Guatemala Trip: Friends

You just can't go on such a meaningful trip without making some meaningful friendships along the way.

I was so touched by many of the people I met while in Guatemala and each time I met them I would get so overwhelmed thinking "How can I leave and go back to the life I live at home, knowing that this person lives like they do." Getting to know their personal stories really affected me and I worried that I would not be able to go on with my life after coming home because of the heartache I saw in Guatemala.
On the last day of our trip, the group held a small testimony meeting in which anyone who wanted to could get up and share their experiences and testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so neat to hear the personal experiences that each person in our group had while on the trip. Again, I was overcome with how I was going to go back seeing what I had seen. For the closing song of the meeting we sang "God Be with You 'til We Meet Again." Just as a refresher, here are the words to the 2nd verse of that hymn:

 God be with you till we meet again;
When life’s perils thick confound you,
Put his arms unfailing round you.
God be with you till we meet again.

These words hit me so powerfully and I felt like it was God's simple way of telling me, "Annie, these people are my children and I am watching over them." After that, my fears were settled and I felt such a sweet peace. I could now look back on the people I met and be glad that I met them and hope the best for them knowing that a loving Heavenly Father is watching over them just as he does me.

This is Karla. She was an interpreter from the University. She is not a member of the church and she had a lot of questions about what we believe after seeing so many missionaries come through and bear their testimonies of why they wanted to serve a mission. She translated for my father-in-law her first day there and he gave her a Book of Mormon, so we were able to talk a little about that as well as about her life.

This boy by Pete is Manuel. He was by far the hardest to leave behind. He had such a hard life, although you wouldn't know unless you really pressed for answers (which Pete and I did). We really got to know him and I think he admired Pete. Every chance he got to translate in the lab by Pete he took it. Manuel traveled about 2 hours each day to come and volunteer at the clinic. He converted to the church 3 years ago and hopes to serve a mission himself.

This other lady by me is Elizabeth. She was so sweet! I met her the first day--although we didn't get to talk much because she didn't speak much English. But we worked right next to each other and smiled to each other a lot.  The next day she was sick and couldn't make it to the clinic. I was so worried I wouldn't get to take a picture with her. But on Monday she showed up and brought me a handmade little bookmark that says "Guatemala" on it. She was another local member of the church who volunteered her time to be there.

This boy's name was Nefi. He came with some rockin' hair and was quite hesitant to make such a sacrifice to cut his hair for his mission--it is a big deal to some of these boys for some reason. He took about 4 hours talking to the local leaders and trying to make the decision to cut his hair (and essentially go on a mission, since clean-cut hair is a must). He finally did it and was all smiles. Look how handsome he is!

Also pictured here with Nefi is Karlene. She is a single mom from Alpine. I guess I went to school with some of her kids although I never knew them. Her husband died years ago in a tragic plane crash and she is an inspiration! She is such a sweet lady and I got to work with her and learn from her "take-it-as-it-comes" personality.

This is Jose. He is a Stake President in Honduras and one AWESOME guy! He is fun and personable and we really had a fun time hearing his crazy stories from living in Honduras. I can't remember how old he is..like 34 or something and he has been a Stake President for 9 years! He is such a great example of someone who has dedicated his life to serving in the church.

Here again is Manuel (at the right) and a couple of the interpreters from the University. Since they spoke English we were able to interact with them more and get to know them. They were typical goofy college students but really worked hard interpreting for us all week. Most of them were not LDS (they were studying English and got credit for coming) so we had a fun time answering all their questions about the church's missionary program.

This is a picture of The Lucky 13. One night after the clinic 13 of us from the group decided to venture to the mall in the downstairs floors of our hotel. On our way back up we got stuck in the elevator! Not only stuck, but it would drop a about a foot every few seconds and scare us all to death! It was quite the Guatemalan adventure! But we survived to tell the story and figured our experience together was worth a photo in front of that blessed elevator.

We made a lot more friends that I could talk about. Such good people that we were able to learn from. I just hit on a few of the highlights.

Guatemala Trip: Humanitarian Fun

On our first Sunday in Guatemala we rode buses for about two hours to attend a ward outside of Guatemala City (not sure exactly where we were). The local ward had been told that a special speaker was coming to church that day. We showed up and probably doubled their congregation. It was a cool experience getting to listen to church through a translator. It was so neat to hear members of the church from Guatemala express the same testimony and beliefs that I would hear if I were in my own ward in Utah.

After Sacrament Meeting, we rushed to the classrooms which had been set up with items for the families. Each family was then escorted through the classrooms (which were set up for moms, dads, young boys, older boys, young girls and older girls). Each person was given gifts like aprons for the moms, little dolls for the girls, soccer balls for the boys, etc.

Pete and I were in the room for the young girls where we handed out dolls, chapstick and princess dresses.

Before the families went through the classrooms they had their picture taken and as they left the church they were given a framed picture of their family.

This is Pete's uncle Mike with a family. Anyone who spoke Spanish got to be an escort to the families and take them through each room and give them their picture at the end.

The group we went with also had planned various humanitarian trips every day we were in Guatemala so that each person got to participate in at least one.

The day we were assigned to was visiting a girls' orphanage/boarding school for girls whose parents couldn't afford to have them around...so they weren't technically orphans. They have families that love them and come to visit them, they just live at this place so they can get an education and be fed.

We took them a bunch of items like nail polish, hair flowers, blankets, journals, etc. We divided up into four groups and at each little "station" there was a different activity to do with the girls. I was at the place where we gave them all the girly stuff mentioned above. Pete was there for a while but he got board once we started playing nails so he wandered of to play soccer and other games.

It was SO hard to not be able to chat with the girls while I painted their nails, but we got along ok. I could ask their name, how old they were, and if they like the color I was painting their nails.

The girls were so sweet and very gracious. The little girls were so fun when we gave them little princess dresses and put it on them. You could tell they were excited and felt beautiful. And for a little extra touch to help them feel even more beautiful, I would put a flower in their hair before they got a picture taken.

This cute little girl was deaf. Pete asked if he could take a picture with her and so I snapped this one above. Then she reached out for the camera because she wanted to take one of us. We gave it to her and she snapped the picture below. I think that this picture is one of my favorites from the whole trip. Such a sweet memory to have of this little girl.

With all these humanitarian trips I kept thinking what a neat thing it was that everyone in our group got to go and take gifts to these need people in Guatemala. But after my experience at the orphanage I realized that it was not us who was blessing their lives but quite the opposite. It was such a sweet experience to see these girls so happy and full of life even with the little that they have. Their faces will always remain in my memory and I pray for them every night, knowing that God will watch over these sweet girls.

See posts also about our Guatemala trip here:

-Guatemala Trip: The Purpose

-Guatemala Trip: The Clinic

 

Stay tuned for more posts to come:

-Guatemala Trip: Friends

-Guatemala Trip: Roatan Paradise

Guatemala Trip: The Clinic

We called the LDS church where we set up all the dental and medical equipment "the clinic." We spent 5 days in the clinic seeing future missionaries. Everyone was assigned specific jobs to do while in the clinic. Pete and I were both on the medical side of things and loved being there!

Our first day, getting ready to work.

Pete's main job was to draw blood in the lab. We figure by the end of the week he drew blood from around 400 people! He put his heart and soul into communicating with each individual who sat in the chair. He had the translators teach him phrases and then he would write them down on a small piece of paper he kept in his pocket and studied the phrases during his down time. What a stud!

I love the sequence of these pictures. Notice how he thinks he is scared but then realizes once the needle is in that it really wasn't that bad after all! I do the same thing every time. 

Most of the kids we saw had never been stuck by a needle, let alone seen a doctor for a full exam so the kids were a little unsure about the things we asked them to do (like hold out your arm to be stuck by a needle, or go to the bathroom--el baño--and fill this cup...). Pete was very sensitive to their concerns and did such a good job making them feel better about getting stuck by a needle.

When things got slow, Pete would head to the back of the lab to help run the tests to determine blood type, Hematocrit level, etc. He worked so hard, it was fun to sneak in and watch him without him knowing.

He also killed a few unlucky flies in the lab

When people were waiting to get their blood drawn and looking nervous I would try to comfort them with my little Spanish and tell them that "mi esposo" would take good care of them. I enjoyed claiming Pete as my hub because he was so charismatic and they all loved him.

My job at the clinic was "medical coordination." Basically I helped make sure that things were running smoothly on the medical side of the clinic and that no kids wandered off without first getting all their medical work done. This job I surprisingly shared with two others, and sometimes that didn't even seem like enough.

The medical team (most of them)

I just get in the working mode and tend to look at things organizationally instead of taking into account the needs of people. For example, I didn't realize I was doing it, but it became a big joke among the doctors that I was hard-nosed. I guess I was just trying to make sure things were running smoothly and began telling doctors they couldn't take lunch breaks, bathroom breaks, etc. I am a little embarrassed looking back on things that I took that job all too seriously. But no one can complain that things didn't run smoothly.

In the end I really was just the gopher, trying to help in any way I could. These two (pictured above) were the real reason everything ran smoothly!

As the missionaries completed their (sometimes painful) day full of medical labs/exams and dental work they could come through check out where they received items for their missions such as white shirts and ties, hair brushes and hygiene kits, blankets, duffle bags, etc. These items were donated by people here in the states and we took them down with us.

I took this picture before the officially final count was made (it was actually 737) but close enough. It was fun to see how many we actually saw broken down into the days we were at the clinic (Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)

Guatemala Trip: The Purpose

Peter's dad began going on these humanitarian trips to Central America while Pete was on his mission. I would always hear about them when I visited his family and they sounded so neat. I really had always wanted to do some type of humanitarian work in South America or somewhere similar and when I heard about this group I wanted to go. I was going to try and go just before Pete got home from his mission but his dad told me to wait for Pete and we could go together after he came home. That seemed like a bad idea for obvious reasons, since I wasn't positive that things would work out between us, but I ended up not going because of other reasons anyway.

So Pete and I started saving for this trip long ago and were very excited to have our turn since many of Pete's family members have been and we have heard a lot about what a neat experience it always is.

The group that we went with, called Smiles for Central America, goes every six months to somewhere in Central America where they set up in a local LDS Church building and see hundreds of young men and women who desire to serve missions for the church but have difficulty completing the paperwork that the church requires--mainly the medical and dental work.

Pete and I on our way to the church for our first day at the clinic!

Pete and his uncle Mike

So with the help of the local leaders in Guatemala (and surrounding countries) we set up in a church just outside of Guatemala City and got to help 737 future missionaries prepare to serve missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

(This one's for you Aunt Deby!!)

Me with the area authority's wife, Sister Martino

Pete with the youngest, coolest and most humble Stake President from Honduras

A future missionary, indeed! This little boy was there with his dad (a local leader).

This organization has been operation for around 10 years and this was their 20th trip I believe. They figure that during this most recent trip they reached a total of 5,000 missionaries they have helped! I think this was the largest group of future missionaries they have ever seen on a trip.

This was Pete's dad's 4th or 5th trip to Central America! He definitely showed us the ropes.

Smiles for Central America definitely knows how to make these trips successful! Pete and I felt so priviledged to be a part of the service they give.

Stay tuned for more posts to come:

-Guatemala Trip: The Clinic

-Guatemala Trip: Humanitarian Fun

-Guatemala Trip: Friends

-Guatemala Trip: Roatan Paradise

Coming soon...

 
Pete and I just returned from an incredible trip to Guatemala and Honduras where we were able to help hundreds of future missionaries prepare to serve full-time missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and do much, much more!

Stay tuned for all the nitty-gritty details. I just need a couple days to recuperate and get back into regular life again.

But for now, a couple of my favorite pictures from the trip:

The Sundwall crew with Mike Bryan

The cutest little girl ever!

Pete at his best

Hanging out with the security guards