Journal February 22-28
We have been building houses and doing wheelchair distributions with a church group from Washington State this entire week. It has been a busy but very rewarding time. However finding time to keep a journal has been next to impossible for me. Besides that I figured that it is about time you get a perspective of life here in Guatemala through someone else’s eyes. So this week some of the volunteers who are down here from Washington State are going to share some highlights from the journals that they have been keeping. I think that you will enjoy what they have written. I know that I will enjoy a few days off from doing the writing. I know that I have already published Journals for the first 2 days. (Friday, February 22, and Saturday, February, 23) But I have included those 2 days as well because I thought that you would like to see someone else’s perspective of the same days. I hope that you will find this week’s journals, that were written by various people, as interesting and informative and I have.
Yours in Christ: Dick
Friday, February 22
We woke up this morning in Chemaltenango. Some of us went for a short walk from the hotel. As we walked down the street, we were passed by horses being led to the market. About a block form our hotel, we stopped and looked down at the area below.
(Lane Stremler)
Sat., Feb. 23
A few impressions
Most popular means of transportation – walking; 2nd – bikes; 3rd motorbikes; 4th – old school buses; 5th – anything with Toyota written on it.
Weather: typical climate – HOT! Typical house, corrugated tin and cement block.
Typical family size – way too large.
Speed limit – none. Result…. Use your imagination.
The homes are very small with dirt floors, no glass windows. The family we are building for has seven children, the mother is 34 years old, pregnant – very friendly and loving!
Typical dog – sick looking and skinny.
Typical horse pony size.
The cattle are mostly Brahma with ribs exposed. We are so blessed in our country. The children come around every day – we give them toys and such that we brought along. We give them some of lunch each day – cookies, oranges or anything extra.
(Don & Tres Kamphouse)
Sun., Feb. 24
This is the day the Lord hath made. Not only did we remember our church and church family today, particularly, but Jay & Debbie remembered our wedding as we celebrated our 17th anniversary. En route to our third day of house building, we stopped at a dirt floor hardware store. We were definitely in the minority as only a small handful ventured past our 4 armed guards, past the machetes for sale and the man sewing to the inside. Arnie purchased a plumb-bob and our crew chiefs (Chris, Dan & Jay) picked up the other misc. items.
Jesus had a heart for the poor! In John 2 and Mark 11 we read how Jesus was angry when there were those who used the temple as a place to inflate the $ the poor had to pay for the doves they would sacrifice. These instances were some of the few when Jesus showed a side not typically seen by Him – when oppression and/or hurt were inflicted on the poor. As the afternoon work picked up pace again, I silently prayed these people would not and will not be oppressed by those seeking to do them harm. Crime and jealously are rampant because anything is scarce and all are terribly poor! The afternoon finished with a flurry of cement pouring – columns, more brick laying – even more, the first cement floor in the house was poured. Nearly everyone was involved in one way or another as the mixer made several batches – then wheelbarrow load… one after the other were run up into the house (elevated because of flooding). Our Guatemala Team is most certainly a team. We are working – and working hard, but we are having fun bonding and putting our actionable and practical love for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ into action. (Matt. 25: 35-36) May His name be praised!
(Debbie & Jay DeJong)
Monday, Feb. 25
After breakfast & our morning ritual of push-starting the security guards’ car we were headed back to the house. There are so many people walking – usually almost on the road, on motorcycles – many times with 2-4 people and sugar cane trucks – bursting at the seems.
(Deb & Dan Kuiper)
Tuesday, February 26
What an eventful day it was. The day started with breakfast at 6:15 a.m. Then some of the guys left early so that they could get the supplies from up by Ronny’s old house, so the whole team could start at a run to finish what we needed to. Once the frame had arrived the droning noise of the cement mixer started and the first batch of concrete. We had to finish the “dining” room floor & the porch. We also had a crew that stripped form boards off the columns. Then we had a crew setting up form boards for the wheel chair ramp off of the front porch. And then the electrical crew. We finished all the concrete work in time for Ronny’s class to stop by and sing us Guatemala’s national anthem. It takes at least 5 minutes to sing. We came to the conclusion that it would not survive in the U.S. Once the concrete was laid as smooth we wrote NVRC and 26-2-2008 because that is how they read dates. We decided to write NVRC because it was the church who donated to make it possible for us to build the house.
In Christ, (Brent, Bruce & Kelby Stadt)
Wednesday, February 27
We once again woke up to the rooster crowing. Pretty sure he was walking back and forth on the walkways crowing! Our breakfast here in Mazatenango was more than most expected - buffet with eggs cooked to your liking. After breakfast, we loaded into the vehicles and headed to the wheelchair distribution.
Once inside, we unleaded the wheelchairs out of the truck and laid them on the yard. In the front of the building is a small court area where Guatemalans are gathering to receive a wheelchair. At this time they were only getting a number.
I find it strange how the brain will listen to emotion when intentions are good. God was working in me and preparing my hands to work – work in a way they have never worked… only at this time I was not yet aware of it. How should I know, we were working?
After unloading the wheelchairs, we gathered around Dick while he gave us a “crash course” on adjusting a wheelchair to fit each person. This took about ten minutes and we proceeded to the courtyard where the people were waiting. Chris asked that we lay a hand on a family or person while he prayed.
Feelings of extreme joy followed by valleys of despair. I seemed to be losing a “grip” on my emotions as I watched parents cry to God for their child or elderly praying with thankfulness. Voices, prayers, tears, weeping were heard in the courtyard, and I felt God broke down any perceptions I had in that moment. I was ready.
Chris and Juan prayed and our team excused themselves to begin preparing for the people. A small group worked on the more specialized wheelchairs for the children, while the larger group fitted wheelchairs for adults.
The adult wheelchairs took about 15-20 minutes to fit; however, the kids could take an hour or more. The people are thankful and we are too. After about three hours, the adults are all fitted and out the door.
Sometimes I use work as a distraction – a way of postponing a short term problem. I used it today. I even wondered if what I was observing, what I was experiencing, what I was doing, was too sacred or too intimate to share with someone. Or could I even get myself to say a word?
The children took another two hours to finish. Chris’s family directed us in the proper fitting and piecing together of each wheelchair. This organization takes extreme pride in making sure every part fits each child perfectly. At the end of our time together at the distribution center, a woman gave her life to Christ!
God is it this simple? Food, water, a chair brings a soul to you! You can make mountains move and yet you choose a chair to reach a lost woman. Jesus Christ smiled through those children and adults today. I felt it! We all felt it!
(Chad Van Ry)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
As far as today, part of the group went to see Erica and bring her some medicine (I’m sure someone will write about that).
(Len Smit)
Thursday, Feb 28 (second group)
After a great breakfast we separated from the group that went direct to the lake. We headed West toward San Sabastian with 12 people crowded into a 9 passenger van and immediately were caught in the first of many traffic jams. Eventually we turned north to Xela where we dropped off Liliana and Juan Davis to catch their bus home. Liliana is a friend of Debbie and Jay DeJong, they are helping her obtain a work visa to return to the US to join her husband. Liliana had lived in one of Jay and Debbie’s rental houses for a few months 14 years ago. Debbie received a Christmas card from Liliana this year after not hearing from her for several years. Debbie was able to contact her in time for her to meet us at the hotel in Mazatenango. Liliana and Juan Davis joined us at the wheel chair distribution, Liliana was a great help interpreting for us and encouraging the families that could only speak Spanish. This was a Godincidence, as Dick would say!
Three hours later after many construction stops we were in San Francisco. Yes, there is a San Francisco in Guatemala. Only the spelling is different, the town is much the same with narrow streets and steep hills. We took a few detours since we were too heavily loaded for some of the steep streets. Finally we were at the end of a street where the slide took out Christopher’s house three years ago. This is where we start the hike up to Erica’s home.
We left San Francisco for the lake where the other group was enjoying a leisurely afternoon of sight seeing and shopping, (we wouldn’t have traded places for anything)! On the way we stopped at a service station for a wonderful lunch of ice cream bars, munchies and sodas! As we ate our lunch outside the service station we shared with a little boy who was begging.
We drove through many villages with beautiful farming areas all terraced on the hillsides with fruit and vegetable stands along the road. We were thankful to survive the aggressive Guatemalan driving and arrived at the lake after 5pm.
What an awesome day! One we will never forget! We felt God’s Presence and saw Him work in the lives of these people and in the hearts of all of us. To witness their love and gratitude for God was an experience that is hard to explain. A very emotional one at that!
To God be the Glory!
John & Arlis
We have truly seen God at work in everything that has been taking place here this week.
Yours in Christ: Dick
1 Comments:
This was awesome! Thanks to all those who shared their insight and bared their hearts!
-Bill
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