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-

Adverntures at Lake Atitalan (Day 3)

6:00am: We woke up to Nathans singing.
6:30am: Ate a DELICIOUS breakfast to start our day. (Adam ate frosted flakes!!)
7:00am: The apparent time for leaving.
7:00-8:00am: Played the inside knee tap game, sword game, and some Finger Breaking Game...EXCITING!!!
8:00am: Actual leaving time

The we had a long bus ride to Lake Atitlan (2 1/2 hours with a crazy bus driver)

10:30am: Arrive at the lake, and went on an hour boat ride across the lake.
12:30pm: Shopped in the local shops. We had to bargain with the local people to get the best deals.
1:00pm: Went back on the boat, and across the river to the Sunset Cafe, where we had great food.
3:30pm: Walked around the town, and a majority of us bought ponchos!
4:00pm: Leave the village, and return back to the home around 6:15pm.
The entire bus ride home consisted of everyone singing random songs.
*Stephen got sick on the way home. He's not feeling very good..keep him in prayer.

When we got back we had dinner prepared for us by Sonito(our cook).

Later on in the night we had our group devotions. At the end we got to hear everybody's names, nicknames, and favorite movie quotes. The nicknames were ranging from princess, to boo, to rambo, to even shanequa. Some of the movies that were quoted were Taledaga nights, Horton Hears a Who, Tommy Boy, and several from Nacho Libre. In all we had a great day with many more to come!

mas brillante

So we had our first full day in Guatemala today...it started with breakfast made by our Guatemalan mother Sonito, it was delicioso! (for all of you who don't speak Spanish that means delicious ;-)) Then we were able to go to a Catholic mass in the town with the babies from the orphanage. Although we had a difficult time understanding what they were saying...we enjoyed our time watching how passionate the Guatemalans are with their religion also. After that we went to the High School and they made lunch for us (which wasn't half bad!) and they gave us a tour. They moved from their other location to this new place this year since the other location was becoming quite dangerous. We were all happy to see their new location which gives them way more room and quite the view! We were able to have our first meal with the orphans today. It was a good time to practice Spanish. A few of us are struggling but it will be no time until everyone has some Spanish skills to show off. Other than that we have just been playing a few pick up games of soccer and playing with the kids. It's been a lot of fun so far and we are looking forward to the rest of the week!

Aimee, Amanda, Rachael, Sophie

Last Group's Video

Hello Everyone Back at home,

We just wanted to post a video from the last group (June 30- July 9) 

Here is the link to a youtube page: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmuWdQTpHxs

Hope you enjoy it, and see how you really helped these children. 

beddy bye for kiddies

Hola! The second group has all made is safely to the house. After a long day of travel, with all bags arriving, we were welcomed with some warm soup and quick snack. The tour around the house ended quickly when a pick-up game of soccer started. We like to title this game as a practice game and no predictions can be made of how other Guatemala vs. America games will go. We'll just say we out numbered them 2:1 and still lost. Once the game ended we were welcomed by the staff of NPH and learned that we truly are considered family here. Sonito made us a great meal; steak, guacamole, rice, Chicken(for Becky :)), and a couple of different juices. This was meal was definitely a treat and we will experience the true NPH meals tomorrow when we visit the house of high school students for lunch. We love you and are very tired. Pray for healthy bodies and good attitudes while we are down here. I'm out and tired.

It´s Raining. It´s Pooring. We are all snoring!

Well, we sent the first group back home to Minnesota this morning. After many tears and hugs we loaded the bus one last time as a group. For me, Becky, it was wierd and felt wrong not to go home with the group. I felt like I wasn´t able to finish the trip with the first group. :( When we returned back to the home, after a trip to Price Mart (Guatemalas version of Costco) and Pizza Hut (Stevo!), the pequenos searched the empty bus for familar faces. We were greated by eager friends to help unpack the bus, anyone remember day one of the trip?! Later Stephen and I went to the library and Enlish classrooms to find movies to fill our day with. We were able to watch all of Goal 1 and Goal 2. Well Nathan watched both movies while I slept through part of the first and all of the second and Stephen and Joe played socccer during the second. The soccer team is now practicing and we are all contemplating showing off our moves to them. We hope you are all safe at home! Keep the passion alive! Becky By the way, it rained so much today!

Our Last Day

Hey this is Shannon Dominic and Emily Hoffmann (and Nicole Stenerson) writing to you all from Guatemala on our last night here. Today was filled with bittersweet moments that we will never forget. Our morning started out with our usual routine of breakfast made by our very talented Sinito, devotions, and getting ready for manual labor of brick hauling. We then took a special trip to the NPH high school house, which is located just outside of town. It was really interesting seeing how kids our age live in this situation. Following the trip, we returned to our brick hauling and finally concluded our sweat-filled manual work here at NPH (and let us tell you, that was very good feeling). So with the physical work finished, we took in every last possible moment to hang out with the pequenos. Music was shared, smiles were exchanged, and many laughs filled the afternoon. We weren’t prepared for the surprise that awaited us before dinner and were blown away by a talent show put on by the pequenos. Three different age groups danced up a storm like it was Dirty Dancing Havana Guatemalan Nights! As if that wasn’t enough, we were all presented with Guatemalan satchels and a side of many hugs. Dinner followed the gifts and a spontaneous dance party erupted in the middle of the cafeteria (started by none other than Stevo). So many moves were busted but nothing could top the moves of the joy-filled, smile adorned pequenos. Leaving this cafeteria could not have been more difficult. Although we miss our home in Minnesota, NPH has become our second home and leaving those kids on our last night was one of the hardest things we’ve had to do thus far. Now we’re all back at our dormitory and about to start our nightly devotions. Reminiscing on this past week and a half, we learned things we never expected to learn. One of the most obvious was the amazing ability to share smiles, laughter and most importantly love even though a language barrier stood in the way. We’ll always remember this trip for the rest of our lives. Looking forward to hot showers, our own beds, personal space and your much missed faces when we land in Minnesota. See you all very soon!

Our second Exursion

Hello People!! this is Addy and Alexa!!!!! yeah!! OK well today was an interesting day, we woke up at 6 in the morning and got on a bus for three whole hours. NO joke it took us three hours to get there!! Then when we got there we had to go to the bathroom,, (we were at lake Atiklan by the way) so we had to go to the bathroom and the girls room was not good. i tell you now not good..for those who want to know they had no toilet seats on them:( i know sad right, but then after that we got on a boat for like about an hour. The view was spectacular it was very fun and beautiful. Then after we made it to the other side of the lake we got off the boat and walked to a restaurant where we got the menu for lunch. The food sounded very very good, but to our surprise right when we were about to order BEcky(rebecca)(mrs. Kennedy) told us that we were not eating at that restaurant because they did not take credit cards.:( it was sad, so then we went and looked at a mayan church. This church was built in 1547, and inside were plates of the marters of the 1980s. It was a new experience to see the mayan culture. We will all remember the beautiful sights we saw. After that we got right back on the boat to go across the lake and eat at a place called sunsets( it was really beautiful) Then after we ate we had to get right back on the bus to go back home. So all in all we were there for about 5 hours. When we finally got back to the orphan age we had a surprise waiting for us back at the house. It was curt's Birthday party!! we had cake, and candy, and noodles. We also had many other special surprises:) ( we will tell you all more when we get home:) So yeah that was our day, it was pretty sweet and awesome and cool and spectacular and phenominal and just down right fantabulous:) ok so well tomorrow is our last day here:( everyone is very sad and it will be very hard( correction almost impossible) to leave our new family. These kids have touched our hearts and souls in so many ways. The ten days will last forever not just in our minds, but in our hearts. We love you all everyone says hello to family members, friends, pets, nieces, nephews, neighbors, aunts, uncles, cousins and everyone in there hearts at home. We miss you and will see you very soon.:) peace out night night, or good morning.....bye bye for now:)

HOla family its Addy:) i love you all so much and miss you all, as you can see i helped write the blog,, i have been having so much fun and it will be very hard to leave, but i cannot wait to see everyone back at home again.. I Love you all so very very very very very much everyone everyone at home:) i will see you very very soon, and to michael you better not have done what i think you did with your hair!! but anyways i love you mommy and daddy and ellie, and frank and coco, and susie, ranger, little kitty and julius. i also hope the lake was fun on the forth i know you didnt have as much fun without me:) love you:) bye bye

Hola Everyone.. This is Alexa.. I love you all and thanks for supporting me on my Journey... This has been an incredible expierence....... I miss you all and can't wait to tell you all the fun times i have had down here... Mom and Dad i love you and hope you had a fun time at the cabin for the 4th and Blair hope you are having fun with whatever you doing .... To the rest of my family and friends... thanks for caring and reading this blog .... see you soon.... Love you all !!!!! ~ Alexa

fun in the sun

Hello everyone. Today we enjoyed our (well deserved) day of rest. After sleeping in until a solid 8:30 we awoke to a wonderful breakfast from our cook Sonito. After relaxing a while we were able to attend the boy’s soccer game in Parramos (A small town about half a mile away). The afternoon was exciting and full of water games. The kids enjoyed throwing water balloons and playing drip drip drop (a game like duck duck goose with water). This water game quickly became a free for all and water was flying everywhere. As we are starting to realize the end of our wonderful trip is approaching, we look ahead to what we can still accomplish. With only two full days to go, we will attack every situation wholeheartedly.

Thanks for the prayers! We love you all!

Your friends and family in Guatemala

Another Great Day

Hola familias y amigos,

Tate and Peter here. We had an awesome time again today. We started out with another great breakfast made by our amazing cook. All morning was spent leveling “the mountain” for the pig pen. The pequenos joined in and we made incredible progress today. After lunch, some of us continued to work while the rest either played with kids or caught up on some much needed sleep. We are all exhausted but incredibly happy. Later we walked a mile to church through an eye opening city. Church was all in Spanish so we joined in on Hallelujah, but it was really interesting to see mass in a completely different culture. After Mass we walked the mile back to NPH through a downpour. After we dried off and warmed up Becky, Megan S, and Sam S made us a wonderful improv pasta recipe. Then we gave each other back massages and made bracelets. We’re looking forward to the upcoming days. We miss you all and can't wait for the next blog of another fun fulfilling day!


Love you all,
Tate and Peter

Video of our night...

Here is a video of our great 4th of July celebration, we love you all!!

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-79ijLO97I

4th of July

Hola familias! Today was a busy day back at NPH. We spend the morning working on the pigpen and we made a lot of progress! We discovered more interesting bugs and baby snakes (don’t worry- they’re not poisonous). Everyone was excited to spend the afternoon with the kids doing kids’ camp, visiting the baby house, getting our hair done by the beauty school and getting ready for the 4th of July celebration. We fed the kids hot dogs, chips and pop and it’s hard to believe that their smiles can get even bigger than we’ve already seen. Several pequenos said it was their 2nd favorite meal ever… pizza just can’t be beat. The way hot dogs are eaten in this culture is interesting- topped with cabbage, mayo and ketchup. Most of us decided we like the American way better. We ended the night with fireworks the leaders bought in the little town just down the road. It was a fabulous show and felt a little bit like home. We all hope that every family’s 4th of July celebration back home was fun and safe.

To Shannon’s people: “Hi Harrison, MOL”, she misses her family and loves you.

Hi Mom, Dad, Tanya and company… I miss you and love you! You’d be proud of how well I’ve handled the spiders =)
-Shawna


Greetings All from the traveling Lukers!
The mother/daughter crew from St. Paul want to shout out to our families and say all is well. Good health, amazing times, hard, dirty but good work, fun pequenos and wonderful photos. The “fiesta” for Quatro de Julio today was great. The kids loved the mini American flags we served up with their hot dogs. The dance party with the mom’s and pequenos busting a move to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was, well, unforgettable! We love you Leyden’s, Dickson’s, Stinchfield’s, Harrington’s and Leyden’s. All is well.
Please write.
Patsy for the 10 Amigas.

Our First Excursion

We all got up early in the morning to have a fun filled day in Antigua.  We went on a wonderful tour, full of fascinating history of Antigua, Guatemala.  Im sure the students will tell you all about what they learned.  Each student really enjoyed the full day of learning.  After lunch we all went shopping in the markets and stores.  Many people got gifts for the people back at home.  So hopefully your getting something.  After shopping we came back for a great dinner made by Sonito (our personal cook) then went right into devotions.  Devotions tonight were really great, we all discussed what we witnessed and how our cultures are different.  Many things we saw made us think of what we have and how we can help others.

Holly Lohse

P.S. sorry its so short tonight.  It is about two or more hours later then when we write the blog and I can't write well at all when I'm tired.  Thanks for your comments and continued prayers.  We love you all!!!  

Hola Families!



We just finished a long and touching day at NPH. Just finished with devotions and realized how many different kids have touched so many of us.

Today we started off with a good old American breakfast of Pancakes and fruit. They were delicious and gave us lots of energy for a long and tiring day in the pit. We spent a good 4-5 hours total today digging and shoveling dirt so we could level the land to create the pigpen. After working we went to the dining hall to do kids camp with the kids, then had dinner and finished off with playing with the kids and devotions. Today their was much commotion in the house when we found a mouse(which we have yet to find), and the boys are more scared than the girls it seems.

Today during kids camp some of the leaders and kids got a chance to meet a seventeen year-old boy named Daniel. Daniel sat in the corner writing a letter in Spanish and made sure that one of us could translate it for the rest of the group to make sure his story was heard by all of us. This is the translated version of his letter…



Hello my name is Daniel I am 17. I live here in NPH. I have been here for three years, and I want to tell all of you thank you many thank yous for being here with us. God gave you the opportunity to come here with us to share some very special days with us, we are very happy that you are sharing some very happy days. The bible says we should love our brother even if we don’t know him. And, God gives us beautiful eyes to see our brothers. So I ask God to bless you, to give you health, strength, more and more every day. See you soon. NPH loves you and I want to give you thank you from my heart. I want to give you a prayer:



Dear God

Thank you for these good people who came to visit here at NPH.

Lord Jesus, I want to tell you that you are a beautiful father that gives us good things everyday. Thank you God to have these special people and I just want to ask you to give them strength so we can learn more things and put your hands over their heads to keep them safe that when they leave here they are how they came. I ask you this in the name of Jesus.

Amen, Amen

-Daniel, NPH



Buenos Noches!

Shelby S. and Chandler H.



Love you MOM AND DAD AND STEVEN! I miss you! – Shelby PS and PETEY



Mama and Papa Chandra, I love you guys so much and I miss you! Kinsey I miss you like crazy too! I love you guys! –Chan PS I guess I miss Dixi too



Hey Parents and Rach! It’s Megan Schmitt I hope all is well back home, all is well here! This place is absolutely amazing and the kids are so incredibly welcoming and compassionate. I can’t even explain in words how amazing this experience has been. I will see you soon! Love Ya- Meg



Hey family its your most favorite family member ever!!! I miss you all so very much and I cannot wait to see you again. Everything here is going great and yes I am actually doing physical laborJ miss you all meaning everybody I loveJ love you all,, love AddyJ



Hi mom and dad! Things here are going great and I miss you both very much. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you and Chipotle! Love Peter. And say hi to Spike.

p.s. Happy Birthday wishes to Kris Munoz from everyone in the NPH homes.

Happy birthday Alex!  We love you!  

From- Dad, Sam, and Sara in Guatemala:)

NOTE:  This picture was taken on the computer.  We are hoping to find a cord to connect a camera to upload more pictures.   

Day 2 Pit of despair

Official wake up call was 7:00AM, although the pequenos were up and full of energy by 5:00.  We had a great breakfast as a group in our dorm.  We had fresh papaya, eggs, black beans, salsa, and fried plantains.  Shortly after we were greeted by the director and staff of the home.  They gave us a wonderful presentation about the history of the home.  Each staff member told a bit about what they do, and we saw a short video about the orphanage.  By coincidence, the head of the MN branch of Friends Of The Orphans was in town and gave a short presentation on how we can be of help when we get back home.

After breakfast we went to work.  And work did we ever.  Our job this week is to help in the construction of a new pigpens.  We arrived at the "Pit of Despair" to see what resembled a small forest in a gorge.  By lunchtime, we had cleared an area approximately 150 feet by 40 feet using shovels, pickaxes, wheelbarrows, and our own hands.  Everyone agreed that it was much harder work than anticipated, and we were greeted in the field by creatures such as jumping worms, neon-colored spiders, centipedes, snakes, and even a praying mantis.  We started to confuse our tan lines with dirt lines.  We were later informed that Andy Witchger fell down the hill as he unloaded one of the wheelbarrows, no witnesses in sight.  

Lunch was a delicious meal of rice, chicken, potatoes, and corn tortillas.  It was fun to walk into the dining hall being greeted by the kids.  We have been trying to split up our group from MN for our meals with the pequenos, so we have made many new friends.  Those who didn't know Spanish before are starting to pick up some of the language.   

After lunch, part of the group went to set up the kids camp to be held later in the afternoon, while most of us went back to the "Pit of Despair."  A few of the girls were lucky enough to get their hair done by pequenos who are currently learning in the beauty school for their skills training.  Others went to the Castillo Magico which is the house for kids with special needs.  Another group went to the Baby House for kids ages 1-7.  

Kids camp began at 4, complete with coloring, pipe cleaner bracelets, and crazy eights (or loco ochos).  Today was just for the boys, and we will be able to play with the girls tomorrow.  This was a great opportunity for us to visit and meet new kids.

Dinner consisted of tostadas and mysterious mash, which was delicious.  Kids are starting to know our names and ask us to sit with them at meals.  It is neat to see how they are learning English from us and we are learning Spanish from them.  

It rained after dinner so our free time was spent mostly inside playing games and TAKING SHOWERS!!  We started our devotion around 8:30 with singing.  The St. Paul and Holy Family group are having fun getting to know each other.  Patsy, our residence nurse, has been waiting on our every medical need with her overfilled backpack of supplies.  During devotion, we shared our highs, lows, and "Yay God!" moments of the day.  A big high for Becky and Nathan Kennedy was meeting the girl that they have been sponsoring for almost a year, Mariella.  

Its still raining as we write this and we are excited to get to bed.  We love hearing comments, especially from parents and brothers and sisters, on the blog.  Thank you to everybody who sponsored us for this trip both financially and through prayer.  We are praying for everyone back home and please continue to pray for us.  

P.S. Happy Birthday to Alex Hanel from Dad, Sam, and Sara!!

Welcome!!!!!!!!!

Today was an exciting time! The first group arrived safely, with all of their luggage. The orphanage is now crawling with thick minnesotan accents and extremely tired but excited young adults. Praise God for the safe travel!!! 

 After an early morning, two plane rides, and about 4 or 5 meals we made it bright eyed!  Here is a praise God... EVERY SINGLE bag made it here with our plane.  This is unheard of in Side By Side Mission history!  Side note... "Dad, I didn't get sick at all!"-Maria.  After we arrived at the house we were greeted with yet another meal... tortilla soup, which after one tried it decided it was really good and exactly like Chicken noodle soup...so, meal 6!  We were then escorted around the home by the higher level English students. After this, we then ate with the pequenos...meal 8!  This meal consisted of  black beans, corn tortillas, and cheese.  

We then made our way up to the cement soccer courts, they are currently growing new grass for the soccer tournament this fall, and played soccer with many of the kids.  The HF senior girls and Mrs. Kennedy learned what a Guatemala beetle looked like, about the size of my thumb!  Soccer skills were used and learned. We ended the night with low key devotions and an early bed time, 9:30.  

We are tired but all feeling great!  Tate is doing much better and even enjoyed the tortilla soup with the rest of us:)  You are all missed and loved!  Keep the prayers coming, God is absolutely hearing them and shining upon us!  

love, us tired folks

PS. Peter Mayer would like to request Chipotle to be at the airport upon his arrival back home. 

HOT! HOT! HOT!

We are so excited for our group to come tomorrow, that we climbed the highest hill in hopes of waving the plane down.  by accident we climbed a volcano called Pacaya and it was hot hot hot.  What an amazing day we had.  It was a great day to get out after all the planning and shopping.  We were able to see "liquid hot magma,"  from a very safe distance.  Anyways it was another great day of 65 and sunny.  Besides the rain, and the mudslides, and the clouds, and the "Liquid HOT Magma," and the snow, and the avalanches... ok everything but the snow and avalanches.  OK, so... thats all folks!

p.s.  if you want to see the "Liquid HOT Magma", go to the link...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCTIM73r8MQ  

*you need to copy and paste to get to the site or you can type it out.*

Save the Watermelon!

Today was a full day for us.  We woke up early in the morning to go to Guatemala City to go shopping!!!!  It was fun and a new experience!  There we bought food for everyone who is going to be on there way for the mission trip.  If you don't already know the first group is 45 people and the second is 38 so we needed to buy a lot.  It was fun and interesting to see the culture within the supermarkets.  Then we went out to lunch at a very popular fast food restaurant called "Pollo Campero" its like KFC back at home, but better.  Then we came back to NPH but only for a while to unload everything so we could go into Antigua to see if we could get a bus to go to Pacaya.  If possible we will go tomorrow and tell you all about it.  Within the next few days we will be in great preparation and excitement for the first group to come, as well as the children.  We are all praying for each and everyone of the visitors coming down and are anticipating their arrival.  Can't wait to see you all!!!  Talk to you tomorrow.

65 and sunny again!!!

Well, there has been no show with the luggage yet but theres hope...we have nothing to do but hope...and eat...and hope....and pick on stephen....and hope....but its 65 and sunny!!!  We have been hearing the rosters crow all day but no one knows where they are.  We had chinese food for lunch at a local cafe...yes its correct "chinese food at a Guatemalan cafe"  IT WAS GOOD!!!  All in all we have been well and treated like family!!!  

65 and Sunny!

We are happy to report that Nathan, Joe, Stephen and Holly have arrived safely. Only one of our bags was "misplaced", but was promised to be delivered soon. The weather is great here, 65 and sunny when we arrived. Many changes have taken place from last year, and we are excited for the arrival of our first group on monday!

Welcome

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to the Blogger web page were you will be able to read what we have done each day with the kids from NPH, starting June 30-July 21.  We thank everyone who has helped us get here and we want all of you to know that you are helping these kids too.  We ask for prayer for everyone who is here for great health and good times.  Thanks again.

SBS Team Member,

Holly Lohse