4 November 2012

     Today we went to Cuatro Cayos.  Pastor Carlos was having a Kids Day for the kids of the village.  We met Jerry, another missionary worker here, and Griselda (sp?) and her daughter at Griselda's cafe in Rio Dulce.  They were going to Cuatro Cayos as well.  There are 2 ways to get to Cuatro Cayos.  One is by boat.  This is a good option as long as the river is not up too much from rain.  Then it turns into a floating obstacle course.  You can also drive there, IF you have 4-wheel drive and the gates are unlocked as the road to get there crosses some private property.  Its not like in the States a lot of property IS landlocked! Jerry had been there by truck before and we wanted to find out how to get there by truck in case we ever needed to take the kids home this way so we decided to drive.  (We also had just purchased a 4-wheel drive Suburban earlier in the week and wanted to try it out.)  So after a tamale breakfast courtesy of Jerry and Griselda, and those tamales were GOOD!,  we were off.

Our new ride.
 

     Everything was going smoothly until we got to a gate that was locked and the guardian of the property had gone to Seja (a town not too far from where we live that we had passed thru on the way).   So we had to turn around and try another way. There was another road we had passed that was a little longer and was a tad bit more of a challenge, but who doesn't like a challenge?

 

     The "road" went up a pretty good hill that looked like a couple of monster trucks had just played "Lets see who can dig the biggest hole?"  Undaunted, we tried it anyway.  Jerry knew where he was going so we let him go first.  He got about half way up and was trying to go up the trail to the right when he got hung up on a stump.  We wisely (?) put Alex behind the wheel as she had driven before and we began digging and pushing and pulling on the truck trying to get it off the stump.  (We were doing this by hand as we did not want to chance both trucks getting stuck.)  Alex did not realize Jerrys truck was a standard ( she had NEVER driven one before!), but as the tires spun pretty easily in the mud she didn't have to worry too much about stalling it out.  She did really well. 

After her first successful off-roading adventure!

     We finally got Jerry's truck out and then I got the Suburban stuck trying to BACK UP another mud-slicked hill we had came down on the way in.  Jerry was able to get around me facing the right direction and we attached a rope and were able to get the Suburban out as well.  New, all-terrain tires for the Suburban are in the near future.

We drove back to the locked gate,  parked the trucks, and decided to walk the rest of the way.  We took turns carrying the PVC poles for our puppet stage and the crate that had all the puppets, face paint, etc... in it for the next 3 miles (I'm guessing, but pretty sure I'm close).  Several of the hills we climbed were STEEP and tall.  Everyone drove on and nobody complained.  After about and hour and a half we arrived at the bridge over the river at the boat landing.  Now Brie is not a huge fan of heights, much less a suspension bridge that moves around alot (especially with Brenden and Toni's help), but she crossed like a champ.  Once across the river we only had abut 1/4-mile to go.  Three of the boys fom the village ran to meet us and toted the PVC poles for us the rest of the way to the village.  Just seeing how excited they were made all the walking and mud and effort worth it. 


     We finally arrived at the village around 11:00.  There were about 50 kids there waiting for us.  They were overflowing out of the church.  We quickly set up and did our very first Hacienda de Gracia award winning puppet show about Noah and the Ark.  We were able to talk Toni into narrating for us as his Spanish is a little better than ours (that was a joke).  All the kids did have speaking parts though and I think we pronounced everything right as everybody clapped at the end (of course, I guess they could have been clapping because it was over...Naaaaa). 

     Then the kids had a contest to see who could remember the most memory verses and who could recite all the books of the Bible.  The kids tried really hard and did really well. 

     After this, the kids from CC put on a play about the Good Samaritan, Samuel and also about James 2, about not showing partiality to someone based on how they look.  They were really good and looked like they really enjoyed showing what they learned.



The traveler getting mugged by the bad guys.
 

The Good Samaritan helping the traveler on his donkey.

     The village also treated all the kids, as well as us, to Pan Dulce and a hot drink (I don't know what it's called) that is made from boiled corn, rice, some cinnamon and some type of citrus fruit I couldn't put my finger on, and milk.  It was different but actually pretty good.

     While Jeanne and the twins set up to do face painting, Brenden, Dani and I pulled out the parachute.  The kids really had fun with the parachute.  We started off throwing a ball around with the parachute.  After awhile though the kids started getting bored with the ball so they decided to liven it up a little by using a dog,

a cat,
(Sorry, the cat was too fast.  I couldn't get the picture quick enough.)

and even some of the smaller children.  (No children or animals were harmed during the making of this film, I mean these pictures).

Jeanne and the twins painted every child in the village at least twice I think.  One boy even pulled his sleeve up for Jeanne as she had already painted all his exposed skin.  The kids really went crazy with the body art.

We finally packed up about 3:00 as we had a ways to walk back to our trucks and wanted to get there before dark.  Four boys from the village and the "mayor" walked us back.  A couple of the boys had bicycles and one carried the trunk on it all the way back.  That was a BIG help.  The trunk wasn't so much heavy as it was bulky.  Their help was a great blessing. 

     We made it back to our trucks with plenty of time to spare and made it back home without any further "adventure".  It was a tiring, but a GREAT day. 

October Mission Team

15 October 2012

 Today started early as we had to leave Rio Dulce at 6:00 AM to travel to San Pedro Sula. We had special guests arriving today. William Dunnam, one of our associate pastors, and Carl Thornburg, another member of our church, were traveling in. William was going to do a pastors conference for some of the Guatemalan pastors and Carl was going to help me make bunkbeds for the kids from Cuatro Cayos that will be coming to stay with us in January to attend school. Today was also our first "solo" border crossing.

We had no problems crossing the border except the guards going into Honduras stopped us and looked inside the van. He saw that we were a family and waved us on thru. That was a big relief.

Everything else went smoothly until we got to the outskirts of San Pedro Sula and the traffic all but stopped. People decided to try to drive around whatever was stopping traffic even if it meant driving down the side of the road in grass. A 2 lane road suddenly turned into a 5 lane road. When we got to the intersection, we saw what was holding up traffic. A panel truck had driven THRU a concrete pole. Well almost thru. It was actually kinda' wrapped around it.

 

That's gonna' leave a mark.

 

We got to PriceSmart to get groceries for the team and pastors a little late so I left Jeanne and the kids there to shop while I went to the airport. William and Carl were patiently waiting on me. (Sorry guys!) We went back to PriceSmart, picked up Jeanne and the gang and headed West. We arrived back home about 7:00 PM and Mari had dinner waiting on us. (She always does a great job cooking and caring for the teams.) It was a long but good day.  We are always happy to have visitors.

 

16 October 2012

Today is the first day of the pastors conference. 12 pastors arrive today to attend. William is teaching the pastors some English. "Straight Up." That is the theme of the conference. He is teaching out of Colossians 3 about focusing not on this world, but on things above. While Carl and I are busy making bunkbeds, we can hear the pastors upstairs and it sounds like they are having a good time. William says it's going well.

(No this isn't one of the pastors. It's Brie modeling their theme shirt.)

                   

Carl, Brenden and I manage to get 3 sets of bunkbeds finished and started on the 4th. Carl is a good carpenter. Brenden is turning into an expert planer.

 

We made 6 of these.

17 October 2012

William continues the pastors conference.  While I don’t speak the language, they all appear to be enjoying the conference.   I really wish I could attend.  But Carl, Brenden and I manage to finish the other 3 sets of bunkbeds, modify a bookshelf and make Jeanne’s screen door.  It’s amazing what you can get done when you have the sense to get out of the way and let someone who knows what they are doing take over. 

 

18 October 2012

Last day of the conference.  The pastors finish up this morning and have lunch.  Then they are off to take what they have learned back to their congregations.  Some of them have come from quite a ways away to learn more about God’s word.

After lunch, we load up in Bryan’s boat and travel up river to Cuatro Cayos.  The river has been up and down a lot lately due to all the rain as it’s still rainy season, and the obstacles in the river have moved around.  It is always changing and is always a challenge.  Fortunately Bryan has done this a time or two and we arrive without any trouble.

We are here to meet with the kids and their parents who will be coming to stay with us next year for school.  We want to get all the kids’ sizes for uniforms, get some updated pictures, and set up some rules and guidelines for the kids so hopefully we won’t have any problems when they arrive next year.  Everything goes well.  It looks like we will have 10 boys and 2 girls coming to stay with us. 

 

 

 

Pastor Carlos

Pastor Carlos' house.

                    

Pastor Carlos' church.
 

For those that don’t know, the kids here in Guatemala can go to school in their village until 6^th grade.  For most, that’s all the education they get, especially if the family is poor or they live in a village far away from a city with further schooling.  If they want to go to school past that, they have to go to a larger city and go to what’s called Basico, which is basically 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th grade.  After that, they can go onto 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th to take classes to prepare them for a profession that they will later go to college for. 

In January, we will be housing kids during the week that want to go to Basico.  As Cuatro Cayo is a poor village way up the river, this will give many of them the opportunity to further their education they would not normally have.   While Jeanne and I have always had a house full of kids, we have never had 12 that weren’t ours AND that spoke another language.  Please keep us in your prayers. 

19 October 2012

Today William and Carl leave to go back to the good old Estados Unidas (I think I spelled that right).  We are sorry to see them go, but are glad they came.  It means a lot to us when people from back home come to visit.   

 

 

 

15 July 2012

Today was our Cultural Awareness day.  We had "Church on the Rancho" brought to us by William, Afterwards we had a typical Carribian lunch of roasted chicken with onions, potatoes, carrots, squash. And sidedishes of yellow rice with greenbeans. Sauted brocolli, calliflower,onions, and sugarpeas., a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers, and of course salsa and tortillas.
      This being our "off day" we  loaded the team up and took them to see some of the local natural attractions. 
      First we went to Agua Caliente.  This is a waterfall where the water is heated by the volcano tubes underground.  Sometimes the water is so hot you can't touch it.  But this being the rainy season, the rainfall has the water cooled down, somewhat.  It's still hot, but you could actually get into it. The waterfall falls into a cold river.  The falls are about 30-40' tall.  Many of the locals jump off the top into the water below.  Don't tell Bryan, but almost everyone on the team jumped. 

After that, we went to a place called Boqueron.  It is a river that flows through this tall canyon that has trees and jungle growing out of the side walls.  Alot of people say it looks like something out of Jurassic Park. 

We swam and played here also. It was a cool and refreashing day.

July 11th. 
The team (with our much missed kids) arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras today.  They finally came thru the gates around 10:00 pm.  So glad to see them.  Had to stay in a hotel tonight as the border between Honduras and Guatemala closes at 9:00.

July 12th.
Arrived "home" in Rio Dulce, Guatemala with the team about 1:30.  We ate a quick lunch and then everybody got right to work.  The guys started work on an outdoor shower that the boys will use when we start housing kids who want to go to school past 6th grade.  (Yes, we'll let them shower indoors if they want, but who wouldn't want to shower under the stars.)

Someone forgot to pack the cement mixer.

The kids in the villages can go to school in their village until 6th grade.  If they want to continue their education, they have to go into a larger town like Rio Dulce.  We are planning on housing 10-20 kids from outerlying villages that wish to continue their education. 
The younger gentlemen and ladies started painting the boys dorm room. 

July 13th.

More work on the showers and dormroom.

July 14th.

Today we took a break from construction work and drove and hour and a half away to a village to do a medical clinic.  The Mayan Indians that live in the remote villages don't have access to a doctors like we do in the United States.  For many, this is the only medical care they can get.  We saw over 200 people and treated everything from colds to worms to skin conditions and rashes to infections.  Everyone did a great job.  The people were kind and truly grateful.  I think the team got the real blessing though.

Sorry for the long post, but I'm playing catchup.

We have been very busy since we arrived. On the way home we were going to stop and purchase a washer but we had a flat instead. thats o.k. We have had 3 since that day so life goes on! We have treated over 400 people. Yesterday we were on our way to a villiage that is about 3 hours away. we were about half way there and the bridge was out so we had to cancel our trip. It was sad but God knows what He is doing. I leave it all up to Him! 

Our Goodbye

Hello from Guatemala!  Yes we are finally here. We have been very busy trying to move in and do clinics with a team and we haven't had much time for blogging. I will get better.

We had our first birthday party here. Ms Jadyen had her 14 birthday and Guatemala turned all the lights off on our part of town just so her candles would shine brighter. It was fun and the cake was fantastic!!
   Going up the river today so pray we get there safely as all is flooded. Breakfast is calling, if I don't go now William will eat it all! more to come...

THANK YOU WILMER BAPTIST CHURCH

What an unbelievable evening!  We would really like to thank Ms Retta and all the wonderful people who helped prepare the delicious dinner  last night.  Everything was beautiful.  We were overwhelmed by everything (the food, the atmosphere, the tables, everything).  We would also like to give a special thanks to all the youth who sacrificed their saturday night to serve.  We never had an empty glass.  The service was awesome!  The outpouring of love that was shown to us from every person who attended is more than we ever imagined.  We love you all!  Please keep praying for us. Greg, Brenden, and I leave June 2nd. The 3 girls don't leave till later in July.    


                                                                                In Christ,

                                                                     Greg, Jeanne, Abby, Brie, Dani, and Brenden

P.S.
         please bear with us we only have dial-up at home here and it makes blogging difficult ( we have to move to a 3rd world country to get DSL) Thanks AT&T.

The Lease-Signing/Fact-Finding Tour

Last week, Will Dunnam, our Associate Pastor, and I went to Guatemala to prepare for The Stirm families arrival in June.  We left Mobile Regional Airport at 6:30a.m. and arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras at 11:15a.m. Not bad traveling 1200 miles(+/-) before lunch.  It's really not a bad trip at all.

When we got there, we managed to finesse our way thru customs without raising too many eyebrows, and as we headed to the door, we saw the ambulance Bryan had brought to pick us up in, but no Bryan.  So we waited...  And waited...  And waited...  Finally after about 10 minutes, Will says "Wait here with the trunks and I''ll go look for him."  A few minutes later as I'm eyeballing the Honduran soldier wearing the beret wondering if he's Airborne or do they just give those to anybody, Will comes back with the keys.  Bryan is inside at Wendy's eating lunch.  He didn't think our flight arrived for another 30 minutes.  We load the trunks in the van and leave it parked at the curb under the watchful eye of our Airborne(?) soldier and go inside to join him.  

After we finished lunch, we headed over to Costco to pick up a few groceries and to give me a chance to see what's available here and check out some of the prices to get an idea what our grocery bill will be like.  It's pretty much like a Sam's here in the states and the prices work out about the same.  The sell everything from groceries to computers to washers and dryers.  This will be where we come to do our major grocery shopping. 

Then we loaded up and headed west toward "the compound" (our near in the future new home) that will soon become Hacienda de Gracia.  On the way, we stopped at a Tilapia farm to look at the fish.  We timed it just right as it was feeding time. 

More to come...