Our final night

We are currently sitting in the Guatemalan airport waiting to come home, but until it arrives i will inform you on our final night in Guatemala. It began with a full extra hour of sleeping....which was amazing....and then went on to a full day of playing with the kids. Unfortunately it was our last day and it rained the most...but that didn't stop us from going to watch the boys game in Parramos!!! We looked awesome walking through the town with different colored ponchos on, very authentic, right? The boys from the home ended up losing 6-1 but it was still an interesting adventure. It was also interesting that while we were watching the game there were cows and horses surrounding the goals. After the game we came home and the boys (after being kept inside for most of the day) decided to make a mini golf course throughout our house. It consisted of water jugs, chairs, benches, and suitcases. It kept every one entertained for a while, then the girls went over to the older girls house for a final time and made bracelets. We were told there was going to be a movie but that never happened....it was nice being able to hang out with them for a last night anyway. They are so beautiful and amazing!! After the girls house we had our final devotions and were able to watch a video that our tech guru (Jake Sturgis) made. It was an amazing video but also made it a lot harder for us to leave. Don't worry, it will be on YOUtube in no time...or on here if possible. We also had a fellow Minnesotan come and talk to us. She has been working at the home for a year and will be leaving soon. She told us that normally having groups come to the home is a lot more stress than help, but that our group helps out so much that they find it incredibly worth while and enjoyable.

This morning we woke up to our final breakfast in Guatemala. It was bittersweet for all of us, we all miss our families but when we get home we will miss our family in Guatemala also. We are boarding out plane now though so we will see you all soon enough!! Pray for safe travels please!!

Annie and Aimee

The link to view the video is:
http://www.capturevideo.net/mission08.wmv (13mb- Windows Media)

http://www.capturevideo.net/mission08ipod.m4v (27 mb- iPod Video- plays in iTunes)

Last Night in Guatemala

We have had rain all afternoon and evening- which affects the internet signal at the house- which is through a satellite.

We will post a wrap-up of the trip at the airport on Monday...

Keep us in prayer for safe travels...

Project Blam: Completed

Hola Todos!! Como Estas? Haha that’s my Spanish for today ☺…anyways today was a very exiting day for us! We started the day off with hotdogs for breakfast…a first for me haha then we had our morning devotions. After devotions we grabbed our tools and headed down to the famous “pit” for out last day of work. And finally after four 6 hour days of very hard work we have finally finished! Well actually 2 for me. After our last day of work we were rewarded with a few hours to our self and most people took that time to nap. We just got done listening to the house director tell us a little more about the house and how to sponsor a child. Now we are having a mini dance party (music courtesy of Dave Pallesen on the guitar…he is so amazing just amazing!!)

P.S. I know my parents have been wondering about my health and after 3 days of sickness and laying around I was able to work the last two days and definitely made up for my two missed ☺
I have been quoting Nacho lines like there is no tomorrow and it has definitely caught on with the rest of the group…even the accent.
I love you guys so much and I miss you all especially mom dad and the coops!
Cody ling

Now I will hand the computer over to my Amigo Kane Nelson! Wow…its been an awesome trip I love it here so much. My striker buddy (AKA Jesse) and I have been going at that BLAMMIN wall all day…I mean we even skipped lunch today just so we could get dirt out of that bottom corner. I loved it Jesse and I decided to have a Pokemon naming contest. Every time we hit the wall we had to name a Pokemon, we went for such a long time until we couldn’t do it anymore. Then Aaron tried it by himself, but he just ended up looking pretty stupid naming them by himself haha. Well the end came and then and we got it on film we made it so funny. Later that night Jesse and I went up to Johnny’s room and he gave me one of his jerseys.

Love all,
Kane Nelson

Alright Kane is a really slow typer so I am really sorry if mine isn’t as long as the other ones. Today was really super exciting because we finally got done with the blam project! Some people have faced sickness and some just ended up zapped out from all the work, but with the prayer of so many and the help of God many are being healed, but it is an unending progression. I ask that you would continue to pray for healing for the sick and strength for the weak. Every smile on the kids faces motivates us to keep going even harder and we all know as Sam did that our work for the Lord is never in vain.

Mom and Dad I love you so much and Alicia too. You guys mean so much to me, I am doing very well and I miss you so much! Love your little buddy.

Aaron God Bless you all

Another Busy Day!

Hey everyone! It is Rachael E, and Ana P writing here. We woke up by the beat of Joe on the drums. We had breakfast and devotions. Then we went down to “blam” (the pit), meanwhile some cleaned up the mess left over from the flour fight and others went to the special needs house and baby house. Once we finished lunch some of us went to the baby house to pull weeds and the others went to work on the pit. We had hoped to finish the pit today but we did not work as fast as we had planned. By 4:00 we had kids camp at the cement soccer field, playing soccer, coloring, and hanging out with the kids. When kids camp ended we headed to a presentation for all the volunteers that are leaving. The kids danced for us. After they finished they gave us each a purse for our hard work. Then we had awesome dinner, which was rice, chicken, and coleslaw. So right after the dinner there was dance a party, slideshow, and, finally, for the end of a great day there were amazing fireworks. And that was our busy day.

May the Lord bless you all!
Love,
Ana P and Rachael E

P.S… We Miss and Love you all so very much.

Flour Power!!

Hey everyone! Abby, Kaidee, Annie, and Bridget here!
Today was the best day yet! We started out by waking up to the Barney Song, sung by Jake. It was a pleasant wake up...
A lot of us are missing food from home and luckily we got pancakes this morning for breakfast, and Becky is proud to announce that some people tried their pancakes with peanut butter! ...gross.
At 9 o'clock we started on our 30 minute journey to Antigua. It was bouncy. Once we arrived we split off into two groups to tour the city and one group to go on a coffee tour. We learned a lot about the city. Such as Mayan culture, churches, cemetaries, architecture, and art. After the tour we were treated to an amazing lunch at our tour guides restaurant. It was delicious!!! After lunch we split into shopping groups and explored the city. Our group has a common bond in spending all the money they had with them, especially on ponchos. While shopping, we got much entertainment from watching Dave P. get his tennis shoes shined by two little boys. The bus ride back was just as bumpy as the way there.
When we arrived back, Sanito (cook) had a fiesta waiting for us to celebrate Ana and Rachael's birthday. Filled with candy, balloons, streamers, breadsticks con queso, and PINATAS! The first one we knocked open was full of candy and confetti! The second was a little different. Instead of the confetti there was FLOUR! We had a HUGE, NEVERENDING, AMAZING, flour flight con flour! Everyone was covered! It covered every inch of our bodies and we looked 80-year-old men and women. See attached photo. The boys were gentlemen enough to let the girls shower while they started to clean up the mess.
We ended the night with devotions and prayed in small groups. Our group has really grown a close bond with eachother and we share a compassion to work hard, laugh often, and serve others.
And if you were wondering, everyone is feeling better and they're back on their feet.

Mom and Dad Plummer,
I miss you so much! I hope everything is good back home. I love you! :) Love, Kaidee

Mahowald Family,
Hi baby Braydon! Thank you for your update. Cant wait to see everyone in 3 more days and meet the newest member of the family!! Miss you, Annie

Hello, it's Bridget!
I hope all it well at home. I love it here, but I miss you so much too!
Virtual Hug, Much Love <><

Hi everybody!
Miss you all! Hope everythings well! Can't wait to see you again!
Love, Abby

Day 5: Another day at the office/A tribute to the best blog in the world

So, today we got up nice and early. We ate some breakfast (which consisted of grapette pop, oreos, and quesedillas). Brent spilled some Tampico juice...life was good. As a group, we were enthusiastic on our way down to the project BLAM! (that's the name we gave our service project). We didn't finish but we got a lot done :). Hopefully we can finish up on friday.
After working in the pit we did kids camp for the kids and it was awesome. We made beautiful butterflies and Becky, Father Greg, and anonymous guatemalen girls played some locos ochos. T'was a great time. After dinner us guys got to take on the NPH team in a scrimmage. We held our own for awhile but the stuck it to us in the end. O well...we'll take what we can get after a hard days work. Love you all! ;) -Dave P.

Alright so HOLA! this is Jesse and Brent here now (jesse on the keyboard). We have been practicing our new Guatemalan accents and trying to pick up on the local whistling techniques but have yet to succeed. We will not despair. This morning we woke up to Nathan singing the theme song to Wizard of Oz and had an amazing breakfast that shouldn't have been. Brent spilled some Tampico juice....life was good. After breakfast we all checked our pulse and found we were good to work. After a few calistenics Brent and I were ready to work. We went and got the tools and went down the hill to see our adversary...Project BLAM! for those of you who don't know Kane and I are pickaxers while Brent is one of the best hoes we've ever had. (we call the people who use the hoes hoes). Kane David Aaron Terry and I named our picks. In the correct order from above: Katrina (because Brent and I call him hurraKANE) The Widowmaker, Fathead, ,and Collosus. We worked for 4 hours straight before lunch like the day before. Had some rice and potatoe salad tasting looking meal. It was delicious to Brent and I but Dave is a hater. The jury is out. After another embarassing lunch for me and Brent because we cannot whistle and the kids love to make fun, we went back to work early. We worked for another two hours with some amazing help from Alex, who works here at NPH. And Elmer who is a boy here who loved to help us. After that it was time for KIDSCAMP and we made some crafts the same as the day before. There was an 8 year old who showed me and Brent how to actually to tricks with a futbol (soccerball). Nelson here could do the rainbow perfectly, not to mention an around the world (for all you futbol fans). After that it was time for dinner. Dinner consisted of more rice of course, witha black bean sauce. Meh, weakest meal by far if I do say so myself. Then it was time for us guys to go play futbol with the locals. We started with a few kids from the home but then we had to leave for their practice. Little did we know we would be partaking. We were asked by thy greatness, Johnny, if we would be willing to put together a team of 7 to scrimmage the NPH all star team. Kane Brent Dave David Aaron Erik and a local TILLMAN took them on. we lost...of course. only 6-2, with goals being scored by Kane and Brent. We were very proud. We served our country well. Then it was time for devotions and we were let down at first. Brent and I were promised a song. I SAW THE LIGHT. we were not going to be singing. We played games though. There was a partner game, anatomy shuffle. They would say two body parts and the first person would be the first body part...etc. One time when Terry said TOE BELLYBUTTON...Brent misheard him and licked my bellybutton with his tongue. We were out. You get out if you're the last group to do what he says. After a long and amazing prayer session we sang one song...I SAW THE LIGHT. rock on. Brent and I were going to hoedown but unfortunately forgot. Now we are sitting in the luxury sweet where the adults get to stay (some). We are writing this tribute to the BEST BLOG IN THE WORLD. (which we wrote earlier...but forget.

NOTE 1: MOM, if you are reading this..I LOVE YOU and i miss you. I will see you when i get back and i hope you are doing alright without dad there.
NOTE 2:FROM BRENT: mom and dad, everything is great. Hope all is well. Love you and i miss you, see you soon.
NOTE 3: Anna. Great NEWS! if you are reading this we have a double date planned. We are going to see Batman when i get back with jesse and anonymous girlfriend. (I, Jesse, actually wrote this but it's what Brent wanted to say. GLAD THE HOUSE SOLD.)

J'DOYLE OUT! B-RENT says keep it real.








Shelby-we made the butterflies :)

day 4

wow, what a trip so far! This has been so fun and a blessing to be here. Today was the first real work day, where we dug out the remains of a 13ft hill. It was a challenge, but we got pretty far. Some of our peeps got a little sick (Cody, Linnea), and some heat exhaustion (Evie). They should feel better after a little rest tonight. We got to eat lunch and supper with the pequenos. Also we helped with our first Kids Camp and got to do a lot of cool things with the kids including making bracelets, drawing, jenga, card games, and four square. We are all exhausted right now, and hoping our blisters will heal soon so we can be good to work again tomorrow. Our beds sound so great right now so we will have to keep in touch. Hope everything is well at home. We love and miss you all:) Hasta Luega!
-Megan Downing, and Linnea Pallesen-