Markets, Staining, and Babies, Oh My!

We had another great day at Fundaniños orphanage today! About half of our group was able to join Denny, the orphanage director, on a trip to the local market. What a cool experience! We drove through "main street" in this part of Guatemala City to get to the market. There were vendors and shops all over, with piles upon piles of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, bread, shoes, clothing, and pretty much anything else you could think of. We bought some corn and chicken to cook for dinner tomorrow, and Denny picked up some bread, baked treats, and other vegetables to restock the kitchen. We also stopped by a supermarket on the way home to get a few liters of Guatemalan soda and snacks for our team to try - including "Grapette" grape-flavored soda, which we saw advertised on several billboards and which apparently tastes like grape-flavored medicine.

At the market!

The rest of the morning was spent finishing our staining projects around the property. We finished staining the wooden fence around the chicken coop, and also stained the little fenced gate by one of the missionaries' houses and started staining the posts of a gazebo by the boys' house - and also continuing with some weed-eating around the playground!

There is a school building on the orphanage property, at the bottom of the hill from the kids' houses and main living area. A few kids go to different schools outside the orphanage, in the city, but most go to the school here. Some of our team members were able to help with the Pre-K class today - and Jen even ended up teaching for most of the morning!! We helped the kids with puzzles, reading books in the library room, and learning some English words for parts of the body, among other activities.

We had a restful afternoon, complete with our first Guatemalan thunderstorm! It is apparently "rainy season" here but we had not had much rain yet this week. Many of the older girls were at karate practice this evening, so it was pretty quiet around the orphanage. We had a "team night" tonight and ordered some pizza. We have also enjoyed getting to spend time today with a new little friend - a 2-day-old baby girl who is staying here with the Fundaniños directors for the time being! They are having a few court hearings this week to decide if she will stay here longer or not. Please pray for God's protection and provision for her life.

Ready to go watch the baby for the night, so the directors can get some sleep!