Showing posts with label Santa Maria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Santa Maria. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Getting Their Hands Dirty








First of all, take a moment to enjoy the picture of Brett eating a whole lot of ice cream. The rumor around the team's house is that Brett has been given the nickname "hairball" by one of the kids here. No word yet on why that is! Brett shared with us last night that he joined the team late and got his passport in one day! Talk about a miracle!

The group of folks doing the construction work have been demonstrating a very strong work ethic and have worked all day long to accomplish their tasks. The pictures above are hopefully just the beginning of the pictures we can share on here.

Don was quite an inspiration yesterday as he was sick as a dog and still managed to squeeze out a half day of work anyway.

Pauline, Carol, Gale, Judy and the ladies of the painting team demonstrate the perfect attitude of servanthood and a humble willingness to do "whatever is needed."


The ladies in the office have been painting up a storm! They have already finished the office and are off painting class rooms. It is quite possible that this band of merry painters for the Lord will paint the entire building before we are done.

Outside, Hillary shows herself to be just as tough as the guys as she performs on their level all day long without complaint. Bill Brown is also an inspiration. Primarily a member of the ministry team, he has such a heart for the kids here and a willingness to serve. He can be found jumping in outside whenever he has some down time and being the first to jump in for the ministry team when we need something prepared for tomorrow's services.

It can sometimes be hard to manage a mission team of 3 different teams. The construction team, the ministry team and the dental team have very different tasks and very different roles to fill here. Each is equally important to sustaining the work of Mission Impact. It is hard for some members of the team to appreciate the work that the other teams are doing, and of course, the enemy seeks to use that to divide us.

You should know also, that many of the members of the team have talked about how they like the new accomodations (which are a much nicer facility) but they miss the Proximos Pasos location in the heart of Santa Maria. The daily interaction with the people and children of the village was a source of inspiration to them. A team will be returning to minister at that school on Wednesday.

On the family front, I am home sick today. Reagan and Jackson just enjoyed another bath in the backyard using bottled water, and we are getting ready for lunch and then the afternoon nap. They have been holding up relatively well under the circumstances, but your continued prayer for them is greatly appreciated!

I will be posting another blog later today with photos from the worship team and our ministry with the kids. Hopefully when Lauren and Jaci return this evening they will have some photos of the hard-working dental team for us to post as well.

One final update, despite being the rainy season, it still has hardly rained at all. Today is another beautiful sunny day.

Monday, July 27, 2009

The View From Proximos Pasos





The photos above are the view from the 3rd floor of Proximos Pasos. This is the school in the village of Santa Maria de Jesus that is located on the volcano of Agua. At night the folks staying at the school were able to also see the distant peak of the ACTIVE volcano Picaya (complete with a visible lava flow at the top of the volcano!)

The road up to Santa Maria is long, steep and winding. Also, yesterday during our pretty intense afternoon rain storm, several trees fell into the only road leading up the volcano making the road impassable.

Thankfully some locals had chain-saws in their trucks and many of the guys from our team (Justin, Brett, Rick, Bob, Don and others) got off the bus and helped chop up and remove the trees from the road so that people go get to Santa Maria (and Proximos Pasos!)

Last night's dinner at Proximos Pasos was dark and chilly! The team had no electricity due to the storm, and candles were used for lighting. Lauren shared her testimony and the team was encouraged by Pastor Gary as well. It was a cold night, but the team was in good spirits!

Volcano Land!

Volcano Land!
Hughes Family loves these Guatemalan volcanoes!

WORD OF GOD SPEAK!

"This is how we know what love is: JESUS CHRIST LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers...Dear children, let us NOT love with words or tongue but with ACTIONS, and in TRUTH...And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, JESUS CHRIST, and to LOVE one another as HE commanded us." 1 John 3:16,18,23

Noah Doing His Moves

Noah Doing His Moves
He captivating the hearts of the young guatemalan ladies with his moves

You Are Good (Eres Fiel)

You Are Good (Eres Fiel)
My beautiful bride and her sis teaching a song to the girls!

A House in Santa Maria de Jesus

A House in Santa Maria de Jesus

Santa Maria de Jesus

Santa Maria de Jesus
The road that Proximos Pasos is on...those structures are houses

Where's Waldo?

Where's Waldo?
Can you find us hiding among the girls?