Guatemala Day Three

Most days I have no idea what I am going to blog about until I sit down in front of the computer and start blogging. It seems that is especially true when I have many thoughts and feelings--trying to bring them to one cohesive point can be quite challenging.

Today's post, however, was very clear to me before noon.

We took our daily 75 minute bus ride along the incredibly bumpy roads into Chitipey. Our mission this morning was to assemble and distribute 50 of the 100 water filters we brought for this community. I had assumed this was predominantly 'men's work' until I watched the morning unfold with amazement.

The seven children under the age of 10 in our group were fully involved in this project. My children's school embraced this trip and the students had worked hard to raise $2000. This purchased 45 filters. As I watched the children drill

and assemble these filters today it was an amazing testament to how much kids really are capable of doing.
This was not a photo op. They truly assembled these filters/buckets.

And then, as we watched, family members stepped forward to receive the gift of clean water and good health!
As they set off for the hike back up to their homes it all became so real: these people we have prayed for, the chores school children did to pay for the supplies, the travel... THIS is what it had all been for! It is not often in life that you get to watch something from start to glorious finish.
So we took the children on a hike of their own...up, up, up (straight up for over 30 trying minutes) to the homes of a couple of the recipient families.
The blue bucket in the left side of the picture below is the water filter. The table with the fire and the pot to the right is this woman's stove. Her home has one room. Her bed's only privacy is a blanket she has hanging alongside it. Her husband is currently working for a few months in another part of the country, so she takes care of her two daughters here.
This is one of her daughters (below). Her long ponytail was blonde for its last 3 inches because of malnutrition.
And these are a few of the other precious faces who received filters today.
I cannot begin to describe what it feels like to be a world away and have the opportunity to simply LOVE these people. We don't speak their language, a variation of Spanish that requires us to travel with a couple of translators--one to translate our English/rudimentary Spanish and the other to then translate the Spanish to their dialect. But, I am learning that smiles, games, songs and a willingness to enter their world means more than flowery language.

I hope I can translate this into my own life at home.