Babies

Ya, so I definitely fell asleep last night. So back to Thursday. We went to Patezia. It's a little city of about 11,000 about 25 minutes from here. There are 2 buildings (one is the stake center) and 3 wards that meet. They said in total there were about 480 primary kids and I'd say that at least 300 came to be weighed and measured. Most of them have some type of malnutrition. What we are planning to do is pick the 50 most severe and use the $3500 from the guy in the states to start a day care. Someone up there is donating a house to be used so what will happen is the moms will have to work in the daycare 1 day a week and then they have the other days off to work. A couple of us will also go each day. At the daycare we will give the kids vitamin drinks to help them get healthy. It should be a really great project that should be able to keep running once we leave. The relief society president was also saying that there is a huge need for eye doctors and dentists. Some of the kids are cross-eyed or have lazy eyes, and not many young men are going on missions because they can't afford to have their teeth fixed. Hopefully better nutrition will help some. Suzanna talked to her dad about eye doctors. We'll see what else we can do. On Friday I went to Antigua to be with the babies. Edi was looking so much better. His cheeks are a lot fuller. We came back at one because at two we left for El Salvador. It was only about a 6 hour drive to San Salvador. We got our passports stamped and headed on our way. San Sal is such a huge city. I don't know that Ive ever seen anything like it. All of the restaurants had play places that were huge. The grocery store was like the ones in the US. It was really kind of a shock being there. 


















We spent Saturday at Majual, a black sand beach. It was really pretty. That night we did dinner and a move. Melissa, one of the girls on the El Sal team, had to go to the hospital because she got dengue fever. They have been working on an anti-dengue campaign and she must have gotten bit working out there. We went to church on Sunday and it was a different experience. We had to take a couple of buses to get there so it took about 45 minutes. Some of the members were Americans that are working there. Many of the natives spoke English. It was a small group, but there were 8 missionaries. The people were so friendly though. After church we packed up and made the trek back home.

Monday we went up to Xetonox to do nutrition with the school kids. They are so stinkin cute. They sang us a couple songs in Kaqchequel and we just sat and talked to them for a while. 


















They just adore us and we adore them. The men made us lunch (beef with tomatoes and cucumbers). They were so funny. They kept saying "hola" in high, girly voices. After lunch we went up to the water tank and carried boards down to a house. We all bruised our shoulders in the process. It is so refreshing to be up in Xetonox. It is so beautiful and peaceful and the people love us. The children are beautiful and are fascinated by us. They are all so appreciative also. We told Martin that they really don't need to feed us every time we go there, and he said that it is the only way they know how to say thank you. It was really sweet.

On Monday night we went to an inactive families home to do an FHE. The grandpa has been really sick. It was so fun to be in their home. It reminded me a lot of the mission. Man, I miss that. The mission was so rewarding. This experience is too, but nothing can even compare to the mission. Tuesday morning I went to MesoAmericano (the Rose School) to help with English classes. It was better this week than last.

Doesn't Edi just break your heart?

We went to Hermano Pedro for the afternoon and Edi is up to 5 lbs! He is so much more alert and focuses his eyes on you now. It's neat to see how much progress he has made in such a short amount of time. The babies there are so adorable.

Big Antoni, Little Antoni, Angela

Angela is happy all of the time and has the coolest hair I have ever seen. Little Antoni is putting on weight and laughs like you wouldn't believe. He was looking at Edi and would touch his hand and then laugh and laugh. It was hilarious.

Yesica knows that big Antoni is her brother and gets so excited to be around him. Rosalio is precious and Estela is the biggest fighter I have ever seen. She is 8 but spends her time up with the babies. She was so malnourished that she couldn't walk, but is learning how. She has bright eyes and a glowing personality. She remembered all of our names after just one visit. She really is an angel. After English classes we ordered Domino's Pizza. Everyone was pretty excited about it. Yesterday we spent the day in La Jolla. I love it there too. It's a community of 35 families and they are so organized. Pedro couldn't' take us this week so we went in the back of a truck. It was awesome. My face acted as a windshield. And guess who we saw as we were getting to San Martin?.......Elder Ford! That makes it 3 for 3. When we got to La Jolla they wanted to show us a stove that one of the guys made after we showed them the video. It was awesome! Seriously. Way better than we could have done. We went to one woman's house who didn't have a base made and made on so everyone could see how. They guy who made his own stove helped a ton. They made us eggs with tomato and put it in tortillas. Such great people. We ate a tree. It didn't digest too well. Today we've been cleaning to get ready for the new wave of volunteers. 6 come in tonight.

This is why we were teaching them to make stoves with chimneys