God is so Good -- OCA Report for June 13-14

(This picture is of the crowds gathered outside of our remote medical clinic yesterday. The building was packed shoulder to shoulder with people inside too! This community has so many needs. It is about an hour away from Campur, and makes Campur look like a major metropolis.)

Hi mom and dad and nick its Lindsay! We have had a very exciting few days. The kids at the schools are adorable and fun to work with! We got to go on two hikes in a rainforest to get to the schools. I feel so adventurous! The foods a bit interesting..haha but al and I have lots of treats! I loved the card sooo cute! I miss u tons! And love you lots!


Hey mom and dad and mitch and tay its allie!! These past few days have been so amazing! We’ve got to go to tons of schools and see TONS of adorable kids! They are seriously so cute! They are so happy with so little! We’ve also been able to see beautiful views on the drives to the schools. The mountains are gorgeous but a little slippery when they get wet. Haha we’ve gotten a little dirty on the walks to the schools. Miss you guys, love you!


Hello all! Wow Sarah! YOU POSTED YAAA! I hope you like the pictures you’ve seen so far (they are not mine though). Well I’m taking care, everything is going good. I’m eating and going to the bathroom normally still so that’s good! I just absolutely enjoy Campur. Today we went out to a school and had to hike about a quarter mile on a path that was a foot wide full of rocks, going up and down them. The worst part of this, is it was wet and we were carrying bags. So when we got there we set up and did our shindig. While we were presenting it started pouring. It was warmer than the water in our showers so we all ran out and got soaked in the rain. We had to wait awhile, long enough for the path to be safe enough for us to walk back on. It was fun, I’m still moist from it. I’m being creative with my hand. It is a hindrance, but I’m still getting things done. It is cool because this year we have an additional day of ministry in Campur, so we aren’t leaving tomorrow! We get to be here one more full day! I was able to offload my pictures from my camera last night onto my jump drive…I have some really cool pictures already. I can’t wait to get them up on facebook! Kristin have fun with vbs next week. Jens if you read this, how many bags of coffee should I get for our dorm? Carleigh, I say I miss you and whats up with this, you don’t even say you love me! OUCH! Lol! Well I’m being told I wrote a lot so hope you all are doing wonderful and enjoying MN. Oh and incase you didn’t hear, the earthquake that hit Guatemala did not hit us. Love ya dad and Kristin!!!!Greg Krech

Hello Kerry, Kyle, Bret, Cam and Colin. We are still in Campur today. Its been hot and steamy, with lots of good rain at night to drown out the various night sounds that come with a dormitory of tired guys. Everyone is doing pretty well. So far I have had the opportunity to make cement, build (and carry!) some trusses (for the roof), help medical set up their clinics and hike to a couple schools with the Children’s team. All of the teams are doing great. Medical saw over 100 people the first day – I don’t know how many they saw today but it looked pretty busy. No major injuries yet, and noone appears to be sick. So all in all it is going really well. Thanks for your prayers. I hope all is well on your end of the world. One more day here and then we are on our way to Guatemala City. Love you all. Dad (Tim)

HI EVERYONE! It’s Chelsey, Kelly, and Amanda. We are having a great time! Me ( CHelsey)and Kelly are having a blast on the Children’s team! The kids are so beautiful! The schools we’ve been going to our great! But they don’t speak Spanish, so we’ve been translating from English to Spanish to Caiche (a Mayan language) so we’ve been dealing and communicating with out words and playing with bubbles, coloring and playing JUEGOS!! It’s amazing... the kids are SO cute and my family will probably have a new brother when I get home… most of them are small enough to fit in my bag! Hahahah Love you! Here’s Kelly— HOLA MIS PADRES! Today was amazing!! I loved the schools we went to because they were a little smaller than the others. The kids at the first school were sooooo cute! They kept shaking our hands even as we tried to drive away. The last school we went to was fun but getting there wasn’t. I didn’t know that rock climbing was part of the job description! All the little kids were laughing at us when we tried to climb up to there school. Then it was suddenly down poring and we had to try and walk back without falling on our butts! It was a great experience because the kids were so happy to see us! i think this whole trip makes all of us feel so grateful for everything that we have! OH and the breakfast this morning was AMAZING! Minus the eggs but that’s just my opinion. Amanda doesn’t want to write, but she’s having fun and says that No… there are no eligible bachelors… Sorry Montouri family! J
I (Kelly) love you mom, dad, and steph!


HEY there its Ashley!
Well things have been going good for the most part campur has been rough though! Well I have been having a great time being on childrens team the kids are adorable! Well today for childrens team we went to 3 different schools and on the last one we had a bit of a climb pretty much a mountain if you ask me it was wet and slippery and then once we got up to the school it began to pour like crazy! It was funny when you try to talk to people when its raining here you cant hear them because of the tin roofs! Well we did puppet shows and sang songs made bracelets to give to the kids! It was an amazing time!
Well so far the food has been fairly descent and I haven’t gotten sick which is very good! Im proud to say that last night I slept the whole night ahh its was great to finally get some sleep well I should probably go right now! Holy cow it is pouring buckets outside right now well I cant hear anything because of the rain oh my word well I will be talking to yall later and I miss you all so much!
p.s. Allison if you read this let josh know im getting some sun!
Love yall very much!
.:Ashley:.


Hi It’s Andrea!
Wow, its been an amazing trip so far! I’m having an awesome time and I’ve even been able to shower multiple times! The clinics have been a great experience but really overwhelming. The people are so greatful even for the smallest things. They are so thankful even for just a few Tylenol. I’ve been able to use my Spanish quite a bit which has been cool. Today was our second day of medical clinic and we took a van ride to get there and we were literally hanging OFF the edge of a cliff! But it went pretty well, but it was super sad when we had to turn tons of people away at the end of the day. I’ve never been so sweaty in my whole life! Well, I got to go! Miss you all!
~Andrea~



Hola amigos y familia!
Hi, this is Sophie, as promised! Have you ever showered in rainwater, driven so close to a cliff you thought you would surely die, or handed out hundreds of toothbrushes? Well, now I have! It’s been a truly amazing experience for me so far, and I’ll be sure to write a whole lot more once I come home! For now, I just wanted to let you guys know some of the cool stuff I’ve been busy with! By the way, I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying gourmet Guatemalan food! I don’t mind the tortillas and beans at all! Hope you’re all having great summers so far, until later!
Much love,
Sophie

Hey family and Friends. It’s Sarah. Thanks for the comments mom and dad. The kids are doing wonderful. Dad the Tbird that greg referred to was not a car…sorry. The students are loving the kids of this community so much. After each day of exhausting ministry they come back to play with kids. And last night we played a game of soccer with the locals..needless to say we lost. It is raining right now so loud that you can’t hear each other talk. Cyndi- Chris has been such a big help. Yesterday he hung with the service team and carried full buckets of cement that I couldn’t carry- and you know how strong I am. He and Brian miss you lots but he says he’s having a great time being able to see what a missions trip and OCA is with his dad. Jan- Taylor is doing amazing- she is working circles around the boys and doing so great. I bought 2 cans of red bull for her the other day but she knows she has to wait for her birthday. Debbie- Tim and Chris are doing great too. I’m reminding them to take their meds. Stephanie- Adrienne is doing wonderful- she is showing tons of compassion for all those she serves and is always ready to do more work. Melody- Cole has a great spirit and is always keeping us laughing. Leanne- Peter is a trooper. He never has a negative thought or complaint. I really admire his can do attitude. Gail- Jeff is doing well too- I’m calling him Mr. Oompa loompa though because he worked so hard yesterday that his orange gloves turned his hands a light shade of orange. All kids are doing spectacular. Tomorrow is our last day in Campur and I’m sure it will be awesome. Thank you for all your prayers and comments on the blog.

Sarah


Family and friends,
I was happy to get your responses and am going to reply to all of them.

Zach-You are welcome(for the video games). Have fun with your outdoor activities! I miss you a lot and can’t wait to see you again.

Jeremy-I’m glad you got to try Hero mode. I think it’s the most fun. Are you having a good time? I’m glad that you like Sonic. I really miss you and hope that you have a great time while I’m gone.

Mom- Don’t worry, I’ve had a cliff bar and lots of fruit. Dad says I’m a dried fruit addict. I guess that is kind of true because I’m already down to half the jar!! I hope muffy isn’t being too much of a problem. I miss you!

Daniel- All right… The slingshot would be a gift no charge, and I’m already gonna get you one unless I can’t find one. The machete is from 25-40 dollars so tell me your price range and I’ll try to find one for that much.(The decorative ones cost a lot more than the normal ones). Please make sure it is ok with your parents for me to get you one.

Grandma- Thanks for your prayer and support! I am having an amazing time. Thanks for the praise about my muscles though I’m not quite sure they’re that big☺ Can’t wait to tell you all about my trip

Everybody- Guatemala is amazing. Right now we are in the rainforest village of Campur. There is a rainstorm going on right now. I am loving being here and I can’t wait to see what experiences are up ahead. I miss you all and I am glad for your prayer and support. See you in 11 days!

Love,
Chris

Hola Family and Friends- I’m still having a great time here. We performed twice yesterday and the second time it started to rain, but it felt really good since we mimes were sweating like crazy. Later we got to explore the caves. It was so cool, but it was very moist and slippery, alas I did fall since I’m a klutz. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNI!!!!!! Hope your birthday is wonderful. I love you very much!
Love always
Andreya

Hola Madre, Padre y Mis amigos!
Yo soy Taylor! I’m doing great I haven’t gotten sick yet and I am trying all of the food well except for the beans! I love it here the kids are so cute here and so loving! Yesterday I taught Sarah how to shake the baby in the pants because I couldn’t get my pants over my hiking boots! I am thinking about home a lot and how lucky and fortunate I am to have such a great loving family and such a good house! I’m really glad I came on this trip I love speaking Spanish with the locals! We work so hard on the service team I have a ton of scratches and bruises! Today we’re going to work on the house for the widow and her five kids! I’m really excited to participate in the building of that house! Me, Jeff and Michelle one of our translators found a pig by the church! It is one of the peoples in the town I asked the little boy if I could have it, but he said it was his moms! He told us it didn’t have a name so we named is Spencer! I’m in love with it I want to bring him home he really little maybe a foot long! So yeah I am doing well and I love it here it rains at least twice a day but it feels so good! Yesterday we shaved our legs in the rain we got drenched but it was a blast! I am thinking about you all a ton and I pray for you a lot! I miss and love you all so so so so much!
Love always, Taylor!

Hey family –
It’s John. I have been having a great time here in Campur. Everyone has been so nice and generous here. They also are really good at cooking. Personally, I have really enjoyed my time here. I haven’t really gotten sick yet – yeah! I also have enjoyed playing with the children and seeing the smiles on their faces when I show them the pictures I have taken on my camera. I have also enjoyed being able to help everyone who has come into the medical clinic. I think up to this point, between the actual people we have seen, and the people we have given supplies to, such as vitamins and toothbrushes/toothpaste, we have seen over two hundred and fifty people – which is awesome. Hope everyone at home is having a great time! See ya in a couple of weeks.
Love John

Hey Mom and Dad,
On Wednesday the mime team and the medical team drove a ways through the mountains to a small town that pretty much only spoke Kecke. The kids were so excited to see us and wouldn’t let us stop taking pictures! On the way there and on the way back we sat in the back of a pickup truck, it was really crazy. After lunch we left to do two more performances. The first was at a school and it was really hot out, but it started to rain when the music that had rain in it came on, it was pretty cool. After the performance we were able to go into some caves that are supposed to be one of the biggest tourist attractions in Guatemala, but even though the caves were cool, the lake outside them was even prettier because the water was so pure. When we were supposed to do our second performance it started to rain, so we were unable to. We stayed in the town for sometime and were going to eat dinner there…ya, I didn’t feel too good so I didn’t eat anything. On our drive back I almost got sick because the bus rocked so much. When we were 5 km away from Campur there was a tree in the road and the guys had to get out and chop it in half with a machete, then they chucked it off the cliff…I was really relieved to be back in Campur and I went to sleep right away. Today (Thursday) the mime team is going with the children’s team to Coban…I’ve got to go right now!
Love You! Christina

Life continues to be quite eventful on this mission trip. God is using our students in a variety of different ways. As most of you know Guatemala was hit by an earthquake yesterday. We did NOT feel the quake or see any of the quake´s effects. The quake hit the Pacific side of Guatemala. San Marcos, the community that we will travel to on Monday and depart on Thursday morning did feel the quake, but our missionary, Nery Minchez reports no damage there. I imagine that we will have to deal with some trees on the roads, etc. We had a monster rain storm last night. Our mime team was about an hour away doing ministry when it hit. They drove back to Campur through it and had to deal with one fallen tree that was blocking the road. The bus driver used a machete to chop the tree up. God´s protection has been evident throughout the trip. We also had a minor incident with Peter Anderson yesterday. He was working on the orphanage and the beam that he was holding up fell onto his head. He was given stitches by Pete Dehenl, talked to his mom on the phone, and is doing quite well. He´s back working with the service team today.

Please continue to pray for us as we spend our final day in Campur today and then head off for Guatemala City tomorrow morning. This will most likely be our last blog update until either Friday night or Saturday.

In Him,





Brian Schulenburg