The New Adventures of a Kansas Red Head

It is bittersweet to think that I only have a few days left here at the Eagle's Nest. I am excited to see my family and Josh, but I don't want to leave here! Let me fill you in on what has been going on around here from where I left off.

Thursday I worked at the school in the morning teaching the kids English. We are having fun with the classes and it is really cool to hear them sing "The Wheels on the Bus". After school I had lunch with the Sunrise group then went to Manna. Once Manna was over I went and played with the kids at the home and helped them with their homework. For Dinner I had a friend, Maria, from the Sunrise group over and we had jalapeno chicken with black beans and pineapple. It was delicious!!! I am excited I now know how to cook with jalapenos.

Friday I went with the Sunrise group to Cables Extremos, a zip line place, and Pana. Before we did the zip lines we went to see the monkeys they have there. They were so cute!!! One of the girls threw a banana to one of the monkeys and it went down to grab it and ate it. Once we had our fun with the monkeys we started our trek up to the zip lines. There were 8 zip lines we had to do to get down the mountain. We were above the tree lines at some points which was really cool. At the end of the zip lines we had to do an obstacle course to get back to our car. That was the hardest thing we did at Cables Extremos. After that fun we ate at Sunset in Pana and did some street ministry. Two if the Sunrise people do spray paint art to depict how God can take a person and make them into something beautiful. It was really cool to watch them do this. I got to translate for them... which was a little nerve wrecking. I messed up a few times but once I finally got it, it was not so hard. I never though I would be able to do something like that, I am so glad God allowed me that opportunity.

Saturday the Sunrise group left but we got two new groups to help for my last week here. Before they got to the Eagles Nest all of us interns went to Pana for one last outing together. We had barbecue and did some shopping. When we got back we helped the new groups get settled in and gave them their orientation.

Sunday we had church and then we had as an intern family breakfast for lunch. We made eggs, pancakes and had some other breakfast essentials. It was delicious. I definitely going to miss my intern family. That afternoon I went to the dispensa with Emily and Hope, 2 of the interns, to get stuff to make peach empanadas. We ate at the Patlan's house that night and we wanted to make dessert for them. I had fun teaching them how to make the empanadas and we had fun eating them too. For dinner we had Chinese food. I do have to say Chinese food never passed through my mind on thing I would get to eat here, but once they said we were eating it I was super excited. The food was great, plus we had a great time hanging out as one big group for the last time before Jenny and Aaron left for the States. I do have to say I sure do miss them.

Monday I taught English to the kids in the school, helped with Manna, and then had fun with the kids at the children's home. After that I made myself dinner and decided to go to bed early.

Tuesday I taught English at the school again. I really have to say after this lesson I think the kids are really starting to understand what I have been teaching them. I left school early though to go to lunch with Missions Chicks, one of the groups here at the moment. We went to Kachiquel Restaurant owned by a lady who used to work at the Eagle's Nest. She became ill and have to had surgery which caused her not to be able to work for a while. Because of this the Boggs and Patlan's had the idea to put a restaurant in her home. She makes authentic Guatemalan meals for visitors. We had chicken broth, rice, fried chicken, tortillas and little bananas. It was scrumptious! It was cool to see how a normal family lives around Solola and how their houses are set up. When we got back I helped with Manna and got to know the Michigan group a little better. They are a really neat group. After Manna I went to the children's home and played with the kids and helped with homework. For dinner I made spaghetti and then went to bed at a decent time.

Today I help in a classroom at the school. This is a first for me and I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed seeing what the kids do on a regular basis. After school I ate at the childrens home and then went to Manna. Today I got to translate. I cannot tell you how thankful I was to have Pedro Patlan there to help me; I am extremely thankful he has me do it though. He reminded me today that the only way to get better is to keep doing it. As much as it makes me nervous to translate I know he is right and I am glad Pedro asks me to so... even if I mess up my numbers. I went into Solola after hanging out with the kids for a while and got some muffins and pan dulce (sweet bread) for breakfast. I am so excited for breakfast!!!! When I got back I went and saw how the prayer walk is coming along that the Michigan group is making. Now here I am typing this blog that is probably too long. If you have read this far... thank you :)

Here are some lovely pictures!

Aaron and Jenny painted this on the sport court floor

Some of the Sunrise girls painting

This is our new boy Angel

The kids were allowed to watch a movie

The monkeys from Cables Extremos

The monkey eating the Banana

The Sunrise girls

The view from Sunset Restaurant

This is how the Interns wear their Toms! In Guatemala!

Some street performers we saw in Pana on our intern outing

Our wonderful breakfast for lunch

All of us Interns before Jenny and Aaron left

The kids taking comprehension tests

Me teaching English to the kindergartners

Anna Luz and I

Rosa and I

This is a Tuk-Tuk... one of the best ways to travel around here

Hope, Emily and I on the way to lunch

Avocados!!!! Not ripe enough to eat though

Walking in to the lady's home and restaurant

Washing our hands in the pila, the special sinks they use

All of us got to make one tortilla

This is how they cook the tortillas

Going into grandma's home, its in the middle of the home compound

This is where and how she cooks

Felis Patlan posing for me

Us interns are always ready to eat!

This says "but for me and my house we will serve Jehovah"

Our wonderful meal

Our little bananas for dessert

Such a tiring day Raul decided he needed to fall asleep on me... I didn't mind :)

What the kid's made in class today

They are such great kids!!!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I am sorry I did not blog yesterday; as much as I have tried to fight it off I am sick and I was too tired to do my blog yesterday. I would greatly appreciate your prayers. Let's start from where I left off.

Saturday I went with the Sunrise group to Santiago. I was glad that I got to go here for a second time because the first time i went, we just drove through. Santiago has a different atmosphere than Pana and Solola; it is really neat to see how different each town is. After we went to Santiago we spent the rest of the day in Pana. When we got back we had devotions as a groups. Afterwards we saw that the volcano in Antigua was erupting. I never thought I would see a volcano erupt in my whole life. Oh and don't worry no one that we know of was harmed.

Sunday we went to church and rested. We did go to Pollo Campero, a popular fast food place here, to eat dinner. When we came back we had a meeting with the interns, Pedro and Felis. We needed a plan of action for this week because we had so many thing happening at one time. After the meeting I did devotions with the Sunrise group.

Monday was the start of a hectic week. We had a couple from Ark City come in to see how the orphanage was doing, A group from Huston that go to Beth Moore's church come for two days, and a family that adopted 2 girls out of the orphanage before adoptions were closed. I worked at the school in the morning, doing English lessons and printing whatever the teachers needed printed. When I got done with school, I helped with Manna, the feeding program we have here. It was my first time to truly work with the kids in the program and I loved being with them. After manna I started to not feel well so I went and took a nap. When I felt better I made myself dinner then had devotions with the Sunrise group

Tuesday was not all that interesting for me because I slept the whole day. I did not feel well at all, but Mama Luki took care of me since my mom could not be here. She gave me some tabcin, the equivalent of alkacelser, and that made me feel better. I definitely needed that day of rest

Today, being the 4th of July, we took the day off and went to Antigua. Antigua is also very different than the other towns I have been to. It is more touristy and Americanized, but it has really pretty building and a beautiful history. For lunch we went to this place that means guardian angel in one of the indigenous languages common to the area. They had lunch crepes which were awesome! Afterwards we shopped and took in the sights. We got back to the Eagle's Nest kind of late so we all went our separate ways to do what we wanted before be. As you can tell I did my blog! :)

Here are some pictures from my adventures this week:

This was on the back of the seat in front of me on the boat to Santiago