Well hello world.
First, I'm sorry. I haven't posted in weeks (maybe months)
Second, Summer is almost over! This makes me sad.



Anywayssssssssss

Exactly one month ago I was leaving New Mexico. I had just spent an incredible week at the Manuelito Children's Home with my youth group. I don't exactly know how to explain that week. The phrase "You had to be there." really rings true here, but I'm still going to try to explain it as best as I can.
We arrived in New Mexico on August 3rd, everyone filed out of Ol' Bessie (the youth van) and piled into Cottage 5, which was our home for the next week. All six of us girls piled into one room, we couldn't see the floor because all of our mattresses took up about 90% of the room, but it wasn't too bad. Everyone was anxious for the next day.

The cleaning crew in their natural habitat (a school bathroom)

Day 2 of the venture we did some service projects around the Children's Home. I ended up on cleaning duty, and my brother Barrett ended up painting, both were much harder jobs than they sound. We cleaned a school's bathrooms and kitchen. Ever done that before? Yeah, it gets a little dirty. In the bathrooms the walls were painted tan, or so we thought, until we started scrubbing them and discovered that they were actually white. Yeah. I'll spare you from the rest of the details about the bathrooms. (Disclaimer: People just did not have the time to clean these things, it's not like they just didn't care at all,.) Then we got to meet the kids. Some of the teens from our group just hit it off with the kids, and it was a really great thing to see. I ended up with a little girl named Geri, we didn't necessarily hit it off right away, but eventually she grew to somewhat like me.

Me and Geri

So the next day came along and we just continued to clean and paint. It was basically just like the day before. Nothing special. That night we played a big game of hide and seek with the kids, and that was that.

Saturday (Day 4) Was probably one of my favorites. We spent the entire day with the kids, playing games, doing crafts, and just getting to know them. They were absolutely adorable and so fun to hang out with. One little girl named Shyanne painted everyone's nails, and then my friend Mia showed her how to

We were making clay sculptures

                    

                          

My friend decided to look like a Muppet

and tell me cheezy pick-up lines.

Thus explains this picture

play guitar. My friend Eliza and I gave some kids henna tattoos and they loved it! Then everyone ended up eating dinner and playing at the park to finish off the day.












Sunday was our first day in Zuni. We went to, what I believe is the only church there. The people welcomed us like we had been going there for years, and their worship and sermon were incredibly raw and unplanned, (if you know what I mean) no special effects, or fancy lights. We then saw more of Zuni. We watched a traditional rain dance that just so happened to be going on while we were there, and everybody knew where this dance would be happening and they just crowded around going on strangers roofs and underneath the shade of random houses, it was kind of incredible to experience. As we were walking around we just saw signs taped to people's doors advertising things they were selling. Really to sum up my thoughts about Zuni, I would have to say that it's got some great people, but it also has a lot of rough parts, and it's really solemn and honestly kind of sad, but nobody really wants to break their habits and cycles to make a better life for themselves.

Now I'm going to spam you guys with some random pictures of Zuni: 

Outdoor ovens that they use to cook Zuni Bread

Our whole group with a man selling "Piki Bread"

(A paper thin blue corn bread)

Monday was when the real work began. It was a pretty hard day. I don't know if I'm remembering correctly but I believe this was the day that we had to say goodbye to some of the kids, including Geri and Shyanne, because they were going back to Zuni to live with their families. The girls painted and cleaned, and all the boys built a retaining wall. It was super hot and the house was pretty small, so it got pretty crowded in there. The retaining wall took the guys all day. They had to dig holes big enough to fit these huge

wooden poles, and they then filled the wall with dirt after they were finished. Later that night we got a call that the retaining wall was cutting into the neighboring property and we had to rebuild it. Yeah. That was a little rough. Oh and that was the day that I got stung by a bee inside of the mouth and then passed out. Oops. It actually didn't hurt too badly, but I was scared to drink from a soda can for about two weeks after that.

Our makeshift setup for the free food

Tuesday was pretty rough. It was our last day there and first we went to a house in the rougher part of town where they don't have electricity or water. We took their trash to the dump and then left to go rebuild the retaining wall at the house from the day before. Half of us finished the wall while the other half set up at the church to give away free food and stuff. It was a slow start, but we gave away almost everything. We then had to say our goodbyes to Zuni.That night we spent some time with the kids and cleaned up the cottage a little.

Me and Najhoni

The next morning was spent like the night before, cleaning up and playing with the kids. We packed
up our bags and said goodbyes to Cottage 5. Before we left we were able to say goodbye to the kids. I will never forget when we started to drive away and a little girl name Najhoni started running beside the van yelling "Goodbye Arielle!" I truly fell in love with all of the little kids at Manuelito Children's Home

 

      Barrett and his little buddy Quartez

Overall I thought this was an amazing experience, and I'm so glad we were able to serve as much as we did and although it had it's ups and downs I'm still so glad I went. Also, I do not mean to degrade anyone with this post. I respect the people and culture of Zuni. If you'd like to know more about it then I'd love to tell you! Also, sorry if this post is really scatterbrained and long, it's so hard to put my thoughts in a well organized, well written post.

That's all folks!