Last day at Chicholom VBS

Thursday woke with promise. A fresh rain the night before had washed the dust off, cleaned the smokey haze and generally revitalized a tired and sleepy country side (and team). We had a lot of fun in the morning with a market activity where they were given a Spanish shopping list and a a variety of activities to do, 100 Quetzals (about 12 dollars) a camera to record the activities and 90 minutes. Teams of 5 went scurrying through the mass of people and little vendors looking for things that (with their limited Spanish) most had no idea what it was they were looking for. One team took more than 30 minutes trying to explain that they wanted a barbershop not scissors.










Julie and I were nearby just in case someone needed something.






It is amazing what you can find if you look in the right place.










Tallying up the points for price and size of items.










In the afternoon we went back to Chicholom to play with the kids. Sam explained salvation and gave an invitation. Many responded with a beaming pastor watching and taking notes on who to follow up with. We were a little worried about the commitment level with such a mass response but Les reminded us that it will be an opening for the local pastor to visit the family and open a dialogue with them also.

















It is amazing to me how quickly you get to see mud brick and thatched roofs as normal.




In the evening devotional the hosts had a cake for Mackenzie's birthday. Karren could not help but play an old but good trick on her. It was worth it, at least to me, as the cake (the part without her nose print in it) was very good.






Tomorrow starts a new phase of our stay here as we go back to building on a work site and visiting sponser children.

Reflecting on another full day...

As I am writing this I am listening to Heather and some of the team sing and play guitar in the common room upstairs, I can hear the students laughing on the rooftop deck and I can see students quietly journaling.
We ended our evening tonight with a debrief time where each of us shared a memory that will be forever etched in our minds. Many of the students shared a moment with one of the children at our children's ministry site at Chicholom. So many were touched by the happy spirit that these children demonstate in spite of living with so little. They are happy to just be played with. We were able to share the love that Jesus has for each of us with them and tomorrow we will be inviting them to make a commitment to the Lord. The pastor shared his testimony and ministry with us. He started the church 4 years ago by praying and singing with his wife and 2 children and it is now a church of 38 people in this little village. We had approximatly 140 cildren again today.





Other team members shared something about our visit to the Church of Chixim where they saw people in spiritual bondage worshipping to "the Black Christ", a carved image that is believed to have the power to heal and answer prayer. (Not Jesus but the image itself has this power). They saw people leave offerings at the smoke blackened crosses in front of the church. They saw the blending of the sacrifice to the corn god Chixim with witchcraft and "christianity". Our group was able to spend time in the church of Chixim exalting our living and one true God by speaking His names and glorifying Him.




















We next travelled to a new property a few km west of town that Impact was able to purchase a couple of years ago. They have started construction on a bridge to cross a creek (3 m wide). A very interesting way to build a bridge. Make two concrete abutments then drop two trailer flatbeds on it. And presto a bridge. Guatemalans are very resourceful. They have started the well by hand digging it. It will eventually be 12 m deep. By next year they hope to have new guest accomodations ready for the visiting teams so they will not have to rent the current guest house anymore. Their vision for this property is far reaching and would take a lot of space in this blog.





We again were able to travel to Chicholom in the afternoon where the children were waiting for us this time. It seems the shyness has worn off quickly.









What a wonderful time of telling stories and sharing the truth about Jesus.

Tomorrow we will do a market activity, then spend our last afternoon with the children before playing a soccer game (should be interesting) with the youth i the evening. Please pray for us as we will be asking for a life commitment from the children. For most of our team this will be the first time directly asking for someone to turn their life over to Christ.

We thank you for your prayers and support, keep praying as so much more can be accomplished here and in the hearts of our team.

Into The Back Country

We woke to the exciting possiblilites of today. What would God do with us ? Would we please him or maybe we would not even measure up ? Well He answered in no uncertain terms.

The day started with breakfast and a trip to Les' where they have set up a concrete block making site. Using a shaker mold they make two blocks at a time, which are then left to dry in the sun. We loaded over 500 of them onto a flatbed truck then took them to Chicacorral, the new elementary/high school where we unloaded and stacked them for the masons.

After lunch we headed up and over the neighbouring ridge and entered a new world. It amazed us that as the crow flys - only 5 or 6 miles away - there are people that do not speak the same language and have not heard of the gospel. We sang songs and put on a skit for them inside their new church. The students spoke of sin and how it separates us from God, they spoke of trust and relying on Jesus.

I did not know you could put that many kids into such a small space. We estimate that there were about 130 children in a 12x30 room along with our team, 4 adults, a solar powered sound system and keyboard. For the crafts and games we moved outside. We had been a little aprehensive about how the community would receive us but, after some initial shyness of the children, our fears were soon gone as the kids and team started to interact. It seemed as if we were just getting started when it was time to leave so we could get off the mountain roads before it got dark.

A quick supper and then we were off to join the youth of the Vida Church in a service in which we sang, shared testimonies and played a game in which we found that Alyssa had a hidden talent for beat box rapping. The evening ended with a pickup basketball game under the lights at the original school site Chamche.

Tomorrow will start with a tour of the new property and the recently opened medical center as well as a tour of Chixim which is the catholic church in Tactic where Mayan ritual, withcraft and catholicism are intertwined

Pray for us as we head to Chicholom for our second day of children's ministry.

All are healthy but a bit tired. I expect that there will be a few sore muscles this morning from all of our block moving!!!

Our First Taste

Guatemala is so much more than can be explained in a few word or pictures, the sounds, the smell, the history is too big to be contained in this small story. So here is a taste.

The snow in Calgary was refreshing for no other reason than we were leaving it behind.

We spent a couple of hours in the Calgary airport, then the Houston airport savoring fast foods before boarding the flight out of "civilization".

Les, Heber (pronounced Ever) and Juan met us at the airport around 10:00 and took us to a nearby Menonite seminary where we were quickly asleep.

We awoke to realise that we were not in Canada anymore. The bird calls, dogs barking and busy city life were a reminder that we had left our cold (closed window) manicured (SPCA) life behind. An nice breakfast of ham and eggs, black beans and fresh fruit awaited us.

With some trepidation we saw our bags disappear into the Guatemalan long haul logistics system.

We began our day in Guatemala City with a tour of the main square with it's beautiful palace, a monument to an egotistiacal leader and his taste for the number 5! His fingure print is cast into every door knob in the building (over 700). Across the square is the one of the main cathedrals in Guatemala, Les spent a few moments explaining how the Catholic religion and the Myan religions have become intertwined. More on that in later posts.

A 4 hour trip through two rift valleys (39 degrees Celcius, Grade 10's please convert this to F) with a stop in Villa Del Sol for lunch of Chicken or Hamburgers brought us to our long awaited desination.

Upon arrival we were greeted by Karren and Rocky (and yes he could be Mr. Mc's twin). We quickly got settled, some crashed in their rooms while others needed a release after being cooped up in vans all day so Rocky took us for a little hike up some steep paths above the town.

There is a constant haze from burning which creates some fantastic views.

After a nice meal with our house hosts Bev and John we had an orientation and devotion time with Karren leading. The we were off to an early bed with the anticipation of things to come.....

Please pray - today (Tuesday) we will spend our morning moving cindercrete block from where is is made to the work site at Chijacorral, the new school in Tactic where construction is still taking place.

This after noon we are heading to a village in the mountains called Chicholom. The people there do not speak Spanish so we will need double translation (Eng. to Span - Achi) It is also a community virtually untouched by the gospel. There is a pastor who has been trying to plant a church for a long time and has been asking Les for the past year to send a team to do children's ministry and evangelism!! We are that team.... PRAY for us that we would be sensitive to the fears of the children as we are strange strangers and that we would be able to effectively share God's word with them.

This evening we are joining a youth worship service and event (activity) here in Tactic. It will be a full day and we will be tired tonight!!

We Have Arrived -Safe and Sound

We are all settled into our rooms for the night. We had a great trip with no surprises and no issues with customs or lost luggage. We met Les at the airport and, once our luggage was all loaded into a pickup, we were driven to a Mennonite campus which is similar to SETECA. It is quite late and everyone here was already in bed. Heather was here to greet us and is staying with Alyssa and Chantel tonight. The rest of the students are in rooms of 3-6 students. In the morning we are setting off after breakfast for the central square which will include a tour of the palace and the cathedral. Perhaps some Guatemalan Lattes if we are lucky!!! We are not able to upload pictures yet as our main camera bag is in our other luggage. We wanted to let everyone know that we are happy but tired.... Goodnight. Mrs. McLaren

We gathered on April 3 to finalize the preparations for our VBS sessions. With all the very busy lives our team members live it was very difficult to get a picture with all us together at once.

Learning a Spanish version of a children's song.

While the team was preparing for VBS the parents gathered to pack the bags of donations we will be taking. Each team member will take a hockey bag full. Up to 50 lbs.





After an afternoon of work we gathered at Mr. and Mrs. Mc. to relax and enjoy a potluck dinner.






It seems that God wants us to appreciate where we are going as he sent 2" of snow on the day before we fly south.


We board the plane tomorrow at 5:30 am with stops in Calgary and Houston before landing in Guatemala City in the late evening. We will spend the night as guests of a seminary in the city before doing some sight seeing around the capital before heading out to Tactic in the afternoon.

Tuesday will see us finally getting our hand dirty.

I hope to update this daily, however Internet connection may not be consistent.

Starting The Preparations

We gathered on Feb 13 to begin the process of preparing for the VBS days in Tactic. Mrs. F. did a great job of getting ideas together for us. Once the responisbilities had been divided up we were ready to start. As with any good meeting we had to have food so when the main work of the day was complete we headed back to the Mc's for food.