Wellshire Group In Guatemala! Post 1 from Saturday, 3/21

A warm and heartfelt greeting from me and all of the Wellshire group that is here in Guatemala for a week to work with Healing Waters International and Habitat for Humanity!

The team from Wellshire all arrived safely in Guatemala City on Saturday afternoon at about 1:00pm. After loading in to the vans, we decided to jump right in to our work here in Guatemala before even driving to Antigua and checking in to our hotel.

We drove to a small town overlooking Guatemala City called Buena Vista, which mean Good View, and it sure does have a beautiful view of the city! Guatemala City has a population of over 3.4 million people and is in a valley. The wealth is concentrated in the valley with the majority of businesses and nicer neighborhoods down in the valley.

The poorer and marginalized communities live up on the hillsides overlooking the valley, and that is where we decided to start our trip. During my work with Healing Waters International, I met a missionary family here when I was visiting our Guatemala field office back in October. This family is running a house building ministry in the village of Buena Vista, working with a very poor disenfranchised population. The missionary family is the Johnsons, Mom and Dad Brock and Kerrie and kids Madi (11), Brooke (10), and Jake (7). They have been living and working in Guatemala for less than nine months, and have had an incredible impact in that short time. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for them and their ministry. To learn more about the missionary family we visited and their housebuilding ministry, you can visit their website at:
http://www.deepstreamguatemala.com/

We arrived in Buena Vista and got a tour of the town from Brock, Kerrie and their kids. We saw a few houses they have finished, one that is being built now, and visited with a family that will be getting the next house. Their goal is build 12 houses in 12 months! They build very simple 2 room cinder block houses, but this is a real upgrade for these families who are either living in clapboard and tin shacks, or even houses built out of old corn stalks. There are a lot of serious health problems in the community relative to poor housing and smoke inhalation from people cooking with wood fires and living in the same place, so the Johnson family teaches the local residents to keep their old homes as a “kitchen” and not cook in the new cinder block houses they are building.

Below are photos from the afternoon we spent with the Johnson Family in Buena Vista. We were so blessed to share some time with this incredible family and learn about their work in Guatemala.


Brock is in the black shirt and Kerrie in the light blue sweater. They are giving an orientation to the group.
Wellshire members posing with kids in Buena Vista

A young Mayan woman and her beautiful baby

Because Buena Vista is up on the hillsides, the streets are very steep and most of the houses do not have running water.

This is a photo of me, Brock, Kerrie and Mario Avendano who is the Director for Healing Waters International in Mexico and Guatemala. We are standing at a work site of a house that is being built for Santiago, the man standing between me and Brock. Santiago is happy because the 2 room cinder block house that is being built is replacing the shack you see behind us. His children will be moving back in with him when they finish the new "big" house.

Wellshire group members interacting with local residents of Buena Vista

Graham getting to know Santiago

Washing clothes in Buena Vista. You can see the typical houses in this photo.

The tin roof of a house in Buena vista with a special friend standing on the roof. You can see Guatemala City in the background of this photo and understand why the town is called "Good View."Standing to the right of Pattie and Jim Kitchen is Daniela Rosales, Communications Coordinator for Healing Waters International in Guatemala, and Brock and one of his daughters.

A beautiful Mayan girl peeking around the corner of her house.

Walking down a steep street in Buena vista. The building behind the group is the municipal building for the town.

Another photo of indigenous Mayan women in Buena Vista

At the end of our visit, we all prayed for the Johnson family ministry and the community of Buena Vista.

This is why we do the work we do. . . the faces of Guatemala

At about 5:00pm we jumped back in the vans and continued to Antigua. We checked in to our hotel and got settled in. Then the Communications Coordinator for Healing Waters International in Guatemala, Daniela Rosales, gave the group an orientation.

From there we left for dinner at a fun restaurant in Guatemala called Mono Loco (the Crazy Monkey.) They are known for their nachos, so below you can see photos of the group enjoying some fellowship and delicious nachos!

The Wellshire group sharing some fellowship and nachos at the Mono Loco

All in all we had a phenomenal day and cannot wait to see what else God has in store for us on this trip. This morning we are enjoying a wonderful breakfast of Guatemalan tamales and getting ready to leave for worship service in Chimaltenango, where we will be worshiping with one of the churches that is a partner of Healing Waters International.

I will post again this evening with photos from the worship service and our other activities from today. Thank you for reading the blog and LET THE CLEAN WATERS FLOW!