This week I've been on library duty at the Oasis, covering for the director's daughter, Maggie, who has been working there during her summer break. She's at camp in the States for 2 weeks, so I'll be covering for her next week, as well. I didn't realize how much work it is to run the library. In the mornings, the girls who are schooled at the Oasis have reading time, and some of them can't read well on their own yet, so it's my job to read books with them. I really enjoy that, except after a while my mouth gets dry and my tongue gets tired from so much talking/reading aloud, so I'm usually a little relieved when the teacher comes back and says reading time is over. After lunch, when all the other girls are back from school, they have reading time also, which is more hectic because there are a lot more of them. These girls know how to read so I don't need to read with them, but I do a lot of checking out books, handing out and collecting worksheets that they complete after reading a book, and in each bit of spare time, returning their finished books to the shelves in alphabetical order (which is more time consuming than I expected).
On Tuesday I had fun video chatting with Elizabeth via Skype after work. I intentionally sat in an area in the main building where I knew girls would be passing by because I wanted the opportunity for them to meet my twin and for her to meet some of the girls I've gotten to know and love during the past several weeks. Some girls just stopped by and said a quick hello, but others sat with me for quite a while, asking her lots of questions, goofing off in front of the camera, etc. Since then, two girls have asked me when they're going to get to talk to her again. :-) We're trying to see if we can work it out to Skype again next week.
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| Elizabeth took these pictures on her computer and sent them to me |
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| The girls danced and showed off a little bit for her :-) |
This week I've felt extra blessed by the friendships of the missionaries and other interns here. On Monday Lauren, Erica and I trekked into town to buy helados (ice cream) for 3.50 Quetzales (the equivalent of about half a US dollar). It was a fun outing, until we had to hike up the steep hill on the way home that we had walked down earlier. Just kidding, that part was fun too, even if it was a bit of a challenge. :-)
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| Erica and me with our helados! |
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| Victory pose! We made it to the top of the hill! |
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| Renae, Lauren and Erica |
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| Left to Right: Renae, Erica, Lauren, Josh, Susan and Debora At El Jardín de los Conejos for dinner |
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| Ice cream and crepes for dessert at Luna de Miel! |
Funny story about the Jardín de los Conejos place. Earlier in the week we were talking about going there this weekend, but we weren't sure what their hours were. I looked them up online, and they didn't have an actual website but I found their Facebook page, so I clicked on it so I could search for the hours. As I scrolled down the main page I was seeing some things they had posted that were starting to creep me out.... for example, "Who's coming today to eat some tacos and gringas?" and "Gringas half price?" and "Who's craving gringas?" [For those who don't know, "gringa" is a term Latinos use for white American females, and it's kind of a derogatory term.] I was feeling uncomfortable with their strange obsession with gringas, so I voiced my concerns to Renae and Lauren, who were in the apartment at the time. Then Renae, who's been in Guatemala for a while and is a lot more culture-savvy than I am, broke the news to me that "gringa" is the word they use for what we Americans call a quesadilla! So it turns out this place wasn't sketchy after all. And when we went on Friday of course I had to order a gringa, just to say I did. :-)
On a more serious note, here's another story from this week. In my last post I wrote about how I went to San Martin with the interns and some missionaries, where we got lunch and then bought some bread at the bakery. On Thursday of this week, we went back to San Martin so Erica could buy more bread. I didn't get any because I still had quite a bit of bread left from the last time we went, which I was eating slowly so it would last me until I left Guatemala. Well, as soon as we got home, I checked my bread stash and discovered it had all gone moldy! I was pretty bummed because all that good bread had gone to waste and if I had only known before our outing, I could have just bought more bread. It wasn't a huge deal since I had only spent between Q20-Q30 (about $3 to $4) on that bread, but it was still disappointing. The next morning when I was reading my Bible, I started reading 1 Peter, and these verses stood out to me:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1:3-5).
I couldn't help but think of the moldy bread and be reminded of how much I'm looking forward to the day when food doesn't spoil, there are no stomach bugs [see 2 posts ago], and twisted people don't do horrible things precious little girls. Jesus is coming back someday and he's going to restore everything that's messed up and make ALL things new.
Can't wait. :-)
Same prayer requests as last week:
- That I'll make the most of my time left with the girls.
- For energy, rest and patience.
- For the girls' spiritual and physical health. That they would be free from fear, shame, anger, hatred.
- Justice for the abusers.
Click HERE to view an album with pictures from the week!
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