Originally Sunday was suppose to be another “free day” for us. We were going to drive to the beach and shop/swim etc. However, Saturday was an extremely rainy day and we feared Sunday would be a rainy day at the beach. Our team therefore decided to stay at the mission house (the Tennessee team went on a Volcano Hike) and organize, clean, sort, and basically make over as much of the supplies and house as we could.
Initially we believed this was going to be an easy task and that we would be able to rest and recuperate most of the day. Our day began at about 8:30 AM and did not end until the others returned to the house at about 5 PM. Where had the day gone?? Wherever it went, it took all of our energy with it!
It however was well worth it. The next time we hand out shoes we will not have to search through 100 pairs to find a size 6. They will be in the tub labeled “size 6”. The same is true for all of the medical, schooling, crafts, etc.. supplies.
Sunday night marked the second night to eat “American-Food” again. We had BBQ grilled chicken and baked potatoes. Strangley I not only found myself missing the Guatemalan food (though the dinner was beyond amazing!!) but my stomach missed it as well.
Sunday Night was a late night for me. With 18 new people to meet, and a large number o f them either youth aged or college age, I had some new friends to meet. Bill and I stayed up much too late playing cards.
The beds, which I failed to mention are the most uncomfortable things in human existence contain the thinnest mattresses I have ever seen. Bill and I joked numerous times about how to make the beds more sleep-worthy. Some suggestions were: beating each other over the head with metal pipes. Throwing broken glass on top of the sheets. Wrapping spiked wire on our pillow (they were too comfortable in comparison to the beds).
The second night however, was much more comfortable. Considering not much changed about the bed (I did mess the boards some) I am going to say that tiredness played the biggest factor.
Sunday- you were busier than I expected but it was a great feeling knowing that we are not only serving the Guatemalan Citizens while we are here but also serving the missionaries that are serving here by organizing and cleaning stuff up!
Tomorrow … the main goal task begins … “VBS” in the morning, painting in the afternoon!
Monday, August 10, 2009
A New Day, A New Experience
We slept in a little bit on Saturday (well, at least I did). I did not wake up until about 7 AM. We all made sure we were packed up and then went for our final breakfast in Antigua. We returned to Las Palmas, where we had eaten dinner the first night. I had an omelet that morning and am fairly convinced that it was the best one I have ever had, which I am sure has something to do with every ingredient being fresh that morning.
After breakfast we returned to the hotel to ensure we were packed and ready to go. We were told the bus would be there by about noon. However, since Jorge was no longer our driver we knew we were now officially on Guatemala time. At about 1:15 the bus arrived a block away and we carried our numerous suitcases and loaded up.
Our destination on the bus was not to our new “home”. Instead we headed straight for a school to hold another block party. Along with our 8 were now 19 others. 18 from Mount Harmony Church in Tennessee and one from a church in Florida. Just like the previous block party this one was full of smiling, grateful kids. I decided to not work the cotton candy machine this time ( or at least not volunteer, if needed I would have). Instead, I worked the games which consisted of 3 “toss the ball through the hole” type games. I did not think anything could be more busy and hectic than cotton candy and I am not sure if I am full convinced, but thinking back on both experiences I might have to say the games was much more demanding.
After the block party was over we made the long journey to the mission house. The mission house is a great house with an amazing view. It is however quite compact with almost 30 in it. However, no one was going to complain. The beds on the other hand, well complain might not be the right word, but it is close.
Lay down time: 11:00 … fall asleep time … 1:00 … wake up due to pain … every 20 minutes. …
Sunday … here we come!
After breakfast we returned to the hotel to ensure we were packed and ready to go. We were told the bus would be there by about noon. However, since Jorge was no longer our driver we knew we were now officially on Guatemala time. At about 1:15 the bus arrived a block away and we carried our numerous suitcases and loaded up.
Our destination on the bus was not to our new “home”. Instead we headed straight for a school to hold another block party. Along with our 8 were now 19 others. 18 from Mount Harmony Church in Tennessee and one from a church in Florida. Just like the previous block party this one was full of smiling, grateful kids. I decided to not work the cotton candy machine this time ( or at least not volunteer, if needed I would have). Instead, I worked the games which consisted of 3 “toss the ball through the hole” type games. I did not think anything could be more busy and hectic than cotton candy and I am not sure if I am full convinced, but thinking back on both experiences I might have to say the games was much more demanding.
After the block party was over we made the long journey to the mission house. The mission house is a great house with an amazing view. It is however quite compact with almost 30 in it. However, no one was going to complain. The beds on the other hand, well complain might not be the right word, but it is close.
Lay down time: 11:00 … fall asleep time … 1:00 … wake up due to pain … every 20 minutes. …
Sunday … here we come!
Friday - Market Day!
Considering we are several days behind I will be brief about Friday. Friday was an off day for us. We were given the entire day to explore Antigua and explore we did. Antigua is an amazingly beautiful city and despite spending 6+ hours walking around it, I still feel like I did not see enough.
One of the biggest events of Friday was shopping at the market. We spent over 3 hours at the market site-seeing, bargaining, and buying some extremely amazing stuff (most of which was hand made).
Friday ended with an authentic Guatemalan dinner at a hole-in-the-wall type deli restaurant. Everything on our plate was deep fried I think. And like most Guatemalan meals it contained refried beans. One such unique place to find these beans was in the “dessert”. Fried plantain stuffed with beans sweetened by sugar. Strangely enough, it was good!
We returned to our hotel exhausted that night. As I crawled into the full size bed at the hotel I did not realize just how much I would long for this bed in less than 24 hours.
Goodbye for now Antigua, San Cristobal – here we come!
One of the biggest events of Friday was shopping at the market. We spent over 3 hours at the market site-seeing, bargaining, and buying some extremely amazing stuff (most of which was hand made).
Friday ended with an authentic Guatemalan dinner at a hole-in-the-wall type deli restaurant. Everything on our plate was deep fried I think. And like most Guatemalan meals it contained refried beans. One such unique place to find these beans was in the “dessert”. Fried plantain stuffed with beans sweetened by sugar. Strangely enough, it was good!
We returned to our hotel exhausted that night. As I crawled into the full size bed at the hotel I did not realize just how much I would long for this bed in less than 24 hours.
Goodbye for now Antigua, San Cristobal – here we come!
Day 2
I am so sorry for the delay. Wed-Sat we did not have any internet access at all. Sunday and Monday have been so crazy I have not had time to write anything. The ironic thing is, I started this post on Thursday and finished it officially today. Even though days and experiences have passed I opened and closed it the same (without realizing ...) with the word "wow".
First official day “on the field”. All I can say is … wow.
The day started at about 5 AM. We left the hotel at 6:30 and once again were able to experience the amazingly frightening drive through Guatemala City. Our destination was only 45 miles away however it took us over two and a half hours to reach our destination.
The mornings drive took us to a Baptist Church in San Cristobal. At this church we prepared to give out the shoes we collected (we collected over 200 pairs just at CVBC, we had over 900 in total) Once we were given the green light we brought in families and washed their feet and presented them new socks and shoes. Never in my life have I seen smiles quite as big as I did that day. They were not smiles of laughter, or smiles of comedy … they were smiles of true joy. They were genuinely happy to have new shoes on their feet.
There are countless stories I could tell from those few hours we handed out shoes at the church. Stories of ecstatic children, crying mothers, and grateful fathers. All in all we handed out over 800 shoes during those first few hours. Sadly our time there had to end and it seemed it ended much too quickly. Luckily we would get to hand out more shoes later that day.
After leaving the Church we stopped for a quick lunch at “Loco Campero” a fast-food restaurant comparable to Chicken Express. I had high expectations for this place considering Bill had been pumping it up since Tuesday night!
After lunch we journeyed to a school in San Cristobal for a block party. A block party here consists of mini-games (toss the balls through the clown mouth, throw the football through the squares etc ..), cotton candy machine, giant bouncing inflatable, face-painting, balloons, music, clowns etc.. The party lasted three or four hours and I, along with Mary and Judy, worked the cotton candy machine. I have worked the Cotton Candy Machine at Canadian Valley during events and I can say – this was very different. For one, the line not only never ended, it never got shorter. There was therefore no way to ahead. You were always playing catch-up. Second, the health conditions we would hold dear in the US quickly flew out of the window.
About twenty minutes in, all bets were off. The objective was to get the cotton candy inside of the bag for the niños as fast as possible. This meant grabbing it with your hands and getting nice and sticky. I know this is a term I have used a lot already, and will likely use A LOT more but I cannot stress how amazing it was to see the kids face as they got Cotton Candy. I especially enjoyed giving the kids the scraps off of the side of the machine while we were refilling the sugar.
After the block party we made the dangerous drive back to Antigua. Sadly when we were halfway there we had to turn around and return to the block party so Bill could return the keys to one of the cars he accidently took with him. Our driver, Jorge, was amazing especially considering cars (and buses) here swerve in and out of lanes without notice or reason.
The day ended with the group of us site seeing some more of Antigua. This of course means many pictures and an extremely full stomach.
Wow, what a day!
First official day “on the field”. All I can say is … wow.
The day started at about 5 AM. We left the hotel at 6:30 and once again were able to experience the amazingly frightening drive through Guatemala City. Our destination was only 45 miles away however it took us over two and a half hours to reach our destination.
The mornings drive took us to a Baptist Church in San Cristobal. At this church we prepared to give out the shoes we collected (we collected over 200 pairs just at CVBC, we had over 900 in total) Once we were given the green light we brought in families and washed their feet and presented them new socks and shoes. Never in my life have I seen smiles quite as big as I did that day. They were not smiles of laughter, or smiles of comedy … they were smiles of true joy. They were genuinely happy to have new shoes on their feet.
There are countless stories I could tell from those few hours we handed out shoes at the church. Stories of ecstatic children, crying mothers, and grateful fathers. All in all we handed out over 800 shoes during those first few hours. Sadly our time there had to end and it seemed it ended much too quickly. Luckily we would get to hand out more shoes later that day.
After leaving the Church we stopped for a quick lunch at “Loco Campero” a fast-food restaurant comparable to Chicken Express. I had high expectations for this place considering Bill had been pumping it up since Tuesday night!
After lunch we journeyed to a school in San Cristobal for a block party. A block party here consists of mini-games (toss the balls through the clown mouth, throw the football through the squares etc ..), cotton candy machine, giant bouncing inflatable, face-painting, balloons, music, clowns etc.. The party lasted three or four hours and I, along with Mary and Judy, worked the cotton candy machine. I have worked the Cotton Candy Machine at Canadian Valley during events and I can say – this was very different. For one, the line not only never ended, it never got shorter. There was therefore no way to ahead. You were always playing catch-up. Second, the health conditions we would hold dear in the US quickly flew out of the window.
About twenty minutes in, all bets were off. The objective was to get the cotton candy inside of the bag for the niños as fast as possible. This meant grabbing it with your hands and getting nice and sticky. I know this is a term I have used a lot already, and will likely use A LOT more but I cannot stress how amazing it was to see the kids face as they got Cotton Candy. I especially enjoyed giving the kids the scraps off of the side of the machine while we were refilling the sugar.
After the block party we made the dangerous drive back to Antigua. Sadly when we were halfway there we had to turn around and return to the block party so Bill could return the keys to one of the cars he accidently took with him. Our driver, Jorge, was amazing especially considering cars (and buses) here swerve in and out of lanes without notice or reason.
The day ended with the group of us site seeing some more of Antigua. This of course means many pictures and an extremely full stomach.
Wow, what a day!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Travel Day
Day 1
Houston to Guatemala City.
The plane we took from Will Rogers to Houston was a small ‘express’ plane. Despite its size the bird did its job and hardly ten minutes after we were served our ‘in-flight snack’ we began our initial decent in Houston. It is funny … I remember driving to Galveston 11 months ago for my cruise. It was a 4 + hour trip to Houston, now, I had just completed the same journey in under an hour.
Houston’s airport was quite large. Large enough that to change terminals we had to take several escalators, a ‘train’ and walk quite a bit. It however was a painless journey and before much time at all we found ourselves sitting and chatting with a group that was also headed to do mission work in Guatemala.
The plane from Houston to Guatemala was the more typical plane – a 737. The trip to Guatemala was about a 3 hour trip and I was pained to see that the movie “17 Again” was suppose to be our in-flight movie. Luckily myself, and several others, noticed that the movie “Star Trek” was in the planes VCR. I guess I was not the only one to ask for that to be shown instead because fifteen minutes into the flight JJ’s Star Trek began playing.
The flight was mostly uneventful. We hit minor turbulence and also heard the one thing you never really want to hear announced on a plane (or 1 of the things anyway …) “If there is a Doctor onboard please press flight attendant page button.” My subconscious thought … “Please don’t let it be the pilot who is ill …”
Fortunately (for most of us) the pilot was just fine. A young girl (7-10ish) however was not. She apparently was getting violently sick and was having breathing trouble. This occurred about an hour and a half into the flight. Once we landed we allowed her to be removed first so she could go to the hospital.
Some people are afraid of flying, but it has never bothered me. Sure the take-off and landing remind me a little too much of a rollercoaster, but in all honesty I’ve never had a problem with it. Driving on the other hand … Well, let’s just say I prefer to be in the driver’s seat when possible. Luckily my vacation last year prepared me for the driving methods of Mexico, South, and Central America.
Forty minutes and five close calls later we arrived at our “hotel” the ‘Hotel Centro Colonial Antigua’. Everything in Guatemala (as it is in many places in this area) seems to have to be negotiated and bartered for (more on that later perhaps) and that was true just to make sure we had enough beds to stay in at the hotel. Of course, between our team leaders and our contact here we worked it out in no time at all.
The hotel itself is quite beautiful. Before I left I thought I would compare a hotel in Guatemala to a Motel in America. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but not here. If I had to compare this to something perhaps I would have to say a ‘bed and breakfast’. There are only a dozen or so rooms here and the décor is exactly what you would expect in Central America.
After settling in some we decided to walk Antigua some. Our hotel is just outside of the ‘town center’ and this allowed us to freely roam some of the shops and sights of the beautiful town that has once been destroyed by a volcano (a volcano that is still active mind you!).
We wore our Guatemala T-shirts today. Since many of you have not seen them yet let me tell you the most important factor. They are florescent green! (So we could easily stay together in the airports) Wearing those shirts into town might have been a mistake. There was certainly no doubt that we were ‘tourist’ in this street vendor town. At one point we were literally surrounded by five or six people (both male and female and ranging from age 10 to age 70) attempting to sell us necklaces, scarves, wooden flutes, and various other items.
After escaping, which required some shouts of “Amigos! No gracias ahora, lo siento!”, we went and ate at a restaurant recommended to us by Mike Parker (our Contact). The restaurant was not only extremely amazing in the quality of food and service but it was also very griengo friendly. Not only did they have “aqua pura” for us to drink but they also washed all of their vegetables in the “pure water”. This meant that we could eat the delicious salsa and other goodies that came with our meal.
After dinner we walked around a little more and picked up a few more supplies- ie: bottled water and a pre-paid phone. We then returned to the hotel and went up to the roof (after climbing a metal winding staircase). I’ve not been to a lot of places in my life, but I have been to a few that are breathtaking. The view of the volcanoes in the distance from that roof ranks close to the top.
The night ended with a bible study and wind down time. Tomorrow morning we leave at 6:30 AM to go to the city dump to hand out shoes to the homeless. Should be an interesting and eye opening experience.
By the way:
Temperature in Guatemala today: mid 70’s
Houston to Guatemala City.
The plane we took from Will Rogers to Houston was a small ‘express’ plane. Despite its size the bird did its job and hardly ten minutes after we were served our ‘in-flight snack’ we began our initial decent in Houston. It is funny … I remember driving to Galveston 11 months ago for my cruise. It was a 4 + hour trip to Houston, now, I had just completed the same journey in under an hour.
Houston’s airport was quite large. Large enough that to change terminals we had to take several escalators, a ‘train’ and walk quite a bit. It however was a painless journey and before much time at all we found ourselves sitting and chatting with a group that was also headed to do mission work in Guatemala.
The plane from Houston to Guatemala was the more typical plane – a 737. The trip to Guatemala was about a 3 hour trip and I was pained to see that the movie “17 Again” was suppose to be our in-flight movie. Luckily myself, and several others, noticed that the movie “Star Trek” was in the planes VCR. I guess I was not the only one to ask for that to be shown instead because fifteen minutes into the flight JJ’s Star Trek began playing.
The flight was mostly uneventful. We hit minor turbulence and also heard the one thing you never really want to hear announced on a plane (or 1 of the things anyway …) “If there is a Doctor onboard please press flight attendant page button.” My subconscious thought … “Please don’t let it be the pilot who is ill …”
Fortunately (for most of us) the pilot was just fine. A young girl (7-10ish) however was not. She apparently was getting violently sick and was having breathing trouble. This occurred about an hour and a half into the flight. Once we landed we allowed her to be removed first so she could go to the hospital.
Some people are afraid of flying, but it has never bothered me. Sure the take-off and landing remind me a little too much of a rollercoaster, but in all honesty I’ve never had a problem with it. Driving on the other hand … Well, let’s just say I prefer to be in the driver’s seat when possible. Luckily my vacation last year prepared me for the driving methods of Mexico, South, and Central America.
Forty minutes and five close calls later we arrived at our “hotel” the ‘Hotel Centro Colonial Antigua’. Everything in Guatemala (as it is in many places in this area) seems to have to be negotiated and bartered for (more on that later perhaps) and that was true just to make sure we had enough beds to stay in at the hotel. Of course, between our team leaders and our contact here we worked it out in no time at all.
The hotel itself is quite beautiful. Before I left I thought I would compare a hotel in Guatemala to a Motel in America. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but not here. If I had to compare this to something perhaps I would have to say a ‘bed and breakfast’. There are only a dozen or so rooms here and the décor is exactly what you would expect in Central America.
After settling in some we decided to walk Antigua some. Our hotel is just outside of the ‘town center’ and this allowed us to freely roam some of the shops and sights of the beautiful town that has once been destroyed by a volcano (a volcano that is still active mind you!).
We wore our Guatemala T-shirts today. Since many of you have not seen them yet let me tell you the most important factor. They are florescent green! (So we could easily stay together in the airports) Wearing those shirts into town might have been a mistake. There was certainly no doubt that we were ‘tourist’ in this street vendor town. At one point we were literally surrounded by five or six people (both male and female and ranging from age 10 to age 70) attempting to sell us necklaces, scarves, wooden flutes, and various other items.
After escaping, which required some shouts of “Amigos! No gracias ahora, lo siento!”, we went and ate at a restaurant recommended to us by Mike Parker (our Contact). The restaurant was not only extremely amazing in the quality of food and service but it was also very griengo friendly. Not only did they have “aqua pura” for us to drink but they also washed all of their vegetables in the “pure water”. This meant that we could eat the delicious salsa and other goodies that came with our meal.
After dinner we walked around a little more and picked up a few more supplies- ie: bottled water and a pre-paid phone. We then returned to the hotel and went up to the roof (after climbing a metal winding staircase). I’ve not been to a lot of places in my life, but I have been to a few that are breathtaking. The view of the volcanoes in the distance from that roof ranks close to the top.
The night ended with a bible study and wind down time. Tomorrow morning we leave at 6:30 AM to go to the city dump to hand out shoes to the homeless. Should be an interesting and eye opening experience.
By the way:
Temperature in Guatemala today: mid 70’s
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
At the airport
Clothes for 10 days, check.
Passport, check.
supplies needed, check
Yep, all ready to go!
___
Spent the night with the DuBois last night to help make it easier this morning. I am really looking forward to spending the next ten days with them and the others on the trip.
I finally fell asleep at around 3:30 and the alarm went off at 5:00. Honestly, I got more sleep than I expected.
Everyone has been asking "Are you nervous". The honest answer is "No, not really." But I am excited. Excited to the point where it seems time is slowing down!
Made it to the airport and got our luggage checked. Thankfully the line for Continental was not bad at all. Pastor Cameron showed up to pray for us. I wish he were coming with us, though probably not as much as he wishes he was coming.
The security checkpoint was fairly painless as well. Now it is just back to the waiting game ...
Passport, check.
supplies needed, check
Yep, all ready to go!
___
Spent the night with the DuBois last night to help make it easier this morning. I am really looking forward to spending the next ten days with them and the others on the trip.
I finally fell asleep at around 3:30 and the alarm went off at 5:00. Honestly, I got more sleep than I expected.
Everyone has been asking "Are you nervous". The honest answer is "No, not really." But I am excited. Excited to the point where it seems time is slowing down!
Made it to the airport and got our luggage checked. Thankfully the line for Continental was not bad at all. Pastor Cameron showed up to pray for us. I wish he were coming with us, though probably not as much as he wishes he was coming.
The security checkpoint was fairly painless as well. Now it is just back to the waiting game ...
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Purpose of this blog
Hello everyone,
I have debated back and forth about how I want to journal my mission trip to Guatemala. Did I want to keep it all internal and special to me? Did I want to air it all into the open for the world (or more likely my church members and family) to see?
Well, to be honest I still have not fully decided. For now, I am going with the concept of 'keep a private journal, but post about most everything'. And until something happens to change my mind, I think I will take that approach.
So, the purpose of this blog is to keep everyone up-to-date (as much as possible) on the 2009 mission trip to Guatemala!
I have been told we will have some internet access while we are away ... I hope this to be true. If it is, you can expect daily (hopefully) updates!
I have debated back and forth about how I want to journal my mission trip to Guatemala. Did I want to keep it all internal and special to me? Did I want to air it all into the open for the world (or more likely my church members and family) to see?
Well, to be honest I still have not fully decided. For now, I am going with the concept of 'keep a private journal, but post about most everything'. And until something happens to change my mind, I think I will take that approach.
So, the purpose of this blog is to keep everyone up-to-date (as much as possible) on the 2009 mission trip to Guatemala!
I have been told we will have some internet access while we are away ... I hope this to be true. If it is, you can expect daily (hopefully) updates!
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