The Search for Liquid Soap!

As you can see by the title I have been having a hard time finding liquid soap here, I have now lived here for 1 month yet, I have looked in many stores and the local super (like a small wal-mart) and yet i have not find it.  Despite the fact that I volunteer at a birthing house, we don't have liquid soap here, just bar soap and hand sanitizer.  This goes against everything I have been taught.  This means that basically no one washes their hands properly, which I know too well to be true (even after going to the washroom).  But thats not the only thing that is different here.  This blog entry is dedicated to things i have noticed are different here.

The electricity goes out, at least once a day, at least.  Sometimes its out for 10 seconds, other times 5 hours, nevertheless life needs to go on.  This may be yelling during church services, sitting in the dark at the dinner table,    and boiling to death without fans.  This also means that many times computers get ruined.

It is easy to literally run out of water,  water is by well and storing tanks here, and at least 3 times thus far, this house has literally run out of water.  I never thought that I would go to a house with running water, turn on the tap and have nothing come out.  It is now a regular occurrence for me.

Because of the recent gang violence in the Peten we now have a government run curfew.  Just for a month, but it is stil nevertheless very different then Canada.  Everyday no one can be on the streets past 8:00.  This means that church, youth group had to be moved to an earlier time, and that teenagers can no longer hangout at the youth center for very long.

Many people here, even christians start dating very young, by the time a girl is 13 she has probably been asked out at least 4 times, and has had at least 1 boyfriend!  This goes right along with getting married and having children younger.  I was looking through the papers we have at the clinic of all of our patients and to my surprise they are all 19 or 20 years old, having their first, second, or third child at this young age.  And this isn't a rare exception.  Of the 7 papers i looked out, (how many patients we see in a month and a half)  they were ALL either 19 or 20.  When i see the women here, i just assumed they were older then me, but I guess not.

Instead of selling alot of bottled water, bagged water is popular, where a clear plastic holds the water in.
Juice is also bought this way.

Doctors and hospitals are very expensive, and rather then a doctor having a set salary, the more patients he sees, the more money he makes.  Also many doctors have their own pharmacies at their practice and they get extra money from this so sometimes, unhonest doctors tell their patients to come again, when they really don't have to, or to get a bunch of medicine when they really don't need it, just to get money out of that.  Because of this people often choose to just go to the local midwife, or healer for medical help.

Grade school is in the morning from 7:30 to 12 or so and high school is about 1-6.  In high school you specify in something already, for example teaching so, you can be a teacher here by the time they are 18.   Homework, or at least much of homework, is very rare.

Of course there is so much more different about Guatemala that i already noticed last time I was here for just 10 days, such as chickens and pigs everywhere, extremly bumpy roads, kids driving motorcycles.  But this is a list of things that take a while to notice.  This was not intended on being a negative list of things wrong with the country.  After all, just because something is different does not mean its worse.  I hope this gives you a taste of somethings that Guatemalans go through.

Babies and Grenades are Booming

Its been very busy in the birthing center and so I am thankful for this bit of a lull we are having.  On Thursday two women called saying that they were in labor.  They both came and were still early on in the process.  Then another one came who also was going to be deleivering soon!  Now in the clinic we have room for 1 women to recover at a time, maybe 2 at the best of times.  So we cleared out one of the storage rooms and set up a cot and tent in there for a makeshift recover room.  Thank goodness the babies came spread out, two in one days and one two days later so we could handle it.  God never gives you more then you can handle.  Anyways for these births, in addition to everything i did for the other birth i also had to clean off the babies and dress them.  One of the women was fully dialated but her baby wasn't descending so i literally had to push hard on her abdomen, and help her get the baby out.  That was neat, i never felt so much a part of the birth!

Yesterday in a city 2 hours from here there was a big masacre where 29 people were masacred and then this morning a min war broke out there, with grenades and alot of violence.  All of the schools have been shut down here because it might be to dangerous.  Because of the violence over there, they are worried that more drug lords will enter to this area.  I don't notice any differences in my towns so please don't worry about that. 

Anyways thats all for now.
Emma <3

Contracion -> dialation -> baby = miracle!

So i have been in Guatemala now for 7 days, and I have come to realize that I really don't want to be writing down every thing that happens every day.  But I shall give you some highlights (in no eloguant way what so ever).

I occupy myself here with whatever the family I am staying with occupies themselves with.  The father in the family is a core member of the local churches and christian schools and christian youth center.  I go to youth group, the youth center, church things, morning devotions at the school.   I also am going to start teaching english since there are 3 guys that want to learn english, and Anita, the midwife told them that I will 2 nighs a week.  I read alot, and think alot too.  Oh also, I clean the clinic. 

On the weekend at a church picnic thingy mabob, I got my camera out and asked if the little girl who was hiding behind me wanted to try to take a picture, well she loved, it soon enough i had a corwd of little photpgraphers taking pictures of everything and anything.  It was quite fun.  It was so much like the first guatemala trip I went on how there is all of a sudden a crowd.  I like talking to little kids better in spanish because they don't judge me. 

I also went to a basketball game at the school where got excruciatingly burnt. 

I know, I know, all you guys really want to know about is babies! and births!  Well, I saw my first one yesterday!  My job was to feed the mother water, hold her legs a part during pushing, and suction out the liquid from the babies mouth and nose.  Then I had to hold the new born baby for like 45 minutes, while the mother got cleaned up.   Then i had to clean up...well alot of stuff.  I will spare you the gorey details, even though I don't find them gorey at all, I am sure many of you will.  Anyways when the baby was placed on the mothers chest,  I had tears in my eyes.  It was so beautiful.  It was such a miracle. It shows how awesome God is!  The baby was just sitting in fluid, in the mothers womb, and then all of a suden he was in the world, breathing air.  WOW! I have also saw a few prenatal appoitments too.  Did you know that if the women is in her 8 or 9th month you can totall feel the head just by touching her abdomen!

Also while I am here I am learning alot  about being a missionary, and how it so much about the relations hips and trust and that you don't have to be constantly working and busy in order to serve the lord!

When their is a women here we are busy and then we cleaning, and then we are tired, but sometimes I am just busy at night, so it really gives me time to think, like really think, and meditate.  Its nice.

-Emma <3

God is Good! (T-2 days)

First off I'd like to start off my saying I don't claim to be a writer.  I am simply a girl who loves the lord going on an amazing trip who wants to share a little bit of what she learns.  What a share on my blog is not suposed to be an eloquant essay, it's just my thoughts.

So way back when a friend of mine first told me that the midwife in Guatemala was looking for someone to help her i had this overwhelming feeling that that job was for me .  And that I was going to do it.  [God is Good!] Those feelings didn't make sense to my human brain so I immediatly pushed them away.  Obviously as time went on I realized that I was going to do this job but I was constantly worried and doubting what on earth I am doing going to Guatemala alone!  These thoughts can be seen in my first bloog entry that I wrote in March!

Right at the height of my worry about Guatemala on April the 3rd the sermon at my church was about Job.  I am not going to go into detail about his whole story, you can look it up for yourself if you are interested. But in Job 38-41 God reminds Job who like me was doubting, that God knows what He is doing!  He basically says stuff like; "did you make the earth?  Have you ever brought the sun up in the morning ? Did you give horses their strength?  Do you command the animals? NO you don't! thats what I thought!  Its me who does that not you, So I know what I am doing! okay?"  Keep in mind these is a very loose translation.  My response:  Oh snap!  Job got told! Really I have no right to be saying, this trip doesn't make sense, or say oh this won't work cause God has got a handle on it.  [God is good] 

As I listened to this sermon I tried to trust in God, and the main thing I needed help trusting was that this trip and lack of employment this summer wouldn't make me go into debt later on.  I really prayed hard that even if I did go into dept that I would remember God still knows what he is doing.  Well God certainly did know what he was doing because less then a month after I said this prayer God provided every last cent I needed for my trip, my travel insurance and my vaccinatations through generous support! [God is good].  Many people from my church where I go to school, from my church at home, from my moms work, from my friends, and even people who I didn't know in the community, or friends of my parents generously gave towards this trip.  It further proved that it is God's will.

A friend of mine told me to read Philippians Chapter 4 when I am scared but I started off at chapter 1.  Verse 29 really stuck out to me.  "For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. "  I know that this whole experience won't be rainbows and butterflys, I know that sometimes it's going to suck but at least I can be proud that the suffering I may endure will be because I am following God's will.  I keep thinking that of all the people God could have chosen for this trip He chose me, but not because I am awesome, but rather because He is awesome so because of that I can be proud to suffer in his name.  [God is good].
-Emma <3