I started my day with Mass at 7:00am followed by breakfast at 8:00am. Today we had scrambled eggs, cereal, pancakes and my ever favorite tortillas!

After breakfast we grabbed all of the toys people brought for donations and loaded the bus to head into Chimaltenango where we went to an orphanage for special needs children called Hogar Los Gozosos. There we had an opportunity to play with the children and give nearly all of the walls a fresh coat of paint. The kiddos were adorable and so sweet! There are currently 19 children living there ranging in age from 3-27. All have some sort of special need, either physical or mental and have been ordered to this residence by the courts. Some have family who are just unable to care for them, and others have no family. The goal of the orphanage is to try to teach the individuals to be able to live on their own eventually. They receive physical and occupational therapy as well as attend school there at the orphanage. Additionally there are 15 or so children from the local community who attend school there as well.

We left the orphanage around 12:45pm and drove back to the convent for lunch. The menu today was hamburger patties, tortillas, pasta salad, broccoli and watermelon for dessert.

At 2:00pm we split into our groups again and went back to the place we did our chicken coop on Saturday to finish it up. We placed the final support beams/structure on the top part of the coop, put on the metal roof, wrapped the coop in chicken wire and created a door. The only ladder we had was a straight one missing the bottom rung, but we didn’t have anywhere to lean it in order to put the roof on, so I held the ladder up right while our mason Danny climbed up to secure the roof.

After we finished the coop we had a chance to talk with the lady who lived in the home, Cecelia, she told us how impressed she was with us. Other than our interpreter and mason, the rest of our group was ladies and she said that Guatemalan women don’t work as hard as we do and that she was very impressed with how strong we are and how we built the coop.

Overall it took about 2 hours to finish the chicken coop. Then we walked down into town where we met up with the rest of the groups for a time of playing soccer. Many of the interpreters and masons joined in on the game and the high schoolers had a blast! We ended up playing soccer for about an hour and a half before loading the bus to head back to the convent.

We had about an hour of free time where I was able to get showered and then the chaperones got some of our donations organized since we needed to get the items for the sisters pulled out from the rest and find all of the toiletry items. While we did that Tony and his son made us grilled corn. They seasoned it with lime and a little bit of salt and it might have been some of the most delicious corn I have ever had!

We ate dinner around 7pm – grilled chicken, an apple/grape fruit salad, soup (not sure on the flavor), bread and tortillas with pineapple for dessert. After dinner the superior of the religious community spoke (Sr. Veronica) to us about the history of their community. They are Carmelite Sisters and their main charism is to pray for peace, their community, their families and friends and all of their guests. They were founded originally to allow a way for indigenous Mayan women to have an opportunity to be a religious sister.

After sister spoke, Meynor (the main interpreter and one of the men who runs the mission we are serving at) gave us some information about the mission itself and the program they run/offer for the local people. While there have been people coming down from Kansas City for about 30 years, the formal program run by Meynor and Yeimy (pronounced “Jamie”) and others has only been going for about 10 years. The point of the program is to empower the people of Guatemala (especially women) to advance themselves and create a new way of life for their children. The people apply to be in the program and it is at least a one year commitment, but they can stay in the program longer if they choose. During the first year they attend coaching sessions where they are taught various practical life skills. The people are able to request a “project” that they are in need of and the trainings will also be geared around that. So if the people request a stove they are taught how to properly ventilate it so that the smoke doesn’t stay in their homes, how to gather and collect fire wood, etc. Some of the projects include the things we have been doing this week, tiny homes, chicken coops, pig pins, stoves, etc.

After dinner I went to bed!

It was an action packed day and I am feeling pretty sore, but it was so good! I am constantly amazing by the high school students here with us. None of them complain or shy away from the work that needs to be done. They have all jumped right in and are all more than willing to get involved in the building projects, even if that means getting quite dirty.

Mileage Tracker:

• 9,163 steps
• 4.00 miles