DayThree (January 18) - Tour Day

Day three with us being able to sleep in! Breakfast was at 8 instead of our usual 7. Carlos Vargas is still in Chicago on a business trip so we were greeted by his younger brother, Sal. He welcomed us once again to Hope of Life and we were introduced to Lourdes, the woman who is basically Carlos' right hand. We also met Henry and Jorge who work for the ministry and were going to be giving us the tour with Sal's help. Henry usually gives the tour to the Spanish speaking groups that come in so he was going to practice giving it to an English speaking group with a translator (Jorge).

First stop was the senior center. I've heard the story of how Carlos began the Hope of Life ministry but it's still amazing to hear it. The short version is he was living here in Llano Verde and was basically bed ridden with gout. One day an old man came by asking for help. Carlos promised God that if God would heal him, he would dedicate his life to helping those less fortunate in Guatemala. Long story short (too late) he has built the senior center, nutrition center, orphanage, school, and all the rest of Hope of Life ministries and he's still going with the children's hospital.

While at the senior center, we met some of the residents. For those who have been here before, the bird lady still has her bird but it is in a new cage. There have been 3 different couples now that have been married at the home. And we met the huggy guy! No one was safe near him. Mel and Chrys were some of the first to be caught in his clutches. Soon Katelyn, Angie, Alexis, and the rest were met with wide open arms. And I believe some wet kisses on the cheek. Even Tom wasn't safe from his grasp! (I was able to skip past him though, Bren!)

Then we walked over to the nutrition center to visit with the babies. Sal was very informative by giving us some of the stories these babies have gone through in their short lives. Rex (Angie's buddy) being buried alive and another little girl who was found at the dump covered with ants and being chewed on by the dogs. It was enough to make anyone tear up!

Next stop was the main office where we ran into our old friend (and Cody's best friend in the world) Zulema. We were also introduced to ALL of the people who work in the office and got the low down of what each person does. Afterwords we walked over to the bodega to look at the warehouses and on the way we were met with a bloodcurdling scream. (It's okay though - just a bug landing on Angie.) We also got to see the new water purification plant in one of the warehouses. Now they can purify water right here on the premises.

Afterwords we saw the Tilapia ponds and greenhouses, walked through the school, visited the orphanage (for exactly 10 minutes), and the site of the new hospital where we will be spending quite a bit of time this week.

The rest of the afternoon was spent going to the dump to do a hot meal feeding and visiting a nutrition center run by some nuns. The dump is always a humbling experience seeing all those kids and families who live near the dump. Angie's favorite memory of the day was "giving hope to the children at the dump and providing food to nourish their bodies." Nicole was touched by the children at the dump "with so much love and happiness in their hearts - just seeing them smile!" Lori had a great time playing futbol Americana with some of the girls at the dump.

A grandmother at the dump was feeling very ill and we all went over to pray for her. She was close to passing out but refused to leave her grandchildren to go to the doctor's office. Terry and Margaret were very touched by this grandmother. Preston came to the rescue with his knowledge of medicines and decided what she was currently taking might have been to blame. After we left the dump, Sal and Zulema went with the grandmother back to her house. While there, they found out that she had 2 daughters living with her (one with a husband) and several more grandchildren living in the shack that they call a house. There was a total of 12 people living in there. Tomorrow several of us will be going out to help that family get new clothes and shoes.

A new experience was the nutrition center run by the nuns. They had several kids there that were suffering from malnutrition. Many favorite memories from today came from that visit. There was one little boy who couldn't walk (I can't remember the exact reason) with Alicia talking to him quietly and stroking the little boys hair. Jim K said, "it was the purest form of agape love." Sam getting a little baby to smile when nobody else could, Josh and his new buddy Hugo had a great time playing and drinking his bottle. Jim D found a soul mate with a little boy named Marco. I didn't think he was going to let Jim leave without him. Chrys feeding that little girl in the rocking chair. And everyone was touched by the little girl who couldn't walk but just scooted along on the floor holding another little boy's hand.

After a late lunch we returned to the senior center to sing for the residents. Jessie and Sarah loved singing for the old folks, especially when they sang along with us. Steve also enjoyed praising the Lord with the seniors. He had the great idea of us holding hands and forming a circle around the seniors to sing the Lord's prayer. Several team members went in to sing to one of the residents who could not get out of bed. Another favorite moment was the little pastor who works at the home. He brought out a hymnal and requested a song, which Mel played wonderfully on her guitar and he sang - first in Spanish and then in English. The evening ended with a fantastic devotion by Rick.

- Ken