Another Amazing Surgery

Once again, the pictures and description below may be a little graphic.
The last couple weeks, a lady with a large mass in her leg has been coming in. We were finally able to remove it last week. It was pretty amazing. I got to assist in the two hour surgery that we performed in our little clinic.
First, we injected her leg with a local anesthetic. Next, we opened up her leg and injected more anesthesia as we cut deeper into her leg. Then, we ran out of it. Then, the doctor told her that she needed to be brave, because we didn’t have anymore anesthetic. That’s when I started to worry. The patient, however, took it in stride and we continued with the surgery. The patient was rather overweight and the mass was embedded in the muscle so we had to stick our hands way down in her leg. We took out two masses, one fairly small and the other about 11 cm long. While closing her up, it was a little difficult to stop the bleeding, so almost an hour was spent just stitching. As usual, the doctor told the patient that she had to run and left me to clean the wound and bandage it. I’m glad that she trusts me to do this. It’s exciting to receive more and more responsibility while helping her.

It was pretty amazing that she was awake the whole time. Guatemalans are super tough. Even just the sound of us digging around in her leg would be enough to make most people squirm. The next week we received the biopsy results and, praise the Lord, it is not cancer.

After 1 hour and 5 or 6 levels of stitches

The larger of the two masses

Also, earlier that day, a woman came in who had fallen a month earlier. She has a wound in her leg that goes down to the bone and fractured her femur. To treat her, the doctor filled her wound with honey and put a slice of apple over the top. She came in a few days later and surprisingly it was much better. The doctor continues to do this every few days.

the white part is bone

Words of the Day:
Punto- stitches (also means spot, point, mark, etc.)
Masa- mass (also means dough)
Tejido- tissue (also means cloth)

Pool Day

Saturday, we took the kids on the highest behavior level to the pool. It started to rain right before we left, and stopped right when we were ready to get in the water. This turned out to be such a blessing as we were almost the only people there. This pool complex was pretty cool. All the pools are heated by volcanic activity. There was a little one for kids, a medium one, and one with a deep end. The pools also overlook the beautiful Lake Amatitlan and gorgeous mountains. The majority of our kids don’t know how to swim (it’s a cultural thing), so I was a little nervous, but everyone was safe.
This was a really fun day for me, because I got to play with all ages of kids and spend time with a lot of different people. I love going to the pool with kids, because you get to play around and act silly. Some of my favorite times were races with the older boys, trying to teach (19 year-old) Edgar how to float, teaching Alex the butterfly stroke, racing to find the coin with the younger kids (they are pretty hardcore. I almost got knocked out a few times), splashing with Jorgito and Randy in the baby pool, looking at the scenery with Jenifer, and getting to hang out with Katie (one of the interns I was with last time and a good friend from school who was visiting for a week).
On the way home, we stopped at McDonalds. I don’t know if you’ve ever ordered for almost 40 people, but it wasn’t easy. Luckily, Lee and Staci came up with a good system and almost everyone got what they ordered.
Later that night, Chad and Marlana (a couple that is in language school right now) took us interns out for pizza and we had a nice night with them. They have really encouraged us and I’m super excited for them to finish language school in October (six months total) and start at the Home. Please pray for them as they finish up and adjust to a new life once again.

Words of the Day: today I’m going to tell a joke:
¿Qué hace un pez? Nada
What does a fish do? Nada (nah- dah)- nothing, but it also is the third person singular of the verb nadar, which means to swim. So, the punch line means, nothing, but also, he swims. Hehe.

Javier

Kevin and Nancy

Staci and Lee

Water Day

Saturday, we ate my favorite Guatemalan lunch: grilled beef and guacamole. Beforehand, I helped Rony in the kitchen. Here, I learned how to make tortillas, which is actually really hard. The dough always sticks to your hands and it’s really hard to make it perfectly circular and to get the balance of thin enough, but without holes. I think I may need a few more days of practice (let’s just say that later when I was handing them out at lunch, I could tell which ones I made). Rony also dared me to eat a jalapeño (which did not go well) and we raced to see who could eat half a lime the fastest, while making the least amount of faces.
We had a water day after lunch. The garden has canals and a fountain and every once in awhile, we pay a water trunk to come fill it up with 2,000 gallons of water. This is always super exciting for the little kids (and the big kids too, but they won’t admit it). The water was cold and dirty, but I pretended that I was a little kid and didn’t care. I had a blast splashing around and watching the kids have a good time. One time, when it was just me and four little girls in the deepest part, I suddenly realized that I was the only one in the fountain. I looked up at the girls all lined up peering gravely down at me. I asked what was going on. There’s a worm, was the calm response. Now, I’m not usually afraid of worms, but this one looked suspiciously a lot like a leech, so I too vacated the water pretty quickly. Wendy has since informed me that there are no leeches in Guatemala. One of the boys got a stick and fished it out and we were soon back to splashing in the water. Some other highlights: Kelsey (an intern) chasing Nancy and doing a face plant in the grass, one of the home parents telling her version of Kelsey’s fall (involving Kelsey pretending that she was superman), Michi dropping water from the top story of the school onto the girls below, Ramsis avoiding everyone that tried to get him wet and then jumping in the pool, the sunshine (what a perfect day!), the water balloon fight, and seeing little Jorge trying to avoid all the little kids who were trying to pick him up and put him in the water.

Words of the Day:
Meterse (may- tear- say)- to get into (for example, the water)
Tortillar (tor- tea- yar)- to make tortillas
Globo (glow- boe)- balloon
Gusano (goo- sah- noe)- worm

Randy… otra vez

I know that I already blogged about Randy, but he is just so cute that I had to again. Each kid that got baptized got to invite a friend. Randy’s sister, Iris, invited him. After asking a lot of questions about what would happen, he said, alright I’ll go, but I’m NOT getting in the water. He’s so bright and sunny, but is easily upset and a little accident prone. You can tell right away by his little pouty face that someone has made him mad, but all I have to do is wink at him real big and his illuminating smile returns. He has a little bit of a speech impediment so, along with it being REALLY difficult to understand him (he says Ts instead of Cs for one), he calls me Aniela (instead of Daniela). He also has developed the habit of yelling my name when there is a big group of us and he can’t find me (like in the movie theater). His little voice makes me want to run to him and scoop him up. If I react like this, how much more does our Savior want to run to us and protect us when we call out to Him?
On a less fun note, I would like to ask you to pray fervently about something that has really been on my heart the last few weeks. One kid is going through a hard time right now. I’m really struggling to figure out the best way to minister to him and feel like I’ve been failing pretty miserably lately. Please pray for wisdom and discernment, because the situation seems to be getting worse each day. My heart breaks for him and I want so badly to take away his pain. I know that this is something that only God can do and I am trying to trust that He will make all things beautiful in His time. I know that God loves this kid more than I can even imagine.

Words of the Day:
Sonrisa (sohn- ree- sah)- smile
Cine (seen- A)- movie theater
Película (pay- lee- coo- lah)- movie
Lica (lee- kah)- the slang word for movie

Baptisms

On Sunday, ten of our kids got baptized: Astrid, Yami, Emily, Iris, Ibet, Juan, Kevin, Giovani, Oscar, and Jans. I feel like this was a pretty big step for them and was excited to get to see it. After the service, we went out to dinner with them. We waited a long time for our food, so I got to talk to 18 year- old Ibet for awhile. I’m always amazed at how sometimes talking about nothing important can be such a special time.
The drive home was pretty eventful. It started to pour when we were in the church. When we left, the streets had all flooded. I couldn’t believe how fast it did. Luckily, we were in a van so we were able to plow through. We saw several cars stranded in the road or pulled over on higher ground. I found it a little ironic that we went from watching submerged kids to submerged cars. God kept us safe though and we made it to the restaurant without incident.

Words of the Day:
Felicidades (feh- lee- see- dah- des)- congratulations
bautismo (bahwu- teez- mo)- baptism
Espíritu Santo (es- pee- ree-too sahn- toe)- Holy Spirit

Fourth of July

I’ve never been outside the country for the Fourth of July before. For me, it started off like any other day here. I spent the morning in the clinic and then played cards with one of the kids. After, we helped Wendy get ready for our gringo cook out. We ate American food: hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, chips, deviled eggs, and home-made ice cream and cake for dessert. Lee read an excerpt about the history of the “Star Spangled Banner”. It even included a little shout out to New Hampshire (which goes a long way in a room full of Texans). We wanted to have a bonfire in the night, but unfortunately it rained. Instead, after dinner, we brought the grill inside the gym and took turns roasting marshmallows on coat hangers while others played volleyball, basketball, or soccer around us. I’m pretty sure that Josue ate about 15 marshmallows. Every time he came back for more I would ask him how many he had already eaten and he would give me his sweetest smile and say just one. I would look at him skeptically and say are you sure and he would say, I mean two. After giving him another look, he would say, I mean three. Somehow this was so cute that I would always end up giving him another. After, we went outside and set off fireworks in the rain. As a general rule, Guatemalans are pretty hardcore about their fireworks. All in all, it was a really fun day.

Words of the Day:
Fogata- (foe- got- ah)- bonfire
Cohete (co- eh- tA)- fireworks
Angelitos (an- hel- E- toes)- marshmallows
Independencia (in- dA- pen- den- c- ah)- independence
Elote (A- low- tA)- corn on the cob
Maíz- (mA- ez)- corn (the cornel or the crop)

Pijamadas, a Goodbye, and Some Concerts

Last week, we had three sleepovers for the kids. And by sleepovers I mean we stayed in a room all night. Monday night, we were with the older girls and made pizza and cookies and popcorn and watched movies till 5 in the morning. The next night was the older boys’ turn. We made popcorn, cookies, chips and salsa, (lots of) coffee, at 1 we made chocolate chip pancakes, and at 7 we made French toast (which they had never had before). We watched movies from 9 at night till 8 in the morning. I think I was pretty useless in the clinic after these nights. The next night, we had a pijamada for the youngest boys and girls. We made popcorn and dirt (an Oreo dessert). My favorite movie that we watched was Iron Will, which is about a dog sled race. At the end when the protagonist falls down within sight of the finish line, all the kids sat up and started yelling hurry, hurry! Get up and run! The other guy is coming! Then they all cheered excitedly when he won the race. After the movies, I went back to the girls’ house with them and slept between Emily and Angie. I’m not really sure you could call it in between actually, more like beneath those two. Angie even had my pillow the whole night. These have been some of my favorite times since I’ve been here.
Why in the world did we do these sleepovers 3 nights in a row? Good question. The kids were off from school during this week. Also, the following night, we had a sending off for Kara and Daniel, a couple which has been here since August ’06. It was an incredibly touching time where we watched a slide show, the little girls danced to “Shout the Lord”, and several kids and staff stood up and thanked them for the way that they had touched his or her life. Even several of the older boys cried as they expressed their gratitude and love.
This was the couple that was in charge of us interns and I am really going to miss their encouragement and guidance. Please pray for them as they adjust to their new life in a new place and with a new job. Please also pray for health for their baby boy who will be arriving in September.
The next three nights, we went to a music festival at our church in Guatemala City. This church seats 12,000 people and each night was packed out. Everything went surprisingly smoothly and it was really fun to see our kids jumping around. I even had heard a few of the bands before. Some highlights include trying to walk up and down the aisle of the moving school bus to hand out sandwiches, juice, and cookies, seeing the excitement of the kids, some really great times of worship, getting to spend some one-on-one time with the kids, learning to play the game “arco iris”, the excitement and jokes on the ride home, seeing Rony wearing my sweatshirt which was about 3 sizes to small, and having the song “Vamos Pa’lante” stuck in our heads for the next 5 days. Please pray that what the speakers and singers had to say will leave a lasting impression on the kids.

Words of the Day:
Arco iris (are- co E- wris)- rainbow
Pijamada (pee- ha- mah- dah)- sleepover
Poporopos (poe- poe- roe- poes)
Despedida (des- pA- dee- dah)- the send off for groups, interns, and staff
Alabanza (ah- lah- bahn- zah)- worship