Guatemala City [Days 1 and 2]

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Hey everyone! Thank you so much for your prayers and support for our Mission trip to La Limonada in Guatemala City! This was an incredible week! We had an awesome team and the unison in which everyone worked was truly supernatural!

Day 1: We spent the day in Antigua getting acquainted with each other and the language! The architecture here is amazing. Originally settled by Spain as a colonial city, it really has a look and feel totally different from the rest of Guatemala. The streets are cobblestone and the horizons are volcanoes! & Yes… a few are still considered active!

This was our first day to see La Limonada. As we rounded the corner and started down the hill, the van became completely quiet. Our hearts sank.

We came to a wider spot in the road where we parked the vans and unloaded the 750 lbs of supplies that were donated to restock the school. It was still quiet. No one knew what to say. We were shocked by the poverty we saw. Once we were at the school we started sorting the supplies and getting ready for our first VBS. The school was completely different from the rest of the community. It was beautiful, safe, filled with laughing and happy children. They were so content and yet they had so little!

VBS

Every day the students were broken up into 4 groups and after a morning meeting they would rotate into a new center where they would learn something about God, play some sports, make a craft relating to that days lesson or work on a memory verse. Here are a few pictures from the first day of VBS. Click to see the larger pictures.

Construction

We went there with the intent to fix the railing on the bridge. When we got there, we found a more pressing need. There is a family in the commuinty that has been through SO much and they recently had a “new” small home (4 walls of sheet metal and a roof) built for them. Now, their “yard” was eroding away into the valley and on top of another home below them. This is a HUGE problem in La Limonada given the amount of rain and the type of soil in the area.

Our “job” was nearly impossible. We had to build a retaining wall in potting soil and it had to hold while allowing water to drain safely away form their home and any neighbors homes. We wheeled the supplies in down the narrow streets of La Limonada (countless trips) and carried them up to the home. Here are a few pix from the first day of construction after working to level a 1 foot strip of dirt so we had “room to work”. The wall would extend nearly seven feet over the work step that used to be a hillside into another home!

Days 3 - 6 coming soon!

Guatemala: here we come!

This week is FLYING by! We leave Saturday for our mission trip to Guatemala!!!

Thank You to EVERYONE that helped support our trip! We loaded over 650 lbs of school supplies into suit cases Sunday and we are ALMOST ready to hop on the plane!

There are some slight changes in plans that we got notice of Sunday: we WILL be staying in Guatemala for 3 weeks!!!! When I first posted about the trip, that was the option we were all hoping for, but it just didn’t work out. There were some logistics in meeting up with the second team that just were not working out. Well, Sunday, we got word that it was once again possible!!

I can’t wait. We will be working in Guatemala City, spending some time in Antigua Guatemala, and then meeting up with the second team in Santa Cruz Guatemala to work with a village in the Cloud Forest!

Katie and I are just amazed at how all of this is working out. We feel so blessed to be able to make this trip!

I’ve got to get back to work, but I will post more before we leave!

Bye for now,

Ray

The Celtics

WOW! Anyone else catch game 6? It isn’t even over yet. There are 4:00 left in the 4th and the Celtics are up 81 to 116! I’m amazed! I’ve never been a big NBA Fan, but the story of the Celtics has captivated me! They find ways to win and play hard defense. There isn’t one “Jordan” type player, they are a team in the truest since of the word. Announcers keep saying, “They’ve sacrificed their individual statistics for the rest of the team.

If you missed the game, you’ve got to catch the clips on ESPN, Youtube, and where ever you can. Then, read the stories of the players and the decisions that the coach made this year. What a story. What a win.

I loved Larry Bird. He was my first exposure to the Celtics. Then, I LOVED Jordan. Who didn’t. When Jordan retired, so did my love for the NBA. Now, I’ve been reintroduced to the TEAM that started it all for me. No heroes. A team of brothers. Celtic basketball is different. Way to go, Celtics.

Drill HERE, Drill NOW, PAY LESS!

I just filled up Katie’s car. It used to cost about $40. And that was about 2 years ago. Now, $65!!! That is stupid.

So, instead of just COMPLAINING, I’m complaining and DOING SOMETHING about it. I signed a petition at www.americansolutions.com. Check out the Videos below for more information & AMAZING Facts!

SIGN THE PETITION! Over 350,000 have already signed, but they are trying to get to 3,000,000!! Have a VOICE!

1st Phone to beat the iPhone!

Take a look at this ad:

Yea… the 1st phone to beat the iPhone is the iPhone 3G!

I have a BlackBerry 8800 and I LOVE it! It is great for all my business functions and even has a GPS (which I can’t live with out!) I use most of the Google applications to read my RSS feeds, edit my blog, stay up on the news, or find where I am with GooleMap + GPS.

I also have an Apple PowerBook G4 and I LOVE my MAC! Everything is always so easy and so smooth. I download great Third Party applications and use Apple Mail, iCal, Addressbook, etc…

There are some problems syncing the BlakcBerry with my Mac, but I fixed it by working around it through Google.

Now, Apple is after me. The “business” user. I was considering an iPhone when I purchased my BlackBerry 8800. It was “neat” and had “cool” applications, but I couldn’t practically use it for my day to day business needs. Times are changing. Some of the best Fortune 500 companies have tested the iPhone 3G (including the military) and have given rave reviews - not only about the beauty, but also because of the function. Apple is working in conjunction with Microsoft Exchange servers, Cisco Systems, and have created their own “push server” for the every day user called “Mobile Me” (which replaced mac.com and can be viewed at www.me.com). It has all the same features that the first iPhone had, but now it is faster, has GPS, works with business users AND it is $199 for the 8 GIG model!!! The 16 GIG model is $299 and can come in white.

I love technology.