Fuerza

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That's all I have to say. Thank you God for always being with me.

WOW...

65 people (most under the age of 18) in a hotel is a lot! After all of the travel craziness we finally have everyone here and settled. It may be a large group of people but they are going to be a lot fun. Team Wyoming went to the Kairos project today where they were building bunk beds, pouring concrete, and working a medical clinic. I was with team Rhode Island which I learned is technically called Rhode Island and the Plantations of Providence. You learn something new everyday. We were up in El Hato working on the house that North Carolina built last week. The team was pouring concrete floors so that the family can have a nice clean house and not have to worry about diseases and other things that come from a dirt floor.

But in order to begin pouring concrete, we have to bring the concrete to the house. The family lives on the side of a mountain surrounded by a lush forest. The road can only take us so far until we have to continue to the house on foot which was about a 15 to 20 minute hike. Not too bad right? Then we also have to carry 20 bags of concrete to the house. A couple of the guys took about 2 ½ hours and carried twenty 110 pound bags to the house. Impressive? It gets better. The guys had about six more bags of concrete left when it began to pour the rain. And I mean pour. We were almost mudded in, if that makes sense. Take the term “snowed in” and replace it with mud. The guys toughed it out though and some how slipped and slid their way back to the house with the remaining bags. We finished one room in the house and I think everyone would agree that it was worth the work.  

All the teams came back to the hotel early because it was raining like crazy. The Wyoming kids were loving the "warm weather" and were swimming in the pool. The family from Florida that is here on a family mission trip thought Team Wyoming was nuts. The poor Floridians have been freezing this week. Team Rhode Island seems pretty chill about everything. They adopted me as a fellow Islander. 

Tomorrow we are going to be going out into El Hato and promoting our bible school for the next couple of days. Be praying that kids will come out and join us and also that the rain will wait until after we're done working.
photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64497700@N08/

Sleepy Sunday

The beginning and the end of an era. Well, it's probably not as epic as that but it was the beginning and the end of a week. We said goodbye the the North Carolina team this morning along with our worship leader Charlie. One of North Carolina's very own John Linkous is going to helping Michael, Drew and I this week. We also have Melanie from Missouri who has been working with the Lorinda at the Jermiah Project. She has been helping out the teams that are doing bible schools at the project.

The groups that came in for this week have had a big a flight trouble. Team Wyoming had a flight cancelled in Jackson Hole which made them a day late and they had to split up and take two different flights at different times. Then Team Rhode Island was supposed to come in today. Five of them arrived today and the other half ended up being diverted to San Salvador because of weather issues in Guatemala City. Michael and Drew just now went into the city to pick them up from the airport. So it has been a long couple of days for these teams. 

After saying goodbye to team North Carolina, Melanie, John and I went to a bilingual/ multicultural church. Seems like a good place for teams to go when they are down in Guatemala for a mission trip. After church we grabbed something to eat a cafe nearby and then went over to Lorinda's house for Josie's 1st birthday. It was adorable! The theme was butterflies. There was a butterfly cake and butterfly decorations and even a butterfly craft fort the kids! We played a Josie version of pin the tail on the donkey. Lorinda drew a picture of Josie's face and then removable pig tails so that we could play pin the pig tail on the Josie. She did a really good job!
It had been raining all day and when we decided to go back to the hotel we flagged down a Tuk Tuk. The driver didn't know exactly where our hotel was so I had to show him how to get there. When we arrived at our home the driver wanted 30 quetzales which is half of what the price should have been. He tried to tell me that it was because of the distance but I told him that it should be cheaper because I taught him where the hotel was. In the end I only gave him 15 Q and he didn't fight it. 

Time for bed! A whole new week tomorrow!

Photo = Foto

Here are some of my pictures from the North Carolina Team. Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64497700@N08/

Tuk Tuk Time

It's amazing how a free day can be just as busy as a work day. I some how managed to fill every bit of the day to the brim. This morning we received a nice little surprise when the owner of the hotel decided to treat the entire team to a breakfast at a 5 star hotel here in Antigua. I never expected to be hanging out at a five star restaurant in Guatemala but it was great. The hotel is actually built in and around the ruins of an old monastery, catacombs and all. Trust me, it's cool. 

We then took the team to the market to get their last minute gifts for family and friends and then some of them went zip lining. 

That is when I took the remainder of the group into town to do some sight seeing and shopping. Of course it is winter or the rainy season making the chance of an afternoon rain practically 100%. Soon after we began walking around it began to pour down rain. We ran in and out of shops trying to dodge the raindrops and mud puddles. But our attempts at staying dry were failing and by the time we were ready to go home we were soaked. We ran into a little ice cream and coffee shop to take a break from the rain when we decided that we should just take a Tuk Tuk back to our hotel. Now the Tuk Tuk is a special little vehicle. Pictured above, the Tuk Tuk is a motorcycle like car/taxi that can take you anywhere in the city for cinco Quetzales (less than a dollar). A good price for the short ride home out of the rain. My group pilled into three Tuk Tuks and hoped and prayed that the entire group would make it back alive. There must be a rule for all Tuk Tuk drivers to almost hit every car that they pass. I won't lie, a few screams did eek out during that ride. But we made it back with all of our people and completely intact. Now that I think about it, it was kind of fun. Maybe I'll try it again.  

Work Days Done

Today was the last day of work for Team North Carolina. They ended up building a whole new house for a family in El Hato and had a vacation bible school everyday for the kids at the Jeremiah Project. Today was the first day that I actually saw the work site since I've been working with the VBS all week. The house looked really great. The team even created a sliding window for it. I was impressed. 

One thing that I was happy to be a part of today was writing a note to the girl who had almost been abducted.  A few of the girls and I wrote some notes filled with encouraging verses for her. Then at the end of bible school I sent the notes home with her siblings. Continue to pray for her. 

I'm going to end this entry with this; I just ate the most delicious coffee flan. So good! 

Prayer

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4-6,7

Wow. That's it. Are you afraid? Anxious about something? Thankfully the bible has laid it out very clear what we are to do. Simply tell God what's up and he will give you peace. It doesn't get much better than that. 

I was thinking of this verse today. I met a family whose oldest daughter was recently abducted by a group of sex traders. By the grace of God she was able to get away. She is now living in fear and doesn't want to leave her house. The scary thing is that there really isn't much that can be done. The police here can't always be trusted. 

And this is where you come in. This girl needs prayer. She needs that peace that surpasses all understanding. As scary as it must be to almost be put into the sex trade, there is something awesome about God being the only one who can help. He loves us so much and wants our complete faith and reliance on him. 

Pray for peace for the girl today.