Our Last Night Together!

Dear friends and family! 

We have arrived sadly to our final night of our visit here to Guatemala and serving the NPH home.  We spent the day touring a beautiful town of Antigua and got to eat at two amazing restaraunts.  Also, we spent our final night in community sharing and reflecting on this amazing experience.  For all of us agreed that this experience has been life changing.  We hope to bring back home the lessons of serving and loving well.  We have realized that those we have in our life we must continue to strive to love and care for in a deeper meaningful way, and our thankful for all of the blessings in our life.  I must warn you... all of our families have gotten bigger... for in our hearts lie all of the beautiful children we have met at the home for they are now apart of our families.  Don't be surprised if alot of tears happen over the next few days, it was very hard to say goodbye to the children for us all...

Sincerely thank you from Side By Side for allowing us to spend time with your precious loved ones.  Each of them has been a true gift on this trip and without each one of them our trip would not have been the same.  The NPH home told us many times how wonderful our group was!  You should be very proud of each of them, for they truly were amazing!  We will be leaving at 5am in the morning for the airport!  We will see you in MN in the afternoon!  Please pray for safe travels.

Love in Christ,

Side By Side Ministries Mission Team 

Quinceñera Sunday!

After waking up this morning, we took all our decorations and we put them up in the Comedor. When we finished, it looked so amazing! The entire place was pink and purple. After we finished, we ate lunch and just chilled with the kids. Around 3:30 we all got into our decent clothes and went up the the Comedor for mass. It was really interesting to see a mass that also involved the girls who were celebrating their quinceñera. They received a special blessing and they were also in the procession. After mass, we quickly rearranged the Comedor for dinner. When everything was in order, everybody took their seats and dinner was served. Dinner was Chicken Cordon Bleu with mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and broccoli, and fresh buns. After everyone was finished eating dinner they cut the five tiered cake. The cake was a lemon poppy seed which tasted really really good! After cake was dished out, they moved the tables from the center of the Comedor and the band started playing. All of us Americanos from Estados Unidos went up and did our best to salsa dance. I enjoyed it very much and I am pretty sure everyone else did too. When the Black Eyed Peas came on, all of us started jumping and singing along. We continued to dance for the next three hours and when the chaperons told us we had to leave, we were all disappointed. We all agreed that this dance was way better than any school dance that any of us have ever been to. Even as I am writing this Keaton is still bummed about how he isn't dancing to the techno music that we can hear from our house. I think it is safe to say that tonight was one of the best nights that we have had during our time here. We are all tired here and tomorrow we are heading to Antigua to tour the city and stay in the hotel. We will be home before you know it. This is Collin Plante saying, "Goodnight" from Guatemala. A shout out to my family, I love you and miss you all. God Bless!

Ask and you shall receive

Sorry this is late, we've had some power and internet issues in the last few days! One of the most exciting parts about Friday was that there was an earthquake at 3:30 Friday morning! I was one of the lucky few to wake up and feel it, and we are all pretty excited that we can now say we have survived an earthquake. Friday was our last day of the work projects we've been working on. It was my first day of doing manual labor, and it felt good to get a little dirty! We dug and scraped around pine trees and corn plants, and we planted over 1300 broccoli and cauliflower plants. Our work was accompanied by an intense squash fight and singing, and I'm pretty sure we went through over 100 songs from Hakunah Matatah to Jason Mraz. It was great to see how much we accomplished once the morning was over, and we had a great time. Shout out to my family - Alex and I are having a great time and we are so grateful for your help in allowing us to come!

-Sara

After the day's work projects, which also included helping at the baby house and Castillo Magico, we ate lunch (pasta and tortillas) with the kids. The kids I sat with had fun learning words in English while they taught me the same words in Spanish. Yesterday afternoon was devoted to a kid's camp for all the boys. We had fun playing soccer and frisbee, making bracelets together, having water balloon fights and taking pictures. We also played a game sort of like Duck, Duck, Grey Duck that involved water called Drip, Drip, Drop in English and Pato, Pato, Ganso in Spanish. We also created two homemade volcano's with the boys. They loved watching them "erupt." It was a great way to cool off; yesterday was incredibly warm and sunny. Because there were so few clouds in the sky yesterday, we were able to see both the volcanoes near the orphanage throughout the day, which was very lucky because they're almost always obscured by clouds. Before I finish, I want to tell my family that I'm having a wonderful experience here. I love you!

~Maria

After playing with the kids for hours and having alot of fun we had dinner; beans and eggs with this delicious hot tea that everybody loves. Then there was a fun fiesta, and soccer game planned. There was alot of music, and dancing in the commodor and a full soccer game below on the field with lights. We played the older boys who live at the home and had two thirty minute halves. At half time, which we thought was the game, we were tied 2-2. While we were all so tired and exhausted the NPH boys, had a whole new rotation of boys coming on to play. After another thirty minutes of play, we lost 5-3. The game was close until the last five minutes, when we tied the game and then allowed two goals. The rest of the night we had devotions. Each person stated their highs and lows of the day. Then we were surprised, and read the letters that you (our parents) wrote to us. It was nice to have the words of our parents to read after a long five days of hard work, and fun. We are all looking forward to our last few days at the home, and our day of touring Antigua. Shout out to my all of my family in town for the wedding, hope it all went well. Safe travel's.

~Tyler

Lake Atitlan

Ju es crasy-typical spanish greeting from los ninos! This is Haley and Rachel blogging about our truly AWEful day:) It started off when the roosters started to crow..literally...6 am. We had our usual breakfast of pancakes, fresh bread, cereal, amazing Guatemalan coffee-I am drinking it becuase it is amazing here!(rachel), and fresh fruit. Then we boarded three vans to take us to the lake. Let's just say it wasn't an easy two and a half hour ride, many people felt a little sick,  and Guatemalan driving is way more risky than American driving. We passed many mudslides from rain the night before, making our ride stop and go, AND bumpy, pero esta bien. We've never been that high up before! We could touch the clouds and see for miles on end. We were all happy to finally arrive at the B-E-A-UTIFUL lake and its surrouding city and landscapes. Words and pictures said and taken cannot even begin to describe what everyone was feeling and experiencing at that moment and throughout the day. Then we boarded two  boats to travel across the lake and to a different city. Here we witness the most magnificent views of the 5 volcanos and learned about the Mayan culture. The moment we stepped off the boats, someone told them to look up and the sun had a perfect rainbow ring around it. Wow. It was the most amazing thing we have ever seen, hands down. Amongst the street vendors and day to day hussle of the city, we witnessed countless stray dogs roaming around, looking for somebody to love-don't worry family, as hard as it was for me, I knew not to pet them(haley)! After listening to the extremely passionate and knowledgable tour guide, we experienced the overwhelming presence of God in their Church. Let's just say the overwhelming presence of God became the overwhelmig presence of vendors-once again, I cannot barter with innocent little native women with their families, causing me to pay full price, even after bargaining(rachel)! Then another boat trip, only this time I (rachel) almost hopped clear over the boat-Judy, don't worry I saved her (Haley)! Jajajajaja (Spanish laugh the j is silent). Another insanely brutal car ride, with una siesta (a nap), was quickly forgotten with the children's welcoming smiles and laughs. It was amazing at how we all caught ourselves saying, 'We're home'. We spent the night eating rice and cucumbers, playing soccer, talking to the girls, dancing to Thriller with all of the children. Just when we thought the day couldn't get any better, we enjoyed the nature with our daily devotions outside, truly experiencing God's presence amongst the group. Buenos Noches for now, te amo! :)

Shout outs!!!!
-Bill and Carrie- Tyler says hi, Im doing great, love you!
-My Lovey- WOW! Yay, did you have to go through torture this time round? I miss you and love you all:)
-Tritch family- i miss you all sooooo much! no need to worry about me because im doing great :) i cant wait to see you guys! i love you so much!

Hola amigos!!! This is Krista, Olivia, and Anna providing you with the blog today. Yesterday morning we had pancakes (panqueques en espanol), toast, cereal, and fruit for breakfast. The pancakes were made by the home and were delicious.. way better than ihop or perkins. For the morning work project we split up again between the girls house, castillo de magico (special needs house), painting lockers at the boys house, working in the field picking onions, helping in the baby house, and weeding around the field.
This is Olivia, I went to castillo de magico for the second day with Christine, Maria, and Weston and we played with the kids there with special needs. It took a lot of energy to entertain the kids but it was worth it.. we gave about 20 piggy back rides each.
This is now Anna and Krista. We both went to the boys' house, along with Tyler and Steven, and we painted lockers. The paint was EVERYWHERE, including our hair and skin. It took about a gallon of paint thinner to remove the paint from our bodies, but our skin still has a hint of white to it.
We all had lunch together outside and if the kids had brothers or sisters they got to sit with them. We ate pasta salad with cucumbers and carrots and of course, tortillas. After lunch we played soccer, we split up teams equally between the Americans and Guatemalans so it was a pretty good game. The kids were all very excited for the fiesta that was planned for the night which included music, balloons, pizza, pop, and ice cream. The kids were entertained for about an hour with only balloons.. it was so fun to watch.
After dinner some girls went to the girls house to help with their homework and just hang out with them. Others went back to their rooms. As for us, we went to our room and took advantage of the shower. Elin braided our hair and Kasey put a hair wraps in them. Every night it has rained but last night it was pouring gatos y perros (cats and dogs) which led to the power outage, this happens frequently here, but we definately weren't prepared for it. We ran over the to main meeting house with our flashlights and ponchos, and we had our nightly devotions. It was pretty cool because we had to use candlelight instead of the usual electric lights, so it made the evening discussions seem more powerful. Once we got back to our room the lights came back on. Everyone quickly went to bed, excited to travel to the lake the next day.
Hasta luego! Adios!!

Power Outage

Dear Families,

I am writing a quick post to let you know that all is well.  Last night we had a lot of rain and lost all power  at the home.  The group is doing great and we will make a more detailed post tonight.

God Bless,

     Terry Munoz

Hola!! Como estas? Nosotros estamos muy bueno!! That means we are doing very well for all you non-spanish scholors. This is Keaton and Weston writing today, and it is currently pouring outside. Today was a very successful day. Four groups split off; four people painted and cleaned one of the English room. Ten people picked and washed carrots in the farm. Four people went the the baby house, and another group worked with special needs kids. It was extremely warm today and many people got sunburned. (This is Keaton writing) Today me Steven, Alex, and Tyler cleaned one of the English rooms and begun an intense painting project. However, the paint did not arrive till noon so we had to play futbol with the kids for about two hours. Lets just say we got destroyed. The students here are unreal at soccer and don't hesitate to tackle us to the ground. For lunch we ate beans, rice, and tortillas with fresh squezzed juice, and for dinner we ate chicken noodle soup. In the afternoon, the whole group went down to the baby house and we played with the babies for a couple hours. Before dinner, we set up an intense World Cup style futbol match between the "Americans" and "Guatemalans". However, the match was rained out so we will keep you updated if in fact we do beat the students here. Now I have a few hello's... Kaidee says hello to her parents, Olivia tole me to tell her parents to stop worrying haha... Kristia says hello to her family.. and Nathan Kennedy told me to say that we are all doing well and we are very happy. And trust me, we are very happy and we are enjoying our time here immensely. The kids, the facility, and the surroundings are fantastic and we could not be any happier. I would like to say a quick hola to mi padre y mi madre and to tell them I am doing great and that the water here is not making me sick. So I will now hand the torch off to my esteemed college and dear amigo- Weston.

My day consisted of the same outline i worked in the Casa Magico, which is where all the handicapped children live. I worked with Collin, Olivia, and Maria. We worked there untill lunch, we played with all the children and helped the adults out with anything. Since Keaton decieded to write a novel, I will give a quick hello to mi familia. I am doing well and my poop is solid MOM. Buenos Noches!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Someone will write to you tomorrow.... Hasta Manana!!!!