Guatemala Mission Trip 2008

Day 5: First Medical Clinic Highlites

The first time we were able to sleep in until 7:00 a.m. – a good night’s rest was badly needed by all, along with a nice hot shower!  Breakfast was followed by preparation for the Clinic.  In preparing for the clinic many things are going on simultaneously – a large group of people are sorting and preparing medicines and vitamins; another group is preparing the gift bags which include a bag of beans, salt, soap, and a child’s toy.  Another group is preparing the sandwiches for our evening meal at the medical clinic.  After lunch and devotions, we are on the road! 

The road trip takes approximately 2 hours to get to the location.  The sights were absolutely incredible – breathtaking, the roads were absolutely treacherous – down right scary!  The scariest, was returning on the same road in the dark, with the rain complicating matters.  Praise God for safety – God’s hand truely at work!God Sightings: Again, too many to list but a few that I wanted to mention.  Many mothers, fathers, and children walked miles to attend the medical clinic to receive help.  The numbr was incredible – no one was turned away.  We kept going until all were received.  Watching the Guatemalans watch the Jesus Film (I would be safe in saying that not one of these people had ever experienced watching a TV, video, or movie before in their life!) was an experience that words will not do justice.  Talk about an incredibly effective witnessing tool – the film captivated their attention, and the story opened their hearts to receive the mesage that followed.  What followed was the most moving, praying with people that I do not know, and can not understand for the most part because of the language barrier, but what I did know for certain, they wanted Christ in their lives, and were willing to leave their families – young, old, male, female – to come forward and receive Christ in their lives.

Leaving the village that evening, I sat in awe and wonder as I bounced from side to side and up and down in the van as we drove back to the mission base.  Our God is truely an awesome God!

Things are going great.  This group of kids are hard workers, and on fire for the Lord – exactly the perfect group that if I could have hand picked, this is what I would have selected.   It’s just different being one of the oldest here this time.

Day 4:  House decorating / painting went great (Halley did an awesome job as always here – she takes after her mother with her creativity).  Nolan and I were roofers, and installed the roofs on all 4 homes, so we were not able to help with the decorating, but I was good with that.  Just to share a personal God blessing – the roofs are made of galvanized steel, very shiny and reflective.  Also incredibly HOT when the sun hits it for 10 minutes.  Nolan and I were thanking God that he provided a cloudy over cast morning, long enough for us to finish before the sun came out.  Because once the sun broke through – it was HOT and steamy!

Dedicating the homes was again an incredible experience.  Godolfina, the 43 year old son that lives with his 74 year old mother, Micaela, accepted Christ into his life – Micaela was already a Christian and was overwhelmed by tears to have her son saved at last.  After the dedication and house blessing, Godolfina bought 6 cans of pop for us to drink.  By the way, this was the only pop, and for the most part, the only sweet item that we had had all week – it tasted great!  The amazing part was that these 6 cans of pop cost him roughly ¾ of a days wage to purchase.  Then he put them into a hole in the ground to keep them as cold as possible.  I’m not sure how many people would spend ¾ of a days wage on strangers, especially when food to survive is of extreme importance.  He was in tears when he passed out the pop, because the entire group of 20 was there and he only could afford 6 cans.  We dedicated all homes, many souls were won and renewed for Christ.  We headed back to the Base to pack and leave.  All of the families followed us back to the base and stayed there with us one last time.  Many tears were shed, and many sincere hugs were given and received.  Made for a solemn trip to the Mission base here in Chimaltenango.

Time to make some breakfast. I will talk to you later and try to send out some pictures today as well.

Blaine

Construction Framing- Liz, Halley, Blaine and Nolan.

 Day 2 Highlites:
Awaking at 5:00 a.m., in the dark – and I mean dark – the type where you can’t see your hand in front of your face dark, watching the daylight slowly revealed the incredible view, foliage, and surroundings, and ultimately allowing us to see exactly where in the world we were!  Day 2 work started with our team of 20 (3 parents and 17 high school and college aged young adults), split into 4 groups of 5, and off we went to turn a concrete pad into a house by evening.  It was an incredible feeling of accomplishment, and experience watching the families see the house go from just a concrete pad to an actual house by evening.
 

                   Godolfina (future home owner) with Annie.                                            

 I didn’t sleep well the night before, the combination of the angry storm still going on well into the early hours of the morning, the strange surroundings, the anticipation of the coming day, and the high humid heat.  My body was physically tired, add to that a full stomach and an overwhelming sense of satisfaction from everything that happened that day – Man was I ready to sleep!

All in one days work!

Day 3 Highlites:
Finished painting the insides of the homes and stuccoing the outsides.  The clouds cleared to reveal a breathtaking view on the horizon with 3 distant volcanoes.  You know how I love big trees, the trees next to our home construction site are like nothing I have ever seen – you will need to see the pictures to appreciate.  Oh to have a rope swing for the kids to use!  Hearing the children’s voices singing in the school house up the hill from our house – what an awesome sound!  Thanking God for a refreshing cold shower at the end of the day to cool off the body, even if it was for only a couple of miniutes before I began sweating again!  Ending the day with singing praises, sharing “God Sightings”, and having group devotions.                                                                        
   

               Halley facepainting for village children

God’s hand at work: Too many to list but one in particular I will share here.  The village children challenged our group to a game of soccer.  Things were going great – they were beating the tar out of us –until Caleb, from Elsworth, went to make a heroic save to keep the soccer ball from going off the edge of the plantation coffee drying bed concrete platform.  Caleb ended up losing his footing and fell from the platform, in an effort to keep from falling he grabbed for a branch only for it to break away.  There were rocks and boulders all around on the ground below, and praise God, Caleb landed on his back with head his landing softly on the ground between two large rocks – that would have been ugly!
 
I will send you some more highlites and photos later.

Thanks for all the prayers.

Blaine

I heard from Blaine at 9:00EST and they were on the way to La Bendicion.  A driver was there waiting for them and the flight there went as scheduled.

Blaine and Halley are on their way to Guatemala.  Everything has gone as scheduled so far. As of this evening they are in Miami awaiting the flight to Guatemala City.  They should arrive there by 9:00pm then they have the drive to the mission base.  Tomorrow they will start construction of homes in La Bendicion. They will have no electricity there so I do not expect to hear from them until Friday.  Please pray that they will not get sick during this time.      Gaylene

Halley in Miami Airport July 8

Thank you for visiting our 2008 Guatemala Mission Trip blog.  We will be updating the blog daily so that you can share in our mission trip progress.  Please feel free to share your comments with us, and continue to keep us in your prayers.