Jacaltenango Installation Trip November 6-13

We are planning and preparing for our next mission trip. Five people will be leaving for San Andres, Jacaltenango, Guatemala November 6-13 to install a water filtration system at the school we signed a covenant with on our February trip.

The system will be put together and displayed at church in the Great Hall at the end of August, just in time for the upcoming rummage sale where you will have an opportunity to purchase a piece of the system. Everyone who fills out a form to make a donation to purchase a piece of the system will have their name displayed on the system board. Look for more information near the display board.

Speaking of rummage, this year all profits from the rummage sale are being given to the Living Waters Mission Team! So come out and buy some rummage September 10 and 11 at Fox Valley Presbyterian Church to support our mission.

Guatemala Hit Hard By Tropical Storms & Volcano

Claudia Caballeros, our Living Waters for the World contact, lives in Guatemala City and has been affected by the tropical storms and the erupting volcano. I recently e-mailed her to make sure she was okay and asked her how our friends in Jacaltenango were doing. Here is what she had to say....

Thanks to God my family and I are ok, the last Thursday Pacaya volcano entered a phase of lava fountaining reaching a height of about 1 km, drifting towards the City, so my house is complete cover with volcano sand and ash in addition the last Saturday the tropical storm Agatha slammed into Guatemala.

My house was a little hammered for the rain and sand, the water came into my house through the windows and doors also we had water infiltration through the walls and the roof, and a plastic roof over the laundry broke by the weight the sand; however we just needed move the furniture in my house and drain the water and shoveled the sand volcano.

I can say that I am blessed because there are buried houses, the rain triggered mudslides that cut off roads, rains brought traffic to a standstill and knocked out power in many neighbourhoods, and the government evacuated many families from at-risk areas.

I called to Gilberto and Rojas’ family, they are ok, and also they have small damages, and they appreciate your concern.

Gilberto say that he hopes e-mail to you this week, he is looking for a camera to send you pictures of the construction, they only have the foundations, the support of the construction, and also have some material to build; but they are raising money to finish the building, but he said that the construction will be finish at the end of July. Also we are looking for a new O.P. for your next visit.

Thank for your prayers

Blessings!!!

Claudia Caballeros

Please pray for our friends and all the people in Guatemala.

Fallen Bridges Hamper Guatemalan Rescue Efforts


Pictures of Storm

Tikal - March 7 & 8

Val and Paula went to Tikal to visit the Mayan Ruins. They stayed overnight in the Jungle Lodge and had a tour the morning they arrived and then had a sunrise tour the next morning where they hiked in the dark with flashlights to Temple #5 which is the second tallest temple in Tikal. Once they climbed the ladder to get to the top of the temple, they enjoyed the beautiful sunrise above the jungle canopy and could hear the monkeys and birds waking up. Did you know that the Howler Monkey is the second loudest animal on the planet? And Tikal has them. The elephant is the loudest animal on the planet. It was quite an adventure. Natives still use the ruins. Before Tikal became a park, the natives who were already living in the area were allowed to stay. Val saw a native in the early morning in the residential area.

You are Invited!

The LWW mission team is having their monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 17 at 7:00 p.m. at the church and everyone is invited. We will be talking about our trip and would love to share our experience with you. If you are interested in hearing about our trip, please come to the meeting!

Also, I am going to try and post slideshows of pictures from each of the days we were on our mission trip. To view the slideshow, go back to each daily post. The slideshow will appear at the beginning of each post.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

We left early this morning for Antigua to begin our journey home, arriving at about 3:30 pm. After some time shopping, we went out for a nice dinner, and reflected on this past week. Through your prayers and hard work, we accomplished a lot in our short stay here. We helped to build a home, repaired several water systems, signed new covenants, and made new friends.

We have been truly blessed to be here, and could not have done this important work without your support, and the support of our families. Thank you all, and we'll see you soon. God Bless.... We're coming home!

Friday, March 5

Today we took a long bus ride up the mountains to visit two schools in Tsizba to make two minor repairs to two Living Water Systems that Bay Presbyterian installed in January. The kids were happy to see the Gringos and the director welcomed us with open arms. We had some suckers for the kids and once the word got out that we had suckers, the kids all came running and it was quite a scene.

Tom, Ellen and Chris from Bay Presbyterian Church went back to the Habitat house. They poured two more columns and continued to level the floors with dirt by hauling buckets of dirt up from behind the house.

Our work ended at noon and Eliazar and the construction crew picked us up with Elvira and little Jose. They took us up the mountain to a look out point to view Jacaltenango from above. We could also see San Marcos and San Andres and the hills of Mexico.

After a few sodas, Eliazar took us to a church that had a beautiful large white cross in front of the church overlooking Jacal. Then we headed home.

We ate our last dinner together with Eliazar and after dinner, it was time for a celebration put on by Eliazar from Habitat and the committee. We danced the night away and each of us was given a hat as a thank you for all of our hard work. The people thanked us over and over and over again. They appreciate everything that we have done and everything we are planning on doing. Mr. and Mrs. Rojas joined the festivities also and we danced many dances together and laughed the night away.

Once the music was done playing, we said our good-byes to the Rojas family and a few tears were shed. They invited us back again to stay with them and continued to say...."Mi casa es su casa."

Thursday, March 4

We apologize for not blogging yesterday. But some of Jacal was without power for most of the day and the internet cafes happen to be on the grid that was without power. We had power at the hotel, but no internet. Then around 1:00 a.m. the power in the hotel went out. It was so peaceful. Then around 3:00 it came back on and it looks like the elctrical problems around town have been fixed.

So yesterday we spent our day back at the Habitat house shoveling and dumping buckets of dirt for the floor in the other bedroom. Some of us mixed concrete and poured it down the walls. We also made an attempt to tie u hooks onto rebar with wire. Kind of tricky, but we gave it a go. The house is coming along nicely and although there is a lot that needs to be done on the inside yet, the outside structure is almost done!

After dinner, Kristina from the Peace Corp, lead us on a walk to her house in the dark with only flashlights and headlights from passing cars helping us see where we were going. Kristina has a studio apartment in Jacal that is cheerfully decorated. It was nice of her to open her door to us. Kristina will be leaving the Peace Corp in a couple of months.

Once we returned to the hotel, we sat around the table and ate fresh mangos from Mexico that Johanna had prepared for us and microwave popcorn that took about 15 minutes to pop in the microwave. Johanna cooked the mangos in a sweet nutmeg sauce. Mangos from Mexico can make people sick if not prepared this way. You are not supposed to eat them "raw". So we had a wonderful night sitting around the table talking about our day and laughing.