This is from a few weeks ago, while I was in Guatemala, but I never got around to blogging about it... My experience there was great, different from anything else we've done on the race. A group of girls and I stayed in Antigua, Guatemala for about 10 days, and volunteered at a hospital/ orphanage for handicapped people. Their mental and physical disabilities ranged in severity, but unfortunately, many of their symptoms were worsened by lack of stimulation and attention. It was challenging and a little awkward at first, but by the end I had fallen in love with several of the people there, and was sad to leave.  

My favorite person to visit in the children's ward was a ten year-old boy named Diego. The children are put to bed in their cribs around 1:00pm, and aren't taken out again until 8:00am the next morning. Even when they're out, they spend most of the day lined up in their wheelchairs unless a visitor or volunteer is there to play with them.

 

On one afternoon, the courtyard was quiet except for a couple of kids, including Diego. I sat beside him and started tossing a small plastic ball into his lap, and his smile and laugh were so encouraging that soon we were racing around the courtyard playing soccer with a giant exercise ball.

 

That was the moment for me when I really realized that each one of the people there had unique personalities hidden behind their disabilities, it's sad that they're not always discovered. Something changed for me, and from then on I found it much easier to connect with the residents. I especially looked forward to seeing Diego's smile each day!

 

Today we visited a city dump in Managua, and I was completely humbled. Not only because of the conditions that the people live and work in, but because of the greeting I received.

 

You can smell the dump long before you actually enter it, a mixture of burning trash and things rotting. There are flies swarming everywhere, so I was thankful for the light rain because it seemed to keep them off us a little. As we were walking in, I just kept praying "Jesus, help me have Your heart here today."

 

 We had no agenda, so Aaron, Jeanette, and I were walking around, praying and seeking whatever the Lord had for us there. I was just saying to them how it's sometimes awkward to be in those situations, because I don't want people to think that we came there just to take some pictures and say we came. Right then, a woman working yelled and waved at us. We waved back, and after a short exchange with Aaron, she suddenly dropped her tools, ran over to us, and greeted us with hugs.

 

She told us that her name is Michelle, she's a Christian, and she's been working in the dump for fifteen years, since she was 12. I noticed two colorful plastic rings on her fingers, and when I pointed them out, she didn't hesitate to take one off and place it on my finger, saying something I didn't understand, and gesturing to her heart and mine.

 

She held our hands, and we walked and talked for a while, until the light rain started turning into a downpour. Before I knew it, Michelle ran off into the garbage pile, and returned with a muddy piece of tarp that she put over my head and hers. We all huddled together until the rain died down, and then

she led us to her house nearby.

 

It was a tiny shack, with barely enough room for one small bed. Her twin daughters sleep there, she said, and she and her husband sleep on the floor. In the corner was a barrel of clothing, and she insisted on giving me a dry shirt out of it that I could change into.

We stayed and talked for a little while, praying over her and her home, and making plans to meet again later this week. She found a small umbrella for me to use while walking back to the entrance, where she flagged down a garbage truck for us to catch a ride on back to the street.

 

I was still in somewhat of a state of disbelief as I looked back and waved goodbye.

 

From the first moment she ran over, Michelle had shown me nothing but selfless love, the kind that many Christians only talk about.  She was constantly looking after my needs, offering everything she had to me without expecting something in return. She didn't need to do any of it, she could have waved and let us keep walking. I was praying for the heart of Jesus, and I encountered her face-to-face. We talk about going to places like that to minister to people, but I was the one ministered to. God, help me to love people the way that I was loved today.

  More Pictures From The Dump:

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot has happened since I last blogged... We traveled for four days by bus from Panama up to Guatemala, where we stayed for about 10 days before getting back on a bus to come to Nicaragua, our last country! I can't believe it!

I'll try to catch up on my blogging, there's a lot to tell... But for now, here's some pictures of us at a volcano we visited in Guatemala.

We were even able to roast marshmallows over the lava! It was one of the coolest things I have even seen or done. Seeing the power and beauty of God's creation in a whole new way was incredible!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We came back from the islands yesterday morning. The 10 days we spent there were some of best days of the race for me! The island that we stayed on was small, you can walk from one side to the other in about a minute. It's packed with many small houses made of reeds. We slept in hammocks in the church building, which was fun once I mastered sleeping on my side in one. There wasn't much privacy, since there was no door, and 3 sides of the building have blocks with holes in them. At first I felt a little like we were living in a fish bowl, but it didn't take long to get used to it.

After another 16 hour bus ride, we're back in Panama! We've been staying in Panama City this past week, tutoring at an international school, and doing various other ministries.
Tomorrow morning our team is leaving for 10 days to go to Kuna Yala, a group of Islands North of here inhabited by indigenous people called the Kuna people. We're not exactly sure what we'll be doing during our stay there, but the local missionary we'll be working with has said that there is a need for encouragement, teaching, and prayer for the local pastors and churches.
We'll probably be out of touch until we get back to the city, so I'll update you again then!

   The Panama Canal

With the exception of Aaron, I've been away from the rest of my team now for over a week now. It's been strange, and has caused me to think a lot about what it's going to be like in a couple of months when we'll be going home... It will be so hard to leave them!