fast. Hopefully the more I work with teams the calmer I'll be when I have to do the welcome meeting.

On Sunday we went across the lake in a private boat to the town Santiago Atitlan. The team spend a few hours walking around the town doing their souvenir shopping. Since I have pretty much bought all the Guatemalan souvenirs that I need I helped the team bargain for better prices. After awhile I walked to the church downtown and discovered that they were having some kind of huge worship service in the square. I have been to this church several times on a Sunday with teams, but I have never seen the outside service before. There were hundreds of people there and I really wish I could have understood what the priest was saying to know why it was a special day. After returning to our side of the lake we spent the rest of the day hanging out in Pana.

The team was split into 2 groups this week. One group went to our clinic in Camanchaj everyday and worked construction. We are in the process of building a second floor onto one of our buildings to be able to expand our dental clinic. Jose hosted this group while I hosted the dental team. The 2 groups were separated during the day, but spent the rest of the time together in Pana. My group went to a different community everyday to set up a rural dental clinic. There were 2 dentists on the team who did extractions for the patients in the communities. I loved my team. It seemed like everyday something would go wrong and they actually had to remind me that I shouldn't freak out. I would apologize for whatever the issue was and they would be completely fine with it. Seriously, whether it be the dental machine not working or the lack of patients because of a funeral in the small village they would just smile and say "no worries". I appreciated their flexibility and hard work greatly.

This picture makes me smile, so I thought I would share the story with you. On our first day we were set up in a community center in Nahuala. I was sitting at the check out desk and looked up to see that an indigenous women was playing with the flashlight that the dentists used to triage the patients. Both her friend and her were laughing so loudly as they played dentist. I walked over to where we kept all the dental instruments and got a mouth mirror and handed it to the woman to use. She thought that was the greatest thing and they both continued to laugh until they were called back into the dental chairs. I know I write about this a lot, but I truly believe that laughter is the universal language. Neither of them spoke Spanish let alone English, but still we had this beautiful moment filled with laughter. 

On Tuesday we went to the public school in Pahaj. The Free to Smile Dental Team that was here a couple of weeks ago had treated about half of the children in the school. The 2 dentists, Nelson and Bill, somehow got through the other half of the children with half the dentists the last team had. I have no idea how they did it, but they saw all the kids that needed treatment. In this picture Nelson is doing an extraction on one of the school kids.

Also at the dental clinics a group of team members put on a VBS for the children. They took and printed pictures of all the children, did a presentation about dental and other hygiene, and then had the kids color a booklet they had put together. On this day they did VBS for more than 200 kids. Here are Sandy and Peggy doing the dental demonstration with Archy translating.

On Wednesday we partnered with Mayan Families and went to the village El Barranco. The night before someone in the community died, so we didn't have many patients because they were at the funeral. We saw patients in the morning then packed up before lunch and headed to Camanchaj to join the construction team for the rest of the day. The little girl in the picture below got 6 extractions. When she was done her mom had to see the dentist, so I held her until her mom was done. She wouldn't stop crying (6 extractions!), so to calm her down we played Angry Birds and Talking Tom on my IPod Touch. I know that sounds odd, but looking at the IPod was the only thing that seemed to distract her from the pain. I did have a hilarious moment when a team member walked into the room and looked at me and just started laughing.

This was the set up for that day. It always amazes me when we walk into a random room and within minutes are able to move things around and set up a full functioning dental clinic. I did finally learn this week how to put together the portable cardboard dental chairs. Seriously, they are much more complicated than they look.

This week I had an amazing team of translators and drivers to work with. I really love these guys. They are really protective of me and spent the week answering all of my stupid questions. When anything would go wrong they were the ones to help me come up with a new plan. I really loved all the moments when I would pull one of them aside when an issue came up and I wanted to fix it before the team found out. So many times something would happen and I would be brainstorming of how to fix it and they would just look at me and laugh. They would then explain to me that we were in Guatemala and that there was nothing I could do to fix it. Then they would just smile and pretend to play along when I still tried to fix things and once I finally gave up they would just give me a hug and promise everything was going to be ok. It is comforting to me to know that when I'm working with teams I will have a great group of them around me to help out. They make my job easier and I'm blessed to have the friendships with them that I do. 

This picture I just stole from Facebook. This is Linda who was one of the team member I got the closest to. Her and I had a week full of true conversations that I loved. I feel like within a week I really got to know her and really shared deep things about myself. She also is pretty sarcastic like I am, so there was also a lot of laughter. 

All the team members this week were amazing. I really feel like I got to know about each of their lives back home. At the end of the week several of them asked for my email so we could keep in touch. One couple (Peggy and Richard) told me that they have adoptive daughters all over the world and I could be their Guatemalan daughter. They also asked me if it was ok that they were treating me like one of their daughters. I laughed and explained that I miss my family a lot and it was really sweet for them to be acting like parents to me. So many of the team members told me that they were sure I was in the right place and that they believed I was going to do great as the team coordinator. They even donated to me to help me stay here longer. I can't even begin to explain how much it meant to me that they would come together as a group and donate to my mission down here.

On their last morning in Pana I read to them the Starfish Story and thanked them for coming down to serve through Salud y Paz. I then thanked them for an amazing week filled with such kind words about me. I explained that before the week started I was still unsure that I had made the right decision quitting my job and moving down here. However, after working with them this week I now have more confidence that this is exactly where I am suppose to be. I started crying (duh) and when I was done talking and looked around I noticed that most of the team were crying as well. This team will always have a very special place in my heart. They spent the week complimenting me and saying how great I was doing, but in reality they did so much more for me than I could have every done for them. I can't imagine not being here next year when they come back. I know it isn't possible, but let's just hope all teams are this wonderful.

Great week being back!

This was a fun week! On Monday I went up to the clinic and school in Camanchaj for the first time since being back. It was great being welcomed back by all the staff who I had been missing. I spent time in the school with the kids who tackled me to the ground with hugs. It made me tear up to think about what if I didn't come back and was never able to have that moment. Another time when my decision was reassured. I got a lot of hugs and smiles as I walked into the clinic and over to my new desk (see picture below). When I was here in the Spring I shared a desk with the community computer, but when I got to work on Monday they had set up a new table for me to work at. Jose also moved his desk over to mine since we talk about team stuff all the time. It's funny because we are on the other side of the room than everyone else, but it is because we are the only 2 who really talk a lot. I love having Jose sitting next to me at his desk all the time. Any random and usually stupid question I have he answers with a smile. When we were first talking about me taking over the team coordinator position a few people told me that they were concerned about how Jose and I would work together. Their concern was that it would be difficult for me to come in as a younger American girl and try to get the respect that I would need to be the team coordinator. However, I knew then and am reassured now that that is never going to be a problem. Jose and I quickly formed a friendship which I think is essential to working together. He is simply amazing and clearly helps me be better at my position. It is a beautiful friendship which I am truly grateful for.

After working in Camanchaj on Monday and Tuesday Heather and I took Wednesday off to celebrate her 3rd anniversary of living in Guatemala. I am blessed to have a roommate who has become a great friend. It is also nice that she has been here for so long. She absolutely gets her share of silly questions about living in Guatemala from me. We decided to take a pick up truck to both Santa Catarina and San Antonio Palopo which are 2 other villages around the lake. I had never done the pickup truck before. The pickup trucks have an open cage in the back that you can hold onto. For one leg of the trip we got to sit in the back because there were only about 8 of us, but for the rest of the time we had to stand up and hold on. I'm glad we had both the cage to hang onto and the 20 other people sitting/standing in the back or we would have flow out every time we flew around the curves around the lake.

 

We walked around Santa Catalina for a bit then caught another pickup truck to San Antonio Palopo. There we went to a pottery store and then to the factory the village is known for. I bought a blue drinking glass and a mug to put pens in on my desk. When my family came over Spring Break I brought them to the factory and we bought all sorts of presents for people. I also bought a tea set knowing I had 4 people to carry it back to the States for me. Often when teams are in Pana we will take the boat over to this village. It is such a beautiful not touched by many tourist place.

After the factory we walked around the lake admiring how beautiful everything was. Heather and I were both taking pictures. I had stopped to take a picture of a little old man with the volcano in the background and when I caught back up with her she was being yelled at by this little old lady. I had no idea what she was yelling, but when I walked by her she hissed at me and looked like she was going to attack. I asked Heather what the heck was going on and she explained that she had been caught taking a picture of her and now she was cussing at her for it. I laughed so hard. I had never seen anyone react like that and poor Heather was mortified. Thankfully we got away from the lady and both died laughing.

Further down the road we discovered a hotel that had a beautiful terrance that we stopped at and rested for awhile before heading back to the pickup truck.

That night it was pouring, so Heather and I called a tuktuk to come pick us up and we went to Hotel del Sol for dinner. It is a Japanese restaurant in the bottom of a hotel which is one of my favorites to go to. I love that this time around I already have favorite places that I know about. I don't have to spend all my days off walking around lost finding out where to go. Makes it easier for sure.

Yesterday I had breakfast with Wayne to go over some last minute details about the team that is coming  tomorrow. It is a dental/construction team from Dunwoody UMC. Jose and I are both hosting the team because they are going to split up. Half of the group will set up dental clinics in villages around Pana everyday and half will work construction in Camanchaj at our clinic. I will be with the dental team while Jose works with the construction half. I am eager to spend the whole week with them, but I am also comforted that Jose will be around in the mornings and at night to again answer all my questions.

Yesterday was also fun because in the afternoon I met Kasia and Lungi at the coffee shop and helped roast coffee. Their dad is backpacking around Japan right now, so Kasia is having to roast more often now by herself, so I thought I would help out. I decided that the best way for me to help out was to take pictures, ask silly questions (apparently it's my new theme down here) and sit on the huge strangely comfortable coffee bags and chat while she does the roasting. It was really neat to see all the different steps and learn a little about roasting. Here is a picture of Kasia and Lungi before we started roasting. I love both of these girls a lot. I honestly don't know what I would do without their friendship. I knew it was going to be really hard for me to transition from working at the church and hanging out laughing with youth everyday to being down here by myself. These girls make it easier. I appreciate each of them and their laughter and love.

Again this was my idea of "helping". Also after awhile of helping Lungi and I ran around town buying snacks and picking up movies to watch that night. On Monday they are going into Guatemala City to watch the new Batman movie, so we were talking about superhero movies and when they found out I hadn't seen Iron Man 1 and 2 they decided we had to watch them that night. Lungi called someone and asked him to download the movie. 2 hours later we were picking up both movies costing 15Q (about 2 bucks) each. How ridiculous is that? Anyways that night after we (and by we I mean Kasia) finished roasting we went to their house and watched both movies. It was a good night. 

Adele came back to check on us and got into the picture action. She is simply amazing as well. Every time I see her she gives me a huge hug and is always so welcoming. Such a beautiful family to be able to share this adventure of mine with. They really have become my second family down here who I know I can always turn to. 

This morning I had my first Skype Spanish lesson. Guatemala Tours which is the company that we hire our drivers and translators through when we have team here offered me free Spanish lessons. I think it is because they need to be able to talk to me about teams and now I have Jose call them whenever I need anything booked. For whatever reason they are doing this I am beyond grateful. I was really nervous at first not knowing what to expect, but the lady who I am working with is great. Her name is Silvia and she laughs with me and calls me sweetheart all the time. Today she asked how old I was and when I said 26 she seemed shocked. She thought I was 21. It may have been the pigtails I had my hair in, or maybe it is because when I don't know something (which lets face it with Spanish is often) I just laugh. She is really patient and I am actually looking forward to our next lesson tomorrow morning. Probably by tomorrow I should be fluent. :)

Tomorrow afternoon the Dunwoody team is going to be arriving in Pana. Jose will meet them at the airport then when they get to town I will be waiting at their hotel. I am both excited and nervous to spend the whole week with them. Hopefully I will do great and not come away from this week with any hesitation about being here. We'll see... Who knows. Tonight Heather and I are having a movie night with Dave. I think he is bringing over the movie Blue Like Jazz, so that will be interesting to watch. If you find yourself in need of things to pray about this coming week please pray that I do a good job with this team. I will be at the sites each day by myself which I have never done before. I truly hope I am able to handle this. Otherwise this is going to be a pretty tough year. :)

Erin comes to visit!

Today was a beautiful day in Pana! My friend Erin Jackson who is spending a year traveling the world as a part of the World Race is stationed in Guatemala this month, so today she took a shuttle from Antigua to Pana to visit. She could only come for the day, but it was so special to have someone from home here to share my Guatemala world with.

She arrived around 11:00, and we spent some time just walking around town and catching up. We walked down Santandar (main tourist street that leads to the lake) then spent some time looking out at the lake. It was a little cloudy today, but the lake was still pretty clear. I love that she got the chance to come see the lake. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, so I love showing it to people.

After walking around the lake we took a tuk tuk (see picture below) to the Reserva which is about 10 minutes outside of Pana.

When teams come in they usually go to the Reserva and zipline. Neither of us wanted to do that today, so we just did the hiked around and mainly spent time taking pictures and playing with monkeys.

I have no idea what the name of this animal is, but it looks like a cross between a raccoon and an aardvark. The monkeys were taking awhile to show up, so we fed this little guy most of the bananas we had bought at the cafe.

 

Finally this little guy showed up. I go to the Reserva all the with teams, but I never get tired of the monkeys.

Along the hike you have to go over several suspension bridges. There are signs at the beginning of each one that that say only 6 people at a time. I really hate it when team members jump up and down on these bridges when we walk over them. It was much more pleasant today with just Erin and I walking across. :)

It really was great to have Erin here even if it was only for the day. I always say about our friendship that she is my best friend that I talk to the least meaning that we can go such a long time without talking then when we do I am reminded how much I love her. She is going to have such an amazing year traveling the world and I can't wait to be updated on all of her ministry and travels. 

Tonight my roommate and I are going to go over to Kasia and Lungi's house and have a slumber party. It's fun to hang out with those girls and to pretend we are still teenagers like they are. In the morning we have church at their house which is beautiful. We just sit around in a small group and sing songs then watch a sermon on the computer. I have gotten really close to the Robert's family who own the coffee shop in town and love that they have invited me into their home. Not only for the occasional slumber party with the girls, but to worship in their house on Sunday morning. I am beyond blessed to have this constantly growing community around me. Now off to the slumber party!

Back in Guatemala...

I've been back in Guatemala for almost a week now and it hasn't taken me long to remember why I loved this place so much. I had a moment on the plane (sitting in first class by the way thanks to the great Chris Cragg) where I completely broke down and started to cry. So many thoughts kept running through my head that I couldn't shake. "Did I make the right decision?", "How am I going to handle being away from my loved ones for a year?", "What if I can't live up to all the promises I made?", "What if I make a mistake as the team coordinator and it causes a team to never return which takes away services to the Guatemalan people", "If I fail and can't do it I don't have the safety net of my job at the church anymore. What would I do?", "What am I going to do without my family?". Trust me I could write 50 more what if's that were running through my mind, but I am tearing up right now and there is a team of backpackers sitting at the table next to me at the coffee shop who I really rather not cry in front of.

Anyways, when I landed in Guatemala I walked outside and met Ivan who was driving the dental team that was in town this week. After I dropped off my bags into the van I waited outside the airport with the Salud y Paz sign for the Free to Smile team. They arrived about an hour after I did and we loaded up the van and headed to Pana. I had been emailing Stacy who runs Free to Smile with her husband, so it was great to finally meet her and to get to know the rest of the team. Jose was the host of their team this week, so I took most of the week off to settle back in and only worked with their team for 2 days. They were great and working with them constantly reminded me of why I made this commitment. I love working with the teams, and I think they were the perfect first team back I could have asked for. They were always laughing and having fun while at the same time being professional and doing amazing work for their patients. Also Stacy was great at giving me pointers of what her team liked and what made it difficult for them. Between her help and Jose who spent the 2 days showing me all the random details that I need to know I believe I can handle hosting the dental team we have coming in on the 18th by myself. Stay tuned for a blog about how that is true, or about how I completely messed up coming up in a few weeks. Here are some pictures from the 2 days I worked with the team this week.

When we have dental teams that come in and work in the rural villages we use these portable dental chairs. It is amazing to me that they are made out of cardboard. The first day we were set up in the back room of a church in Santiago Atitlan which is a town across the lake, so we took a boat to get there.

For part of the day I helped with triage which meant I wrote down what needed either a restoration or an extraction. Dr. Culley would triage all the patients then they would line up and wait by number for the next available dental chair to open up. In this community there were so many more extractions than fillings. 

We were at the base of one of the volcano and the clouds made it look like it was erupting. I kept reassuring the team that it was clouds and not the actual volcano erupting and praying that I was right.

The second day I worked with the team we worked in Pana and partnered with the organization Mayan Families. The patients that we saw that day were completely different than the ones across the lake. I was told by the dentists that about 75% of the patients they were seeing had a private dentist and they did as many restorations and they did extractions which is rare. Usually the tooth is too far decayed to do a filling, so it was great to see patients who had better dental hygiene.

On my day off in between I hung out in town at all my favorite places. I walked down to the lake, went to the bookstore which I spend too much money at, went to buy fruits and veggies at the market, and just walked around town taking in everything I had been missing. Heather met me for lunch at an asian restaurant which I had gone to once when my cousin Ashley had come to visit. Heather and I kept up pretty well by phone dates this summer, but it is great to be back and to be able to catch up on everything.

You can kind of tell in this picture that there are leaves hanging on the ceiling. It is such a cool place to go and sit. I need to make it a point to go there more often and just order tea and read or work on things on my days off.

Lastly, I have been working this week to set up my room again. I had to completely pack everything up in May when I left in hopes of renting out my room to someone for the summer. I had kept a few bins and suitcases on top of the closet which was fun to go through because I had forgotten what I had brought back home and what I had left here. I still have a few more things to organize (notice the 2 bins under the desks), but for the most part it is done. Now let's see how long it can stay this clean. Also feel free to admire my cat yoga calendar and be jealous.

Closet wall and night stand. The Guatemala map is so I can keep track of all the places I am going to travel to with teams. I also have a world map in my parents house that I put pins in all the countries I am fortunate to travel to. This summer my mom and I counted and I have been to 24 states and 17 countries. I have such a long ways to go!

Bed and bookshelf which along with the bedside table were given to me by 2 volunteers that moved away right before I went home for the summer. I didn't have it last time I was here and I am enjoying greatly having the extra shelves.

This is the top of my bookshelf. The flowers were sitting there when I arrived along with a welcome home sign and a huipil (mayan clothing). What a great roommate! Also my dad gave me this photo poster that the youth took pictures for on my last Sunday at church. They all have random signs that make me smile. Such a fun thing to have in my room to remind me of them.

When I started typing this I was sitting in the coffee shop and now I am at The Patio eating lunch. I love being back in Pana and visiting all the places I love. I also have had a great week catching up with the people here who I had missed.  I have been through so many emotions this week, but right now I am sitting here relaxed and confident that this was the right decision. Coming back I was welcomed with smiles and hugs everywhere I went. I am lucky to have an amazing community of friends surrounding me here who I missed even more than I had realized. I know I am still going to have days where I freak out wondering "What the heck did you do?!?!", but I know that if I just breath and get through those moments I can look around and realize that I'm ok here and that this is exactly where God wants me right now. Let's see if I can make that feeling last all day.

Summer recap.

Get excited because the wait is over! I know you all have been checking my blog every day this summer and that the fact that I haven't been keeping it up has caused you to cry quite a bit. Well if that's the case (and I'm sure it is) today is your lucky day because I'm back!

I am flying back to Guatemala tomorrow morning (or should I say in about 8 hours), so I thought it would be a good time to write a post about this summer. It has been an over the top hectic but wonderful and possibly life changing summer. I told you to get excited.

When I came home in May I was home for a few weeks before we left on our High School Workcamp the first week of June. This year we went to Brady and had an amazing week working around the town at various organizations and spending countless hours laughing and worshiping God together. I could not have asked for a better final Workcamp (on staff. I am still hoping to come for for it this summer).

The first few days I led the group that worked at The Haven which is the women's battered shelter in town. Here is a picture of the Haven crew. Just such a great group!

For the final workday I had a smaller group that worked at Casa Care. The girls worked inside painting the bathroom and I worked outside with the boys pulling out dead trees and bushes in the flowerbed. This was also the day that it decided to pour all day, so we could not have been muddier. Examples: 1. I was working on pulling the root that I am holding in the following picture for awhile and when it finally came out I went flying backwards and slid in the mud. 2. My foot sank so far into the mud that when I tried to pull it out my shoe came off and it took the boys a couple of minutes to find it. We were beyond gross, but I love working with this group of guys so much!

This is my cute small group. :) Be impressed I made our shirts.

On the last night we have a Workcamp dance where the objective is to look as ridiculous as possible. I really love this picture of my dad and me at the dance. :)

One of my favorite moments from Workcamp was the night that Guatemala was our mission moment. Each night we lift up an organization or place around the world that is in need and this year Guatemala got to be one of those moments. I explained to the youth what I was doing down in Guatemala and what my role at Salud y Paz is. Then I showed them a little video that I had made with pictures and footage of my time down there this spring. Next I told them what the money that they raised is going to do for Salud y Paz and how they are changing lives. Then came the part where I started crying. I thought it was important for me to explain to them why I felt the call to quit and leave my job at the church to move down there. It was incredibly difficult for me and after a few minutes I couldn't stop crying, so after trying to talk while choking back sobs I just gave up and said that I was done. It was good that I got out most of what I wanted them to hear. I know that I made the right decision, but thinking of not being able to hang out with the youth and staff everyday kills me. I can't begin to describe how much I am going to miss all of them. They hands down make my life better. 

After a week of cleaning up and resting after High School Workcamp we had our Middle School Workcamp. I got a stomach bug, so I missed the first couple of days. However, you better believe I made it to the Middle School Workcamp Dance! The Summer Staff set up a photobooth. Enjoy. :)

The dance was Tuesday night then on Wednesday afternoon we flew to Africa. My family went on the church mission trip to Kenya and I loved every second of it. There is no way for me to describe in detail everything that we experienced on the trip, but just know that it was a once in a lifetime experience and something I have been dreaming about since I was little. The first week we were in Kenya we worked in Maua at a Methodist Hospital. One of the projects that we worked on was building a home for 3 aids orphans. My dad lead the team and I helped finish the house the last 2 days. I loved that this was something that we worked on as a family. Here is a picture of us by a "Kenyan Ladder" (know that even though it looks sketchy at one point 3 members of our team were standing on it).

While we were in Maua one day we helped out with a 'bush clinic' with some of the hospital staff. It was amazing to me how much their rural clinic reminded me of the rural medical clinics we do down in Guatemala. We drove out to a village and set up the clinic in the school. I mentioned to a staff member that I would love to sit in with the doctors while they see the patients and then was surprised when I actually got the chance to do so. I sat with a doctor named Ivan and we saw about 300 patients. By the end of the day I could diagnose malaria and fungal infections. The patient I remember the most was a little baby who came in with his mother. One of the other team members came into the room and told me that their was a baby waiting in line with "a head larger than normal". I told Rilee to make sure that he came into my doctor's room honestly because I was curious. When they came into the room I couldn't believe it. The little baby's head looked about 3 times as big as it should. I couldn't understand what Ivan and the mother were talking about then all of a sudden they the mom and baby got up to leave. When I asked Ivan what happened he said that she was just there because the baby had a runny nose. Then I asked about his condition. I can't remember the name of it, but Ivan started explaining to me that the baby was born with water in his head and that over the past 5 months (that's how old the little baby is) his head has grown and has continued to fill up with water. He said that if he didn't have a surgery soon he probably wouldn't make it to his first birthday. I asked him if they could do the surgery and he said that they couldn't do it at their hospital and that the baby would have to go to Narobi. I asked if that was going to happen and he said no because it was too expensive. When I asked how much he just kept saying that it would be too much and that I shouldn't get involved.

When I heard that I left the room crying and found my dad. I asked him if there was anything we could do and he suggested that I talk to Stanley (who was hosting our team). I then talked to Scott (who was our team leader) and told him that I would be interested in paying for the surgery if we could figure out how much it was. He helped me talk to Stanley and we finally figured out that it was only going to cost 25,000 shillings which equals to about $300. A part of me is thankful it is so cheap, but another part of me is infuriated thinking of that doctor who told me that it was too much and not to worry about it. I know that $300 is such a different amount to me as it is to the people of that village, but to think of that little baby dying because he couldn't get a surgery that only cost $300 is ridiculous to me. Luckily we were able to donate the money and the little baby is in Narobi with him mother right now getting ready for surgery. I know absolutely that I am not the one who saved that little baby's life, but that God was just working through me to advocate for him. I hope that in the future there are other teams that will speak up for the patients that they meet and be able to give a little hope when they don't think there is any.

 After our week in Maua we went to Nakuru and worked at an orphanage. And by work I mean play with the adorable children. Here is a picture of me with Bruna aka Doha. We had a layover in Doha on the way to Kenya and for some reason I kept calling this precious girl Doha. What can I say? If you look like a Doha I'm going to call you a Doha. 

Next we flew to Masai Mara to go on a safari for a few days. I absolutely loved it. We were so close to so many beautiful animals and got to see so many amazing new things. I have to tell you Lion King is pretty accurate. I mean I never did see the animals singing or dancing (they must have been on break), but I was constantly amazed with how all the different kinds of animals would hang out together. Besides the mean big cats. I guess if you're the guest who shows up to a party and starts eating everyone you stop getting invited. I took this picture of the van in front of ours. Look at that giraffe just chilling on the road!

This picture is to prove that we went into Tanzania. Part of the nature reserve was in Tanzania, so one day we drove across the border. Here is the stone that lets you know you have entered another country.  Also like I mentioned earlier we had a layover in Doha on the way which is in the Middle East which is in Asia, so I am not a 4 continent girl!

Africa was an amazing trip and it was the first time since I quit my job and decided to stay in Guatemala that I have thought about another option other than wanting to work at the church once my Guatemala time is up. Don't get me wrong I very well may move home next August and be devastated if I can't just pick back up at the church. However, being in Africa made me open my eyes to the possibility of serving there after Guatemala. Who knows if it will come to anything, but I got the same feeling about Africa that I got from Guatemala. Maybe that is where I am suppose to be next. No matter what at least it opened my mind to other options. We'll see.

After being home for about a week we left to road trip up to Pagosa Springs, Colorado for a camping trip. The youth group started going on this trip 20 years ago, and we determined that this was my 16th year to go on the trip. Normally the trip is just for our college gang, but one of the perks of being the youth minister's kid is that I got to go on trips before I was legal. It also helped that my grandparents live in the same town that the group camps in. I love Colorado and can't imagine a summer without going. Here are a few pictures from the trip. First this is the group that worked at the Refuge the past couple of years. Duh I'm going to miss them.

Since Grandmommye and Vernan live in the same town we spend part of the time hanging with them. Parker's birthday is on July 29th which is always when we are in Colorado. We celebrated with cake and icecream at their house.

 

This picture was taken on one of the hiking days. This day we hiked Piedra Trail and when I say hiked I mean we walked for about 25 minutes until we got to the river and then proceeded to sit on this rock in the middle of the river for about an hour. Then we played 42 and ate our lunches then walked back to the bus early so we could go to the coffee shop in town. What an exhausting day!

 

Overall this summer was a beautiful one. At times I complained that it wasn't the relaxing at home summer that I wanted before moving to Guatemala for a year, but at the same time I wouldn't change anything. I would write more, but it is almost 1:00 and I have to wake up at 5:30 to get to the airport for my flight. I'll write another post once I get to Guatemala and settle in. I am meeting a team at the airport and will travel with them to Pana. It is a Free to Smile team that will be staying in Pana and setting up rural dental clinics in the surrounding villages. Check back for more details later. :)