5.1.10
Buenas dias,
Another sunny day greeted us for our last day in the village. The road seems shorter now, we know most of the bad curves and always honk around the corners knowing there might be a chicken bus on the other side.
Team is feeling well and healthy, thanks for your prayers. We started the day at the village with a slide show projected on a sheet from our hotel. Villagers loved to see pictures of themselves. That was followed by our cultural exchange of square dancing to the capable fiddle music of Charli´s talent. We observed many smiles and laughs among our audience. After a few rounds we invited a members of the watchers to join us as we grabbed new partners. It was great fun dancing with young and old and observing their shyness disappear.
Next on the schedule was planting a tree at the corner of the schoolyard in memory of Nicolas Toma, deceased village promoter. We had a small ceremony, scripture, and prayer in honor of Nicolas. The tree was a Jacaranda, a beautiful flowered tree that will be a good way to remember Nicolas and provide shade near the school.
The afternoon was a special time for villagers to show us how they cultivate and plant corn and beans. It was a good demonstration of high mountain agriculture. This was followed by an official going away ceremony of hugs and handshakes around. We prayed, laughed and had a good play with children. A few last visits with families and last walk through the village completed our visit.
Members of this community, Villa Hortencia Uno, are a delight to be with and they really do appreciate you continued prayers as they continue their hard road to sustainability.
We are now ready for breakfast this Saturday morning and anxious to get on the ´road again´to Antigua.
Dios le bendiga, your team in Guatemala (as represented by Dave)
4.30.10
Hola,
What a wonderful day taking our morning trip, one and a half hours up 15 miles of Indiana Jones style road to be welcomed by about 120 children, who were waiting for a morning of play and games, including coloring, bubble blowing, balloon animals which was a real hit with long lines in front of the Meachams who ran out of balloons. Hop scotch, jump rope, frisbee toss, and ring around the rosie were delightful to smiling faces too. We ended the morning with a large pinata filled with candy to celebrate Chuck Meachams birthday. You never saw so many kids scramble for the abundant candy.
Afternoon was a time for soccer and more games. The children are a delight and so appreciative of your attention. The five school teachers helped us organize the activities.
I (Dave) am continuing to construct a map of the village with houses, roads, trails and churches indicated for future teams.
Later this afternoon we stopped in the Agros Village of Los Angeles, to pay our respects to Nicolas Toma family (he was the Agros promoter for VH1 who passed away last mont). We prayed for the family and presented them with a quilt from CH and photographs of Nicolas. We then proceeded to the village entrance to plant a beautiful bougainvillea in memory of Nicolas, with the village leaders present. .
Another wonderful evening with no lightning storm this time. The weather has been sunny with rain only occuring at night. The pilas (sinks) in the village are now filling with good water.
Thank you for your continued prayers, we are all healthy, hasta luego, Dave & Barb
P.S. With all the activites that we do you would think that we would be loosing weight. Not the case. The food at Santa Maria Hotel is fabulous. We are being well cared for !!
4.29.10
Tues. The school children had no school on Tuesday due to a teacher training day, thus our plan to play games with the kids needed to be changed. The best plan developed to walk up the mountain to the major spring source. The walk was absolutely gorgeous with fields, peach trees, and berry bushes along the way. Both spring sources were dry, which explains why there is no water coming through the pipes to the pilas (sinks). The spring flows from May through Jan. One main lower spring runs briskly 12 months but is located below the village. The people are carrying water on the head this week.
We walked a portion of the perimeter of the property of Villa Hortencia which gave the team a good idea of the vastness of the land and the incredible altitude changes. The vista are gorgeous.
In the afternoon, the teams visited families that were on the list of malnourished children taking note of family conditions and praying especially for their health and well being. Some goats have been given to these families as milk supply for the children.
A special visit to La Esperanza allowed us to see our 25 families who appeared healthy and well. They were thrilled to see the team and extended their warm welcoming hands and hugs.
Wed. Today was a road construction day as we worked alongside the men to clear a road that will lead further up the mountain, over the other side to another town. Chuck Meacham loved powering up the mountain side in 4 wheel drive to position the truck. We formed a fireman´s chain work system interspersing villagers with us. Great fun, lots of singing, and amazement as we saw children gladly join in the work. Bob Beilke learned a new child interaction....¨child labor¨¨ as the kids tossed rocks into puddles to help with the road construction. The team is well exercised, eating well, and feeling great.
Our devotional word today was LOVE. The study inspired us to be aware of our demonstration of love at all times. The study of the Fruit of the Spirit has worked well as we see each day unfold into a glorious picture of God´s Plan for us.
Signing off from Nebaj. Tomorrow we will have an all day play day with the kids plus soccer games in the afternoon.
4.27.10
Hola,
The team had a fantastic first day in Villa Hortencia 1. The welcome from the leadership involved a short statement from each leader of good health and well being, anticipation of a good week together, and many thank yous for coming to share the week. The new president Felix Lopez is a well spoken leader who also managed during the presentations to slip out of the room to quiet the school children in the room next door. There are now 5 classrooms for the school which means 2 additional classes are being held in the ¨Community Building¨.
Three teams formed to begin the family prayer walks. My team of Charli, Chuck, Joe, and our family guide Pedro Us Gonzales met 10 families in their homes for rich prayer time. One family asked us to sing praise songs! We saw many very poor families. Several homes had the new Agros stove which directs most of the smoke out the roof. We walked by a very productive and well planted cabbage field of 400 mature cabbages. We saw many new pilas however, there has been no rain since March 5. Many of the springs are dry. At this time there is no water coming through the water system. They asked us to pray for rain....well, on the drive back to our hotel, lightening began and the windshield wipers were going. Praise the Lord. Our three teams prayed with 30 families.
At the Ixil Training Center the Agros staff presented an update on Villa Hortencia 1. Diego Bernal began by thanking Chapel Hill for the wonderful Guatemalan dinner he and Teresa had when visiting CH. There are now 10 goats and 20 sheep owned by families. Several groups of people have attented educational training for care of children and nutrition (45 families have malnutrition for children), financial planning, administration and leadership, small business training. The older school children have been on field trips to higher education centers so that they will be encouraged to continue school.
All in all, we had a fantastic first day. Sights, colors, smiles, greetings, prayer...all to God´s glory Thank you for the many prayers of support. We can feel them.
4.26.10
Buenos dias!
Yesterday we began our day in Chichicastinago, a town that hosts a regional market on Thursdays and Sundays. Sunday is the larger of the two. We began early with singing and devotions. We are studying the fruit of the Spirit. Today we examined Joy. The joy we have as Christian is different than the joy offered by the world. In Christ, we have hope and assurance of our lord´s sustaining power even through adversity. In fact the power of our joy in seen through sorrow and adversity. Our singing is improving, though to be honest we sing just a bit better in English rather than Spanish, but just a bit.
After breakfast we walked the few blocks to the market place that teemed with people. It appeared thre were more sellers than buyers. After fighting our way through the crowds, we visited the main church, Santos Tomas. The front steps were filled with people offering sacrifices and swinging incense burners. Inside the church, there were several platforms for people to burn candles or offer other sacrifices. The churches here have mixed in aspects of their Mayan religion with Catholocism. They offer sacrifices to cleanse them of evil spirits in outside of the church and in the center of the church (the center of worship in Mayan religion is in the center of the building) AND then they approach the alter of Christ.
Some of purchased items, mostly textiles. The team also purchased fruit for our trip to the Ixil, where Villa Hortencia is situated. It is not uncommon to see preschool children carrying large loads of goods and learning the family trade of selling products. Often these children were by themselves at the family booth without an adult or older child with them. In the market, we practiced saying,´No Gracias.`
After lunch we left our hotel through very narrow streets competing with other vehicles to gain lane status. The drive to Nebaj in the Ixil
(i-sheel) region took roughly 2:45 of up-down terrain. Most of the roads were paved though there were a few dirt and quite bumpy sections. The story of the drive includes many tight switch-backed turns with gradients of 15+ degrees elevation gain and loss. While we drove cautiously, this can be said for other drivers on the road that like to pass on tight blind corners. Needless to say we pray before we drive and give thanks when we arrive to our destination.
To date, all of our accommodations have been excellent. The Hotel Santa Maria is no exception. There are three main towns in the Ixil region, Nebaj, Chajul, and Cotzal. These towns form a triangle and this region has been referred to as the Ixil Triangle. However, we learned that this is a term the military used for the coordinates of this area during the long civil war in Guatemala. Therefore, the use of this term reminds the Ixil of that time. We have adopted the more cultually sensitive, Ixil region.
We have settled in at Nabej and will travel to Villa Hortencia tomorrow.
our excitement grows in anticipation of meeting the villagers. For some, it will be our first introduction to Villa Hortencia while 3 of our team were here last year.
We are safe and well. Thank you for your prayers.
4.24.10
The team has safely arrived in Chichicastenengo! The drive was eventful but not deadly, and we had lots of laughs and the landscape was beautiful. Agros presented a history of Guatemala and the Ixil. We learned that the area is no longer called the Ixil Triangle because of negative associations with the war times, but is now called the Ixil Region. Our guide, Nancy, is wonderful and we are looking forward to spending a week with her. Everyone is healthy and we thank you for your prayers!
