Recently, three adults and seventeen teens from OLPH joined with twenty other participants on a week-long mission trip to the Central Highlands of Guatemala to visit an orphanage home operated by Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH), which is Spanish for Our Little Brothers and Sisters. The trip included excursions to the former Spanish colonial capital of Antigua Guatemala and to Lake Atitlán, widely recognized as the most beautiful lake in the world.
While on the trip, participants performed various chores and projects around the orphanage home’s large campus. These chores included helping to construct a new chapel, working on the farm, assisting in the kitchen and more. The most important service task, however, was to build relationships and bridges of intercultural understanding with the children who live at NPH Guatemala.
In describing what she learned from the trip, Annie Brennan commented, “We live in such a privileged part of the world, and we tend to take things for granted. Seeing the smiling faces and never ending positivity of the Guatemalan children showed how thankful they are for everything they have. That inspired me to really appreciate everything I have and to be mindful of not having more than is necessary.”
Observing how the lack of technology impacts the lives of the children who live at NPH, Maeve Dowdle mentioned that, “All the kids at the home are always so happy and it's because of the people around them, not because of iPhones or iPads. I realized how the kids at NPH all have deep relationships with each other, so back here at home I have been trying to form deeper relationships with my friends and family members through face-to-face conversations, and not relying too much on my cell phone to communicate with them.”
Carter Page reflected on his biggest God moment of the trip with the following observation, “Smashing the ground with a pick-axe was the moment that I felt closest to God. Shedding sweat to build a new chapel for the children of NPH called on our Christian value of empathy, but also demonstrated how machinery underpins our own prosperity—maybe that insight can help guide future service.”
NPH Guatemala serves almost 300 orphaned, abandoned and disadvantaged children. It is one of nine homes in the NPH network that provides 3,300 children across Latin America and the Caribbean with a home, unconditional love, and all the opportunities they need to grow into productive citizens and to break the cycle of poverty that has plagued their families and communities for generations.
