From Julie and Cassie, OTD Class 2013

Today was our first full day in Guatemala! This morning we woke up excited to see what this day had in store for us. We woke up and had breakfast around 7:00 then left the Nazarene Center at 8:00 to start our day.  First, we went to Los Conchas to visit the Shalom School. There, we visited with all of the classrooms and meet the children, teachers, and principal. After our school visit, we went out into the community and visited with each family in the community. We split up into three different groups to cover each of the sectors that comprises the neighborhood to invite them to the medical clinic that is occurring later this week. Later, we traveled to a feeding program in Guatemala City, called Under the Bridge and it was literally under a bridge. This program focused on children and integrating Bible study and Christianity into the meal and activity. The program currently serves about 40 children and their goal is to reach up to 50 children in the community. This was a great experience and we all enjoyed observing the children interact with one another and participate in the Bible study activity. The children were very appreciative and respectful to one another and the workers who were assisting with the meal. This gave also gave us an opportunity to use our Spanish skills to interact with the children. After the feeding program, we went to the orphanage to visit the twelve children who live there. There, we gave some occupational therapy and physical therapy assessments to the kids and after analyzing the results, offered treatment and intervention activities to the caregivers to best benefit the children. We also played and sang songs with the kids. At the end of the day, we went back to the Nazarene Center, ate dinner, had a worship service, and reflected on our day.

Overall, it was a WONDERFUL day!