Guatemala July 11

Monday, July 11

We began the day with another awesome breakfast (have I bragged on Juanita and Esperanza enough yet, because they were AWESOME!?! Okay, I’m done now), we headed down and then up a mountain to Tuizicaja, a little area that is home to our “Sister Church”. The funny thing is that we could practically see this area from our Mission House, settled on the mountain across from us, but it still took nearly quite a while to drive there. We ladies (and Paul, our videographer) were dropped off to walk through a very muddy cornfield to the church that Biltmore Baptist (our home church in the states) helped build a few years ago. Oddly enough, I remember hearing all of the stories from the teams going to help build it back when I started working at BBC, so it was very cool to be standing inside the actual building that was there due to people I know personally. We did our first Princess Seminar to around 35 ladies from that area while the guys on our trip drove a little further up the mountain (and a steep hike, I heard) to build a kitchen for a family in need. Our seminar was great, but we learned that even though we were incredibly fortunate to have Raquel there speaking in Spanish, that most of the ladies in that church did not speak Spanish, but rather spoke a language called Mam (pronounced "Mum"). So she presented it all in Spanish, then we had someone translating to Mam. It was interesting to listen to.



After our seminar, we met up with the guys and went back to Comitancillo for lunch before throwing all of our crafts and supplies into our vehicles and going straight back to our Sister Church in Tuizicaja to do VBS. Of course, July is their rainy season, so the muddy cornfield had actually become muddier on our second trek through the field. But we arrived to a group of maybe 20 kids and started to set up.

Amber was not only on the worship team (leading the singing in Spanish) but also the craft team. As the craft team hurried to help get the crafts set up in a nearby building, our Team Leader set up the sound for the music. After about ten minutes we were ready to begin, and as we walked back to start the story portion, we were shocked to see that the group of 15 kids had turned into a group of around 40. We started the presentation where Mr. Bill (our team leader and Pastor to Kids) told a story about Brandi (one of the girls on our trip) hiding in a trash can because she didn’t feel important. Her friends and other people (the other kids on our trip) would come and try to cheer her up but nothing worked, not even the ones who dressed up as superheroes. We’d take breaks during the story where I’d lead a song for the kids (Sapo Song…Frog Song…Cristo No Esta Muerto…God’s Not Dead…Making Melodies….Estoy Cantando). In the middle of the story, we broke into two groups – a group of kids would come to do crafts and a group of kids would play games, then we’d switch off and the kids playing games would do a craft and the kids making crafts would play games, etc. Our little group of 30 kids had grown to maybe about 40 when we broke into groups, but let me tell you, our little craft room (which started with about 20 kids) quickly turned into WAY more than 20. I don’t know where they appeared from, but it seemed that every single day, kids would materialize out of nowhere; it was awesome. By the time crafts were finished and we went back to finish the story (where Raquel shared how Christ changed her view and made her important) there had to be more than 80 kids in that room. Raquel shared how to know Christ and we asked the kids who prayed to Him to stand up. We were amazed when nearly the ENTIRE ROOM OF KIDS stood up indicating they had prayed to make Christ their Savior. It was incredible.



After following up and writing down the name of each precious child who made a decision, we were asked to come together as the leaders of the church wanted to give us a message. We were humbled when the pastor’s wife told us that they had started a women’s group called Virtuous Women Minstries where they were encouraging the women of Tuizicaja to be Proverbs 31 Women. They then told us that each lady who was part of that group had hand-made each of us ladies and girls a hat. Each one of them spent a few moments thanking us in their own words, then presenting one of us with the hat she had intricately made by hand. I was in tears as each of us was given a hat and a hug from one of these precious women and were asked by each of them to remember them in our prayers as they strive to serve their community, each other and Christ. I have to say that Monday was a very emotional day and a wonderful start to our week of ministry.



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The Woman Who Fears The Lord: A Psalms 31 Woman

An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.: Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. (Proverbs 31:10-31)

Guatemala July 10th

Sunday, July 10

We awoke to AWESOME breakfast (pancakes and coffee) from our wonderful cooks. Afterwards, our entire team was taken to Market Day in downtown Comitancillo to experience the culture first-hand. Market Day is when the people of the area join together and sell goods to make money. We saw all kinds of things such as chicken heads, freshly slaughtered pig feet, dried fish, fruits and vegetables that were unfamiliar, beautiful fabrics, American-brand clothing and toiletries (which surprised Amber), and stray dogs everywhere searching for scraps of food.



We also got to tour the Mission House Ministries’ (who were hosting our stay) new facilities: FTE site (Evangelical School of Theology) and CFC site (Christian Family Center). The CFC site is where the church currently meets but they have plans to move the church meeting place to where the children’s school is currently housed (on the bottom level) and they are currently in the construction process of building an upstairs with three separate classrooms where the school will be moved to when construction is complete. We got to walk around the current classroom and it was awesome to see the pictures and drawings that the children had made and see some of the curriculum in the classroom. At an average wage of $5.00 a day, the people of Comitancillo do not have much money. For one child to attend this specialized school costs $500 per year, but they get a much better education, more one-on-one teaching, and learn about Christ. They are hoping (and Paul is hoping to find ways to help as well) to get more computers brought into the school so that each child can have access to a computer.



In the afternoon, Paul got to action working on the wireless router, formatting computers, and showing Pastor Pier’s son, Esteban (who is studying computers), how to do computer maintenance. Amber joined the ladies on the team and began the planning process for the ladies Princess Seminars that we’d be having throughout the week.

Our leader for the ladies event was a church member (and acquaintance) Raquel who was actually Miss Puerto Rico Petite in 1995. Not only was she eager to share how Christ changed her life, but she wanted to tell the ladies of Guatemala that God values each one of them and that their hard working hands, feet, etc. are beautiful in the eyes of God. For some of these ladies who work all day on top of raising children with not a lot of help, it was important for us to share with them that Christ values their lives and their hearts more than anything.

We came to Guatemala with several HUGE duffle bags full of beauty and hygiene supplies that we planned to hand out to the ladies who came to the seminars. For most of the morning, the mission team separated the supplies into groupings (shampoos, conditioners, makeup, lotion, deodorant, razors, etc.) and then making little gift bags and tying them with ribbon. You can actually see that process in the video below. After we had packed up around 250 gift bags, the adult ladies got to work on preparing God’s perfect message to the ladies of Guatemala.

Me, Francie, Kelly, Sheri and Raquel spent the rest of the afternoon together picking out Bible Verses and discussing what we felt God would want us to convey. By the time we were done planning, the structure of the seminar was that Raquel would begin each session telling about how she was a beauty queen and how that ran her life, until she found Christ. She then became, what she calls herself, a Princess at His feet. She then would tell them how they can use the body parts that God created and use them to glorify God and their families. For each body part, we would either pamper the ladies or do a brief skit to show them examples. We began by taking a mirror around and having each of them look into the mirror (most of them were too shy, humble to look at their reflections), followed by sharing how they could use their hands, feet, eyes, mouth, face and life to glorify Christ. We gave them lotion to rub onto their hands (they all liked that one), we washed some of their feet as Christ did, we gave them eye cream to try on and we did skits where we showed how we can convey hate and anger with the eyes and use the mouth to shout angrily or to talk sweetly and how when we’re too busy carrying bad stuff (sin) around, we can’t focus on breaking free to accept the gift of eternal life. We followed the message with sharing about the nails that penetrated Christ’s hands and feet before telling them that no matter where they are in life, if they turn from their sin and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, that they will be princesses of God. We gave each of them a crown to put on, then showed them the mirror again (and were amazed at how many were willing to look at their reflection at the end). Of course, this whole thing was spoken by Raquel in Spanish, so we ladies were waiting on her English queues “lotion” and “feet wash”, etc. to tell us when it was time to do an example. Ha.

We broke for dinner and our two teammates that Delta had “bumped” arrived. After dinner, we gathered the items we’d need for the seminars, and were ready for our own “beauty sleep” as our mission began first thing Monday morning.

Guatemala July 9th

Since my original intention was to blog about our days throughout the actual mission trip, but was instead hindered by limited internet, I wanted to go back and try to blog on a day by day basis about what happened while we were in Guatemala.

Saturday, July 9th

The original plan for Saturday was to wait until around 11 am to pick up two team members at the airport who were flying in on Saturday to Guatemala City. Unfortunately, during breakfast, we got word that Delta had bumped them off the Saturday flight (due to overbooking – way to go, Delta) and rescheduled them for Sunday instead. Our leave time from Guatemala City was moved up to 10 am so we all rushed to get packed and get ready to make the 7 hour trek to Comitancillo. One of the blessings of having motion sickness is that I got dibs on one of the front seats (actually, the very front seat) and had a wonderful view of the mountains and landscape while we drove up a mountain, then down a mountain, then up another mountain, then down the mountain. I have to say that Guatemala is one of the most BEAUTIFUL places I have ever been to.



One the way out of the city, we were told by our driver that traffic would be congested getting out of the city. A famous singer from Argentina was in town that weekend and just hours before, was shot and killed along the side of the road we had to travel down. I do not know the name of the singer, but we were all devastated to hear the news and then see the hearse and police on the side of the road as we drove slowly past the crime scene. They suspect that it was a targeted incident – that the shooter had intended to either shoot the singer or the person who brought the singer. Very sad.

But we continued on along CURVY, CURVY roads. Luckily, the two Dramamine I had taken did the trick and I didn’t get sick once (though one of the kids on the trip who had a bit too much soda and snacks did have to stop for a few moments to make peace with his snack, but other than that, we were incident free).



Several hours of driving later, we arrived in Comitancillo where dinner was waiting for us by two sweet Guatemala ladies (Juana and Esperanza) who have been specially trained on how to feed us without making us sick. What a huge blessing they were all week! After dinner, we got together for some planning time to go over the schedule for the week and Missionary & Pastor Pier gave us some tidbits about the culture in Guatemala. We learned that women are not especially valued BUT that they have the most of the control in the families. The women carry the babies and kids around with them along with crops (on their heads if necessary) and usually are the ones trying to sell goods at the market to make money for their family. It was interesting to get that perspective about the culture before our main planning for the Princess Seminars we planned to hold throughout the week.

It was after the meeting that Paul (the designated tech guy on the trip) found out that our 3G Verizon hot spot did not work in our location AND that the free wifi connection we had expected to have was not available (the Mission House only gets so much allotted megabytes of data transfer per day before they are cut off AND the wireless router was on the fritz, so we had to limit our team of 20 to check ONLY email and try not to download pictures or any other big files). Hence, I wasn't able to blog. :)

More coming soon...

Updates coming SOON

Since we were unable to blog during our trip, Amber is in the process of detailing the days' events while we were in Guatemala and hopefully most of it will be posted this week!! In the meantime, if you haven't already seen the "highlights" video that was made by one of our team members, CB Setterlind, check it out now:

Guatemala 2011 Highlights

:)

We're in Comi

We made it safely to Comi last night but we've been having internet troubles, so we aren't able to do much updating at this time. We will update as soon as we are able. :)

We're here!

We arrived yesterday with very little trouble. No flight delays or sickness, so that was a huge praise. We had some confusion with the baggage (our 20 bags of supplies that we checked) but we were able to get it worked out and all of our bags were released to us. :)

Thankfully we had yesterday afternoon mostly to ourselves to get some rest since most of us did not get much sleep prior to arriving at Asheville airport at 4 AM. Our hotel is right next to the airport and overlooking beautiful Guatemala City. We have a great view of surrounding mountains AND a gorgeous, huge volcano. I have been trying to get a decent pic but so far the clouds have been covering it too much to get a good picture.

We will be leaving in about 20 mins (noon EST) to make a 7-hr drive to Comi where we will be spending most of the week doing ministry.

Our 2 teammates that were supposed to arrive this morning are delayed at Atlanta airport until tomorrow due to Delta overbooking their flight. Please pray they get here w/ further complications. Also pray for safe travels for our drive today and for our health.

Looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us this week.

T-minus...

I cannot believe that we're leaving for Guatemala in just over a day. This week has flown by so fast that there hasn't been much time for it to sink in yet. We had a "packing party" tonight where we packed supplies for VBS and supplies for our team into nearly twenty duffel bags then we weighed each bag to make sure it's within the 50 pound maximum for checked baggage. We also got vital instruction tonight such as: do not drink the water; do not touch your face with your hands; use hand sanitizer often; do not flush the toilet paper. Hmm...now that I think about it, we didn't get instruction on what to do with the toilet paper. Guess we'll figure that out when we get there. :)

I have most of the Spanish songs down. I'm still stumbling a tiny bit, but one of the biggest pieces of advice I was given is to be patient with myself, so I plan to do just that. I am not going to stress over it. I'm actually surprised how quick and easy memorizing the songs ended up being.

We're finishing up the last-minute details...tomorrow after work we'll be taking our dog to Paul's parents' house and then coming home to pack. We're supposed to meet at Asheville airport at 4 AM Friday morning. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

Hope to update more when we get there. Thanks for praying!