Greetings from Guatemala! God has taken our breath away this week - literally and figuratively. It's hard to breath in this elevation level. But God is doing great things and we are so blessed to be a part of this work here. Today I got to be a part of the concrete crew - I worked with Tim and a local Guatemalan named Jacob. The 3 of us got 5 houses with floors in them by 2 o'clock this afternoon. Your heart feels nothing but overwhelming love for these beautiful people and the gratitude that they show to us for the work we are doing in God's name is truly something wonderful.  Neither Tim or I know much of the Spanish language but we laughed and had a great time learning about Jacob's family and friends through the few words we could we could understand. Relationships are so very valuable down here and each one holds a special place in our hearts. After we got done with concrete work we headed over to help work on a few more started houses. I had the honor of receiving a manicure and a fancy braided hair-do from 2 little village girls and it looked marvelous! I have been blessed here in Guatemala and I pray that I have been even half as much of a blessing to these people that God has chosen for us to serve. There are many blisters, sunburn, and sore muscles around here and we are very much looking forward to a restful Sunday tomorrow. We covet your prayers and are thankful for all of you back home keeping an eye on us. Many blessings to you all!

Molly Kramer <3 p="">
What an amazing day this has been!  Sometimes I think that life cannot get  any better and then a day like this happens and I again realize  how blessed  I am!  This morning  the day started  out with a great breakfast, beautiful  singing, devotion and prayer.  Afterwords Lu/Ann and I were assigned to go to the church down the hill that runs the Feeding Station.  This is a wonderful program where approximately 50 Guatemalan children are schoolbused in to sing and dance to beautiful music, take part in several learning station taught by a  wonderful teacher, and have a yummy home cooked meal made by great  cooks.  It is so much fun  getting to know these beautiful children who are so happy with so little.  As we said goodbye to them as they ran to the school bus to take them home, I again realize just how children all have the same wonderful qualities that are universal in all children, kind, loving, beautiful, and  so smart. 

In the afternoon we again had another amazing adventure!  Some friends who live here in Guatemala picked us up to go a graduation celebration at the Christian English Academy called SALTA which stands for Salt and Light English Academy.  This school is run by a wonderful young couple that believes that all people have the ability to learn English as a second language.  Today several people were graduating ranging in ages from 14 years old to approximately 50 years old.  They all could speak English and the program was so interesting to watch because they all spoke so well and were so proud of their diplomas that I am sure they worked very hard for.  Refreshments were served and it seemed like home in a way because their families were there to celebrate with them and again they were all so friendly to us.  Afterwords we were asked to see a brand new home that was built just down the street  and it was beautiful and so well made.  The builder was so proud of his building skill, and why not his name Is Jesus!  Just so many blessings in one day here in this amazing country       

Shawne Mohr

For this part of the blog we need to give a brief history of what had happened yesterday. As soon as we got to the work cite I, Logan, had someone watch my backpack for me while I was running to grab more tools. I got back and the girls had told me that a dog had peed on my bag while I was gone, great start to the day.
So anyway, this morning a few of us had the opportunity to go to the orphanage. We had the pleasure  to celebrate Josue's 18th birthday. When we got there we were greeted with many smiles and hugs. A few of us went to the baby room and a few of us went to play with the toddlers. Samantha Oetman found a baby named, Anita, and soon handed her off to me. So as i'm bouncing her around and giggling and smiling she stops abruptly and I immediately felt my leg get wet. Yes, she peed on me. So now my nickname is "pee boy" and we are all wondering who is going to pee on me next. After a couple hours with the kids we headed in for lunch where we were fed amazing chimichanga's. After lunch we went outside and played with the kids for awhile before they all started swinging away at the pinata for Josue's birthday. After a eventful day at the orphanage we got back in the vans to head back. After talking about how great a shower would feel we were informed that we have a limited supply of water and that no one could take showers. After baked potatoes for dinner a few of us ended the night with some old hymns and good songs around the table. Tomorrow is Antigua so hopefully I don't get peed on because that would not be a fun experience due to having no dogs or babies...

Logan DeVries