Only one week left!

I can't believe I only have ONE week left here at NLCH! The past two months have flown by! Tomorrow, Daniel and Kara are taking the remaining 6 interns (which are all girls...poor Daniel) to Panajachel for our Intern Retreat. This will be a time for us to relax, enjoy each others' company, and reminisce about our internship at NLCH- our favorite memories, our least favorite memories, the things God has revealed to us or taught us during this summer, etc. Please pray for safety as we travel tomorrow, as well as a safe and fun time on our retreat! And thank you all again for keeping me in your prayers this entire summer! God has watched over me and continues to watch over me! I'm so thankful for this home and for this summer! I'm so glad I spent my summer here!

Slumber party!

Last night, we (the interns) had a "slumber party" with some of the older girls at their house. (I put slumber party in quotes b/c some of us actually went back to the dorms to sleep) The night started off with us making Cinnamon Roll Bread. We used a recipe from Donnie Webb (the guy who was here a few weeks ago and is the head of Construction at NLCH). We made 4 times the recipe because we wanted 4 loaves, but after we made the dough, we remembered that his recipe makes 3 loaves. We had one big ball of dough! It was pretty awesome! We had to let the dough rise twice so Emily finished preparing it this morning at 2AM so we would be able to eat it at breakfast. Eslin also braided my hair into tiny braids last night....my entire head of hair! It only took her an hour. I was impressed, especially when I asked her if her hands were hurting and she said no. Check out some pics of all the fun we had:

[Mixing the ingredients for the Cinnamon Roll bread]


[Kneading the dough]


[Enjoying a BlowPop sucker]


[Delia took a lot of random photos of Teryn and I last night]


[Getting my hair braided]


[Eslin and B after the braids were finished]


[Debora, Eslin, and Delia eating breakfast]


[Emily, me, Ibet, and Teryn enjoying our Cinnamon Roll bread at breakfast this morning]

A day in Antigua.....with the Bright Star team!

Yesterday, I got to go with the Bright Star group to Antigua, Guatemala. It was so much fun! The van I rode in had Daniel (the driver), Richard Jacobus, the Grucas, the Altomares, the Reynolds, and the Peteros. Getting to listen to their conversations and enjoy one another’s company was cracking me up! They are all so funny! Our first stop of the day was at La Iglesia de San Francisco. This is the church that holds the bones of Santo Hermano Pedro, the only saint from Guatemala. We walked around the ruins, looked at the museum (where we saw Pedro’s burlap underwear that he wore to punish himself), and we also got to see inside of the church. Our second stop of the day was at the coffee plantation. We had a Spanish tour guide because the English one was not there, so Daniel translated for the group! He did an excellent job! I think the team really enjoyed this place since a lot of them love coffee! We ate NI-FU NI-FA for lunch; it’s a REALLY good steak restaurant in Antigua! It was awesome! We had salads from the salad bar, garlic bread, French fries, and giant steaks. We also decided to have dessert and split them with another person. Kara and I ordered the cheesecake, which was not like cheesecake in the U.S. It had a good crust, but that was about it. The actual cake part had a tofu texture; it jiggled when I touched it! After lunch we headed to the market for shopping. I got to help out the Reynolds with buying jewelry and t-shirts, and then I also helped Heather Petero barter for some things for her friends. I mainly acted as their translator; it was fun and very good practice for me! Oh and Bob Reynolds was cracking me up while I was shopping with him and Nancy. He was trying to figure out an easy way to calculate the exchange rate for quetzals to dollars in his head, which is very hard to do since it’s about 7.5 quetzals for every dollar, but he was determined to find an easy way to do it! And then on the way home, every time someone would mention how much they paid for something at the market, he would try to figure out how many American dollars they had spent. We were all cracking up. Bob had also made the mistake (earlier in the day) of calling a quetzal a “casino”, so we got the pleasure of making fun of him all day for that, too! It was a fun day with the Bright Star team in Antigua! I’m SO glad I was able to tag along and hang out with for day!

[Me at La Iglesia de San Francisco]


[A few of us at the ruins at La Iglesia de San Francisco]


[Tim and Kara in the van]


[Riding with the Bright Star crew to Antigua]


[Jim drinking his free cup of coffee at the Coffee museum]


[Lisa enjoying her cup of free coffee]


[Kara and I sipping on our coffees]


[The Bright Star team at the Coffee museum]


[The restaurant where we ate lunch]


[Jack drinking his Pepsi at NI-FU NI-FA]


[Raise your hand if you want black beans for lunch!]


[Heather and I at NI-FU NI-FA]


[Me with my very yummy steak]

A Busy and Fun Week With Bright Star!

The Bright Star team has kept me busy this past week, but I've loved every second of it! I'm so sad that they're leaving tomorrow...I wish they could stay one more week and then come home with me! Here are a few pics from this past week:



JUST KIDDING...JUST KIDDING! No worries....they DID do work this week and lots of it!
(Pics top to bottom: Richard working on a sculpture for the Comedor; Pam A. and Nancy painting the fishes that Richard made; Nancy painting Bob's face; Lisa and Debbie sharing some educational games for some of the teachers at New Life; Heather Petero painting guitars in the older boys' room)

Bright Star is working hard!

The Bright Star crew is working hard! In the past three days they've already organized the supply closet, painted the boys' rooms, cleaned 26 childrens' teeth, done mulitple construction projects, fixed the telephones, and helped Kara with grocery shopping! They've also spent a lot of times with the kids painting faces; playing four square, basketball, and football; and watching the futbol games! Check out some pics of the team in action:

(Richard painting the boys' room)


(Diane painting an ocean scene in the little boys' room)


(Jack Checking out the ceiling)


(The Altomares eating lunch with Sammy!)


(Tim and Karla)


(Bob Reynolds working hard)

MAMBO KING!!!!!!!

(Mambo King Walking towards us...he's the guy in the white suit in the middle!)

(My attempt at taking Mambo King's picture without looking obvious!)

So church was not only exciting because the Bright Star crew was there, but also because MAMBO KING came today! (Remember that "Mambo King"- that's not really his name, that's just what we call him- is the guy at church who dresses very flambouyantly and dances around during praise and worship time with his matching rag) When he first arrived at church today, Teryn, Beth, and I had a really good view of him- he was to our right a few rows up, but then the ushers moved him to the center, front row....the same as Pastor Jorge H. Lopez. He was wearing a white suit with black pinstripes and had a white rag today! Anyways, we were sad becasue we weren't able to get any close-up pictures or video footage before he moved. I attempted to take a video, but it was so dark that I couldn't hardly see him; plus, I had the camera at an akward angle because I was trying not to make it ovbious that I was taking a video. he wasn't as "dancy" today as he was last time, but that was probably because we only sang one fast song. I wasn't going to leave church today without getting a picture of him, so I decided to try to take one as everyone was leaving. Beth and I waiting around the front in hopes that he would walk by. I got some pretty good pics of him for trying to not be too obvious about it. For one of the photos, I tried to look like I was taking a picture of the stage. Kara came up to Beth and I right as he passed us, and she said that it would be so cool if we could get a picture with him...and that SHE would ask him. At first, i was a little hesitant, but then thought, "What the heck?" Sure enough, Kara went up to him (and his wife) and asked. She said that she told him that he is a favorite of our group and that we just really enjoy his way of worshiping the Lord (or something like that). She then told him that some of the girls wanted a picture with him. He told Kara, "Of course....it's all for the glory of God!" Him and his wife were so nice. He even said "Cheese" druing the picture. Afterwards, he and his wife were so nice; they were hugging us and saying (in English), "We love you" and "God Bless You!" It was so cool! This made my day! "All for the glory of God!" We're hoping now that he knows he is "popular" he will atleast come back once in the next two weeks....I mean, it would all be for the glory of God! Oh, it was an awesome day at the Mega Frater!!!

(Beth and I with the Mambo King and his wife!!! Oh yeah!!!)

Es tiempo para la dentista!

Today, I spent all day helping Mrs. Gruca while she cleaned some of the kids teeth! She was able to get 17 of the boys' teeth cleaned today! She's awesome! I was in charge of going and finding the boys when it was their turn! I also did a little bit of translating and took a picture of each kid in the cool dentist chair! We thought that the little boys would be really scared of getting their teeth cleaned, but they were all excited about it! It was the older boys who were nervous! But I don't blame them; for many of them, this was only the second time they had ever seen a dentist/dental hygienist in their life (and for the others, this was their very first time!!)! I was impressed with how brave they all were! We're hoping that we can get finished with some of the older boys tomorrow! And at the rate Mrs. Gruca is going, she should be done in no time!!!
Photos: Mrs. Gruca with Sammy; Mrs. Gruca in action...cleaning Rony's teeth; Giovani with his cool shades on in the dentist's chair (we had the kids wear glasses so the dentist's lamp/light wouldn't bother their eyes);Mrs. Gruca with Ruben; Josue and I waiting in the Dentist's office

More Mumps (Case #3 AND #4)

Two more cases of the mumps have popped up here at NLCH!! Jessica came down with the mumps yesterday morning, and then Nancy came down with it later yesterday afternoon! So that makes 4 cases of mumps in the last week! Fun, fun!

BSUMC is here!!

The Bright Star team is here! I got to go with Daniel and Kara to pick them up from the airport! I'm so excited to see them all!!!! I'll be posting more soon (including some pictures)!!!!

Cousin Sue!

Daniel, Kara, and I had a fun outing yesterday! We drove to Zone 10 of Guatemala City to have lunch and meet up with my mom's cousin (or my second cousin). "Cousin" Sue is a flight attendant for Delta and had a flight to Guatemala yesterday. She did my mom a HUGE favor and brought down 44 pairs of jeans. (My mom has been trying to find a place that can use all of the gently used clothing from our house that my sisters and I can't fit into anymore; and me being here, plus Sue's flight gave her the perfect opportunity to give them to NLCH!) Sue was staying at the Real Intercontinental until her flight this morning (Thursday morning), so we met up with her there. Having to meet Sue at her hotel gave Daniel, Kara, and I the perfect chance to hang out and have lunch together! We went to TGI Friday's downtown! It was really really good lunch! And when I asked for a to-go box for my hamburger, they brought back a to-go box with a brand new hamburger and another order of French fries…….what place does that in the U.S.? I was impressed!!!

(A picture of the outside of Sue's hotel)

Mumps #2

So we were hoping that Yami would be the one and only case of mumps we would experience while we were here at NLCH, but that is not the case. Another girl from the home, Maria, just got back from the doctor a few moments ago, and she was diagnosed with the mumps. Since she is contagious, like Yami was, she has had to move into the Wheeler's house. This means that there will be a full house over there for the next week and a half; the interns (excluding Courtney and I, who are hosting the BSUMC team) moved over there yesterday. All of the beds are now occupied!!! Please continue to pray for Nurse Beth as she now has another patient to take care of, and also for Maria- for healing and for strength!

Fiesta de Superheroes!!!

This past Saturday night, the interns threw a Superhero Party for the level 3 and 4 kids. We all dressed up as our favorite superhero (whether real or made up). The kids were so cute and really got into dressing up. We helped many of the kids get ready for the party by painting their faces, making costumes out of construction paper, and giving some of them capes. At the party, we watched "The Incredibles" (in spanish with English subtitles) and chowed down on brownies, ice cream, gold fish, popcorn, and lemonade. YUM!
(Pictures top to bottom: Daniel dressed up as Kendon Wheeler (the director of NLCH; Everyone in their costumes; Painting the Superman emblem on Juan David's face; I went as Super Bailarina; Teryn, Emily, and Liz went as Hermanas Siamesas since the kids always ask them if their sisters because they think that they look alike!)