MORE FUNDRAISING ITEMS...

So many things to buy -- so much color! It's hard to see on the t-shirts, but a lot of them have colorful dolls in yarn sewn on to the shirts. Prices seemed reasonable to us, and bargaining is part of the procedure. I've outgrown the bargaining thing but will do it every now and then if I'm buying in a large quantity. Of course the big decision is to pick things that we will be able to resell at our market booth -- so much guess work! :)

4/10/08 PLANNING BEGINS FOR OUR NOV. '08 VBS

I'm getting a little out of sequence here, mainly because there was just so much going on between mission trips, fundraising for the school, construction updates, and decisions to make regarding the upcoming Nov. '08 VBS.

After returning from our '07 construction mission trips, several of us started talking about how much fun it would be to do a VBS with the congregation of Resurrection Church. Pastor Jasinto commited to doing a VBS with us in November of '08, and plans began in earnest to use Concordia Publishing's VBS program, Sea Odysseys, for our week long VBS. This is a very unique program in that it is written originally in Spanish FOR Spanish speakers and is not just a translation of a program that is already written in English.

The American team agreed that we wanted to do more than just a morning session at Resurrection Church, and we proposed to Pastor Jasinto that we go to a nearby community called Los Limones to do a scaled down version of the VBS. Los Limones is near the church but is light years away in terms of development. The people are very, very poor there and live without running water or electricity. In both places, Resurrection was responsible for teaching the songs and Bible stories, and our team would be responsible for the crafts, games, and snacks. We also wanted to give a hygiene talk and distribute hygiene kits. Pastor Jasinto is a big proponent of health education and gave us the green light for this.

MORE CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS

It's very difficult to get pictures of the construction, no matter what angle you use! But many pictures have been taken at varying stages, and it is starting to look like a real school! These first 2 photos were taken in November of '08.

Here they are getting ready to pour the stairs that lead from a raised area to the lower area. Everything is done by hand, and the structure is very, very sound. To the left (in the blue shirt) is Don Francisco, the foreman for the project. He really knows what he is doing and has supervised a good project.

These photos of the stairs were taken in January of '09.

There have been many skilled and unskilled laborers involved in the construction. We felt bad when we learned that some of the unskilled laborers were earning $5 a day for their work -- and it is HARD work as you can well imagine. Lugging everything around in the 100+ degree temperatures requires much more stamina than I have!

THE DELICIOUS COFFEE!

This is the coffee that we brought back from Guatemala to sell as a fundraising item. I'm not a coffee drinker myself, but everyone says it's great and describes it as very mellow. It's a little hard to read the label, but it says "Cafe Chorti". I think what makes it really good is that it is SO fresh. Although we didn't do it overnight, we eventually sold 500 bags of the coffee. It's a win-win situation -- the coffee plantation gets to sell a lot of their product, we sell great coffee for a great price and have happy customers, and all the profits go back to Guatemala in support of the school. It comes in both bean and ground form and is $8.00 a bag. Yum!!!!

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.