Team from Georgia was here for the week!

What a busy week we’ve had here! A team from Georgia came to do construction, though those plans quickly changed. There was Art and Mary Fowler, Jenny, Janet, Crystal, and Charles on the team that arrived June 6. As usual we went to Antigua on Sunday morning before church that evening. The group was well prepared to do lots of children’s ministries- which was good because in all we did six VBS’s. On Sunday they did the Fisher’s of Men story complete with a craft of making fishing poles and drawing a picture of a friend who doesn’t know Jesus on the fish. They kids loved it, but by the end of the night most of them were broken and being used for weapons! J

Monday we were supposed to go to Panajachel, but all roads were closed. The main highway was closed because of protesting, and the back road was closed probably because of mudslides. That road was pretty scary anyways. It was just big enough for one lane, yet they were using it for two lanes- bus next to bus type thing….and it was uneven dirt road with a cliff on the one side. What an adventure. The team ended up just going to the Mayan ruins of Ixmiche. The interns stayed in the car because we have already seen them and we were being cheap, not wanting to spend the money again! Then we went home for the day and hung out. I was sick as ever this day though, because I was in the back of the van, in the middle seat, for four hours of driving around nowhere!

The days of construction got changed to days of medical clinics and VBS for the kids. We visited Zorzoya, October 20, and Gordion between Tuesday and Thursday. We also did the regular ministries- Kids for Christ Club, and Wednesday night service. In all we did bookmarks, gave out bubbles, played with slap bracelets, painted crosses, and sang lots of songs. It was a lot of fun playing with all the kids this week! On Thursday night we went out on the streets of downtown Guatemala City to visit with some street kids. It was hard to find them and we were unsure why until we saw a couple police hassling one of the guys we minister to. They were throwing everything out of his pockets and threatening to beat him with their night sticks. It broke my heart to see how the police treat the poor people of their country. Police here are very corrupt and will cause trouble just for something to do. We went to a different area of town and ministered to them by singing, preaching, and giving them some bean sandwiches and juice. It was so sad to see the young children and a baby out there on the street too. One of the boys was probably 8 and he had nothing but a pair of sandals, shorts, and a tshirt. He was obviously freezing! Mary had a sweater she was wearing under her shirt which she gave to him. If you could have seen his joy at an oversized sweater! We later went back to the first place and was able to gather a large group of teenagers. We sang and dances with them before they shared some of their testimonies. They have such rough lives. One talked about how he got hit by a car, another how he got shot 3 times, and one how he got shot by the private police and now his bowels empty into a Ziploc bag on his waist. All of them gave credit to God for their survival. We fed them a ton of food and juice- everything we had left.

The next morning we got up early again for the service and breakfast at the Mary Magdelena house. There were tons of people there! More than usual. We prayed with them and served breakfast. There wasn’t even enough left for the team to eat! We did a short clinic before they left for sightseeing. The interns stayed at the clinic to clean out the hospital and then go back to the MM house for pill drowning! It was such a chore just to open up pill packages and pour them into a bucket of water. The worst were the nasal sprays. We had to spray them up into a bag- about 30 of them. Our hands were killing us! It was so disgusting when the pills were melting, each bucket was a different color! Finally Tom and the team came back to pick us up before our night of celebration before the team left. Today they left to go back home, which was so sad for us. They were such a great team- so loving and generous and willing to do anything! We were all blessed by their presence!! Now we have a week until the next group comes.

On Monday and Tuesday the interns are taking a trip to Panajachel- so far twice we were told we were going and were never able to, so we decided we’d go ourselves! We are taking a bus over and back and staying at a little bungalow (hopefully). It’s one of those things that is a once in a lifetime opportunity that we can’t miss!!

A prayer request that we have is for a lady named Jannette (I think, I couldn’t quite understand because everyone talks fast and has a ton of names). She is a prostitute and alcoholic, but is trying very hard to quit. If we can find a way to pay for her rehab, she is very willing to go. It is about 900 Quetzals a month, which is $112.50, for at least 9 months. She speaks both Spanish and English perfectly and even grew up in California. I know that God can change her life and do wonderful things through her!