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Last day working for Common Hope



It was with tears in our eyes, blisters on our fingers, a limp in our step, and overflowing feeling of love and complete satisfaction that we walked away from Pablo this afternoon. Sniffles and giggles thinking of how hard we worked to get here and how hard we worked this week; the funny moments, the silly moments, the painful moments, and the rewarding feeling that comes from knowing one person really can make a difference. 

 

A moment to reflect on all the friends and family who supported us, whether it was the closet cleaning, lightening the load sale, pancake breakfast, 50/50 tickets, or the craft fair. Bought or sold, or just let us know you cared, if it wasn't for all of you –WE  wouldn't have been here.


We danced around the construction site all week, singing, laughing and pounding nails. The two, wonderful men we worked with laughed at us and with us so many times; Felix loved to tease Jewles about her groaning, mimicking her little noises throughout the day. He constantly would say, "Julie no happy. Julie no feliz" and burst into laughter and, Pablo loved to tease both of us for all the nails we bent, missed or just plain couldn't drive into the wood exclaiming, "Ay, Caramaba!" We will miss working with them so much. 


The ladies in the Hospitality Department at Common Hope Lys and Maria went out of their way to make our stay here comfortable. They assisted us in more ways than you can imagine and, have become dear friends, compañeras for life.


We made new friends this week Maura, Rebecca and Chuck. Maura we will no doubt be seeing here again. We loved, loved, loved her energy and spunk. In meeting Rebecca we discovered how small this world is, as she is an MIT student studying with friends of my daughters. Only in Guatemala can you meet someone who knows where Waterville, Maine is and knows two people you know. Chuck our new from Iowa; we are looking forward to having dinner with him and his wife tomorrow night. 


As we walked through the halls of Common Hope and walked back to our room we realized it was time to do our last important task this leg of the trip, giving our donations. We asked Maria and Lys to come to our room and we talked for sometime telling them what we had and how important it was to us to give to them. They couldn't thank us enough. Maria was so touched when she realized the bibles were in Spanish. I will never forget the joy in her voice...

This leg of our journey has come to a close and I once again am filled with peace, joy, and love. 


Tomorrow will be a day of rest, likely a bit of shopping and a lot of pampering, followed by dinner at our friends. Sunday we will be up very early and taking a bus to Lake Atitlan it’s a four hour bus ride and a short boat ride…sounds like an adventure already.


2 comments:

Ashley Cleary said...

you 2 ladies are amazing an we are so lucky to have people like u in this world....reading this has me in tears...what a wonderful experience!!!! thank u for sharing <3

Jules said...

Mumma Clash thank you so much for your message I just read it to Julie and we both are touched by your kind words. We feel very blessed to be able to be here, as we both know if it was not for friends like you supporting and encouraging us we would not be here experiencing all the joy and love that Guatemala has to offer. Much love and see you very soon my beautiful friend!