Thursday evening

Wow! I haven't been able to get online since Tuesday morning. The internet service here is via satellite so if the weather is bad (cloud cover or rain - both common!) then internet service is intermittent at best and, more likely, non-existent. But I am so thankful that I have it at all, so I will NOT complain! I spent Tuesday working in sterilization instead of going out into the villages to deliver items for ABC. Wednesday was the day I got to go out and it was incredible getting to see the villages up close and personal as well as the homes of some of the families. I was truly humbled to see how these people live and still all smiles...especially the children. I've taken over 100 photos. I can't wait to share them all with you. The families we donated goods to were all so thankful. They hugged each one of us (and there were six!) each time. I don't mean a half way pat on the back, I mean a HUG! It was awesome. The love of God shined out of each precious face. I have made some amazing friends. I have laughed so much this week, my face hurts. We drove to a water fall today - partly on a road you can hardly call a road - and I nearly fell off the back of a pick-up truck. So, today, my two best friends are Laura and Adam who pulled me back in the truck before I fell to the rockbed road. :-) The teenagers here this week have been so uplifting. I am encouraged that Brice will be here in a couple of years uplifting others as well.

I can't wait until tomorrow. We will drive to Antigua (about 2 hours) to shop and stay in a beautiful hotel and eat in a restaurant. One of my new friends, Julie, knows exactly where to take me to buy beads! YEAH!! Two other of my new friends, Laura and Hannah, have spent the last three weeks in Antigua in language school, so they will show me around as well. We need to leave Antigua at 3:30am Saturday morning to get to Guatemala City for our flight out at 6:30. I should be back in Greensboro by 5:30 and then will drive home. It has been an amazing week and I wouldn't give anything in the world for it.

Thank you for your prayers this week. I look forward to catching up with everyone!
sj