Hey everyone
Well, as Peter, Paul, and Mary said...our bags are packed, we're ready to go. We had a great time the last couple of days. Friday morning we had a "despedida" (going away party) hosted by the people in the community where we've been working. It was a meaningful time to celebrate new friendships with them and say our goodbyes.
We left Guatemala City late Friday morning and spent several hours hiking a 8,000 foot volcano. Those who made it to the top were rewarded with some impressive views and a unique treat--roasting marshmallows over volcanic heat comning out from a rock formation. After an adventurous decent we got back on the bus and moved on to Antigua--a city with several four hundred year old buildings that served as the first capital of Guatemala. That night on the roof of the hotel we had a good meeting where we talked about highs and lows of the trip as well as lessons learned.
This morning began on the roof of the hotel, where we saw an active volcano (very far away--don't worry) send up some puffs of smoke in the air. Then we spend the day in the city--visiting some amazing old buildings, shopping the markets, and enjoying some traditional Guatemalan food. As it happened, the president of Guatemala was also visiting the town that day, so many of us got to see him (at a distance) as he addressed the crowd. After dinner we returned to our lodgings here in the city to shower, pack our bags, and get ready to leave. We have a 5:15 AM wake up time in order to get checked in for our flight. We are scheduled to arrive in Tulsa at 4:50 pm, so if everything is on schedule that's when you'll see us. We'll be coming on American flight 434 out of DFW, and we look forward to meeting you there and sharing stories, photos, and memories of what we've experienced this week.
See you tomorrow.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Jueves/Thursday
Well. We had another good, long day today. This morning the entire group worked together mixing and pouring the concrete floor for the house where we had put stucco on the wall. We finished the entire floor by lunchtime--sooner than expected!
After lunch we put together twenty five care packages to take to some of the families Young Life Guatemala is working with in the different communities. The pacakges included basic staples like rice, beans, sugar, and cooking oil as well as some cleaning supplies and hygiene products. The Young Life Guatemala leaders said that each package could keep a family going for about a week.
We then got to split up into groups and deliver the care packages to twenty five different families. At each place we were welcomed into their homes where we were able to meet them, see where they lived, deliver the care pacakges and then pray for them before leaving.
After heading out to a Guatemalan fast food restaurant for dinner we came back to the community room where we had been all week and participated in the Guatemalan Young Life Club--the time each week when kids get together for games, fun, singing, and a short presentation of the gospel. The room was packed with our group of twenty five and about fifty Guatemalan teenagers. They sang songs and skits, and then our group sang a song for them and surprised them with a visit from our group's own Justin Beiber look-a-like, Zach Scrivner. It was quite the hit.
Tonight we're back and packing up for the next phase of our adventure. In the morning we will head back to the community for a good-bye breakfast. Then it's off by bus to hike a volcano before continuing on to the old colonial city of Antigua.We'll spend Saturday sight seeing in Antigua and getting a chance to shop before returning to Guatemala City Saturday night. Then we'll pack up and head out early Sunday morning to get to the aiport in time to check in for our 8 am flight.
Given our travel for the next couple of days we may or may not be able to post again to this blog before we return--so, in case we can't, we look forward to seeing you all on Sunday!
After lunch we put together twenty five care packages to take to some of the families Young Life Guatemala is working with in the different communities. The pacakges included basic staples like rice, beans, sugar, and cooking oil as well as some cleaning supplies and hygiene products. The Young Life Guatemala leaders said that each package could keep a family going for about a week.
We then got to split up into groups and deliver the care packages to twenty five different families. At each place we were welcomed into their homes where we were able to meet them, see where they lived, deliver the care pacakges and then pray for them before leaving.
After heading out to a Guatemalan fast food restaurant for dinner we came back to the community room where we had been all week and participated in the Guatemalan Young Life Club--the time each week when kids get together for games, fun, singing, and a short presentation of the gospel. The room was packed with our group of twenty five and about fifty Guatemalan teenagers. They sang songs and skits, and then our group sang a song for them and surprised them with a visit from our group's own Justin Beiber look-a-like, Zach Scrivner. It was quite the hit.
Tonight we're back and packing up for the next phase of our adventure. In the morning we will head back to the community for a good-bye breakfast. Then it's off by bus to hike a volcano before continuing on to the old colonial city of Antigua.We'll spend Saturday sight seeing in Antigua and getting a chance to shop before returning to Guatemala City Saturday night. Then we'll pack up and head out early Sunday morning to get to the aiport in time to check in for our 8 am flight.
Given our travel for the next couple of days we may or may not be able to post again to this blog before we return--so, in case we can't, we look forward to seeing you all on Sunday!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The community's all-purpose room where we meet, eat lunch, and keep our things during the day.
Hard at work mixing cement.
Fito my friend, I have absolutely no idea how we are going to fix that. Isn't that what you're here for?
Back up the hill after moving building supplies.
Posing for a picture on top of the enormous pile of rocks we're using to make cement.
Loading rocks to carry to the job site for cement mixing.
Preparing and placing stucco on the walls.
Day Tres
Hey everyone
Wow. We had an amazingly productive day today--and boy did we work hard! This morning one of our teams finished putting stucco on a house where a husband and wife live with their ten kids. A team who came down a few weeks ago began to build them a new house by putting up cinder block walls (that we covered in stucco). Before that the family lived with a tin roof and dirt floors.
At the same time another large group worked for a large part of the day to pour cement floors in two different rooms for another family. That house was at the bottom of a hill, so today involved a lot of work as we carried dozens of whellbarrows full of sand and rocks down the steps to the house. After finishing that house up the entire group came together and began to pour the concrete floor for the house that we put stucco on. Our goal is to finish that tomorrow--and it's not small task since the floor is probably about 700 square feet.
You all should be very proud of your students. They have been working incredibly hard and have had great attitudes the whole time. In fact, the Young Life Guatemala team says that we have worked harder than just about any other group they've ever had here. In fact, they've done something with us that they've never done with another group--they've added an extra work project to our original to-do list because we are working so hard and accomplishing so much.
Along the way we've also had a chance to get to know some of the people in the community and hear the stories of how many of the Young Life Guatemala staff came to know Christ and began to work in ministry. It's been a great experience for everyone as we realize how much we have in common with them, as well as how different their life experinces have been from ours.
FYI, tomorrow night we may not be able to post a blog entry. After spending the day working on site we will have dinner near the community where we are working and then attend Young Life Club (in Spanish!). Because of that we'll have a later night out, and we may not get back in time to get anything posted. If we can't put something tomorrow we'll try and get something up on Friday.
Wow. We had an amazingly productive day today--and boy did we work hard! This morning one of our teams finished putting stucco on a house where a husband and wife live with their ten kids. A team who came down a few weeks ago began to build them a new house by putting up cinder block walls (that we covered in stucco). Before that the family lived with a tin roof and dirt floors.
At the same time another large group worked for a large part of the day to pour cement floors in two different rooms for another family. That house was at the bottom of a hill, so today involved a lot of work as we carried dozens of whellbarrows full of sand and rocks down the steps to the house. After finishing that house up the entire group came together and began to pour the concrete floor for the house that we put stucco on. Our goal is to finish that tomorrow--and it's not small task since the floor is probably about 700 square feet.
You all should be very proud of your students. They have been working incredibly hard and have had great attitudes the whole time. In fact, the Young Life Guatemala team says that we have worked harder than just about any other group they've ever had here. In fact, they've done something with us that they've never done with another group--they've added an extra work project to our original to-do list because we are working so hard and accomplishing so much.
Along the way we've also had a chance to get to know some of the people in the community and hear the stories of how many of the Young Life Guatemala staff came to know Christ and began to work in ministry. It's been a great experience for everyone as we realize how much we have in common with them, as well as how different their life experinces have been from ours.
FYI, tomorrow night we may not be able to post a blog entry. After spending the day working on site we will have dinner near the community where we are working and then attend Young Life Club (in Spanish!). Because of that we'll have a later night out, and we may not get back in time to get anything posted. If we can't put something tomorrow we'll try and get something up on Friday.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Day Dos
Hey everyone
We had another good day of working. Today we had a little rain and drizzle for most of the day, but that didn't slow us down. One team managed to finish the stucco in the house where they worked yesterday, while the other two teams finished pouring the floor in the two houses where they were working. We then spent the afternoon moving supplies (sand and small rocks) to areas near the two houses where we'll start pouring floors tomorrow.
The neighborhood we are working in is interesting. It's located close to the main city dump, and the houses are actually built on a part of the dump that, once it was totally filled, was covered with dirt. Over time families moved in, building houses of whatever materials they could find--mainly corrugated tin and cardboard. Over the past fifteen years the community has continued to grow--and now there are several hundred families there. While some houses now have cinderblock construction, many are still made of tin, cardboard, or scrap wood.
Most of the families who live in this neigborhood earn their living by working in the dump, picking through the trash and searching for anything that is recycleable, which they then sell. Most of the families live on about 3 dollars a day.
As we continue to work we are focusing on what our Young Life Team Leader Annette calls the three F's: having Fun, being Flexible and, when the unexpected happens, Figuring it out. Thanks for praying for us. More to come tomorrow.
We had another good day of working. Today we had a little rain and drizzle for most of the day, but that didn't slow us down. One team managed to finish the stucco in the house where they worked yesterday, while the other two teams finished pouring the floor in the two houses where they were working. We then spent the afternoon moving supplies (sand and small rocks) to areas near the two houses where we'll start pouring floors tomorrow.
The neighborhood we are working in is interesting. It's located close to the main city dump, and the houses are actually built on a part of the dump that, once it was totally filled, was covered with dirt. Over time families moved in, building houses of whatever materials they could find--mainly corrugated tin and cardboard. Over the past fifteen years the community has continued to grow--and now there are several hundred families there. While some houses now have cinderblock construction, many are still made of tin, cardboard, or scrap wood.
Most of the families who live in this neigborhood earn their living by working in the dump, picking through the trash and searching for anything that is recycleable, which they then sell. Most of the families live on about 3 dollars a day.
As we continue to work we are focusing on what our Young Life Team Leader Annette calls the three F's: having Fun, being Flexible and, when the unexpected happens, Figuring it out. Thanks for praying for us. More to come tomorrow.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Day One
Hola! We had a great first day in Guatemala! They split us up into three teams; two teams mixed and poured concrete for families who have dirt floors, and the other team resurfaced walls with concrete. We realized how blessed we are in America, because we don't think about what life would be like if the floors in your house turned to mud every time it rained. All of the kids in El Recuerdo, the neighborhood we are working in this week, were very willing to try and talk to us, despite the language barrier. Those of us who speak Spanish had a lot of opportunities to practice speaking, and we are looking forward to learning more this week! Thanks for your prayers!
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