So the couple nights stay at the cousin´s house turned into almost a week...yeah I guess things change last minute like that around here. Haha I was not expecting to be away that long! Thankfully I had enough clothes. The place that I was at was called Pantaleon, there is a sugar factory there and a river by the same name. The neighborhood I was in was really nice and they had a ``club`` that had a pool with palm trees and all. It was like I was on vacation all week! It was unexpected for me. I missed the rest of the Ruanos a lot, since only Rossanita went with me. And when we came back this afternoon, I realized how much I missed the city and all the people! Pantaleon is about an hour away from Guatemala City, it is sort of in the country.
The cousins have a maid who does all the cooking and cleaning, so we didn´t have to wash our dishes or anything. Or do chores. It was weird, because Rossanita and I are both used to helping out. They always had a newspaper, so I would read that everyday and try to pick up new words. During the day the cousins were at school, so Rossanita and I would go to the pool in the morning. Oh, by the way, I named this post is ``internet`` because they didn´t have any internet at the cousin´s. Not sure why. So when I got home this afternoon and got to facetime with my family it was awesome! We talked for an hour and a half...lots to catch up on over a week!
I´ve been learning how patience goes a long way...God always provides! I am used to getting a lot of fruits at the Ruanos, because they go to the market close to their house almost everyday, but at Pantaleon, the market isn´t within walking distance and they get their produce delivered to them because it is so far away. So I was like ``How am I going to live without fruit?`` but I shouldn´t have worried, silly me! On Thursday, Rossanita went to visit the school, but I stayed home with the aunt. We went in to town, a little town called Santa Lucia and we picked up a few things at the store. She asked if I wanted anything, and of course, I wanted fruit! Guess what I found? Guavas! She was surprised, she said that it wasn´t common to find them. Lately for some reason the markets don´t have them, and when they do, they do for only one day. So I felt like God was just blessing me with them. They were perfectly ripe, too. We also bought bananas, only 4 though because she said nobody in her family eats them. So funny for me, I can´t imagine not eating bananas! They are like a staple for me. It was probably the smallest quantity of bananas I have ever bought in my life.
I almost forgot! I learned how to make tortillas! The little, thicker corn tortillas. I have great respect for the ladies that make them now...it tain´t no easy task, let me tell ya. But I managed to make a few actually circular ones that didn´t have holes in them, and I even managed to flip some of them with my fingers on the hot griddle! Sucely, the maid at the cousin´s, taught me how to do it. She kept telling me to not be scared, in flipping them. I burned my fingers- that griddle was HOT! It was fun. I hope to find some Maseca (that´s what the flour is called to make the tortillas) in the US and make some fresh tortillas for my family. There´s nothing like fresh tortillas, kept steaming hot wrapped in a towel on the table. Mmmm.
So God totally dropped in my lap a witnessing opportunity. It was a 16 year old neighbor named Carlos who had a Catholic background. We started at first, talking in Spanish, but then I found out that he had been to the states a few times, once for 4 months, going to school there to learn English. So he knew English pretty well, and he asked me to speak in English (because my Spanish was so bad, haha). He asked me why I was here, and if I was a priest. Yeah, a priest. Are there even girl priests? I don´t know, maybe he didn´t know the word he was looking for in English. Anyway, since we were talking about church, sort of, I asked him if he knew where he was going when he died, and walked him through a few of the 10 commandments. I think he understood that he was a sinner but then he was giving me excuses, like ``Everytime I try to read my Bible, I just get distracted and watch TV or something.`` Pray that God will work in his heart, convict him and that he will be saved. It´s out of my hands, God does the work, I am simply the instrument. I am so thankful for the Way of the Master course that I had last summer, it is so helpful in sharing my faith! I hope one day to be able to do it in Spanish. :)
Friday, August 24, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
No big deal but...
A lot of things to blog about, so little time to blog! I am leaving for a few days to go to the Ruano´s cousin´s house, about an hour away from here. Probably won´t be on the computer until then, so let me do a brief highlight on what´s happened this week.
Concert
I was in my second Chochy concert this Saturday! The church we had it at was a lot smaller and wasn´t new looking like the church we had last time. It was super hot inside because it wasn´t opened up like most buildings are here. There was only enough room for the kids to sit or stand- the concert took up half the room! I was the heart again- ``El Amor``. I was so excited because this time, I took my time speaking my lines and I didn´t mess up! Also, I was expecting to hear my voice over the speakers, so it didn´t scare me like last time.
In good and in the bad
I had a couple bad days- just being really homesick and being tired of being here, but I hear that is normal...
I am doing sooo much better now. Thanks to first, Bible and prayer time that God blessed me with and second, tons of encouraging emails that came all at the right time. It is so exciting to open my email and have so many to read! Lots of wise words were spoken to me the past few days- even Bryan told me ``Don´t be sad, enjoy your time here, because when you are in the States, you are going to be sad and wish you could be here.`` At the time, I didn´t want to hear that, but I knew it was true. ``I love English so much! The US is awesome!`` A little mini-bout of cultural withdrawal. :)
Amusement park
So I went to a Guatemalan amusement park! Usually I am not scared on amusement park rides, but I wasn´t really sure about how safe they were, at first, so the first ride I was actually scared. Scared for my life! But nobody else seemed concerned, and they always checked seat belts before the ride, so I just trusted that God would protect me and stopped worrying. There was a ride really similar to the log ride at King´s Dominion, and then there was a drop tower and a roller coaster. It was a pretty small park, and there weren´t too many people, so we went on some rides like five times! It was awesome. There was this big group of gringos and so the group I was in was teasing me about asking them where they were from. But then I heard them speaking, and it wasn´t English. Somewhere in Europe, I knew.
``Hey, maybe they are the Vienna Boys Choir!`` I joked, since I knew that they had come to Guatemala recently for a concert. ``Yeah, maybe it is!`` the kids in my group said. They were all getting excited about it and telling their moms that Rachel said maybe it was the choir, and I felt bad, like I had lied to them because really I had no idea. But then, we had finished playing bumper cars and I asked one of the European kids where he was from, hoping he understood English. ``Vienna, in Europe.``
``Like, from the choir?``
``Yes,`` he answered.
Whoa! I was like ``Guys! It IS the choir!``
Later, there was another group from the choir and the girls in my group had me ask them in English for a photo- the funny thing was that the kid I talked to knew more Spanish then English, so I ended up speaking Spanish to him instead.
Yeah, so no big deal, but I spoke Spanish and played bumper cars with part of the Vienna Boys Choir.
Concert
I was in my second Chochy concert this Saturday! The church we had it at was a lot smaller and wasn´t new looking like the church we had last time. It was super hot inside because it wasn´t opened up like most buildings are here. There was only enough room for the kids to sit or stand- the concert took up half the room! I was the heart again- ``El Amor``. I was so excited because this time, I took my time speaking my lines and I didn´t mess up! Also, I was expecting to hear my voice over the speakers, so it didn´t scare me like last time.
In good and in the bad
I had a couple bad days- just being really homesick and being tired of being here, but I hear that is normal...
I am doing sooo much better now. Thanks to first, Bible and prayer time that God blessed me with and second, tons of encouraging emails that came all at the right time. It is so exciting to open my email and have so many to read! Lots of wise words were spoken to me the past few days- even Bryan told me ``Don´t be sad, enjoy your time here, because when you are in the States, you are going to be sad and wish you could be here.`` At the time, I didn´t want to hear that, but I knew it was true. ``I love English so much! The US is awesome!`` A little mini-bout of cultural withdrawal. :)
Amusement park
So I went to a Guatemalan amusement park! Usually I am not scared on amusement park rides, but I wasn´t really sure about how safe they were, at first, so the first ride I was actually scared. Scared for my life! But nobody else seemed concerned, and they always checked seat belts before the ride, so I just trusted that God would protect me and stopped worrying. There was a ride really similar to the log ride at King´s Dominion, and then there was a drop tower and a roller coaster. It was a pretty small park, and there weren´t too many people, so we went on some rides like five times! It was awesome. There was this big group of gringos and so the group I was in was teasing me about asking them where they were from. But then I heard them speaking, and it wasn´t English. Somewhere in Europe, I knew.
``Hey, maybe they are the Vienna Boys Choir!`` I joked, since I knew that they had come to Guatemala recently for a concert. ``Yeah, maybe it is!`` the kids in my group said. They were all getting excited about it and telling their moms that Rachel said maybe it was the choir, and I felt bad, like I had lied to them because really I had no idea. But then, we had finished playing bumper cars and I asked one of the European kids where he was from, hoping he understood English. ``Vienna, in Europe.``
``Like, from the choir?``
``Yes,`` he answered.
Whoa! I was like ``Guys! It IS the choir!``
Later, there was another group from the choir and the girls in my group had me ask them in English for a photo- the funny thing was that the kid I talked to knew more Spanish then English, so I ended up speaking Spanish to him instead.
Yeah, so no big deal, but I spoke Spanish and played bumper cars with part of the Vienna Boys Choir.
Monday, August 13, 2012
And life goes on
Market
Today I bought some fruit at the little market by myself! Well, I didn´t go alone, but I talked to the guy and asked how much things were and paid him! Just a small accomplishment, but two months ago I would have been terrified. :)
Home
This week has been good and bad. Missing my family a lot (I would be going back this Thursday, originally). But then again, small moments of accomplishment, like understanding people´s conversations in Spanish and buying fruit in the market help me stay excited about being here. I can tell that I´m getting more of an ear for Spanish. Not exactly the greatest at talking, but that will come. Every time I see my friend Monica at church, I practice talking with her, and every time, she teaches me something new. I´m always getting out my little notebook and asking her to write whatever it is down.
Bible
Continuing to listen to John MacArthur sermons on Ephesians 5- soo good because it´s about living in the Holy Spirit and putting others first. Each day is a new day to surrender to God. I´m trying to memorize Ephesians 2:1-10...only have got about three verses so far.
Food
Today we had a delicious lunch :) We had salad, then chicken, and chicken broth soup with vegetables. Then we had watermelon (sandía). And I´m so pumped for all the fruit we bought! The guavas and chico zapotes aren´t ripe yet, but hopefully soon! But we have a lot of bananas. I´m just glad to have an easy and healthy snack :) I´m trying to be more purposeful with what I put in my mouth, just because I feel so much better when I do that. Especially since I´m still recovering from my cold. I know that chicken soup and fruits are going to help me, while re-fried beans from the can and tortilla chips probably aren´t the best option. Yesterday (Sunday) we had a Servants 4 Him meeting, so the house was full of gringos. I got to talk to this one women who is visiting here (she lived for a year in Guate) about food. She graduated with a major in nutrition, and when I heard that I got all excited and it was so encouraging to talk to her about healthy foods again. I miss that! As my mom said, No más papas fritas! Haha. I don´t eat much sugar, and everyone down here for the life of them can´t understand why. How do you explain in Spanish that sugar crashes my immune system?
I´m going to go study some Spanish now! Hopefully- there are always people coming over in this house, so I don´t want to be anti-social in my room. So sometimes ``studying Spanish`` means listening to conversations or playing soccer. Hasta luego!
Today I bought some fruit at the little market by myself! Well, I didn´t go alone, but I talked to the guy and asked how much things were and paid him! Just a small accomplishment, but two months ago I would have been terrified. :)
Home
This week has been good and bad. Missing my family a lot (I would be going back this Thursday, originally). But then again, small moments of accomplishment, like understanding people´s conversations in Spanish and buying fruit in the market help me stay excited about being here. I can tell that I´m getting more of an ear for Spanish. Not exactly the greatest at talking, but that will come. Every time I see my friend Monica at church, I practice talking with her, and every time, she teaches me something new. I´m always getting out my little notebook and asking her to write whatever it is down.
Bible
Continuing to listen to John MacArthur sermons on Ephesians 5- soo good because it´s about living in the Holy Spirit and putting others first. Each day is a new day to surrender to God. I´m trying to memorize Ephesians 2:1-10...only have got about three verses so far.
Food
Today we had a delicious lunch :) We had salad, then chicken, and chicken broth soup with vegetables. Then we had watermelon (sandía). And I´m so pumped for all the fruit we bought! The guavas and chico zapotes aren´t ripe yet, but hopefully soon! But we have a lot of bananas. I´m just glad to have an easy and healthy snack :) I´m trying to be more purposeful with what I put in my mouth, just because I feel so much better when I do that. Especially since I´m still recovering from my cold. I know that chicken soup and fruits are going to help me, while re-fried beans from the can and tortilla chips probably aren´t the best option. Yesterday (Sunday) we had a Servants 4 Him meeting, so the house was full of gringos. I got to talk to this one women who is visiting here (she lived for a year in Guate) about food. She graduated with a major in nutrition, and when I heard that I got all excited and it was so encouraging to talk to her about healthy foods again. I miss that! As my mom said, No más papas fritas! Haha. I don´t eat much sugar, and everyone down here for the life of them can´t understand why. How do you explain in Spanish that sugar crashes my immune system?
I´m going to go study some Spanish now! Hopefully- there are always people coming over in this house, so I don´t want to be anti-social in my room. So sometimes ``studying Spanish`` means listening to conversations or playing soccer. Hasta luego!
Monday, August 6, 2012
Expect great things
So I realized yesterday when I posted that I didn´t give the ending to the allergy story! At least what I hope is the ending. I´m pretty sure my mask and latex gloves were to blame for my whole allergy episode. Friday I didn´t use latex at all and though I still was itching, for the first time that week I could tell that it wasn´t getting worse. At the moment I am I would say 95% itch free. It´s amazing! The only bummer is that now I have a full-blown cold, complete with a stuffy head that feels like it´s going to explode. My mom sent me a chicken broth recipe and I was able to make some today. Still not feeling better from the cold but I hope it will work. Drinking lots of liquids!
Now that the VA team is gone, I am feeling a bit homesick. It´s almost so bad that I wish I was going home on August 16th like the originally planned. But I know that I have to do this because God made it happen and there is a reason that He switched the plans for me. Either way, I can´t lie and say it isn´t hard being away from my family, especially my little sister. It makes me so sad that I am missing a full 5 months of her second year of life. I know that going home in November is going to a very happy time.
Sunday night as I sat drinking some tea with honey to soothe my throat, watching everyone else happily rattle on in Spanish, it was easy to think discouraging thoughts such as ``I´ll never, ever, especially by November, understand Spanish.`` But then I remembered- God likes impossible situations. There´s plenty of them in the Bible. The lion´s den. Esther. Jesus dying. When we only live in the possible, in the safe, we can have confidence in our own ability. When we live in the impossible, we are humbled by the realization that we are nothing and that Christ is everything. We have to trust and rely on Him for every step of the way. I don´t need to be down and depressed by the impossible. I can rejoice because whatever happens, Christ has the victory. I can give my best and trust God with everything else. And I can do it with a smile because Christ lives in me. I can expect great things.
Now that the VA team is gone, I am feeling a bit homesick. It´s almost so bad that I wish I was going home on August 16th like the originally planned. But I know that I have to do this because God made it happen and there is a reason that He switched the plans for me. Either way, I can´t lie and say it isn´t hard being away from my family, especially my little sister. It makes me so sad that I am missing a full 5 months of her second year of life. I know that going home in November is going to a very happy time.
Sunday night as I sat drinking some tea with honey to soothe my throat, watching everyone else happily rattle on in Spanish, it was easy to think discouraging thoughts such as ``I´ll never, ever, especially by November, understand Spanish.`` But then I remembered- God likes impossible situations. There´s plenty of them in the Bible. The lion´s den. Esther. Jesus dying. When we only live in the possible, in the safe, we can have confidence in our own ability. When we live in the impossible, we are humbled by the realization that we are nothing and that Christ is everything. We have to trust and rely on Him for every step of the way. I don´t need to be down and depressed by the impossible. I can rejoice because whatever happens, Christ has the victory. I can give my best and trust God with everything else. And I can do it with a smile because Christ lives in me. I can expect great things.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Week in a large nutshell part 2
Here are some more journal entries from the rest of the week:
August 1st, 2012 Wednesday
August already! We are in the car on the way to Jalapa. It is past 2 o`clock and we haven´t eaten lunch but I´m not hungry-I´m dealing with a pretty bad allergic reaction still. Around my mouth is not getting better. Maybe worse. Everything is itchy- my ears, my face, my neck. It is very irritating and hard to work with. I started tearing up while talking about it earlier today because I am afraid of it getting even worse (as in, my throat closing up) and not being able to counter-act it, because I don´t have an epi-pen with me and my benedryl is not working. Usually when I take benedryl it kicks it out of my system. I am going to stop eating the granola and walnuts that came in the suitcase for me on Saturday, because that is the only new food that I have started eating this week, and I´ve been eating it everyday since I got it. I really hope that that is what it is, and that I feel better soon. Otherwise, I don´t know what to do. Could it be a reaction to the bugs that are biting me? My ear kinda feels like that. It´s so itchy! I really don´t want to die from an allergic reaction, where I can´t breathe. Although, Dan Zellner (a missionary here) made a good point earlier today by asking ``Well, how do you want to die? Everyone is going to die one day, you can´t escape that.`` I´m really having to trust God with this. It´s scary, but I´m glad that I know He is in control.
Later in the car ride I was able to listen to a sermon by John MacArthur. I´m really glad that I was able to load a bunch on my ipod before I came to Guate- I miss sermons that I can understand! The sermon I was listening to was about being thankful no matter what. When we look at life like we are not getting what we deserve, we are being prideful. In reality, we are sinners who don´t deserve anything! Everything that happens to me, especially bad things, are conforming me to the image of Christ. When you look at life that way, it has a profound impact on your attitude. It is encouraging for me to remember all of the hard times that God has already pulled me through and to look forward to how He is going to work through my current trial, however small or big it is. Give thanks for everything.
August 2nd, 2012 Thursday
Today was a good day. Minus the itching. Halfway though the day today I started using latex-free gloves, and stopped using my mask. My face is puffy and is itchy up to the top of both cheeks. I´m a mess!
On the bright side, the clinic in Jalapa in my opinion is much nicer than the one in Miramar. No humidity and less bugs. We are inside with fans blowing on us so it isn´t too warm. At the end I started feeling hot because I was itching so much.
Today I assisted Dr. Leonel Bran. I first I thought it would be hard to learn to assist him, because I was used to assisting Dr. Candie all week, but I learned quickly and he was good to work for. I was excited because I knew the names of the tools in Spanish.
The morning flew by. My position assisting Dr. Bran was a lot more comfortable than with Dr. Candie, because I was sitting down and I didn´t have to hold a light because he had one on his head. Today I had not pain in my back or anything, just itchiness. It´s amazing how you can not think of much else when you´re itchy. At times, I would feel better but then it would come back really bad.
Both Thursday and Friday in Jalapa were more organized than Miramar, because we were serving the pastors and their families, so we had a list and knew how many patients we had. Friday was fun though I could tell that everyone was getting tired. The morning was shorter, we got to end around noon because we had less patients. Last minute, we had two more sign-ups. Dan Zellner came to Dr. Ruano and said ``Your friendly neighborhood policemen are here.`` Haha, at first I thought that meant trouble, but no, they just wanted their teeth done too!
August 1st, 2012 Wednesday
August already! We are in the car on the way to Jalapa. It is past 2 o`clock and we haven´t eaten lunch but I´m not hungry-I´m dealing with a pretty bad allergic reaction still. Around my mouth is not getting better. Maybe worse. Everything is itchy- my ears, my face, my neck. It is very irritating and hard to work with. I started tearing up while talking about it earlier today because I am afraid of it getting even worse (as in, my throat closing up) and not being able to counter-act it, because I don´t have an epi-pen with me and my benedryl is not working. Usually when I take benedryl it kicks it out of my system. I am going to stop eating the granola and walnuts that came in the suitcase for me on Saturday, because that is the only new food that I have started eating this week, and I´ve been eating it everyday since I got it. I really hope that that is what it is, and that I feel better soon. Otherwise, I don´t know what to do. Could it be a reaction to the bugs that are biting me? My ear kinda feels like that. It´s so itchy! I really don´t want to die from an allergic reaction, where I can´t breathe. Although, Dan Zellner (a missionary here) made a good point earlier today by asking ``Well, how do you want to die? Everyone is going to die one day, you can´t escape that.`` I´m really having to trust God with this. It´s scary, but I´m glad that I know He is in control.
Later in the car ride I was able to listen to a sermon by John MacArthur. I´m really glad that I was able to load a bunch on my ipod before I came to Guate- I miss sermons that I can understand! The sermon I was listening to was about being thankful no matter what. When we look at life like we are not getting what we deserve, we are being prideful. In reality, we are sinners who don´t deserve anything! Everything that happens to me, especially bad things, are conforming me to the image of Christ. When you look at life that way, it has a profound impact on your attitude. It is encouraging for me to remember all of the hard times that God has already pulled me through and to look forward to how He is going to work through my current trial, however small or big it is. Give thanks for everything.
August 2nd, 2012 Thursday
Today was a good day. Minus the itching. Halfway though the day today I started using latex-free gloves, and stopped using my mask. My face is puffy and is itchy up to the top of both cheeks. I´m a mess!
On the bright side, the clinic in Jalapa in my opinion is much nicer than the one in Miramar. No humidity and less bugs. We are inside with fans blowing on us so it isn´t too warm. At the end I started feeling hot because I was itching so much.
Today I assisted Dr. Leonel Bran. I first I thought it would be hard to learn to assist him, because I was used to assisting Dr. Candie all week, but I learned quickly and he was good to work for. I was excited because I knew the names of the tools in Spanish.
The morning flew by. My position assisting Dr. Bran was a lot more comfortable than with Dr. Candie, because I was sitting down and I didn´t have to hold a light because he had one on his head. Today I had not pain in my back or anything, just itchiness. It´s amazing how you can not think of much else when you´re itchy. At times, I would feel better but then it would come back really bad.
Both Thursday and Friday in Jalapa were more organized than Miramar, because we were serving the pastors and their families, so we had a list and knew how many patients we had. Friday was fun though I could tell that everyone was getting tired. The morning was shorter, we got to end around noon because we had less patients. Last minute, we had two more sign-ups. Dan Zellner came to Dr. Ruano and said ``Your friendly neighborhood policemen are here.`` Haha, at first I thought that meant trouble, but no, they just wanted their teeth done too!
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Week in a large nutshell
Alrighty here it goes....
I´m going to roughly go over the week with the help of my journal entries. There is a lot to write, so for today I´ll just write up to July 31st and try to get the rest written up by tomorrow.
Saturday the 28th the Ruano family and I picked up the team at the airport. I was super excited to see them! It was Nikki´s 18th birthday, so after dinner the boys set off firecrackers. It scared her at first! Me too, I have to admit. It was pretty funny. They were really loud when they lit a bunch of them at once. Some of the boys would light one at a time and throw so that it would explode in the air.
My suitcase came safely- unfortunately Dr. Grieco from the team didn´t get his suitcase. He had to wait until Monday for his. It was like Christmas unpacking! My mom is a superhero. My sister too. Kayleen baked me pistachio bars and granola. My mom packed everything really well, it was amazing. I have to say, I was most excited about my blue checkered Vans shoes. Yeah, I know. They are just shoes. But I didn´t realize how much I missed them!
Here starts the journal entries:
July 29, Sunday El Faro, Punta de Palma, Guatemala
The car ride to El Faro was pretty good. I made two bracelets on the way, one for Laura and one for Bryan. My lips have been bothering me all day- they are itching and I think it was a mango. Chochy says that if you eat it off the skin, it can bother you. I hope I´m not allergic because I love mangos! Next time I will peel it.
We are at El Faro now. I am sharing a bunk with Rossanita :) All us kids played soccer before dinner but I felt sick, a little dizzy and tired. The humidity is crazy here! I felt better after drinking a lot of water, which Mr. Zellner recommended. ```Drink more than you think you should!`` It helped.
We did some fishing off the dock. Well, Nathan , Bryan and Cameron did. The rest of us just watched. They caught a few fish, which was pretty cool. The weather is really nice at night. The breeze is chilly sometimes, but other times warm. There was a lot of lightning, but no rain.
July 30th, Monday afternoon
The view right now is ridiculous. It´s just like a photo from my tropical calendar at home. I´m on the dock at El Faro and the other kids are jumping off into the water and swimming. . I woke up at 2:30 this morning to thunder and pouring down rain. Thankfully I was able to fall asleep quickly and didn´t wake up again until 6:20 am. Breakfast was at 7, and then we got on the boat around 7:30. The boat ride was really fun. We took two boats, one for all the supplies, and one for us. It took about 25 minutes to get to Miramar, the village where we were working. We had to go by water because there are no roads to get there.
We had a pretty good dental clinic. It took a while to unload and set up. We had 4 dentists, Dr. Gilberto, Dr. Ruano, Dr. Grieco and Dr. Candie. I got to assist Dr. Candie. I held a light for her, fetched different tools, and cleaned up. I was excited because she mostly spoke Spanish with me, so I got to learn the names of the instruments in Spanish better. Well, I was excited that I learned the names of the instruments period. Haha. The whole day we saw around 40 patients total.
I am so thankful to God right now for the blessing that this trip is. The whole team is getting along fantastic and it is a lot of fun hanging out with and getting to know better the girls, Nikki, Laura and Heidi. We laugh a lot! It´s fun to talk English again and have jokes together that make us laugh until our sides hurt.
July 31st, Tuesday
It is so cool because on the boatride to Miramar, you can see Belize!
I am so exhausted. Last night I prayed that we would give everything we had, and today, I did. The morning went really slow, especially compared to yesterday. It seems like I got bit in every possible place, even though I put on bug spray. My legs, arms, ears, even my lips itch. I´m still having an allergic reaction to something. So strange. I´m an itchy mess. My lips feel almost numb and they are blotchy, like some of the color is missing out of them. I don´t know if it´s something I ate or what. It´s frustrating that I don´t know what caused it.
Assisting was difficult today. My back hurt and I could feel sweat rolling slowly down my back. The breeze stopped mid-morning and it was complete humidity. It was awful. I knew I couldn´t do it on my own strength, so I just prayed for God to help me because I was breaking. Thankfully, I was able to have a smile on my face and I made it through! Something that helped me was Bryan. While I was getting some clean tools or something, he saw me and gave me a big hug. It just made my day and put a big smile on my face.
Tomorrow is travel day and sort of a rest day. I´m going to be so thankful for a rest for my feet! They are so tired from standing all day. I don´t remember being this tired at Piedras Grandes, the last dental trip I went on in October. And there, we worked longer hours.
When we got back from the clinic after a very refreshing yet very bumpy boatride, we ate lunch (I was super hungry so it tasted soo good). After lunch, we went swimming in the warm water. A storm was coming and there was a lot of breeze, so it felt good. After swimming, we changed to play soccer. By the time we got to the small-sized soccer field, all of these dark cloud had moved in and it was almost completely dark. It is amazing how fast it gets dark here.
I´m going to roughly go over the week with the help of my journal entries. There is a lot to write, so for today I´ll just write up to July 31st and try to get the rest written up by tomorrow.
Saturday the 28th the Ruano family and I picked up the team at the airport. I was super excited to see them! It was Nikki´s 18th birthday, so after dinner the boys set off firecrackers. It scared her at first! Me too, I have to admit. It was pretty funny. They were really loud when they lit a bunch of them at once. Some of the boys would light one at a time and throw so that it would explode in the air.
My suitcase came safely- unfortunately Dr. Grieco from the team didn´t get his suitcase. He had to wait until Monday for his. It was like Christmas unpacking! My mom is a superhero. My sister too. Kayleen baked me pistachio bars and granola. My mom packed everything really well, it was amazing. I have to say, I was most excited about my blue checkered Vans shoes. Yeah, I know. They are just shoes. But I didn´t realize how much I missed them!
Here starts the journal entries:
July 29, Sunday El Faro, Punta de Palma, Guatemala
The car ride to El Faro was pretty good. I made two bracelets on the way, one for Laura and one for Bryan. My lips have been bothering me all day- they are itching and I think it was a mango. Chochy says that if you eat it off the skin, it can bother you. I hope I´m not allergic because I love mangos! Next time I will peel it.
We are at El Faro now. I am sharing a bunk with Rossanita :) All us kids played soccer before dinner but I felt sick, a little dizzy and tired. The humidity is crazy here! I felt better after drinking a lot of water, which Mr. Zellner recommended. ```Drink more than you think you should!`` It helped.
We did some fishing off the dock. Well, Nathan , Bryan and Cameron did. The rest of us just watched. They caught a few fish, which was pretty cool. The weather is really nice at night. The breeze is chilly sometimes, but other times warm. There was a lot of lightning, but no rain.
July 30th, Monday afternoon
The view right now is ridiculous. It´s just like a photo from my tropical calendar at home. I´m on the dock at El Faro and the other kids are jumping off into the water and swimming. . I woke up at 2:30 this morning to thunder and pouring down rain. Thankfully I was able to fall asleep quickly and didn´t wake up again until 6:20 am. Breakfast was at 7, and then we got on the boat around 7:30. The boat ride was really fun. We took two boats, one for all the supplies, and one for us. It took about 25 minutes to get to Miramar, the village where we were working. We had to go by water because there are no roads to get there.
We had a pretty good dental clinic. It took a while to unload and set up. We had 4 dentists, Dr. Gilberto, Dr. Ruano, Dr. Grieco and Dr. Candie. I got to assist Dr. Candie. I held a light for her, fetched different tools, and cleaned up. I was excited because she mostly spoke Spanish with me, so I got to learn the names of the instruments in Spanish better. Well, I was excited that I learned the names of the instruments period. Haha. The whole day we saw around 40 patients total.
I am so thankful to God right now for the blessing that this trip is. The whole team is getting along fantastic and it is a lot of fun hanging out with and getting to know better the girls, Nikki, Laura and Heidi. We laugh a lot! It´s fun to talk English again and have jokes together that make us laugh until our sides hurt.
July 31st, Tuesday
It is so cool because on the boatride to Miramar, you can see Belize!
I am so exhausted. Last night I prayed that we would give everything we had, and today, I did. The morning went really slow, especially compared to yesterday. It seems like I got bit in every possible place, even though I put on bug spray. My legs, arms, ears, even my lips itch. I´m still having an allergic reaction to something. So strange. I´m an itchy mess. My lips feel almost numb and they are blotchy, like some of the color is missing out of them. I don´t know if it´s something I ate or what. It´s frustrating that I don´t know what caused it.
Assisting was difficult today. My back hurt and I could feel sweat rolling slowly down my back. The breeze stopped mid-morning and it was complete humidity. It was awful. I knew I couldn´t do it on my own strength, so I just prayed for God to help me because I was breaking. Thankfully, I was able to have a smile on my face and I made it through! Something that helped me was Bryan. While I was getting some clean tools or something, he saw me and gave me a big hug. It just made my day and put a big smile on my face.
Tomorrow is travel day and sort of a rest day. I´m going to be so thankful for a rest for my feet! They are so tired from standing all day. I don´t remember being this tired at Piedras Grandes, the last dental trip I went on in October. And there, we worked longer hours.
When we got back from the clinic after a very refreshing yet very bumpy boatride, we ate lunch (I was super hungry so it tasted soo good). After lunch, we went swimming in the warm water. A storm was coming and there was a lot of breeze, so it felt good. After swimming, we changed to play soccer. By the time we got to the small-sized soccer field, all of these dark cloud had moved in and it was almost completely dark. It is amazing how fast it gets dark here.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Off to El Faro!
The Chantilly Bible team from VA is coming to Guatemala this afternoon! I´m excited to see them. It also means that I´ll be talking English all week. I think it will be a nice break so that I can start fresh learning Spanish again when they leave.
Sorry I haven´t posted for a week. Honestly, I felt like there wasn´t anything interesting to post about since everything I´m doing is just everyday stuff. Everyday we go walking in the morning, and everyday we go to the market to buy fresh fruit or vegetables. One of my favorite foods here that Chochy makes is Caldo de Res, which is a beef stew with huge pieces of vegetables. I learned how to make it so hopefully when I get back to the US I can attempt to make it for my family. I went with Rossanita to the market to buy carrots, potatoes, half a squash called guicoy, a potato-like vegetable called guisquil, cilantro and corn. Guess how much it all cost? Q25! That´s less than $3.50!
On Wednesday night we went to the movies as a special treat. It was in a really nice mall. There were palm trees inside and a waterfall type thing. We ate at the food court before the movie started. Everything was really clean and modern. There was a Subway, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and even a sushi place. I didn´t feel like I was in Guatemala haha. I ate salad from a place called ``Go Green``and it was really delicious buuut the next morning I was a little sick...the Ruanos told me it probably was the salad. I thought I would have felt sick sooner, but they said it takes like 6 hours. All day Thursday I felt kind of weird, but I think I´m completely better now. On top of that I was battling a cold. I´ve been trying to eat a lot of fruit to keep up my vitamin C. I´ve been able to eat mango everyday this week! I am so happy.
Thursday we went to Price Smart. It is so similar to Costco. They have some of the same products and even have frozen swirl yogurt at the food court! We bought a bunch of food and supplies for the team. It was so funny how at home I felt there, since my family practically lives at Costco in VA.
I´m really excited about my suitcase coming! Thank you Zellners!! Now I have to organize all my junk and pack for the trip. We are leaving tomorrow for El Faro at 9 so I´d better get on it. Wednesday we will go to Jalapa and then will return Friday afternoon. As far as I know, I will be assisting either Dr. Grieco from the team or Dr. Ruano, but who knows. I don´t think I´ll be able to post all week so I´ll give a summary of the trip when I get back sometime next weekend. Please keep praying that I will completely recover from my cold or whatever it is. I´ve been sneezing like crazy! And pray that they team will accomplish what God wants them to do and that it will be a good week of serving together. Gracias!
Sorry I haven´t posted for a week. Honestly, I felt like there wasn´t anything interesting to post about since everything I´m doing is just everyday stuff. Everyday we go walking in the morning, and everyday we go to the market to buy fresh fruit or vegetables. One of my favorite foods here that Chochy makes is Caldo de Res, which is a beef stew with huge pieces of vegetables. I learned how to make it so hopefully when I get back to the US I can attempt to make it for my family. I went with Rossanita to the market to buy carrots, potatoes, half a squash called guicoy, a potato-like vegetable called guisquil, cilantro and corn. Guess how much it all cost? Q25! That´s less than $3.50!
On Wednesday night we went to the movies as a special treat. It was in a really nice mall. There were palm trees inside and a waterfall type thing. We ate at the food court before the movie started. Everything was really clean and modern. There was a Subway, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and even a sushi place. I didn´t feel like I was in Guatemala haha. I ate salad from a place called ``Go Green``and it was really delicious buuut the next morning I was a little sick...the Ruanos told me it probably was the salad. I thought I would have felt sick sooner, but they said it takes like 6 hours. All day Thursday I felt kind of weird, but I think I´m completely better now. On top of that I was battling a cold. I´ve been trying to eat a lot of fruit to keep up my vitamin C. I´ve been able to eat mango everyday this week! I am so happy.
Thursday we went to Price Smart. It is so similar to Costco. They have some of the same products and even have frozen swirl yogurt at the food court! We bought a bunch of food and supplies for the team. It was so funny how at home I felt there, since my family practically lives at Costco in VA.
I´m really excited about my suitcase coming! Thank you Zellners!! Now I have to organize all my junk and pack for the trip. We are leaving tomorrow for El Faro at 9 so I´d better get on it. Wednesday we will go to Jalapa and then will return Friday afternoon. As far as I know, I will be assisting either Dr. Grieco from the team or Dr. Ruano, but who knows. I don´t think I´ll be able to post all week so I´ll give a summary of the trip when I get back sometime next weekend. Please keep praying that I will completely recover from my cold or whatever it is. I´ve been sneezing like crazy! And pray that they team will accomplish what God wants them to do and that it will be a good week of serving together. Gracias!
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