Wellshire SHY Guatemala Mission Trip Post 2: Settling in to Salama

I am sitting in the hotel lobby on Monday night, listening to the sounds of our 49 youth here in Guatemala being led in worship by the Vespers band, and I am feeling very close to God right now.

The last two days have been a whirlwind and flurry of activity. I will try to update you with a few details and a lot of photos.

On Sunday morning we got up early at our nice hotel in Guatemala city, had a delicious breakfast in the lobby and then video-conferenced into the early morning worship service at Wellshire at 8:35am

This picture shows our "set up" to video conference into the worship service. We hooked up a backpack that had built-in speakers and all the youth had a chance to greet the congregation.

Once we signed off with the congregation back in Denver, our buses were in front of the hotel waiting to be loaded up. We had 3 "micro-buses" that accomodated 20 passengers each, and all of our luggage had to go on top, wrapped in tarps because we are here in Guatemala during the rainy season.

Senior Kevin Ruby hanging out the window of his bus as we loaded up.

Loading the luggage on the roof of the buses. Look at the mass of kids on the left and the mass of luggage on the roof of the bus!

Kids loaded on the bus and ready to go!

One of our "micro-buses" cruising down the windy mountain road with a heavy load of luggage on top.

As we drove up and down the windy mountain going north and east out of Guatemala city, one bus got a flat tire. Someone asked the question, "How many misison trip team members does it take to fix a flat?" The answer was. . . a few. Graham Johnson, one of our adult leaders, worked in a mechanic shop for many years. He jumped right out of the bus and helped the drivers get the tire changed. In the picture below you can see Graham jumping up and down on the tire iron to get the lug nuts loose. He was a hero!

Graham getting those lug nuts loose!

All the kids off-loaded the bus and juggled rocks while they were waiting for the tire to get changed. This is one of those mission trip memories that will last a lifetime!

We finally made it to the turn-off for Salama after about 4 hours (would have been 3.5 if not for the flat tire.

A picture of some of our road companions. This truck really impressed a lot of our youth, loaded down with two big bulls!

We arrived in Salama, which is the the Guatemalan state of Baja Verapaz. The city (and the state) is in a beautiful mountain valley. Apart from the flat tire, the ride was pretty uneventful. We arrived at our hotel and were surrounded by beautiful mountains.

The view from the back of the hotel, we have a horse that wanders around and grazes in the parking lot of our hotel.

Once we got checked in to the hotel we had lunch and then got to meet the families we were going to be building with for the week with Habitat for Humanity. The families that are getting homes build side-by-side with the work teams, so we are not just building houses, but building relationships with the people who will be living in those houses.

We had an orientation and opening celebration with the Habitat staff and the families. All of our youth got to meet these amazing folks.

The families who will be getting homes are getting to know our youth.

Habitat has three staff members from Guatemala's "Global Village"department who will be assisting us for the week. Each of them is full of energy and has a unique story that brought them to work for Habitat in Guatemala. They are great role models for our kids, showing what a life of service is all about.

From left to right at the top of the photo are Ed, Kristin and Collin, the Habitat Global Village staff that are working with us this week.

Two of the families receiving houses, a single mom with young children and a young family. Since I had to leave my 6 month old baby at home on this trip, I am missing her a lot, so I am getting my baby fix with these families.

This photo shows the seniors introducing themselves to the Habitat families and staff. In the foreground is a 3 year old whose family will be getting a Habitat house.

Translating and chatting with a Habitat family. This little boy is 8 months old and about the same size as my daughter, Esther. This is the family that my group is building a house with

After the formal ceremony, we had the opportunity to interact with the families and children. Here you can see Marta Olson playing with one of the girls.

After the families left our youth had a chance to enjoy the swimming pool at the hotel and have a little bit of down time after our long bus ride.

We met for dinner, worship and bible study and had lights out at 9:30pm in order to be ready for our 5:45 breakfast and 7am start time.

Our youth are all in great spirits and ready to work!