Week 4: Stomach bug, sponsor letters, interpreting and Mayan ruins

This past week was an interesting week, to say the least. I started the week off with a stomach bug on Monday night, which had me getting out of bed several times during the night and kept me out of commission all day Tuesday. Needless to say, I didn't enjoy being sick, but I got to experience in a new way the generous hospitality of Guatemalan culture. On Tuesday I was home alone in the afternoon and had just woken up from a nap, when I heard a knock on the apartment door. I was pretty out of it and wasn't really in the mood for company, so I ignored it. But the visitor knocked a second time, so I peeked out the window and saw that it was one of the tías. I opened the door, and she handed me some hot chamomile tea she had just made for me because she had heard I was sick. Since I was still a little groggy, all I managed to say was "gracias" a few times in a row as she explained what kind of tea it was, but I appreciated the gesture and the tea so much -- and the next day I was able to thank her with complete sentences and all. :-) Then that evening another tía brought me some saltine crackers and strawberry marmalade that she had just bought for me. Also, Renae isn't Guatemalan but she gets the apartmentmate-of-the-year award for her hospitality in offering me her gatorade mix, bananas, crackers, and making rice for me, among other things!

Another part of life here that began this week is the process of writing sponsor letters. Once a year the girls have to write a personal letter to each of their sponsors (most of whom are from the US, Canada, the UK and Guatemala). Each girl has up to 13 sponsors, so many of them have quite a bit of writing to do! The letters have to get written, translated into English by those of us who work in the office, and then mailed in bulk to the Kids Alive headquarters in their respective countries, where they are then sent individually to their recipients. We have the girls come to the office in groups of 5-6ish (sometimes more) to work on their letters for about 30 minutes to an hour at a time. The younger ones usually need help writing or thinking of things to write. For those who have a lot of letters, they will come back a few different times to work on a handful of letters at a time. In their letters, the girls write stuff about themselves, like their favorite color/food/subject in school/etc., what they like to do in their free time, about life at the Oasis, and so on. Sometimes they also ask questions of their sponsors. This whole process of helping the girls write the letters, translating them, and preparing them for shipping is a big project and will probably occupy much of the rest of my work time here at the Oasis.

Busy writing letters to sponsors

On Friday a new girl arrived at the Oasis. She is our 50th girl and she fills the last available bed. She is the third new girl to arrive since I got here. She is eight years old; the girl who arrived last week is six years old; and the girl who arrived during my first week is about 10, I think. It's sad knowing that these young girls are here because they have experienced some kind of abuse, but I thank God for bringing them here because it is a good, safe place for them to heal and be loved. Pretty much every day our social worker gets calls asking if we can take more girls, but most of the time we have to turn them away because we don't have room, can't offer the right type of care (i.e. for pregnant girls), or whatever other reason, so I think these girls are fortunate to be here.

[FYI these aren't the new girls]

The week ended on a fun note. On Saturday, the church team that's doing construction and other work here for 2 weeks held an afternoon retreat for the girls, which included outdoor games, a craft, a lesson + painting activity, and singing afterward. I got to interpret the whole afternoon between my group of girls and the team members, both informally during the fun activities as well as more formal interpreting during the lesson. For those of you who don't know, I'm hoping to be a Spanish-English interpreter someday, so I was thrilled for the opportunity to get some interpreting experience!

Then on Sunday, Renae and I went with the team to visit the Mayan ruins of Iximché. A tour guide who volunteers at the park offered to give our group a tour for a "propina" (tip). He gave us an excellent tour, mostly in English. His English was very good, especially considering the fact that it is his third language (after Kaqchikel [a Mayan language] and Spanish), but after finding out some of us in the group could speak Spanish well, he switched over to Spanish since I'm sure it was tiring to think and talk for so long in his third language. I got to be the interpreter for the group! Hooray :-) We learned so much about the history of Iximché from the tour guide -- it was fascinating!

Here's how you can be praying:

• Keep praying that I'll have patience with the girls. There are a few girls in particular that are good at testing my patience. Pray that my love for them would flow "from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Tim. 1:5).
• Pray for our girls to experience true healing and restoration through our ministry.
• Pray for the girls who we have to turn away each day, that they would be able to find proper care for their needs as well as safety from their abusers.
• Pray for the children in Guatemala who are trapped in abusive situations and still have not been rescued.

Click HERE to see more pictures from this week!