Once again we started today with Mass at 7am, the first reading talked about how Elijah didn’t hear God in the wind or the earthquake or the fire, but rather in the still small voice. Fr. Mark reminded us that we often find God in the little things, and that as we continue on our mission trip we should continue to do the little things well so as to meet God in those moments.

Breakfast today was pancakes with bananas and mango on top, ham omelettes, black beans, cereal and tortillas. After breakfast we went to Hogar los Gozosos which is an orphanage and school for children with special medical needs. When we first arrived the kids were putting on various short plays (the three little pigs, smurfs, etc.) so while they finished that, the director of the orphanage (Elsa) shared a little bit about the school and home. They have 22 children living there currently. Some of them are children whose families are just unable to care for them while others have been abandoned at the hospital or rescued from government run homes. Additionally they have opened up the school to the local children in the neighborhood who come each day to learn, but don’t necessarily have special or medical needs and still live at home with their parents. After learning about the home, we broke up into several groups and did various painting projects around the orphanage. My group painted a bedroom, others painted the kitchen, classrooms and the outer wall of the property. After we finished painting we had about an hour to spend playing with the children. I played with a little boy named Axel, he had the best laugh and loved playing with the ball. I also got to hold a little 6 month old baby named Juan. Juan’s mother is only 16 years old and has special needs and unfortunately was a victim of sexual assault and just is not equipped to care for her son who was born prematurely and has some complex medical needs. It was heartbreaking to hear this story, but the staff at the Los Gozosos are absolutely amazing and shower these kids with so much love and attention! Every child had a smile on their face and you can tell they are all well taken care of.

After the orphanage we went back to the convent for lunch which consisted of chicken, black beans, potatoes, and a tomato and cucumber salad. After lunch we transformed the dining room because 50 women from the women’s program were coming to share about the program. We set up all of the chairs in rows and moved the tables to the sides of the room. We brought all of the clothing donations that we had left and organized them into piles for men, women and children. Lindsay shared with the women where we were from and how excited we were to get to meet them and then each of the women stood, introduced themselves and shared their favorite part of the program. It was inspiring to hear how many of them shared that the classes that Yeimy teaches were their favorite part as well as how many thanked Yeimy for the program. Again, just goes to show what AMAZING work Yeimy and the team are doing here in Guatemala. After all of the women shared three of our students shared with the women words of gratitude and encouragement to continue working hard, letting them know we are proud of them and that we will be praying for them as they continue on in the program. Then the women had an opportunity to receive a bag of food (the same food we brought to our home visits) as well as go “shopping” from the numerous clothing items we had brought for them. It was so fun to see all of them so excited to get some new clothes.

After all of the women left Tony and his son (also Tony) treated all of us to a barbecue corn bake. They grilled the corn, then put butter, lime and salt on it, it was delicious and I had to stop myself at 2 ears of corn, but I probably could have eaten more. (I’m pretty sure one of the girls ate four pieces, that’s how good it was!)

This afternoon we had quite a bit of free time. I spent most of the afternoon just relaxing and talking with some of the teens and chaperones. I did sneak away at one point to get a shower in while no one else was using the showers, yay for hot water!! We then had adoration at 6pm so I got to spend some time in prayer thanking God for the many blessings in my life and praying for the people we encountered throughout this week. Then we had dinner, which was quite the surprise when we learned that the sisters made us cheeseburgers!! They were delicious and quite a hit with all of the teens!

After dinner we had pow wows, this time we broke up into guy/girl groups and the parents had their own group. I led a group of gals and we talked about the highs and lows from the last two days (since we didn’t have pow wow last night), how the two sick home visits compared to each other and where we had seen God this week. We also talked about what we expected this week to be and what it ended up looking like and how sometimes we set expectations but God has other plans and how we can use those moments as a time to praise God instead of getting annoyed or frustrated.

Now all of the teens are playing basketball in the rain as I lay in bed. I plan to do some reading and try to get to bed early (pending the teens aren’t too loud for too long…which means I’m probably not getting to bed early! 🤣)

Tomorrow is our last day of work projects so it is kind of bittersweet. While I am excited to have the hard work behind us, it also means the trip is coming to an end and that makes me sad. As we talked about in our pow wow, I am going to really enter into these last 48 hours and try to savor every moment!

For now, good night from Guatemala!