As many of you know we spent some time last spring serving in Guatemala City with a group from our church. During our visit we had the opportunity to cook for 150 children seeking refuge from the dangerous streets they live in. We visited their makeshift homes consisting of metal walls, dirt floors and no plumbing. As an outreach, we brought 600 pair of new sneakers and fitted a village of children with their first pair of shoes.
While there, we ventured outside of the city and visited Fundaninos, an orphanage located in the mountains. This orphanage is funded and run solely with donations, alot of which come from individuals and churches in the United States. Because of the contacts we made while we were there last year,we have the opportunity to return again this June.
We have decided to spend two weeks at Fundaninos, leaving on June 21st and returning on July 5th.
Larry does not have time off from work so I will be going with Alisha, Josh, Jackie and Rebekah.
Ethan, Jakob and Anna will stay here with Larry on the nights and weekends and with their preschool teacher during the days.
Alisha is heading to college in the fall to major in International Studies and minor in Spanish. In addition to serving, she plans to to utilize and improve the Spanish she has learned over the past 4 years.
Joshua is interested in culinary arts so he desires to work in the kitchen, cooking etc.. Jackie and Rebekah are used to working with children and will spend most of their time working directly with the babies and toddlers and hopefully making some new friends their own age.
I feel led to learn how an orphanage is built, run, and funded. I feel someday we might be involved in opening an orphanage somewhere. There is no better way to learn than to jump in and do it!!
The purpose of this trip will be to serve at the orphanage in any way necessary. Whether feeding, changing diapers, dressing children, teaching, playing, doing laundry, cleaning, cooking or putting children to bed, we will be the hands and feet of Jesus.
We also plan to take some of the older children to the movies. This seems basic, but most of them have never been to a movie theatre, never mind had a coke and some buttery popcorn. This will truly be a highlight for many.
We want to emphasize to each of the children personally that they are important in God's eyes.
One day we plan to do a fashion show with the girls, dressing them up in party dresses, crowns, makeup and then videotape them. The boys will dress in cowboy hats and bandanas. And after the day is done, we will show them the film of themselves. This is another thing they have rarely seen.
We would also like to interview each child and write a short story about them to try to help them become adopted someday. I am sure this will be an emotional and enlightening time.
We will be sharing all of this with you, each day that we are there. We have been blessed to receive financial support for our plane tickets from a friend and business associate of Larry's. We are continuing to raise funds to cover the activities we plan to do while there and to allow us to meet some very basic needs of the children.
One way we want to make a difference is to provide pajamas for the children. I have been told that they don't have pajamas for children over the age of 3. We feel that each child deserves at least one pair of pajamas, no matter what circumstances they live in! If you feel led to help us purchase pajamas for the children, please let me know. Between all the people we know, I am sure that gathering 65 pair of pajamas won't be that hard!
I hope you choose to join us on this trip via this blog. Please pray for us and check back often for updates.
♥ Michelle & Larry Ziner Alisha, Joshua, Jackie & Rebekah ♥
