Back at Home

Well I arrived back home on Tuesday night. It was wonderful to come home to my mother's cooking and sleep in my own bed. :) I've also been enjoying having hot running water always available, and not thinking about cockroaches in my room at night. We live in such luxury in the US. I have never appreciated hot showers and a clean house as much as I do now. You really can't appreciate what you have until you go without it for a while.
I hope that while I was there, I was able to bless the school and the kids in different ways, but I know that my time in Guatemala, more than anything, was a learning experience for me. It was really good to get some experience teaching kids so I know what I'm getting into studying elementary ed. After the first week of teaching kindergarten I had decided I could never ever be a teacher, and was almost sure I would be changing my major as soon as possible. But once I started teaching a little older kids--third and fourth and fifth graders--I really loved it and now I'm much more confident going into elementary ed.
I also learned a lot from my time in Guatemala by seeing Marta and her dedication to her work. I envision myself in the future working in a very similar ministry to Marta's, if not in Guatemala, somewhere else in Latin America. So seeing the way she ran this school helped me understand some of the challenges and the fruits of working with kids from hard families and backgrounds. For one thing, kids from these kinds of families tend to be very undisciplined which makes teaching them very difficult. But when they don't get a lot of love at home, they are so excited to get hugs and attention from their teachers. That was my favorite part of spending time at Preciosos Momentos--just loving the kids. The joy of Marta's ministry is seeing kids get all the way through sixth grade who otherwise would not have gone to school at all.
I don't think I ever mentioned this, but while I was there, Marta made a huge step in expanding her school to go through 9th grade. She got the permission and certification from the department of education to teach "basicos", which is kind of the equivalent of middle/high school. Now she needs teachers for the older kids, who she hopes to start in February for next school year. They will go to school in the afternoon, after the younger kids leave. Getting the certification was a huge step which everyone said was impossible with the school's lack of...everything, but God worked things out. Now we need to pray for good teachers to come.
Overall, I'm really thankful for my time in Guatemala and everything that I learned. God is working there and its exciting to see what he is doing. I can't wait to return to Guatemala. But for right now, I get to start getting ready for college :)