identifying E: Day 6 - It's not goodbye, it's "I'll see you soon"

And that’s all, folks. Our journey through Georgetown, Guyana Spring 2014 has come to an end. (Notice how I said Spring 2014 because they are considering coming back in the fall over fall break and you bet your bottom dollar I will be here.) This we were able to get an extra hour of sleep (CAN I GET AN AMEN?!). We started the day with breakfast at the Oasis Café, which is an Americanized lounge-type of café. Then we made our way to the Red Cross home for children. This orphanage is mainly newborns and toddlers. They were precious!! (You all know how much I love the babies. Unfortunately it’s basically impossible to adopt a child from Guyana from the U.S.) We were able to drop off some supplies and clothes that Pine Valley UMC was able to donate for them and we played with the children for a little while. They were filled with happiness with all the attention they were getting. You can tell they just don’t get personal one-on-one time enough. Of course it’s hard though, there are only so many caretakers for an orphanage of 30-40 kids. After we went to Red Cross, we went to the market to shop for some souvenirs. I BOUGHT A HAMMOCK AND I AM SO EXCITED. EMILY AND MALIN PREPARE FOR THE BEST EVER HAMMOCK ON THE PORCH.

Once we finished our shopping, we got some lunch, took it back to the hotel, took a quick nap, then made our last stop of the trip – Joshua House. Joshua House is where the team is used to spending a lot of their time while they’re down here. Since we had to spend so much time at Hope Home this trip, this was really the only opportunity we had to visit the kids at Joshua House. We had about an hour with the kids and you wouldn’t believe the excitement that they had. They remember most of the team from past trips, but us newbies were even climbed on as we got out of the bus – at first they weren’t even letting us out of the bus because they were climbing on to get to us! They were just so overjoyed! We gathered around a sang a few songs: “I just wanna be a sheep”, “Jesus Loves Me”, “Lean On Me” (which was a song the children asked to sing), and then the children sang us some songs that they knew! My camera was taken over by some special girls who were attached to me for a little while and I got some great pictures out of it. They took me to the side and we had a little photo shoot. When it was time to leave, they followed us to the van and it probably took 20 minutes from the time we got in the van to actually pull out of the driveway. They were everywhere. You know how fans get when it comes to seeing their favorite celebrities? That’s what it was like. Now, I didn’t feel like a celebrity, but I just know how special it was for us to be there for them even though it was for a short period of time. I hope that when we come next time we are able to spend more time there!

Dinner was held at a local Brazilian restaurant – and it was absolutely delicious. You know, the type of food where they bring the meat to your table and they cut it onto your plate off of a skewer? Ahhhhhh man. I’m hooked. (Thank goodness it didn’t end up like the scene in Bridesmaids, though. We discussed that one over dinner – haha!)

Y’all, as much as I’m ready to take a real shower and brush my teeth with sink water again, I just really don’t want to leave. I’m so torn. My mom said last night on the phone, “Well, I guess I would be disappointed if you didn’t want to leave because that would mean that you aren’t having a good time.” She’s so right. She knows my heart – and it is anywhere that requires a passport. This place has a piece of my heart now and forever. We all experienced this trip together as a team, but the personal experiences surpass all that we could’ve ever imagined. Tomorrow is going to be a long day of traveling. Pray that we get back home safely with no delays or cancelations for some crazy reason.

OH! AND HOW ABOUT THAT WOLFPACK WIN TONIGHT?!? We streamed the game yet again from my laptop here at the hotel – while missing a few plays here and there because of the slow internet speed! At dinner Miles was allowing us to use his few data megs to get updates while we were away from wifi. We are some dedicated fans – you know Ms. Wuf can’t miss a game! Thanks for all the blog views this week!!! It means so much to see so many people reading and enjoying it! I love all of you! Goodnight from Guyana for the last time.