Day 7: Yo quiero zapatos. Friday

We started off the morning with Khadijah's devotion and then we shared personal prayer requests. We then prayed for each other.
Today we first drove to the dump. This dump is the largest in central America and 3rd largest in the world. Pablo explained that the men and women that come into this dump are in a position where they either scavage in the dump or they sell drugs or prostetute themselves for survival. That reality is so hard for me to grasp. I live in a country where even if you have absolutely no money and no assests, you have opportunity. We have scholarships, we have wellfare, we have social services, we have OPPORTUNITY. These people have 2 choices.

Driving through the cemetery to get to the overlook of the dump.

Shacks that lined the cemetery.

Overlook of the dump. We prayed for the people and their families in the dump.

After seeing the dump we went to Safe Passage. They work with children and adults to educate them and teach them different trades so that they don't have to scavenge in the dump. We learned about the organization and then shopped at the jewelry shop where women make jewelry out of trash from the dump. Safe Passage teaches the women how to manage their microbusinesses.

After that we went back to the feeding site outside of the dump. It was the same place that we went to on Tuesday with Pastor Mercedez. This time we washed the children's feet and gave them new shoes. After we fitted the children for their size we gave them a card with a picture of one of the kids form Valley Grace Brethren Church because the kids raised money for the Guatemalans during VBS. I found kids their shoes after they were sized. I loved being able to take the time to tell them in Spanish about the kids from Valley and telling them that they are loved by Jesus. One child looked at me and said "Yo quiero zapatos" and I understood that she said "I love the shoes"! I was so excited to finally use my minimal spanish. Toward the end of hanidng out shoes a mother was crying. I asked her in Spanish if something was wrong or if she was having pain. She said no. Then it hit me, I said "conenta?" and she shook her head and said "si." This mother was moved to tears as her children received new shoes. That was such a special moment for me. The women who washed feet said that it was very humbling because the hygiene was extremely poor and the dirt was on their feet was so dense.

When we were driving away I saw these kids with their new shoes!

 After giving away the shoes we went back to Dorie's Promise to spend the rest of the day with the kids. I played with Alex and we played cards with Louis and another little girl. They love Uno!

Louis

Louis and his many expressions. The bottom 2 pictures are of him "shuffling" and handing out the deck. Which was him handing out the cards that he wanted to to who he wanted to. He liked me because I had a good hand with lots of wilds! :)

Alex and Wendy

The little girl beside Karen took Uno very seriously and she was good at the game!

Alex and Leslie

Alex and me at dinner! I love this precious boy!

We had a dance party with disco after dinner! So much fun!!!

Honestly, my heart was very sad to have to say goodbye. God definitely worked in my heart in a special way to love these kids and especially Alex and Elvis. I pray for them daily and it still warms my heart when I think of their giggles.

Day 6: What it feels like to be hungry Thursday

Becky opened up the day with a really impactful devotion. She asked if we have every been really hungry. Although most of us agreed that our experiences of hunger are not nearly the same as true hunger or starvation, we were able to think of a time that we might have felt hunger of some sort. When someone is really hungry they will do anything to get food. She made the connection between this physical reality and being spiritually hungry for God. If we are truly hungry and thirsty for righteousness we would do anything to know God more and to be satisfied by Him alone. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Matthew 5:6. To take this a step further we talked about he correlation between that and fasting.
Today was something of an off day because we were able to go to Volcano Pacaya and ride horses up it. That was amazing! My guide's name was Micheal. When we reached the top there was a volcano shop with really awesome jewelry and trinkets that were made from the volcano rock.

The view during the ride up the volcano was insane! Guatemala is a beautiful country!

My guide, Micheal. He looked like he was having back pain so I prayed for him during our time together. 

Abel was in charge of teaching children how to brush their teeth at the feeding site that we went to. He used my aunt and uncle's dental horse puppet to show kids how to brush their teeth. So it was only fitting that he had a random toothbrush with him on our ride and pretended to brush the real horse's teeth.

The view!

The scariest part of the ride was down some loose dirt at the top of the volcano. That was exciting to say the least.

The Volcano shop. The last time Pacaya errupted it destroyed a village. The village took this negative event and decided to make it into a positive by taking the lava rock and making it into jewerly. It was very inspiring and really really neat items!

When you bought something they put it in these bags that were made of old women's traditional clothing.

After the ride we had the opportunity to go to a market to buy souvenirs.

I can't remember her name, it was very unique, but she was so much fun to shop at her stand. She let me try on lots of ponchos and scarves!

After our time to explore and shop we went back to Dorie's promise and spent time with the kids. I love spending time with my boys, Alex and Elvis. I did zumba with Alex and Lexie danced with Elvis. Their giggles and hugs are so precious in my memory. (No pictures because I was savoring the moment!)