Update and Info about Coming home!!!!!

We are back to in Guatemala City and are backing up tonight in order to be on the bus and headed to the airport early tomorrow morning.  I know we have struggled to keep the blog updated the past week, and for that I am sorry.  When we are in San Lucas Toliman we have a lot of long days and hard work, and by the time we are wrapping up the day, everyone is too tired to think clearly enough to write anything on here that makes much sense.  Now that we have had a chance to rest, I want to fill you in on what we have been doing and how things are going.  First and for most, I am so blessed to have spent these past two weeks with this group of people.  It has been such a joy to watch them work together and love the people of Guatemala.  Pretty much every day around Lake Atitlan was structured the same.  Early breakfast followed by an adventurous bus ride up to Tzan Corral...which was the village we were working exclusively in.  In Tzan Corral we were building homes for three different families.  This has been the third trip in a row that we have had the opportunity to serve the people of Tzan Corral, and I personally found myself falling in love with this little spot on our planet.  Its this little village that only has one road, that is essentially a stretch of cobble stones that go past the 75-100 one room homes, a tiny Catholic church, a cute little community center, and a 2 room school house where the little kids go to school.  The community is surrounded by some of the most beautiful country in the world.  As you look around the village there are steep hills covered in corn, coffee, and bean fields all perfected lined by row after row of what keeps these people alive throughout the year.  But what I love the most about this tiny village is the faces of the little children. You see, coming back to this community for the third time, I found myself getting of the bus and instead of seeing the faces of unknown children, I looked around and saw kids that I have watched grow up for the past 4 years.  I saw Jose Manuel, this little kid we built a house for 4 years ago, who 2 years ago sat in the window of his Grandma's house as he watched up build a house of his neighbors, and who was sitting on the same wall what he was running next to as our bus pulled away 2 years ago.  I got to talk (the best I could in lack of Spanish skills) with Kevin's Mom, and talk to her about how he was doing.  And then there was Danny and Silvia, a brother and sister that we again built a home for 4 years ago.  I have pictures of the two of them helping our team carry cinder blocks that we used to build their home, and back then they were hardly tall enough to hold the block off the ground.  This year I brought with me a stack of old pictures from previous trips that I had to opportunity to show some of these familiar faces what they and their family and friends looked like 2 and 4 years ago.  When I got to sharing those pictures with Danny and Silvia, it was a little bitter sweet.  You see, they are now being raised by their grandparents because not to long ago their mom decided to leave.  I can tell you, in all my trips to Guatemala, I have never felt the shared bond of love as I felt looking into their young eyes as I gave them a picture of the two of them with their mom.  Between the excitement of seeing her face and the welling up of tears in their eyes, we shared something that can only be described as a moment divinely ordained by our Lord and Savior.
       Besides building houses, leading a children's program, and sharing in relationships, one of my other favorite experiences of this past week was the soccer tournament that we hosted between ourselves and three of the little villages.  Though we are only bringing home the 4th place trophy (ignore the math of how many teams were in the tournament), it was an amazing experience of laughing with and sharing life with the Guatemalan people.  Some of the players on one of the teams that we played were had been working with us all week to oversee our building projects (someone has to show us how to build those homes).  It was so much fun cheering for and playing against our new friends.  Plus, this was the first time in all our trips that we actually scored a goal during any game, and we actually only lost our first game 3 to 4. 
      All in All, it has been a really good week.  We did have a few of the kids get sick for a couple of days, and had quite a few upset stomachs as well, but everyone recovered and is doing great now.  However, we are all really tired from such a long week of work and activities, and I can confidently say that we are all really ready to be home.  
     Tonight as we continued to discuss what it will be like to come home, there was a little bit of mixed emotions because we are all ready to get back and see our family and friends, and are looking forward to so many things, but we also are all really aware that it's going to be difficult as well.  God has been working in each of these peoples lives, and part of what He has been doing is changing our perspectives on the world around us.  At the beginning of the trip we asked all of you to be praying that God would break us, so that he could be remade and refilled by Jesus...and God has been faithful in answering those prayers.  What that means is that for many of us, we are going back with a very different view of our lives, our world, and our God than we had when we left.  Beyond going through a profound spiritual experience, we also face the reality that as we come from a place like Guatemala back home we will experience what is called Reverse Culture shock.  Because of what we have seen and experience here in Guatemala, some of our American culture will seems sadly empty or void in comparison to what we have been living these past two weeks.  One example that many of the high school students noticed this morning when we encountered a couple at the hotel we stayed at, had to do with cell phones.  These high school students who just 2 weeks ago were dreading leaving their phones behind found themselves frustrated as they watched this couple sit together at breakfast and never stop staring at their cells long enough to enjoy one another's company.  There are so many of those little things that will just throw us off a little in the days and weeks ahead that in some ways it is intimidating.
    It's not as if we are going to come home and refuse to integrate back into our normal lives.  Trust me there are so many things that we have profoundly missed (like flushing TP down the toilets, drinking water from the tap, being able to wash our clothes when they are dirty and being able to put on clothes that are dry.  We are still looking forward to familiar foods, familiar faces, and ICE water (luke warm just doesn't cut it).  However, there will be some things that even though they are the same, we may look at them very differently (and that is a good thing).
    As we come home there are a few things that you all can do to help our team transition back into our North American Culture:

1.   Give us time to rest -  You can only begin to imagine how emotionally, spiritually, and physically draining an experience like this can be.  We have seen, done, experienced a lot over these two weeks, and taking in all of it can be exhausting.  
2.  Listen to our stories and encourage us to share them - One of the realities that we have talked about is the fact that sometimes our stories will not do justice to our experiences.  In some ways it will feel to us that "you had to have been there".  Explaining what "we did" will sometimes feel inadequate in portraying our experience of this place and how God was working in our lives.  When we tell stories about what we have done down here, understand that we might be feeling like we really can't do them justice.  Listen intently and try to see the emotion and feelings that we have connected to those stories.  If some of us aren't really telling you much about our time here, ask us questions about what we did and saw.
3. Encourage our asking of hard questions - We have seen a lot and what we have seen might make us question some of what we have taken for granted in the past.  Distribution of wealth, the purpose of money, right and wrong, our understanding of God and faith have all been confronted by our being in Guatemala, and some of us might be asking hard questions of those around us.  (I.E. It is hard to hear middle class white Americans talk about not having enough money for this or that after seeing Guatemala children who live in a one room house with 6 others hoeing in the field after school so that they might have enough money to have a healthy meal).  If we ask those question in the wrong places or at the wrong times, understand its not out of disrespect or anger, it just that we might be struggling to make sense of it all, and are just trying to figure out how to proceed.
4. Don't lavish us with Gifts - If you bought your child, spouse, etc. something special because you found yourself missing them, hold onto it for a little while.  As we are trying to make sense of all that we have seen and done, the last thing we need is to be pulled back into the world of material possessions driving our lives.  One of the great lessons that I can say we all experience here in Guatemala is seeing those with so little find profound Joy in simply being together.   If you want to show us how much you missed us, do what you can to spend time with us and allow us to share our experiences with you.  A perfect example of this came up today with my daughter (Korinne).  Instead of wanting to spend the afternoon shopping for "Guatemala Souvenirs she wanted to go to the Chocolate Museum and learn about how Cocoa has been shaped by the Guatemalan culture and how it has shaped the Guatemalan people.  At the end of our chocolate making lesson, she decided that instead of buying things for everyone on her list, she wanted to get the stuff to make hot chocolate from scratch (like taking the cocoa nibs, roasting them, peeling them, crushing them, and then mixing the cocoa past with the right ingredients to make Hot Chocolate.  It was so cool for me as her dad to hear that the gift she wanted to give was to share her experiences with those she loved.  Help us keep that perspective by allowing the team members to deepen their relationships with each of you.
5. Realize that exhaustion, mixed with completely new experiences may be messing with our emotions.... Love us through the emotions....I promise if we are being short, disrespectful, or emotional we are not doing it on purpose, we are just in a process of making sense of it all, and sometimes it can be confusing or frustration.  
6. Encourage us to get together and talk with one another - I know that we have all been together for the past 2 weeks, and should be to the point of breaking...However, we are also the only ones that really can understand all that we have experienced.  We want to and will do our best to share with you all as much as we can, but at the same time we have shared so many things that we can help each other understand everything we are feeling or experiencing, because we have those shared memories.  Please don't take it personally if we want to spend time with one another to laugh, talk, or even cry together...It's not that we don't want to spend time with you, its just that we need someone that can better understand what we have been through.  
7. And finally...Keep praying for us -  God has been doing a lot in our hearts and lives, and we are doing our best to integrate what we have learned down here into our lives up there...AND... God is not done with us yet.  He has bigger and better plans for our futures, and we need Him to lead and guide us into the men and women of God that he wants each of us to be.  Please continue to pray that God will keep making us. 

See you all soon.  (We should be pulling into CPPC around 1:00am Thursday.  I'll let people use my phone to call and let parents, spouses, and others know a more accurate arrival time.

Excited to see you all,

Doug

Update from San Lucas Guatemala

                Hi everybody! This is Kyrstin. So just to update everybody, we are in San Lucus and today was our first work day in the village and I think it went really well. Chloe Brown and I were cutting and putting wire and stuff together for the houses we are building, but that’s not really what I want to talk about. I want to talk about an experience that I had while we were at the women’s shelter. Throughout the three days that the team was at the women’s shelter I was there for two. During these two days I grew a very strong relationship with a little girl whose name is Joleity (not sure of the spelling). The first time I met Joleity she gave me a HUGE hug. I didn’t know her name and she didn’t know mine. I just couldn’t believe that I could have such and amazing bond with a little girl that I didn’t even know. The second I felt her in my arms I knew we had something special and I think she knew it also. When we left the first day, Joleity came up and asked me if I would be back the next day. I had to be honest with her and tell her I didn’t know because Doug hadn’t picked what people would be going to the women’s shelter or Palin. That night when Doug was telling who would be where the next day he had originally put me in the group to go to Palin but immediately after he told me this I felt this punch in my heart from God. He was telling me that I needed to ask Doug to be at the women’s shelter. At that point Doug told me he didn’t know because he needed certain people there. That night without my knowledge my mom talked to Doug about me going to the women’s shelter. Hearing this the next day and hearing that I would be going back and not to Palin I just knew that God had a plan for me there. That morning after breakfast we headed to the shelter and right when we arrived there Joleiti was waiting for me inside the gait. As I walked in she gave me another huge hug at told me she was really happy that I could be there again with her. That day was her birthday. She was turning ten and I felt that I needed to spend most of the day with her and just build a stronger relationship with her, so I did. It was really amazing to spend all day with her and get to know her really well. The next day was very bittersweet because it was our last day there but we got to spend it at the water park with the women and children. It was really really fun to watch Joleity learn how to swim and not give up. She was so motivated and it made me so motivated to help her get it. She eventually did and I could tell she felt so accomplished. When it came time to say goodbye it was so very hard. We all gathered in the dining room of the shelter and said our favorite part about being at the shelter. When it came to me I said every moment was my favorite. I know that it was really being able to have a relationship with Joleiti and God was the only reason that happened. When Joleiti said her favorite part about us being there was getting to be with me and spend time with me. She said this with tears streaming down her face and I could hold back my tears any longer. I had to say goodbye to this little girl that I only knew for three days but to me it felt like eternity. I really couldn’t do anything except hold her and cry with her for the last hour we were there. Before we left I let her pick out jewelry for me to buy. One thing she picked out was a bracelet, which I gave to her because I wanted her to have something to remember me by. She gave me a charm that she had and a head band. I know that some people might think that isn’t much but to me it represents the relationship we built over the three days. When I left Joleiti I knew that I left with her knowing that I love her so much and God loves her more than I ever could. I really hope I will be able to get back in touch with her one day, but if I don’t I know I left her with those two things and that is the most important things to leave with her and the other children and women at the shelter. I really believe that God had a plan for me to be at the women’s shelter and I believe that he gave me the strength to act on his calling to me. I hope this wasn’t too long but I felt like I needed to share. Thank you everyone for all the prayers and support at home. We will see you guys in 6 days! Love to all!

Kyrstin Brower

Parker & Stephanie Day 4

Today was a good day. It was a day of celebration. We celebrated new friendships, finished work, the salvation that comes through El Refugio, and last but not least, Joledy’s (No idea on the spelling) birthday. We started off the day a little earlier than the last couple days, requiring a couple more cups of coffee for some of us. Like I said, it was a good day, so no complaints there.

                Half of the group went to a brand new place, Palen, which I’m sure someone will share with you later on. Myself? Well, I went with the rest and headed back to El Refugio. This is one of my favorite places here in Guatemala. In my three years here, I have heard many stories that have completely broken me while allowing me to develop a new perspective and approach towards those around me. I’ve heard stories of death, extortion, assault, abuse, and beyond everything else, pain.  It’s hard to hear these stories and not believe that I need to change how I look at others. If this is the pain that exists in this country, what am I missing within my own? Who is in need of someone to assist them through their personal life, even if it’s as basic as saying hi, recognizing their presence in your life. Few of us (Parker, Miguel, Hally, Matt and Myself) have the ability to speak Spanish, but it doesn’t matter. The women have continuously reiterated their happiness that we are there and that we are present. It isn’t the big things we are doing, the projects don’t need to be done. It’s the desire to be present in their lives and learn about who they are as people.

                Today we listened to Olga speak. We learned not so much about her story, but that of her 14 year old daughter who had a child only two months ago. The child, Noe David, was a product of the sexual abuse of her stepfather. Forced to hide it for fear of her mother’s death, the girl was forced to say she had a boyfriend. The girl was ashamed and afraid and her mother filled with such hatred for the supposed boyfriend while feeling fear for her daughter’s personal safety. Pregnancy isn’t easy in Guatemala, but it’s even more difficult at the age of 14. But this story doesn’t end in sadness. They got out of there; Olga and her three daughters managed to escape to the sanctuary provided at El Refugio. The girl is able to live out her life as a mother, a student, and a 14 year old. She is always smiling, always excited to see us, and constantly happy. She handed me a kids book today and had me translate from English to Spanish, took some swings at the piñata, ran around playing backyard cycle. But she also was constantly aware of her child, swinging by to check on him, protecting him from the crazy swings of children and obviously loving him. It was quite the beautiful story, and they are all beautiful people. I am so glad that we get to serve here with these people. I am even more glad that they are serving us and teaching me life lessons that I could never forget.

                Beyond the talk, we spent the day working on a few projects. A huge group of us took an innovative look at plumbing. I can’t take any credit, but Doug, Machelle, Rose, Krystin, JanaLee, Riley, and Hally all put some serious work into digging out an old pipe and fixing it up so that an old room could be used. Before it was flooded as water got trapped from the constant downpour that occurs during the rainy season. They dug out part of the hillside and cemented an area in order to create a new draining system. The most creative part? The base of an ironing board as a grate for the water to flow through without the dirt coming through. It was a project that wasn’t planned but turned out super well! Outside of that, we had Wade working hard to finish the top later of the new addition upstairs. And our chefs? Well, let’s just say they did a stupendous job making sure that I wouldn’t regret eating 3 servings of food. It was everything that I needed! Personally I spent most of my time wandering around. Having learned the “recipe” to make the cement, Eric (the worker) trusted me enough to have Baza, Chloe and I mix up our own cement. That was quite the adventure. We might have had some disagreements but they were all playful and we were a super effective team. Loved every moment of it.

                The rest of the day consisted of soccer with the kids, running around as “the water police,” and connecting with the women. I translated for a woman upstairs who is on bedrest from a pregnancy issue, talked life with Gladys and Mari, and hung out with the kids. I love the friendships that develop so quickly and so intimately. Couldn’t ask for more! And now it’s the end of the day and, as tired as I am, I can’t wait for tomorrow. It’s time to go to the water park!    

So, like I said, today was a good day.

                                Parker Postlewait

Stephanie here! Well I am that person that is going to share about our brand new experience in Palin! So last night I am not going to lie, I was disappointed that I wasn’t going to get to go back to the women’s shelter because last trip, that was my favorite part. I loved creating relationships between the women and children and seeing the joy on their faces when I try and make tortillas or try and cut avocados. Well, I prayed that God would take that attitude of disappointment away from me and boy did he show me that His way is better than mine and He knows WAY better than I do. You see, during this trip I have struggled trying not to compare this trip to the last one, not being disappointed at things that aren’t the same as last time, and finding new things that really get to me because I have done most of the things that we are doing already and have already discovered many of the things that the people who are on the trip for the first time are discovering. As soon as we showed up in Palin however, God instantly told me, “This is what you asked for”. I wanted something new and I got it and it was as amazing experience as the very first time I came to Guatemala. Our team of 16 people worked so incredibly hard and well together it was amazing to see. We started by loading 4, 90lb bags of cement up a hill as well as 8 wheelbarrows full of sand, 6 wheelbarrows full of rock, and dumping 5 buckets of water (all of this 3 and a half times) mixing, and shoveling cement, then carrying 5 gallon buckets up some pretty rough terrain, in probably 90% humidity. Also I would like to add that we ALL got showed up by a 66 year-old lady who worked harder than anyone I have seen doing EVERY SINGLE ONE of those jobs including loading the 90lb bag… might I just say wow. But the coolest thing was, not one person asked to quit, complained or anything. They just jumped in and we had this unspoken rotation of shoveling to carrying buckets to taking the pictures to playing with kids to drinking water to loading wheelbarrows and back again. We worked like a well-oiled machine that didn’t stop until we finished the project way earlier than we expected. They said that it would have taken the two workers that were helping us, a month to do the work we did in a day! Talk about making you feel like you accomplished something and were actually a blessing. I also got the chance to be a part of draining the well that they put their excess water where 3 guys descended down this sketchy ladder only attached at the top by some patchwork concrete and helping fill buckets to be hoisted up by us and dumped. This hole was filled with dirty water and mosquitos and was not the ideal place to be but the bonding that happened down in that hole and with the people who may or may not have been “accidentally” dumping water on their heads… it was just plain fun. Not to mention the abundance of children who act like they have known you forever the second they meet you. It was just an amazing day and I am SOOOOO glad God is bigger than me and has the control. OH!! AND I found a turtle (Tortuga in Spanish) and I named him Jorge (George in Spanish) and it turns out the Guatemalan worker’s name was Jorge and he thought it was quite hilarious that I named the turtle after him! So yea… Jorge el Tortuga! Anyway mom and dad if you are reading this I love you and miss you! Please continue to pray for our group for our journey to the villiages! Goodnight everyone! 

Stephanie Hicks :)

Chloe Pearson and Miguel Baza

Hi everybody, Chloe Pearson here.  These few days here in Guatemala have been amazing, and I’m beyond excited to continue this adventure.  Today, I had the opportunity to go to El Refugio, the women’s shelter.  We focused on a couple projects in specific, those being putting up a fence, and making a counseling room upstairs.  I got to work on the fence, and it was a lot of hard work!  I got to help mix cement, and carry buckets of cement back and forth between the fence and the cement pile.  It turned out pretty good at the end, but we were slow.  There were a couple workers, Eric, and his dad, Pablo.  They were so patient, and it was very fun to be able to work with them!  If I were them, I would have probably been very frustrated with all of us slow workers.  Despite this, they were happy to let us help, and they tried their best to teach us how to do it.  The toughest part was the communication, considering I speak very, VERY little Spanish, and they speak no English.  When I was working with Eric, it was so awesome to see him try so hard to talk to me, even though I was clueless.  He probably repeated himself about ten times before I just shrugged my shoulders, and told him I didn’t know what he was saying.  I’m sure he got annoyed, but he sure didn’t show it!  Another part of today was being able to hear one of the ladies stories, who lived in the shelter.  Her name is Suzie, and she’s had it rough.  It made me realize even more how fortunate I am.  She’s been through the unthinkable, and yet she’s so grateful, and so strong in her walk with God.  I admire how calm she was through her situation, and yet even with all of her struggling, she is so faithful to our Lord.  Those ladies are amazing, and it’s so great to see them pushing themselves and their kids in the right direction.  The kids are also all bundles of joy, and the smiles that spread across their faces when you interact with them are beautiful.  You can do the simplest thing, like give them a piggy-back ride, or kick a ball around with them, and they will be the happiest kids you’ve ever seen.  It’s inspiring to see how entertained they are, with such simple things for hours, whereas if I were to kick a ball around, I’d get bored in fifteen minutes.  At the end of the day, after all the laughter and fun, a huge rainstorm rolled in, with thunder and lighting and God’s magic working all around us.  It was beautiful, and I couldn’t help but stroll outside and stare at the drops hitting the ground, and listen to the thunder roaring.  The past few weeks, before I came on this trip, I’ve been really struggling with myself and my faith, and it’s tough to talk about.  I really wish I could see God’s work more easily, but it has been very difficult, and I’ve been struggling with it for a long time.  I’m not really saying I have had this yet on the trip, but I’m really hoping that I see something soon.  The second night we were here, our group shared where we wanted God to break us.  I answered with saying how I hoped that God would let me relax.  I try so hard to see God in my life that I feel like I miss it.  I need to let God do his work, and just sit back and watch it happen.  I’m really hoping that at some point on this trip, I get that feeling, that I know its God.  It can’t be anything else.  I’m excited to see what happens within my group, and what we do on this trip.  Thanks everyone, for all the prayers and support. 

Chloe Pearson

Before I start writing of how an awesome adventure that has been for me, how much God has changed my life, how much more I can see his Love and his Magnificence in these people’s lives, I do want to say I have been praying a lot for this trip. My goals for this trip was to put God first before anything. My life is not my life, I was created by God for God. Another was to serve and just do Gods will and to also just to put others before me. In continuation to this trip, I have no words to explain the great feeling it is being over here. It feels like a home to me.  It is so amazing how God has been using me out here. Again, for his work and nothing for me. I am thankful for what God has let me go through when I was a child because I can relate to multiple people out here. There is definitely a beauty in the struggle. It is amazing how God lets one go through horrible situations to make them the person they are. And a wonderful thing he always does is that, God won’t ever give us a plate he knows we can’t handle. Since the day I got here, I have been doing my best to serve everyone. I have felt little tired here in there, but I ask God for strength and he always just gives it to me. He helps me put my own desires, and wants aside and know I am here only for him.  First time I went out to the village to play with the kids, oh how I fell in love with them. I love working with kids and the joy God gave me to be around them was awesome. Like seriously no words can possibly explain it. It has been really fun and challenging for me out here having to translate and also read and write English to Spanish, or Spanish to English. It is a joy to help my team to speak Spanish because I can see a passion in my team of really wanting to help and understand these people. And God always finds a way to make it work. When we got to the middle/high school I felt a huge weight land in my shoulders and I knew I at that moment God wanted to use me. The Pastor we were following asked me to share my life story with the kids, at first I really didn’t even want to do it because the people I came to this trip with, don’t know it yet. So I had to break those chains and let God work. I felt his presence every moment I spoke to them about my life. I cried, but many of the kids cried with me, even the crew that was with me was crying. And you could just tell God’s presence was flowing. I had multiple little girls come up to me and tell me about their lives, and that they are currently going through some things I was  some situations that some have not even shared with their own best friends. And I was just so happy they could share that with me and seek for help. Although I did not have the answers, God spoke through me and I know many of those kids were impacted. I did my best to motivate them, make them happier, and just be able to see the light in the darkness they face in their everyday life. That same night, we had a chat with the group and we were told to go out and pray for 10 minutes. The moment I walked outside, I found a corner and I just kept telling God how good he was, and thanking him for everything he is letting me see and do and be able to be a part of this. I cried like a baby, I felt the Holy Ghost come in me and just took over me that time. I ended up in my knees speaking in tongues and really deeply worshiping God. We came to this trip so that God could break us and help us see all what he’s about. But the thing about me is that I came to this trip really broken already. But every day that I have been here, God has just been lifting me up every day and repairing me. It is just funny how some of the greatest things God will do in your life happen when you are in the transition or struggle. He has set me to be a Thermostat not a Thermometer, he has set an anointing upon my life no earthly success can remove me from.  God has definitely given me a call in my life that I will never be able to get away from. I am very happy to take it and to just keep searching God, spreading his love with people and let them know it is all about him. I am happy God has let me create awesome relationships with people out here I will never forget. Thank you all for your prayers and support I highly appreciate it, for those who might not know, this is my first time traveling to Guatemala and it is just awesome the things God is doing out here. I hope I can keep motivating this crew I came along with, and the people out there because with God, life is so much easier and better. May God bless you all.

Miguel Baza