I have been a little busy.
So I love literal
translations. The nursing home that I volunteer at twice a week is call Hogar
de Ancianos or Home for Ancients. What a perfect name. Every Tuesday and
Wednesday morning I go to the nursing home and hang out with the residents. A
normal day kind of goes like this: arrive at 9 and clean for about an hour.
Most of the time I spend this hour cleaning the smaller men’s room. It can be a
little sketchy in there so I try not to touch anything that I don’t absolutely
have too. There is a lot of things I don’t try and figure out what it is, if
you ignore the smell, its quite a nice little room. After that we spend an hour
or two hanging out with the residents. Most of them do not get visitor because
the facility is set up by a local catholic church and was establish for the
purpose of giving a home to people who have been abandoned by their families.
This hour is probably one of my favorites, we just spending time talking to the
residents, picking up dropped objects, putting on shoes, listening to stories,
and painting finger nails. Following that, we have lunch, we help pass out
food, feed, people and clean up. After lunch, there is the daily event of
putting on Teresita’s make up. Everyday, it never fails. She is wonderful
though. After lunch we have an outstanding card date with Alfonzo, and we just
play cards and try to pretend that we do not see him cheating until it is time
for us to go home.
decides to show up, we also have Physical Therapy. This basically involves
taking some of the 52 residents up to the therapy room and helping the
therapist in whatever ways we can. Most of the time we just sit and hang out
with them as they do their therapy. They focus a lot on coordination and motor
skills, so we do a lot of puzzles and play with clay and color. It reminds me a
lot of the preschool I worked at…. There is one man name Juan, who I normally
spend helping. He is a little confused and does not understand why we have to
do the puzzle. So I try to explain it to him, it is for fun. Additionally, I
cheer on Gustavo as he does his 60 laps on the bars. Every Tuesday he has to
walk back and fourth 60 times. He does it though willingly because he says that
he wants to be able to walk.
I love doing this ministry.
Probably one of the events that has been my favorite is the day a local youth
group came in and same some songs with the residents. Some of the women were
hopping out of their chairs dancing. Laura Overs and I were dancing with men
and their canes, and then, to conclude the festivities, we all did the Bailar
Pollo, or the chicken dance. Perfect. Awesome. Wonderful.
made the most impact on me is a guy name Regaberto. He had always been in a
wheel chair, something is happening to his legs, they are covered in open sores
and are constantly wrapped. He was pretty cool, we talked a few times and he
was pretty independent. I remember, after lunch he would always move himself
from his wheel chair to a bench to take a nap. However, something happened to
him, I believe he had a stroke. He had not been doing well and it was crushing
to see him decline so rapidly. JD Russell and I started praying for him one day,
and since then we have seen huge improvements. The other day we put him up into
his wheel chair so that we could push him outside. I think it was the day that
I felt like I had actually helped someone. I was told to feed him and I went to
go and grab a spoon and when I returned he had vomited on himself. I cleaned
him up. But the part that was incredible to me was the improvement he was
making with his movements. He was kind of helping and knew what was going on.
He could nod yes and no and actually Smile! That smile was the highlight of my
week. Afterwards I asked if I could pray for him and he nodded yes again. We
have been hanging out every time I go there and it is good to see his
improvement, no matter how small. It is wonderful to see God working in his
life, and how that can have such an impact on mine.
So I wish you all could
some and visit and meet these incredible people I hang out with. Here are a few
pictures of the people who live there:
Alfonzo-
Paloma-
Gustavo-
This is the men’s room that Laura and I clean when we go there. When someone urinates on the floor, they just throw dirt on it and then wait for that to soak up the mess. We sweep, mop and make beds. It takes the full hour and sometimes we can even break a sweat. 
Juan- I love him so. He is a little confused but that is ok. I help him in Physical Therapy. He has huge glasses and is about 5’3”. He always wears this pink button up shirt and sometimes I help him align the buttons. He always wears his green flip flops also.
Teresita-Prayer House Update:
So the prayer house has been open for 3 weeks. We
officially opened on February 10, 2009, and since then we have approximately
200 hours of logged prayer! That is incredible. We are open from 7-7 and of the
12 hours 8-10 are filled with prayer. We finally have enough money to get our
roof going! We hope to start building that next week. Caleb Spitler will
actually be living in the prayer house for all of spring break so you will
probably want to go check out his blog after a bit to see how that goes.
Recently, we told Young Life about the prayer house and got some of the youth
excited about it too. We also went to a local pastors meeting to present the
idea to them, they were all very excited to hear and agreed to the important. I
am excited to see how God is using us and using our 4 walls capture people and
draw them to Him. Please pray this week that we will have people continue to
come and that more people will find the House of Prayer. Pray for Caleb as he
will be working with the incoming team and the rest of us as we go on spring
break, traveling home and else where. Thanks so much for your support, I hope
you will keep us in your prayers as we will be keeping you in ours.
Isaiah 56:7-“These I will bring to my holy
mountain and give them joy in my House of Prayer. Their burnt offerings and
sacrifices will be accepted on my alter; for my house will be called a house of
prayer for all nations.”
There will be Joy in the House
of Prayer. God’s glory needs to be spread to all the peoples of the earth AND
THEN he will return. (Matthew 24:12)
Ta dah! Longest Blog ever. I
will try to update quicker next time. I Love and Miss you all!
Annie Valenziano
Granda,
Nicaragua.
Love it Annie
thanks for sharing 🙂
Annie-I so enjoy your “letters” on your blog. Today is Friday, March 6. Wed. pm at the CC board meeting, I asked Duane if you had sent a recent blog as I had not received one for a couple weeks. He said you had a week off, so all is forgiven. I think I have enjoyed your time down there almost as much as you have; and I have forwarded all of your blogs to my daughter, Becky, in Kansas City. She really enjoys them & I think they give her a lot of hope & inspiration with all of her problems. They also show her just how much she REALLY has. We become so involved in our own lives, we forget there are others who are much worse off than we are, but you have done so much to make us here in the US realize just how much we DO have and how we should quit dwelling on all of our own problems. Even though I cannot “see” you, I have so enjoyed watching you “grow” through your blogs. You have grown so much in maturity & faith. I have often felt like I was at a standstill in my faith, but I can see how you will never stop growing in yours with all the hands-on experience you have had in Nicaragua. I believe in the future you will look back on this as one of the best, if no THE best, experiences in your life.
Duane said you sprained your ankle, but that it healed well through prayer. I’m very excited about your House of Prayer where all are welcome & I know God hears every word of every person who enters it’s doors; and even those who do not go inside. I hope it is all that you had envisioned it to be. My prayers, and the people of the churches & community are always with you. Be true to yourself & take care. Lyanna
Annie,
Your love for the ministries that God has put on your heart is contageous. We will do our best to take care of all your friends at the house of ancients while you are gone.