Thursday

This morning many of us experienced our first earthquake. It was a rather large one, but was focused in other parts of Guatemala so we only felt a little shaking. After a grab and go breakfast of fruit and cereal, Carlos led devotion. He reminded everyone to acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit and moved us with his beautiful singing. We took about an hour's drive to Gonzalez Park in the vans. Sharon got to meet her sponsor child this morning, which she enjoyed very much. A group of us also went to visit Pastor Steve's sponsor child Dulce before lunch. Her mother recently had a baby which Pastor Steve and Ellie both held. Next we enjoyed our sandwiches and chikys before we made the short walk from Gonzalez Park to John the Baptist Park. Many children there were playing and reading the books we brought with us, so we got to spend time with them before we started our faith lessons. Hayden and Ellie both had fan clubs and it was quite funny to see the swarms of children surrounding them. Kathy asked me to keep you updated about her recent experiences with gum. Her tooth chipped yesterday while she was chewing it, and today she managed to sit down in some. What a great start to faith lessons! The kids became very excited about the songs they got to sing and it was amazing to see their energy. After part of the faith lessons, Bella and I got to spend time in the traveling medical clinic that Groundwork Guatemala provides. Sabrina helped us exercise our critical thinking and also allowed me to assist with patients. Before we left the mission site, both Noah and Ellie got to meet their sponsor children and it was very sweet. On the way back to the house, Ana kept everyone in the gray van laughing about the silliest of things. From what I've heard, Manuel drove the group in the blue van on quite the scenic route. When the blue van finally made it back, we had a supper of tacos vegetarian style. All of  us would like to praise Ginny for the many delicious meals she has prepared for us throughout the week. George Ledger stopped by the mission house as we finished eating and showed us beautiful carpentry from Only A Child Ministries that we visited earlier this week. He wasn't there on Monday when we toured his shop, so he was happy to come share with us this evening. The day ended very emotionally with the night's devotion. We found ourselves very humbled when we took turns washing each other's feet as Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. Many tears were shed as we bowed our heads in prayer.   -Hallie