Day Three: Del Hermano Pedro

We headed back to Santo del Hermano Pedro for our third morning.  We were anxious to get back to those sweet children.  God had worked on our hearts for them!  Now that we no longer had any reservations about how to interact with them, we were excited to get started.  We helped the nurses get all of the children into wheelchairs and out into the sunny courtyard.  A few of them even remembered us and smiled or even said some of our names when they saw us!  That just melted our hearts :)

Once we got them settled into the courtyard, we took a few minutes to go around and say "hola!" to them all.  Then, we were able to take them out of their chairs or wheel them around for walks. 

Suzanne and Crystal brought along an ipod and a speaker so we could play them some music.  Lesly, who is blind, just lit up when she heard the sounds!  She clapped her hands and bounced up and down.  It was beautiful!  Little Lito....his face was priceless.  As soon as Suzanne held the speaker up where he could hear, he just stopped still....lifted his eyes up to the sky....and just stared in amazement.  And Elmer?  He is such a character!  He got the ipod and speaker from Suzanne and was just amazed by it.  We wondered if we would ever get it back from him!! 

We also got to meet Mr. Dick on this day.  He comes down and builds & repairs wheelchairs for the children.  He help set up a school for them and you can just see that these children are special to him and he is special to them.  Jason had an opportunity to go with him and watch him as he fit a new wheelchair for a local child.  To read Jason's account of this experience, click HERE. 

We were taken on a tour in small groups of the school that they have set up.  They have 2 classrooms and a computer lab.  They learn to read and write, how to create websites, how to make bags, and all sorts of other things.  It was amazing to watch many of them doing things in different ways due to the limitations of their bodies.  One man was navigating on his computer with his feet and another lady was making necklaces using only one hand.  Richard Murray found a new friend in Oscar and we thought we'd never convince him to leave!

Overall, this place taught us so many things.  We did not have to be able to speak the same language to tell these children that we loved them and that God loves them.  It didn't take long for us to see past their disabilities and just see the beautiful, sweet, loving children that they all are.  It was hard to tell them goodbye and heartbreaking to walk out of the door. 

We were able to take a few pictures from the day.  I'm hoping that some of the other members of the team have some more that they can post!

 Alison and Lesly

 Alicia and Garano, Beth and Melvin, & Alison and Ariana

 Suzanne and Lito (Who would have gone home with her if she thought she could get away with it!)

 Jeff and Ervin

 Beth and Melvin, Suzanne and Lito, Alison and Perla, & Alicia and Ariana

Joy and Lesly

Ryan helping out at lunchtime

We will post later today on the second half of day three!

In Him,

The Guatemala Team