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.

Back in Guatemala, the kindness of strangers and a soggy suitcase. . .

I am back in Guatemala again. This is my fourth visit this year! (and my last with Lil A-P coming in December.)

I am constantly amazed and blessed by the kindness of strangers. On my flight yesterday from Denver to Dallas I started talking with the guy across the aisle from me, his name is Eric. I told him about the work of Healing Waters and why I was headed to Guatemala. He was on his way home from a business trip and a trip to visit his family in Colorado.

He gave me a code to use the wireless on the flight for free. So I was sitting on an airplane, 35,000 feet above the ground, and was able to chat with Jessica, do e-mail, and watch the Broncos game from the comfort of my exit row seat. Pretty cool stuff!

But it gets better. Once the flight landed in Dallas and we were walking off the plane, Eric says, “Can I get you into the American Airlines Admiral’s Club for your layover?” That is the private first-class lounge in the airport. Eric explained to me that his job didn’t always generate a lot of good karma, but he thinks that my job does, so he wanted to help me out and “pay it forward.”

So we went into the Admiral’s Club and watched some football. We talked a bit more and discovered we are both Labrador aficionados, he has a yellow lab and we have our black lab. He also has a 19 month old daughter, is first child, and Jessica and I are expecting our first child in December. Eric is an incredibly nice guy. He had a rather short connection so he left after about 30 minutes but I had a 3 hour layover, so I was able to sit in the lounge, catch up on e-mail with free wireless, have a few free glasses of iced tea and some snacks, and escape the fray of the airport.

It was like I got a little mini-vacation in the DFW airport before heading to Guatemala for work! I am constantly amazed and blessed by the kindness of strangers.

My flight arrived in Guatemala City at about 8:15 last night to pouring down rain. When my bag came out on the carousel it was kind of soggy. The drive from Guatemala City to Antigua was uneventful, although I was fortunate to have a driver and not be driving myself in the pouring down rain along the windy road to Antigua.

I got to the hotel Hostal las Marias (my home away from home here in Guatemala, I have stayed here almost a month over the past year if you add up all my trips) at about 9:45pm, touched base with my wife and my staff down here and went to bed.

Today is an exciting day. I have a staff meeting in the morning with all of the Guatemala Aguas de Unidad staff. Following that I am working with two of our team members down here on the process of finding new communities and new partners for water systems. We call this our “Pipeline Process.”

In the afternoon we have a meeting with a representative from Willow Creek church. This is a big church out in Chicago that focused on water issues for their global missions conference this year and raised funds to sponsor 5 Healing Waters systems in the Dominican Republic and 3 Healing Waters systems in Guatemala.

We are going to meet with one of the Global Missions guys from Willow Creek and the National Director for Red del Camino Guatemala. Red del Camino is an organization that networks churches with a shared vision for serving their communities. We are hoping that Red del Camino can find some good church partners for us to partner with for new water systems in 2010.

We are also going to visit our newest water system in Guatemala, one that was sponsored by Willow Creek. The system is in Comalapa. You can see some photos of the community by clicking here. It is a charming town of 15,000 that is about an hour outside of Guatemala City.

I am really excited for these meetings with the Willow Creek people and the Red del Camino people. I cannot wait to see what might come of the synergy between all of our organizations!

Thanks for reading the blog. LET THE CLEAN WATERS FLOW!