Last full day in Guatemala was once again filled with a huge range of emotions. That seems to be common statement over the entire trip. Just like I had first assumed, I have a feeling of, "How can we just leave"? These people have become a part of us, and us apart of them. We started the day off with a long bus ride to the village, we had several stops along the way including dropping of the medical team.
Once we arrived at the feeding center, we were blessed by some photos that the director of the center had put up on the wall. She explained that this feeding center had always been a dream of hers, and until 3 weeks ago, she would educate and feed children in her own home. Because her husbands income did not cover the cost of taking in children off the streets, she was going to be forced to no longer feed the hungry little bellies in which we had loved on all week. I can't imagine one of these beautiful babies going hungry.
The group divided once again and several people left to go build stoves and a handful of us stayed to set up a store for the children to shop in. After the children had lunch they were allowed to come into the store we made up and shop for items that they may want or need. I watched their faces closely as they picked up items and placed them in their bag. For most girls it consisted of: a toothbrush, soap, a few ponytail holders, a lip gloss, nail polish, a pair or two of socks, underwear, hopefully a pair of shoes if we had some that fit, and then they got to go into the dress and t-shirt room. There we placed dresses made by Crafters for Christ, a group of women from Graveston that met every Thursday morning and made pillowcase dresses. They were so excited to spin around in their new dresses. The boys got t-shirts and I tried the best I could to give them all a Graveston CrossTrain t-shirt. I thought of Kandy Holt as I saw the T-shirts that morning and thought, there is no bigger angel on earth than Kandy Holt...and if she was here she would be loving on these babies with every ounce of love in her heart.
First, let me tell you that after we took picture of all the children we confirmed that the correct name for the sweet baby girl that stole my heart is Evelyn pronounced EVER-LEE. I was glad to clear that up....anyways, her mom asked Josh and I the day before if we would come to her home. I was able to get Jaden, Mike Parkelers son to translate for me while I sat down and got to know more about Evelyn and her family. Her mom is 22, and her father is 27. She has a little sister who is 2, and they live with Evelyn's moms brother and her fathers sister. She explained that they don't own or have a home, and that they live in the trees. I am not sure exactly what that means but from what I have seen, if the conditions are less than what I have seen then they really do live in trees. Both Evelyn and her sister Josphine were born at home. When Evelyn's little sister was 5 months old, she fell into a well....according to the translator, it was "2 meters". She said "only because of God is my baby alive". AMEN!!! I guess the baby was crawling and went head first on her head, I asked if she had gone to the hospital, and her response was yes, but they never did any testing to really make sure if the baby was ok. In Guatemala if you have to go into the hospital for sickness or surgery, you have to pay the bill before leaving the hospital or armed guards come to your hospital room.
After an overly emotional goodbye to the children and mothers, we noticed that Evelyn's mom was there and her dad was looking through the window at us smiling. Soon after that Jayden came and asked if we were still going to Evelyn's house, and we said of course, grabbed Jason, Sheila, and Jada Mullins, our backpacks and took off walking with this family. Five minutes into the walk, someone asked how far their house was, and the response.....20 minutes!! This woman walks 20 mins several times a day with a 2 & 3 year old just so that her baby can be fed. Unfortunately the team was waiting for us and we had to tell them that we could not go to their house. I felt awful, we asked with the help of a translator why they wanted for us to come to their house, the response was, "Evelyn want you to see where she lives". After talking with Mike Parker, he told us that her parents probably heard we were building houses and were trying to see if we would help them with a house. A house in this village consist of a 12x12 room, made of scrap sheet metal and a tin roof...In the first home we put a stove in, the walls were bamboo. The floors are just dirt, no bathrooms, no running water, and no electricity. The house we did cost 300 dollars......300 DOLLARS!!!!
As we were standing in the middle of the cobble stone rode, we said our goodbyes to Evelyn and her family and I turned to my rock and asked Josh if we could pray with Evelyn and her family, of course he said yes...We cried some more and waved goodbye as we walked away. I connected with this child, I connected with his mother....She appears so graceful yet so hardworking and strong. Her mother was so beautiful and I could tell that is where Evelyn got her beautiful heart shaped face and big eyes, and heart melting smile. As we walked away and Sheila and I walked with are arms wrapped around each other, I felt Sheila and I grow as moms and as sisters in Christ. We did what we came to do, Love to the ends of the earth, that was the easy part, walking away was the hard part. We knew what it was like...We are moms, we love Evelyn like she is ours, its unexplainable to a person who doesn't love a child.
We walked back down to the feeding center to grab our backpacks and say Goodbye to AnnaLeese, and Josh and I got an opportunity to explain to her how the High Five for Jesus thing got started....We didn't mention the part that Josh started it, because I was a little moody or down at church one day, and he was being a goof.....yeah we skipped that part!! AnnaLeese, looked at me and in her attempt to speak English, she said to me....."you are like me Emily...you are sensitive like me...we cry easy, but we don't like it when people see us cry, but you love these children." Thats when all I knew to do was hug her, and say, I PROMISE, I WILL BE BACK, and yes, I love these children. As we walked away, an emptiness filled my heart...like something had been stripped from my arms. Sheila, Jason, Josh and I walked towards the bus and we all mentioned that for the first time all week, we hoped not to see one more dark set of eyes peek out from behind a door, our hearts simply could not stand that look of despair anymore....We just wanted to get to the bus where we could hide our face, climb up in our Father's arms and cry....and that most of us did.
After boarding the bus and doing our normal Graveston head count, we were informed that we were truly going to be able to go back to Antigua and shop for a little bit. As we drove, we all discussed collecting a love offering for the bus Ninja, I mean he did drive us everyday and turn a bus though a village only big enough to get a matchbox car through...yeah sure we hit a little white truck not once but two different times (you would think the owner would quite parking in the same place) and back into a work truck....but this man needs to be hired as BUS DRIVER NINJA of the universe....As we collected and made a left turn we heard a BAM and a SHHHHH sound.....DANG IT, we hoped a curb took our a small pole and blew a tire....stopped traffic....the great part....a flat tire doesn't slow down the bus Ninja....those back tires actually have two tires, and gheez who needs two tires anyways....All we need is one to get back over the mountain to the compound...REMEMBER Emily......this is a trust God trip!!!
We got one hour in the market in Antigua and "aint no one gonna put me to shame at shopping" Josh decided to hand out what was left of our candy and sillybands to the children in the market, ummm he got swarmed by children!! He finally got it put away, as I was looking at some cool wooden flute like instruments that I thought would be cool for Kaley and Keegan...Then the lady behind the counter started asking for candy in Spanish....then it hit me, she wanted candy and I wanted flutes.....30 seconds later we were bartering and I walked away with two flutes and she walked away with a baggie of smarties and silly band and plastic dinosaurs.....SCORE ONE FOR THE PROFESSIONAL SHOPPER!!!!
Back at the mission house we enjoyed good ole fashion Domino's pizza......wow how fabulous it was, we spent the rest of the evening packing our bags, sharing stories and reflecting over God's perfect plan for our trip to Guatemala.....What an amazing week!!!
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