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 :)