Wednesday, 1/18/17

Wednesday was our last day here in Guatemala. We spent the day dedicating the 12 houses that we had built over the past week. We are amazed every year by how God works though this team to reach the hearts of the people of Guatemala. After the dedication of our first house, that was donated by Seth and Cambree Harkema, the recipient of the house gave Cambree a picture. He gave this picture because he knew that he could never pay for his house, so he gave this to show his gratitude to them for this new home. The picture was of a field. The picture shows that all your work will be blessed wherever you may be. He was blessed by God though our team by receiving this home.

Another family that has especially touched our hearts is Juan, his wife, and four children with the  fifth on its way. Juan works for Grace Ministries, and also relieved a house from us this year. The whole team grew very close to this family by spending lots of time with them this week, even with a very strong language barrier many good times where had. Everyone clearly saw Jesus shine through this wonderful family.

It was a very emotional time when we finally had to say goodbye and leave the village for the last time. Kids gave countless hugs and kisses. As we left we closed by singing praises to God with the children. Another thing we will really miss is leaving the little bakery with the tastiest doughnuts in the world. Which supplied us with multiple doughnuts through out the day.

We also got the chance to visit the feeding center ran by Lazaro and Glendy, We had lots of fun listening to all the older children sing to us in English, Afterwards they greeted us all with hugs. We then had a chance to play with the children. We did everything from face painting to soccer, swinging on a rope swing, and playing on their playgrounds. We ended our time their the same way it began hugging the children goodbye, and waving to them as they drove away in their buses.

We ended the night off sharing our experiences with each other.

~Quinn Grassmid and Erika Hulst

p.s. Justine we found out is the most amazing funny person we know. Could not imagine my life without her awesomeness. ~Justine

Tuesday, January 17

Today started at the usual 6-6:30 breakfast, followed by devotions.  We packed our lunches and headed to the Chimaltenango dump.  Lazaro has a ministry to people who make their living there, searching through the trash for anything they can use or turn in for recycle money.  It is a dirty, smokey place.  A huge ravine, covered in trash, smolders in various spots day and night.  Trucks come in and are unloaded by hand, and then the mostly women and children begin picking their way through it.
The women and children we met with seemed familiar with the message of the Gospel as Glendy, Lazaro's wife, spoke to them for a few minutes in Spanish.  You could tell it was an encouraging and applicable message, and also very heartfelt, as the women and children listened and responded to what she was saying.  Following her message, we handed out lunch bags and then sandwiches, juice boxes, fruit, and snacks.  Some saved them for later but many at them immediately.  We learned that the children could not attend school as they would need uniforms and supplies that cost around $100 U.S. each year.  To make it even more difficult, uniforms change frequently and additional costs come up often.  There is such a huge need here, in so many areas of these peoples' lives.
When we left the dump our group split up, with some going to the orphanage to visit the children and finish painting, and some going to the village to finish the fronts of houses.
The orphanage got the outside walls completely painted in a nice, clean, bright white.  All but two of the houses got the fronts put on and completed.  The two that did not get completed had industrious owners who put down cement on the porch area right away, so we couldn't walk on it today.  A couple of teams of 3 should be able to finish those in short time tomorrow.
When we were walking to complete another house front, a car pulled up and the man inside seemed very interested in what we were doing.  He also enjoyed using his English.  As we talked, a young woman came up and through our friend in the car, Mateo, we learned she wanted us to know she needed a house.  Her name is Anna, and she has 5 children.  She does not currently attend the church, which is how the builds were coordinated and planned out.  We told her we were here to show God's love to them and encouraged her to talk to the Pastor and share her needs with him.  We told her we would be praying for her to receive a house also.  Hopefully today a seed was planted that can lead to a growing relationship with Jesus for Anna and her family.  Please pray for Anna and her needs, as well as all the people in Guatemala who have to work so hard for even the basic needs.

Monday January 16, 2017

We got back on our building schedule this morning after our sleeping in day yesterday. Up at 6am for breakfast and 6:45am devotions before 3/4 of our group went to the village to continue building and the rest ventured to the market in order to gather items for house warming gifts for Wednesday (house dedication day). 

In the village, we had five more houses to build. We started with two that were on the side of a mountain, very very high up. It was quite a hike! The post hole digging was extremely difficult; the house sites were basically carved out of a mountainside. As hard as it was, our team was still able to get  4 1/2 houses done, even with a lower number of our team in the village building. God provided lots of energy and motivation for a hard work day in the sun! Thankful for no injuries or sickness on this long day! 

In the market, items were purchased for the house warming gifts. This included things such as baskets, brooms, laundry soap, rope for clothes line, and large tubs for water. These are all things that seem non-essential or easy to get for us simply with a trip to Meijer, however they are difficult for the villagers whom we build for to buy. Even the people whom we bought the items from in the market showed more gratitude for our business than we are used to. 

In the late afternoon, both groups met in the village at the local church where we are building the houses. Many of our team members spent time playing with the children and getting to know them. Once the food truck arrived, we had the privilege of handing out 3 weeks of food to 150 families. This food distribution was the highlight of many, as some of them had no food to feed their families tonight, we were told. 

Once the food distribution was complete, our hard working team decided to work until we lost daylight. God definitely put a group of hard working people together on this trip! To end the night, we came back to the mission house and had another fantastic dinner, complete with strawberry cake. Our cooks are so good to us! 

- Matt & Nicole Bouwman

Sunday - January 15, 2017

We were very fortunate to start our Sunday by sleeping in a little extra!  We enjoyed another delicious breakfast meal by our wonderful cooks, followed by devotion, and then some free time to enjoy each others company and the surroundings of the mission house.

We then departed to Antigua for lunch and shopping at the market, as this was our day of tourism and site seeing.  One van departed early from Antigua to attend church service at the Feeding Center.  By late in the afternoon, we all gathered back at the mission house and were privileged to receive a tour from Paul Leythem and his son Robert, of the Enon residence and coffee plantation.  It was richly informative and enjoyed by many.

Kirk Lightfield joined us for dinner tonight and then graciously provided the equipment to Skype Tico Vargas for an evening devotional from Miami, FL, where he was given the unique invitation and opportunity to speak to a congregation there. He shared the story of how it came to be that he was invited to Miami to speak, and how intricately God's hand guided him there,

It was a very big day for Lazaro Surey and his family as they took their daughter, Marcia two hours away to start her first year of college.  Marcia invited Dana to join them on their trip to her college, and in exchange, our group received the bonus gift of having their son Josh join us for our day.  Please remember to keep Lazaro and his family in your prayers at this transitional time in their lives.
Grant,  Laree, Maryssa, and Alivia Depies

Saturday, January 14

We started the day with devotions done by Cal Buquet. He talked about John 21, the story of Jesus telling the disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. After devotions we discussed the days plans which were to split up and go to the orphanage as well as the village. Dave's van went to the orphanage, Courtney and Kendra went to the orphanage. Shawn and Brad's vans went to the village.

At the orphanage we got a tour of their new building, which included a playground, more rooms for the kids, nicer kitchen, and dining areas (even central heat!). After the tour we spent time playing with the kids and holding all the babies. After lunch a few continued to play with kids while a few others painted various walls outside around the playground. They currently have 45 kids living there, the average is around 50.

At the village, they put metal siding on one house, and had two real difficult houses to build. After this they looked for the next building sites, but found that none of them were ready.

For supper we had a baked potato bar, and enjoyed company from Lazaro and family, Juan's brother Eli, and a couple families from the feeding center.

Kendra, Courtney, and Shawn VanderWoude

January 13, 2017 - First Day in the Village

We started our morning out with devotions on the Great Commission.  During this time we reflected on how sometimes it tends to be the Great Omission as we sometimes fall short of spreading the gospel.  We were challenged to share it both at home and in foreign countries.  For those of us who attend Dorr CRC this message was very familiar for us as our own church is striving to reach out to those in our community and surrounding areas.  

It was then time to load the vans and head to the village.  For those experienced in this trip, it was a nice surprise to find that our ride to the village was only 15 minutes away this year.  The village we are in is over the mountain behind Paul's house.  We were warmly welcomed with hugs and smiles from lots of kids when we arrived.  The building process went well and we were able to complete 4 homes today and started a 5th before heading back home.  The most challenging part of the day was digging the holes for the posts as the ground was HARD.  We had a few families help out with the building of their homes.....they are so willing to help and so proud to contribute.  

VBS was also held in the local church with tons of kids in attendance.  There were many smiles and laughs coming from that building.  

As we were wrapping up our day and heading back to the vans, we were filling our water bottles and shared a cup of ice cold water with one of the families.  The look of joy on their faces as they tasted our ice cold clean water was humbling as we take it for granted.  We decided to refill their glasses and fill their pitchers with what water we had left........it was a win win situation as we had an empty jug to carry back and they had good clean water.

We're looking forward to tomorrow night as we will be hosting Joselin (the girl that we sponsor) and her family for dinner.  Please pray that our time together can be a blessing for both them and us. Since meeting Joselin last year, she has become more than just a girl we sponsor in another country, she has become more like family to us. 

Thanks for all your prayers,

Randy, Michelle, and Rachael Bosse