Wow! This trip is way better than our last one!! So we arrived about 9 in Guatemala City and went to our first hotel in Chimale. The hotel was kind of creepy but very pretty! I roomed with Molly in the room next to Lucy and Allie. I set my iPod alarm for 6 am so Molly and I would have time to get ready. The next morning, we heard a knock on our door. Molly got up and opened it and it was Marlene and Nancy. They said that we are leaving in about a half an hour! I was like wait a minute; I set my alarm for six! So I went to go look at m iPod and it was set for Seattle time (which is and hour behind). The rest of the day we spent traveling to Jalapa which is about a 3 to 4 hour ride. When we arrived at the hotel, we were all in shock. The hotel was gorgeous!! My roommate for the next 6 nights was Lucy. Just because of experience rooming together, we have gotten to be really good friends. The first devotional was done by Nancy.
The next day was the day we did the wheelchair distribution with Dick, Chris, Saul, Jorje, Carlos, and 2 of Dick’s “kids” (Bryan, 12, and Cesar, 14). While we were finishing up the last kids at the distribution, we met the family we were going to build the house for. The father, Hugo, was married and had 5 children, one of them having a special need who is Hugo’s step son, with his wife when the family woke up one morning and the wife was gone. After a couple of months, one of the women, that new Hugo very well, tracked down the wife and found her in the U.S. The women said, supposedly, that the wife was trying to make a living in America. The wife had mortgaged the land until the lady that found her made the wife pay off the mortgage so Hugo could have the land. In less than a month, the last payment will be payed and Hugo will have his property back!
On Sunday, we went to Hugo’s house. The place was just like living in dirt with metal over your head! The wires were very close to the wood which could have burned down the house and the family in it. So we took down the house. The house took the family 6 years to build so it was very disappointing for the children to watch all their hard work be torn down by people they don’t even know. The youngest, Christi an, was crying the whole time we were taking the house down. It was very hard to take in but the good thing to remember is that the team is going to make the best house the family could even imagine!
On Monday, was the day the team would split up into 2 groups; one making to foundation for the house, and the other on the food distribution. I decided to go on the food distribution. The houses we visited were all very close to the house build. All the kids that lived around there followed the van and us helping with the clothes and the food. When we were finished, we headed back to the hotel to eat dinner.
Tuesday and Wednesday, I decided to stay and help with the house build and Josh would go on the distribution. I had the most fantastic time with the kids! They were all so happy and fun to play with. I don’t think I have ever had that much time with kids before. It was just amazing and heartwarming. My “boyfriends” well the ones that I played with the most were Cesar, 12, Kevin, 11, Omar, 6, and a bunch of other kids. Wednesday was our last day at the house build. It was hard to let go of the kids when you get so emotionally attached. Omar once called me mama, and Kevin’s mom told me that Kevin said he wanted to marry me! Kari reminded me that those kids will never forget us so when I go down in February, I’m going to Jalapa to maybe have dinner with Hugo’s family. After the house was finished, Hugo and his family were so happy! That night, the team traveled back to Chimale. I roomed with Molly at the hotel. The room had one bed…so that night I set my iPod for the right time! And it worked!
So today, Thursday, there was another house that hadn’t been finished. Half of the team went to finish the house and the other half went to another food distribution. I went on the food distribution. Where the distribution was, was right on the border of El Salvador. The road to the houses was closed and there was no other way to get there. So Chris stopped at a gas station to think of how we could get the food to the families. The social worker that helped us with the food distribution said she knew where she there was another way to the houses so she could deliver the food and clothes. So we met at a grocery store and helped load the suitcases into the back of the social workers truck. After that, we drove to the Lutheran Center in Antigua. Tomorrow we are going to Hermono Pedro and Saturday we leave.
This trip had been amazing!
Emma
