Guatemala Day 4

Today we went to a school of 60-100 age 6-12 kids.  Out of the 15 schools that Hector and Ruth are a part of, this is the only one that accepts/works with kids with disabilities/special needs, both mentally and physically.  This is also the mother church of the church under the bridge that we went to the other day.  Anyways, they had prepared a special 'presentation' for us when we got there.  First the leaders had us all stand in the back, and when the kids started singing (part of the national anthem I think) we walked forward down the center isle.  Sierra and I lead the team each carrying a flag pole - one with a Guatemalan flag and the other with a Canadian flag.  Then the kids all sang their national anthem followed by us singing the Canadian anthem (which I lip-sang a large portion of because I haven't memorized it yet).  Then we did our games, songs, the Sin Chair skit (The fear skit we have dropped for being to scary after it made a number of kids cry the other day), the lesson and such.  We then prayed over the pastor, his wife, the principle and the teachers.  Then we went and played with the kids. They were soo cute and fun to play with, they were energetic-hugging-machines! It was a ton of fun - I wish that we could of spent all day there!

After that, we went over to another school in Guatemala City of which was only a High school.  We did our presentation to them (doing the Life House skit instead of Sin Chair), and then ate lunch.  After lunch, we were to go outside and mingle with the students.  That got very awkward for me - I didn't go in a group like most of the rest of the class did and I am not good a just walking up to someone and talking to them, especially when I don't know if they speak or even understand english.  I finally found a group of our team that had found a group of students to talk to.  We talked about our lives a bit, and we told them about the snow that Canada has (I am so jealous that we were out of the area when Canada got a ton of snow).  There was one girl that kind of knew more english than the others and she did some translating.  One story lead to another and before we knew it we had found a picnic table to do some arm wrestling.   We all did it agains one of the students.  I have to say it was an arm-killer (and wrist-killer).   When the students had to go back to class they invited us to come watch their dramas.  So we sat in their class for a half-an-hour or so watching them present to the class/teacher their skit/drama that they have to do.  Then Hector gave us a little tour of the place and talked about the background and history - it was very interesting.  After a bit we came back to Hector and Ruth's place and got to hang out for two-and-a-half hours before supper.

Some of the kids at the first school.

The kids at the first school made us a thank you poster.

Hector and Oto

The Energized Hugging Machines: They (and I) found it fun to tackle me. I had 6 or 7 at a time on top of me.

More Pictures from the Day:























Our team praying for the teachers.











The Thank You poster they made us.


Bryan praying for one of the leaders.


Playing with the kids.