Last Best Week

If I have learned anything over this past 2 months here in Guatemala, I have learned it in this last week.

We spent the first couple of days helping paint a new building at a campus called "Casa Alleluya". This school houses 350 kids from age 0-18 who have been abused, neglected or court ordered to be away from their homes. This 25 acre campus has facilities to house all of the kids, educate them and give them skills to succeed and move off of the campus and be an asset to the community. They also have full time welders, carpenters, nurses and counselors to help with all kinds of needs.

The next days we spent time at a school for the mentally and physically handicapped children. This school is rooted in one of the poorest towns just outside of Antigua and thanks to many people's donations, God has blessed this school with even its own elevator (one of the few in all of Guatemala). Most kids who are handicapped are not educated and the Guatemalans don't necessarily feel they even need an education. This school is a light in the darkness.

Next, we stopped at an orphanage/school for a day and played games with these joyful and most polite kids. They were so thankful and appreciative for us being there just to play games with them in the street and tell them silly stories. Guatemalans are a very gracious people.

To finish out the week a few of us spent the afternoon at "Casa Jackson", a home to 14 malnourished kids, all under the age of 3. They have a full-time nurse, 24 hours a day and a great staff as well as a constant flow of volunteers. I learned today that Guatemala is the 4th most malnourished country in all of the world, 2nd on the western side of the hemisphere. 49% of the children are malnourished and part of the reason they are a small people group is due to generations of malnourishment. Parents are uneducated and too poor to provide new babies with proper nutrition. Women often drink pots of coffee and only corn all day long, in turn, the breast milk has no nutrients combined with excessive caffeine. Or, they boil corn to eat and think that there are nutrients in the "corn water" and only feed their babies water. Some of the kids struggled to suck on the bottles because they had never really been fed before and their bodies had a hard time even digesting real food.

Today we got to play a vital role in these new babies lives by getting to hold them, feed them and help change them. If only for a day, it was the best day ever. The staff said that these kids who come to "Casa Jackson" leave fairly quickly, to a now-educated family, because of all the physical affection and attention they get all day long. God has made us to be loved. Here are some photos from the week. Just to give you an idea...the little baby girl in the yellow was 4 months old and weighed only 5.6 lbs.

1 week from today we fly back to Montana. We are all pretty excited to finally get back home, share stories and see our friends and family.

Coming to an End

Jackie:

We have just about two weeks left here in Guatemala. It's hard to believe our two months here is actually coming to an end. If I'm being completely honest, both Brenden and I are eager to return back to the States. We have greatly enjoyed this experience and just being completely immersed in another lifestyle for a short period of our lives. However, ideas, plans and desires for our future are ready to be played out in this next season of our lives. If anything, being a part of YWAM has taught me two things.

First, truly following Jesus has a cost. Often times I find myself holding onto areas of my life that I am unwilling to give over to God. I still struggle with this everyday. I have an idea of what I want for my life and what is best, not necessarily considering what God might think about it. Being almost 26 there are things I am facing now that I wouldn't think about a few years ago.. Starting a family, career, a home, etc. These are all things I am learning to daily trust God with.

Secondly, and the hope to our worries and concerns for following Jesus is that it IS worth it. Throughout this 6 minus we have visibly seen God provide for us over and over and over again. Even just quitting our secure jobs, moving and essentially having no income has been a true challenge for me. Everything I know that makes me feel secure has been left for now. God is good and a perfect friend to trust. The cost is worth it and He absolutely cares about the smallest of things in our lives.

February 4th we fly back ... Until then we will love and live as well as we can.

10 Days at Lake Atitlan

Jackie:
Our team just got back from spending 10 days with Pastor Antonio and his family in Lake Atitlan. We were so fortunate to stay at his home at the top of a large hill in San Pedro, one of the small water towns that surrounds the lake. There we helped build a house for a family in a nearby village, led church services, helped families pick coffee, prayed for some people who were sick and I even had a chance to sing my own song on a public radio station there. It was such a great time to get out of the city and really experience a different lifestyle. There is a strong Myan influence and the people speak primarily Tzutujil. The women all dress in traditional skirts and blouses full of color and its very common to see the old men wearing cowboy hats, colorful capri pants and carrying large machetes by their side. We also got the opportunity to take a crazy ferry boat ride, jump of rocks into the lake and dig a large, large hole to help for the house. (the guys on the team were obsessed).

Mizata, El Salvador

Brenden and I were so excited when our friend Carlos asked us if we wanted to go to the beach with him in El Salvador for the weekend. He and Brenden got talking about the beach, surfing and the coast and since he was from El Salvador and knew friends through Christian Surfers on the coast..he had great connections. We rode down with a few of Carlos' friends, spent the night in Sonsonate (about 30 mins from the coast) with another friend, Madrid, headed to the beach at 6am the next morning. We spent the day swimming, exploring and Brenden surfing some of the best waves of his life. The sand is black there from lava rock and the water is green and warm. Palm trees and grass shacks scatter along this small beach town called Mizata. We took naps, met new friends and ate eggs and beans. We stayed the night at a ministry house there on the beach. Basically a room with a mattress, bathroom, spiders and chickens and stray dogs roaming around in the yard filled with fallen coconuts.

Not having been to the ocean since August, Brenden and I had joyful hearts. We spent time talking about our love for the coastal lifestyle and reminiscing about the last 3 years we spent in the Outer Banks. Sunday we came back to Antigua on the chicken bus. Needless to say, this was quite an experience. These old school buses that travel around the country are packed like sardines. People are 3 deep on the benches and stuffed all throughout the aisles. This 3 hour ride was filled to the max with birds, mothers breast feeding in the aisles and sweat dripping like you've never felt before. Adventure is an understatement for this past weekend..too many stories to even write on this blog. However, we were glad to have met new friends and feel the salt water again!