Week 2 at Oasis

Week 2 at the Oasis was pretty similar to the first week in terms of routine, but of course every day looks a little bit different in terms of the work I do or the people I hang out with, so life at the Oasis is never dull. ;-)

On Sunday I went to church with the girls for the first time. And in typical Guatemalan style, the pastor had me introduce myself to the congregation because I was a visitor. I don't enjoy speaking in front of large groups, even if just to introduce myself briefly, but in this culture it is their way of honoring their guests. After church the girls and I played outside for a while as we waited for our ride home. Since we only use one van on Sundays, the girl who drives it has to make multiple trips to take the 50ish girls + 10ish tías to and from church, which makes for a lot of waiting around and thus a lot of time to play!

Playing outside after church

Piling into the van to go home

Monday through Friday mostly consisted of the usual office work (a lot of translation and other sponsorship-related tasks) and playing with the girls at the Oasis, except for Tuesday, when I went to Fuente de Esperanza school in the village of Zapote again. They are working on adding a second story to their school building, so we and the students spent much of the morning transferring a large pile of cinder blocks from the front of the school into the schoolyard -- block by block. Even with dozens of helping hands, the job took a while. After we finished, Renae and I performed a short skit during Corbey's devotional for the 5th, 6th and 7th graders. (Renae is the missionary I'm sharing an apartment with, and Corbey is the director of the Oasis.) I'm probably the worst actor I know, but we had fun with it and I think it was helpful to the kids for illustrating Corbey's message.

The cinder blocks' starting point, in front of the school.

Some of the older boys managed to carry up to five at a time! And they are a lot heavier than they look.

Everyone helped, even the little ones.

Corbey helping to arrange the blocks at their final destination (for now).

On Thursday I taught gym class again. This week I taught the girls how to play Knock Out! They enjoyed it and caught on very quickly. We called it "Eliminado" (eliminated) since they didn't know of the game already and I didn't know how else to translate "Knock Out" haha

Girls playing Knock Out

Weekends are really laid-back at the Oasis. The girls aren't at school so many of them play outside, and I don't have work so I'm able to relax in my apartment, update my blog, play with the girls outside, etc. Here are some pictures from yesterday (Friday) afternoon and earlier today.

 

Pretend tea party :)

Expert tree climbers

Click HERE to see more pictures from this week!

My prayer requests are pretty similar to those from last week.

Please pray:

• That God will give me energy, patience and love when interacting with the girls -- some require more patience than others. ;-)
• That through Jesus and by means of this ministry the girls would experience holistic healing (physical, emotional, spiritual).
• For greater wisdom in understanding what the girls have been through, how that influences the way the behave, how I can effectively serve & love them, etc.

Thank the Lord that:

• My cold is pretty much better at this point.
• Living with Renae has kept me from feeling lonely -- something I was worried about before I got here and found out I would be sharing the apartment with her.