We leave tomorrow!! ahh!

Well, as you could guess from the title, we leave to fly to miami and then to home tomorrow!! This trip has gone soooo quickly it's crazy! I really can't believe it's almost over.

Yesterday was our last ministry day, and we went to an special needs orphanage in the mountains between Guatemala City and Antigua. It was an absolutely gorgeous setting, but it was so sad seeing all of the kids, many with mental or physical disabilities. Most orphanages won't take the kids who have disabilities, so they go to that one. However, the orphanage we went to also takes other "normal" orphans as well.

We spent time playing with the kids and doing work projects such as painting and putting up a barbed wire fence around the orphanage for extra protection. I was really relieved to know all the kids we saw were in a safe place with people who love them, but it broke my heart to think of all the others who didn't have a place like that.

Today was our free day to go around Antigua in groups of 5-10 with a leader and translator, and we had a great time! First we went to a market and bought lots of cool Guatemalan things, and then we went to McDonald's for lunch! It was sooo delicious! And the McDonald's was really pretty, which was super wierd. There was a fountain in the center of all the tables, and it was outside, with a view of volcanoes.

After our yummy American lunch we walked around touring the ruins from major earthquakes in the past. We were able to go into a huge cathedral that had 68 domes and was built by the spanish in the 1500's. It was absolutely gorgous. After we walked around the ground level part of it, the guide showed us a staircase that would take us to rooms below the cathedral. We went down there, and it felt like we should have been in an Indiana Jones movie.

Please pray for safety in getting home! I can't wait to see all you guys soon! I love you!

~Hannah~

Compassion Visit!

Hello everyone! I'm feeling much better, which is really a blessing. Almost everyone gets sick on trips like these, so it wasn't that surprising.

Yesterday God really called my team to do the drama one extra time outside of the Guatemalan national palace. It was absolutely gorgeous! The palace was built by the Spanish, so it looks like a lot of European architecture. After we did the drama, a few of my friends and I went over to talk to a man who watched it. We had a good discussion about how God forgives all of our sins, and he ended up accepting Christ in tears. It was so amazing to see how joyful he was afterwards.

Today I met the girl I sponsor through Compassion International. She is fourteen, and her name is Anjelica. She came to the resort with her older sister, a woman from her Compassion project, and a translator. We walked around the resort and talked. It was rather awkward at first because we both were nervous, but we soon were chatting away. We ended up being able to spend about an hour and a half together. It was so awesome to finally meet this girl that I have been writing to for a year. At the end of our visit, we prayed for each other, and it was very moving.

Well, I should go now, but I love you guys! Please keep the prayers coming!

~Hannah

Another ministry day!

Well, today we went to a soup kitchen for our ministry today. We split up into groups and cleaned bathrooms, washed windows, put dry soup in bags so people could take them home for dinner and helped prepare food. I was in the bathroom washing group, and it wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds. A lot of people all around the world have a perception of American teens being self-centered, so it was really neat to have an opportunity to change that.

Sorry for the really short message, I'm definitely sick so prayers for that would be appreciated. God filled me with energy today so I could reach people and I did, but now I'm completely crashing.

I love you all!

~Hannah

Ministry Day Number 2!

Hello everyone! I´m having a great time here in Guatemala! Today we worked at a church about an hour from the hotel. We painted, weeded, cleaned, and performed our drama.

And guess what(insert question mark here, the keyboard is not cooperating)! We got to use machetes!!! We used them to do the yard work because the people at the church didn´t have any type of garden utensil to dig weeds out. They were like two feet long, with a two inch blade, and were good for killing spiders. A guy on my team, Sam, was pulling the grass out of a patio when he saw a huge spider! And by huge, I´m talking like a little bit smaller than my fist. He trapped it and sliced it with the machete. And the best part about the machetes was that one could buy them for 25 quetzels (guatemalan money) which equals about 3 American dollars!

Oh and we also played with the little kids who belonged to the church. They were so cute! It was a really neat opportunity to interact with them like Jesus would have.

The Guatemalan traffic is pretty crazy, but not as bad as Peru because the people here don´t use their horns constantly. However, a two lane road is regularily used as a six lane road between all the buses, cars, rickshaws, donkeys, pedestrians, and bicycles that use it.

The minister of security in Guatemala is a Christian, and when he heard about our group, he decided to send a police protection squad with all of the teams, even though we don´t really need them for security, they are just useful for getting through traffic. So, today when we went out, we were accompanied by five police officers holding large guns and driving an official looking van. And, speaking of guns, Guatemala is the only place I´ve been where the man riding shotgun actually is holding a shotgun.

It´s been absolutely amazing so far! I love all of you! Please keep praying for us!

Hannah

Guatemala!

Well, here I am in Antigua! It's the city we are staying in, and it's about an hour and a half from the airport in Guatemala. The resort is absolutely stunningly beautiful, and it's bringing back memories of Peru.

We flew over here on TACA airlines, which is based in Guatemala, and so all the instructions were in Spanish, with English second. It was an interesting experience, and I can empathize with people who are in an environment where their language is not spoken mainly. The flight was fairly uneventful except for the turbulance, that was crazy! It felt like a rollercoaster at time! But we made it through safely, and landed at 4 Guatemala time. Both times going through the airport was as fast as it could have been, praise God!

Today teams one and two (I'm on one) were chosen to go on an excursion! We drove for about 3 hours through the Guatemalan mountains to Lake Atitlan, which is over 300 meters deep in places! When we arrived in the village on the lakeshore, we got in a boat and rode for about 30 minutes to a small village that speciallized in producing textiles and agriculture. We performed our drama there, and then attempted to talk to the people afterwards about it, which was rather interesting because the main language spoken is a branch of Mayan, with some spanish on the side, so both groups weren't speaking in their native tounges.

We got back on the boat and rode for another 30 minutes to another village, and repeated the drama for them. It was really neat talking to the people, and being able to use the Spanish I've worked hard to learn.

Please continue to pray for us,

much love,

Hannah

1st Day of Training Finished!

It's been a tiring day! We woke up at 6 am Miami time, which is 4 in the morning Colorado time! After we ate breakfast, we had team time, and it was really neat to meet the people who's names I have been staring at for the last few months.

It was really neat last night at FUAGNUM seeing how excited everyone was, and the worship was absolutely amazing. I've missed the passion of the people on these trips.

We spent all of today working on our 23 minute evangelistic drama for the Guatemalans "Spellbound: Toymaker and Son". There are only 2 scenes left to learn, and it's really neat to see it all coming together! Everyone has been working very hard.

Please continue to pray for us!
I love you all,
Hannah
P.S.: I actually meant to publish this yesterday, but the computor decided not to co-operate! I don't really have anything else to add from today; it was another long day of training!

Tomorrow we fly to Guatemala!! Please pray for safe travel and speed in getting through the airport. I still love you all!

About this blog

So, instead of doing a new blog for every year, like I did last summer for the Brio trip to Peru, I decided to do a general one that I can post stuff for all mission trips in the future.

If you would like to learn more about my upcoming trip to Guatemala City and some prayer requests I have, I will be posting those shortly, as soon as I remember how!

Thanks so much for reading; comments are welcomed! I will be updating this blog about every day if I can.

God bless,
Hannah