January 2, 2014 Linda

Today we had lunch at a lady’s house who lives in town. She used to work at the orphanage but due to an illness she had to stop working here. Her husband still works at the orphanage. Pedro and Felise, who run the orphanage, still keep in close contact with her. She opens up her home to people to experience a traditional Guatemalan meal.

It was really interesting to see how some people live. When you walk onto the property you see a giant avocado tree and there were chickens in the back. There was a living quarters for the lady’s mother-in-law. This lady’s mother-in-law doesn’t speak Spanish. She speaks Kaqchikel, an indigenous Guatemalan language. It was interesting to see her quarters of the house because she prefers to sleep on the floor and to cook on a small stove on the floor. We also all were able to make a tortilla for our meal. She served us fried chicken and rice with a red sauce on it with tortillas. And little bananas were served for dessert.

During our evening meeting we talked about resiliency and how we can become resilient in trials and even the small day-to-day issues we face. The example I gave during our conversation was when I was in my car accident in 2004. I had a broken leg and still have a medal rod in my leg from it. We also talked about some of the issues the children here have faced before they came to the orphanage. Many were physically, sexually, and/or emotionally abused. I look back to my example and in reality it really isn’t as big an issue as what some of the children went through.

I am a preschool teacher for a living and I have also had children in my classes who have faced some serious issues as well. Some similar to those the children here have faced. It doesn’t really matter who you are or where you come from. It doesn’t matter what trials you have faced. We are all part of God’s family and we must treat each as so. This idea goes right along with today’s theme of “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself.” During my English class I tried to convey this idea. I hope I am conveying this just by my presence here. I want to show the children how to love their neighbor, just as the Guatemalan lady let 17 strangers into her small home for lunch.