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.

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...