Day 7

Day 7- Thursday

First thing Thursday morning, we visited the School of Hope which is located a few hundred yards from the orphanage. This is an English immersion Christian school for grades 1-6 where all age applicable children from the orphanage attend. There are now approximately 40 students from the surrounding area that attend and their tuition helps fund the School of Hope. This is a wonderful opportunity to receive a Christian education along with English classes.

By 9:00 am, we were busy with work projects at the orphanage. We finished painting two additional bathrooms as well as completing the remaining shower repairs. New shower curtains were hung in all bathrooms. This was a high light especially for some of the older girls staying at the orphanage who desired personal time and space. Other small improvements included fabricating an indoor clothes drying rack, expanding the kitchen faucets, and painting a small mural in the dining room featuring our Bible verse and theme from this week (Philippians 2:15-16). Following the completion of these projects, a traditional Guatemalan meal of tamales was served to us.

Today, we hosted a "carnival," which included a mock snowball fight, fake snow, Go Fish, a photo booth, and other games. The kids have never experienced snow, and despite the lack of cold temperatures, the replication was accurate! It was a wild and fun time for everyone involved! Around 5:30 we started the grill and served hot dogs and chips. The kids ate every last hot dog of the 160 that we purchased. Following dinner, we were assembled for a speech from Dr. Caesar thanking us and our work. At the end of the short programme, every child lined up and gave us all a hug (some went through the line multiple times). This was a unique experience and allowed us to personally say good bye to each child. Parting was hard for all of us, as we had a beautiful time connecting and forming bonds and relationships with many children and staff!

Please pray continually for the light of Christ to minister to each and everyone of these children even after we have left, as well as safe travels for the days ahead. Gracias!

P.S. Later today we will try to post some photos of our week!