The Beauty of Words

This "Wordle" represents the words we selected for each day during the time we spent in Guatemala. The words we used the most often are the biggest. I think it is very appropriate that the word we used most often was "love." Isn't that the way God would want it?

Mission Guatemala feeding center in Nueva Esperanza (New Hope)

Mission Guatemala employs one cook, who coordinates a team of mothers. They prepare lunch every weekday for the schoolchildren of Nueva Esperanza. This community was displaced when hurricane Stan destroyed their village. They were farmers, but now they have very little land and are struggling. Mission Guatemala provides a hearty lunch for kids who otherwise might have subsisted on tortillas or nothing.

Our new friends...

That's Marco Antonio holding the "love" sign...

Overlooking Lake Atitlan

Wow, right?

Beautiful view of the lake

All this week, our mission team has been working at an elementary school for Mayan children in Guatemala. Our main project was to build a sink that will allow 10 children to wash their hands or brush their teeth at the same time. Something that will come in handy as before they only had two faucets for their entire school of several hundred. Anyway, we had some downtime today, so the village kids wanted to show us their vista de lago, or view of the lake. They led us down a road for about a half mile and we came upon the view shown here. Quite breathtaking. -Bill

Dental office

The children who visit the Dentist here are very scared. The stuffed animals help!

One amazing week...

We were challenged to describe our week in three words. As we finished our sink project and visited the feeding centers that Mission Guatemala supports, installed two more stoves, and said goodbye to all of our new friends, it was an emotional day for all of us. Each couple or individual came up with their "three words."

Blessed. Beyond. Belief.

Humble. Helping. Hands.

Much love. Much need.

Niños. Love. Amigos.

Family. Changed. Adventure.

We'll. Be. Back.

Guatemala. My. Neighbor.

Hardworking. Blessed. People.

Fun. Love. Work.

Divertido. Amor. Trabajo.

Inspired to: Love. Serve. Give.

We are preparing to head out onto the lake today, Lake Atitlan, nestled here amongst the volcanos. There are certain to be beautiful photos to come. We miss our families and friends back home, and we can't wait to see you and tell you about all of our experiences face-to-face. We love you all, and we will see you soon!

Gracias a Dios!

Denise was team photographer on Thursday!

Microscope for clinic lab

The Clinic Dentist

John's little Amiga

Remona showing kids pictures of themselves

Maurya and John sifting sand

Betty, Bill and David helping with stove

Scott with a small amigo in the pre-school

Kathie and Linda mixing cement

Cement team!

3 happy ladies cleaning tools

Ramona and Michele in the back of the pick-up

Sweet faces...

Ring around the rosy

Misty, Ramona and Bill, hard at work on school sink

Elmer, our construction assistant

Kids lining up for a snack and lemonade...

Thursday in Guate, Guate, Guatemala!

Hola! It is Thursday evening as I write this. How did that happen? We are all hard at work down here, continuing the school sink project, the Christmas food baskets, and the high efficiency wood stove project. Today at the school, a large group of children gathered. The kids were a bit shy at the beginning of the week, but we ended today with a rousing game of ring-around-the-rosy, which was pretty amazing with more than 50 children! I think they are warming up to us now.

It was a day of firsts for some team members, as we shifted around teams, to make sure everyone was able to experience the joy of helping to construct a life-changing stove, or the fun of shovel-mixing cement, or the fulfillment of packaging food staples for Christmas surprises. I am certain that everyone has tried something new on this trip, be it cutting rebar, riding in the back of a pick up truck, laying tile, speaking a new language, or having their white hair stroked by a curious child.

Words for today:

Instructional

Community

Smiles

Teamwork

Ring-around-the-rosy

Niños, Niños, Niños

Worn-out

Love

Work

Tired

Balance

Chorizo!

Faces

Opportunity

Love

Keys

The scripture for today is:

Ecclesiastes 3:12

I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.

We're doing all the good we can, here with Mission Guatemala. And we're being as happy as we can, too. We love you all!

"After" photo - a new stove for a family who really needed it (see "before" photo in earlier post)

What a day!

First, know that at breakfast this morning Tom prayed for us to have a surprise today. Well, needless to say, it was a day full of surprises! We worked this morning on three, important, simultaneous projects: preparing Christmas baskets for 100 needy families by measuring bags of corn and beans, continuing work on the sink project at the school, and installing another high-efficiency wood-burning stove for a family in the town of Maria del Carmen (Bill says the word "town" seems generous). At lunchtime, a surprise for the school project group - the van ran out of gas. So, after a bit of a wait, we managed to ride back to town in the back of the Mission Guatemala pickup truck (10 of us in the bed of the truck!). After lunch we split into three groups again to continue these tasks; the school sink project and the stove project continued into the evening, and we all met up again at the fire station for a wonderful dinner cooked by Delia. Regardless of the delays and frustrations of the day, we are all going to sleep tonight with good memories of hard work and laughter, happy images of joyful Guatemalan faces, and a feeling of peace that we are exactly where God wants us. Good night!

Words of the day from the team:

Laughter

Teamwork, joy

Awestruck

Emotional

Humility

Relationships

Surprise!

Feeding

Family

Fun

Country-rap (there's a story there...)

Headlights

Incongruous ("in corn grew us a palm tree")

Indescribable

Power-prayer

Much thanks to our Mission Guatemala leadership: Tom, Dave, Noe, Angel, and Elias. We are having the time of our lives!

Pastor Scott is hard at work here in Guatemala...

We installed a new stove for this family... This is the "before" photo:

!Mucho gusto!

!Mucho gusto!

There's a phrase in Spanish, con mucho gusto, which is used as "you're welcome" or "my pleasure." It's also used when being introduced to someone, as in, "pleasure to meet you." I like the energy of the word "gusto," and I like to think of it in its American sense, as "with enthusiasm." I am hopeful that we will be able to approach each new person that we meet, each new task that is set before us this week, con mucho gusto - with pleasure and enthusiasm.

It is certainly a pleasure to serve here in Guatemala.

Happy family in Maria del Carmen, Guatemala, with new stove

The father of this beautiful family was so grateful and gracious after we installed this stove. He thanked God for our help, and told us that we would be blessed by God for helping here in Guatemala. It is hard to explain that we have been blessed in so many ways on this trip, and that seeing these smiling faces is the greatest blessing of all. Thank you, Lord, for allowing us this amazing opportunity.

Our team in the clinic after a long, sweaty, fulfilling day

Market in ChiChi

Words for today...

Each team member selected a word for today. Our day consisted of breakfast at the fire station (Los bomberos), a wonderful devotion led by David, Linda, and Megan, a tour of the Mission Guatemala clinic and property, fun time with the preschool kids, including frolicking on the playground and helping the kids to draw on tee-shirts for each team member, hauling cinder blocks and sifting sand, lunch at the clinic, and two simultaneous projects in the afternoon - several members of the group helped with the installation of a high-efficiency wood burning stove, while the rest helped with a small construction project at a nearby school by mixing cement, cutting up rebar, and shoveling and hauling buckets of rocks. We took lots of photos, and will upload sometime soon, but it sure was a full day, so I'm just going to close this post with our collected "words of the day." Keep praying for us, please, and rest assured that we are having an amazing time serving beautiful people here in Guatemala! You might be able to tell by our words:

Humbling

Awestruck

Terrifyingly fulfilling

From expectations to beyond expectations

Blessing

Moved

Open, Divertido!

Joyful

Heartwarming

Love

More fun than work

Recuerdo

Loved, fulfilled

Home

Wow!

Sleep

Good night and God bless!

Chichi market words...

Today we visited the market in Chichicastenango. Photos will follow, but the one word selected to describe the experience varied among the team members. Chichi market was described as:

Congested

Confusion

Quality teamwork

Crowded abundance

Intense

Frantic

Colorful (people and sights)

Tall

Rise above

Cheerful

Grateful

Compassionate, emotional

Sensory overload

Exhilarating

Photos to follow later!

View of Guatemala from our flight...

Many words from yesterday...

We are engaging with and immersing ourselves in a different culture, with new people and new insights. We are blessed with this opportunity, we are curious, we are filled with wonder, we are open-minded. We are here, in Guatemala, this stunning, gorgeous, colorful, awesome, breathtaking tropidise. We were anxious before, but now we are grateful that everything so far is going according to plan. Sigh of relief.

The above compiles each of our "words of the day" for our first day in Guatemala, with the exception of one. Scott's word, with tongue firmly in cheek, was "constipation." As he elaborates, "it is the feeling of fullness and anticipation, knowing that something will soon burst forth and bring relief."

Today we will be visiting a market in Chichicastenango ("Chichi") and we will bring back a souvenir for anyone who leaves a comment on this blog! Just kidding, but we'd love to hear from you! Love to all of our families back home, and please continue to pray for us!

Isaiah 6:8 Here am I , Lord. Send me.

Megan in Tropidise

Bill relaxing at the beautiful hotel

We are here!

Maurya's word for today is sigh. It feels so great to be here.

Ramona wants to shout out a big thanks to Elmer for successfully negotiating the long and winding roads from Guatemala City to Panajachel!

Megan's invented a new word to describe Guatemala: "tropidise" (tropical + paradise, in case you need a translation).

Michele's word is "colorful!"

Remona's word is "gorgeous!"

David's words are "according to plan."

Betty's word for today is "wonder."

Linda's word is "breathtaking."

We'll add more first impressions as we are able... But just a quick note to let you all know we are all safely here, praise God!

My word for today is...

My word for today is curious.


I am quite curious what the air in Guatemala is like. Not the temperature, but the feeling- the spirit of the place.

As we have traveled around the US, I have noticed that each place has its own distinct aura, sort of like how the air at Christmastime is filled with anticipation. For example:


Washington, D.C. - business

Kentucky- down home

New Mexico- ancient and earthy

Texas- American pride

New Orleans- quirky and mischievous


The glimpses of Guatamalan life that I have seen - the close-knit families, the beautiful rainbow weavings- give me hope that the spirit I will feel there is joy.


Psalm 5:11
But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

(post by Linda)

Lost in Translation

Megan and Linda have been working diligently on the preschool children's books. I submitted my friend Amy's book and Linda has been working to translate it into Spanish. The following is an e-mail that Linda sent me yesterday:


Just Enough Spanish to be Dangerous


This has been a crazy ride to do translations. "Kid, you sure are neat!" translated to "Cabrito, seguro que estas limpio!" If I'm reading it right, that's something like, "Little goat, you are safe and clean!" isn't it?

Despite our best intentions, some things tend to get "lost in translation." God, please help us to communicate effectively with the people of Guatemala, and when that is impossible, please let us have a good sense of humor about it! Amen.

I'm not sure it's all going to fit...

My word for the day - is ANXIOUS.

My word for the day - is ANXIOUS.

You have to love the English language and how one word may have different meanings and/or feelings.

I am "anxious" to get started.

I am "anxious" to see what God has in store for us.

And yet -

I am "anxious" that things go well.

I am "anxious" the planes are on time .

I am "anxious" all of our luggage arrives intact and we make it through customs without incident.

I am "anxious" our families will be okay at home while we're gone.

I also know that Philippeans 4:6,7 says -
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,present your request to God. And, [if you do so] the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ."

The above is a promise with conditions...it resembles this mathematical equation: A + P + G = Peace...Absence of worry + Prayer + Gratitude = the peace of God. Worry suggests insufficient trust in God's ability to provide for you.]

(from theeeffectivetruth.info)

So I have trust and will Let Go and Let God. Even just saying the words calms me.

Kathie

Word of the Day: Blessing

What a special and humbling feeling to be blessed by our pastor and congregation in advance of our upcoming trip. I felt a peace and calm that were so welcome amidst all of the day-to-day preparations and chaos. It was great to feel the support and encouragement of our church, and to be reminded that we are setting out as representatives of all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Linda and Megan's children's books look SO amazing! I am hopeful that we will be able to read them to the children in San Andres (and possibly to inspire them to write and illustrate their own stories?). I am certain that these books will be a blessing in Guatemala, and I can't wait to see how God uses them!

Let's go forth into today and into these last few days of preparation mindful of our blessings and hopeful of being used by God to bless others!

One Word: Preparation

We are preparing our hearts and our minds for a trip out of our comfort zone. There are a lot of details to take care of in this preparation – we want to be prepared for anything! But we starting to feel like it is impossible to be prepared for anything.

The Bible tells us to be prepared, and it tells us how to prepare ourselves. I like the Message version, which puts it in terms that I can easily understand:

Ephesians 6:13-18
The Message (MSG)

Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

So as we prepare ourselves, let’s take all the help we can get. Let’s use our weapons. Let’s find the truth and guidance in The Bible. Let’s pray. Let’s ask others to pray for us and with us. With God’s help, we can be prepared for anything!

When our hands become His hands we let others see the cross...

This brings new meaning to the expression "cross your fingers!"

One Word for Today...

Abundance. We are packing and preparing for our trip to Guatemala, and we have been blessed with an abundance of items to load into our luggage. Eyeglasses, toothpaste, toothbrushes, children's books, shoes, puppets, wrapping paper, Avon supplies, and much, much more. It is overwhelming. At some point we'll need to squeeze our clothing in, but I am loathe to leave anything behind.

I need to trust that God will send us with what we need. I searched for Abundance in the Bible, and this passage seems quite appropriate to share:

2 Corinthians 9:8-15
The Message (MSG)


God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,

He throws caution to the winds,
giving to the needy in reckless abandon.
His right-living, right-giving ways
never run out, never wear out.
This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!

May we trust God to "pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that [we are] ready for anything and everything" and may we give "abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God!"