Shreiks of Laughter

It should have been no big surprise that it could rain 24/7 in the rainforest in the rainy season. Nevertheless, we were surprised when it rained again today. We were up early this morning for the 2+ hour drive to Buena Vista, about an hour from the Pacific coast of Guatemala. Buena Vista literally sits in the middle of a sugar cane field, about a half an hour off a main road, with one "street" down the middle, a former railroad track. The shanties are made of corrogated metal sheets, bamboo which grows around Buena Vista, railroad ties (not too surprising) and little else. As I mentioned yesterday, Buena Vista has no electricity or running water. It is like stepping back in time. Pigs, chickens of every imaginable variety, dogs, and children were checking us out at we arrived to lead the singing with the adults and children gathered to greet Groundwork Guatemala for their weekly worship. Once we had exhausted our repertoire of music, and the crowd had outgrown the leaky tarp under which we had all gathered and a pop up tent we had brought along, we headed for the soccer field left by the sugar cane company that owns the fields on one side of Buena Vista. The adults stayed to worship with Manuel, our Guatemalan driver and a ministry leader. The kids ranging in age from about 4 to 16 followed us to the field in the pouring rain.

This was no ordinary soccer field experience. First of all, local men were out cutting the grass for us with the Guatemalan answer to the lawn mower, the machete. Then there was the wild horse and her foal. We just played around the horses and their "droppings". Of course the balls would occassionaly roll off into the mud or the brush. On one of the trips into the mud, one the Guatemalan boys found two Mayan artifacts...a rather common occurance for them, but for us, it was truly amazing. They were easily 1000 years old; the picture is above. (I think the pictures are in reverse order; can't figure out how to move them.) Now throw in beach balls, instead of volleyballs, one blue soccer ball, about 50 or 60 children, about a billion mosquitoes, at least twenty red ants, all on Nicole, and gringo ponchos in assorted silly colors and conditions, and you have the scene. There were shreiks of laughter as the younger kids bumped and set and basically wacked beach balls to each other and us, and the soccer players raced back and forth strutting their Cental American stuff, while we just watched in awe...and goal tended...not too successfully. There is no way to adequately convey to you how poor these people are...they are malnurished, diseased, and just like the kids back home. Many don't have shoes, all are surrounded by filth, and still they persevere and many know that Jesus loves them. It was clear that their lives were so difficult, yet they found joy in balls, and competition, and friendship. It was an amazing morning.

In the afternoon, we again went on house visits. Most of these visits were outside, as the shanties there are less closed off than in the city. We sat or stood in the mud yards and listened to heart breaking tales of personal loss and great faith. All around us women were washing clothes in pelas with contaminated water from the river in which they also bath and drink. Many of the skin conditions we saw were as a result of exposure to that water. Groundwork is attempting to obtain a grant for a well for Buena Vista. Hopefully, the pictures will help give you an idea of what it is like there. Honestly, trying to describe this is not easy; just think of National Geographic, throw us in, and that is what our day was like.

Groundwork Guatemala and their American and Guatemalan staff work in places that are so uncomfortable, its hard to be yourself, until you remember kids are kids, families struggle everywhere, and Christian brothers and sisters lift each other up...with Groundwork's example, we tried to do our best.

Tomorrow we are off to Amatitlan, this time to do our thing in the city...another adventure in living and in faith. Why do I have the feeling it might rain again?

Blessings,
Your Guatemala Mission Team

Es un bueno dia!

You know that saying, a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, this blog is going to be about 1020 words. We are tired and need to get up very early tomorrow to go to Buena Vista. We spent the day outside of Amatilan, the area which experienced some of the most devastating mud slides a few weeks ago. It is still difficult to travel in this area, and the stories of lost lives and shanties, once you have met and talked with the people, are difficult to process. The first two photographs are from house visits today. Most of the homes contain extended families and very little else. The woman in the photograph below is Margarita. Her story is a powerful one. Carlos, a man from Honduras who was a friend of her husband's molested her daughters. While in the process of pursing one of the girls, he fell into their well and lost his leg. The faimily cared for him, he found Jesus, and he has been with the family ever since. Margarita is Carlos' main caregiver.

The picture on the bottom is the beginning of our volleyball VBS lesson. Alyssa made up a cadence to go with the volleyball skills we wanted to teach and what we wanted to share about Jesus, so of course we made up actions to go with it. It goes like this:
Set your eyes on Jesus now,
Serving God will be our vow.
Dig into His word today,
Blocking all of satan's ways.
Spiking interest into God's word,
Pass it around, it will be heard.
I know it is a little cheesey, but it seemed to get their interest and we had a great time teaching the approximately 50 children volleyball skills and Biblical lessons attached to each skill. It is hard to imagine that only a few weeks ago, many of their friends and relatives, as well as homes were washed away by a tropical storm. I think we provided a small, but badly needed break from the devastation. Additionally, we were relieved to get this first day teaching over and have it feel like it was right.

As you can see in the photographs, we are fine. Each of us has had an ache or pain, but nothing that a bed, peanut butter, Tylenol, or indoor plumbing couldn't solve. Tomorrow is another adventure, one that will take us back in time...Buena Vista...no electricity, no water, no bathrooms, no kidding.

Thank you for your checking on us.
Blessings,
Ali, Jenna, Anna, Kayla, Nicole, Emily, Lisa, and Sally

P.S. It did rain again today.

It was quite a day.

Where do I start? For some of us it was a day of firsts. For others it was a poignant reminder of what extreme poverty looks like and how brothers and sisters who struggle, stay faithful in the face of daily hardship.

Our first stop was a ministry called, Only a Child. It was started 15 years ago by a pastry chef from Boston named George Leger. George started a program for street boys that still serves homeless teenage and older boys/men. George's boys live and work together in hopes of learning how to be productive, Christian men. The boys work in a wood shop making cedar boxes, go to school, and learn to live like a family. Our girls were amazed by their stories and the boys enjoyed talking to girls who had come from such a long distance because they cared about them, their people, and wanted to share the love of Jesus. The girls told them exactly that, when they were asked, and the boys seemed genuinely touched at the girl's sincerity and interest in them. It was moving to watch this exchange. Some of the boys are in their 20's and still in 6th or 7th grade; they did not attend school when they were on the streets, and in Guatemala everyone does every grade, even if you start as a young adult. Some now attend college but still live with Only a Child, as it is the only family they have ever had. It is a small but impressive operation.

Ginny reminded us last night to "be still", just like Pastor Ken did during Lent. When we all looked out over the dump, there was nothing to do except be still. The vastness of the garbage dump itself and the humanity stifting through its filfth was overwhelming, not to mention the stench, the vultures, and the cemetary from which we viewed it. The Guatemala City Garbage dump is so far off the radar in terms of American life experience, we couldn't do anything except "be still". I think what moved us even further was the fact that one of the young Guatemalans who accompanied us to the dump and now works with Groundwork Guatemala as a teacher and "nurse", once worked in the dump for five years. She continues to live close the dump with her extended family, as do most of the Guatemalans working with Groundwork in leadership roles. They live and work with the people who need them the most. It is humbling.

The afternoon was spent doing home visits in La Libertad, the squatters area outside the dump. We broke into two groups; Jenna, Lisa, and Nicole went with Julian and Manuel two Guatemalan men from the ministry, and Emily, Ali, Anna, Kayla, and I went with Sandra, also a Guatemalan, and Kevin. In total we visited with seven different families in their shanties or on the street. Each was very different. Some were medical visits, some were to reconnect with people who had been served by the ministry and had known issues and challenges. Without describing each in detail, we prayed, sang, hugged, and talked with brothers and sisters who had incredible personal challenges such as cancer, diabetes, loss of husbands and children, alcoholic family members, children at risk from influences in La Libertad and beyond, sick children, not to mention that each was desperately poor, living in a place so unimagineably filthy and dangerous, it is hard to describe without pictures. All families made us feel as if we had done them a favor by visiting them; we felt they had done us the favor by allowing it. It was an emotional day, full of shocking new images and the realization that all of God's people are basically the same.

Tomorrow we head to one of two sites in Amatilan, a city about 45 minutes from Guatemala City, to begin our volleyball VBS camp and more home visits. Rain or shine we are ready...and I have a bad feeling it will be rain. It has been very cold and rainy the past few days, remnants of another tropical storm; the girls finally broke down and started wearing their ponchos. The tropics are quite an adventure, but we are happy and healthy and blessed to be here. Hopefully, we can get some pictures on the blog tomorrow. We are not permitted to take our own pictures outside the ministry house for our own protection. Kevin is taking pictures, however, so hopefully I can get his camera tomorrow night and attach some to the blog.

Thank you for your interest, and again forgive the spelling errors. Without spell check, I am a shell of a woman.

Blessings,
Sally and her "Guatemalan" sisters

Our Mission Begins...

Hola, from Guatemala. Today we began our service with Groundwork Guatemala, after arriving on Thursday. Groundwork hosts mission teams every other week, throughout the year, but this year scheduled us directly after a team from Wisconsin because of the increased desire by churches around the country to serve with them. Groundwork picked up our supplies at the airport on Thursday, and we the went on to the colonial capital of Guatemala, Antigua, until we could rejoin them today. As the team from Wisconsin returned home this morning, we followed them into the mission house in Guatemala City this afternoon, but not before attending church at La Merced in Antigua, built in the 1700's with 5 foot thick walls to withstand the siesmic activity in Guatemala. We thought we were early for church; it turned out we were late...but we made it in time for communion, the passing of the peace, and the offering...all easily understood in Spanish or any other language.

The past few days have been a opportunity for new team members to experience Guatemala for the first time and adjust to it, including showers with electric coils that sometimes heat the water, brushing teeth with a water bottle in one hand to prevent that hand from turning on a faucet of unsafe water, declaring war on mosquitoes, a remnant of Tropical Storm Agatha, as well as taking in the great physical beauty of Guatemala, its volcanoes, its vegetation, its Mayan heritage, and its warm people.

We just completed our first meeting with Ginny and Kevin Holmes tonight to review our activities for tomorrow. We unpacked and sorted the supplies from home and discussed our trip tomorrow to the Guatemala City dump, the cemetary that overlooks the dump, and home visits in La Libertad, the shanty town that sits directly across from the Guatemala City dump. Although it is only 9:30 P.M., everyone has headed to bed; Guatemala gets up early and goes to bed early, in part because the sun rises and sets very early here, but also because electric lighting is prohibitvely expensive.

We are excited to be here to serve, blessed to have this opportunity, and profoundly grateful for your support and prayers. Tomorrow we will attempt to send pictures to share the experience. Families of team members, thank you again.

Blessings,
Your Guatemala Mission Team
Ali Corace, Kayla Napier, Nicole Paquette, Anna Page, Emily Racey, Jenna Thompson, Alyssa Voiland, and Sally Buss

P.S. Forgive any spelling mistakes on the blog today. The computer is spell checking in Spanish so all bets are off!

Last Minute Preparations

Hola, mis amigos. Thank you for your interest in Trinity's mission trip to Guatemala and Groundwork Guatemala. This is Trinity's sixth summer trip to Guatemala and the second with Groundwork Guatemala. To learn more about Groundwork Guatemala, please go to their website at http://www.groundworkguatemala.org/. It contains a wealth of information about their ministry and people in Guatemala.

There are eight members of the mission team this year: Ali Corace, Anna Page, Emily Racey, Nicole Paquette, Alyssa Voiland, Jenna Thompson, Kayla Napier, and Sally Buss. We range in age from 14 to "not so young", but we have become sisters as we prepare to take needed supplies and God's word to the extreme poor of Guatemala. We will be staying in Guatemala City and will serve there and in Amatitlan, a struggling community about 40 minutes outside of Guatemala City, and in Buena Vista, a village several hours from Guatemala City, located literally in the middle of a sugar cane field.

We thank God for this opportunity and for your support. Please follow our experience throughout our time in Guatemala. We will leave for Guatemala on Thursday, June 24.

Blessings,
Your Guatemala Mission Team 2010