How nice it was to hang out with my family and my new fiancé!  Yes, I proposed to Kaela, my girlfriend of over three years and she said yes!  Woohoo!  If you want any details, contact me.  It was really nice to spend time with her, who I hadn’t seen in 68 days (she reported).  It was also very nice to see my dad, Kate, and her fiancé Matt, not to mention getting to know several new, really caring individuals from Divine Shepherd- John (I already knew but learned much more), Matt, Ryan, Sommer, Karen, Nicole, Bruce, and Frank. 

We worked in Campenario La Avanzada where Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church has an ongoing relationship.  We did a VBS, built a house, built bunk beds, had an eye clinic, and also held some Bible studies.  The eye clinic was a great success.  I think we saw around 80 patients and gave out something like 60 pairs of glasses and handed out a whole lot of sunglasses.  Kaela was our ophthalmologist, Ryan and Matt helped figure out what prescription to give, Karen and Nicole helped fit glasses, and my dad and I prayed with patients before they left. 

Here in front you can see beds and lumber on the road
and behind is Bruce and a little further behind him
is the pickup.  We probably should have secured
the load a little better... oops...

This was an awesome experience for dad and me.  We got to talk face to face with many people and ask what was weighing heavy on their hearts.  The majority of the people asked to pray for health for themselves and their family and thanks for the new glasses.  We had one woman (maybe 60 years old) who came through and asked us to give thanks that we were there working with her people.  When I asked her if there was anything else she said that she prays that a priest would come to their village more often to take care of the people and teach the Bible.  This was very refreshing!  I was starting to wonder if there was anyone in the village that was genuinely concerned about the well being of their people.  This woman was very encouraging for us and the work that we are doing there. 

We had a steady attendance for the VBS the whole week- around 100 to 150 kids.  You will have to ask those who worked there for more information about how it went.  I was doing a Bible study with dad in a different place at the same time.  We had a Bible study for youth one day, women another, and men yet another.  The first day we had two young men show up, Caesar and Marcial.  We asked them how much they knew about Jesus or about the Bible.  They mentioned something like Jesus is our savior but they said they didn’t know much more than that.  So my dad proceeded to tell them about John and his Gospel and using verses like John 3:16 and 20:31.  I think they really enjoyed the word and left curious to learn more. 

Here is Pequeno Juan (small John) and a group of
junior high students who made John, my dad, and me lunch.
We went to Progreso, a neighboring village to meet
some friends that I have made in my many journeys
to the area.  Very nice people there!

There is a Catholic church in La Avanzada and the attendance is around 60 every week.  La Avanzada is a town of around 600 people.  So, we can see a definite lack of church attendance, which is not so much different from the situation in the US.  We were told that the priest only comes 4 or 5 times a year to give communion.  The person who holds the weekly services for them is an elder of the Catholic church in La Union.  There is an evangelical church there in La Avanzada but only a few attend it.  There is definitely room for these people to grow spiritually. 

What we want to do is to help these people grow in faith the way that the early Christians did it back in the day.  That is, give them the good news and let them meditate on scriptures, pray, praise, and support one another in small groups.  We are trying to achieve this by giving biblical training to two individuals- Rony and Lilian (both 20 years old).  What my dad and I tried to do this last week was to model a small group Bible study for them to implement with their people.  We sung songs, had plenty of time for meet and greet, prayer, and some Biblical study/instruction. 

Look at the size of this butterfly!!!

This task is a large one and it isn’t going to happen over night.  So, this is my prayer and also my request for you to pray as well, that God may send his Holy Spirit to these people and encourage them to seek Him and receive us who have come in His name. 

There is so much more I would like to share but I don’t want to wear you out!

Thanks for reading!

Your brother in Christ,

Aaron

Making the tortilla!  Yum!

El Oratorio and San Pablo

I have been so busy lately!  It has been tough to find time to write here on my blog.  Luckily, I have one day off today.  I will try to catch you up as much as I can.

We had a group of 10 individuals come from Trinity Lutheran in Richmond, VA last week.  Randy Ronning was their leader and much of his family came with him- wife- Kay, daughter- Emily, and son Andrew.  There also was Jim- Emily's boyfriend (they teach together in Korea), Wayne, Evelyn, Christina, Marsha, and Nadia.

Their first full day in Guatemala they spent at the Copan Ruins in Copan, Honduras.  This site lays hold of the remnants of an ancient Mayan civilization dating back a few years before Christ and ended around 890 AD.  We had a lot of fun getting our guided tour their and learning more about the history of Central America.

Sunday, we went to El Oratorio, which is in between two little towns that I have worked previously- La Avanzada and El Progreso.  We held a service there in the grade school's covered patio.  We invited leaders from both Progreso and La Avanzada to come to this service.  It was the first time that these three villages had ever come together to worship (or for any reason for that matter).  It was a phenomenal event.  At first I was a little worried, on account of us arriving to an empty forum.  But I soon found out the reason for this was that we had scheduled our service at the same time that the Catholic Church was having their service.  We waited and sure enough they all came afterwards and we ended up having close to 100 people in attendance.

We prayed, praised, and gave thanks for all the things that God has done and has yet to do in our lives.  We were received very well by the village, and Ancelmo (president of the community board) had some very touching words to say which I butchered through translation- the message still loses a bit of its tenderness when I translate.

We had a torrential downpour on Sunday night that hit us hard for most of the night.  We woke up to find out that the only bridge that could carry us to Oratorio had been destroyed in the flash flood.  So we were forced to stay in Gualan- where the team was staying.  This turned out to be a blessing however.  Miriam- the owner of Hotel Miravalle had a sister who died on Sunday afternoon.  We all attended her funeral on Monday- which was as interesting an experience as ever.  If you want to hear more about it, contact me because I don't have enough time to write it down right now.

The bridge was out for a couple of days so we ended up changing our plans a little bit- which made me kind of sad but here in Guatemala you learn to just roll with the changes- there are few things that you can count on here.  Instead of going to Oratorio to do our VBS and construction we went to San Pablo- another work site similar to that in Oratorio.  We worked construction and did our VBS on Tuesday and Wednesday there.  The team from Virginia just rolled with the punches and did not complain one bit about the change of plans- really a great group.

We did get to go to Oratorio on Thursday- a bit of a treacherous journey on account of the mudslides left by the heavy downpours.  But we made it!  We did our VBS for the grade school kids there and they were very well behaved young children.  I got to meet their director and I mean to tell you, this man really knows what he's doing.  The kids there in Oratorio looked healthier and were doing better in school than the the neighboring villages.  Also, their facilities looked sufficient and clean.  I asked Ramiro why this is and he told me that this director demands things from the government for his students  and teachers.  He is very organized and writes letter after letter to the department of education for supplies and resources and he gets results- go figure!  His kids get lunch every day at school- with Incaparina- which is a protein supplement that really meets a lot of the kids' needs physically.  Whenever he addresses his kids they all shut up immediately and give him all their attention- awesome!

The VBS went really well and we then went over to dedicate the house for Aparicio, Teodora, Rodrigo, and Santo.  Aparicio and Teodora are the grandparents of Rodrigo and Santo.  Rodrigo and Santo's mom died a few years ago from pneumonia possibly and her last request to her sons is that they stay and take care of her parents.  Rodrigo is 19 and Santo is 13- they are complying their mother's request and now have a brand new home to live in.

I gave a brief message and we dedicated the house.  The family was very thankful for the house.  Our only regret- on both sides of the project (Americans and Guatemalans) was that we didn't have more time to spend together.

I have to tell you about just this last week but that will have to wait for another day.

Prayer Requests:

• Families receiving homes- that of Aparicio (El Oratorio) and of Haroldo (San Pablo)
• CALMS team here in Guatemala- Ramiro(coordinator), Nills (translator), Karla(translator), Spongbob (driver), and myself- we have been working pretty much non stop, sun up to sun down (and past), every day of the week and the end is not in sight yet
• Lutheran church in Zacapa and Gualan- that God would raise leaders
• Teams that are traveling to and from Guatemala

Thanks for reading!  God Bless!

P.S.- I did get to go to the beach in the South of Guatemala with my host family last weekend- Que Bonita!  It was Reynaldo's bithday present- he's 50.

Shoot! I missed the 4th of July fun...

Here I am in front of some gorgeous waterfalls
just 15 minutes from my house

...I guess it's alright though.  I had plenty of fun on my own and lots of work to do here in Guatemala.   I have had two weeks without a group of American missionaries now but that doesn't mean the work has stopped or even slowed down for that matter.

Last Tuesday Ramiro and I went to Rio Dulce
This is a picture of Castillo San Felipe
It was used as a fortress back in 1595 when the Spanish
military occupied the area

These are some of the friends I made in San Pablo
where we are building a house and intend to
have a medical clinic and VBS

Ramiro and I have been working diligently on getting all of the upcoming projects ready to go.  Coming up we have 1) a house being built, medical clinic, and VBS in Oratorio (July 16th) 2) house, medical clinic, and VBS in San Pablo (July 23rd) 3) house, eye clinic, VBS in La Avanzada (July 30th) 4) and then another house building/VBS in Los Limones (August 6th).  So, there is a lot to do.

This is Marcilino, standing in front of the wall that
we built in Progreso

It has been lots of fun getting to know the different people from the various small towns.  We visited San Pablo a couple times last week and the little kids flocked to me and kept telling me to take off my sunglasses (they don't see too many blue eyes around there).  I taught them a little English, we played soccer and I also sang some songs with them (more like to them- they were a little shy to sing) about Jesus that I hope to use for the VBS there in two weeks.

One of the biggest obstacles that the church, and the culture for that matter, has to overcome is this phenomena called machismo.  Machismo, or macho-ism is this cultural pressure that says a man has to completely dominate all of his surroundings- especially his wife and kids.  This is something that I have read in books and articles but it never felt real- until now.  I have seen it first hand.  There are numerous cases of battered women and child abuse.  Also, for a man to have a significant amount of money and not have numerous mistresses is rather uncommon.  If a man has money the women (young or old) throw themselves at him.  So the problem doesn't only lie with the men.

In the poorer communities, especially in the mountains where I have been working, machismo takes on a little different look.  For example, there are many malnourished children here in Guatemala, in part due to economic hardship,  and another part due to the most nutritional food going to the man of the house.  If there are eggs to be eaten the man eats them and then sells the rest.  The wife and kids eat beans and corn tortillas (staple of their diet).

I write this little bit of information because some of you have been wondering what I have been learning here and what obstacles stand in the way of sharing the Gospel.  Machismo is just one.  I have had the opportunity to go to several political events here with my host dad Reynaldo.  He is a lawyer and on a committee that is supporting one of the political parties (elections are in September).  Reynaldo has let me tag along to several of these meetings and I have meet congressmen, mayors and the governor of the state of Zacapa.  Something I have noticed while researching is that all the political parties seem to promise the same things: better employment, education, security, health, water, electricity, infrastructure etc...  Maribel (my host mom) says that this is what all of the politicians say year in and year out and few follow through with it.  I guess politics are politics no matter what country you are talking about and Guatemala is no exception.

I am told that the government has money and that it is meant to be used for the people but the majority of the public officials use it to line their pockets (se ponen en sus bolsas).  This is the sad part.  On the bright side of things there are several organizations and peoples out there that are taking matters into their own hands and improving their communities without the help of the government.  In Progreso, the last village I blogged about.  The community has come together to put funds toward building a new classroom to their grade school.  Also, this community has worked (without government help) to fix the roads near their village.  This is awesome to see and these are the kind of people that I, and CALMS love to work with.  People who want to help themselves and don't expect handouts.  One of CALMS's mottos is that we work with people not for people.

This is Rodrigo and Santo from Oratorio.  They are receiving a house from
CALMS as well as working on it too.

What we (CALMS) want to do in these small villages is to raise hand in hand the economic along with the spiritual well being of the people.  With help from God, first of all, and with churches in the US we have done so and continue to do.

After the first few weeks of being here I was pretty depressed.  I was homesick, sick to my stomach (getting used to the food), and I didn't feel like had much direction.  I was wondering why I had come in the first place.  I prayed to God to give me some direction, support, wisdom, insight or something!  With much of my free time I have been reading my Bible and every time I open it I find assurance.  God answered my prayers in every way, shape and form.  Now,  6 weeks into my trip, I really feel like God sent me here for a purpose and would not be surprised if he sends me back in the future.

Thanks for reading!

This is a family from Piedras Azules.  They will be
receiving a house in August.

Prayer Requests:

• The team coming from Trinity Lutheran in Richmond Virginia
• Oratorio- the family receiving the house (Abricio, Rodrigo, Santo, and Norma), and for the Holy Spirit to come to the community
• Salvador with health problems from Progreso
• Ramiro (my new bff and CAMLS's housing coordinator)- the man works really hard
• My host family is traveling to and from Guatemala City this week
• Me- assurance and guidance

Campenario Progreso

No shortage of marvelous vistas

Another fantastic week has passed for me here in Guatemala.  This week I had a team from St. Matthews Church in Esko Minnesota come down and do an eye clinic, VBS, and work on putting a new wall up in the school.  Progreso is a small town in the "county" of La Union close to La Avanzada, where I have previously worked.  It is way up there in the mountains probably over a mile above sea level.  

We started out the week with an eye clinic which was hosted in the school room of "basicos" or what amounts to Jr. High in the U.S.  I think the eye clinic was one of the best things we could have done for the people there.  So many people came in knowing how to read but were not able because there vision was so bad.  The smiles on their faces after they received their new pair of glasses were just heart warming.  I talked to several patients who said that they were so happy they could see and that they can finally read their Bible, what an awesome gift we were able to give.  

Here we are taking the "mountain bus" aka
a toyota pickup back to the "hotel" after
the eye clinic

Linda was our nurse  and she checked for eye infections and any physical abnormalities and her translator was Louisa, a woman who grew up in El Salvador but now lives in Minnesota- it was truly amazing to watch her connect with the people there in Progreso as if they were family.  Joe and Kim worked on finding the right magnification for those who needed correction and Nilss (a Guatemalan who works for CALMS) was their translator.  Mark and Sue worked on finding the right pair of glasses and making sure they fit right- they worked pretty good without a translator, but I helped them when they needed it in that capacity.  Kathryn and I were at the front checking people in and Pastor Tom was helping wherever he was needed.  

The shower

Hotel San Mateo/coffee processing plant

We were going to stay in a building that was used for a health clinic and for some teaching but when we arrived the leaders of the town took us to their coffee processing plant or "beneficio".  So this is where we stayed.  It was a big open space with concrete walls and floor, tin roof, and coffee bean roasters and other machinery.  It was not in the plan but the team just rolled with it and did not complain.  There was one toilet that worked maybe half the time and electricity that worked most of the time.  The shower was a hose outside that filled up a bucket.  It doesn't sound like much but it was truly awesome to have a nice big space where we could spread out our air mattresses, chairs, table for food, and tables for cooking.  Pastor Tom reminded us that this was a "God-thing" and that is was nothing we could have planned or anticipated.  It all worked out pretty good.   

Inside Hoel San Mateo

This was the first time a group of North Americans had come into this town and the people of Progreso were terrifically hospitable.  We had fresh corn tortillas in the morning and we kept receiving plantains, oranges, and bananas from generous people.  

Can you spot me?

Wednesday we had a VBS for all the school age kids.  We had kindergarten through 9th grade come through or building that day.  I think the total was near 400 kids.  There was three groups in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.  For the younger kids we sang songs, colored, handed out beanie babies and Pastor Tom had a brief message for them about Noah's ark.  For the older kids we sang songs and made a necklace depicting the story of Jesus and what he did for us.  

It was so much fun to see those kids' faces light up with smiles when we sang our song called "Yo tengo un amigo" or "I have a friend".  I am not sure if this is the official name for it but it went like this, IIIIIIIIII(suspended "I") have a friend who loves me, who loves me, who loves me.  I have a friend who loves me and his name is Jesus.  We sang it in Spanish of course and the kids just ate it up.  They were a little shy at first but soon warmed up to us and were singing along.  Thursday when some of our group was walking around the village they overheard a young girl singing and teaching the song to her little sister- they said it was AWESOME to hear it.  The rest of the week we would start singing the song in the streets and get several kids to join in with us.  The Spirit is at work!!!

US vs. Guatemala, World Cup

We got done with VBS early in the afternoon and were invited to play soccer against the boys of "basicos."  To which Pastor Tom said "Bring it on!  The selection of the U.S. versus Guatemala for the World Cup final!"  We didn't know what we were getting in to.  Those boys were good and we are old :).  Luckily we had Marcilino on our team- one of the leaders of the community- and man could he play! He is 34 years old but was running circles around these teenagers.  We lost 3-0 but if you asked are goalie (Pastor Tom) you would probably get a different score.  We all had lots of fun and right after we said we were done and too tired, the girls of "basicos" asked us to play with them- so we did.  We then had to walk probably a mile back up the mountain to "Hotel San Mateo"-aka the coffee processing plant.  We were all exhausted.

Linda stayed back at the hotel when we went to play soccer and she got a neat opportunity to visit with some of the people of the village.  They approached her and talked to her even though she couldn't speak hardly any Spanish.  Linda had a conversation with a man named Salvador and she tried to show him something in her Bilingual Bible to him but he told that he could not see the words.  Salvador had missed the eye clinic on Tuesday and his eyes were so bad he couldn't read anymore.  Linda let him borrow her reading glasses and his face lit up like the fourth of July when he looked back at the Bible with his new glasses.  All this was done without a translator- Linda witnessed without speaking Salvador's language.  I caught Salvador on his way away from our "hotel" and saw that he had some glasses on and his nose was in his new Bible.  He looked up at me and said, "Antes no miraba, pero ahora yo miro!"  which means, "before I was not seeing, but now I see!"  I took this opportunity to share with Salvador (his name means Savior in Spanish, by the way) the story of Jesus healing the man born blind.  He really appreciated this reading as did I with a new context to apply it to.  

Thursday the men stuck around the school to help with construction and the women went around to visit people in their homes and at school.  There was 7 or 8 men who volunteered to help with the construction of the school.  This was a shock to me.  These men are having a hard time feeding there families but they were willing to take time away from tending to their farms and come help build this school- how neat!  Work is scarce and it appeared to me that the men were happy to work- with or without pay.  

Friday morning we had a little going away service with some of the leaders of the town.   Pastor Tom and I shared some Bible passages, we prayed, and then talked about how everyone felt about the week.  The people from Progreso were sooooo happy that we came and really thankful for the work that we had done and the relationships that were started.  They expect this group from St. Matthews Church in Esko, Minnesota to return and all the members of the group concurred that repeated visits would be a must.  

Friday afternoon we stayed at Hotel Miravalle in Gualan and had a little time to relax in the pool.  The team was exhausted and were all ready to take some much needed rest.  The team then headed off for Guatemala City yesterday, Saturday and are scheduled to leave for the States tomorrow morning.  

Prayer Requests

• Safe travel for the team
• That the Holy Spirit dwells among the people of Campenario Progreso
• Salvador- a very sick man we visited and prayed for
• Continued strength for the CALMS team here in Guatemala, Ramiro, Nilss, Karla, and myself
• Donaldo, aka Nachito- boy from La Avanzada who broke his leg
• Rosa- woman from Oratorio with congestive heart failure
• Strength for the Lutheran Church in Zacapa- Divino Salvador

Whoa! What a Week!

Sunday, I went with Ramiro and the team from my home church, Divine Shepherd in Omaha, to Campenario La Avanzada.  I had visited here for a few days back in March and it was fun to see some familiar faces, like Rony and Lilian- two young leaders in the community to whom our church is giving scholarship for school.

La Avanzada is sort of our adopted Guatemala sister church- the whole community that is- 110 families.  What CALMS and Divine Shepherd are trying to do jointly is to raise "una iglesia organica" or an organic church in La Avanzada.  This community would in turn be an example of a natural Christian community for the surrounding small towns.  What we want to do is raise these young leaders, Rony and Lilian to lead services and share the Bible with all of their community.  Many of the people there cannot read and it will be Rony and Lilian's responsibility to get the Word of God to them and to lead regular services.

When we arrived on Sunday we had a worship service.  We sang, we read Bible verses, and Rony read a little devotional message.  It was mainly women and children there, numbering about 30.  After this some of us went to see a young boy who was said to have fallen from a tree and hurt his leg.  So Dave, our physical therapist, and our nurses, Erin and Mariel, went to check it out.  The boy definitely had a fractured leg below the knee.  Ramiro and I immediately took him and his father to the hospital in Zacapa.  The doctors fixed him up and now has a cast on his leg and is recovering.  His name is Donaldo and it turns out that he had been lying on a mat in his house for 8 days after the incident, being carried around by his father if he needed to use the restroom.  Eight days with a broken leg!  Poor kid.  I am sure his dad would have take him to hospital if he could have.  For one, he doesn't have a car, and for two, he would never be able to pay the hospital for the surgery.  It was a pretty sad situation.  But all is well now thanks to CALMS and the volunteers there.

Monday through Thursday we held two clinics, one was a medical clinic and the other was a dental clicic.  Greg, our dentist, Steve (improv dental assistant) and Donna (translator) worked with several patients and pulled out an incredible amount of rotten teeth in the four days.  They also filled some cavities but were impeded on Wednesday (I believe) when the drill broke.  They probably could have stayed for several weeks fixing teeth there in the village.  The diet and the lack of tooth brushing in La Avanzada account for their large lack of dental health.  With every patient our dentist crew tried to educate the patients on how to take care of their teeth.

Here is a picture of some patients waiting for the dentist(front center), Sean

talking with Lilian (breaking the language barrier, on left) and 

Carly, Katie, Laura, and Lisa discussing important VBS 

business (in back)

Dave (PT), Erin (nurse) and Mariel (nurse) along with several translators (myself, Nils, Karla, Marilyn, Charles, and Pastor Miguel) held a medical clinic and saw many patients, most of which were women and children.  We saw three major sicknesses, skin problems (sarcopioses), respiratory problems (climate), and stomach/diarrhea problems (parasites).  We did the best we could to provide some temporary relief for these illnesses but the bigger problem is the lack of sanitary living conditions.  So this is one thing that we have been trying to instill in the people there, that these illnesses can be prevented by bathing regularly, washing your hand regularly, and keeping animals out and away from the home.  These are just a few of the things that the people of La Avanzada could do to help the health situation.

Here is Dave (Physical therapist) giving a women some tips

on fixing her hip problem and Nils (translator)

We also put on a VBS in the afternoons for the kids.  I was not able to see what transpired there at all because I was needed for translation at the medical clinic but I heard we had a great turnout and the kids were really excited about learning the Bible.

The other thing we did was build a house for Ismael.  Ismael is confined to a wheel chair on account of an injury he sustained three years ago.  The house we built him had a bathroom, two bedrooms, a nice space for a kitchen and living area and two doors with ramps leading outside.  We dedicated the house yesterday and it was rather emotional for all involved, especially for Ismael and his wife.  We read some Bible passages, blessed the home, and then celebrated his birthday for it was that same day.  We had a really good turnout as well of community members there to support Ismael.

Here Ismael and his wife are moved to tears of joy
and gratitude for the house

The individuals from Divine Shepherd were as fantastic as they were diverse.  We had people from all sorts of backgrounds and trades and they all pulled together to make some great relationships with one another and the people of La Avanzada.  This is a really neat opportunity that we have to build relationships with our Guatemala brothers and sisters.  We can take this from Jesus- the best way to spread the Gospel is through building strong relationships.









Prayer Requests:

• Ismael and his family (Ismael is struggling with depression- being confined to the wheelchair has been tought 
• Rosa- suffering from congestive heart failure
• The Divine Shepherd team- safe travel home
• Sufficient rest for Ramiro, Nils, Karla, and myself (these trips are high energy and action-packed for everyone involved)
• The people of La Avanzada to receive God's Word and to trust in Him
• Rony and Lilian- guidance and confidence to be leader

Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Me and Ismael

This family lives a surrounding village called Oratorio
and will be receiving a house from CALMS in July

This is Ramiro Penate, the mastermind and the
muscles for CALMS in Guatemala

Here is the team enjoying lunch after a hard
morning's work

Miguel, Ramiro, and I visited some leaders from
El Progresso, another small village that CALMS is working with to spread the Gospel among other things

Here is Sean (DCE at Divine Shepherd) and Lilian

Things Are Picking Up

Greetings all!

Things are really picking up now.  Thursday was my last day for now teaching at the little school in Fragua.  I have some pictures below that I took that day so you can see little bit of what I was doing.  To start out I would teach English- rather simple phrases for conversational use and then I would share a Bible story with them.  I had lots of fun doing this and I felt God was working through me to reach these kids.  I hope that I will have time to return and teach some more- I believe I will, primeramente Dios (God- willing).

Last week I fell terribly ill with a bad headache and an upset stomach.  Luckily, I didn't have a whole lot to do last week, but I think this made things worse because I was sick and without a real tangible purpose.  Things felt kind of dark and I prayed God would support me and lift me up, and He did- He always does.  I met with Pastor Miguel on Friday, he came a day before the group from Divine Shepherd (my home church)  and we had some time to catch up and to talk about our mission work for the upcoming months.  This got me really excited for several reasons- for one, I could speak English to somebody, two, I had a friend and a familiar face, and three, he helped me solidify in my mind what it was I was doing down here in Guatemala.

                          Go Sean Go!

We picked up the team on Saturday without one hick up, we all ate Pollo Campero (KFC of Guatemala) and then headed out for the Gualan-Zacapa area.  The trip went rather smooth- we just had to stop at a gas station a while and let the brakes cool off on the van Sean was driving.  Us flatlanders have to pay special attention to brake usage in mountainous regions (oops).  All was well and the team dropped me off in Zacapa, where I live, and they proceeded to Gualan. 

Saturday afternoon, Zacapa won the championship for the premier league in Guatemala and there was a large gathering in the town square in Zacapa to receive the team.  I went there with Jossymar and some of his friends from school.  We waited for over three hours for the team to get there.  They kept telling us the team was right around the corner- but it was all good because they had this awesome local band with trumpets, marimba, guitar, drums- the whole nine yards.  The music was fantastic!  The singers had some sick dance moves too- the only problem was that they were the only people dancing!  Nobody else was dancing!  I couldn't believe it.  Maribel and Jossy had told me that they didn't have dances here in Zacapa but it still shocked me.

I just could not help myself- I danced...  If I didn't already get enough attention with the light skin, hair, eyes and being a head taller than most people I certainly did when I was literally the only one dancing in a crowd of 1000 people or so.  It was contagious.  First my friends started dancing and sure enough we had a little pocket of brave souls dancing up a storm.  But they seriously don't dance here in Zacapa.  It's incredible!  I asked about it and they said the girls like to dance but they won't dance until a guy asks them and the guys don't think it is cool to dance (machismo- look it up).  

Anyway, the team finally came at 12:30 am and by that time I was exhausted.  We watched a little bit of the receiving- which was interesting- the Zacapa soccer team has it's own song and so does the town itself- and all the townies knew both- it was awesome- Vamos Euipo! (let's go team) Super Gallo!  (super rooster- their mascot).  

Sorry it's a little fuzzy (camera phone) but here is the stage in

Zacapa's Central park

Today, Ramiro (CALMS housing coordinator) and I met the Divine Shepherd team at the Miravalle Hotel in Gualan and took off for La Avanzada.  This is always an interesting climb up into the steep mountains.  We made it with no casualties and set up for our Sunday service in the community center there.  We had maybe 30 townspeople there, the majority of which were women and children.  We sang, read some Bible scriptures focusing on God's beautiful creation and the specifically the crown of his civilization- man, and Ronni- one of the young leaders there in La Avanzada read a devotional for us.  

There was a young boy that was needing some medical assistance there in town we had some of our medical people take a look.  The boy's father Donaldo Sr., said that Donaldo Jr. fell out of a tree and hurt his leg.  You didn't need to be a doctor to tell that the little boy's leg was broken- a pretty bad fracture, and he told us it happened 8 days ago!  Yikes!  We put Donaldo Jr. in my pickup and Ramiro and I took him and his dad to the Hospital in Zacapa.  I'll let you know how he is doing tomorrow, I don't know anything as of now.  

We filled my pickup pretty well full with pop, water, popcorn,

and medicine

That's it for today.  Thanks for reading!

Prayer requests:

For Donaldo and the doctors working with him

For the Holy Spirit to rest upon and enrich the people of La Avanzada to participate in the different activities we have for them this week

For God to be with our team as they perform the various tasks tomorrow: dentist clinic and Bible study

Safe travel for all

Adios y Dios les bendigan!