Parker & Stephanie Day 4

Today was a good day. It was a day of celebration. We celebrated new friendships, finished work, the salvation that comes through El Refugio, and last but not least, Joledy’s (No idea on the spelling) birthday. We started off the day a little earlier than the last couple days, requiring a couple more cups of coffee for some of us. Like I said, it was a good day, so no complaints there.

                Half of the group went to a brand new place, Palen, which I’m sure someone will share with you later on. Myself? Well, I went with the rest and headed back to El Refugio. This is one of my favorite places here in Guatemala. In my three years here, I have heard many stories that have completely broken me while allowing me to develop a new perspective and approach towards those around me. I’ve heard stories of death, extortion, assault, abuse, and beyond everything else, pain.  It’s hard to hear these stories and not believe that I need to change how I look at others. If this is the pain that exists in this country, what am I missing within my own? Who is in need of someone to assist them through their personal life, even if it’s as basic as saying hi, recognizing their presence in your life. Few of us (Parker, Miguel, Hally, Matt and Myself) have the ability to speak Spanish, but it doesn’t matter. The women have continuously reiterated their happiness that we are there and that we are present. It isn’t the big things we are doing, the projects don’t need to be done. It’s the desire to be present in their lives and learn about who they are as people.

                Today we listened to Olga speak. We learned not so much about her story, but that of her 14 year old daughter who had a child only two months ago. The child, Noe David, was a product of the sexual abuse of her stepfather. Forced to hide it for fear of her mother’s death, the girl was forced to say she had a boyfriend. The girl was ashamed and afraid and her mother filled with such hatred for the supposed boyfriend while feeling fear for her daughter’s personal safety. Pregnancy isn’t easy in Guatemala, but it’s even more difficult at the age of 14. But this story doesn’t end in sadness. They got out of there; Olga and her three daughters managed to escape to the sanctuary provided at El Refugio. The girl is able to live out her life as a mother, a student, and a 14 year old. She is always smiling, always excited to see us, and constantly happy. She handed me a kids book today and had me translate from English to Spanish, took some swings at the piñata, ran around playing backyard cycle. But she also was constantly aware of her child, swinging by to check on him, protecting him from the crazy swings of children and obviously loving him. It was quite the beautiful story, and they are all beautiful people. I am so glad that we get to serve here with these people. I am even more glad that they are serving us and teaching me life lessons that I could never forget.

                Beyond the talk, we spent the day working on a few projects. A huge group of us took an innovative look at plumbing. I can’t take any credit, but Doug, Machelle, Rose, Krystin, JanaLee, Riley, and Hally all put some serious work into digging out an old pipe and fixing it up so that an old room could be used. Before it was flooded as water got trapped from the constant downpour that occurs during the rainy season. They dug out part of the hillside and cemented an area in order to create a new draining system. The most creative part? The base of an ironing board as a grate for the water to flow through without the dirt coming through. It was a project that wasn’t planned but turned out super well! Outside of that, we had Wade working hard to finish the top later of the new addition upstairs. And our chefs? Well, let’s just say they did a stupendous job making sure that I wouldn’t regret eating 3 servings of food. It was everything that I needed! Personally I spent most of my time wandering around. Having learned the “recipe” to make the cement, Eric (the worker) trusted me enough to have Baza, Chloe and I mix up our own cement. That was quite the adventure. We might have had some disagreements but they were all playful and we were a super effective team. Loved every moment of it.

                The rest of the day consisted of soccer with the kids, running around as “the water police,” and connecting with the women. I translated for a woman upstairs who is on bedrest from a pregnancy issue, talked life with Gladys and Mari, and hung out with the kids. I love the friendships that develop so quickly and so intimately. Couldn’t ask for more! And now it’s the end of the day and, as tired as I am, I can’t wait for tomorrow. It’s time to go to the water park!    

So, like I said, today was a good day.

                                Parker Postlewait

Stephanie here! Well I am that person that is going to share about our brand new experience in Palin! So last night I am not going to lie, I was disappointed that I wasn’t going to get to go back to the women’s shelter because last trip, that was my favorite part. I loved creating relationships between the women and children and seeing the joy on their faces when I try and make tortillas or try and cut avocados. Well, I prayed that God would take that attitude of disappointment away from me and boy did he show me that His way is better than mine and He knows WAY better than I do. You see, during this trip I have struggled trying not to compare this trip to the last one, not being disappointed at things that aren’t the same as last time, and finding new things that really get to me because I have done most of the things that we are doing already and have already discovered many of the things that the people who are on the trip for the first time are discovering. As soon as we showed up in Palin however, God instantly told me, “This is what you asked for”. I wanted something new and I got it and it was as amazing experience as the very first time I came to Guatemala. Our team of 16 people worked so incredibly hard and well together it was amazing to see. We started by loading 4, 90lb bags of cement up a hill as well as 8 wheelbarrows full of sand, 6 wheelbarrows full of rock, and dumping 5 buckets of water (all of this 3 and a half times) mixing, and shoveling cement, then carrying 5 gallon buckets up some pretty rough terrain, in probably 90% humidity. Also I would like to add that we ALL got showed up by a 66 year-old lady who worked harder than anyone I have seen doing EVERY SINGLE ONE of those jobs including loading the 90lb bag… might I just say wow. But the coolest thing was, not one person asked to quit, complained or anything. They just jumped in and we had this unspoken rotation of shoveling to carrying buckets to taking the pictures to playing with kids to drinking water to loading wheelbarrows and back again. We worked like a well-oiled machine that didn’t stop until we finished the project way earlier than we expected. They said that it would have taken the two workers that were helping us, a month to do the work we did in a day! Talk about making you feel like you accomplished something and were actually a blessing. I also got the chance to be a part of draining the well that they put their excess water where 3 guys descended down this sketchy ladder only attached at the top by some patchwork concrete and helping fill buckets to be hoisted up by us and dumped. This hole was filled with dirty water and mosquitos and was not the ideal place to be but the bonding that happened down in that hole and with the people who may or may not have been “accidentally” dumping water on their heads… it was just plain fun. Not to mention the abundance of children who act like they have known you forever the second they meet you. It was just an amazing day and I am SOOOOO glad God is bigger than me and has the control. OH!! AND I found a turtle (Tortuga in Spanish) and I named him Jorge (George in Spanish) and it turns out the Guatemalan worker’s name was Jorge and he thought it was quite hilarious that I named the turtle after him! So yea… Jorge el Tortuga! Anyway mom and dad if you are reading this I love you and miss you! Please continue to pray for our group for our journey to the villiages! Goodnight everyone! 

Stephanie Hicks :)