Guatemala Mission Trip - Jan 20, 2011

Another sunny day here in Guatemala.  I believe the temperatures were about the same as yesterday.  We were on the road at 7:30am for Puralha.  Today we were going for morning devotions, to give out parasite medicine and to work.  This was the first time we really interacted with the children of this school and as with pretty much most of the kids here they welcomed us with open arms. After the devotions they lined us up and prayed for us and gave us all a hug.  We then gave out the medications to the kids.  Last and the least fun we worked in hot temperatures until lunch.  It wasn't much fun but it was satisfying to know ever piece of dirt we dug or moved we were helping to build on the school.

After lunch we went and did some more home visits to give the gifts we had brought because we didn't have them when we went the first time.  I got to visit Jose and his family again.  I had the gifts in the bag I brought down.  I told him through Heber that I had the gift for him that I was supposed to have the first time I visited him.  He took the bag and looked in and his eyes went to the size of saucers when he seen the soccer ball.  He ran in the house right away with the ball. LOL  His mother talked him out of the house and he came to me with his new ball and sat on my knee.  Every one started taking pictures. :-)  While that was happening his sister was inside looking in the bag and she put the camo hat on his head while people were taking pictures.  We had brought some stuffed animals with us for his sisters so we gave them those as well.  When I picked up Jose when I first got to his house he gave another huge smile and put his head on my shoulder.  I found out that his mother is single mom with 3 kids and about to have another within days.  We said our goodbyes and left.  As we walked away I could see he had  a bouncy ball that was in the bag in his hands.  It was cool to see.  I think I would like to send some extra monies down to help the mother out.  I have some money left over from the trip and perhaps I should do just that..

We left there and on the way back to the house we stopped at Chijacorral High School to meet a student called Milton.  During our initial home visits we visited Carl and Wilma's sponsor child name Milton.  During their conversation with him they discovered that he was not going back to High School this year.  When asked why the mother said that she could not afford to send him.  She also has a daughter that was in Grade 11.  When boys hit a certain age in Guatemala they are sent out to work to raise money for the family.  Carl and Wilma were quite upset because if Milton left school he could not stay on as their sponsor child.  The people that were with us from Impact said they would check into the reasons.  We had prayed over his family while there initially and asked that God find a way to get Milton to school so that his dream of becoming a teacher would be possible.  I guess the next day after we were at his house his Mother took him to the school and registered him for classes!!!!!   When we seen him at his house he looked very sad. Today when we met him at the school he had a smile a mile wide.  This was awesome to see for sure.

After we finished the visits we came back and took a walk through the market.  We being Graham, Joanne, Christina, Sarah and myself.  We then made our way back to the house and had supper.  After supper we went to the school for a Bible meeting.  This was mostly music, mixed with prayer and singing with some scripture readings as well.  After the meeting we went to play soccer with some of the school teachers.  we played from 8pm to 10pm.  My body felt pretty good today until that ..... oh well..LOL

4 more sleeps until we are home..

Guatemala Mission Trip - Jan 19, 2011

Well another day another warm Sunny morning!

We were up for Breakfast at 6:45am to leave at 7:45am.  Our first stop today was a Catholic Church in the mountains overlooking Tactic.  The name fo this place is Chixim (sounds like shisheem).  Karren went over some of the history here, talk about a mixed up situation.  On one hand you have a Catholic Church built by the Spanish then just a few steps in front of the main entrance you have a small temple with two crosses where they worship their other god, the god of corn. This was setup by the Mayan people.  Again here they burn coloured candles (in the Church) for health, finances, etc or they can burn a black candle to put a curse on someone.  There was a picture on a wall that showed a Mayan knelt down and looking up at Mary in the sky surrounded by flames (Sun) offering her items.  They also say that Mary didn't die but that she was taken to Heaven by two angels.  There are many other confusing pictures on the walls that portray other religious figures in strange situations.  The number of people that can't read in Guatemala is very high so they base much of what they know from stories.  Unfortunately these stories are not always fact based and can really mess things up.  They don't have the ability to read a Bible and come to their own conclusions.

We finished up here and and went to Chamche School to give out parasite medicine to the Children.  Many kids don't get much to eat so if they get parasites, the parasites will eat the small amount of food the child may have in their stomach.  Once we gave out the medicine we were split up and told to go to a specific classroom.  I was sent by myself to the Grade 5 class.  Once here they sat me in the Teacher's chair and asked me some questions.  The Teacher didn't speak English so it was a bit hard.  He did ask my name and I told him.  He asked what my favourite food was as well.  Then all the kids came up and gave me a card from each one of them that they had made.  They all gave me a hug as well.  Then they all gathered all around me very close (Guatemalan style) and prayed for me.  The myself and the children went to the main area (auditorium) and played games.  After a while all the kids and the rest of the team came in and we played more games.  Once all this was finished we lined up and all the kids walked down our line saying Goodbye and giving hugs.  We then went back to the house for lunch.

After lunch we went back to finish our Children's ministry.  Today we taught the children the 10 Commandments.  After this we made worship sticks with the children.  Once this activity was complete we went outside with the Children again.  Once we were done playing we went back inside where the Pastor thanked us and he and the kids prayed for us.  The then fed us sweet tea and cake.  This was quite the thing when you consider what this cake (made in a bakery) would have cost them.  Again these people that have so little have no issues with sharing what little they have.  I can't honestly say if I was down to my last 5 dollars whether I would give it away.  This is basically what they did.  The have nothing but bought us cake.

We then went back to the house and cleaned up and I did some laundry in the Pila.  We then went for supper at Rocky and Karren's.   They fed us a traditional dish and drink.  We also played some games with some of the teachers of the schools that were there.  Once this was over we went back to the house and did our debrief.  Not so much crying for me this time. :-)

I"m starting to miss home more each day.  I can't wait to hold my wife and daughter when I get home.  I think this is even more difficult on me considering how sore I am.  It makes me want to cry knowing I have to go back to the work site tomorrow and finish digging the trench for footings.  My knee, back and hip are not doing so well at all.  I guess I need to suck it up as these people are probably dealing with much worse.  I am frustrated though that we have people with us that might be able to help me but have not offered to do so.....oh well..... :-)

Guatemala Mission Trip - Jan 18, 2011

Well another day and another beautiful sunrise.  The day warmed to what seemed to be at least 25c and perhaps more.

We had our breakfast at 6:45am, no sleeping in here.  After breakfast we went to the local school (Chamche) for morning devotionals.  This was the first day of the school year.  There was prayer and music with all the kids present.  It was very awesome and very loud. :-)  All the songs were Faith songs and these kids sing their hearts out to them.  The hold absolutely nothing back and I took some video to prove it.  After the service was finished the parents left then we left to go outside. We were asked to form a line on our knees, then one by one the kids started coming out.  Every kid starting with preschool gave each one of us a hung and we hugged back and said Buenos Dias or Hola, most of the kids replied the same way.  We did this with every child from every grade.  It was a pretty cool experience.  After we finished here we had to go to work.

We drove to a school in Purulha to work.  Here we spent the rest of the morning digging with picks and shovels.  It was very hot and hard work.  We finished our work here and then came back to the house for lunch.

After lunch we went back to Chamahoj for day 2 of our Children's Ministry.  Today Christina did the Bible lesson which spoke about walking a mile in someone elses shoes.  She basically spoke about us coming here and walking in Guatemalan shoes for a short period of time.  To demonstrate this she tried on Peter's shoes and my shoes.  Peter and I both tried on her shoes and walked around as well.  We then did a craft with the children where we handed out construction paper cutouts of a foot as well as crayons.   The children were then instructed to draw or colour on the foot.  We then gave them a blue stick and glitter to decorate the cutout.  The kids loved this.  After the craft we went outside to play with the kids again.

I seem to be a magnet to the little girls because I had them hanging on me again today.  At one point I went over to where Karren (host) was sitting and had our water bottles.  I drank some water then walked away from where she was sitting.  I later found out that the women (Guatemalan) were giggling and talking about something.  Karren asked them what they were giggling about and it turns out they were giggling about the hair on my legs.  Guatemalan men don't have hair on their legs and arms for the most part.  I also had a number of other occasions where the kids would rub my arms.  It was to feel the hair I am told.  When I am carrying these little girls around they hug me like I am their Father.  It must be lonely for them to not have much of a relationship with their Fathers.  I believe many of them truly Love us for being here.

We finished up and went back to the house for supper and our normal nightly debrief.  No crying for me tonight,,,well not much anyway. :-)  I didn't have the room crying as I did other nights.. lol

Although they keep us very busy here (probably in an effort to keep us from getting homesick) I am beginning to miss home.....

Sleep tight Beth and Lauren..I love you guys lots!

Guatemala Mission Trip - Jan 16, 2011

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise today.  It was the first day of real sunshine since we arrived here.  It was warm and amazing.  We had breakfast as usual.  We then prepared for our Market activity.  This involved everyone being broken up into teams, provided a list of tasks to complete and items to purchase as well as $100 quetzal (sounds like consol) to buy anything that needed to be purchased. My team consisted of Karen Banfil, Christina Keuper and myself.

Graham and Joanne walked us to the Market Square and told us we had 1 1/2 hours to complete the tasks.  We had to do things like buy vegetables, get a shoe shine, get a picture taken with a Police Officer in front of the Police Station, buy a tortilla hot off the grille and eat it, get a picture with a live chicken and pigs head as well as get a hair cut.  We also had to find a bridge and get video of team members singing their National anthem.   Christina and I attempted to do the National Anthem on the bridge.  Our first try was the best but I discovered I had my camera incorrectly set so we didn't capture any video and had to try again.  This time Christina and I tried again but kept getting the words wrong.....I gave up and got Karen to try with Christina and they got them right.  We did very well with our list but one of the things we missed was a hair cut.  We found the shot without a problem but there was a large lineup so we moved on to other things.  I did manage to get my picture taken with a pigs head.  This activity was a hoot and I think everyone had fun.

After the activity we had a bit of down time before lunch.  I went up on the roof and soaked up the sun and read.

We had another great lunch which was beef ribs, rice, bread and fruit.

After lunch we went to a coffee plantation.  Karren explained the history of the coffee trade here.  She explained how this idea of fair trade coffee has really hurt Guatemala.  At one time Guatemala  was #2 in the world for coffee exports but with the introduction of Fair Trade coffee they slipped to #9.  Many growers reduced crops or stopped growing coffee all together.  Here in Guatemala a good wage in the country is $25.00 quetzal a day, or about just under $3.00 our money.  Coffee workers get 2 cents a pound.   Due to this poor wage many family's would be in the fields picking, this would included the children.  Fair Trade coffee means no child labour.  The coffee plantation was up high in the mountains.  The road up was very steep with huge drops at the side with no shoulders!!!! I have pictures.. :-) After our tour we went back to the house for supper.

We had tortilla's, rice and fruit for supper.

After a little rest we walked to Church.  There were many people there.  The preacher spoke about us and our long trip.  How we came from a land far away with lots of snow.  IT was a very lively service with lots of singing and dancing.  Les Peters gave a great sermon.  One of the key parts for me was when he spoke about the Holy Spirit and repentance.  He spoke about how we will go and ask God for forgiveness of our sins and just carry on our sinful way (path).  He spoke about how people wonder whey they don't seem to ever feel the Holy Spirit.  He said without repentance and changing our path we won't feel the Holy Spirit.  He said change our path and we will then feel the Holy Spirit.  This was a very hard hitting sermon for me that has made a major change in my life. 

The Guatemalan's are so friendly.. They pray like I have never seen before.  It is very loud and heartfelt.  They have no issues with being loud.   :-)  Even the Children, while singing scream out the words.  No one is afraid of what someone may think.  If only we could be that free to express ourselves and to not worry about what others think.  These people have so little but have so much more than we do......

God is very much alive here!!!