Guatemala - Day 11

Hello everyone!

Happy Wednesday! We had such a wonderful day and I'm so excited to share about it with you all.

Today we left San Marcos at about 9 AM. Many of the people we met over the time we spent in San Marcos were there to send us off, which was very sweet! There were definitely tears shed by some of our team members as we left since the time we spent in San Marcos was so special to us.

Then we were off to Solola! It was about a three-hour drive there, but we stopped to go to the bathroom around noon (of course), then the gas station had such good snacks so we all bought something (of course!). Some got American food such as a Twix bar and Pringles, others branched out for green tortilla chips and thought they were lime flavored, when really, they were jalapeno flavored.

Then we had a little ways to go, and we got to Eagle's Nest, the orphanage/school/church in Solola around 1 PM. We shared an AMAZING lunch together of steak, potatoes, black beans, and guacamole! Definitely a crowd favorite.

Then we were able to finish the LAST service day of the trip! The Mime team and Children's team paired up to put on one big performance, back to back, for the children that attend the school here. The Medical team put on a wonderful clinic for the people here and were able to give out lots of medicine and vitamins to the children and their families! There is also a team here from Texas who were performing eye exams, so that was awesome to have those two teams working together. And with all the rainy weather occurring here in Solola, a lot of the wind had kicked up trash and other rubbish on their hillside, so the Service team was able to help pick that up and the staff here was SO appreciative!

After we finished our team time, we ended up having a small service, just as a Wooddale team. The Children's team learned the Sports/Drama team skit on their own, then ended up performing it for us. It was incredible, and just so cool to see these students take ownership over this skit and be passionate about how God loves us in such a beautiful way.

Then, Victor, one of our translators and Guatemalan Mime team leader shared with us an incredible message about worship... How we worship in all that we do, how worship is a response to what God did for us by sending his Son to die on the cross. Amazing!

Then Josh Kjer, JT Bogle, and Allie Pementell led us in worship. They sang "Good, Good Father," "Reckless Love," and "Simple Gospel."

After that we had dinner which were some AWESOME burritos, potato salad, and watermelon!

To finish off our night Pedro, one of the directors here, shared his testimony and it was powerful. We are so blessed to have heard it. Then many students shared about their time here in Guatemala and how God has been at work in their hearts thus far on the trip.

All students are in dorm-style sleeping arrangements tonight and we'll be heading out for Santiago around 9!

Continue to pray for our students' health and hearts for these last couple of days of the trip. Pray for encouragement for these students to come back home and share what they've learned and how God has worked in their lives these last 2 weeks.

Thanks all!