Following Ruth, Becoming Erin

New Years! (... ish.)

One of my new year's resolutions: Blog better. More frequently, less sporadically.

That being said, I'm not going to bore you with a post that drags on forever to recap the past month (longer, I guess) that I haven't blogged about.

Jesus (the preacher in San Ignacio, calm down, people.) has been working with us, and we've started a couple new ministries for the new year. On Tuesdays, we will be making visits throughout San Ignacio to the members and visitors from the church there. We got to do that with my grandparents last week while they were visiting, which was a great experience for all of us.

^^^ Tell me, how many of you have been in a Bible study with a pet goat? ;)

Another ministry we'll be doing with him this year is in Chuntrun. You may have read some of my past posts about Chuntrun, the little "village", if you can even call it that, up in the mountains. I have had the opportunity to visit the school there twice. But in regards to the people's homes there, I've only seen them through the trees from far away. I've wanted to visit the sisters there, it's just a matter of the right time and transportation. This year, though, we will be visiting a house there once a week for a Bible study! I'm really excited about this chance. The first visit for us took place last week, as well.
Natividad and Maria's house is where it took place, and it was an amazing experience. They have no electricity in their home, no running water, not even an out-house or anything. (Just don't even ask how I found that out.) They live very close to the river; you may remember the pictures of the swinging bridge you have to cross to get to the school. There are also several natural springs very close to their house, and they have hoses that carry the water from the springs to their yard. Maria said that they always have water, every time of year.

^^^ This is me with a couple of the Chuntrun kids near the springs.

The Bible study was really good, Jesus did a great job. I'm looking forward to more of this ministry this year. :)

Along with these, we found out today about a super exciting new opportunity we'll be taking part in soon, which I hope to post about tomorrow. Lots of new things this year! So, very late, I'd like to wish all of you a blessed new year.

Up... And Up... And Up...

My Aunt Lana and Uncle Mark came down last Saturday, and stayed here with us for a week! Well, technically they stayed in Teresa's apartment, since, as Jocelyn so sadly puts it, "Teresa se fue. :(" But we had a good time with them!
On Tuesday, we got a chance to go up in the mountains again and run a mini medical clinic in Cumbre de Gramal. The drive up was... It was something else!
We started driving up in the back of a pickup with all the supplies. And then kept going up. And up. And up. And up. And up. Get the idea? No? Okay, here's a picture.

If only a picture could literally capture how steep it was. Speaking of pictures capturing things... Just look at how well this picture captures the fear in my face as we crossed over moving water. Still uphill-ish.

When we got up there (finally!)we were greeted by these adorable little faces:

And several more. We were supposed to have the clinic and stuff at the school, but there were some miscommunications, and that ended up falling through. Thankfully, the sweet, beautiful old lady who lived next door opened her house to us.

So, we ran a clinic next to a huge pile of corn. There's a first time for everything, right?

There was a basic system of sorts. The people all waited in chairs, and when it was their turn they would go to the table and give their information to Mom. Then they were given medicine if needed, vitamins for everyone, and parasite treatments for almost all of them. We had everyone from 2-month-olds to 85-year-olds. The lady whose house we were at didn't even know how old she was, and gave Mom her I.D. to figure it out for her.

Daddy and Uncle Mark handed out bed rolls to each family that came through, too. I can testify that they will be put to good use. Look at this "bed". It is where 3 people sleep.

Every kid who came through was able to pick one stuffed animal, and a lot of the people received clothes.

If only it was possible to put everything from that day into one blog post. Goodness. There was baby cuddling, dirty feet, and hair we desperately wanted to brush all the little tangles out of.

On our way back down the mountain, we stopped by another little town. Don't ask me how, but somehow it seemed higher than Cumbre de Gramal, even though we thought we were going down the mountain. Everyone just gathered around the pick up, and we passed out a lot of the remaining stuff to them. I'd never seen anything like the way they all clustered around us for some vitamins and "peluches."

And after we left that town, Cumbre de San Jose, I saw the most beautiful view I've ever seen. The sun was setting and the view from up so high was breathtaking.
W. L. H.
Have I mentioned that lately?
We. Live. Here.
(If you're a facebook friend of mine you ought to look at the 2 recent edited pictures I posted!)

Everyone should be able to experience something like this sometime in their life.
More to be posted later.
Su amiga,
Erin <3

posted under Clinic/Health, Pictures | 0 Comments

Joseph's Coat of Many... Construction Paper Pieces!

Bilingual. I'm not there yet. I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I can understand a lot of Spanish. Speaking it is a little harder. But, I'm getting better. Last Sunday, though, I took a pretty big step in my bilingual-ness.
I taught the kids' class by myself! For the first time. Without translation. Mom was there to help, and did when I got stuck, but I taught about Joseph's dreams and coat of many colors. Songs, the lesson, and a craft. Just look at the pictures.

So, there's my first class I've ever taught in Spanish. :)

More to be posted later!
Su amiga,
Ruth Erin <3