After our day off on Friday, it was back to work. Leslie, Don, Hannah and Regina Bontrager had clinic on Saturday. A few of the Bontragers came over. The younger boys played with our kids while the older girls helped to bag milk and vitamins for the nutrition program. Leslie gives out milk, a protein drink (or oatmeal) and vitamins to kids in each of her clinics who are malnourished. The Fickers buy the milk etc. in bulk so then we have to put it into bags to be distributed. After all the work was done, we went to the river for swimming and volleyball.
Sunday was clinic as well and the kids and I did a little school. Then we had some worship in the evening since Craig (a friend of the Fickers) had arrived. He is very gifted on the guitar and as a worship leader.
None of us were moving very fast on Monday. There was a patient in the late morning, the Fickers went for a picnic (see Rachel's blog for more details), Don and I tried to work on our Spanish, the kids played and watched a movie. It seems that a cold virus is going through both of our families so a little slower day was just about right. Please pray for health for everyone.
Today is clinic again in Chiminisijuan. While they are there, the kids and I are packing and doing laundry. We are planning on spending a couple nights at the Children's Home for New Year's. We won't have internet access while we are there so we will post some pictures and info when we return on Friday.
While we are gone and into the weekend, there will be lots of Fickers coming and going. Ryan and his family leave on the 1st, Hannah leaves on the 3rd and Aaron and Katie return on Monday or Tuesday. Please keep the Fickers in your prayers. It is so fun and exciting to anticipate family coming but hard to see them go especially a grandson! Please pray that they will have great family time until everyone leaves. Also, the transition back for Aaron and Katie may be a little difficult as well. We just pray that all of the transition goes well and that everyone has safe travels! Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Un Dia de Libre
Our third and final Christmas posting! We are having a day off (dia de libre) today! My mom always has these huge buckets of presents for us to open on Christmas morning so we put bags of a couple presents for each of the kids under the tree this morning. The presents are ones sent with us by Mom, my sister and a friend of our family, Rose Mary Morrow. It was not quite the same as the buckets but the kids enjoyed having a couple extra things this morning.
One of the gifts was MarioKarts for the GameCube. The "kids" are playing it this morning!
The kids also received a couple Leapster games. Bethany is playing one of them in her pajamas since staying in your pajamas as long as possible is also part of dia de libre!
Samuel in his new cowboy hat. Of course, he has been dressed for a while and has been outside playing. Can't keep a cowboy cooped up in the house even on dia de libre!
We don't plan on doing too much productive today! We have to do a couple loads of laundry and eat, of course, but otherwise it is our dia de libre! Merry Christmas!
One of the gifts was MarioKarts for the GameCube. The "kids" are playing it this morning!
The kids also received a couple Leapster games. Bethany is playing one of them in her pajamas since staying in your pajamas as long as possible is also part of dia de libre!
Samuel in his new cowboy hat. Of course, he has been dressed for a while and has been outside playing. Can't keep a cowboy cooped up in the house even on dia de libre!
We don't plan on doing too much productive today! We have to do a couple loads of laundry and eat, of course, but otherwise it is our dia de libre! Merry Christmas!
Christmas Day
We spent Christmas Day at the Children's Home. Christmas in Guatemala is really celebrated on the 24th including fireworks at midnight! At the Home, the kids opened their presents on Christmas Eve so they were all so excited about showing us what they received when we arrived. We received lots of hugs and "Feliz Navidad"'s. Sebastian also handed us all bags of grapes and an apple!
Oralia had wanted to learn how to make pizza so we decided that Christmas would be a fun time to do that. We had to purchase mozarella cheese, parmesan cheese and pepperoni in the City when we were there a couple weeks ago.
Here are Lita and Zoila working on the crust.
Oralia, Angelita, Wendi, Zoila and others all in the kitchen.
Two of the twelve pizzas we made.
We had to put Guatemalan hot dogs (sal chicha) on two of the pizzas. (This picture is for Lindsay's Dad, who also likes hot dogs on his pizza. Lindsay is a nurse at the Med Center.)
Chepa, Sebastiana and Melissa eating pizza and other food for lunch.
The big boys really liked the pizza. Some of them ate at least 7 pieces!
One of our neighbors, in Blair, had a birthday party for her son before we left. They had wanted the people invited to bring presents for us to bring to Guatemala. Don hauled down through Mexico things like soccer balls, kickballs, jump ropes, footballs and all sorts of other fun little playground-type toys. We had given them to Sebastian last week for him and Oralia to distribute as Christmas presents for the kids. When we arrived yesterday morning, we noticed many of the items that we had received from the birthday party being played with by the kids. Thank you to the Mruz's for all the gifts!
Danny and Mingo with a couple of the little balls on elastic strings.
Manuel with a kickball.
Melissa is holding her new baby.
Our favorite vaquero (cowboy), Venuncio in his new Christmas outfit!
We had a great day at the Home. It has been so fun to see our relationships with them develop. They overwhelmed us with Christmas presents yesterday. All of us girls received aprons. Samuel and Caleb received cowboy hats and Don received a machete! We pray that we are as much of a blessing to them as they are to us.
Oralia had wanted to learn how to make pizza so we decided that Christmas would be a fun time to do that. We had to purchase mozarella cheese, parmesan cheese and pepperoni in the City when we were there a couple weeks ago.
Here are Lita and Zoila working on the crust.
Oralia, Angelita, Wendi, Zoila and others all in the kitchen.
Two of the twelve pizzas we made.
We had to put Guatemalan hot dogs (sal chicha) on two of the pizzas. (This picture is for Lindsay's Dad, who also likes hot dogs on his pizza. Lindsay is a nurse at the Med Center.)
Chepa, Sebastiana and Melissa eating pizza and other food for lunch.
The big boys really liked the pizza. Some of them ate at least 7 pieces!
One of our neighbors, in Blair, had a birthday party for her son before we left. They had wanted the people invited to bring presents for us to bring to Guatemala. Don hauled down through Mexico things like soccer balls, kickballs, jump ropes, footballs and all sorts of other fun little playground-type toys. We had given them to Sebastian last week for him and Oralia to distribute as Christmas presents for the kids. When we arrived yesterday morning, we noticed many of the items that we had received from the birthday party being played with by the kids. Thank you to the Mruz's for all the gifts!
Danny and Mingo with a couple of the little balls on elastic strings.
Manuel with a kickball.
Melissa is holding her new baby.
Our favorite vaquero (cowboy), Venuncio in his new Christmas outfit!
We had a great day at the Home. It has been so fun to see our relationships with them develop. They overwhelmed us with Christmas presents yesterday. All of us girls received aprons. Samuel and Caleb received cowboy hats and Don received a machete! We pray that we are as much of a blessing to them as they are to us.
Christmas Eve
Merry Christmas!
We had to split up our Christmas so we are working on three different Christmas postings. This one is Christmas Eve.
Here is our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. It is actually a branch that was rubbing against the roof of the clinic. The kids made the decorations except for the ribbon that Leslie shared with us. We didn't have any lights although we could have purchased them in the market.
I made a roast in a pressure cooker for an early supper, we read the Christmas story from the Bible and then we opened presents. We had a few presents that the kids bought for each other before we left the States. Rachel, Sylvia and Kevin made us a few presents. Leslie had a gift bag for us and Aaron and Katie also left a present under our tree.
Here is Caleb with the Legos that the girls bought for him.
Samuel is looking on while Hannah opens a present.
The kids and I bought Don the original Star Wars movies (Episodes 4, 5 and 6) on DVD before we left the States. He was very surprised!
The flower at the beginning of the post is from one of Leslie's trees in front of the clinic. They have these poinsetta trees all over and it helped us get into the Christmas mood since it is more like Spring here than Winter. It also made me think of my mom who loves poinsettas!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Christmas in Chiminisijuan
We had many people for our Christmas party in Chiminisijuan today. We are guessing maybe 175 based on the number of crafts and bags of grapes that we handed out. Here are the pictures that we took.
The women and children gathered in the big room of the clinic building. A couple of the Bontrager children sang some Christmas carols. Then Armondo, a pastor who lives in San Andres, told them the Christmas story.
Then we handed out the craft. The craft had many steps including coloring, glueing, glitter, ribbon etc. It took all of us (about a dozen total of Fickers, Bontragers and Allisons and Cali,the PeaceCorp worker in Canilla) to get the craft done
Here are some of the kids coloring.
Caleb took a picture from up high so you could get the total effect. This is just half the room!
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Then we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus in both English and Spanish. We made all the people form a line so we could give them a cupcake, an apple and grapes as they went out the door. Thank you to the Elk Point United Parish for their generosity in providing apples and grapes. Here are pictures of Cali handing out cupcakes, Bethany handing out grapes, and Caleb handing out apples.
All the while we were doing this, Hannah Ficker and Don (and the translators) were doing clinic down below.
We pray that the Lord touched the hearts of those who came and heard the story of Jesus' birth. The people in this village don't know about Jesus and what a Wonderful Gift that God has given us in Him. They push and shove to get the free stuff that we give them (think of Wal-mart on the day after Thanksgiving). They are hungry and isolated and desperate. Jesus is the Hope that they need. We pray that seeds of Hope were planted today in Chiminisijuan.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Preparations
Traditional Christmas food in this part of Guatemala includes tamales, a hot fruit drink and grapes and apples. Many people in Chiminisijuan don't have access to grapes or apples. Lori's parents' church in South Dakota took a collection as part of their Christmas program this year so that we could take grapes and apples to the people in Chiminisijuan tomorrow. We are going to have a birthday party for Jesus with cupcakes and a craft. We spent the entire day today working on preparations for the big fiesta tomorrow.
Here are the girls putting grapes into bags. We put together 192 bags.
Every birthday party needs cupcakes so Regina and Rose (two of the Bontrager daughters) helped to make 200 cupcakes.
It didn't take too long to frost them with all the help that we had.
A craft was also put together. It is a pictures of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus that the kids will color with markers.
Leslie also likes to take gift baskets to a few widows in Chiminisijuan. Leslie and Hannah are putting the final touches on the baskets.
We didn't take pictures of everyone working but it was a complete group effort. Also, most of us will go tomorrow to distribute the fruit and cupcakes, help with the craft, play instruments and do clinic. We will also try to take lots of pictures.
Here are the girls putting grapes into bags. We put together 192 bags.
Every birthday party needs cupcakes so Regina and Rose (two of the Bontrager daughters) helped to make 200 cupcakes.
It didn't take too long to frost them with all the help that we had.
A craft was also put together. It is a pictures of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus that the kids will color with markers.
Leslie also likes to take gift baskets to a few widows in Chiminisijuan. Leslie and Hannah are putting the final touches on the baskets.
We didn't take pictures of everyone working but it was a complete group effort. Also, most of us will go tomorrow to distribute the fruit and cupcakes, help with the craft, play instruments and do clinic. We will also try to take lots of pictures.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Days at the Children's Home
It had been two weeks since we were at the Home because of our trip to the City. It seemed like a really long time since we had seen everyone! Leslie, Katie and Hannah had sewn on the backing and put the batting into the quilt for Oralia so we took it with us on Thursday. Leslie had shown me how to have the girls finish all the corners of the squares with embroidery floss. The girls were excited about how the quilt turned out and worked fast to finish it up.
One of the boys, Mingo, told Don that he hadn't been able to hear out of his ear for a long time. Don had not brought his "doctor" bag so when we got back on Thursday asked Leslie about taking medicine etc. to the Home on Friday. Don had his own little mini-clinic at the Home on Friday. Mingo ended up having an bad ear infection. Don also checked a couple other kids for ear infections. A little girl Elsa, had a fever and a headache and looked sick but Don didn't see an ear infection. He wants to check on her when they return for clinic on Sunday.
We also had a couple Christmas activities for the kids on Friday. We had them draw Christmas pictures to decorate the wall around their Christmas tree. They don't often get to display their artwork so this is always fun for them. My parents' church had also given us some extra craft activities. Here are a couple pictures of the kids doing that craft.
Julio and Lucy finishing up their craft. They all enjoy doing these type of activities even the bigger boys!
The craft was a little difficult for the smaller kids so we had to help them a little. I am helping Marta here.
Here is Beni.
We took Beni (and the goat) back to the Home about two weeks ago. He has a little cold - Don checked his ears as well - but he seems to be doing pretty well. This is Cata holding him. We miss him a little bit here especially Samuel!
One of the boys, Mingo, told Don that he hadn't been able to hear out of his ear for a long time. Don had not brought his "doctor" bag so when we got back on Thursday asked Leslie about taking medicine etc. to the Home on Friday. Don had his own little mini-clinic at the Home on Friday. Mingo ended up having an bad ear infection. Don also checked a couple other kids for ear infections. A little girl Elsa, had a fever and a headache and looked sick but Don didn't see an ear infection. He wants to check on her when they return for clinic on Sunday.
We also had a couple Christmas activities for the kids on Friday. We had them draw Christmas pictures to decorate the wall around their Christmas tree. They don't often get to display their artwork so this is always fun for them. My parents' church had also given us some extra craft activities. Here are a couple pictures of the kids doing that craft.
Julio and Lucy finishing up their craft. They all enjoy doing these type of activities even the bigger boys!
The craft was a little difficult for the smaller kids so we had to help them a little. I am helping Marta here.
Here is Beni.
We took Beni (and the goat) back to the Home about two weeks ago. He has a little cold - Don checked his ears as well - but he seems to be doing pretty well. This is Cata holding him. We miss him a little bit here especially Samuel!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A Busy Week!
This last week, along with the scheduled clinics, we also had clinic in San Pedro on Monday (4 long days in a row). This was my second trip to this remote area. With Hannah Ficker home from PA school and Virginia Birss, a nurse with ASELSI going along, it took two flights to get us all up to San Pedro. Clinic in San Pedro went well. There were a more patients this time, but not too many to be seen. In addition to seeing patients, we showed the Jesus film and had a coloring activity for the children about the birth of Christ.
It has been a little busier around the Ficker's home as well. In addition to Hannah and Virginia, the Bontrager family is currently staying here in their bus and there is still more family coming down for Christmas.
With all of the cold weather being reported back in the States, I wanted to share a few photos of what we have been doing. On Wednesday, the canal was turned on. Immediately, Duane opened up his access to this much appreciated water with the intent of 'flooding' his yard. With puddles forming, what else is there for kids to do but get wet! Here are our kids with Abi. Don't worry, nobody pushed Abi, she just likes to lay down in the water like that.
It has been a little busier around the Ficker's home as well. In addition to Hannah and Virginia, the Bontrager family is currently staying here in their bus and there is still more family coming down for Christmas.
With all of the cold weather being reported back in the States, I wanted to share a few photos of what we have been doing. On Wednesday, the canal was turned on. Immediately, Duane opened up his access to this much appreciated water with the intent of 'flooding' his yard. With puddles forming, what else is there for kids to do but get wet! Here are our kids with Abi. Don't worry, nobody pushed Abi, she just likes to lay down in the water like that.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Back in Canilla!
We arrived in Canilla yesterday afternoon at about 4:30 pm. Our trip back up the mountain was uneventful and boring, which is good! We had to hurry up and put all of our groceries away so we could get to market. There is a fiesta going on in Canilla right now so there were many people in the market. The kids were excited to be back. Bethany said, "It sure is nice to be back in Canilla." After almost three months, the kids are thinking of Canilla as home.
We found out that the Fickers are expecting many people this weekend. Their daughter, Hannah, is coming home for Christmas today. A daughter of the Stukenburgs, friends of the Fickers, and her family are home for Christmas. Amy just graduated from Medical School and wants to help in clinics this weekend. She and her husband and 8 month old daughter live as missionaries in Bejiing. Also, a family that comes to Guatemala from the States every winter to serve at a Children's Home in Chijoj (a pueblo close to Canilla) is arriving today. The Children's Home is closed now, but the family still felt like they wanted to come and serve this year. They have 9 children and drive a modified school bus. They want to come and help with projects etc. for a month or so. There is another lady coming on Monday. She wants to go to San Pedro for clinic with Leslie, Don, Katie, Hannah etc. It sounds like it is going to be a busy weekend and week!
Thanks for praying for us. We are so thankful that our trip to the City went so well. Thanks for reading!
We found out that the Fickers are expecting many people this weekend. Their daughter, Hannah, is coming home for Christmas today. A daughter of the Stukenburgs, friends of the Fickers, and her family are home for Christmas. Amy just graduated from Medical School and wants to help in clinics this weekend. She and her husband and 8 month old daughter live as missionaries in Bejiing. Also, a family that comes to Guatemala from the States every winter to serve at a Children's Home in Chijoj (a pueblo close to Canilla) is arriving today. The Children's Home is closed now, but the family still felt like they wanted to come and serve this year. They have 9 children and drive a modified school bus. They want to come and help with projects etc. for a month or so. There is another lady coming on Monday. She wants to go to San Pedro for clinic with Leslie, Don, Katie, Hannah etc. It sounds like it is going to be a busy weekend and week!
Thanks for praying for us. We are so thankful that our trip to the City went so well. Thanks for reading!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Zoo
We made our way to the zoo today. Let's just say that the traffic in the City makes Don a little "bunchy". There is a little more to that story but the short version is that we eventually arrived at the zoo!
The zoo was great, and the kids had a great time. Caleb took almost 200 pictures and the girls filled their memory card. We won't post them all here but we will give you a little sample!
Caleb took pictures of a couple signs:
"Welcome to the Little Farm" We didn't take a lot of pictures here. We have seen mucho farm animals since we have been here!
Bathrooms and Bears
Bethany took this picture for Bumpa! (Lori's Dad)
The kids thought this Iguana was very cool!
The tigers and lions were also a big hit!
The elephant waved to us.
We didn't see the crocodiles our first time around the zoo, but Samuel was confident that there were some there. He said all zoos have crocodiles. We were almost ready to give up but, lo and behold, he was correct!
The zebras were keeping the giraffes company.
There were lots and lots of snakes! Here are a couple of pictures.
We did ride the train as well.
Overall, it was a great day! The weather was perfect! They call Guatemala,"the land of eternal spring". We will be getting up early tomorrow and heading to the grocery store to get a few more things. Then we will head back up to Canilla. We have had a great time of getting away and spending some time together as a family. Thanks for reading!
The zoo was great, and the kids had a great time. Caleb took almost 200 pictures and the girls filled their memory card. We won't post them all here but we will give you a little sample!
Caleb took pictures of a couple signs:
"Welcome to the Little Farm" We didn't take a lot of pictures here. We have seen mucho farm animals since we have been here!
Bathrooms and Bears
Bethany took this picture for Bumpa! (Lori's Dad)
The kids thought this Iguana was very cool!
The tigers and lions were also a big hit!
The elephant waved to us.
We didn't see the crocodiles our first time around the zoo, but Samuel was confident that there were some there. He said all zoos have crocodiles. We were almost ready to give up but, lo and behold, he was correct!
The zebras were keeping the giraffes company.
There were lots and lots of snakes! Here are a couple of pictures.
We did ride the train as well.
Overall, it was a great day! The weather was perfect! They call Guatemala,"the land of eternal spring". We will be getting up early tomorrow and heading to the grocery store to get a few more things. Then we will head back up to Canilla. We have had a great time of getting away and spending some time together as a family. Thanks for reading!
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