OUR ACCOMODATIONS NEAR GUALAN

So many times people think if you go on a mission trip you are roughing it in terms of accomodations. This can be true but was definitely not the case for our Gualan team. We stayed at a great hotel in Rio Hondo which is about a 30 minute ride from Gualan. To check out the hotel website go to http://www.hotel-longarone.com/

If you click on ENTRAR, you will go into their web site. Air conditioning, a great dining room with delicious, SAFE food, and a swimming pool make this hotel a favorite with many American teams that come to Guatemala. Although this all may sound luxurious, in a warm climate like this, the pool and air conditioning are necessities.

MORE PHOTOS OF KIDS' ACTIVITIES

Here is Pastor Jasinto's youngest son -- Luis Alberto. I think he is pleased with how his project turned out!
This cutie's name is Carmen. What a nice girl she is!
The kids didn't seem to mind that their giraffes and other animals were "odd" colors. They loved pasting the little "foamies" onto their plates.
The Noah's Ark lesson was quite a hit with the kids. They enjoyed the paper plate projects we had for them. I think the animals make this lesson extra fun!

THE LUTHERAN CENTER--ANTIGUA

The first and last days of our 8-day trip were spent in Antigua. Our accomodations were at the Lutheran Center. Under the direction of Nury de Milian, the Lutheran Center has become a wonderful, welcoming place to stay. It is in a great location in the town of Antigua, which is located about 45 minutes from Guatemala City. It is the former capital of Guatemala, but because it is very earthquake prone, the capital was switched to Guatemala City. The nearby volcanoes are beautiful. It is a very, very popular place with tourists, and there are many Americans there due to the numerous language schools that are there. Many Americans who are adopting Guatemalan babies spend time in Antigua bonding and getting to know the babies. We saw several Americans walking along with strollers and talked to one lady who was going through the adoption process. Nury is a former tour guide whose specialty is archeology. We were very blessed to have her serve as our liaison, make our arrangements, and give us a short tour in Antigua. The ladies you see here weaving are selling their wares in the Lutheran Center. They are Christian ladies who are allowed to come and sell during the weekends. As you can see, they had many colorful items for sale. We bought a stole for our pastor that had the Luther rose on it. It was beautiful!

The rooms at the Lutheran Center are built around a courtyard, and Nury is working her magic and upgrading everything. The history of the Lutheran Center is very interesting, and you can find out more about it by going to http://www.lutheransonline.com/ and typing in Lutheran Center Guatemala in the search box.

TUK TUK

Here is one of the three-wheel vehicles that serve as a taxi in Gualan. We also saw these in the town of Antigua. They are called a "tuk tuk". The "u" is pronounced like the "oo" in the word "zoo". I definitely want a ride in one of these sometime! Didn't have time during this trip.

Maybe next time! At the end of the road is the construction site. I'm pretty sure that's Pastor Jasinto standing there in the red team t-shirt that we gave him...If the price of gas gets sky high again at home, I think I'll buy a tuk tuk!

WHAT'S NEXT?

Two more teams (June '07 and Aug. '07) headed to Gualan and continued construction and building relationships with the local congregation. Meantime, those of us at home continued with fundraising efforts which included selling Guatemalan coffee and souvenirs at the Roselle Market, brewing and selling coffee at church, and hawking peanuts for Kiwanis Peanut Day.

In April of '08, we were blessed to have the Spirit of Life Chorus do a benefit concert on behalf of the school. More than $8,500 was raised to put towards the furnishings and classroom materials for the school.

Pastor Jasinto agreed to have a group come to Gualan in November of '08 to assist them with their annual Vacation Bible School, so plans began in earnest.

EPHESIANS 2:10

I think that God really blessed our efforts during the week we were in Gualan to do construction. Our team t-shirts said "Building lives on the solid rock". Even though the school didn't look like much of a school at this point, it was a great feeling to know that we were being the hands of Jesus during this trip. Many kids will benefit from having a Lutheran school in Gualan. In addition to that, it will be a great tool for Pastor Jasinto to use in the evangelism work of Iglesia Luterana la Resurreccion and will help kids to build their lives on the solid rock.

I love the sign above that we saw at a public school in Guatemala. It translates "The children of Guatemala are the seed of hope". We know that the Lutheran school will take this even one step further when they teach the kids that their hope comes from believing in Jesus.

Ephesians 2:10 We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.

TEAM E-MAIL--MAY 2, 2007

One of the fun things we always like to do is send a short team e-mail to let family members and friends know how things are going. This is an abbreviated version:

Pastor Jasinto tells us today that it is 40 degrees Centigrade, which is pretty HOT! But God is protecting us and keeping us safe in the sun. All is well, and everyone is feeling good considering the heat. The air conditioning and the pool at the hotel at night keep us going and refreshed. Stomachs are all doing well. Here's some news from everyone:
RICHARD--Will be going back to work Monday. Retirement is hard work!
PETE--Having a lot of fun. Thanking God for sleeping with air conditioning!
JANET--Worked with the kids yesterday--FUN! Moved dirt for 2 days and today we are moving rocks.
CHERYL--It is very hot, but we are doing much better with the heat. It was great to work with the children in the afternoon. We had a craft and asked how many wanted to do it and one girl raised her hand, as they didn't know we had enough for everyone! They were all overjoyed to work on them.
KEN--Today we start pouring the foundation for the school rooms.
DOLORES--We are having fun working together to build the school. Yesterday was especially exciting when in the afternoon we had a chance to have some time with the children -- like a Vacation Bible School.
BETTIE--Greetings from Guatemala - warm weather, hard work, and wonderful, friendly people. The children are priceless.
NANCY--Picture me working in long pants, gloves, and a hat in hot, humid weather. I'm not sure why I'm not passing out! The Guatemalan people are a joy, and the group is a joy too! Sometimes we are laughing so hard we are almost crying--which is a good thing! Working with the kids yesterday was really fun.

Please pray for our work and for our safe return!

ACTIVITIES WITH THE KIDS

It didn't take me too long to figure out that construction is definitely not my thing! I decided probably from Day 1 that when we left the work site for the last time, it would probably be a good thing for me to just give my brand new work boots to one of the workers there! I looked forward to 2 p.m. everyday, when we would have activities with the kids. We had a Bible story, sang songs, worked on crafts, taught The Chicken Dance, played a fishing game, and even managed to work in a little bit of English. One day we had over 50 kids -- all in one room! There was a teachers' strike on at the time we were there, so I'm sure they looked forward to having something fun to do each afternoon. We taught the lessons Noah's Ark, the parable of The Lost Sheep, the Fishers of Men story, and the last day we did a lot of crafts and taught the kids the story of the faith bracelet. Each day when the kids left, they left with a treat -- a bottle of bubbles, a rubber bracelet, a cross necklace, and a faith bracelet.