Day Three: The Village Basketball Courts

After grabbing some sandwiches in the van, we headed up to a little village and set up station on some new basketball courts.  We're not really sure what kid of signal went out when we arrived but in a matter of minutes there were over a hundred children running up. 

We got to play soccer, jump rope, make chalk art, and bubbles with the kids, and we gave out twizzlers (which they weren't sure they were supposed to eat....but it didn't take them long to figure out!) and smarties candies.   Judging by their smiles, they had a blast! 

Once we played for a little while we got them settled down and Richard spoke with them about Jesus and His love for each and every one of us (and in a spectacular pseudo-spanish accent, i might add!).   It is at these types of events that our language barriers become very apparent and pretty frustrating for us all.  We see so many opportunities to really minister to some of the people here and it's very hard not to be able to communicate how we feel about them and tell them about the TRUE gospel.  Please pray that we will not get discouraged in this respect.  We use our interpreters as much as possible, but when there are 17 of us and only 1 or 2 of them, it gets hard.  Many of us have felt a renewed motivation to really devote serious efforts to learning Spanish so that we can more effectively communicate!  There are so many people down here who have shown interest in having conversations with us and although we know that God will work through us regardless of whether or not we know a single word of Spanish, we hunger to have those meaningful conversations! 

A few of us had the chance to go into one of the neighboring houses.  The family that lived there was so gracious to invite us in.  The floors were dirt and the entire house was made of cement walls and tin.  They worked only with natural lighting during the day.  There was a light in one of the bedrooms, but other than that it was only sunlight coming in from the openings throughout the home.  It really put into perspective just how blessed we really are.  Yet this family opened their doors and shared their home with us.  They were happy to offer what they had.  That is one of the main things that we've noticed here.  The people have so little, but they are will to share anything and everything they have.  They truly are a community here....they watch out for each other and help one another.  And they do the same for visitors as well.  These are amazing, resilient, strong people. 

Please continue to pray for us.  Pray we will remain strong and encouraged.  Please pray that despite the language barriers, these people will know that we love them and that God loves them.  And pray that something will stir in their hearts that will lead them to Christ.  Our hope is that, although we can't change Guatemala in one week, we can change the life of someone in the most powerful way possible!

In Him,

The Guatemala Team

Day Three: Del Hermano Pedro

We headed back to Santo del Hermano Pedro for our third morning.  We were anxious to get back to those sweet children.  God had worked on our hearts for them!  Now that we no longer had any reservations about how to interact with them, we were excited to get started.  We helped the nurses get all of the children into wheelchairs and out into the sunny courtyard.  A few of them even remembered us and smiled or even said some of our names when they saw us!  That just melted our hearts :)

Once we got them settled into the courtyard, we took a few minutes to go around and say "hola!" to them all.  Then, we were able to take them out of their chairs or wheel them around for walks. 

Suzanne and Crystal brought along an ipod and a speaker so we could play them some music.  Lesly, who is blind, just lit up when she heard the sounds!  She clapped her hands and bounced up and down.  It was beautiful!  Little Lito....his face was priceless.  As soon as Suzanne held the speaker up where he could hear, he just stopped still....lifted his eyes up to the sky....and just stared in amazement.  And Elmer?  He is such a character!  He got the ipod and speaker from Suzanne and was just amazed by it.  We wondered if we would ever get it back from him!! 

We also got to meet Mr. Dick on this day.  He comes down and builds & repairs wheelchairs for the children.  He help set up a school for them and you can just see that these children are special to him and he is special to them.  Jason had an opportunity to go with him and watch him as he fit a new wheelchair for a local child.  To read Jason's account of this experience, click HERE. 

We were taken on a tour in small groups of the school that they have set up.  They have 2 classrooms and a computer lab.  They learn to read and write, how to create websites, how to make bags, and all sorts of other things.  It was amazing to watch many of them doing things in different ways due to the limitations of their bodies.  One man was navigating on his computer with his feet and another lady was making necklaces using only one hand.  Richard Murray found a new friend in Oscar and we thought we'd never convince him to leave!

Overall, this place taught us so many things.  We did not have to be able to speak the same language to tell these children that we loved them and that God loves them.  It didn't take long for us to see past their disabilities and just see the beautiful, sweet, loving children that they all are.  It was hard to tell them goodbye and heartbreaking to walk out of the door. 

We were able to take a few pictures from the day.  I'm hoping that some of the other members of the team have some more that they can post!

 Alison and Lesly

 Alicia and Garano, Beth and Melvin, & Alison and Ariana

 Suzanne and Lito (Who would have gone home with her if she thought she could get away with it!)

 Jeff and Ervin

 Beth and Melvin, Suzanne and Lito, Alison and Perla, & Alicia and Ariana

Joy and Lesly

Ryan helping out at lunchtime

We will post later today on the second half of day three!

In Him,

The Guatemala Team

Day Two: The Kids Club

After leaving Santo Del Hermano Pedro hospital, we grabbed a bite to eat in the car on the way up the mountain to "El Club".  A missionary couple had a house that they wanted to be used towards a children's ministry after they left Guatemala.  So, The Kids Club was formed.  For regular weekly events, they have upwards of 75 children coming.  For larger events, there can be up to 200 kids attending. 

We arrived at The Kids Club and began setting up.  Our team leaders told us that the kids would begin to filter in soon.  Some of the children walk up to 35 or 40 minutes just to come to this children's ministry!  Before we knew it, we looked down the hill and you could see several large groups of kids making their way up the steep driveway to the house. 

 We had children of all ages coming.  From 18 years old all the way down to a little 2 year old girl:   

We had activity stations set up for the kids....they got to do sidewalk chalk art: 

 Blow bubbles: 

Make little bracelets with beads and a cross: 

Make little packets to hold all of their artwork from the day: 

Coloring projects: 

They got to hear about how they could KNOW that God loves them: 



And in the end, we all ended up with some new friends!! 



  

  

The hugs were precious from the children...but most wonderful of all was when they prayed for us: 

God's love was most definitely apparent on that hilltop that day.  Our spirits were uplifted by those children and we really feel that we were blessed just as much by the experience, if not so much more, than they were. 

God is SO good and He is proving that He can transcend language, age, and location!  Continue to pray for us as we build relationships with the beautiful people of Guatemala. 

With blessings and love,

The Guatemala Team

Day Two: Del Herman Pedro

We knew that this day was going to be a mixture of extremes.  It was going to be emotionally taxing.  Our first visit was at Del Hermano Pedro, which is a Catholic Church run hospital that houses eight different wards for disabled persons.  There aren't any pictures that we were able to take of this part of our day because there was a man who would come in and take pictures of one of the patients and then try to get moeny from people by saying it was his son and he needed money to help take care of him.  Our coordinator, Steve was allowed to take some pictures so we will try and post those when we can get them from him.

When we first arrived, we took a tour of the hospital.  Emotions ran from sad at the situations of these people to happiness at the sheer joy that many of them expressed.  In the women's ward there is a woman who will run up to you, ask you your name and then decide whether she likes it or not.  (I think that Nick and Suzanne's names passed the test.  The rest of us apparently need some name changes!)  She would shake her finger and say, "no me gusto" (I don't like).  But she'd say it with a big smile!

Then, we arrived at the children's area.  They were all in wheelchairs, sitting in a sunny courtyard.  We were told to wash our hands and then we could start playing with the kids.  Many of us were anxious to get started but we just didn't know what to do.  Most of the children didn't have the ability to speak and we weren't sure how to intereract with them.  Some of us just started walking around, touching them on their arms or their heads, kneeling down to pray, or singing to them.  And then, God stepped in.  Their disabilities, language barriers, and our fears just seemed to disappear.  The nurses began taking children out of their wheelchairs and handing them to us to hold.  We discovered that several of them loved to play with "pellotas" (balls), and they loved the bubbles that we brought with them. 

Diego loved to hear anyone just say his name.  His entire face would light up with sheer joy anytime anyone came near him.  He and Daniel would smile and toss their heads back and forth if you sang to them!  Irvin and Nick Anderson tossed a ball back and forth.  Jeff and Joy bonded with Elmer who was QUITE a character.  He had a backpack on his wheelchair that he had stuffed to the gills with books and toys.  Alicia learned a sad story about little Ariana who, praise God, was doing so much better now that she'd been at Hermano Pedro for two years.  Crystal rocked little Perla for hours.....a little girl who couldn't talk or walk but LOVED for you to stroke her hair or bounce her on your knee.  Alison and Beth played with Lesly, a blind girl who would clap and laugh if you sang to her.  The younger boys, Logan, Brandon, Jake, and William pushed several of the children in their wheelchairs around the courtyard and sang to them.  Logan learned "Jesus Loves Me" in Spanish and sang to several of the children.  

The nurses asked if we could stay and help feed the children and of course we said yes!  With 17 extra hands, lunch would go so much faster for everyone.  Hopefully we can share a video soon of Keith feeding a little boy.  It is hilarious and heart-warming! 

The nurses who worked in this ward were so wonderful with the children.  Even without what we would consider to be modern medical conveniences, the children were being so well cared for.  It tugged at our hearts to know that many of the children would neved leave that facility.  But we also saw the blessing that they had somewhere they could go and be cared for. 

We will be going back to Hermano Pedro tomorrow (day three) and we know that God's presence will surround us once again as we just love and care for these precious children. 

We will post later on about the second half of our day two when we got to go the "El Club", which is a Kid's Club, and work with about 75 children!

Continue to pray....God is with us and He is GOOD!

Love and Blessing from the Guatemala Team :)

Day One

We landed in Guatemala City around 9:00 at night.  Our first "Guatemalan" dinner was at Pollo Campanera, which Steve Otto told us was the Guatemalan Kentucky Fried Chicken!  An hour later, we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Casa De Las Fuentes.  When we woke up in the morning, everything was in Spanish: 

 It's a good thing that Crystal studied up on her Rosetta Stone :)

The view from our hotel offered up a stark example of the differences in living here.  Right next to our hotel are a bunch of tin homes with roosters (which we've come to discover do NOT just crow at daybreak!) and geese.  It's strange to hear a mixture of city noises and "farm" noises. 

We also have a good view of the mountains.  There is a HUGE volcano that you can see as well. 

We took a walking tour of the city.  There are a few cathedrals that we were able to visit.  The vast majority of people here are Catholic.  This cathedral was having a service when we went in. 

This is a second cathedral that we visited.  This is also where Jeff met a VERY tenacious flute salesman!  An hour and several blocks later...the salesman wore him down.

Towards the end of our walking tour, we were serenaded by one of the locals.  He actually knew of Panama City, which was interesting, and had lived in Miami for a while.  His rendition of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" stuck in our heads for a loooooong time. 

And the streets of Antigua?  They are all cobblestone.  The "colonial" portion of the city, where we are staying, is a 10x10 block square.  The roads are pretty narrow and we've already been impressed (a.k.a. scared to death!) by the local's driving!

The best part of our day?  We attended the Sunday Worship Service at the Iglesia del Camino church.  The service was bilingual.  The praise songs AND the sermon were in Spanish and in English.  It was truly amazing to see how God is working in this community.  Entire families coming in to worship the Lord.  The service was contemporary and there was a definite passion in the worship team and in the congregation.  This was truly a unique experience!

Towards the end of our day, we toured through the Spanish Embassy in Antigua.  Our guide, Clay, explained to us alot of the history of Antigua and Guatemala. 

By the end of day one, we were all exhausted.....but we were definitely looking forward to day two, which held in store a special needs orphanage and our first kids club! 

Please continue to pray that we can effectively share the love of Jesus to these amazing people. 

Blessings and love from Guatemala :)

A Safe Arrival

The Guatemala Team arrived safely in Antigua, Gautemala last night around 11:00 pm.  We had a smooth trip without any delays or complications.  Thank you all for your prayers for traveling safety.  We will update soon about our first day in Antigua!!