Jutiapa Day 2!

Dad
Happy (slightly belated) Father’s Day. We are having such a great time here and have gone to many interesting places to present the mime, such as a city in the middle of nowhere where we walked across a fun, rickety bridge (on which no one got hurt, of course) near Metapan. We have also presented the mime in parks and in schools, sometimes in the same school twice a day for two different groups of people. We have been able to present the mime many more times per day than before since we do not have to drive as far to find a place for the basketball team to play since we always go with the basketball team. I am having such a great time.
Matt Crane

Kerry and the boys –
Thanks for the Father’s Day note. Hope everything is going well back home and the dogs are back to “normal”. The trip is going quite well. This is a very strong group of students. I am very proud of how they have handled all of the challenges they have faced, from new food experiences to fluctuating schedules to interesting living arrangements. Everyone has been pretty healthy and all have stayed engaged in their different service areas. Its hard to believe we only have 2 more service days. I have had the pleasure of hanging out with each of the teams along the way and have enjoyed getting to know the kids better. The staff is doing a great job with their teams, too. All in all it has been a great trip so far and expect they will end strong. As much as I am looking forward to seeing you in less than a week, it will be hard to again leave our friends here behind. Hope you’re all well – love you lots.
- Tim

Sarah –
Hope you and Jeff and Chelsey had an uneventful flight home. Anything special we should anticipate when we make the trip? I am learning to work left handed (now that my right hand is gone). We will be okay, but it is different. I hope you have a great time camping. See you soon.
- Tim

Dad and Ty
This morning, VC and I woke up thirty-six minutes late. That was crazy. Kelli says hi to both of you. Thanks for the update, go KG! We played early this morning and it was a hot game. My shot is so off but we always have fun. Brett is officially the definition of tank. He is the focal point of our offense. I feel like I’m getting better but still making small mistakes. But again, it’s all fun. We just got back from an eye-cream shop. Chicken sandwiches for lunch. Chyeah. Sarah and Ashley and Hannah all say hello!! Guess what they have here? Soda in a bag. Just when I thought I’d seen it all… I’ll talk to you later. I love you and Tyno.
Hey David! I’m praying for you.
-CJ


Dad and Mom,
Hello it is your wonderful daughter Brittany. I am taking a break from painting right now. How is home? Well I don’t really have much to say except I love you.
Love,
Brittany

Hey Everyone!! Mom, Dad, Ryan and Claire,
Today is our second service day in Jutiapa, and we’re pretty much doing the same thing as always, going to schools and doing our little show – today I’m a clown. The trip is going well, I haven’t gotten sick, so don’t worry too much Mom. So far I’ve taken a million pictures and can’t wait to tell you guys about the trip. Tomorrow is our last service day and then we head to Antigua then to Lake Atitlan for R&R! I don’t have much else to say, Happy Father’s Day dad… and I love you.
Love,
Alicyn


Hey mom, Jasmine, and midnight.
Sorry I haven’t blogged yet I have been so busy. This trip has been sooo much fun I have so much to tell you. I hope you guys are safe and having fun.
Well I love u all you’ll be in my prayers!
Brittney Arnesha


Hola mi familia!!!
Today has been an interesting day already! There was a bull’s head in one of the basketball hoops; it was part of a Satanic cult worship to try and “undo” what we have already done here in this city. It’s amazing to me to see how Satan tries to work and yet how powerful God is!!! I love you guys and miss you, but know that I am doing really well and know that this is where I am supposed to be. I hope Dad and Grandpa are doing okay with the whole situation. God has really been a strength and constant comfort to me since I can’t be with you guys. I love you and will see you Sunday… I don’t know if I’ll be able to blog again. So hasta luego!!
Love,
Linz


Hey Mom and Dad
No mike does not have the website so idk how you would be able to get it to him but that’s fine if you cant, I will be home soon enough. We have been painting the last two days and we are painting again tomorrow!!! I am so sick of painting! I am really excited for R&R! Its going to be really fun! So what would you like for me to try and get you while I am here? Dad would you like coffee? If you end up talking to mike ask him what he would like and do you think that I should get Travis a knife? Mom I know that wouldn’t really want me to get him one cause it wouldn’t be safe but do you think he would like it? Tomorrow we only have to paint for half the day so I am really excited about that! We got to go to a hospital last night with our home stay to pray for one of the daughters of a lady that attends the church! We also played cards with them and started to get to know them better! It was really nice!
Love
Ashley Weis


Papa Daddy and family,
I just got that post. It’s the first one I’ve seen from you guys! Kinda made me sad that you guys haven’t been writing to me. But glad I saw it! I miss Daniel head too. And I wont see him for a week until I get back?! Oh well…he will have fun. And hopefully not get homesick like me. Ive dreamed about work for the past 3 nights…so I think that means I miss work way too much. Haha but im really excited about the work party the day I get back because I miss them all. So I wanna stop by for a while after I chill with the fam when I get back…and maybe take a real shower?! I hope the floor is done when I get back! Im so excited for my room to finally be done. But…we got a slight problem, I forgot to paint my closet!! Haha so its still pink. Ehhh we can maybe fix that this summer. We are currently in Jutiapa, Guatemala where the food is great! I swear ive gained 20 pounds! So we better start eating more mexi food when I get home! Haha im in a home stay with nikki in a really nice house! 3 floors with a huge roof where they go up on with there dog and chill. A house of 4 girls because there dad died 2 years ago but there all really nice and my Spanish is to a perfection! Haha they have a stair case in the middle of the house that curls all the way to the top of the roof! The house is adorable. My other home stay…not so great. And I’ll tell you about that when I get home. But other then that I’m great. And we’ve got 4 days left so 1 more service day and then we are travel around to lake atitlan, panajachel, san tiago, and Antigua to do some shopping. But I gotta go eat dinner. So please blog again! Its fun to hear from you and I don’t think I’ve been getting your other ones. So be specific because maybe I have just missed them because there are a lot of sarahs and some with the same initial.
Love you tons! And miss home!
-Sarah Bivans


Momma, Poppa, Lauren,
There have been so many things that have happened in the days we have been here. So many that I would probably write 5 or more pages. I am healthy and soaking in the sun. The children’s team is going great and God is giving us strength to play with the kids. I tell you guys more when I get back, but for now I am going to keep enjoying this beautiful country and people. Love you and see you soon.
Jared


Hey everyone !
So I figured I would blog again since we only have one service day left and I’m sure I wont be blogging much when we get to r&r time. My home stay has turned out to not be that bad. It was just a total difference from the last one and needed some time to readjust since it’s a lot like campur. We have been painting the church again so lots and lots of painting has happened. The only like outside work we did was house building in campur and a little painting outside in el Salvador so im excited to spend lots of time outside when we get done with service. Keep writing me even if I don’t respond since sometimes just the blog responses is up and not the writing one. Hope all is well and everyone is having a good time. Miss you all. See you in 5 days !
xoxoxox Hannah


Hey Crum family- still healthy. Will write more later
love Nicole

Hello Mark, Lee Anne, Peter and Family! I am doing great. I was a clown for one performance in Metapan. Now I have been doing all the girls when they are clowns. I am writing a lot in my journal so I feel that I don’t really need to write that much to you now. Hope dad had a good father’s day without his favorite daughter there. We have one more service day and then r&r but that will be weird not to do our show. Got to go! Love you, Miss you, see ya soon! Amy Anderson


Hey Family & Friends
The service team has been working hard here in Jutiapa. Its is now our 4th day in a row painting. Muscles in our hands we didn’t know we had hurt and we have calluses from the paint rollers. The students are staying positive. We’ve painted 6 classrooms in this church so far. Yesterday while we were painting we suddenly heard very loud music we ran outside to see a parade with lots of marching bands, drum lines, and dancing, it was fun to watch. Things are going great, although I am getting ready to get home to you all. I am super excited to get to Lake Atitlan, its is so beautiful. The relaxation will be great. Hope all is well back in Ep. Miss you lots. I am on the late flight back so I won’t be home until the evening. Like…around dinner time…hint hint. Jk. Excited to show you pictures. Oh dad – did you wait until Sunday to read my father’s day card?
See you Sunday,
Lori Ask

Hey everyone back home! Well it’s our second to last ministry day in Jutiapa and we have done nothing but paint for the last I don’t know how many days, and we’re all just sitting around waiting for the paint to dry so we can apply another coat. There have to be about 9 coats of other colors before ours and we got no primer for our coats we layed down. You’d think that after so many tries at repainting they’d be better at this. Well we’re almost done here, and then onto R&R. by the way, the food here is amazing!!!

Cole Peterson


Hey Mom, Dad, Danae, Cate..ect,
I hope everything is going well at home. We are almost done with the hard stuff here we have one more service day tomorrow and that’s it. It’s kind of sad, but kind of a relief. Today was pretty tough a couple of kids on our team were sick and it was pretty warm in the clinic. We managed to see 150ish people, but one of the boys that we saw is almost certainly going to die unless he has brain surgery. Jim (our nurse) knows someone in the US who may be able to help out, so pray that something can be set up. We came through the day strong despite the difficulties and we had a lot of good laughs on the way home thanks to Josh. I’m excited for R&R soon. Love you all,
Elizabeth

Hola Todos:
The Service Team has been awesome from the time that we departed Mpls. It is incredible the synergy that they have and no one has been slacking off. In fact, often times they have gone the extra mile. Our projects in Campur required us to split into two separate teams. Both teams helped out in the construction of homes for two families. The teams helped carry blocks, do cement work, cut and put together the re-bars. One minute it was sunny and hot, then suddenly we had that kind of tropical rain that this area is well known for.

The trip to Metapan, El Salvador was about 9 hours. We made a few stops in between, so it didn’t seem so long. The church in Metapan asked us to help with the painting. We had enough time to paint the west side of the church as well as hallways inside the church. Due to the lack of painting experience, the cleaning afterwards was a bit challenging.

The next stop was Jutiapa, Guatemala, about 2 hours from the border with El Salvador. Therefore, the bus ride took less than 3 hours. The following day after arrival, the church asked the team to do more painting. It is so amazing how much the team in general learned from their first painting assignment in Metapan, that they totally finished three good size classrooms in a record time of less than 3 hours and with no messy cleaning whatsoever! The team’s excellent and speedy work was rewarded with more painting projects. Today they painted three other classrooms as well as the outside walls of the kitchen.

Tomorrow, our last day in Jutiapa will involve some touch up work as well as painting a couple of hallways and staircases. Despite the workload, the whole team is in good spirit and they continue to look forward to the challenges. Other than some minor upset stomachs as expected, everyone has been healthy. It is encouraging to see them try to interact with the locals in Spanish and to learn new words. The team has bonded so well that I am positive that everyone will be sad when this mission is over and we are all back to our old daily routines.

Hasta luego,
Knowland Loo, leader
Service Team