Ana

This morning at about 8:30, Jimmy, Julianna, Shannen, and I met with Ana, Eric and Lisa Schmid's sponsor child. She was with her mother, father, their social worker, and an interpreter. It was SO WONDERFUL! First, we sat down and had a great conversation with her about her life. School is going well; she loves math and does her homework during much of her free time. She's had to miss a bit recently due to an illness, but she seems to be fully recovered. We then exchanged gifts; we gave her the presents from Eric and Lisa and in return she presented us with gifts for Jeremy and Alice, their children. Then, we went out to the market where they purchased food for their family and a sweater and pair of shoes for Ana. To end the day in the best way possible, we got ice cream, of course. I must say, Guatemala's mango ice cream is beyond compare. 

Ana and her family were incredibly kind and grateful, welcoming us and all of the broken Spanish that came along with us. Eric and Lisa should be proud of Ana! Thank you for this opportunity to meet with such a wonderful family! 

Emiliana

This morning Steph, Danielle, Andrea, Nell, and I took a truck to San Andreas with two translators- one for English to Spanish and one from Spanish to Quichean. We went there to visit with Andrea's mother-in-law's sponsored woman Emiliana. She lives in a little town just outside of San Lucas. 

We got to go into her house and talk to her about how she's doing and what's new in her life. She also had a kitten which Nell got to name! (Linny) 

We took a tour of her house and got to see her yard and gardens. (Surprisingly big)

After that she took us to the church in San Andreas, and Nell and her granddaughter had to go to someone's house to get the key to unlock it! We looked around the church which was very small and then hung out outside te church for a while. 

We took some pictures together and said goodbyes. 

Emiliana has lived a hard life, but when we talked she just said that she was very happy, well, and peaceful. She lives with her daughter, her daughter's husband, and her granddaughter. (Her husband died 22 years ago) She said she was sad that after this week she won't have work because picking coffee berries will be done. There's no work in between seasons and so she'll have no source of income. So.. Remember to pray for Emiliana and her family! 

Also, consider sponsoring a child or elderly through Unbound (formerly known as CFCA). 

Peace and blessings everybody,

Emma Zvanovec

Fun Fun Fun

So. Much. To. Say. 

We started out yesterday (Tuesday) on the roof, overlooking the glorious Lake Atitlan, waiting for the sun to rise. We never quite saw it; there may have been a few mountains blocking our view. Darn. 

Soon, we were off to the construction site, a elementary school in a small community called San Jose. I spent my day on bucket duty, hauling the plastic containers up the hill that would soon be hauling the cement down the hill. Not only did I get some intensive cardio work, I also had the pleasure of seeing and hearing all of the wonderful faces and conversations of our own St. Wence group and the group that had joined us, the boys of St. Thomas. (WOOH!) What a beautiful bunch. We worked until noon and then headed back for lunch. After our delicious meal, our group and the MSU kids went to the Women's center to learn about Guatemalan culture. They let us try to balance a full basket on our heads, which they do every day and is HARD, we tried to carry 50 lbs. of wood on our backs, they carry 150, and we made tortillas on an open fire, as the women do daily. It was so great to be able to get snippets of the things that Guatemalans do on a daily basis. 

Soon after, some of us drove 45 minutes to attend daily mass in a village called Santa Theresa. Their church was BEAUTIFUL--simply constructed with an all blue interior, stained glass windows, and open doors and windows all around. Children ran in and out freely throughout the service and crowded around the windows; they had never seen so many white people before! They we so dang cute. Some girls reached through a window and played with my hair towards the end; I'm assuming my locks are quite exotic to them. 

The open-top truckride home was full of rain and singing. (We got through the entirety of Bohemian Rapspdy. I'm quite proud.) We came back to cold dinner and a birthday party! Megan, Mikayla, and a boy named Will from the MSU group all had/have birthdays this week. Nell gave the piñata a good beating. 

After, we had our group time full of glorious singing from P.J. and a beautiful testimony from Jimmy. His life, an incredible journey of faith and struggle taught us all the value of love and hope for happiness. 

This week has been everything. Fun, frustrating, rewarding, inspiring, hard, relaxing, faithful. AND IT'S NOT EVEN OVER! All y'all back home: we love you. We are all excited to see you and share everything we have learned about Guatemala. 

Don't miss me too much!!!! 

Emily 

Tuesday afternoon

Today we went to a school about 25 minutes out of San Lucas and we were doing construction! In some of the rooms of the school they were reding the cement floors. We formed an assembly line and passed down buckets of the cement nd rubble to the end destination. It was a lot of hard work but it was very fulfilling work! When the kids has recess some of them would help us carry the buckets to the next person! All of the kids loved seeing us and would just watch us work! Talking to the kids while we worked   Really took our minds off how hard it was and we enjoyed it more! It was an axing feeling once we finished and that we helped out the workers and the school! 

This is an answer to Amanda's question: I have always wanted to go on a mission trip because I wanted to help the people that are in need. I also wanted to experience a different culture and lots of wonderful people here! 

Hi mom and dad!

Danielle Simones

Party planning!

We have three birthdays to celebrate this week. Tonight we will have a big party for all three from our group. More to come later!

Also some have asked what the Mary statue is all about. Nell decided to document her trip by taking lots if pictures of her Mary statue throught out the ten day journey. We let her pick one each day to share with you all. She sleeps her her Mary too ;) 

Have a great day! Jesus, Mary and Jospeh- Pray for us! 

Night time stuff

It was awesome to start out our week with Sunday morning mass, which was all in Spanish. It was really cool to see how passionate the Guatemalans are about God. Every night, we split into small groups and talk about our days and what new experiences we've had so far. But first, we sing together in a large group lead by PJ, whose an amazing musician! In my small group, I love to hear one of our group leaders from Nashville talk about his day and how amazing God is for granting us this opportunity. Jimmy has so much to offer to us and it's exciting to continue learning about our Catholic faith through our own experiences throughout our day. Small group allows us to get closer to not only each other but to God as well. Guatemala is so beautiful and the people who live here are so kind that it's impossible to forget all God has given to us. Waking up every morning and seeing the breath taking mountains and the lake remind us that it's a great day to be alive and praise God. 

-Stephany

Monday: clinic morning and coffee afternoon

This morning at the clinic I met Dr. Will. He and his wife, a nurse, moved to Guatemala and now live on a farm 20 minutes away from San Lucas. He is the main doctor and works Mondays and Wednesdays at the clinic in San Lucas. On Thursday he drives to another town across the lake so those people don't have to drive far. I saw him remove and put on casts, pull stitches, and clean up cuts. One patient had been in a chicken bus accident where 8 people had died. Her femur was broken, and they went to a witch doctor to heal it. Her femur ended up healing on top of each other instead of end to end, also 2 inches shorter than her other leg. He and his team of doctors fixed it and she can walk evenly now! 

This afternoon a group of thirteen of us went to a coffee plant to sort through coffee beans. The guys put 100 pounds of coffee beans onto a strainer that was a large as a table.

There were seven of us at one table and six of us at another sorting through the beans picking out all the black ones and putting them into seperate bowls. We spent around three hours picking out the beans and sifting through them. Once we were finished we all walked back to the hotel or walked around by the shops.

Question of the day: 

What do you feel about what you are doing?

What we are doing personally feels amazing. We have only been here for 3 days and already it feels like I'm doing something better than just sitting at home. Today I felt like I was helping by sorting through the coffee beans even though it wasn't much. Throughout the week I hope that I end up making more of a difference than I did just today. 

-Sam and Cami Brod