December 30, 2013 Amy

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When I was planning for this trip to Eagle's Nest my expectation was that it would be similar to being on activity staff at camp, but today broke my expectations apart. Working with these kids is like being a mom, a sister, a friend, a counselor, and activity staff all at the same time, with the added challenge of not understanding more than a few words of the language. It is incredibly hard work, but it is worth it when you see these kids flash you a smile, hear the room filled with laughter, and have kids come up to give you a hug or hold your hand.

Kyle and I were in charge of planning the outdoor activities for the kids while we were in the States, and then when we got here two of the Guatemalan volunteers, Andrea and Evelin, jumped in to help us out. Unfortunately Kyle got sick last night and so the three of us girls were left on our own today to venture into the first day of teaching outdoor activities. Our first half out of teaching we had the oldest group of kids -- about nine kids aged those aged 12-15. We had originally planned just doing some simple games to help us all get to know each other, but we quickly found that the older kids got bored easily and we needed to switch up our plan quickly. We ended up doing a quick pickup game of soccer but by that time we only had a short time left before we had to switch activities.

Overall we had fun and now know that we need some more intense sports for the older kids for the upcoming activity periods. Our next group was 12 kids aged 2-5 years old. By this point Evelin had to go do something else, so Andrea and I were left with the kids. We brought out a few balls and just let the kids run around and play with the balls, and a few were content just to sit on our laps. It was hard to keep track of all the kids, as they run around and bicker over who gets the ball, but they still had fun and we were able to create a bond with the kids and get to know them better. Our final group was about 19 kids aged 6-11. For this, we teamed up with with Garrett and Helen who were doing music and spent 45 minutes doing music with the kids, and then we all went out to the basketball court and played various games, like tag and shooting hoops, for the rest of the time. We found that this worked out the best because there were more adults to help out and we had some pretty structured activities for them to participate in.

In the afternoon we spent several hours sanding down the desks in the school located at Eagle’s Nest Orphanage. We will continue sanding down the desks and then refinishing them during the upcoming days as Eagle’s Nest prepares for the next school term to begin. We turned on some music, sang along, and occasionally danced, as we worked.

But my favorite part about working on the desks is that three of the boys from the orphanage decided to come join us and worked beside us sanding down the desks. It was a great way to bond with the boys and create some awesome memories!

It was a wonderful day and these kids are already stealing our hearts and changing our lives. We can only hope that we are doing the same for them. It truly is such a blessing to be here!