¡Buenas tardes y Feliz Año Nuevo desde Guatemala! Good afternoon and Happy New Year from Guatemala! I am writing to you with great excitement because after more than 48 hours of feeling quite ill, I am better and back with the team! Praise God!
What a fun 24 hours it has been here at Casa Bernabé! Yesterday quickly passed by in a flurry as we worked hard to prepare for the New Year's Eve festivities on campus. Each year the CEPC team puts together a night of food, games, and music for the entire orphanage.
In the morning, many of our team members worked together to get read for the skit that we put together for the orphanage. We used the song "Beautiful Things" by Michael Gungor (but in Spanish, of course) and used it to portray God's ability to change our lives and bring us out of the dust into "beautiful things." Hopefully a video of the skit will be posted on Facebook soon so many of you can check it out there!
Once that was squared away, we spent the rest of the day working with all our might in the kitchen to prepare food for 250 people! What a task and what a blast! Here is what the feast consisted of: ham and scalloped potatoes, cauliflower with cheese, coleslaw, corn on the cob, and a "dirt" dessert with oreos, pudding, and gummy worms! It was quite a sight to see all of the children feasting on our carefully planned meal. Needless to say, it was a complete success and everyone seemed happy!
When dinner was over, we started the evening out with the children ages three to twelve. We had games and activities planned for the different age groups and while it seemed like the children were just running amok, we were certain that they were having a great time by the joyous squeals and the smiles on their faces.
Later, the older kids joined us and we had a snack of pop and cookies (so healthy of course!) for each child. With only a few spills on the floor, each child began their New Year's Eve celebration with a huge sugar rush! We then shared our skit with the entire orphanage and it was a complete success. It went without a glitch and the crowd cheered when we finished. Hopefully it spoke to the hearts of some of the people that watched.
The little tikes then left us and the it came time for the older kids (ages 13 to 18) to experience the fun and games! Some of the older kids' activities included making an ice cream sundae in a team mate's mouth or duct-taping a team mate to the wall. Overall it was a great hit and we are grateful for those outside of our team that helped us pull it off!
As we came near to 11:40pm, all of us headed down to the soccer field for a time of prayer with the entire orphanage. It was a beautiful sight to see so many people petitioning God's blessings on the lives of each child hear at Casa Bernabé. God has truly blessed this place with some great leaders and a group of people who only want the best for each child placed here. We prayed continuously until midnight came near and starting from 30, we began to count down until we rang in 2013! As it struck midnight, we were graced with the presence of beautiful (and very loud) fireworks above our heads. I was so thrilled to be holding a little four-year-old in my arms and her little squeals just made me smile. I was overwhelmed by God's goodness here at CB and in my own life. The fireworks continued into the late hours of the night and as we found our way to our beds, very exhausted, we thanked God for putting us in a very special place to ring in the new year. We hope you had a blessed night and were with those you love to ring in the new year!
¡Feliz Año Nuevo!
Con amor,
Jennifer Bozeman
