I have the blues.

I want to see a volcano out my window.
I don't mind the volumes of trash in the streets.
I want to see the kids singing at VBS.
I want to hear "Buenas Tardes"
I want to hug the kids.
I want to take their "fotos"
I miss the Guatemalan nurses.
I want to taste the coffee.
I want to smell the smoke.
I want to dance with them.
I want to ride in a chicken bus.
I miss my awesome medical team.
Did I mention I miss the kids?
Santa Maria vivos en mi corazon. ( Santa Maria lives in my heart)

I miss Guatemala.

And the Children Came - by Lisa

Have you ever been a part of a Vacation Bible School? If you have, you know how fun and excited the kids can get. Whether it is a crowd of 5 or 50, kids have a great time at Bible School. Being a part of a mission team Bible School is an experience that changes your life. Picture yourself surrounded by those 50 kids, none of whom speak your language, some of whom cannot read or write their names, even in their own language, and many of whom have never been fortunate enough to experience the joy of children's worship. Now change that 50 to 300. Now we are talking Mission VBS.

I think that there are folks who do not see how hard putting together a VBS is, either in our home churches or abroad. We come to Guatemala knowing that our resources here are limited: if you don't pack it and bring it along, you may as well forget trying to find it here. A tool as simple as a hole punch in unheard of. So we pack as much as we can, try to think ahead about what we may need (duct tape, masking tape, scissiors, paper, everything!) and pray for the best.

This year we were so lucky to be able to use a beautiful little church in the middle of the village. That means protection from the rain, and a safe place to store a few supplies. It also means pews for the children to sit on! Those pews work great for crafts each day, as the children kneel and use the pew as the flat writing surface. You never know how many kids are going to come, and which children can come once, twice, or all week. We usually start with just a handful of kids about an hour before start time. They just come into the church and sit quietly, waiting for the action to begin. By start time, we have around 50, and they just keep on coming. Sergio (one of our drivers) cruises the village in our vans for VBS shuttle service. For those of you who need to know, you can fit about 30 Guatemalan kids in a 12 passenger van! By the end of it all, we average well over 200 kids, and somedays, 300.

At this point, you should know the size of this church is tiny. I mean tiny. If you can imagine a little church, not even 1/4 the size of a small American church, then load it up with about 300 kids, 14 Mission volunteers, and about 20 Guatemala moms who either came to help us, or out of curiousity, then you are getting close to knowing and understanding how awesome this project is. One of our team helpers, a person whom had done lots of youth ministry and missions within the US is on our team. He was completely bowled over with the organized chaos of Guatelaman VBS. In all honestly, I thought he was going to ask to leave my team. He thought there were too many kids, and that we should limit our number to 100 or so. Now, if you know me at all, that is NOT an option. Who am I to turn a child away from hearing the word of God, just because it is a little crowded? Thankfully, another person on my team jumped from his chair and said, "We should be praising God for sending us 300 kids to worship with us!" Saved me from having to say the same thing.

And I guess I should factor into al of this, that I was told to prepare for between 100-150. So that's all I brought. So when 300 kids showed up, we ran out of stuff. For a little while, I felt badly about that. I wished I had planned for more, but to be honest, I would have never guessed to plan for 300. My mission leader pulled me aside and said, "Lisa, you are the only one who is upset that you ran out of stuff. They don't care. They just want to come and be with you. "

At the end of the day, the kids don't want to leave. They just sit there. Even when we all say, "Adios!" they don't quite want to leave. So they do the "stall technique." Probably 100 of them line up to tell us good-bye, and thank you, and give us each a hug. Unbelievable.

We have tried so hard to convey God's love for them, and the hope that comes through Jesus Christ to them this week.. They run up to me and say "Christ vives en me corazon." Translation: Christ lives in my heart.

And with that, my tears are preventing me from adding to this blog any further, so ... enough said.

Now We Are Really Cooking- by Lisa

Yesterday, we began our first full day of work projects, and all of the crews really hit the ground running. Our medical team saw an amazing 120 patients, and the donation center was booming. The floor crews are already ahead of schedule, and they will probably finish early and change into Stove Teams by Thursday AM. And the VBS crew had a smooth opening to their children's worship, and the kids there were so excited to be a part of that experience. But today, I want to tell you about the Stove Crews.

I know I have mentioned this project in the past email blasts and the blog, too. But I cannot even begin to explain how incredible these stoves are. Most of the family homes here have the traditional wood fire stoves in their houses. The stoves burn with an open fire underneath, with a brick structure on top of it. When they cook, their homes fill with smoke, and they all suffer from upper respiratory ailments.

So then comes this amazing mission project. We have purchased these stoves for the families who have been determined by the town to be "most in need." They are so incredible. They start with 10 cinder blocks, arranged in a rectangle shape, 2 blocks high. The blocks are arranged so that there is an open side on either side of the rectangle on both layers (I assume for air flow). Then there are these special pieces, also blocks of different materials, that are arranged, very much like a puzzle, and within 30 minutes or less, we are filling the inside of the structure with sand, which will help to radiate the heat. Add a sort of "cook top," and it is ready to vent. We climb up onto the stove and trace a circle around where the pipe will go. We use a hammer and a cutting tool to cut out the circle. We cover the stove pipe with chicken wire, and bend the ridge of the wire to protect little hands from burning. We place the vent pipe through the open hole, place a "sombrero" on top to keep the rain out, and we are ready to light the stove. The family comes in, and they, together light their stove for the first time. It takes 2 sticks of wood and a small stick of kindling. MUCH less than what they are used to. Within minutes, the stovetop begins to radiate heat, and we prepare to cook a meal together: American Hot Dogs. They love those. We give each family a new skillet to cook with and offer a prayer of thanksgiving.

I wish you could see the look on their faces when they look at the stove for the first time, and they can't believe how quickly the surface heats, and most importantly, how the smoke streams out of the stove pipe instead of their home. It is amazing. This stove will be lit in the evening for the mother to make her tortillas, and the warmth of the stove will gently warm the house throughout the night. With a little poking and rekindling, they will be able to boil water in the AM within a short time. Most importantly, this stove will save the woman of the house 2 days each week from gathering wood.

We feel so blessed to be a part of this mission, and to have such a job placed before us. We are so glad that you are coming along with us on this adventure!

Help Wanted - No Experience Necessary by Lisa

Last night, in the midst of welcoming our entire team to Guatemala, we received information regarding our crew assignments. Most of us had an idea of where we might be placed, but we all come to this mission willing to serve where needed. Obviously, Ray and Sherry, both doctors, are on our medical team. Erin, their oldest daughter, is also on that team with them. Lacey too. Rod, who has done nothing but concrete work since his first mission 4 years ago, is on the concrete team. No surprises there, huh? He will lead a team of 4, and their job is to pour concrete floors in the homes of the poorest villagers. This job is probably the most exhausting job of them all, and perhaps on of the most challenging. His tools are simple: shovels, hoes, wheelbarrows, gravel, sand, cement mix, and water. And lots of muscles. His crew starts at 6:30 every morning.

Maxine will be helping with all of those 100s of pounds of donated items, sort of over-seeing the distribution process. She will love being a part of that amazing experience. Carole will be assisting with the medical clinic in whatever way they can use her.

Most surprising to our team, was that some of us are assigned to a brand new crew this year; Stove Construction. Lisa and Michelle and leading stove crews --Lisa in the AM and Michelle all day long. We will learn how to assemble them, and we will work in the homes every day to build as many as possible. Each job takes about 2 hours, start to finish, so we hope to build 3 a day, with 40 installed by Friday. Lisa was a little worried, as construction is more challenging for her that it is for some others. When she heard that her tools were ultility knives and machetes (to smooth bricks, and cut holes in the roofs to vent the pipe), she imagined all sorts of medical emergencies for herself alone! They say is it like putting a puzzle together, each part intricate, and delicately placed. But when finished, the family's lives will be improved immediately. No more smoke filled rooms. 2 days less gathering wood to burn. A huge part of our team will be on these projects, and we trust that God will give us the ability to serve our crews to the best of our ability.

In the PM, Lisa will once again lead VBS, with now an estimated 150+ children. Some of her crew is comprised of our gang, and many from Virginia. They have been placed in a beautiful little church in the middle of the village, so at least we have safe, adequate shelter from the afternoon rains, that have been downpours at times.

So this week, we add to our resume all sorts of new job experiences. Tune in for more details.

Random Acts of Kindness - by Robin and Lisa

We all know what they are... RAK for short. That time when someone, out of the kindness of their heart, goes out of their way to do something nice. They don't occur often, and when they do, you feel blessed to be touched by someone else's kindness. In Guatemala, in these gritty little villages, Random acts of kindness aren't so random. The beautiful people here are always willing to lend a hand, without thought or question. Even though we have a huge language barrier, I think they understand our desire to serve them. Sometimes, when you are a witness to such an act, it places such an imprint on your heart, words cannot quite describe how you felt. But here's our best attempt.

Yesterday, we went to the village of Santa Maria de Jesus to begin looking around, and doing some prep work for the medical clinic. We needed to set up the examine room, which was cluttered with debris, and heavy metal cabinets. And 200 eggs. Yes, that's correct... 200 brown eggs. There was a group of men from the village working on a roofing project, also in preparation for this week's mission. They all jumped into the clean-up crew, and within 20 minutes, all of the debris had been cleared away. Maxine and Lisa noticed that the shelving units for the meds were in bad shape. Worst of all, they were filthy. They asked several of the women there if there were any rags, cloths, whatever to wipe the shelves. One of the women said that they would go to the store to buy some. They don't have money to do that, so we, of course, said "No, that's OK." Unknowingly, they were already on the way. In the meantime, the men who were helping out brought us their shirts, machete in hand, ready to cut their shirts into strips for cleaning cloths. Again, we said, "NO, please don't do that!" They decided to forego cutting their shirts apart, and said, "That's OK, we will wash them."

Not wanting to offend their efforts, we reluctantly took their shirts, probably one of the few shirts they owned, and used them to wipe the shelves. When the men saw what we were doing, they understood completely what we needed done, and they all jumped on the cleaning train. They actually outcleaned us---even doing the windows, inside and out.

In America, the land of plenty, what does it take for a shirt of yours to make "the rag box?" I guess you would have needed to be here to feel the same about this moment in the village. But we hope you can understand how this RAK helped to remind us of the work that we are called to do.

A New Day- by Lisa

You know, every day is truly a new day, a new beginning, a chance to start things off in a new direction. And for some of us, that is usually a good thing, and a relief. The past 48 hours have been loaded with ups and downs, well, more downs than ups, but that happens to the best of us. We got off to a rough start Thursday evening when we were about an hour late departing for Pittsburgh. We planned to go a little different route, not realizing that most of the road signs and exits now have different numbers. Bottom line is, we missed the exit and wound up in Ohio, then had to wind our way back to try to find Rt 60. When we finally got to the hotel, 3 1/2 hours of travel, we discovered that Robin's reservation was all messed up, and apparently, the hotel staff there has no idea what customer service or customer satisfaction means. We had to make the best of things, and go with the flow. Then upon check-in, the Kellers went to their room only to find other people already staying there. Ooops. So, new room, not a huge deal. We all got up early to get the shuttle. We needed to take 2 shuttles because this wonderful amount of donatons we are all carrying. We moved the Keller's car to unload the suitcases, and when we tried to return the car to the parking area, it would not start. And the window was down. And it is 4:00 AM. And you have to hit the first shuttle at 4:30. So a quick decision to send Lisa and the girls with as many of the large suitcases as possible to the airport. Rick and Rod made a quick run to find anything that would help fix the car, and got it started enough to at least put up the window and lock the doors. We will deal with that on our return home. We can't worry about that now, we have more important things to do!

I think that is about when our prayer partners got busy, because everything, I mean everything from that point began to look up. From smooth flights, to flawless landings, to early landings. They look for volunteers just like us, to target, and search and confiscate. They like to do that. Luckily for us, there were MANY volunteers ahead of us who got stopped and searched, so we slipped by while they were busy with the other groups. Pays to look like tourists!

Today we are going to Santa Maria de Jesus to scope out the VBS area, and to meet with the town council. We are so thankful for this opportunity to get our work underway. A decent night's rest, and a brand new day seems to make the stresses in the past 48 hours fade away. We are lucky to have that relationship with our God, who is always willing to give us a new start.

Yes, We Are Counting - by Lisa

Ok, so we are counting. And in case you didn’t know, we have been counting the days for quite some time now. Unbelievably, tomorrow we leave for Pittsburgh, and in 48 hours, we will be on our way. There are just so many last minute things that creep up on you when you are trying to prepare physically and emotionally for what lay ahead: from last minute donations, to blown out zippers on a suitcase, to this wonderful batch of hives that I tend to get when I am stressing out about things. (But that’s its own blog entry for another day). I guess that is all good preparation for mission work, because you have to be so flexible, and willing to change plans at the last minute in Guatemala. Our mission leader has this “thing” that he says. He will say, “Here is the plan…” and then when the plan changes, he says, “”Here’s the update.” Last summer, we had so many “updates” in regards to our VBS, our team stressed out as soon as we heard “Here’s the….” So we decided to change our way of dealing with the curve balls that we were being thrown. I would tell my group, “Here’s the scoop.” Then they would ask, “What flavors?” And depending on the news/change of plans, I would tell them either ”chocolate” if it was good news, or “pistachio” if it was not-so-good news. Now, for all of you pistachio fans, I do not want to imply that pistachio ice cream is bad. It just didn’t rank above chocolate. Doesn’t sound like a huge difference, but it was a way to make us each laugh, and take each day, or each hour, one step at a time. As Americans, we are very much a “here and now” culture. We want everything now, high-speed, no waiting time, because we are continually multi-tasking in our daily lives. How refreshing it is to go to a place, where uni-tasking is common practice, and you operate on someone else’s timetable: God’s. We will accomplish what He wants us to accomplish, and with hard work, a great team, and His hand, it will be amazing.

Bags are packed

We have been spending a great deal of time preparing
and packing the past few days. We had a VBS cutting-
out party Wednesday and Friday and am happy to report
all the red foam hearts and construction paper flowers
are complete!

Since the theme for the VBS lessons is being sowers,
as in love, kindness etc. We thought it would be fun
to pop popcorn for them to illustrate that seeds can
become something wonderful. We have commissioned three
air poppers (thank you Penny and Donna) and can't wait
to see the children's reaction to them. We fully expect
to blow every fuse at our location!

Back to packing. FYI it takes a suitcase and a half to
pack 150 individual bags of pretzels just in case you
were wondering. 2 jars each of peanut butter and jelly
weigh 10 pounds. Again, just in case you need that
bit of information. The suitcases cannot weigh over
50 pounds. Guess what we weighed them on? The Wii
Fit. One more bit of info; I am sure that the good Lord
himself made space bags. Truly awesome little devices.

Check back here for updates!

The Proclaimers have been ordered.

Earlier this spring our church was involved in a program
called Faith Comes by Hearing which distributes free of charge
CDs of the Bible for listening purposes.

A few week ago I received an email from the organization
(www.faithcomesbyhearing.com) forwarded by our Pastor.
The email contained a link directing me to the Every Church
Every Village program which provides Proclaimers in different
languages including the Mayan dialect of Kachiquel which is
specific to the very village where we will be going, Santa Maria
de Jesus. How awesome is that!

How does the Proclaimer work?

◦An installed microchip contains Scriptures in the heart language; the chip will not erase or wear out from frequent playing.
◦The battery will play for 15 hours and can be recharged enough times to play the entire New Testament more than 1,000 times.
◦The Proclaimer has a built-in generator and solar panel to charge the battery.
◦The solar panel, in addition to charging the battery, will run the Proclaimer even without battery power as long as there is sunlight.
◦The sound is digital quality and loud enough to be heard clearly by groups as large as 300.
The Proclaimer was developed primarily as a playback device for poor and illiterate people who may not have any other source to hear God's Word. Our goal is to use the Proclaimer in the majority of our FCBH programs worldwide.

Ten proclaimers have been shipped to me to take and should here
in 10 days or so.

What a gift to be able to share with the Santa Maria de Jesus
where there are many illiterate people.

The Every Church Every Village program requires listening groups
to be set up and pictures to be taken of the groups using the
Proclaimers.

I cannot wait to share them!

Trees and Such - by Lisa

So, I bought a tree this week. Not a real one, of course, but one of those bulletin board trees that you can punch out and assemble and add stuff to it and make it whatever height you need to. You get the idea. Well, I had the perfect tree in mind. I had one in my classroom that I used in all sorts of ways, and I figured it would be perfect. Then, when I got to the teachers' store, I realized that they not only have my tree, but about 5 other ones to choose from. Decisions, decisions. I guess you should know that I want a tree to go with our VBS theme in Guatemala. Our mission leader sent us a theme that he wanted us to use for our week: We are Sowers. Kind of a good theme, considering most or all of the children we are working with come from farming families. He also provided the stories and bible verses that we were to do each day. He asked us to plan to do lessons on the seeds of kindness, seeds of goodness, seeds of love, and seeds of forgiveness. From those ideas, we got creative license to do whatever crafts, games, and to choose a lesson delivery method. Anyway, we decided to build a tree with the kids, and each day, add the Bible verses to the trunk, and add leaves, fruits, whatnot to make it bigger and better. So back to the store. I began to look through the different styles and patterns of trees, and I began this debate between me and myself about which one to use. I felt bad for the store owner, because she just wanted me to pick one, and I must have spent 15 minutes discussing the pros and cons of each one. I decided on this really cute palm tree, and I got coconuts, bananas, and monkeys to decorate around it. I think with the leaves, and other cutouts, we will have enough for every child to put their name on a part of a tree to help to build it bigger and brighter each day. Now, I just hope we have one good wall to put it on!!

Snacks, snacks, and more snacks

My awesome mother in law and fellow mission team member just returned from a
shopping extravaganza at Sam's Club.

All the snacks for Vacation Bible School have to be purchased here and then taken with us to Guatemala in our suitcases.

Lance crackers, Goldfish, pretzels, and the fixins for PBJ sandwichs for the fiesta
(sans the bread of course) are all stored until we leave.

Now to find a way to pack all this. Hmmm......

Hooray for Sam's!

New Shoes - by Lisa

Well, today, I started my spring cleaning. I know, spring is almost over, so I should call it summer cleaning. Anyway, I started in my hall closet, with the SHOES. In the past, I have sorted closet shoes using the 3-G system: Good for another season, Goodwill Bound, or Garbage. Now, I use the 2-G System: Garbage, or Guatemala. There is no "in-between." It isn't until you have experienced mission work that I think you really understand the value of a pair of shoes. When we first met those beautiful children, we learned how important one pair of shoes can be for their health and well-being. So many children had no shoes. Those who did, sometimes had the ends of the shoes cut off so that toes could grow through. Shoes are important because they help reduce the chances of parasitic infections from the damp ground into their feet.

I began collecting shoes for this year's mission about a week after we returned home last summer. I waited for the seasonal shoes to come on clearance, then I'd buy up all they had on the rack. You get really strange looks when you are checking out with 25 pairs of children's shoes at a time! To one raised eyebrow, I commented, "Yep, I have lots of kids!" All year, I have been cruising the clearance aisles, just waiting for the markdowns. One of our sponsoring churches, St. Peter's UCC in Punxsy, knew how important shoes are. They collected over 75 pairs of flip flops for us to take along. Tonight, we decided to dump all of them out, just to see what these shoes would look like in one big pile. Check it out! 200 new pairs of shoes, just waiting to arrive in Guatemala. Just waiting for a child.

Not that we're counting!

Only 1 month and 1 week until we leave for Guatemala. For some of us it is a return trip, for others,their maiden voyage. Either way, we can't be more excited.

Our mission team will be returning to the village of Santa Maria de Jesus in the mountains of Guatemala where we will be providing Humanitarian Aid to the impoverished people there.
Additionally a medical team will be seeing patients, a Vacation Bible School will be held for nearly 150 children and the construction teams will be installing water filters, ovens, and pouring concrete floors.

Check back often for updates!