Day 6 - Lake Day

Today those of us who have not been to Guatemala before (roughly 14) went in an excursion on the lake and visited 3 towns.  We supported the local economies well.   The rest of the group continued work on the building and much  progress was made.  Tonight should be wild with New Year's Fireworks and celebrations.  

Day 5-Bldg begins & stoves

Today was a very long and hard day of work.  Many stoves were completed and the building arrived in San Lucas Toliman.  It was unloaded from the cargo container then loaded on a truck and taken to the site, then unloaded.  Significant progress was made today.  

Day 4 - Morning Update

There was a small earthquake here last night. All is well.  The blue dot is where we are and the red dot is the epicenter.  About 90 miles south of us.

Day 3 - A long but good day of work

Today we split into 2 groups.  

The first group return to Terra Santa and continued to build the stoves.  Several were finished today.  I heard lots of stories about the children who came and "helped" in each home.  I do not have any pictures of this group today, as I was in the 2nd group.  

A friend of mine in ministry taught me the unwritten beatitude several years ago.  It is: "Blessed are the flexible for they will not be bent out of shape."  This is especially true here in Guatemala.  

The building that the 2nd group is supposed to be putting up as a Medical Clinic is in country but has not yet made it way from the port to our location.  So today, our group went up to the town where the Medical Clinic will be located and helped at the site where an Evangelical church will be built.  We broke up an old concrete pad, hauled it up the hill to the dump site, dug a trench, took down a cinder block retaining wall, and disassembled some rebar that had rusted ties.  We had some young boys who came and worked with us.  We couldn't have done it without them.  

Without exception we all worked hard and are going to bed early.  

Tonight we were also blessed with sone time with the spoonmakers project.  Their handmade works are amazing and part of the proceeds go to support Sr Citizens in San Lucas Toliman. 

The great news is that the building will arrive early in the morning and we can begin to assemble tomorrow.  

Day 2

This morning we toured Tierra Santa and learned about the stove project.  We saw various current stoves and one like we will be building.  

During the afternoon those of our group who have been here before stayed and started building stoves.  Those who have not went on a tour of various ministry projects, including the Women's Center, Coffee project, the hospital, and the school.  

The building for the medical clinic has not yet arrived at the work site.  Our best guess is that we will see it tomorrow and start construction on Wednesday.  

Travel Day

We had a very long travel day.  One of our crew had some stomach issues, but we have arrived in San Lucas Toliman and are hitting the bed early tonight.  Work starts tomorrow.