Guatemala July 15

Friday, July 15

We got up early Friday morning to start making our way back to Guatemala City for our flight home. After Amber made the whole team stop for a few minutes to deal with some motion sickness (BOO!) on the really curvy roads out of Comitancillo, we were on our way with no issues. The plan for Friday was to drive half way (or so) and stay in Panajachel which is a little city that rests in a HUGE dormant volcano near a bottomless lake. If you have never heard of Lake Atitlan, check out Wikipedia for some more details.

On our way to Panajachel, we noticed a big gathering of people and some buses dropping even more people off. Our driver told us that one of the candidates running for President was about to give a speech at that very location. We did not see the candidate, but they only have elections every four years and Amber thought it was awesome that one of the candidates was at the very spot we were driving by at that moment. (Also, they have 22 political parties and around ten people running for President. And I thought OUR political system was wacky enough with two predominant parties and two predominant candidates. Eep!)

We arrived in Panajachel around lunch time and no words could adequately describe the beauty of the area nor do the pictures do justice. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking.







We relaxed for a while and then wandered around the area the rest of the afternoon and went to the market to buy souvenirs (and worked on our bartering in Spanish skills). We got caught up in a rainstorm while at the market and walked back to the hotel in the torrential downpour making our few remaining clean and warm clothes completely drenched. Again, Amber was fighting sickness through most of the day (presumably still trying to get rid of whatever was ingested on Wednesday) and right after dinner decided sleep was the best option.

Guatemala July 14

Thursday, July 14

Thursday was our last day of actual ministry in Guatemala before our trek back toward the airport. Thursday morning, Paul was able to go with the guys to see one of the kitchens that they built and just do some general sight-seeing of the area and learn about the agriculture and tour around some of the homes. Amber and the ladies went to a school to do the Princess Seminar for a group of about 30 girls around the age of 14-16. Everything during the seminar went well and we were in the process of cleaning up and taking our stuff back to the cars when Raquel was stopped by one of the girls. She told Raquel about how she was the girl known for "being with boys" and how Pastor Pier had actually talked to her about it just a couple of weeks prior, telling her that she didn't have to "be with boys" to find acceptance and that she was loved by a living God. Pastor Pier didn't know she would be in the Princess Seminar with us that morning, but God obviously prearranged her previous meeting with Pastor Pier and then with Raquel as she broke down in tears telling Raquel that she didn't realize that her body was something that could glorify God and that she didn't want to "be with boys" any more, but wanted to start a new life, one where she can respect her body and herself. We were all blown away to hear that testimony and, of course, we were all blessed to hear one of the stories of a life changed by what we were doing.

Between the seminar and lunch, Amber and a couple of the ladies took a quick stroll through Comitancillo. We were greeted on our way back by a man who hollered "HOLA GRINGOS" at us. We were incredibly amused and replied "HOLA! BUENOS DIAS!" back to him. Too funny.



That afternoon, we went to a church in Chicijala to do our final VBS. Again, all of the kids were amazing and came with lots of brothers and sisters and we were all impressed with how they'd be sure their siblings got crafts and snacks first. :) Amber discovered the group of boys in the front row are probably going to be future worship leaders as they got into all of the songs and were helping show the other kids the motions as we sang. Paul found a great way to relate to the kids earlier in the week by taking pictures of them and then showing them their picture in the camera after every shot. They loved seeing everyone around them have their picture show up on the camera.



After VBS, we hurried back to the Mission House where we held our final Princess Seminar for a group of local ladies. They were also very gracious and appreciative of how we treated them and pampered them. They also said that they wanted to find more ways to serve the people of Comitancillo and that they would all get together again soon to plan how to minister to their community. :)

Guatemala July 13

Wednesday, July 13

While God’s presence and provision were evident every single day of our mission trip in Guatemala, Wednesday was the day where He astounded us the most. We did not have a Princess Seminar in the morning and the men did not have a construction project so we had the morning mostly free. Amber spent her free time pre-making more craft monkeys, Paul spent the morning formatting yet another computer, and several of the other group members spent some time at the market in Comitancillo before lunch. The reason that we didn’t have any special projects was because our team was invited to go to Palo Gordo (which is an hour and a half drive through very windy, muddy, and pothole-covered roads). A church pastor had rented out a soccer arena and a church leader had spent the previous ten days inviting families and kids from several churches to attend. That morning, we heard from Pastor Pier to expect maybe around 200 kids but by lunchtime we were told to expect closer to 300. This is the biggest group I think that our Team Leader had ever led in Guatemala.

Unfortunately, Amber had accidentally gotten shot in the face and mouth with water earlier that morning while turning on the shower and while she tried to remedy the situation by spitting the water out, it still caught up with her around lunch time. The plan was to leave for Palo Gordo after lunch, but by the time the food was on the table, Amber was turning shades of green. It had been raining pretty much non-stop since the night before and since there is no circulating air at the Mission House, the water had started to saturate bedding and clothing making everyone cold. Amber, unable to get warm and unable to eat, felt sick as a dog but was still adamant about trying to go. However, by the time she had taken a handful of stomach pills and Dramamine and got in the car to go, Pastor Pier took one look at her and told her to stay put. So the rest of the group took off to Palo Gordo while Amber went back to the Mission House and cuddled up in the bed under too many blankets to count and laid there the rest of the afternoon. Paul spent the car ride talking to Pastor Pier about possible options for using technology to help with worship including database software to help track the members of the congregation and how to maintain the computers they already have to keep them functioning at the highest performance possible.

The trip to Palo Gordo was fairly uneventful until the sound of screeching tires got everyone’s attention. Most of the team was in a van in the front while Pastor Pier drove a truck with his family, Paul and Pastor Bill. While everyone could hear the screeching tires, no one could find the source until at the very last minute, Pastor Pier swerved the truck out of the way and avoided being hit by a vehicle that was coming WAY too fast down a hill. No one was even able to see the vehicle until it was up on Pier’s truck and Paul said he looked out the window to notice the vehicle’s hood right outside and only a couple of inches between his door and the other vehicle. Paul recounted the story to Amber later and said, “you know, if you’d have come, that would have been your door that almost got hit and with your extra weight in that vehicle, who knows if it would have been able to maneuver out of the way in time”. Wow, when you think about that, it’s quite possible that without God’s intervention, Paul and I could both be seriously injured or worse and there would have been no VBS for the kids of Palo Gordo. Thankfully, God had other plans.

The team continued on to Palo Gordo and was surprised to come in to find 450 kids and 100 adults!! The team didn’t think they’d have enough supplies for everyone, but somehow God multiplied the crafts and the snacks and the team was able to get all of the kids provided for. Our team of 20 plus Pier’s family (so around 25 people) said this was the most special and most fruitful day they’ve seen. It was obvious that God orchestrated this event and we were so excited to have the leaders beg us to come back next year where they hope to get EVEN MORE kids to come. Wow! It is amazing to go back and think about how few of us leaders there were, how there was an obviously giant language barrier, and how many kids and parents there were to minister to, but how every child listened and obeyed and helped each other so that everyone could have a great experience. 103 kids prayed to receive Christ at this event. And to hear how close the team was to never making it there at all had Pastor Pier not swerved in time, it’s incredible to see how God showed up and showed off on Wednesday.

Guatemala July 12

Tuesday, July 12

Our second day of ministry began where we toured just two days prior – at the CFC site. As the men on our team went to build another kitchen for a family, the ladies (and Paul) held another Princess Seminar. The dynamics of this group was much different than the one on Monday since everyone was able to speak Spanish and we did not need a translator. The ladies were cutting up and joking around with Raquel and really enjoying themselves which was fun to see. At the end of Raquel's presentation, we all took pictures with our princess crowns on and the one of the ladies told our group that they are not used to being "pampered" and that they were taken aback by how we treated them and loved on them. It was very sweet as nearly every lady in the group went around and hugged each of us (including the kids) and wanted to take pictures with us.



After the seminar, we decided to walk back to the Mission House since it was only about a half a mile away. As we walked, a large group of kids started to come into the road from a soccer field nearby and excitedly shouted “GRINGOS” (which is what the people of Guatemala call us Americans). Many of them just walked along side of us grinning and giggling to each other. We stopped to take pictures near the beautiful, colorful cemetery at the end of the road and we stopped again for more pictures on a hilltop overlooking Comitancillo. It was nice to get out while the sun was out and just walk around watching the people going about their everyday lives.





After lunch, we went back to the CFC site for VBS. We did the same story and breakout sessions with crafts and games for the kids. At the end, we had 23 kids make decisions for Christ. As soon as the kids and parents left, we immediately began setting up for the church service. We ended up with time to ourselves, though, as we waited for the people to come back, and Bill decided to put on some music from his iTunes playlist. Of course, when he jokingly put on "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", all of the girls went to the front of the room and started dancing and singing along. The dancing and singing continued on for a good 30 minutes or more (and some of the guys even went up for some fun) before we finished setup for the church service.

People started arriving soon after (familiar faces that had come to the morning seminar and kids who had just come to VBS) and we all sang worship songs together (though most of our team butchered the proper pronunciation of most of the songs since they were in Spanish). We then led the parents in singing some of the songs we’d sang with their kids just a couple of hours previously and the kids came up to help us sing them. Afterwards, Pastor Bill gave the message while Pastor Pier translated and he taught the people an English word – FROG. He asked them to say it out loud (which they all got a kick out of) and to remember that FROG stands for Fully Rely On God. To help remember the English Word, the team had made bracelets with the words FROG and SAPO (Sapo is Spanish for Frog) for each person. It was a sweet time of fellowship with the people of Comitancillo.