Video/Slide show

This isn't even half of the pictures I took in Guatemala this summer. Some of the pictures are not mine.... i.e, the picture of the dry lava..... taken when some of our LITs (leaders in training)took a trip to see Pacaya, the volcano that errupted in May. I didn't get to see it, but I wanted too and thought the picture looked cool there.
Lots of Love
~Joy :)

home safely

I figured I might as well let everyone know that I made it home safely.
We left Guatemala at 11:00 am and landed in Miami at 4pm (including the time change). My flight from Miami took off at 9pm so we had about 5 hours to kill at the airport. (4 after getting through customs). Thankfully, I wasn't alone so we never really got bored. Our flight was rather uneventful, but we landed in Philly around midnight so I got home around 1am on Monday.
I had an awesome time in Guatemala, but I do have to say that I'm glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed again.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for all of the people in Guatemala and that they'll continue to grow in their faith.
Lots of Love,
~Joy

Last night, we said goodbye to 2 of our team mates who had to leave early. It was very sad to see a part of our team leave. Thankfully, we didn't have to worry about filling parts for the drama because yesterday was our last ministry day.

Today, we went shopping! I was in a smaller group with a couple people who knew where to find good deals. We found at least 2 people who gave really good deals to brothers and sisters in Christ. They also gave us small gifts to thank us for the work we've done in their country. We shopped for probably about 2-3 hours and then went to McDonald's for lunch. They have a Mint Chocolate mcflurry that's really good. It was SO nice not having to eat PB&J. :) After eating lunch, we went back to the market to finish our shopping. We came back to the hotel, and now a few people are resting, and most of the team is still at the Market.

I can't believe that we're leaving tomorrow, it feels like we just got here yesterday. It has been so much fun being here again. God has done some amazing things through us and in us, and I know he's going to continue doing amazing things in this country, and through all of the teens when they get home. :)

This is most likely going to be my last post, considering we're leaving Guatemala in the morning, and the computers will most likely not be on.

ttyl,

~Joy :)

last Ministry day!

Today we went to 2 small villages and an orphanage. Well first off, the guys on our team gave each of the girls a small boquet of flowers, a bracelet and a note; which was very sweet!

Our bus stopped at the orphanage, so we had to walk up this mountain to the first village. It wasn't too bad of a hill, until we passed it and had to go back down. After we did our drama at the first location, we had to walk back up the hill even further, which was much steeper! We made it to the top without any problems, and thankfully trhe view was very pretty. Unfortunately, it started raining half way through the drama. It started pouring after we finished. My makeup looked pretty funny because all of my black paint ran. Walking down the hill in the rain was insane! We made it back to the orphanage, but it was too wet to do the drama again, so they took us into their chapel and played some music for us. They played "La Bamba" (which by the way was written by a Guatemalan band) for us and a couple other worhip songs like Trading my sorrows and Open the Eyes of My Heart. It was pretty cool!

I don't have much more time to post so I'm keeping this pretty short. I probablt could've written at least another short paragraph. Tomorrow is our tourist day and we get to go back to the market. I will probably post a short thing again tomorrow. Sunday is our travel day, and I'll be back in Jersey before midnight. :)

Lots of Love,

~Joy

Today we went to a Cancer Hospital in Guatemala City. We did our drama in the waiting room, so most of the people there were just waiting for people who were in treatments or waiting for treatments. We prayed with several people who were getting ready to go into a test or a procedure, and several who were waiting for loved ones in treatment. Many of the people I talked to were already Christians, so it was cool. One of the ladies actaully read us a Bible verse and thanked us for coming. Another man was waiting for his wife who was getting a test for a tumor they found on her chest. As we were praying, she came into the waiting room, and after we were finished praying, the two left together and someone said they saw her smiling. I was very blessed to get to pray with the people.

After we finished there, we walked a couple blocks to another location because our bus had a small accident. We found this playground outside of another hospital and we set up our stuff there and did the drama. After the drama, one of the translators took us over to a lady who needed prayer. Her mother-in-law isn't doing well at all and they're afraid that it's going to be her last night. We got to talk to several more people before we had to board the bus and head back to the hotel (even though we got here only a few minutes ago, and we seem to be VERY early).

Tonight is crazy hair night! I can't wait because some of our LITS (leaders in training) are allowing us to come into their room to do everyone's hair. It's gonna be so much fun!

Tomorrow is our last ministry day. We're doing our drama 3 times, so please pray for strength and health for our team. Also pray for all of the people we've met so far, and everyone else that we're going to meet tomorrow.

Lots of Love

~Joy

Hola!

So it's been a while since I posted last. So I have A LOT to say. :)

Monday morning, we went to Lake Atitlan, it's SO beautiful, but it makes for a long day. We left the hotel at 7:30 in the morning and didn't get to the lake until 11:30, then we had an hour bus ride. We did our drama once and then played/ talked with the kids. We got back to the bus at 3:30, we had a 3 hour bus ride, and part of our team (including me were in a skit during Fuagnem so we were a little rushed once we actually got to the hotel. The skit was AMAZING! I had one of my room mates video tape it, and it looks pretty good. After Fuagnem, we made our fire and made S'mores in our room.

Yesterday, we went to a very poor area of Guatemala. We started out the day bagging food for the people and playing with the kids. Our stage for the drama...... let's just say was a little disgusting. We had to do it in their street which was dirt, rocks, and who knows what else. We were told to do the drama as is so I think all of us had to lay down in the dirt/mud at one point during the drama. Of course before we were complaining and we weren't very excited to do the drama there. We did it, and kept a good attitude, only one person got a small rock in his hand, but he seemed fine. After the drama, we were approached by at least 3 women who needed prayer for different health issues. We also got the opportunity to pray with a bunch of people. God is Awesome! anyway, after we talked to the people for about 30 minutes, we decided to head to another area to do the drama again. We ended up at a public high school that had over 800 students, and we did the drama for a majority of them. It was so cool to see all of their reactions. After we did the drama for them we got the opportunity to talk to them. Some of the older students could speak a little bit of English, so it was easy, but also harder to communicate with them because I didn't know how much english they knew, and they didn't know how much spanish i knew.

We got to the hotel a little early so we hung out in our room for a little bit. Two of the girls (Ashley and Carlee) found blue face paint, so they painted themselves blue, and then I helped by adding colors. They decided to go to dinner with the face paint everywhere. On the way to dinner, we met a girl who was a volunteer at one of the Orpahnages that we visited and was invited to hear Susie speak. Her name was Joy. I really enjoyed talking to her, she has an AMAZING story (once I find her blog, I'll post a link.)! We talked to her through dinner and then a little bit after, so Ashley and Carlee ran out of time to get the paint off. On the way to Fuagnem we were told that it was bondage night (which means pretty much everyone shares something that they think is holding them back in their realationship with Christ) They freaked out a little bit. :) Fuagnem last night was AMAZING! God is so good, and we were all able to smash the things that we find are holding us back. After Fuagnem, we all decided to hang out by one of the pools, eat ice cream and just talk. We had so much fun!

Today was our half day because some people were meeting their Compassion Child. We went to another Orphanage. I had so much fun! The kids were so loving and cute. We did our drama for them and then played with them. I ended up painting faces, and letting some of the girls paint my face and arms. This afternoon, we went to McDonalds and the market. I got some pretty cool stuff.

We have 2 more ministry days, please pray for strength and health for our team as most of us aren't felling 100%. I'm so excited to see how God's going to use us.

ttyl,

Joy

Quick update. happy 4th of July! :)

So there's really not much to post for today because we had our day of rest. I also only have like 4 minutes to post everything.

Today, I pretty much hung out around the hotel all day although some people sightseeing in the city. We had FUAGNEM in the morning which was AMAZING! I can't really explain it because again I don't have much time to think of words to describe it.

I'm not really feeling very well, and really haven't since Friday. Friday I got a pretty bad sore throat and thankfully that's gone but my nose is running like CRAZY! Hopefully the whole thing will be gone tomorrow when we go to Lake Atitlan.

Anyway, I'm having an awesome time here! I wish I had a little bit more time to post but 'm about to get the 2 minute warning so I don't want it to shut me out. I probably will not have time to post tomorrow so I will most likely not be posting until Tuesday. If I can get the chance tomorrow, I will definitely post, but there are no guarantees there. Anyway, tonight is the Jaime Jam concert and the talent show. I'm so excited for the rest of the week.

Lots of Love

~Joy :)

:)

Hola! Today was our second ministry day. We went to this orphanage way up in the mountains of Guatemala. We did our drama for them and then played with them the rest of the time. I had so much fun playing with all of the kids. Some of the kids there are HIV positive, but the people who run the orphanage take such good care of the kids that we couldn't even tell which kids had it. One of the ladies who helps run the orpahange, told us that one of the girls is epileptic. The little girl was so cute and very beautiful. It was so much fun to see all of the kids, and playing with them. After lunch, we were able to pass out toys to the kids. They were SO happy to see us and so happy to get our little gifts.

I am having so much fun! :) BTW, last night after FUAGNEM I was kinda "recruited" to be a part of a special skit for Thursday night. It's going to be so Cool! Don't worry, I'll have someone take pictures. :)

Any way, we had quite a bit of rain here. Yesterday we had the power go out in the hotel for about 3 minutes, and today one of the streets was flooded. I've seen at least 2 smoking volcanos so far, but I'm not sure if I've seen the one that actually errupted last month. I really want to see it!

I guess that's a good enough length for now. :)

TTYL

~Joy

HOLA!

We landed safely in Guatemala City last night! Everything is moving really quick. Today was our first ministry day. Half of the team was putting together food for families while the rest of the team was playing with the kids. I was in the group playing with the kids. We all had so much fun playing frisbee, tag, or bubbles with the kids. They are SO Cute!!!!! anyway, after a while we did our first drama performance. It went really well. After the drama, we got a chance to talk to the people and play with the kids again. I ended up playing "El Torro" (She chased me aroubd the area we were in) with one of the little girls, Elena. After playing for a while we went to a park to do another drama. Today alone, we saw at least 20 people accept Christ. I can't wait for the rest of the week.

I could probably post alot more, but I don't have much time and I need to save something for when I get home. :) Again, I will post as much as I can, but I'm not really promising anything

TTYL

~Joy

MIAMI!!!!!!!

so I made it to Miami on Monday, after a long time waiting at the Philly airport..... Something on our plane broke, so we had to wait 2 hours for them to fix it! Once we were in the air, my flight was rather uneventful.....
Once we made it to Miami, we sat in the airport for an hour waiting for the hotel shuttle. We got to the hotel just in time to register, put everything in my room, eat, and still make it to FUAGNEM on time.
After FUAGNEM, we met our team and then headed to drama auditions. I'm a mime again, I didn't really want to be a mime again, but I'm fine with it.
Yesterday we had all morning free, because the drama coach wanted to meet with the toys and kats first. After lunch we had language training and finally went to drama training. I am part of the tree in the middle of the garden! :) I'm really excited! Today, we finished learning the drama and then spent the rest of the day polishing it up. I also get to be part of the cross at the end of the drama.
I leave Miami tomorrow at 7pm and we're landing in Guatemala City at 8:30 (it's a 3 hour flight with a time difference.) I can't wait to get to Guatemala!!!!! I'm so excited to get to be a part of this and I'm really liking getting to know everyone on my team!
Lots of Love from Miami
Dios les Bendiga!
~Joy

TOMORROW!!!!!!

I'M REALLY REALLY VERY SUPER EXCITED RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!! I can't wait!
I still have to go through my suitcase one more time, but other than that I'm completely packed (except for one shirt, and a few things that I still need tonight or tomorrow morning). I can't think of anything else to post except for that this week (and entire month) went by EXTREMELY fast!
I can't wait to meet everyone either in the airport or in Miami.
Please continue to check my blog..... I will try to update as often as I can!
Lots of Love
Dios le Bendiga
~Joy

1 week!

hola!
In exactly one week, I will be sitting in Miami meeting many new faces and many familiar faces. I got pretty much all of my shopping done yesterday, and I still have a few more little things to get, but I'm about 98% finished shopping.
I also began packing today... I didn't get very far because I kept getting distracted so my bedroom is currently cluttered in a sea of everything that needs to be packed by next monday morning. I wish I could remember how I got everything packed last year!
1 WEEK!!!!!
Dios le Bendiga!
~Joy
ps.
1. It is nearly impossible to finda box of JUST plastic knives!
2. I get distracted easily! :)

only 9 more days until I leave for Miami!
I finished school on Wednesday, but it really doesn't feel like I'm done for the summer. oh well! i'm happy!
anyway, I'm SO excited that this trip is only 9 days away. I've really enjoyed talking to some of my teammates on email, facebook, etc.. It's so cool to hear from all of them and I can't wait to meet them in person!
My flight leaves Philly at 12:20 next Mon and I'll be landing in Miami around 3:15. I'm really happy, because I found out that there is at least one other person from team 3 (the team i'm on) on the same flight. :D
Dios le Bendiga
~Joy

15 days!

So I decided that I'd finally post my pics from last year. I hope you enjoy!
btw: the trip is only 15 days away!

This is just a glimpse of what was done last year, and probably also a little glimpse of what we're doing this year! :)

20 DAYS!!!!!

The trip to Guatemala is less than 20 days away!!!!!!! I remember when my countdown on igoogle said 120 days! It seems like it was only yesterday.

I'm really excited and really hope these next 2 weeks go by really quickly. I have started shopping for the trip, and getting some things as I've seen them, but I still have quite a ways to go. Thanks to facebook and email, I've already been in contact with my team-mates. I'm really excited to get to know them and I can't wait to meet them face-to-face in Miami! It's an amazing feeling to be less than 20 days away! But I still have to finish school first. Only 6 more days of school and 3 of them are finals! Please continue to pray I finish school and as I continue to prepare for this trip! I haven't heard many updates about the current situation in Guatemala, (I guess that's because everyone in the US is preoccupied with oil spill) but I know that it has gotten better. I can't wait to see what God has planned for us on this trip!

Dios le Bendiga (God Bless)

~Joy :)



To God alone be the glory, to God alone be the praise

Everything I say and do, Let it be all for you,

The glory be yours alone

Guatemala volcano & such

most of you all know of the volcano that errupted in Guatemala last week and the hurricane, and the sink hole (my sister has been to the intersection where the sinkhole is). The country was hit with a very devastating blow this week. The first time I heard about it, I didn't know what to think.... actually I did, it was "oh no, what are they going to do, we're heading there in less than a month. What's going to happen to the trip?" I guess I may have jumped right to what could be the worst thing that could happen.
as time went on (within a day or two), I started to realize that God is going to use this devastation and turn it around into something beautiful and amazing and probably more than we can fathom. The trip is NOT being canceled or shut down.... I think this is actually doing the opposite and lighting the fire of excitement even more than it had been.
I received the team list, costume assignment, and flight information yesterday. :) I will be serving on Team 3, and I'm in charge of bringing the Evil Magician costume for my team.
The trip is about 25 days away! Please continue to pray as we prepare and gather the final things together.
Dios le Bendiga,
~Joy

heading back to Guatemala!!!!

hey everyone,
wow! i haven't posted in almost a year. I guess it's time for me to post again. haha!
anyway, i want to let all of you know that I'm heading back to Guatemala at the end of June! I'm very excited to have this opportunity again.... God has been faithful through the whole time, and have been blessed. My sister isn't going this year, so it will be just me :) God is going to do amazing things this summer in Guatemala!
Please pray as I (and the rest of the people) prepare for this trip, and for the people of Guatemala to open their hearts.
~Joy

Isaiah 43: 1&4
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.... Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life.