Silly Skits and Super Goats

It has been a really long time since I've posted on my blog! I was talking with my friend Liz and she reminded me that I hadn't posted in over a month! There is so much to tell that I won't be able to remember all of it, but I'll give you the highlights.

School has been really good! There was definitely a rough time when Mr. Warfield had to give two detentions and the students didn't like it. It caused some tension for a few days, but things are much better now. I am really feeling like the students and I are getting closer and our relationships are moving to a more personal level. They are trusting me more now, and I'm really enjoying it!

A few weeks ago at the school we had a Silly Skit Night where the students and teachers organized skits to perform one evening. Some other male teachers and I organized a dance skit for the evening, and it went really well! Here's the video:

I hope you enjoyed it! We put lots of effort of 3 whole practices into that! The first dance skit I have ever done!

Meanwhile, I have traveled to Totonicapan a couple times to visit my friends there. My friends Jessica, Liz, Aaron, Gina, and Sean went as well. It was a lot of fun the first time because there was a fair going on and it was VERY crowded! So crowded that we actually got into a walking traffic jam! There was a moment in my life where I didn't think I was going to get out of the traffic jam of walking people!
Here are some pictures of our trip to Totonicapan:

My friends Rafael and Esdras and I 

 My roommate Sean and I

Everyone who went hiking on the trip to Toto. We hiked to a waterfall. 

I have also gone to a Super Chivos (Super Goats) game! The Super Chivos is the local soccer team here in Xela. It was a good game and a good experience for us. The team is very supported in the community and all of the kids ask me if I watch their games/go to the games, so it was nice to be able to actually go to one this time.

This week has been Warrior Week at school (spirit week). So the days had themes including miss-match day, superhero day, Warrior day, pajama day, and crazy hair day! The 7th grade students decided that my hair wasn't crazy enough when I arrived at school, so at lunch time they decided to do this:

It's awful(ly good)!! 

On the 31st, next Wednesday, I would be illegally living in Guatemala! Soooo, to help us out a little bit, we're taking a trip to Mexico to cross the border and stay a night so that we have another 90 days in the country legally! Tomorrow at 6am we leave for Mexico and we'll be there until Sunday! We're going to the beach! I'm excited.

Well, that's all I have to say right now!

Saludos de Guatemala!

Happy Independence Day Guatemala!

Queridos Amigos y Familia: (Dear Friends and Family:) 

I was very happy that Guatemala celebrated its independence day on a Saturday so that I could have Friday off of school! On Saturday, September 15, Guatemala celebrated 191 years of independence! To celebrate, ten of us teachers from school traveled from Xela to Antigua for the weekend! Antigua is a colonial city, the former capital of Guatemala, that provides a very scenic, historical view of Guatemala. 

Thursday was our last day of school this week, and to celebrate the Thursday that had been "converted" into a Friday, my group of three friends, another teacher named Rafael, and I went to the fair here in Xela. The fair was much like a fair in the United States, with sketchy amusement rides, unhealthy food, and lots of people. I wasn't too adventurous with my foods since I had just recovered from the strawberry nightmare, but I did try a couple things, including churros (fried pastry with cinnamon and sugar and chocolate sauce), atol de elote (a hot, thick sweet corn drink), and some pizza. I was warned by my students (actually encouraged by some) not to eat what are called "garnachas," which are little tiny fried tortillas topped with a ground meat (I didn't say beef because there are rumors that it's not beef), cabbage, and cilantro. The 7th grade students told me not to eat them, and the 6th graders said I should. I didn't. Mostly because the 7th graders said that I should give the 6th graders an F in class for encouraging me to eat them...so I steered clear. We only rode one ride, the one that takes you straight up into the air slowly and then drops you at the speed of light (like the Superman at Six Flags). I liked it a lot! We ate pizza at a little restaurant at the fair and the mascots for the restaurant were two little boys in a star and moon costume; they were very welcoming. 

The next day, Friday, we left Xela around 8:00AM to travel to Antigua. The week prior we had planned to travel to Antigua during our independence day vacation weekend, but two days before we were supposed to leave, we learned that the Volcán de Fuego ("Fire Volcano") had erupted. I told my dad that we were still planning to go, and so he sent me a news article of the eruption to help us make our decision, but it didn't scare us enough. We traveled to Antigua and arrived without any sign that the volcano had erupted. That day we walked around the city seeing the sights like I have always done in Antigua. A surprise, though: I found a health food store that sells GLUTEN FREE food! It was a diamond in the rough, and we found it! It was a very exciting time, so I purchased some goodies to hopefully help me get to Christmas :)  ....or maybe just until next week. That evening we ate at a Mexican restaurant, which I had been craving! I got some green enchiladas, which were really good! 

The next day, Saturday the 15th, we climbed one of the volcanoes located in the same area as the one that had erupted a few days before (smart, I know). We had a blast! It was about a 4-5 hour hike up the volcano. The first 1/4 of the hike was a normal mountain terrain with trees and shrubbery. The last 3/4 of the hike was volcanic rocks and dirt. We had the opportunity to pay a little bit more and our guide would take us to the top of the volcano so we could see the "crater" where the lava was actually visible; however, part of the way up we decided that the hike was too treacherous and turned around there. Our guide said that it was the first time he had hiked up to the crater since the last eruption, of Volcano Pacaya, in 2010, so he didn't realize it was so difficult now. We were satisfied, though, and we even got to roast marshmallows from the heat of the volcano and we had a little s'more snack while up there! It was a great trip. 

Saturday evening we traveled back to Xela where we relaxed and caught up on school work.

This week has been a normal week. I have been doing well and have given two pop quizzes to my students! (My mom laughed about that, so I thought you might want to know as well).

Enjoy the pictures! 

Devin 

This picture is from my moving day into our new apartment. It just got posted to Facebook, so I thought I'd put it on here. 

Jessica, Sean, and I with the Star and Moon mascots at the fair :) 

 My roommate Sean and I preparing to roast marshmallows. 

 Jessica, Sean, and I (with Liz in the background) dishing out the s'more supplies

Jessica, Sean, and I taking a rest from the hike 

The whole gang that went hiking 

We stopped for ice cream at McDonald's in Antigua. Supposedly it's the biggest McDonald's in the world. It was definitely the nicest I have ever seen.  

Our "band picture" in Antigua 

The whole gang at McDonald's  

The Four Amigos looking off into the distance 

Scenic shot when I was on the volcano 

Another 

If you look closely, you can see a little puff of black smoke in the midst of the clouds. That puff of smoke was from Volcan de Fuego on the day we hiked. It was still smoking on Saturday.  

Another picture of Volcan de Fuego 

Volcano "Pacaya," the one we climbed

A view from the volcano

Another view

This was the hard part that we were climbing, and then we decided to head back.

Beautiful picture from Pacaya

The moment where everyone was thinking, "maybe we should go back..."

Another great view! 

This is the Mexican restaurant  menu where we ate in Antigua. This picture is mostly just for Dr. Litherland. The restaurant was named "Fridas" after Frida Kahlo. It made me think of Spanish class at OBU when we talked about her and other well-known Hispanics!

The gluten free jackpot of Antigua!!

And this is a random picture from the day that Sean and I moved into our apartment. I thought I would share a picture of my unique roommate :) 

New Apartment/Never Eat Strawberries in Foreign Countries

Hello from Guatemala! 

I haven't written in a couple weeks, so I thought I would give you all an update on things. 

Teaching is going well. I am slowly learning how to plan lessons that take up more than 20 minutes of class time :)  At first I didn't know how to plan lessons very well, and I still have MUCH to learn, but I am slowly getting the hang of it. I am getting more accustomed to working more than I am used to...I didn't realize teaching was so time consuming! I always thought the students had it hard and the teachers had it easy; I was wrong! There are a lot of things that teachers do behind the scenes that make the job very tiresome; however, it is worth the work....so far. In two of my English classes we are beginning to read "The Giver" and "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry." I thought some of you might recognize those books and would like to reminisce about them. 

Last Saturday my new roommate Sean and I moved into our apartment. We've almost been here a week now and it has been an adjustment. Mostly because now we have to cook our own meals, including lunch to take to school everyday, so it has been tough to find time at the end of each day to cook dinner and prepare lunch for the next day. Hopefully we'll get the routine down and it will be a little easier. We live on the 3rd story of an apartment building not too far from where we lived with our host families. It is a good size for two people, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen/living room. 

I have actually been spending a good amount of time in our new apartment the last couple of days because I ate strawberries. Why, you ask, would strawberries make me spend more time in my apartment? Well, apparently, by personal testimony, strawberries have the tendency to absorb bacteria that can make you very ill and make you feel like you have the flu. On Wednesday we had a staff meeting at school and one of the teachers brought a strawberry pie. Almost everyone ate some of it, but only my roommate and I got sick. On Wednesday evening I began to get sick and stayed home from school Thursday and today. I have felt much better today, but in the middle of the day my roommate came home sick as well. So we're recuperating slowly, drinking lots of pedialyte. 

Next weekend is the Guatemalan Independence Day! We are off of school on Friday, so my group of friends here are thinking about going to Antigua, Guatemala, to go sight seeing! Those of you who have been to Guatemala know where that is! 

Anyway, that's a pretty good update of my situation here in Guatemala! Thank you for your prayers on my recovery from the strawberry incident! 

Devin 

Here's a picture of the view out of my bedroom window:

First Week of School!

Buenas Tardes! (Good Afternoon!)  

      My first week went well! I have already learned so much! It has been a great experience so far and it's only the first week! I came back to my host family's house after the first day and told them that I SURVIVED! Haha, they laughed. The first day was pretty calm...like usual first days are. We had a school-wide opening ceremony when we first got there. My first class was the 6th graders, the new ones to the middle school, which was fitting because it was my first day, too. They were my confidence booster because they were scared and my facade worked on them! Haha! (By the way, if you don't know what facade means, you should look it up; it's a great word! Since I'm now an English teacher, we can all work on vocabulary building together!)  The 6th graders are still really innocent and pretty much do everything willingly that I tell them to. I love them! If I had a favorite class, it would be them. I had 8th grade next; they are the oldest in middle school and they weren't as scared of me...still to this day they aren't as scared of me as I would like them to be. They have the mentality that they run the middle school and it has been tough to beat so far. The third class was 7th grade English. They are a perfect mixture between 6th grade innocence and 8th grade obnoxiousness. They try to butter me up in order to get me to do things, including smiling big and bribing me; it's endearing. I guess by the time 8th grade comes they realize that buttering the teacher up doesn't do anything, so they just surrender to lawlessness. My fourth, and last class of the day, is Bible with the 7th graders. It is a good class that I honestly just don't know how to teach yet. I know you're probably saying, "Devin, didn't you get your whole degree from OBU in BIBLE?!" Well, my response is, "Yes," but it's a lot different teaching middle school students than it is to college students. The first week I attempted teaching them like college students...that didn't work; they almost fell asleep. So now I am trying to learn how to teach it to younger students, using more illustrations and interactive tools. 

      The following days were about the same. Even though several of the teachers on this email list told me that it's better to have more planned than not enough, I didn't learn it until I faced it. I ended up blowing through my lesson plans on Tuesday and had to make more for Wednesday and the rest of the week. Oops! This weekend I planned a lot more and have more planned for this week. I also learned that you can't go to the bathroom during class anymore...so drinking two cups of amazing Guatemalan coffee before class time is not the best idea. I've been told about this "teacher bladder," but it's a lot easier said than done. Also, a funny thing that the students do at school is they call all of the teachers either "Miss" or "Mister." So in class, I get a lot of, "Mister! I need help!"  It's strange. We would never call anyone, "Hey Mister!" Even "Sir" would be better...but that's what they've been doing ever since they've been at the school, so I'm just going with it. I have had some students say something about my last name, such as, "Are we going to make a war in this field?" I just laugh and tell them I'll make a "war in their field."  

      Yesterday, Saturday, my group of three friends and I took most of the day off and went to some hot springs here in Guatemala. It was a good day trip; we were able to find out way to the springs, traveling on a "chicken bus" to and from the place. We also rode in the back of a pickup at one point on the way back. It was a good adventure! Today, Sunday, we went to church this morning and have been getting teacher things done for this next week. Speaking of church, a specific prayer request would be for my students. Many of them were raised Catholic, but the relationship with Christ is not there...it was just a tradition they were raised with and it isn't real to them. Please pray that the Lord Jesus would open their hearts to see His real love and care for them. Please pray that also for the host family that I'm staying with. They aren't very open to the love of the Father and I would love it if they would open up. 

     Well, that was pretty much my first week of teaching! More to come later! 

     Devin

P.S. Here is some information on "chicken buses."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_bus

P.S.S. Here are some pictures  

School Starts Tomorrow!

Greetings from Guatemala! 

       My travel day to Guatemala on Tuesday, July 31, went very well! I was pretty tired when I arrived in Guatemala...with a headache from no caffeine, but I met the director who picked me up from the airport and then I had an espresso shot to get me going (Guatemalan coffee is so good! It was a nice "Welcome to Guatemala" present to myself). That same day we traveled to Xela (pronounced Shayla) with all of the new teachers. We left the airport around 2:00pm and arrived in Xela around 6:00pm I think. We went around and dropped each person off at his or her host family's house and called it a night. The next day and each day after that until Friday, August 10, we have been at the school in meetings most of the day. We have been learning the procedures and systems of the school and how to do everything. In the afternoons the have given us a few hours to prepare ourselves for next week. 

      Speaking of which, school starts TOMORROW!!! I'm half excited and half nervous. I have been preparing myself like crazy, filling out year-planning forms for my 4 classes, learning how to plan lessons, writing syllabi, and drinking lots of coffee. I actually haven't had that much time to prepare my classroom. I decided last week that preparing myself to teach was more important than having my classroom perfect for the first day. I still have some work to do there, for sure. I only have two things up on the wall! One of them is a poster with a lion on it and it says, "Stand Up Against Bullying." Another teacher gave it to me to put up because our school is fighting bullying big time this year. I don't know if I already said this in my first email, but I'll be teaching English to grades 6th, 7th, and 8th, and Bible (The Life of Christ) to 7th grade. I'm excited about all of them! I've been hearing during our training, however, lots of emphasis on the middle school being the place where the most behavior trouble occurs! I'm a little worried about that! 

      Several of the evenings, this week and last, a few of us new teachers have spent time together going to Walmart, exploring different restaurants, and finding coffee shops. There are three people that I spend most of my time with when we aren't at the school. Their names are Sean, Jessica, and Liz. Sean and Liz are from New York and they have a northern accent. I like listening to it. Jessica is from Austin, Texas. The four of us laugh a lot when we're together. The other night we all found a really good hamburger place. Apparently the food is shipped in from Guatemala City, so it's closer to the American food that we're used to. I ate a guacamole hamburger with bacon. It was good! Last night we four went to a local coffee shop that we had never been to and we played a game called Dutch Blitz. It was kinda like nerts, for those of you who know what that is. 

      My host family has been very nice. Honestly, I haven't been at their house too much because I leave for school every day at 7:00am and don't get back until 5:30pm, and many nights I have gone out with the other teachers and haven't been here in the evening either. They are very nice, though. One thing I do miss is having meals together with a family. Dinner is the only time when they eat together, and even then, the son isn't usually there. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you...the family consists of a man and wife and their two children, one boy and one girl. The kids are a little bit older than me (24 and 26). 

     My new friend Sean and I actually looked for an apartment a few days ago and we found one that I think we're going to rent. We actually haven't been inside to look at it, but we saw the "area." We saw inside of another apartment in the same building and it was pretty nice. We are probably going to put a deposit down on it tomorrow so that we can move in the beginning of September. I don't mind living with this family, but it would be nice to be able to have people come over for dinner and games, and just feel more at home in our own place. Also, the very top of the building has a terrace where you can see almost the entire city of Xela and the surrounding mountain ranges. It's a nice view! 

      Thanks for reading about my adventures of becoming a teacher! If you have any wisdom, I'd love to hear it! Also, stay tuned for my next email that will describe my first day/first week of teaching! I should have some funny stories (hopefully they're more funny than scary)!

Devin

Zacapa, Guatemala

Good day to you all! I am sorry that  I have not updated in a long time! I honestly have not had good access to internet where I can type on a computer, only my phone. Also, it has been harder to blog, too, because not many exciting things have happened. Nikki and I arrived in Zacapa on Monday, June 25. We have been enjoying our time here and have been spending most of it with our families that we are living with. We have gone up to the orphanage here once and one day we had planned on going to visit some houses with kids, but we did not end up going. I also have not been taking many pictures either, so I do not have any for you other than what is on Facebook. We still have a couple more weeks here and only God knows what he has planned for us! I will keep you updated if anything exciting happens!

Devin

Greetings from Huehuetenango!

Hello! I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this since I haven't updated in 17 days, but I'll update anyways. Now I am here in Huehuetenango, a bigger city in Guatemala, living with pastor Efrain and his family. Nikki and I have been here since Saturday the 16th and not too much has been happening since we've been here. (Not much to write home about (Get it? I haven't written to you in a long time? Haha! Hope that was funny...))  We got here on Saturday and spent time with the youth group. Sunday we went to the two church services. There were two more church services on Tuesday and Thursday that we went to. The one on Tuesday was only a prayer service. I really like the idea of just getting together one night a week to pray. I think it's something that we could learn from in the US. On Thursday, the service was focused on praise, so we sang more than anything, just praising the Lord. I think we could learn from that, too! Wednesday we went to visit with and pray for a family that is going through some tough situations. It was a good time of prayer and fellowship. Today (Friday) we were supposed to go to the mission of the church, but a few things happened during the morning that made us unable to go, so we've been in the house most of the day today. 

Tomorrow we are going to a water park to relax and get some sun! Remember the water park where we went last year? That's where we're going again! Nikki and I will be going with our friends that we've met here in Guatemala, some from Huehuetenango and some from Totonicapan. I'm excited for the day. 

I'm sorry I haven't posted as many posts of pictures this year! I'll try to get better these last 4 weeks! 

Thank you all for your prayers! On Monday, we leave Huehuetenango and go to Zacapa, where it's really hot. Please pray for us as we're there that we can stand the heat and that we can also be encouragement and the Light of the Lord to the families there. 

"In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."         John 1:4-5

Devin 

Rain Rain Go Away, I Want Sun!

Well, it's been raining about every day here! Almost every afternoon it rains! I'm sorry I don't have pictures yet,  but I will soon! (Hopefully! I've been lazy this year and haven't taken any!)  Yesterday, Monday, we celebrated a birthday with a young boy who turned 5. It was a lot of fun! We went to his house and hit a piñata, ate lunch, had some cake, and then went to this field area and played soccer with the kids! There were about 12 of them. We played soccer and then they wanted us to pick them up and spin them! I did that so many times I still feel myself spinning every now and then! It started to rain while we were in the field, so we started walking to the house, but it started downpouring! In Guatemala since we don't have a car, we walk everywhere. So, when it starts raining and you're not in the house, you either keep walking and get wet, or you find a covering and wait it out. So, we waited it out in a little store. There were about 15 of us in this little area and we were there about an hour, just talking and the kids were playing clapping games and such. It was fun, haha! The kids always find different things on my body when we're just standing around...like moles on my head, hair on my arms and fingers, and they like playing with my Adam's apple. It's strange, but I don't mind, haha!

Today we went to visit some houses and talked to a couple families that we visited last week with Emmanuel. We just went to visit them and encourage them to seek the Lord daily and invited them to church. This afternoon we were going to play with the kids again, but it started to rain, so we stayed in town.

Thank you for your prayers! I'll continue to update here!

Hey everyone! This is my first blog post from Totonicapan, Guatemala in 2012. Nikki and I just arrived back in Totonicapan yesterday and we will be here for two weeks. The rest of the team left today and should now be back in the United States. With the team from Emmanuel, we held some vacation bible schools at a couple churches, did door-to-door evangelism/prayer/food giving, and we also spent some time with the youth in a couple of the churches. We had a lot of fun and were very blessed by the work that God allowed us to do visiting homes and teaching the children. One night we did a skit called "Contagious Christian" and they loved it! It's a really funny skit.

Now, Nikki and I are here getting accustomed to the rain and Nikki's new family. I am living with Esdras and his family, with whom I stayed last year. We haven't set a plan yet, but we plan to spend some time with a family that has kids, the two kids that I spent time with last year, and also to revisit the families that we visited with the team from Emmanuel.

Tonight is the youth night, so we'll go to that today and that's all I know!

Please pray that the Lord will protect our stomachs from illness and that hearts will be open (ours and others) to know where He wants us to share the Gospel and for the people to accept it. Praise God for his greatness always!

Devin