Today, I was blessed enough to ride in the van to the orphanage, and our whole van went to see Alejandro’s mother’s house. His mother lives in Old City, a village on our way to the orphanage. I had heard about it from Chad and Steve at devotions, but this was nothing that words can describe. Which is ironic, because that’s what I’m going to do right now. So bear with me.
We drove down a long, steep road, right up until the dead end. On each side of the road was a large gate. One looked like it lead to an old junk yard for chicken busses, and the other one lead to Alejandro’s mother’s house. When he opened the gate, there was no house in sight. Just giant piles of dirt, old broken down buses, and dying dogs. We followed Alejandro as he weaved through the bus remains and piles of dirt, and what was revealed to us will never leave my mind. I saw tin. Four tin walls and a tin roof. Dirt floors. No door. My heart broke. His mother is sixty six, but looks about eighty. She was frail and walked with a cane. Her leg was bandaged up because she fell yesterday. Her face was full of wrinkles and a sadness dwelled in her eyes. In her house lived HER mother, Alejandro’s grandmother, age eighty two, who looked in worse condition than her daughter, Alejandro’s sister, age sixteen, and her THREE kids, ages seven, three, and two months. In that tiny, two bedroom tin…not even a shed. They did their laundry outside and their bathroom was down the hill, in another tin lean-to.
They were very grateful to have us there, and very hospitable. I’ll upload pictures on facebook one of these days. Anyways, we then went to the orphanage and went straight to work. I was assigned to paint, which seemed to be a big job this year. Now that the INSIDE of the school was finished, We were assigned to paint the outside of the school. It’s not huge, but it’s a two-story building, with rough brick on half of the outside, making it impossible to roll. So 50% or so of the school was painted with a paintbrush, which took a lot of time. Our first batch of paint was MUCH too watered down, making it a pain to paint with…but we figured it out. We painted ALLLL morning until lunch.
After lunch, they announced that the children were going to do their presentation for us today. So we put the tables away and set up the chairs. I started sitting next to Rayann and Katie, then I sat between Alejandro and Brent. Then when everyone came in, those two moved and I sat next to Julisa and Jennifer. The little girls sang a song and did a little dance, then one of the older girls sang a worship song she wrote herself, which was beautiful, then the little boys, dressed as cowboys, did this little cowboy routine, which was so cute. While they did their show, it started raining outside. After receiving like three notes from the various children, which made my day, I learned the word for rain. Lluvia…I think. I was proud of myself. After the show, and after the rain, we didn’t have much time, so we were getting ready to get some work in before we had to leave.
Cesar, a friend who lives in Antigua and owns many clothing stores donated one pair of pants and two shirts to EVERY child at the orphanage, then invited us out to his van with a plethora of shirts sorted by sizes and gender, and we were all allowed to take a shirt. The brands are popular from the states, like Hollister, American Eagle, Aerie, Fox Racing, etc. I took a white aerie shirt with a flowery peace sign on it, which I love!
I put the shirt in the van so I wouldn’t get it dirty, and then headed back to work. We got quite a bit done, and I was finally able to use the rollers. When we were almost done, Katie decided to paint her shoes. Then she painted my shoes. Then she painted my arm and a paint fight broke out. I got yelled at to stop by Chad, and as I surrendered, I got a roller to the face, which was not only sticky and smelly and bad tasting, my skin was allergic. So then we cleaned up and I hopped in the van and hoped for a quick ride back to the hotel so I could shower.
Buuuuuut then we decided to go to Chimaltenango and buy clothes for Alejandro’s nieces and nephews. I decided to stay in the van, and painty and what not. The looks from the locals were nothing less than disturbing. I hopped in the passenger seat and stayed there. When everyone was finally done, they hopped back in and we headed to the hotel. After Jennie was done of course, I hopped in the shower and scrubbed every last bit of that dang red paint off my body. Then I went to supper, then devotions, you know. The usual. After devotions, I got an amazing back massage from Lorie (THANK YOU) and then I went on a walk with Alejandro around the community. Then I came back into the hotel and had a nice little chat with Katie, then we both headed to bed. What a day. Sorry I’m behind on the blog, It’s hard to stay ahead.
To recap Friday, I painted all morning, then did odd jobs in the afternoon. I sifted sand, took pictures, mixed mortar, hauled bags of concrete, etc. I spent a little bit of time with the kids, mostly at “Amy’s House” I believe it’s called? We played tag and messed around on the playground. I got a rose from Julisa, and had to say goodbye to everyone. To say I bauled my eyes out would be an understatement. Right as we were leaving, it started to downpour, and Ginger mentioned that “God is crying too”, which didn’t help the situation. The ride back was long, especially because I had a horrible headache. I headed STRAIGHT for the shower once I got here, and what do you know?! No cold water. I guess one of the water heaters broke, so I managed to get in Grandma and Grandpa’s shower. Thank goodness! Supper was amazing, filet mignon and mashed potatoes and some squash thing that I liked, so I ate three of them! (Other people gave me theirs.) Devotions went really well, though I was heartbroken that it was our last one. Alejandro bought me two boxes of my new favorite tea, Manzanilla I believe? I don’t know, but I loved it. I thought that was very sweet, so I’ll have to share some at home. We went on another walk, but a short one. Then I’ve been writing this. And it’s past one, so I need mucho sleepo! Haha, that’s how we always talk down here, because none of us know español. Oh well! We board the plane at…well, I don’t know. But we leave at nine thirty tomorrow morning, so pray for safe travels home! And if I somehow miss the plane, I’ll be alright, I promise
Love you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment