Updates from the Team
July 20-29, 2012, a team of 10 people from The Door served the communities in Paapa & Chioya (two of the three villages that make up Chejaneb, Guatemala). During this trip, they sent updates and prayer requests. You can read them below.
While you're at it, check out the child sponsorship page. There you'll see the faces of some of the children who were a part of Vacation Bible School the team led.
Updates from the 2012 missions trip:
URGENT: Please be praying for Sharon, Maddie, & Samantha since their uncle (Sharon & Brian's brother-in-law) passed away this week. Being away makes the loss more challenging.
Wednesday, July 25
Our team did six home visits today. Let me describe the most heart touching one for you.
We visited a boy named Amilcar. He is fourteen years old. He has a single mother who is struggling to send her children to school. Only grades 1 through 6 is free in Guatemala. For students to attend middle school, they need to pay the equivalent of 300 dollars per year. This puts secondary education out of reach for many.
Amilcar is finishing his last year of sixth grade, and he desperately desires to continue school, but his mother can't afford to send him since she has three other older siblings in school. Amilcar tearfully told us how much he wants to go to school, and he is working so hard to try to save money for middle school. He was so touched by our visit. He cried and got choked up through most of the visit between his smiles. He was so extremely sweet, and lost it in many tears during the time of prayer for his family because he was so touched. He gave us a handmade embroidery that he sewed himself. His mother showered us with food and her thanks for sponsoring him.
His actual sponsorship is unknown. He was on our list from The Door, but it turned out that we had the wrong name for him, but continued the visit since he was expecting it. God seemed to direct us to this home, for we have never seen a child so earnest and sensitive in his spirit, and so grateful for everything and our visit to the point of many tears.
It was incredible for Erica, Juliana and Maria to meet Byron and Evelyn, our sponsored children. When we entered Evelyn's house, there was only one decoration on the wall…and that only decoration was a picture of our family given by the team last year. They had made a frame out of construction paper with red hearts with each of our names inside. Evelyn cleaned and cooked all day yesterday to get ready for our visit. Though she was extremely shy, she sang a song for us to welcome us. Her family was extremely gracious and kind. We had fun teaching them to play UNO, which was one of the gifts brought for them.
Our time at Vacation Bible School was with the children ages middle school and up. These kids were our best behaved group. We were surprised at how much they got into the VBS songs and games and crafts. There is a certain innocence about them that is extremely rare in today's teenager. Our teenagers on the team have been so touched and shocked by the generosity of all of the children towards them. They have little and give much.
The work project is coming along well. Half the building is constructed. Today Sharon and Tom tied rebar while the rest of us were on visits. Tomorrow the work will continue, and then the community has a special goodbye event planned for us.
Juliana's foot is doing better, thanks for your prayers. Our team is holding up extremely well. We all feel well, and though we are tired, we have all been extremely touched by this trip and feel certain that God called us here to change our hearts and make us more like Him. The love of the people in this village is overwhelming. It is incredible to be here.
Blessings.
The G Team
Tuesday, July 24
Thank you so much for your prayers for our team. We made it through this day as an entire team, and definitely felt your prayers for us. Thank you, gracias!
The hotel we are staying in is fantastic. The meals are amazing with a Guatemalan flair. As a team, we are getting along together extremely well and are really bonding. The crisis that the Weavers are experiencing with having lost their precious uncle while on this trip really brought our team together in loving and supporting them. We were marveling in our reflection time last night how amazing we are melding as a group and how we are feeling like a family.
Today was our second day in the village. Juliana, Maria, Erica and Tom had the privilege and opportunity to visit three families today.
The first was the Glick´'s sponsored child named Marta. Marta wasn't there. We waited inside her home with the chickens. They looked all around the village. Apparantlly she went to school, but the teacher didn't show up, so she went off playing with her friends, but was nowhere to be found for our visit. We waited about a half an hour for her, and then had to move on! (Our Food for the Hungry worker took the items for Marta later in the afternoon while we were at VBS and took pictures of her for the Glicks.)
Our next stop was to the Pfieffer's sponsored child named Efrain. He wasn't home either, but was also at school. While we waited for him, we played balloon rockets with his brother, Marvin. Marvin was such a cutie pie with a huge grin from ear to ear. Efrain showed up and we had a wonderful visit with him. We told him all about Jared, Audra, Collin, Ethan, Roman and Jaxon. They were amused with our stories and send their love. They want to meet you, Pieffers! Efrain was delighted with his notes from the boys. He was thrilled with his gift, which were brand new pants and a shirt. He put the shirt on for the pictures. This family invited us to come back for lunch at their home, which we ended up doing after visiting the Campbell's little girl named Silvia.
Silvia was all smiles. She was extremely shy, but couldn´t stop grinning. Silvia's family sends their love to the Campbell's and their greetings to little baby Emily. We have so many pictures to share with you of this precious girl. We returned to Efrain's house and they treated us to turkey soup and hot tea. They greatly honored us with this gift of sacrifice for us. We have had to learn to recieve so much on this trip, which is not easy to take from a family that is so poor with dirt floors and next to nothing in their home for a family of so many children. But we are learning that this partnership with FFH is both about learning to give and learning to receive.
While we were doing home visits, Sharon, Kenneth, Maddy, and Sammy started working on our community project. Kenneth mixed cement. Sharon and the girls moved cement blocks from the shed to the work site. As a team, they built six layers of block on the medical clinic. Kenneth learned to do the fill for the cement blocks and he was commended by the men on the project for his handiwork.
In the afternoon, we led VBS for grades 3 through 6. We had about 125 kids today. The kids loved the crafts. We saw kids wearing their visors that were made yesterday, and they were wearing their salvation story cross necklaces today as well. We did our creation skit again today, and taught the kids some new songs with lots of motions. Kenneth and Tom taught the boys how to throw football today, and had two games of boys and girls soccer going, as well as another ball game going for each group rotation. Juli twisted her ankle walking down the hill, and had to sit part of the afternoon out. Please pray for her recovery.
As we left Paapa today, a mob of children followed us to the van, and ran behind us as we exited the village. We are certainly feeling the love, and believe this feeling is mutual.
Tomorrow, we have six more home visits in two separate teams, and have VBS for the middle school and post secondary children. Erica, Juliana, and Maria are excited to finally meet our sponsored children, Evelyn and Byron, and their families tomorrow. It is very humbling to see the love of these families in their impoverished surroundings. The people we are meeting are certainly rich in love and appreciation.
Blessings! Till tomorrow.
While you're at it, check out the child sponsorship page. There you'll see the faces of some of the children who were a part of Vacation Bible School the team led.
Updates from the 2012 missions trip:
URGENT: Please be praying for Sharon, Maddie, & Samantha since their uncle (Sharon & Brian's brother-in-law) passed away this week. Being away makes the loss more challenging.
Wednesday, July 25
Our team did six home visits today. Let me describe the most heart touching one for you.
We visited a boy named Amilcar. He is fourteen years old. He has a single mother who is struggling to send her children to school. Only grades 1 through 6 is free in Guatemala. For students to attend middle school, they need to pay the equivalent of 300 dollars per year. This puts secondary education out of reach for many.
Amilcar is finishing his last year of sixth grade, and he desperately desires to continue school, but his mother can't afford to send him since she has three other older siblings in school. Amilcar tearfully told us how much he wants to go to school, and he is working so hard to try to save money for middle school. He was so touched by our visit. He cried and got choked up through most of the visit between his smiles. He was so extremely sweet, and lost it in many tears during the time of prayer for his family because he was so touched. He gave us a handmade embroidery that he sewed himself. His mother showered us with food and her thanks for sponsoring him.
His actual sponsorship is unknown. He was on our list from The Door, but it turned out that we had the wrong name for him, but continued the visit since he was expecting it. God seemed to direct us to this home, for we have never seen a child so earnest and sensitive in his spirit, and so grateful for everything and our visit to the point of many tears.
It was incredible for Erica, Juliana and Maria to meet Byron and Evelyn, our sponsored children. When we entered Evelyn's house, there was only one decoration on the wall…and that only decoration was a picture of our family given by the team last year. They had made a frame out of construction paper with red hearts with each of our names inside. Evelyn cleaned and cooked all day yesterday to get ready for our visit. Though she was extremely shy, she sang a song for us to welcome us. Her family was extremely gracious and kind. We had fun teaching them to play UNO, which was one of the gifts brought for them.
Our time at Vacation Bible School was with the children ages middle school and up. These kids were our best behaved group. We were surprised at how much they got into the VBS songs and games and crafts. There is a certain innocence about them that is extremely rare in today's teenager. Our teenagers on the team have been so touched and shocked by the generosity of all of the children towards them. They have little and give much.
The work project is coming along well. Half the building is constructed. Today Sharon and Tom tied rebar while the rest of us were on visits. Tomorrow the work will continue, and then the community has a special goodbye event planned for us.
Juliana's foot is doing better, thanks for your prayers. Our team is holding up extremely well. We all feel well, and though we are tired, we have all been extremely touched by this trip and feel certain that God called us here to change our hearts and make us more like Him. The love of the people in this village is overwhelming. It is incredible to be here.
Blessings.
The G Team
Tuesday, July 24
Thank you so much for your prayers for our team. We made it through this day as an entire team, and definitely felt your prayers for us. Thank you, gracias!
The hotel we are staying in is fantastic. The meals are amazing with a Guatemalan flair. As a team, we are getting along together extremely well and are really bonding. The crisis that the Weavers are experiencing with having lost their precious uncle while on this trip really brought our team together in loving and supporting them. We were marveling in our reflection time last night how amazing we are melding as a group and how we are feeling like a family.
Today was our second day in the village. Juliana, Maria, Erica and Tom had the privilege and opportunity to visit three families today.
The first was the Glick´'s sponsored child named Marta. Marta wasn't there. We waited inside her home with the chickens. They looked all around the village. Apparantlly she went to school, but the teacher didn't show up, so she went off playing with her friends, but was nowhere to be found for our visit. We waited about a half an hour for her, and then had to move on! (Our Food for the Hungry worker took the items for Marta later in the afternoon while we were at VBS and took pictures of her for the Glicks.)
Our next stop was to the Pfieffer's sponsored child named Efrain. He wasn't home either, but was also at school. While we waited for him, we played balloon rockets with his brother, Marvin. Marvin was such a cutie pie with a huge grin from ear to ear. Efrain showed up and we had a wonderful visit with him. We told him all about Jared, Audra, Collin, Ethan, Roman and Jaxon. They were amused with our stories and send their love. They want to meet you, Pieffers! Efrain was delighted with his notes from the boys. He was thrilled with his gift, which were brand new pants and a shirt. He put the shirt on for the pictures. This family invited us to come back for lunch at their home, which we ended up doing after visiting the Campbell's little girl named Silvia.
Silvia was all smiles. She was extremely shy, but couldn´t stop grinning. Silvia's family sends their love to the Campbell's and their greetings to little baby Emily. We have so many pictures to share with you of this precious girl. We returned to Efrain's house and they treated us to turkey soup and hot tea. They greatly honored us with this gift of sacrifice for us. We have had to learn to recieve so much on this trip, which is not easy to take from a family that is so poor with dirt floors and next to nothing in their home for a family of so many children. But we are learning that this partnership with FFH is both about learning to give and learning to receive.
While we were doing home visits, Sharon, Kenneth, Maddy, and Sammy started working on our community project. Kenneth mixed cement. Sharon and the girls moved cement blocks from the shed to the work site. As a team, they built six layers of block on the medical clinic. Kenneth learned to do the fill for the cement blocks and he was commended by the men on the project for his handiwork.
In the afternoon, we led VBS for grades 3 through 6. We had about 125 kids today. The kids loved the crafts. We saw kids wearing their visors that were made yesterday, and they were wearing their salvation story cross necklaces today as well. We did our creation skit again today, and taught the kids some new songs with lots of motions. Kenneth and Tom taught the boys how to throw football today, and had two games of boys and girls soccer going, as well as another ball game going for each group rotation. Juli twisted her ankle walking down the hill, and had to sit part of the afternoon out. Please pray for her recovery.
As we left Paapa today, a mob of children followed us to the van, and ran behind us as we exited the village. We are certainly feeling the love, and believe this feeling is mutual.
Tomorrow, we have six more home visits in two separate teams, and have VBS for the middle school and post secondary children. Erica, Juliana, and Maria are excited to finally meet our sponsored children, Evelyn and Byron, and their families tomorrow. It is very humbling to see the love of these families in their impoverished surroundings. The people we are meeting are certainly rich in love and appreciation.
Blessings! Till tomorrow.