Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Wellshire SHY Guatemala Mission Trip Post 6: Cloud Forest, Antigua, Safe Drinking Water and Hasta Luego!

I apologize for the two week delay in getting this final post up. The same day we ended the Wellshire SHY Mission Trip in Guatemala, I began hosting a trip for Healing Waters. I was very busy hosting that trip and am just now getting settled back into my life in the USA.

Our last two full days in Guatemala were full of wonder, beauty, service and FUN! Because a picture speaks a thousand words, and because I finally have high speed internet access and it is much easier to post photos, this final post will be very photo heavy and text light. I hope you enjoyed sharing our journey with us and thank you for your thoughts, prayers and feedback!

I also need to give credit where credit is due. All of the photos you see on the blog were taken by Angela Duggan. She did an amazing job as our team photographer/historian. If you want full resolution versions of any of these images, or of more than 1500 other pictures she took, you can go to her Flickr site and download the photos. Here are instructions:

Here’s the link to Angela’s photos of the mission trip to Guatemala :
http://portal.mxlogic.com/redir/?5eVEVjjuKOYMrjKYYCehhjodw0DjVmaNVv5ytpRFzdXIeee9wE6npODPFwVd5YsUCMOODtCWoVz3t-hKeosud7bX8UTsTI2fDXO3p4zI0kwTTEdCPhOqehPVJ5cseoud7bOapJ5MS5pgaCy2tjh0JaQSU_gTfM-u0USyrhdFTuuj78TuKr-DsS

To download any of the photos: click on the thumbnail of the picture you want to download then click on “All Sizes” located right above the picture.
To order prints of any of the photos: click on the thumbnail of the picture you want to order and click on “Order Prints” located right above the picture.

Now, on to the final blog post. . .

We packed up on Friday morning from our new home in Salama and headed out to the "Biotopo del Quetzal," a nature preserve that was about 45 minutes from Salama which is in a cloud forest (a rain forest that is so damp there are actually plants whose roots aren't in the ground, they just hang out in the air and get enough moisture from the air.)

Packing up the buses on our final morning in Salama

The Quetzal is the national bird in Guatemala. It is a bright green bird with a long and colorful tail. Unfortunately the bird is also very shy and usually comes out only at dawn and dusk. So we didn't see any live Quetzales in the cloud forest, but we did meet some other friends.
Here is our group getting prepared to do a one mile hike through the cloud forest

You can see the lush and dense vegitation in the cloud forest. It was stunningly beautiful and we were blessed to spend time in such a beautiful part of God's creation.
This was one of the friends we met on the trail. He was a pretty big lizard and very excited to meet some gringos!
Part of our group standing in front of a waterfall in the Nature Reserve. Amazingly beautiful!

Another friend we met on the hike. We knew we weren't in Colorado when this guy scurried across the trail in front of us. With the telephoto lens, this guy looks huge!

Here you get some perspective, still a pretty big bug!

The kids had the opportunity to swim in a stream under a waterfall in the Guatemalan rainforest. What a fun experience. While this stream was not as cold as our snow-melt streams here in Colorado, it was pretty chilly!

This is a photos of one of the amazing plants and flowers we saw at the nature reserve.
Once we finished our time there we packed up the buses and started the marathon drive to Antigua. We were prepared for a five hour drive and that is about how long it took. Along the way, Angela was snapping photos and we were all keeping the youth entertained. Below are a few "road photos."

Beatiful and quaint churches are all over the place in Guatemala. Some day I will do a photo set of nothing but churches and chapels. Angela did a great job capturing the beauty of these churches.
This is the road that splits from Salama to Guatemala. The van with the blue tarp is one of our vans full of 20 excited H.S. youth and a few adults!

Finally we made it to where there were signs pointing us to Antigua. It was a welcome site and we were only about an hour away at this point.
We arrived in Antigua at about 6:30pm with just enough time to drop our bags at the hotel, get checked in and then head out to dinner for our 7:30 dinner reservation at Mono Loco (The Crazy Monkey.)
Mono Loco is a very popular restaurant in Antigua. It is a fun atmosphere and they are well known for their nachos. Their tagline is "Nachos as big as your head!" One plate of nachos can feed three regular adults, two high school boys (or hungry girls), or one Chris Sellers.
Here is the group enjoying our meal at Mono Loco

Jeffrey Olson and Stephen Hahn about to dig into their plate of nachos!

There were 8 guys sitting at this table and they polished off 5 plates of nachos, a new Wellshire and Mono Loco record!
Saturday morning came early for the group as we got up and prepared to spend half of the day with Healing Waters. Angela and a few other sponsors got out very early to get some coffee and take photos of Antigua. The city of Antigua is VERY picturesque and I wanted to share a few of Angela's photos with you taken on Saturday morning before our group left.

Antigua is full of lots of old ruins, buildings and churches. Various earthquakes through the years have brought down buildings, only to be rebuilt. Here are the ruins of an old church

This is a beautiful archway that stretches over the street in Antigua. The buildings on either side are all painted in beautiful colors and the archway stands out with its yellow clock tower.

This is the cathedral on the main plaza (called the Parque Central) in Antigua. It is a beautiful old building. Angela was up very early to take this picture, usually there are taxis, buses and swarms of tourists walking around.
Below is a photo of our hotel in Antigua. The hotel is built around a central courtyard and was three stories tall. We filled every room in the hotel, which was probably a good thing!
We had planned on getting an early start and had the kids up and ready to go at 6:15 when we discovered that the restaurant where we were going to eat breakfast didn't open until 7am. So we all went up on the roof of the hotel and worshipped together. The day was crystal clear and you could see the volcanoes that dominate the landscape in Guatemala. The feeling of raising our voices and hearts to God at 6:30 on the rooftop of our hotel is unforgettable.

Graham Johnson leading us in song on teh guitar. If he ever decided to cut an album, I think we have the cover for the album!

The youth praising and worshipping God with the volcano in the background.

Graham and Kevin Ruby leading us in song. We were so blessed to have many great musicians on the trip that helped to lead our worship experience.

Here you can see the youth singing and praising God! What a great way to start our last full day in Guatemala.
Once 7am rolled around we made our way to Pollo Campero, which is a local Guatemalan fastfood chain. We all got our breakfast and ate up to have energy for our day of working with Healing Waters!
Enjoying the food at Pollo Campero!
After breakfast we loaded into our buses and headed off to Comalapa, a city that is about 1 hour from Antigua. Healing Waters has a water system in Comalapa. It turns out that the day we were scheduled to visit the water system, the city was hosting a 10k race. Healing Waters (Or Aguas de Unidad as we are known in Guatemala) was one of the co-sponsors of the race, providing water to the community. This was a great opportunity to promote the water system and let the population of Comalapa know that they had a water system available to get their safe drinking water. The youth spent the morning handing out bottles and flyers to promote the water system.
On the way there we came across a truck that needed a little help. A couple people in our group jumped out and got the truck safely off the road.
As we neared Comalapa, we got to the site of the 10k race course. Our vans drove past the lead pack in the race. I had no idea that Guatemala had such a running culture, but there were sure a lot of hardcore runners in this race.
Our group descended on Comalapa, ready to help out Healing Waters/Aguas de Unidad. If you can imagine 60 people all wearing matching shirts coming to town that almost never sees foreign visitors, you can get a picture of what it was like walking through the streets with our group.
We handed out water bottles to the runners at the finish line of the race and also walked all over the community handing out 20 oz bottles and flyers to make the community members aware of the water system.

Here is a beautiful indigenous woman holding on to a flyer that was just handed to her by one of our youth. She is wearing the traditional dress of the indigenous Mayan women in the region. Comalapa has a strong indigenous culture with over 80% of the population having Mayan roots and still dressing like their ancestors. The Mayan women weave beautiful textiles that they wear. You can tell what region of the country they are from by what pattern you see on their textiles.
Of course there is always time for a soccer match. The school where the Healing Waters project is located had a soccer game going on and our youth got involved. The water system is only about 250 square feet, so we brought the youth in to tour the water system in groups of 10 while the other youth waited outside and played soccer.
Here is a photo of the youth getting a tour of the water system. Daniela, one of the Healing Waters/Aguas de Unidad employees based in Guatemala is explaining how the water system works.
What a great looking group standing outside the Healing Waters/Aguas de Unidad system in Comalapa!

As we walked from the water system back to the place where we were going to eat lunch, Angela snapped this great photo. You can see four women in traditional inidigenous dress walking down the street. I love the blend of the modern and traditional and this photo really captures the heart of Comalapa and our experience there.
We arrived back at a different public school in Comalapa where they served our group a traditional lunch. They were so proud to have this big group of Americans visiting their town and they put together quite a feast for us!
Chris really enjoyed his soup and tamale that was prepared for him by the people of Comalapa!
We loaded up into our buses and headed back to Antigua at about 1:30pm. We have a tradition on Mission Trip called Baquet ("Banquet" without the "Q".) The seniors put together an activity or competition for all of the youth to participate in. This year they put together a photo scavenger hunt. They took photos that the Wellshire group had taken when they were down in Guatemala last year. The kids split up into teams and they had to go find the spots where the photos were taken and then snap an identical photo. Each team was also given 100 Quetzales (the local currency) and had to go into the market to buy some specific items.
Angela took the photo below outside the cemetary. The quote reads, "La Vida de los muertos consiste en la memoria de los vivos" which translates to "The life of the dead lives on in the memory of the living."
This is a photo of a "tuk-tuk" which is one of the 3-wheeled motorcycle taxis that run all over the city of Antigua
Here is one of the groups that was competing in Baquet. They found this old car on the streets of Antigua and decided to pose by it.
Once the Baquet activity was over, the team all went to a restaurant for their "Cena de Despedidia" or the "Good-bye Dinner." They enjoyed a delicious meal together and had some fun too!
The seniors handed out awards to all of the mission trip participants based upon their experiences for the week. Some of the awards are funny, some are touching and heartfelt, and some are a little weird. They also had prizes for the Baquet teams that found the most photos and got the best deal on their items in the market.
After dinner was over the group returned to the hotel. Everyone headed up to the roof of the hotel for another mission trip tradition, CIRCLE! This is an opportunity for each mission trip participant to go around the circle and thank everyone on the trip, reflect on their experiences, and share stories and anecdotes about their fellow travelers. They got started at 10pm and finally wrapped up around 2am on Sunday morning.

Wake up call was 3:30am Sunday morning and the buses left for the airport at 4am. I will save the trip home for another blog post. . .

All in all, the trip was incredibly blessed. Prayer is an incredibly powerful force and there was no question that we could feel the power of your prayers during our trip. Everyone made it home safe, and all of our lives have been forever changed by this experience. Thank you to each person who came on the trip, to each family member who supported us, to the Wellshire congregation for their incredible support, and to anyone else who came along side us for this journey through your thoughts and prayers.

Helping to lead this trip was an absolute joy for me. I thank God for the opportunity I was given to expose our youth to a bigger world. I will close with the Mission Statement for our Mission trip, which really represented our experience.

We are going on this mission trip to build relationships with our brothers and sisters and serve the poor. This is an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus to some people whose needs are far greater than our own, perhaps greater than anything we've ever seen. This week is not about "us" or "our experience", but rather it is about the people we are serving. Our goal is not to simply have a “great week” in Guatemala. We will have the opportunity to meet the needs of each other and the poor, to hear the voice of Jesus, and leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit. We will follow the words of Christ who told us to “Love one another as I have loved you” and remember the sacrifice He made to show that love.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Wellshire SHY Guatemala Mission Trip Post 5: Bonds and memories formed over cement and cinder blocks last a lifetime

We have had two incredible days in Salama, Guatemala. I apologize for not updating the blog sooner, but we have been so busy and having so much fun! Despite a lack of OSHA standards on our worksites, our kids have been really good about watching out for themselves, and the Habitat folks have been taking great care of us. No major injuries, and apart from a little dehydration and a few travel bugs, our team continues to be happy, healthy and safe.

We spent the last two days working on our Habitat worksites. Below I will feature our four work teams that have not been in the blog yet. As I write this blog post on Friday morning, we are getting ready to eat breakfast, pack up, and leave our newly adopted home of Salama. It is a bittersweet departure for all of us. We will load up our buses and go to a nature reserve where we will see some flora and fauna that is indigenous to Guatemala. We will also have the opportunity to swim in some mountain streams under waterfalls. Then we have a marathon bus trip to Antigua, it will take us about 5 hours. When we get into Antigua this evening we will be having a fun dinner at a restaurant called Mono Loco (the crazy monkey.)

But enough about what we are GOING to do, let me share with you what we have been doing for the past two days. This blog post will be light on text and heavy on photos.

At the end of our work day on Wednesday, our van driver offered to take us up to an overlook to get a view of the whole valley. The road was one of the more interesting mountain road I have been on, enjoy the photos!

The driver and I joking and cheering as we make it down the road.

How could this view not bring to mind Isiah 40:31? But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

When we finally made it to the top of the hill there was a cross and a small overlook area. We stopped and enjoyed the view.
And what a view it was!

What a great view and a great looking group of kids!
This is the workgroup that was led by Terri and Brian. They had an incredible time building at their site and getting to know the family they were building with.

Michael became the stone mason's helper, laying block and filling in the grout. Ususally the stone masons do not let us help with this skilled, detailed labor. But this mason was really impressed with our team's work ethic and attention to detail!
There was also time to build relationships with the locals as you can see here.

Jennifer hauling a bucketful of cement. What a hard worker!

Big smiles, big hearts, and lifelong memories.

Andrew Mixing concrete. We all did a lot of this throughout the week. A LOT!

One of the many beautiful churches around Salama. This one has 120 steps you have to go up to reach it.

Another one of our great work teams, this one led by Brian and Rachel. Here you see the manly men, showing off their muscles.


The lovely ladies of the group

A group photo with the the group, the stone masons and the Habitat affiliate staff.

This was the stone mason for the group. He did and incredible job of keeping the group busy!

Rachel and Keri taking a water break. Because of the heat and humidity we took a lot of water breaks!

Cinder blocks in Guatemala have to be chiseled to fit over the rebar. Notice the safety goggles, SAFETY FIRST!

We had some helpers on our work site too. One look at this kiddo's smile, and we knew why we were here and what we were doing.

This is the team from the worksite led by Sue and me. Our sand pile (for mixing cement) was a little distance from where we actually mixed the cement, so we spent a lot of time shoveling sand into wheelbarrows and moving it across the worksite.

This is the work team, our stone mason and the Habitat staff. You can probably tell that our worksite was a little bit wet and swampy. I think the lot where we were building used to be wetlands. On Monday morning when the team arrived it had rained the night before. The trenches that had been dug for the foundation were filled with a foot of water. Our team built a drainage channel and dug a 4 foot deep hole. We drained off over 50 gallons of water with our little engineering project so that we could start pouring the foundation.

Despite our best attempts to drain some of the water off the worksite, it was a muddy, sloppy mess. All of our work pants looked like this at the end of the day and our work shoes were caked in mud.


We had a great shade tree on our worksite that made for a good place to take our breaks.

We also had a mascot on our site. The family we were building for had a 6 pound dog named "Osito" (Little bear.) He was very friendly. Any time any of us took a break, Osito was there to get some attention.

We usually had an audience wherever we went as a group. Here is an indigenous girl who really got a kick out of watching all the crazy gringos build a house in her country. She is standing outside her house made of mud and thatch.

I had to leave my wife and 6 month old daughter in the United States to lead this trip, so any time I saw a young child, I had to get my "baby fix." Most kids ended up crying when I talked with them or held them, but this little girl let me hold her for 10 minutes and it melted my heart. She is actually going to be living in one of the houses that our work teams were building. Her mother is a recipient of a Habitat house.

This is the group led by Graham and Laurie. Here you have the "manly men."
And here are the lovely ladies of the group. They were all hard workers and the locals commented on how tough and hard working our girls were!

This is the whole group with their stone mason and the Habitat staff. You can see the mountain behind them with lush vegitation. There was a road cut into the mountainside that looked like the fabled road to "El Dorado" so this group gave themselves the nickname of "El Dorado."

Their worksite had some visitors and playmates as well. This little guy loved climbing up and down the dirt piles.

Each one of our worksites was in a different location with a different feel. This team's worksite was almost a half mile from any paved road in a very rural, agricultural area. So each morning the team would have to hike into their worksite across a bridge and up a pretty steep trail.

Sam making rebar columns to help reinforce the structure of the house we were building. He is working side-by-side with one of the Guatemalan Habitat employees.

One of our fearless leaders, Graham. Graham also led our worship team each night. He provided a great example of Christian love and leadership on this trip.
All in all we had an incredible four days on our Habitat build sites. We built houses, but we also built relationships, which is just as important. Our youth are truly shining the love and light of Christ through their time here in Guatemala. They are all taking in the experiences, learning, laughing and loving.
We did a closing ceremony with each Habitat family on Thursday afternoon. The families thanked our group for being there and helping, and our kids all thanked the families for the opportunity to be there. A lot of us cried, tears of both happiness and saddness. I am amazed at the bonds that can be formed over cement and cinder blocks in four short days.
Thank you all for continuing to read the blog and for your continued prayers. As we prepare to load the buses to head out to Antigua, we can feel the power of those prayers surrounding us.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
-Prayers of thanksgiving for an incredible 4 days in Salama, for us staying safe on our worksites
-Please pray for health from stomach bugs
-Pray for safe travels as we cross the country today
-Pray for a continued spirit of service and Christ's love in each particpants heart