Oh - about Ron's birthday...he was treated to an authentic Guatemalan birthday wakeup call at 5am! It was great! There's nothing like the smell of gunpowder in the morning. He was a good sport.We had a great day at the orphanage yesterday. Our teammate that wasn't feeling well was able to rejoin us, and as the day progressed she felt better and better. Yea! The men continued to paint and repair steel doors, and the women continued to work on the metal railing. The paint here is very thick, and everything we are painting is black, so it is as if we are using tar for paint. In the afternoon the ladies in our group did more crafts with the kids. Before we had left Texas, the lady at the orphanage had requested that we do crafts with the kids so that they can sell the crafts at the market. So, we have been doing crafts that they can continue to do after we are gone in order to make a lot of things to sell in the market.
Yesterday was a great day for all of us. No injuries and good health for all. We have our Father to thank for that. We finished the evening by having hot chocolate on a second story patio of a cafe that overlooks the central plaza of the city. There was a chill in the air, so the hot chocolate was just the thing to warm us up.Today didn't start with a bang; just a shake. Literally, a shake - as in a mild tremor. Do not worry, everything was fine; apparently these things happen around here. It was hard for us to believe that today was the last day. We had a lot of work to finish, and we all worked very hard to get everything
done. We needed 2 things to happen in order for us to get everything painted. We needed the rain to hold off until we finished, and we needed our last gallon of paint to cover everything. It was going to be close. We were all praying that we could finish our jobs, and, amazingly we did. The rain never came (although the clouds did), and we used up all but about half a cup of paint. God is so good! It was an emotional time for all of us when we had to say goodbye to the kids. They really warmed up to us, especially to some of the men. Ron S. really won their hearts. The kids were coming up to him today and grabbing his arms and putting them around themselves. They so desperately needed hugs! We had been told that the men weren't to have contact with the kids, but you could tell that some of them really needed to be around men in a positive way. Thankfully Ron, John, Randy, Duke, and Ryan were able to provide that. It was a huge blessing that the ladies at the orphanage trusted us enough to allow our men to have some interaction with the kids. Ryan played soccer with some of the boys this afternoon; it was a memory I'm sure he will treasure.
This is getting on a bit, so I'll close. Thank you for your prayers! We feel blessed to be here; thank you for sending us. Tomorrow we are going to spend the day at Brandon and Jenny's house doing some repairs and things for them.Again, thank you for praying for us. Your prayers are truly appreciated!
