A Busy Morning at the Orphanage

Hola! This is Beth's turn to write a quick blog, and I haven't read the previous posts, so excuse me if I duplicate some details. I'm anxious to read some of your comments as well.

This morning, the youth received a reprieve from their manual labor to travel into town with Ron. I forget the name of the ministry, but it was explained as a Wycliffe sponsored studio where they create finger puppet videos. I'm sure the blogger tonight can provide more details. Many of us ladies just finished giving babies their bottles. My left arm has forgotten how to cradle a 30 pound baby with a bottle, so I quickly had to use a rocking chair. Most of the babies receive their bottles propped up in their beds, and the mamas catch a quick break during this time. There are so many big chestnut eyes looking for individual attention, and they all have such beautiful faces. Mark - if you are reading this - I'll be hitting you up to help sponsor a child (sponsor - not adopt...), since the financial condition of the orphanage is fairly uncertain through the end of this year.

This afternoon will be an exciting time of watching what God has in store through Rick Martin's dental clinic. We received our instructions last night, but things this week have had a tendency to not go as planned. Everyone is doing a terrific job of staying flexible and knowing that God's ways are always better than our own. Most of then entire group will be helping in some way, and we hope to present not only information on keeping your teeth clean, but more importantly, how to have a clean heart and receive God's gift of salvation.

Personally, I am having a terrific time in this beautiful country. So far, my week has been nothing like my expectations letter as I was moved over to be the "mom" for the three youth girls. Sounds a little like my home? Not quite. They are wonderful to be around, very helpful to each other, and other than killing some bugs for them, they are good on their own. I'm extremely proud of their hard work in doing manual labor this week. I have spent the past two days painting a black wrought iron fence, and I'm finally spending some time in the orphanage this morning. Helping do some group laundry, too. Every task is for God's glory, and he formed us all out of the same clay for different purposes.

This will probably be the only time I'm online, so I'll give a quick hug to Mark, Nicole, Morgan, and Lauren. Wish you could see the volcanoes before me with the clouds beginning to roll over from the coast. The lake is spectacular, and God's creativity with this country is breathtaking. I trust that everything is cool back home. Morgan - I remember you'd like to have some Guatemalan currency!

Our days are fleeting, and we'll soon return to the majestic corn fields! My high school Spanish is very rusty but slowly returning, so...

ADIOS AMIGOS! God bless your week, too.

Beth