Day 7 Photos

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The Tourist

Today we had to be up and ready to leave the hotel at 5:00 AM in order to drive to Antigua with enough time to explore.  The van ride was long, but we stopped to eat McDonald’s for breakfast.  That helped to break the trip up a little bit.  We continued on our drive, sleeping, talking, and laughing all the way.

When we arrived in Antigua, we went to visit the cross that overlooks the city.  It is a large cross up on the mountain and the view is gorgeous.  When we had finished taking pictures, we went to visit a coffee plantation.

There are two sections at the coffee plantation, a history of Mayan music and the process of harvesting and producing coffee.  The first one that we went through was the Mayan music.  We had a guide who showed us each of the instruments, what they are made from, and what purpose they have.  She played them for us as well.  When the tour was over, we watched a video that showed various Mayan dances and activities set to Mayan music.  It was very interesting to learn about.

The coffee section was next.  We had an amazing guide take us through the entire process of making coffee.  He started with the coffee plants, and then went on to harvesting, cleaning the beans, and roasting them.  I had no idea how much work went into making coffee.  We learned that one tree produces enough beans for 40 cups of coffee a year.  There are a few members of our team who drink a lot of coffee.  It was funny to listen
to them try to figure out how many trees they drink the beans from by themselves in a year.

After the plantation, we went to the town square to eat lunch.  We stopped for pizza, and then had free time.  We went shopping in order to buy souvenirs.  When shopping in
Guatemala at the market, you have to haggle prices.  Some of our team members enjoyed it so much, they bought even more than they were planning on, just because they wanted to
get a low price.

We had to meet back at the van in order to drive to Guatemala City.  We were supposed to stay at a Mennonite Monastery, but they were full.  Instead, we had to follow two people to a house where we could stay for the night.

When we arrived, we organized our bags and started playing card games.  We ate supper and then started talking about the trip.  We all had such an amazing time on the trip and we have so many memories to take home with us.  It was wonderful to be able to
share our favorite parts of the trip with everyone.  The evening was full of laughter and we are all so thankful for each other and the opportunity to share God’s love with the
villagers in La Avenzada.

Tomorrow we begin our journey back to Nebraska.  We may be headed home, but a part of our hearts will always be in our village on the mountainside.  Thank you for your prayers during our trip.  We look forward to sharing our stories with all of you!  God Bless!

I’m sorry that this entry is so late!  We have not had internet access all day and I just made it home a little while ago.

Day 6 Photos

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Boogie Nights

Today we made our final trip up the mountain to La Avenzada.  We tried to get started right away, but the tech people for the wireless connection in the village were waiting for us when we arrived.  We wanted to have the connection checked while Miguel was in the village, because it will be a few months before anyone else is there.  Miguel had to stay behind to wait for them to be finished.  We couldn’t deliver any Bibles without him, because nobody else knew where we were headed.  So, a group of us played with children and read to them.  We did this for a few hours.

Some of us actually had to do manual labor this morning, since the house was not yet complete.  The floor in the main room had to be poured.  We had to carry buckets of cement like we did the day before.  It only took a few hours for us to finish.  After they poured the last bucket, our work on the house was complete!  It was very exciting for everyone involved!

We had a little bit of time before lunch, so while some of us prepared the bread and jelly for VBS, others sat outside and played with children.  The kids in the village love paper airplanes.  They make them out of paper that they find on the ground.  They throw them and retrieve them over and over.  One of our team members is a paper airplain aficionado.  He started to make many variations of paper airplanes for the kids.  They loved having all of the different types, especially the ones that would fly longer.

It was then time for lunch.  Ramiro wanted to talk with all of us about our experiences on the trip.  We talked for awhile about what we liked and what we hoped to be able to do in the future.  Ramiro has a lot of plans for La Avenzada, so we will have many more trips coming up.  Get ready, because it just might be your turn next!

After lunch, we split into two groups.  One group went to teach the final VBS lesson, and the other went to deliver Bibles.  The VBS lesson was not without technical complications, but everything worked out very well.  We had time to pray and sing with the kids before telling them about Jesus’ final commandment to the disciples and His ascension.  We had color sheets for the kids, which they love to do.  They like to color a little bit, show it to the adult who is with them, be told how lovely it is, then color a little bit more and repeat the cycle.  After coloring, we prayed one final time, and then dismissed them.  Today we gave them jellied bread, a piece of watermelon, and some cookies that one of out team members bought.

When every person has left the building, we pass out any extra food that we may have.  It is absolutely heartbreaking to see how greedily the swarm for more food.  There are so many of these children who are so hungry that they try to get as much food as possible.  The important thing to know is that though they come and get the food greedily, when they go home, they give the food to their younger siblings before they take any for themselves.  How many children do you know in America who will put their younger sibling’s needs before their own every single day in almost every situation?  To be a part of passing out food is where I always realize just how great of a need these families have.  I love that we can nourish their bodies and their souls at the same time.  However, seeing all of those dirty little hands surrounding you, trying to get just one more piece of bread, is probably the most heart-wrenching situation I have ever experienced.

Our Bible team went around, trying to make it to as many homes as possible in the few hours we had left.  They went into the jungle and found homes that are hidden deep within the trees.  One of the men that they gave a Bible to told them that he would take them on a shortcut to get back to the road.  This “shortcut” involved walking through the jungle, not on a path.  The team ran into some difficulties with a tree falling on two people, uneven footing, and running/falling down the mountain.  The guide was standing around waiting for our team to catch up.  When they did catch up, they were out of breath.  The guide is 70 years old.  Our team members who were with him are all in their 20 and 30′s!  It is really an amazing experience to walk in the villagers’ shoes through the jungle.  It really makes you appreciate the sidewalks that we have back home!

Before any of us knew it, it was time for the grande finale of the week in La Avenzada, the dedication of the home!  We sang a song, prayed, heard a short message, and then gave out gifts for Benjamin and his wife, Bernadina.  We gave them a cross that we had all signed as a reminder of God’s love for the family and the group who came to share their time and effort in order to finish the house.  We also gave them blankets and pillowcases so they have something nice to sleep with.

After the dedication was over, we passed out juice boxes and cookies to everyone who attended.  When all of the food was gone, it was time to head up to the vans.  Leaving the village is so hard to do.  A part of your heart stays up there with all of the villagers.  I know that we have done a lot of work this week, but it never seems like enough.  We have to leave the friends that we have made, but we hope that we have done enough to help them grow in their faith.  It is always hard to say “goodbye” here, but it isn’t really goodbye at all.  We say “see you later!” instead.

For supper tonight, we had a Nebraska meal of steak, corn on the cob, and potatoes!  After we ate, al of our CALMS friends met us in the garage for a party.  They bought a cake for us to show their appreciation for all that we have done this week.  They played loud music and we had a dance party of sorts. We are so blessed with all of the people who helped make this week a success.  Ramiro, Karla, Nilss, and Sponge Bob (the other bus driver) were amazing to work with!  We will miss them all!

A lot of us were very tired, so we turned in early.  Some of us stayed to dance and laugh until they had to turn off the music.  We said our final goodbyes to our dear friends and then it was time to call it a night.  The mission part of our trip is over, but I know that we have all been forever changed because of the amazing events of the week.

Day 5 Photos

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Journey to the Center of the Earth

Today was another busy day in the village!  On our way up to the village, Pastor Miguel stopped the van on the side of the road and bought a baby chick to give to someone in the village.  The team members in the van thought that one chick was not enough, so we bought 20 more.  Ramiro told us that we could give the chicks out to four families that he would choose.  When we arrived (with no tire problems!) we started to deliver the chicks.  We gave five to Martha, Rony’s mom, six to Lilian and her family, five to Tomasa, who runs the church in the village, and the last five to Benjamin, whose home we are working on.  We also had a few crosses to deliver.  Lilian, Tomasa, and Rony each received one that our whole team signed.  After that, we split into groups.  We had a group of five go to the construction site.  The others went out to deliver Bibles.

The construction crew must have been very excited to see that the group we sent to them today included four women and one man.  They were pouring the cement in the house, so the group had to carry buckets of cement.  If they had any reservations about the women not being able to do the work, we quickly proved them wrong.  They couldn’t fill the buckets as full, because we wouldn’t be able to lift them, but we worked hard and we worked fast!  We had to stop a few times in order to mix more cement.  The men told the women that we weren’t needed for that part, so we would go to check in with our fourth woman, who had managed to evade the construction work.

While we were waiting for the first batch of cement to be mixed, Ramiro asked if one of the women wanted to make bread with Tomasa.  One of us was very excited with the idea, so she made bread in the church.  The church is right next to Benjamin’s house and we had to carry the cement buckets past it, so it was not far to go to check in on the progress.  Tomasa showed her what went into the bread and how to mix it.  Our team member used her hands to mix everything.  Throughout the process, they spoke in only Spanish, which was very exciting for our team member.  She has been working everyday and remembering and using her Spanish.  Her hard work paid off today!  Unfortunately, it was time for lunch before the bread was finished.  Tomasa told her to come back after lunch in order to see her job through.

While waiting for the Bible team, the construction team (and bread girl) were able to Skype with the senior Spanish class at Concordia.  I am not sure who was more excited about the call, the teacher or the students!  We had been reading to some of the village children, so the students were able to ask them a few questions.  The kids are always so shy to speak to a screen, but they love watching us make Skype calls.

When the rest of the team finally showed up, they explained that they had gone up the mountain to deliver Bibles.  The went to “the end of the world” to find some of the families who do not come into La Avenzada.  They work in the coffee fields and go home, but do not go anywhere else.  They are almost like hermits that live in the village, and yet since the homes are all in the jungle, they are far enough away that they are by themselves, which is how they like it.  All of the families the team met with were very receptive to them.  They all received their Bibles gratefully and many of them prayed for our team while we prayed for them.

After we had a late lunch, it was time to split up again.  It was almost time for VBS to start, so a group had to get ready for that.  Another group went back to see the bread finished.  Yet another group went to deliver more Bibles.  No one was needed back at the construction site, because the work for the day that we can help with was finished in the morning.

The VBS lesson today was the resurrection.  We had around 100 children today, which was very exciting!  We had quite a few mothers who came and stayed for the lesson also.  We prayed with the villagers, sang with them,  went through John 3:16, and then told the story.  After Karla told the story, we played a video of Mary and the disciples looking at the empty tomb.  We then prayed one more time with everyone, and had them line up to leave.  We passed out jellied bread and apples again.  We told them that after they went to get their vitamin drink, to come back down to the soccer field and we could play.  We had some beach balls that we kicked around with them.  It was a wonderful day!

After helping with the VBS, one of the members had to leave to teach the adult Bible study.  He met up with two more people in our group and Nilss, from CALMS.  There was a husband and wife plus one other lady.  The wife brought the Bible that we had given them to the class!  That was very neat to see!  They learned about the fruits of the Spirit and how we can apply that to our lives.  They were able to pass out cross necklaces that a friend at home had made for the villagers.

The ladies who went to finish the bread were amazed that it only had to bake in the oven (a fire burning in a dome) for about five minutes.  The oven is very hot, so it bakes it quickly.  Tomasa does not use oven mitts to take anything out of the oven.  She reaches in and takes it out with her bare hands!  The bread was finally finished and it tasted amazing!

The final group went back up the mountain to reach one last house “at the end of the world.”  We have passed out 60 Bibles so far!  We have visited more houses, but at a lot of them, the parents are out working in the fields and only the children are at home.  We want to be able to give the Bible to one of the parents.  Any houses that we miss, Ramiro will have to visit on his own.  He knows the village and where everyone lives, so it will not be a hard task for him.  Hopefully we can get to a whole bunch tomorrow, our last day in the village!

When everyone had reassembled, it was time to go back down the mountain.  On the gravel road, the second van noticed that the first van had a low tire (again!) in the back.  The first van went into La Union to get the tire changed.  The second van went back to our hotel in Gualan.

The first van made it back in time to Skype with the kids at church for Midweek classes.  It was so wonderful to get to see all the kids!  They all seemed to have so many questions!  We could have talked to them all night!  We talked to preschool though fifth grade, the high schoolers, and then the confirmation classes, each for a half an hour.  It was a long time to be on Skype, but it was worth every minute!

Day 4 Photos

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