| Guatemala May 2008 |
| Written by Dave | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 12 June 2008 11:54 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Thursday, May 22 The plan was for us to all link up in Houston and board Continental’s flight #443 for Guatemala City at 11:15. Although Travis and I had nearly two hours for our connect time, the girls were scheduled to land at 10:22, which left them with less than an hour to make the connection. The tight connection scheduled didn’t really have me worried, but it was a point of concern. I definitely wanted the whole group to fly together on the flight to Guatemala City. Even with the tight schedule, however, I wasn’t worried about our connecting for a couple of reasons. First, we’ve committed each detail of this trip to our sovereign Lord, and secondly, early morning flights have fewer opportunities to be delayed than flights later in the day. On the plane, I sat next to Inga, a young lady from Holland who is the administrator for a couple of medical clinics in Guatemala. Inga works 2 days per week at a medical clinic near Lake Atitlan, and the rest of the time near Xela. Inga told me that she really loves her work, and plans to get a nursing degree in Holland. Although Inga said that our team of pre-med students would be welcome to visit her clinics, I didn’t think that we would be able to on this trip due to their locations. We landed at the Guatemala City airport, picked up our bags, and made our way through customs without incident. As we walked outside the terminal building, I saw Augustine (Steve Osborn’s designated construction manager who I met in January) and Steve’s son Josh. Steve then pulled up in a new 4-wheel drive pickup and we loaded up our luggage. Someone had recently given some money to Love the Child specifically designated for a much needed truck. The truck had plenty of cab space with a back seat, and the 4-wheel drive capability will definitely come in handy on some of Guatemala’s back roads, especially in rainy season. The girls and Travis piled into a large van driven by Augustine, and I jumped in with Steve. One of our first orders of business was to purchase a couple of cell phones so that we could make calls to family members back home. Each phone included 150 minutes of international calling time; total price per phone was only 150 Quetzals (about $20) – amazingly inexpensive! I gave Chi a quick call to let her know that we had made it safely. Steve took us all out to visit the new location of their home for the children. The staff was getting most of the children ready for bed, so we didn’t see a lot of the children, but I did see a few children that I remembered from previous visits. I held little Danny for awhile; I remembered him as a very quiet little boy who likes to be held. I’m guessing he is about 3 or 4 years old. I saw little Jose, a boy with brittle bones. Steve shared how a doctor from the US plans to do surgery on Jose; the doctor believes that Jose will be able to walk some day. There will be plenty of time to meet them tomorrow. We all went back into town to the mission guesthouse. The guesthouse is actually located in San Cristobol, a suburb of Guatemala City. There were bunks for all of us. Steve ordered pizza for our dinner - it tasted great, and it felt good to have arrived. We were all tired, but looking forward to the next few days in Guatemala! Friday, May 23 All of us except Stephanie and Tiffany walked over to Pollo Camperos for breakfast this morning. Stephanie and Tiffany preferred to go on a run and eat some healthy snacks instead. I have to admire their discipline. Then after breakfast, we all joined up at the local supermarket which is located quite near the Pollo Campero restaurant. We picked up cereals, fruit, and milk for future breakfasts and snacks. Augustine was running on “Guatemala time” this morning. He was scheduled to pick us up at the guesthouse around 9:00. We had anticipated him being on Guatemala time, so we weren’t too concerned about the fact that we were at the supermarket at 9:00. Even though we were running late, we still waited for about half an hour for Augustine; it was close to 10:00 when he arrived. Wayne and Jane, the guesthouse custodians came along with us as we all piled into the van for the ride out to the Love the Child home outside of town. We spent the day with the children. I saw a lot of familiar faces: Thania, Katrina, Flore, Jose, Hannah, Letty, Danny, and others. I held Danny for quite awhile; I even fell asleep sitting in a chair while holding him. Harmony snapped a photo of me holding him while I was asleep. I had thought that Danny was asleep too since he was so quiet and still. But when I later saw the photo of me holding him, I saw that his eyes were open. I guess he just enjoyed being held. Later I lay in the hammock holding a little girl, probably 1 or 2 years old. Holding her brought back good memories of me holding my own little girls when they were just toddlers. The girls in our group did a great job of loving on the kids; they brought all kinds of fun stuff – colors, water paints, lip gloss and finger nail polish, bubble soap for blowing bubbles. The girls in our group had a little make-up party for some of the older girls. I guess little Flore decided that I needed a little make-up, too. While I lay in the hammock, Flore wandered over and started putting some sparkly lip gloss on my lips and face. The kids got a real kick out of seeing this old bald guy with sparkly lip gloss on.
Towards the end of the afternoon, the kids were ready for a snack. It was amazing to see such a large group of very young children sitting so peacefully together in a line awaiting their snack. Little Hannah led them in a group prayer. Hannah would say a few words, then the children would join in together to repeat her prayer requests. Steve took us back to the guesthouse around 5:30. We had a dinner of leftovers of pizza (from last night) and from lunch. Later in the evening we all headed back over to Pollo Camperos for some ice cream. Travis brought his computer along since Pollo Campero provides wireless access to the internet, and most everyone checked their email. As we sat around the table sharing, everyone seemed to agree that we’d had a very good time at the Osborn’s home for the children. We could all see that the home is very well run, and that the kids are incredibly well behaved. The kids seem to glow with a sense of well being that comes from being loved and well cared for. I’m already thinking ahead to our scheduled visit next Tuesday at Hermano Pedro, and I know that it will be very different there. Saturday, May 24 Today was our day to take the children to the Water Park. Melvin, Shyrel (Steve’s wife), Josh and two of the Love the Child staff ladies accompanied 18 of the children. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we accompanied Melvin, since he drove the bus. I boarded the bus and Lorenzo immediately greeted me with a big smile. He snuggled beside me for the drive to the park; I draped my towel over his legs to keep him warm. When we first arrived at the Water Park, I was thinking that we were in for a long day. It was overcast and cool, and the water was cold. Poor little Thania just went around shivering with goose bumps all over her little body. After a while some of the kids found a smaller pool that was filled with warm water (we had started out in the large wave pool). Although most of the kids had gone over to the warm pool, Lorenzo didn’t want to leave the big pool where he was having some measure of fun, albeit cold fun. I couldn’t seem to coax him into leaving the cold pool for the warm pool. Finally, I just picked him up and carried him. He was really squirming, but I knew he would like it when we got there, and to be honest I knew that’s where I wanted to be. Brrrr, I was cold. Sure enough, he loved it when we got there and joined the others. I couldn’t help but think that Lorenzo’s attitude was fairly typical of a lot of us. The Lord has something better in mind for us, but we convince ourselves that we are comfortable where we are at. That kind of thinking can cause me to miss out on the best, to settle for mediocrity when I could experience so much more. Around noon, Shyrel and I went and ordered lunch for everyone. It was kind of amazing when we all got seated. The children were all together at several tables pushed together, and the adults were at separate tables. (One exception; Hannah sat with Stephanie at our table). The kids just waited so patiently and were so well behaved. A man walking by even commented to us how well behaved the children were. After lunch, we all went to a large jacuzzi type pool with hot water jets. We all crammed in and enjoyed the hot water and the sun that had decided to come out. Little Hannah and Jose perched on the steps. Shyrel told me the stories of some of the children. There was Gladys, a girl of about 9 years, who had been terribly abused by her parents. Her little body had lots of scars; the latest were on her legs and were inflicted from a machete. I can’t really imagine how a parent could do that to a precious little girl. Brian (5) and his
beautiful little sister Kati (probably 3 or 4) were in their home a few months back when their parents were murdered. Little Rebecca had been abused by her Mother’s husband (step dad); she was the sister of my buddy Lorenzo. Her Mother has kicked the bum out of the house, and is trying to get her children back. Little Tea is 9; she had been found selling goods on a corner while her alcoholic father lay passed out in the bar. It was great to see the children who had been through so much in their short lives, now receiving love and care on a daily basis. You can see the peace and happiness in their faces and quick smiles; they truly are beautiful children. Sunday, May 25 We all went to the worship service at Steve and Shyrel’s church this morning; its only about a 4 minute walk from the guesthouse. It was a good service; we sat towards the back where Steve translated for us. After the service we took the eleven children who had come to the service and walked along with Josh (Steve and Shyrel’s son) over to Pollo Camperos. Steve came along a little later with some folks who were on a family mission trip from Atlanta. After lunch, the girls went back on the bus with their luggage and the children to the children’s home. Travis and I stayed behind to discuss with Steve how we could use the Josiah website as a tool for helping keep families together. Sometimes parents in extreme poverty, especially single Moms, will give up their children to an organization such as Love the Child just to ensure that their children can receive an education and are cared for. Our idea has been for us to find sponsors or donors via our website to help such families. Steve can work with local pastors and provide administration on the Guatemala end. Our meeting also gave Travis and me the opportunity to meet Rob Chaput, the husband and father of a family on a short term mission trip. Turns out that Rob has a marketing agency that works with large clients such as Coke. Rob has started something called Godpod. As I understand it, it is going to be a very powerful tool on the web that will provide a Christian Community on the web, sort of like a Christian version of Facebook. It will also provide promotion and support for Christian organizations, and will also be a place to listen to Christian music; in fact Rob indicated that Casting Crowns, the Dove award winning Christian music group is supporting Godpod. I shared with Rob my vision of finding, sharing, and documenting stories of God’s power on earth, stories that can only be explained by God’s hand; stories that depict that God really is relevant to life on earth. Rob exchanged a look with Steve, and Steve explained that Rob had shared the very same thoughts with him this very morning; almost word for word. Rob had thought that Steve had told me about it, but Steve assured him that he had not mentioned it to me. It really did seem like a divine appointment that Rob and I got to meet. Rob and I exchanged email addresses. Rob also indicated that he would provide a page on the Godpod site for The Josiah Foundation, and that he would add my name to his list of contacts. By the way, even though May is the beginning of the rainy season, today was the first day of real rain since we arrived. It was a real soaker. I was a little worried about coming in late May, because I really don’t like rain on a daily basis. After our meeting, we headed back to the Osborn’s home to join up with the girls. Dick Rutgers and Chris Mooney were there already waiting to take us all to Chimaltenango. We checked into our hotel in Chimaltenango and Travis and I went with Chris to his home so that we could discuss how we might work in partnership with them using our website as a tool for providing funding for specific folks in need. I have to say that Donna, Chris’ wife, makes about the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. Chris and Donna are both delightful people. After our meeting over cookies, coffee and the computer, Chris, Travis, and I headed back to the hotel to join up with the girls and Dick for dinner. Carline, Fernando and Chris’ son Ben all joined us. We had a good meal at a Mexican restaurant at the Chimaltenango mall, followed up by an ice cream treat at the McDonalds also located in the mall. Tomorrow is a big day – we are all looking forward to helping with the wheelchair distribution. Around 30 people are expected to receive wheelchairs, and we will get to provide hands on help in fitting the wheelchairs and loving on the folks. Should be great! Monday, May 26 Today was the big day; the day of the wheelchair distribution. After an early breakfast with Dick, Chris, and Benjamin at (where else ?) Pollo Comparo, we arrived at Bethel’s wheelchair shop. The wheelchairs to be distributed were set out and waiting for us. We all helped to transport the chairs next door to a church where the distribution would take place. After the wheelchairs were all set out, Dick gave us all some basic instructions. I think we were all a little nervous. I kept thinking that I really didn’t know what I was doing, but I knew that the Lord would guide us. Dick shared with us the importance of selecting the correct chair width; one didn’t want the chair to be too wide for the user to effectively push the wheels at each side, nor should the chair be so narrow that the user develops sores from constant rubbing. The foot rests also need to be stationed so that there is not too much pressure on the bottom side of the legs. And then there were specialty chairs with the capability of lots of special adjustments. Harmony, Michelle, Julie and Tiffany all volunteered to work with Dick, Donna, and Benjamin with the specialty fittings; these can sometimes take a couple of hours for one fitting. The rest of us worked with Chris with the easier fittings. It was a wonderful morning. I had been told that there were 30 folks signed up for wheelchairs. I believe we gave out at least that many. Ages of the recipients varied from young children to elderly. Those being fitted were accompanied by family members. After each fitting, we would pray with the wheelchair recipient and their accompanying family members. Lots of hugs were given out. Both the family members and the individuals receiving the wheelchairs were very grateful.
At one point, Chris excitedly came and told me that he wanted to show me something. He took me over to show me a little boy who had just been fit. However, the seat of the chair he had been given had a staggered front edge; the front edge of the seat for one leg protruded a bit further to the front than for the other leg. Normally, Dick and Chris do not take these types of seats to a fitting, because they will only work for someone who has one leg a bit longer than the other, and of course the differing legs must be matched to the differing front edges of the seat. Well, it just turned out that this little boy’s legs were of different lengths and the different lengths matched the mismatch of the seat. Chris and Dick indicated to me that a match up like this is very very rare. Dick has shared other stories with me of what he likes to call GODINCIDENCES; God is the Master of making the most unlikely details work out! After a lunch of pizza and soft drinks, we all headed to a grocery store to pick up groceries for three families; each family is headed by a single Mom with children. Dick helped us pick out the needed staples – rice, eggs, beans, coffe, cereal, and powdered milk. We also picked up some candy to hand out to the children. We loaded into the van and headed out to see Maria. Maria is the young widow lady whose husband was hit and killed by a truck late last year. Through Westside Church’s staff donation of $1,000, the Josiah Foundation had provided $1,000 for a sow, feed, and the construction of pig pens for Maria. Bethel Ministries is working with her; the plan is for her to breed the sow with a neighbor’s boar and then sell the little pigs. It was good to see Maria and her young children again. Actually, I didn’t get to meet her boys last time as they were in school (thanks to Bethel Ministries’ help). Little 2-year old Juanita came right to me when I held out my arms; I enjoyed holding her while we visited. Kind of reminds me of when my girls were young. Steve Crosby, a Josiah board member had sent along $200 for Maria and her family, so I gave that to Dick so that Bethel Ministries could buy Maria a second pig. Maria’s sister actually lives next to Maria, and we provided her and her children with groceries as well.
We had parked the van down at the main road, probably ¼ mile at the most from Maria’s home. So on the walk back, we handed out candy to the children who lived along the way. They all seemed friendly and curious as well. One little boy popped the candy, wrapper and all into his mouth. Perhaps this was the first time he had seen such candy. Poor guy was probably wondering what the attraction to candy was all about; not much taste to the wrapper! So we gave him another piece, unwrapped this time.
We headed back into Chimaltenango to visit the lady who used to live next to Maria. She has since moved into town; perhaps she thought it would be easier to find work. We found her home without too much trouble; her daughter goes to school with Carline, and he had followed her home from school one day to see where they lived. We went up some stairs and found ourselves in their one room living area. The windows were mostly boarded up, and a single unlit bulb was in the room. The mother was sitting in a bed with her 5 year old boy. There was one other bed in the room for her two daughters. One of her two daughters (I’m guessing about 11 years of age) is attending school and loving it. Her eyes just sparkled and she had a very engaging smile. I believe the other daughter is 12; she is blind and not in school. We gave the Mother the groceries we had bought; from what I understood they had run out of food. Carline interpreted for us as Dick conversed with the Mother. Our girls handed out the little “prayer bears” they had brought. It was neat to watch the blind daughter smiling as she “saw” the little bear with her hands. She kept feeling it and smiling. Dick says there is a school for blind children in Chimaltenango, but the Mother is afraid that her daughter won’t be able to get there safely.
It turns out that the Mother has been feeling sick for the last 5 years. She is running a fever. Stephanie indicated that she had some Tylenol down in the car, so the two of us headed down to get it. I was following Stephanie, and I noticed that she was crying. It can really be an emotional experience to see such poverty and feel such hopelessness in someone’s life; especially when little children are involved. It was good that we came today. Dick is going to follow up and get the dear lady in to see a doctor. Dick shared with us how he had provided funding for her son to get into school last year. As it turned out, the boy was too young to go to school last year, and so the lady had kept the money for months so that she could give it back to Dick when she had opportunity. I believe the amount was around 150 Quetzals (approximately 20 US dollars). Finally when Carline saw her daughter at school in Chimaltenango, Dick was able to track her down (following her move into town from out where Maria lives). Even though the dear lady had been without food for herself and her children, she had kept the money to give back to Dick. The integrity of her Christianity was truly incredible given her dire poverty and need. Needless to say, Dick is very interested in continuing to help meet the needs of her family. Tuesday, May 27 There was a knock at my hotel door at about 7:10 this morning. It was Chris wondering if I wanted to come help unload a container of wheelchairs that had just arrived at the wheelchair shop. I really hated turning down this opportunity to help, but we were scheduled to go to Hermano Pedro in Antigua this morning. The plan was for Dick to pick us up at 8:30, head to Antigua for breakfast, get introduced to the kids there, spend time loving on them, and take a number of them to lunch with Dick. I know that the group has really been looking forward to this opportunity. So I reluctantly tell Chris that I won’t be able to help with the unloading. Dick arrived at 8:15, so we weren’t quite ready. I went to pay the bill. Amazing how inexpensive our hotel rooms were. Only $240 US dollars for the 9 of us for two nights; about $13 per person per night. The rooms were clean and the showers were hot. We even had nearby roosters to make sure that we didn’t oversleep. The hotel didn’t accept credit cards, so I dipped into my cash. I’ve made sure that my cash doesn’t get wrinkled or soiled in any way. If US cash is not in nearly mint condition, it won’t be accepted. The explanation that I’ve received is that their banks won’t accept the bills if there is any ink mark, soiling, or creases. I’ve never really gotten an explanation that makes sense to me, but US money is normally examined fairly closely before it will be accepted. We had breakfast at a place in Antigua called Gringos; it was run by a guy who was originally from Michigan. He loves it in Guatemala, and sounds like he doesn’t care if he ever goes back to the US. The service was incredibly slow (he apparently did everything from taking orders to cooking) and we didn’t get to Hermano Pedros until around 10:30-10:45. Dick had made arrangements to park the van with our luggage inside the Hermano Pedro compound so that no one would break in and steal our stuff. From what Dick said, the chance of someone stealing our luggage from a locked van left on the street for the day would be quite high. Dick gave us a tour of Hermano Pedro. Hermano Pedro is always a sobering place to visit - it’s a place where human beings, many of them children, live out their lives as captives to their bodies, to their wheelchairs, to their cribs. They are cared for, but the difference between their lives, lived mostly within the confines of the hospital walls, and the lives of those outside is startling to me. Dick does his best to love on as many as possible. After Dick showed us around, we each picked a child or two to spend time with while Dick went and filled out the paperwork that will allow us to take a group of kids to Pollo Camperos for lunch. I picked out Roberto, a young boy in a wheelchair, and wheeled him around the small courtyard. Dick finally returned with the paperwork, and I ended pushing the wheelchair of little Gloria, a girl of around 6 or 7 years of age. She is a pretty little girl, but is deaf. She still has the little hand motions that that I recall from my visit here in January. She repetitively strums her fingers across her face. She seems to be aware of what is going on around her, yet she also seems to be somewhat removed from the world around her – perhaps that is the result of her deafness, perhaps something more. At the restaurant I feed her a strawberry milk shake with a bottle. She can only take a little sip at a time; otherwise the milkshake comes gurgling out of the side of her mouth. I was scheduled to meet Lily back at Hermano Pedro at 2:00. We were running a bit late, so finally I had to excuse myself and head back to Hermano Pedro before the rest of the group was ready to leave. I was assured that someone, perhaps Carlos, would push little Gloria back in her wheelchair. Clay was waiting for me when I arrived back at Hermano Pedro – I was about 5 minutes late. I normally feel a bit stressed when running late, but I reminded myself that here in Guatemala being 5 minutes late is no big deal. To hear people talk, being only 5 minutes late is actually being early. Lily, Julio, Dennis, Wanda and Genesis joined Clay and me within just a few minutes. We visited for a while in the park across the street from Hermano Pedro, and then I bought us all a drink at the corner store. After a short while we all headed inside the Hermano Pedro facilities. I introduced Julio and family to Michelle and Stephanie and some of the others who were in the area. Some of our group had gone up to the malnutrition section with the young children. Finally, somewhere around 3:30, I suggested that we have a time of prayer. So Clay, Julio, Lily and I found a quiet corner and prayed for one another. Julio’s request was related to this time of trial he is going through. I believe that his trial largely centers around his wayward son Arturo. He has spent significant time in fasting and praying. Lily requested prayer for her spiritual life. Clay asked for God’s guidance in his life – what should he do with his life, should he go into the pastorate? Or engineering? It was good to pray together. Julio and his family seem like family to me; we have shared significant life experiences on numerous occasions now. I am impressed with Julio’s humble dedication to the Lord. One of the prayer requests was for young Dennis, now about to enter his teen years. The request is that he stay walking with the Lord, and not turn to rebellion as he enters his teen years. He is a sweet boy, but I know the enemy would love to turn his heart away. We found a hotel where we can stay the next two nights in Antigua. Originally, we were going to stay at the Love the Child guesthouse near Guatemala City (San Cristabol), but due to some double booking we needed to find another place. The Valentino hotel in Antigua will be a much better fit for everyone as it is near the markets, grocery store, and there are plenty of interesting things to see within walking distance. The cost for a room for three is $43/night, and a room for two costs only $36/night. These are very good rates for a tourist town like Antigua. Wednesday, May 28 Steve and his driver picked us up at 7:30. We went back out to the Osborn’s country home. We all got to spend a little more time with the children, and the girls spent a couple of hours observing the Osborn’s pediatrician working with children who needed some medical attention. Then around 11:30 Augustine drove us in the van out to Volcan Pacaya. We stopped for lunch in San Lucas at Dominoes Pizza. We arrived at Volcan Pacaya somewhere between 1:30 and 2:00. I had already hiked up the mountain in January, and wasn’t all that excited about the hike again. It takes about an hour and a half to get up to the top, and then of course we had to pick our way along the lava to see the fresh hot lava bubbling out. It was kind of impressive the first time I saw it, and I’m glad that most of the group is really enjoying it. It gets kind of scary though when you feel the heat under your feet and see the red hot lava, and then of course one’s brain can’t help but start wondering about the possibility of falling through the crust.
We got back to Antigua after 6:00. We found a steakhouse for dinner. It was a little surreal. From the entrance to the restaurant, we couldn’t even tell if they would have table space to accommodate our group together. They told us that they had space for us all together, and proceeded to lead us up a couple flights of stairs. We entered a large room, fairly dark with candles on the tables. There was a large group on the far side of the room – a few children along with some adults. They weren’t eating anything, and it became apparent after a while that they were having some kind of Bible study. One man seemed to do most of the sharing. Finally they left, and we were alone with our not so great food. Oh well, at least no one got sick (so far as I know). Fairly tired after a long day, we trudged back to our hotel with only one wrong turn. Thursday, May 29 Melvin picked us up around 7:30 this morning to go to a medical clinic in a small Mayan village. He had the 4-wheel drive pickup with the double seats; Harmony, Travis and I rode in the back and the rest of the gals squished into the front. Terry , a midwife from Philadelphia met us at San Lucas and we followed her the rest of the way to the clinic. When we first arrived, she spent some time telling us about what to expect. She explained that the Mayans have a lot of superstitions, some of which are exactly contrary to good health and hygiene – such as the belief that being too clean can actually make one sick. Also, they still have witch doctors with whom they consult; even the professing Christians do this at times. So the health practitioners at the clinic really have their work cut out in helping the villagers.
A Guatemalan doctor examined the patients, nearly all of them Mayan women and children. Our pre-med students took turns following the doctor around to observe his work. Stephanie, Travis, and I spent time back in one of the rooms counting pills (Tylenol) into little plastic bags for their pharmacy; 30 pills per bag. I enjoyed listening to Travis and Stephanie talk. Travis’ family and ours have been friends for many years, so some of the stories took me back in time to when they were still kids – some old camping stories that we could still laugh at. We left the clinic sometime around noon, but were soon turned back due to a ditch that had been dug across the road. A crew was preparing to place a pipe into the ditch, and it was obvious that it would be hours before we could cross. A number of other vehicles were parked and the drivers seemed to be willing to just sit and wait. Melvin and I scouted for awhile to see if he could drive our 4-wheel drive pickup around the ditch and up over some fairly steep and rugged ground. We finally figured out that we couldn’t and then we found that there was a long back way to town.
We finally got back to Antigua around 2:30. We were all getting hungry, but Melvin wanted to show us this great view of Antigua before we stopped to eat. There is a huge cross on the South side of the City; it is up on a hill overlooking Antigua. Melvin was right, the view was spectacular; I could just imagine how awesome it would be at night. We took some photos up there, and then finally made our way to a Subway shop for sandwiches, chips and something cold to drink. After our lunch, we made our way to the market. It is an interesting place, but I’ve been to lots of markets before and I quickly realized that I was tired and would really rather be napping. Actually I’ve found that most activities are preferable to shopping. So I headed back for a nap. We were all getting tired and starting to drag a bit. We enjoyed a nice dinner at Los Palmas, the same place that Steve, Becky, Mike and I enjoyed dinner at last January. We had a good time of sharing together, savoring good food and fellowship. Friday, May 30 We met for dinner at 7:00 in the hotel’s very nice restaurant. We had made reservations to eat in a small private room with a large round table. The food and fellowship was great. Everyone indicated a desire to come back to Guatemala and work with the Mooney family and with Dick again next year; also to visit a medical clinic again. The group also expressed the desire to spend one day at Love the Child home. Each one in the group seems to have a real desire to help those in poverty who cannot help themselves. Saturday, May 31 Most everyone in the group wants to go again next year. I am really looking forward to that!!
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| Last Updated on Sunday, 19 July 2009 22:17 |
Read Dave’s daily account of events for short term mission trip to Guatemala in May, 2008. Mission team was comprised of a group of young people who joined Dave in ministering to orphans, handicapped individuals, and impoverished families..
