CAROL & MICHELLE'S GROUP

Check out the fun "crowns of life". Also on the wall you can see the wonderful posters Michelle made for each daily lesson. Each has the Bible verse of the day along with the main point of the lesson.

Here are Michelle and Carol with "the littles". They can be quite a rambunctious group, but Carol's gifts as a teacher and 20+ years of experience in the classroom really had a chance to shine through during the week. She knows exactly how to handle the kids, and Michelle's experience as a Girl Scout leader came in handy too. One of the ideas from Carol's ARSENAL of ideas was these adorable frogs. The kids had fun making them and were very anxious to show them off.

Even the adults wanted to get in on the fun of the crowns. Pastor's wife Nanci is in the orange top in the second to last picture, and in the last picture we see Karla (one of our wonderful translators) and Luis Antonio (Pastor's oldest son). They both helped out with this group.

ELECTRICITY FOR LOS LIMONES?!

When the community of Los Limones was created, its residents were promised that there would be electricity.I remember thinking,"Well, I'll believe that when I see it." We had quite a surprise when right in front of where we were holding our outdoor VBS, workers began to bring in the cables, etc. for electricity. Maybe they don't set it up in quite the same way we would, but nevertheless HERE IS THE ELECTRICITY. This is a great thing to see that the town government is keeping its promise!

When you see these pictures, you really do get the sense that we are doing our afternoon VBS in the middle of nowhere! With a few strong singing voices, (and fortunately) a battery-powered CD player, and a couple little craft items or coloring pages, you're ready to roll. Like Pastor Jasinto is fond of saying " Jesus didn't need things like an overhead projector or a DVD player to spread his word."

HYGIENE KITS--PART 2

Completely unprompted by anyone, these 2 little guys couldn't wait to try out their new toothbrushes, even if it meant brushing their teeth without water (or toothpaste!). Pretty cute and pretty funny -- especially the one on the right who is missing quite a few teeth!

HYGIENE KITS

Cheryl and I were very proud of how our older group of kids put together 400 hygiene kits with a minimal amount of "horsing" around. I said just a few words about the importance of having a servant's heart and helping out people in the community, and then it seemed that the kids took things a little more seriously. So they formed an assembly line and put together these kits that were distributed to all the attendees at the church and at Los Limones. Trinity Lutheran in Roselle, IL. (our home congregation) was very generous with hygiene kit items, as were several area dentists, a local college, and some private donors. Each hygiene kit had a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, a bar of soap, a comb, a card with a Bible verse, and a little mini booklet with a Bible story.

ACTS 2:47

The Bible verse "And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved" comes to mind when I think of our amazing numbers! God was very busy working through our work.

Here is a summary of our attendance numbers from Monday through Friday. (Los Limones is where we worked in the afternoon and is a mission for the church)

CHURCH: (M)71, (T)75, (W)77, (Th)90, (F)105
LOS LIMONES: (M)113, (T)205, (Th)225, (F)287

So on Monday we had 184 kids total, and by Friday we had 392. Praise God! Cheryl and I worked with the older group of kids at the church, and we had 23 on Monday and were up to 35 by Friday.

The pictures I posted here are kids from an area called Piedras Azules. Every morning, Pastor Jasinto would bring these kids in his pick up truck. So he had a pretty busy morning every day! Piedras Azules is another area where Resurrection Church works with the children.

Here is Pastor Jasinto with the kids. We were all praying they wouldn't hit a big bump and lose anyone along the way! :-)

GREETINGS FROM THE TEAM--SENT 11/11/09

We are doing great. All are feeling well and doing ok in the heat. Weather is much cooler than last yr. Pastor Jasinto tells us today that they are up to 68 students at the new school! God is really working in the hearts of the people in Gualan! Here are some thoughts from the team:

DOLORES -- It´s been a really ¨buggie¨week! VBS in Gualan is going great with a bug theme. Children in both Gualan and Los Limones are singing God´s praises. Mosquitoes love me!

CAROL -- I´m amazed that the children always find room on the bench or around the table for one more friend. When I taught preschool we only fit 8 kids around! Here we manage to fit 12 or more and no one says NO TOUCHING ME, although the one on the end may fall off! My heart is so touched by the kindness I see the children showing each other. God´s love is definitely growing in their hearts. I am loving every minute!

GARY -- The weather has been wonderful. The pool has been refreshing each day. The puppets are enjoying themselves and have been entertaining the children.

CHERYL -- We had a great day with packing over 400 hygiene kits. Our students ages 11 - 13 formed an assembly line to complete the task. Painting continues at the school -- I´m enjoying watching this trip!

MICHELLE -- It´s been fun to realize that kids are essentially the same here as they are at home. They are so proud to show you their project so you can tell them "muy bien" or "excelente". They love hugs and smiles.

NANCY -- God is alive and well and working in the congregation of Gualan. The children are having fun as they grow in their faith. They really enjoyed the lesson of the Feeding of the 5,000. The team is doing a great job of continuing to build our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ at Resurrection Church.

We miss you all and will see you soon. Please pray for safe travel for us on Sat. and Sun.

Have a blessed day and be a blessing,
Nancy

VBS SINGING -- "MILAGRO"

Here is the group at church singing my favorite song from the VBS about the 5 loaves and 2 fishes. The song is entitled "Miracle" and refers to the Feeding of the 5,000. Pastor Jasinto, his wife Nancy, and Nancy's sister Leyda (at the far, far right--almost hidden) are leading the singing. Trinity Roselle's team members are at the very end (minus Nancy who is Missing in Action and behind the camera!). So from left to right, you see Ilse (one of our wonderful translators), Carol, Michelle, Dolores, Gary (on the move!), and Cheryl. The kids just LOVE to sing God's praises, and it always feels so joyful, even if they do have to nudge each other AND bug each other during the singing! :-)

NEW HOUSES AT LOS LIMONES

Rather than shacks made of tin, pieces of plastic, and any materials people can find...

some people have been fortunate enough to receive little brick houses with the all-important concrete floor. Some of these houses have been built by the Central American Lutheran Mission Society.

After the house is built, the family receives a plaque, a cross, and a special blessing.

And this hammock looked very, VERY inviting!!!!

LIVESTOCK ALERT!

On the way out to Los Limones, it does seem a little strange to see cows just wandering around. They are beautiful! This first one looks like Elsie from the Borden's commercials.

LOS LIMONES

Here is our poster in Los Limones advertising our VBS. And we know that the kids definitely saw it! On Monday we had 113 kids, and by Friday we had 287! This was besides the group that we had at church which ranged anywhere from 70 on up to 105 kids. Praise God!

Besides having the opportunity to work at church, the group enjoys working in the afternoon at an area called Los Limones. This is a very needy community with some really great kids! We are outdoors (usually under a tent). The first day the kids had a fun sticker page to work with, and they really enjoyed it. Discovering the Greatness of God was the theme of our VBS, and the sticker page helped to emphasize the many wonderful things of God's creation.

THE GREEN AND YELLOW SCHOOL

The school is looking really good and getting ready to roll! Enrollment has started, and when we arrived there were already 48 students signed up. Little did we know at that point that there would be a total of 70 signed up by week's end! Wow! We met the woman who will be serving as the school principal and had a chance to see what the uniforms will be like. I remember wondering what a yellow and green school would look like when our Trinity people were painting last July. I think it looks great -- cheerful and soothing at the same time. Great choice of colors!

Carol and Michelle from our group enjoyed seeing the school for the first time. I love the beautiful ironwork on the windows!

FIRST VISIT TO THE GUALAN MARKET

After traveling from Guatemala City to Gualan (approximately 3 hours by bus) on Sunday, we arrived in time to attend church at Iglesia Luterana la Resurreccion. After service, we went out for lunch with Pastor and his family at a new place in town called Burger Diner. They had the most delicious pizza there. Have to say we all got quite a laugh when the waiter told us they couldn't cut the pizza slices into squares, because the pizza is round! They could only cut it into triangles. One of our team members drew a picture of what we meant, and lo and behold we ended up with square pieces. Pretty funny - I guess you had to be there!!!!
Afterwards, we went to the market and saw the place where Pastor goes to buy the daily fruit snacks for the kids. The MASSIVE fruit is papaya. They grow them big there!

Some of the fruits are fascinating, because we have never seen or heard of them before! I have no idea what this is that this lady cut open for me and invited me to eat.

Pastor tells us that it is better if we don't eat the fruit from the local market, just because we have no idea how their handwashing policies, etc. are. We always follow his advice, just knowing that American stomachs are used to different germs--not better or worse, just different.

These papayas are SO huge! They could be used as a dangerous weapon I think. They're so big they almost don't seem real! :-)

The sign says "Fruit Cocktails", 5 quetzales. The quetzal is the Guatemalan currency. I believe right now it's equivalent to around 12 cents U.S.

WE'RE BAAAAACCCKK!

Doesn't even seem possible that I haven't updated my blog since August! Things just got so crazy busy, and before we knew it, it was time to go! God just showered down blessings as far as donations were concerned -- HUGE donations of approximately 500 toothpastes, 3000 (yes -- count 'em!) toothbrushes, hotel size shampoos, and ingredients for our trail mix snacks (peanuts, raisins, M & Ms, cash donations, etc.).

Nov. 7 was here before we knew it, and off we went!

THE COUNTDOWN TICKER SAYS 72 DAYS!

Uh oh -- the ticker is down to 72 days! Time to have a meeting and get the ball rolling with our crafts, etc. We have a meeting planned for this Monday for some more brainstorming.

We've been busy fund raising by having an outdoor booth at the Roselle Market. I don't think we'll become millionaires there, but it's a great way to get a little advertisement for our ministry. Hopefully we'll earn enough money to pay for the kids' daily snacks and maybe a few of the craft items. It's also a good way to do a little bit of team building and see how we work together!

We are a team of six at this point. We would probably only want a maximum of eight, so we'll see if we end up with a few more people. The six of us have already purchased our airline tickets, so things are really starting to fall into place. We were VERY pleasantly surprised that with fuel costs being more reasonable this year, our tickets were $408 instead of $608. What a blessing!

MARIMBA MUSIC IN ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA

Had a chance to enjoy some marimba music at the hotel I was at in Antigua. The group played during dinner, and during the day they were outside in the hotel courtyard. This hotel is the Posada de Don Rodrigo, and it is a really wonderful place! The staff is top notch, and the hotel dining room serves excellent food. (Pardon the last 10 seconds of the video. I thought I had turned it off, and instead you see my feet on the cobblestones!)

RIBBON CUTTING TIME

Here is Pastor Mueller Jr. with Nury De Milian doing the actual words and prayer to dedicate the school. Pastor is speaking in English and Nury is translating for him.

Pastor Jasinto is enjoying taking part in this important moment too.

Pastor Mueller is pointing out this wonderful plaque that is hanging outside that mentions our partnership in Christ and how we worked on this project together. Because of the reflection, it's hard to see in the photo, but at the far left of the plaque is a small picture of Trinity.

So from ground breaking in January of 2007 to the dedication of July of 2009, this has been a wonderful odyssey, not without its bumps and detours along the way. But as always, when you look back, you can see how the hand of God works and see that he is faithful to his promises. I have been so privileged to be a part of all this! What a learning experience!

THE DEDICATION SERVICE IN GUALAN

The long-awaited dedication of the primary school in Gualan took place on Sunday, July 26th. It
was a very well planned and well thought out event. Committee members told us that plans began in earnest four months ago, and their hard work showed. Canopy tents were lent to the church for the day, and the whole setting was as beautiful as if it had been prepared for a wedding.

Pastor Canjura (left, above) flew in from Chicago. He was pastor at this church for an extended period of time during the 80's. He delivered the sermon. Our Pastor Mueller Jr. from Trinity -- Roselle, IL. was on hand for the ribbon cutting and official words of the dedication. Pastor Jasinto (the pastor of Resurrection Church) from Gualan also led the service. Pastor Byron Paz from the Lutheran Church in Puerto Barrios was the liturgist.

All four pastors served processional communion to the large crowd. It was a very heartwarming, emotional service for the participants from Trinity. At a certain point, they called us all up onto the stage and handed us a plaque. I said a few words in Spanish on behalf of the group to thank them for this opportunity to work with them.

CONGRATULATIONS TO DON FRANCISCO

Here is Don Francisco, also known as Don Chico. He was the foreman who directed the building

of the school. He is a good man, a hard worker, and really kept things rolling. We nicknamed him "Smiley" during our April '07 trip, because he is a man of very few smiles! I was so happy I had a chance to tell him, "Don Francisco, you haven't just built a school, you've built a work of art." When he heard that, the corners of his mouth turned up just ever so slightly in a little smile. Congratulations to you Don Francisco, and to God be the glory!

A VISIT TO LA UNION, ZACAPA

The view out the bus window was actually very beautiful, and it was hard to imagine the devastation that had taken place here in La Union just a year ago. This map shows the parts of the area that are still considered unstable. Many people will not be going back to their homes, for fear that the instability of the area is just too risky.

Here is the school we visited. There is a possibility that we may use this building to do an eyeglass clinic. There is a week in June when all the schools are out, and Pastor Jasinto thinks that might be an ideal time for the eyeglass clinic.

The square of the town had a very quaint feel to it. I had fun with a couple kids there putting hand sanitizer on their hands! They kept saying how good it smelled!

On Saturday, July 25, up, up, up we drove into the mountains to visit the town of La Union, where a tropical depression caused mudslides, washouts, and tremendous devastation. More than 20 people were killed, and many lost their homes and/or all their possessions. When we reached a certain point, the road was still washed out. We had to walk across a small makeshift bridge. This is the area where the coffee that we buy grows. There is still the growing of the coffee, but the processing plants have been moved to the nearby town of Chiquimula.