landon. lindsay.

Our (Anne, Megan, Kevin, Eric N, and me Mr. Dressu... I mean Landon) service week started as soon as we got off our bus to Guatemala City. We went down to a school located in a ravine amongst houses that are built in the former dump. There we handed out shoe boxes (of the Samaritans Purse style) to the kids and played with one of the classes for a while. We then packed a cube truck full of shoe boxes for the next town we were going to, we arrived at a Mayan village between the hours of 12 and 2 am. I’m unsure of the exact time, as there was no clock nearby nor any timepiece in fact. Then we were introduced to our room for the night or what remained of it. This room had 3 beds and an earthy tone about it. With there being 5 of us and 3 beds, so Neum and Kevin braved the floor for the night. But before there would be any sleep we had to exterminate a seven-legged spider, which was large then most, and I could tell he was a fighter probably loosing its leg in a previous attempt at its life. Unable to see it after it was hit we assumed it was dead and fell asleep (out of sight out of mind). In the morning we became the center of attention for the villagers. Our audience enjoyed watching us do the white things we do such as eating breakfast or playing cards. Slowly the crowd dispersed and we realized it was about time do some work. Without hyperbolizing anything I can say I saw a multitude of thousands gathering for the gifts we were to hand out. It took sometime to hand out those boxes to the many people who desperately wanted the contents of those boxes; shampoo, crayons, toys, and countless bars of Lever 2000. Not stopping for a break and being in the back of a stuffy truck caused many of us to experience something not unlike dehydration. We were promptly given “agua” (commonly know as water, but this happened to be a sugar drink that tasted of yellow) and some granola bars. We continued to hand out boxes until we came to realization that there were more people then boxes. So with nothing left to give we drove away from the needy in our bus saying sorry there is no more. Upon our return to Guatemala City things noticeably slowed down. For the remainder of our week we; counted drugs and bagged them, sorted mound of junk (i.e. wheelchairs, desks, prosthetic legs), ate vast amounts of fast food, watched more TV after lunch each day then I had in the whole first semester, napped, played cards, and many other things to help pass the time. Now looking back at my time on the service week I learned to appreciate both hard work and times of rest. Hermana Iza (the lady who led us for the week) is one of the sweetest ladies I know and serves the Lord in all that she does.

God Bless Hermana Iza
Peace Out
Lando

top.

Some children were laughing
Some children were crying
Some children were happy
And in a good mood
Other children are happier
And eating lots of food

We thought we’d be six
Turned out we were seven
He was a crazy old man
Sent straight from Heaven (or Florida)

Pascal was his name
He hablod espanol solo un pocito
Other than that all he could say was necessito

Had an alcoholic guard
He stummbled around the yard
And woke us up at night
He had bad breath and was half deaf
But did his job alright

On day three or four
A man walked through the door
He was there to help us paint
And told us stories galore
Have you heard of the man who lives in Gualan
Who’s going to pay off the nations debt with Gold Bonds?

Meal times were great
Eating out of Children’s plates
We were familiar faces
At all the ice cream places
We spent more site money
Then we could fit in our tummy

It was more than a good time

And it wasn’t just work
And it was what it was,
For what it was worth.

Mike, Justin, Stephanie, Sam, Erynn and Lindsay

Gualan Daycare, Independant Service #1