Pueblo Nuevo - Day 3

Wednesday, what was to be our third day in Pueblo Nuevo, started out bad. I woke up dreading the day. I did not want to return to Pueblo Nuevo and after so long of wanting to be back in Guatemala and trying to figure out how to get there, all I wanted to do was go home. I sent an email to a dear friend that said, "Please pray....this is hard." The email must have sounded desperate because within seconds a chat box from her popped up. She said that she had been feeling all day as if something weren't right and was heavily burdened for me. She is one of those incredible friends that when she says she is praying, she truly means it, so I knew when she said she was praying that day she really was. I ended up calling her before we left for Pueblo Nuevo. I'm not really sure why I did...maybe because she has the ability to calm me down just by being on the other end of the line. Or maybe because she will be traveling with us later this year and I wanted her to know what was going on. Regardless of my reason for calling, she was as supportive as she always is and hearing a friendly, familiar voice that loves the people of Guatemala as much as I do, outside of those that were with us in Guatemala, meant a lot to me that day.

We arrived in Parramos to pick up the Tulio family and made our way to Pueblo Nuevo. The feelings were intense. The last time I felt that out of place was during my first few weeks in Antigua in 2007. As the children began to arrive, those feelings of doubt began to subside. We were unable to carry out our planned activity for the day, so after their Bible study we went to the field to teach them a new game (duck, duck, goose...which they had never heard of, but loved playing) and then returned to where the program is held for the big event of the day...pinatas. The children LOVE pinatas! I kept looking at these children....one boy did not participate in the activities because he just wanted to read his Bible. Another kept looking at the only child there with a Bible and I could see it all over her face....she wants a Bible, too. One child got hurt and another was quick to comfort her. And every one of them was hungry...even for a tiny piece of candy. While we were serving dinner, the answer to all of my questions were all around me. There were children there that had not been there the day before. Every child inhaled their food. Even though there are not enough spoons to go around and if you want a spoon, you have to hold on to your food until someone else finishes so that their spoon can be washed (in very unclean, unsafe water) for you, they could not even wait for spoons. Those without them dug in with their hands and ate as quickly as they could. We all stood there, watching them, unable to believe that these precious children had not eaten in God knows how long. There was enough food for each child to have a second helping so we began passing out food again. As we stood back and watched them eat again, as if they had not already eaten, I knew that no matter how uneasy I was feeling and no matter what doubts I was having or would have in the future, we were exactly where He wanted us and that even though I felt too weak to do any good in this village, He would make sure that His work is done...little by little, child by child, family by family.

After all had eaten, we went in to where church is held to give our children a snack from our personal bags. As we did, children began gathering around the door. They were still hungry. It was Amanda that gave the first cookies to a couple of the children. We all searched through our bags, taking out any kind of snack we had to share with them. We were somehow able to give every child something, whether it was a cookie or a cracker or a tiny handful of cheerios. We passed out snacks to child after child and I can't help but think that it wasn't an accident that morning when I loaded my bag down with more snacks than we would ever be able to eat in a day. Yes, this is where we were and are supposed to be.

Before we left, we had another brief meeting with the Tulio's, worked out a few misunderstandings, made it clear that we would be returning to Pueblo Nuevo in October, December and for a long time to come and then made our way back to Antigua. We all discussed what we felt that day and every one of us felt the uneasiness that I described, but at the same we all realized that uneasiness is not always a reason to put an end to something. We all left Pueblo Nuevo knowing that His plan is for AAB to work in and with this village for as long as it takes. We love the children and families of this village and are committed to them for as long as they need any type of assistance. We can't wait to return in October!

Another overload of out of order pictures....