Operation Central America

Postlude

2011-06-27T11:51:00.004-05:00

Well, another trip has come to an end. God is so good. We have deepened existing relationships and created so many more new ones. At our medical clinics we served nearly 1,400 people, both the drama and mime teams presented the Gospel to thousands more, and the childrens team ministered to hundreds of children in schools and orphanages. The basketball team was able to build relationships with players from many different schools and towns, and the service team left enduring evidence of God's compassion through fresh paint, a new roof and a reconstructed wall. By Kingdom measures the trip was an amazing success - praise be to God!

Through out the trip we saw God work in amazing ways, both among those we served and us as we served. He had one last surprise for us on our homecoming day. As you may remember, the team was divided over 3 different flights on 3 different airlines, flying through 3 different connecting cities. We all left at different times and had expected to arrive in Minneapolis over the span of about an hour. As it turns out, through an interesting set of delays and tail- and head-winds all 3 flights arrived in Minneapolis within 5 minutes of each other! As a result we were able to enjoy the full-throated welcome home from the crowd of families and friends. A wonderful, final encouragement to all the students and staff who had given so much of themselves in the preceding two weeks to the people of Guatemala and El Salvador.

We can't thank you all enough for your prayers and support. Without out supporters none of this would have been possible. Know that because of you the kingdom of God has been expanded and the churches in San Marcos, Malacatan, Guatemala City and San Salvador are greatly encouraged.

Stay tuned. It won't be long and we will be starting up planning for OCA 2012. And please do not stop praying for our partners in Central America as well as the people we ministered to. Their needs go on, even as we return to our "normal" routines!

The last night in Guatemala for OCA 2011

2011-06-25T01:49:00.001-05:00

A final greeting from Guatemala from OCA 2011.

We got into Guatemala City about 8 this evening. We were 2 hours later than expected because our drive was a bit more interesting than planned. We left the Decameron in Sonsonate, San Salvador about 9 this morning. Our first challenge was the bridge over the river that separates El Salvador and Guatemala was partially washed out by the recent rains and there were many many vehicles, mostly semis, backed up waiting to get across the now one way bridge. By God's grace (and some negotiating by our lead driver Eddy) the police allowed our vehicles to move up through the line so that in the end it "only" took about 2 hours to get through customs on both sides. It is normally a 30 minute ordeal. We talked to one of the truck drivers that was waiting on the Guatemala side and realized just how blessed we had been - he had been waiting for 3 hours on the El Salvador side before he even got to get into the line to wait another hour or more to go through the El Salvador side. As we were driving away from the border crossing we counted 37 semis waiting on the 2-lane road to go into El Salvador. Yikes!

The next modification to our trip occurred about 20 minutes later when were required to take a detour over a dirt track that barely met the definition of a roadway. Another bridge on the main highway had been completely knocked down by the swollen river running beneath it. We had had a lot of rain, especially at night, but never really thought about the potential impact to our travelling. We bounced along corn fields and meadows with grazing beef cattle and then crossed a single lane bridge which we were pretty sure was built for tractors and pickups rather than semis and tour buses. So we held our collective breath and closed our eyes (except for the driver, of course) and went across one by one, sort of. Drivers in Guatemala have a hard time waiting when there is open road in front of them. Shortly thereafter we rejoined the main highway and were on our way again for Guatemala City. Of course, about an hour out of the city it began to rain again so we had to slow down a bit due to road conditions and increasing traffic. In the end we arrived a little over two hours later than intended.

Once here in the Panamerican Hotel (our lodging one last time) we had a good pizza dinner and a final big team time to recap the trip's highlights and allow everyone to share what they had learned on the trip. It was a great conversation - the students have exeprienced God in so many ways. And now its past midnight and everyone is in their rooms, repacking their bags and (hopefully) getting some sleep. We will be up at 7:30 to load the buses one last time and then have breakfast from 8 to 9. Jaime Lopez, the SEPAL director who is our trip coordinator, is going to present his story, so it will be a wonderful way to end our stay here. Then it is on the airport and the start of our journey home.

Every one is feeling pretty good, although there seems to be a cold starting to make the rounds. Check the flight information Krista provided so you know when and where to find your student tomorrow night. We are all sad to be leaving this beautiful country and wonderful people, but very excited to be coming home to see you all.

If you would like to here more of the stories of this year's trip come to the Missions Fair at Wooddale Church on July 30 and 31. We will have information on our trip and team members there to share their stories. All of Wooddale's other missions activities will be represented as well so it is a great way to find out what is happening all over the world.

Have a good night! We will see you in person in less than 24 hours!

R&R day

2011-06-24T12:12:00.004-05:00

Hello from the Royal Decameron in Sonsonate, El Salvador. This is a beautiful resort on the Pacific coast. It has been very hot and sunny since we arrived yesterday afternoon so everyone is enjoying the beach and pools. Last night we had a great team worship time with siinging, students sharing what they have learned, and a special message from William, our Salvadoran evangelist. A very powerful night. There was a huge thunderstorm during the meeting which added to the the experience. We leave in a couple hours (around 1pm for a 5 hour bus ride back to Guatemala City. We will be in the Panamerican Hotel for tonight and then tomorrow we head back to the States. Below are a couple posts (everyone has been too busy relaxing to write much) and some more pictures. If you don't see your student in the team photo don't worry, we didn't lose them. There were a couple kids who came late so they are not in this picture but they are in the "official" picture that will be available after we get home.

Thanks again for your support!

-------------------------------------------

I have been changed! God is so AWESOME and He has continually shown His love to all of us on this mission. As a co-leader on the Service Team, I had the privledge to work with some amazing students who showed extreme patience, perserverance, and strength. We endured many days of painting in extreme heat/humidity in San Marcos/Malacatan/Guatemala City as well as building a wall and a roof for two families in San Salvador. The team was split in 2 for the projects in San Salvador. I worked with half of the team on building the roof. We worked really hard to accomplish the task in 2 days; I was really proud of the team for what they did. God works in crazy ways! Quick story...I was about to go up on the roof right before our lunch break. The houses in the neighborhood that we worked on were directly next to each other (they share a wall on either side). I climbed up the ladder and used the neighbors' wall as a support to climb up onto the roof that we were working on. My knee slipped and went directly into the roof of the neighbors house (no worries Brenna, I was fully supported outside of my knee). Immediately, the lady from the house next door came out of her house holding pieces of her roof asking us what happened and if we were going to fix it. I told her that I was extremely sorry and that we would definitely fix it.

As we were fixing it, we noticed that she probably was experiencing water issues even before I put a whole in her roof. So, in an effort to show God's love to her, we added cement to her roof and caulking on the inside to prevent the flow of water from pentrating the inside of her house. She had a big smile on her face when she noticed that we were doing more than just fix the hole. As funny as it may seem, God used my knee to help this family in a way that we would not have even known about. How cool??!! After we finished the roof...we prayed with the father of the family. Then, we all gave him hugs...when the last person gave a hug to him, his face was full of tears - tears of extreme happiness! It was amazing to be a part of that experience! Tomorrow, we will be home...but, the mission isn't over. My prayer is that my life, as well as other fellow Christians' lives, will be in a constant state of mission. We are blessed, let's use our blessing to bless others even if it is in our own country! Brenna - I will see you and Junies (our baby to be) tomorrow night! Miss you and love you lots!

Tom Ramy

Hey Family!!!
This is Katie Hauge. I lovve you guys so much and i miss you all!! This trip has been an absolutely incredible and life changing experience! God has worked in some incredible ways and i am so excited to tello you guys about it when i get back. I can't wait to see you guys tomorrow!Please have a MIlos sandwich for me. Dad: I hope you had an excellent father's day, I want to celebrate with you guys when i get back. see you in less than 36 hours!!!i can't wait!!

Much love, Katie Hauge

Our last day of service as our trip draws to a cloes...

2011-06-23T00:51:00.002-05:00

Good evening! Our last day of service has drawn to a close, and it has been a long, fruitful day. All of the teams put in a full day of service. Everyone was full of energy for their last opportunities to minister to the people of El Salvador. I will leave it for the students to describe their experiences - its much more meaningful hearing it first-hand.

Tomorrow is our R&R day so people will have time to post individual comments then. In the meantime please pray than our trips ends as well as it began, with the students not losing focus on why we are here, even as they take a day to relax and (hopefully) enjoy one last sunny day in El Salvador. It was beautiful today, with lots of sun and blue skies. It started clouding up as evening came on, and by the time we were in our worship time there was a tremendous thunderstorm outside the church. But by the time we were done with the service and a late dinner of pupusas (a Salvadoran specialty) the rain had reduced to a light sprinkle so everyone was able to get to their homestays without getting too wet.

Tomorrow we get up early so we can leave by 7:30. Our goal is to get to the hotel we will be staying at tomorrow night before 10 in the morning so that we can partake of their buffet for breakfast. Then the teams will have the day to swim and lounge and talk through their experiences. Then it is one more day and we will be home. It is hard to believe we are at the end of our adventure. It has been a great trip, with lots of different opportunities to see God's mercy and grace in action. Hundreds of people were exposed to that grace through the efforts of your children and many more people have been added to the Kingdom of God as a result.

So we are thanking God tonight for His care and provision and praising Him for what He has one for us and all the people we have served. Thanks again for all your prayers - we could not have accomplished anything without them.

Hasta manana!

Only one more service day left....

2011-06-22T00:57:00.003-05:00

Hello again from San Salvador! We had a great day of service today.

The children's team went to 4 schools, mime was able to perform 4 times, and the basketball team played 3 games (winning 2, including a good night game in Saltetpeque, where basketball is a big time town event). The drama team performed at all the basketball games. Medical had another strong day in clinic, seeing over 200 people. And the service team split into 2 teams so they could help re-roof a house and build a wall for a backyard at another house.

It was a little warm in the morning, but then some heavy showers came through midday and cooled things off nicely. Later in the afternoon and into the evening it was quite pleasant. Everyone (except mime, who had a performance in another town) was able to see the last half of the basketball game so itwas a fun way to round out the day. There were over 200 people from the city there so we had a good crowd to see the drama and hear William's passionate preaching of the Word. When the invitation was given there were 20-30 in the crowd who indicated they had received Christ for the first time. So whether the basketball team won or lost, the night was a success with regards to increasing the kingdom of God.

Tomorrow is our last day of service. Everyone is feeling pretty good again so we are looking forward to finishing strong with that home stretch burst of energy. Please pray for good weather and good spirits and that we all see the hand of God in whatever we are doing.

Here are some additional notes from our students. They are enjoying reading your posts -
thanks for the support!

Mi familia y mis amigos! Hola! O my gosh El Salvador is the BEST. Today was our first day of ministry in el salvador and it was amazing. the El Salvadorians are so awesome! the childerns team performed 4 times today and every time was SO incredibly fun! I got to know a girl named Karla really well and am planning on writing her a letter when i get back home! :) Its funny because a lot of the kids ask me "have you met justin bieber/Lady GaGa/Usher??" hahaha. One of my favorite parts of being on childerns team is seeing the kids bow their heads, fold their hands, and repeat the prayer of salvation. It actually brings tears to my eyes. today was another VERY hot day here. I just got done playing a game of futbol. SO FUN even though i am so bad hahah. I am staying in a homestay with 10 girls! its SO fun! Well i hope everyone at home is great! praying and thinking about you all! hope its not as hot as it is here! LOVE!
Taylor Hansen
P.s. Mom, i traded my watch for your gift in Antigua...so you can add NEW WATCH to my birthday list...i keep looking at my emtpy wrist. THANKS. LOVE.

Hey family and friends (Andi haha),thank you so much for your encouraging notes, I've been dying to get on here and read them. Thank you so so much for your prayers. The trip has been wonderful so far! Due to the lack of sleep and hard work all day I would think I would be absolutely exhausted (and sometimes I am) but I've been surprised at how much energy and strength I have and I know it only comes from God so praise God! :) Some highlights of the trip for me have been going to the
ocean, getting to know my homestay families and other team members, and spending time with all of the kids here. Even though I'm not on childrens team I've had plenty of amazing conversations and opportunities to spend time with cute kids :) Andi, this little girl Hilary was helping me paint this church and she put a little handprint on my shorts that have your handprints:) so cute. I gotta go but I love you so much guys. Andi, thank you SO much for your notes, they have honestly been an immense blessing to me. I read the one from Ri Ri last night and almost cried it was adorable. Tell the family I miss them. Mom, I miss you a lot. It was so great to see you and Mares before I left, I can't wait for our girls weekend :) LOTS OF LOVE.Ash
P.s. Grandpa I could tell that your message was from you because you always write in all caps :) I love you guys, thank you so much for your prayers.
P.p.s. Imba, IMKU. Can't wait to get home and give you a big hug!! :) Love you bunches.

Last stop - San Salvador

2011-06-21T00:03:00.003-05:00

Tonight we are in San Salvador, the capitol of El Salvador. We had a relatively uninteresting drive down from Guatemala City. One of our minibuses had a flat tire so we were a little delayed, but the border crossing was very smooth so we made it into San Salvador about 2:30. We had a lunch at the church we will be partnering with and then went to the university for a basketball game. Our team came back to tie their team and went on to win by 2 in overtime. It was a very good game and fun to watch. But better yet was the response to the halftime mim presentation. It was also cool to see the two teams form a circle at half court at the end of the game and close the eveing in prayer.

During half time the mime team presented the Forgiven By His Love sketch , and after William gave the message and prayed with the crowd he asked for a show of hands of those who had accepted Christ for the first time. Out of a crowd of 75 people or so 12 raised their hands. So regardless of the outcome of the game our visit their was successful. After the game we went back to the church for a baked chicken dinner and then got everyone off to their home stays for a much-needed night's rest. We start our last 2 days of service tomorrow. Its hard to believe we are already into our second week and our third and final city.

Here are some comments from the students and some pictures from tonight's game:

Well hey hiddy ho friends! We are all sitting in a cool (finally) basketball gym watching our boys play the U-17 National Salvadorean team..not doing to shabby! The Mime team will be presenting the gospel at half so we're excited to see that! We have finished our extremely long drive from Guatemala City to San Salvador and are a tid bit tired from our 5:30 am wake up this morning. We still have a few who are a little sick but overall we are doing really well health-wise. Each team is thankful for another break from ministry so that we are ready for our final week of service! Thank you for all of the support everyone has given our team. Continue to pray for reception of our gospel throughout El Salvador this week!

Special shout-out to the fam (Ma, Bret, Colin, Kyle, and Amy), Otis, Shore, Garrett, Zozzy, Tranny, and one of my faves: Mr Garten! (Hope the knee scope went well if that happened already) Praying for everyone back home, thank you teachers that are following us! (That's you Shatz!)

Adi para ahora,

-CFox

Hello everyone!! I'm so excited to tell all of you the amazing things that God has been teaching us on this trip! We have seen Him work in so many ways and have learned so much! The past days have been mostly fun things such as shopping and the beach. However, I'm anxious to get back to serving and see what God will do here in El Salvador! Thank you for all of the prayer! It has been helpful in getting me through some difficult experiences such as eating mushy plantains and beans which for a picky eater like me is a struggle. :) Seriously though thank you and please continue to pray for our last ministry days, sick people, and overall energy for the group!

family- Christina and Dad: Happy belated birthday and Father's Day! I love you both! Family: Today when I was struggling to sleep on the bus,l I kept imagining our house! I hope you guys are having fun with Hannah! (if its not to hard it would be great if you could wash my sheets....thanks! haha) Love you and miss you!]

ELisabeth Solfelt

Hey friends and family! the first thing i want to say is that it is HOT. like i havent sweated this much in my life. everyone in the group smells. anyways, God has been working in awesome ways on this trip!! A cool story about God's amazing healing power happened to me on saturday night. I get swimmers ear really easily and its really bad. So since we went to the ocean, i got swimmers ear. It didnt hurt all that much at first. But when I started to get ready for bed, it was aching pretty good. then i woke up in the middle of the night with my ear throbbing. i got my drops and took advil. i tried going back to sleep, but it was no use. So i sat up and prayed prayed and prayed. the pain lessened a little. and i fell back asleep. and i woke up with NO pain at all and usually my swimmers ear lasts for like a week. this is just ONE of the MANNNY stories of how God is healing, blessing, and helping us on this trip. God is amazing. and i can not WAIT to see what his plans are for El Salvador! :) I hope you guys are doing great! miss you and love you!!
hey mom and dad, i miss you. wish you were here with me!! :)

Taylor Hansen

Dear mom, dad, Sarah, grandma, grandpa, and everyone else,

We crossed the border into El Salvador today! It was a 9 hour process (the drive from Guatemala City to San Salvador and the border corssing) and I am exhausted. We are sitting at a basketball game right now at the University of El Salvador. It is insanely hot here (mom you would die). We went to a black sand beach and waterpark two days ago and it was super fun to jump in the waves! I havent gotten sick yet, which is really nice. But I will throw up if I eat anymore beans, eggs, plaintains, or tortillas (sorry if that was what you were planning for my welcome home dinner).Yesterday we went to Antigua for shopping and I enjoyed bartering with the sales people and got all of you presents (: On saturday night I had a homestay at a really nice house in Guatemala city that was in a gated community and the best part was that it was me and Morgan Rolfing! For dinner at that homestay we had ramen noodles,take-out pizza, and hot cocoa, I don't think I've ever had such a good dinner. And for breakfast, we had pancakes and hot cocoa. Not a ton of people are sick but there is not a lot of energy because of the long bus ride today. Happy fathers day Dad, hope it was great!

Love you all and miss you!

Kalli Thommen

p.s Please buy bagels and fruit for when I get home, gracias.

Hey guys!
I'm in El Salvador! It's super hot here but really beautiful. We are at the University of El Salvador right now watching our basketball team play UES. I wanna tell you all the awesomelicious stuff that has happened when I get back, but I just wanted to let all my friends and family that are praying for me that I am ALIVE and I am not sick!! Todd, Mom, Desi, Ben, Maddie, Annika, and Matthew <3 I love you all so much and miss you. Thank you so much for your prayers and I can't wait to see you all and tell you all about how God has been working during these two weeks.

Love muchly,
Briana Griggs

P.S. Rich, Adele, Emily, and Catie - Lisi says hi and she loves you so much! See you soon! <3

Hi everyone!We just arrived in El Salvador and it is very hot here,but more of a dry heat.We only have two more full work days which is hard to believe! I have seen so many incredible things that God has created.The people of these countries are so gracious and have such passion for Jesus. It is really encouraging for us on the team to see fire in the hearts of these people. I miss you family,so much it's crazy! But I am praying the homesickness will go away so the last days here will be great.Continue praying for us and i love you Mom, dad, Jennifer, Luci and Lily!

Maddie Bessinger

Hi Everyone,

This isn't going to be super long (sorry mom), but I can show you guys in pictures better than tell you. It's day 9 and I've taken around 900ish. Happy birthday, Dad and Happy Father's Day! The children's team has been doing well. It's been tirig and I've stayed mostly healthy (only the usual but not very bad, and I got sunburned. I even used sunscreen!) It's really pretty here and the locals are super nice. I miss you, guys and am excited to get home. Love you, Dad, Mom, Cate, Elizabeth, Aunt Marleen, Gary and Sherly. Oh and thanks for letting me know about band. I haven't seen the blog comments from anything after day 5. I'm anxious to hear about choir here or at home.

Love you lots.
Danae

ps. sorry, this is me writing without spell check... (:

Overnight in Guatemala City

2011-06-20T00:00:00.001-05:00

We're back in the Panamerican Hotel in Guatemala City tonight. This morning we enjoyed a service with the Renueva Church congregation. We had an hour of worship with great music, followed by a presentation by our mime group and then a message presented by Mark. Afterwards we emjoyed a spaghetti dinner with the church families before heading for an afternoon of shopping in Antigua. It was cloudy by the time we got there but the rain held off so it was nice and cool for all the bargaining and treasure hunting. We left there about 6 and came back into Guatemala City for a gourmet meal at a place very familiar to everyone - a mall food court. The Mile Flores mall is one of the largest and newest in Guatemala City and has a lot of the favorite restaraunts from home.

From there we came in to the hotel and right to bed. Tomorrow is another early morning as we will be leaving at 6:30 for San Salvador. We have to build in a little cushion to our travel time as we have to cross the border and it is never certain how long that process will be.

We're heading into our last 2 days of service, so please pray for renewed energy and excitement for our team. Everyone is feeling the pace a bit now, and it gets a little harder to be enthusiastic about things we have been doing over and over for the past 2 cities. God is good - he has been providing for us and protecting us is ways we could not have imagined or planned.

I'll post again from San Salvador when I can get connected. Thanks for all your support so far. The team has had a tremendous impact on the people of Guatemala, our partner churches, and each other. We are looking forward to whatever God has in store for us in El Salvador.

Dios te bediga!

Malacatan to Guatemala City

2011-06-19T00:36:00.005-05:00

Good evening from Guatemala City!

Today was a rest and ride day. We left early this morning (6 am) from Malacatan and headed back to the City along the coast highway. Leaving early meant we all had to sleep on the church floor last night in order to have everyone to the buses on time. A "fun" bonding time. On the up side the church was airconditioned so the sleeping area was cool. On the down side we only had about 15 matresses so most of us slept on the nice soft tile floor.

Our drive was about 4 hours or so on a reasonably straight highway (not North Dakota straight, but close) since it was on the coastal plain. Our lunch stop was at a water park in Puerto San Jose, a litte town outside Guatemala City on the Pacific Coast. The team had a couple hours to swim in the pools and in the ocean. It is a black sand beach so it was a new experience for much of the team. The waves were good and it was a nice sunny day so everyone enjoyed the break. As we drove into Guatemala City around 5 it started raining.

It was still coming down pretty good when we arrived at the Iglesia Reunueva (Jaime's home church) so we got a little wet unloading the buses. But they had a snack of hot coffee, sandwiches and cookies for us so it made for a warm welcome. From there the team split up to go to home stays for dinner and bed. Tomorrow we come back together for church at the church and then will spend the afternoon shopping and exploring in Antigua with the church families. Tomorrow night we are back in the Hotel Panamerican in Guatemala City and then off to San Salvador Monday morning.

I will try to get some more of the students to post comments during the day tomorrow so you can here more stories of what God is doing in them and through them. This is a strong team and God has been good in providing us opportunities to share his love and grace. Please continue to pray for strength and healing. We have a handful of students who are experiencing the not-unexpected intestinal issues so they would benefit greatly from your prayers. Our medical team and a doctor from the church are caring for them and hope to have them up and able to enjoy our day of worship and relaxing in Antigua tomorrow.

In the meantime, here is a post from one of the students from the medical team and few more pictures.

MEDICAL TEAM!
Charlotte Hallstrom: DIOS LES BENDIGA from Guatemala! I hope you all are having a great start to your summer! We miss you all SO much, but God is doing AMAZING WORK through us! Today alone, the medical team served 330 people, making that a grand total for the past five days around 1000 paitents. I feel so blessed to be here, and God is doing great things in me. I came into the experience with few expectations,only because I didn't want my expectation hindering from the work that God could potentially do. But he has blown me AWAY! Not only has he provived me with a new love for others, but he has broken me down and built me back up in a way that I hope will change the way I live from now on. He has introduced me to new friends and made other relationships stronger. I am so blessed to be with this group of students who refrain from judgment and pray for me even when I don't ask. Yesterday I wasn't feeling well and I sat out from the afternoon clinic. While I was sleeping in the church, the Service Team surrounded me and prayed over me and the two other sick people I was with. The amazing thing is that we all felt a MILLION times better in a matter of hours. PRAISE GOD! Thank you all so much from your prayers and love. We need it mucho!! I love you Mom and Dad and I miss you a lot!! Happy Father's day Dad, I couldn't ask for a better father to help me grow to be more and more like Christ. You are amazing and I love you so much! (Steve says Hi)
AND: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE MOST AWESOME BROTHER IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! You are so SICK E! UMETFEVA-I miss you and I can't wait to see you all!God Bless

P.S. Megan P. wants to say that she loves her parents so much and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!

the beach

worship time

Cam, Jaimie and Sam teaching physics at a school where the basketball team played and the drama team performed

making friends

Dinner

building relationships with Victor and William from El Salvador

some pictures

2011-06-17T08:03:00.003-05:00

Malacatan Day 2

2011-06-17T00:10:00.003-05:00

The days are flying by! [sorry - no pictures today. the connection is being difficult again. following is input from some students]

Hello loving parents and supporters! This is Sarah Wiczek from the medical team. I am sitting in a clinic at the moment in the central market of Malacatan. I can hear the people making exchanges, honking their horns, and promoting their products and we are in ther center of it all. Our clinics have been very successful and everyday we have seen many more pacients than expected, which is wonderful! We have had a few urgeries and in the very first one all the students trickled out except for me. I was doing totally fine and talking about getting a snack and then I fainted. I looked at our translator, Alex, and told him I was dizzy then down I went!Ooops:) Don't worry, Mom. My head is fine:)
The team has been amazed with the faith of the Guatemalans. The way they pour out their hearts to the Lord in worship captures my attention. This place, by nature, is so humbling. But so is their worship. I want to be all in, like them. I want to give all that I have to the kingdom! I have to get back to serving. It's my first day I stepped out of the pharmacy and into intake! Woo! Thanks for your prayers!
Blessings from Guate,Sarita Grande
P.S. Momma, will you call Rachel to make that salad for my party? I forgot to ask when I saw her:/ That would be wonderful:)

Hola familia! I've been speaking spanish all day, it's hard to stop. We had our fourth clinic today and we're just about to break for lunch. Other days I worked in intake, but today I just helped give out meds. It's awesome to have a chance to use my spanish! I love being on medical team! I feel like it was totally where God wanted me to be. We work hard, but it's definitely rewarding. Both of my home stays so far have been fine and the people are sooo nice. Okay, I'm going to go eat lunch now.
Love you all soo much,Michelle M
P.S. I haven't gotten sick yet, which is great!!

Hello everyone! we've been doing show after show, but it's been great. The kids have been really responding to our mime sketch, even though we've had many, many technical difficulties. All the kids come and swarm us Americano's and ask us many
questions, but they've been mainly about our personal lives and stuff, so we prayed that our preformances would be completely about God, and not about us. After each show, all of us go and talk to the people who we just performed for, and at our last
performance some of us got to have some great spiritual conversations. One girl said to Carly that she can't see the Holy Spirit, but she can feel it's work in her life, like a blind man can't see the sun but can feel it. Many people are coming to Christ. :) Please pray that our technical difficulties would subside, that those who are a little sick would get better and the healthy people wont get sick, and that God would keep our spirits up. Thanks!
Love you all and God bless,Katie Barrett

Hi Family!! Guatemala has been an amazing experience! We are doing several shows everyday; our record so far is four in one day. Yesterday, When we were on our way to Malacatan, we stopped at a national park which was a rainforest. The waterfalls
were beautiful and it was an amazing way to experience God's creation in a way we don't get to see in Minnesota! I could never predict the impact the mime skits were going to have on the people of Guatemala, but people are coming to Christ every
performance!! Last night we performed for the church of Malacatan and our peers; the room was filled with the Holy Spirit and it was an amazing night. Please continue to pray for our sound system to work and for good health.
I miss you all so much,Amy Greene
P.S. Dad, I got your note this morning and cried tears of joy! Such good news :)

Hello family and friends! I love Guatemala sooo much I never want to leave.Yesterday in San Marcos we went into the rainforest! There was a breath taking waterfall and trees I could never imagine in my dreams. God did amazing things here in his creation. The mountains of San Marcos were so moving and beautiful. Every hill, mountain, stream, and flower are so full of life. Being on the mime team has been such a blessing. I have gotten so close with my fellow "mimos" and I cant wait to do another performance at 3 o'clock. Please pray for our sound system. At our last show we lost electricity and may have busted our extra fuse. Satan is trying hard to stop us from winning more souls for Christ but the Lord is stronger. Also please pray my strength is renewed. I am feeling a little under the weather today. Overall Guatemala has been better than I could ever imagine!I love you so much and miss you! I think of you every single day!Caroline Welch

Hola friends and family,
We are only five days in but it seems like so long. The people here in Guatemala are so kind and they are changing my life every day. Today we started our second home stay. My mime bros and I had a great night hanging out with our host family. We had fresh watermelon, homemade honey, and freshly squeezed orange juice. I have had so many opportunities to use my spanish and it has been truly been a blessing. Miming in many different schools both christian and nonchristian has been a blast. Our team has grown so close and we have spread the truth of the Lord throughout San Marcos and Malacatan. We have had some difficulties with weather and our sound systems but God works the most through the hard times. For all of you that wish to pray for the trip, I would like you to pray for good weather, good sound systems, and good health throughout the trip. We have had so many great experiences so far and I hope we have more to come. Mom, Dad, and Tyler: I miss you so much and I hope you are doing well in Minnesota. I hope you aren't too lonely without me. Can't wait to see how God continues to work in my life!
Miles Book

Heyyyy parents!!! It's Taylor Hansen!!! I am so excited to update you about how the trip has gone! It honestly has been incredible. We've been in Guat for 5 outof 14 days, and its already been life changing. Being on the childrens team, my eyes
have been open to so much. The first day went to an orphanage and my heart broke to see all the childern, but my heart filled will joy when I heard them sing "Mi amigo es Jesus" (my friend is jesus)! :) The kids in Guat are so loving and ADORABLE. The
Childrens team is tiring, but honestly God has strengthened us and energized us so much! I am completely depending on God. Everyday so far, we've had a large group worship service at the end of the day. Each day, everyone seems more and more
passionate for the Lord!! Last night we got our new home stays! Mine is right next to a slaughter house. So every morning at 4 in the morning the steak market is replenished...haha. I chose to sleep with my ear plugs in. Speaking in spanish is SO
much fun. Another awesome thing that i love seeing in the schools that we go to is the smiles they get when we simply give them a sticker that says "Cristo Te Ama" (Christ loves You). They honestly treasure it so much. :) God is honestly amazing. He's provided for us and has truly touched the hearts of the Guatemalans.I miss you all at home! :) i hope jackson jumped far on saturday! hahah. Love you Mamma and Dadio.-Love you so much, Taylor Hansen

David says HI BUBBA!!! and HI MAMA!!! <3-David Kenuston

Happy belated birthday Christina Solfelt!-Elisabeth Solfelt

Helloooo Quinn Family! Rachel here. So as you know, I take French at school...So my new favorite words are: Olah, "aqui?? Aqui?! (for when i hand out stickers to the kids), si, no hablo espanol, je parle francais, etc. But its kind of funny because they can understand some of my french! So at the home stays, we all speak a little "Franespanglais". I already lost my shampoo, conditioner, and soap soooo that could be a problem if you know what I'm saying. (just kidding, I'll borrow) OH and MOM, my "camping towels" are literally the size of a slightly oversized NAPKIN. My home stay mom laughed and gave me a Strawberry Shortcake towel. The kids love that we come visit them and we LOVEE them. they are actually SO cute. They all ask us for pictures and today a kid gave me a duck that he made out of paper. Its preee-tee sweet. My shower last night was in a bucket. Kind of. sort of. And our home stay has a German Shepard that I normally would not be frightened by but let me tell ya..I am scared of this dog. We go on the roofs of buildings a lot and the mountains are SOOO pretty i LOVE IT. We drive through clouds. It's awesome. Oh and whenever i show people pictures of my family they say "bonita" so go translate that! God has been doing amazing things on this trip and I am loving every second of it!! See you lata (asta la vista) LOVE YOU ALL! even whinie. kind of. bye bye bye

Hey mom and dad!!! Im here in Guatemala and I've had an amazing experience so far!! Everyday we go to schools or orphanages and do a presentation for the kids with singing, clowns, puppets and other fun activites! They love it and at every school we
pray with them to ask Jesus in their hearts and its amazing to see how we can impact their lives!! Also we got our new home stays yesterday and Im in a house that has a lot of bugs... and I had to shower with a bucket while spiders were everywhere... it was scary! I am having a TON of fun with the kids and I love to see their smiles and excitment. the church services have been SO powerful and during worship everyone is so on fire for God and it's so encouraging to bring that passion for God back home!! I miss you all!!! See you soon! :) Love you! -Carly Hansen

Mother, father, alyssa, nicole and maddie, hello from Guatemala! It seemsas if the United States doesnt even exist anymore. I am in a completely new world. From a nice warm showerto a bucket filled with cold water. From frosted flakes to warm milk and
corn flakes with fried bananas. What a change! But how awesome God has been to us on this trip so far. Each of our dramas we have performed has made an impact on the children. He has provided when we needed Him most. From providing roofs to allow
us to perform in rain to the use ofa generator for power,God is so good! Also, we visited Queszal (spelling?), in search of the national bird of Guatemala. I found myself submersed in a rainforest, with birds above, vines, rivers,waterfalls, and more! I found a purple snail which i will show a picture to you. All in all we can definitly tell God is doing work in our lives and in the lives of the Guatemalans. Please keep the prayers for continuous good health and to stay strong with sharing the gospel! I miss you all so very much and LOVE YOU!-Jamie Crum

Denice and Danielle, The Childrens Team has been great. Tell Danielle we've been doing El Sapo everyday and the children here absolutely love the song. We have teamed up with clowns from Guatemala, song and game leaders as well as some good
interpretors. We have had to make changes to our programs because of loss of electricity or rain. Even though we've had some challenges, God is good, and we've seen many children respond to the message and accept Christ. We leave for a park
today, something different for this year, but the team does well coming up with ideas to share with the Guatemalans. We are planning on getting some ice cream for a treat afterwards. It is pretty warm here in Malacatan. Love you and miss you,
Terry.

Mom,Dad, and Sarah,
Hola from Guatemala! Its so beautiful here in San Marcos and Malacatan. I'm having so much fun and have been using my spanish a ton (but sometimes its still hard to communicate). The kids at the schools here love our drama and always want pictures and our autographs. Two days ago we went to this beautiful rainforest, and we swam in a waterfall. The waterfall was super pretty . My first home stay in San Marcos was awesome, the people were nice and the house was nice too. Now, in Malacatan, my house is a lot less nice and has a cardboard roof...but the people are nice and they have 8 day old puppies and a 4 year old boy. Malacatan is super hot, like 100 degrees. I've been making a lot of friends with my disney princess coloring book, all the little girls want to color in it and follow me around all day after I give them stickers. After each of our drama performances, a pastor named William gives the gospel and then we have the kids fill out cards with whether or not they accepted Jesus into their heart and so far hundreds have!! The churches we go to are all very welcoming and they give us good food. I like the food here a lot, we eat a lot of beans, tortillas, and platains. Anyways, keep praying for the team. Love you and miss you guys!-Kalli Thommen

Dear Mom and Sisters,(Amy is giving me a massage right now so we'll see if i can do this effectively...) GUATEMALA HAS BEEN SO WONDERFUL! I haven't gotten sick yet because of the vitamin packet that you gave me so... THANKS MOM! People keep teasing me that it smells but I just keep my chin up and drink it because i respect you and know that it will keep me healthy! (: Mime is going SO well and the team has really learned how to work together! Everybody emotes so well in the parts and i've been told that this has been the best year for mime in guatemala. THANK GOD! During our last preformance the electricity went out and me, ames, and miles were left to finish Goal without music... we did it! Afterwards, even though we couldn't finish the program, we had amazing talks with the children and I think God wanted us to talk rather than preform at that moment... Amy and I are in the most amazing homestay ever! It's a young couple with two children and everything is very humble and beautiful. Even though they don't have much, they have the most amazing love between them! It makes me want to live simply so I can have love like that for everyone! I rewrote my testimony today and I think that this version is better (: i love and miss you mom! I love and miss you Jessica! I love and miss you Michaela! I have pictures of you two in snow gear so I can show them how cold minnesota is... I LOVE YOU!!!!!!! love, Christina Erickson

Mom, Dad, Alex, Paige, Blake -Hola!!! I am having so much fun in Guatemala!!! I LOVE going to all of the different schools and playing with the kids!! It is so amazing and all of the kids love taking pictures with us and learning words in english. Our team is so much fun and all of the kids are so cute and excited to see us! Yesterday on the way to Malacatan from San Marcos we walked around in a rainforest and saw two waterfalls which was really cool. My homestays have been so much fun and the families are so willing to serve us and excited to talk to us. They give up their beds and rooms for us - it is amazing how generous the people here are. They are so passionate about Jesus and are truly living out their faith. The food has actually been pretty good here,
but we haven't had anything sweet so I really want something sweet and chocolatey. It is really hot here in Malacatan, and I took a shower last night with buckets of water in my homestay...it was an interesting experience! I haven't gotten sick yet,
which I am really happy about. Please keep praying for our trip! I love you and miss you so much! Love, Morgan

Querida familia,Miming is great! Every day is a new adventure. Today we had a great response even though the electricity didn't work and without music we had to stop. We just ate pizza for lunch (delish) and later we have one more performance. My homestay is awesome! The family has five children and they really like spiderman and explora Dora. Hopefully I will get to take a rainbucket shower tonight ;) Love to you all, thanks for praying for us!
Madie

olo Momma, dad, Bubba, and MaggieGreeting Amerrika (chuckle). This trip has been an amazing experience so far. one funny happening happened during our nature
walk. during this walk we observered alot of neat nature, there was alot of beautiful trees and water falls. Drew and i decided to go off trail and go adventure a water fall. the mission was a success until i slipped and fell into the water. It was pretty neat. the second and final thing i will be sharing with you today is about all the kids we are meeting on this trip. we have gone to 7 schools already, performing songs, skits, puppet show, and just having fun with the kids. I have taken alot of pictures so no worries mom. Love you much!
David Dragon Knutson

Hola, Dad, Mom, Joel, Kyle, Erik, & Dog.My first flight ever was fantastic, I only lost my luggage 7 times! I'm kidding, it really was great taking 2 different planes from MN to TX, and from there to Guatemala city. The experience has been amazing already, and we're only 4 days in! Feels more like 4 months! I have a plethora of stories since the adventure began, and pictures to go with them. I can't help but feel that every time I take a picture, no matter how detailed, I just can't capture the magnificence of God's mountains, forests, and sights here. I haven't gotten sick yet, and i dont plan to, but if it ends up being that, oh well.Basketball has been a success! through making new Guatemalan friends and playing with the teams of the schools, we have led
hundreds of young people to either re-Committ to their relationship with Christ or accept him for the first time. I guess the skit from the drama team, along with the message from Pastor William and a testimony helped us reach this result as well :).
Anyway, my spanish is getting better, I am growing from the time spent here, and the food is muy delicioso. Looking forward to the next 10 days here, and making the most of the time We have left. My prayers are with you Joel, that your transition from home to the Naval Academy would be smooth (Impossible right,) and that Mom, Dad & the hermanitos would keep out of trouble since I'm not there to keep them in line.Keep me in your prayers, hope all is well,- Ryan Davis

Mom,Dad, Emily,Taylor(and Holly) :) ,I have had such a wonderful experience here so far! Every day we perform our drama to new crowds of students, and each performance gets a different response. I have been so amazed at the amount of students who tell us about their faith; and each day, over 100 kids have begun relationships with God! My home stays so far have been so great. The families are so kind,sometimes willing to give up their only bedroom for us! It's been rough not knowing Spanish, but I'm learning! And today I had a very interesting experience.When we went to a bird refuge park a couple days ago, apparently a couple mystery bugs bit my ankle. The bites started to hurt and itch, and then they got bigger and started to look more like blisters. You know about my experience with blisters;). Anyway, so I talked to the doctor today, and he told me that the bugs had bit me and left these barbs in my skin! So the doctor made me lay down on a table as he cut open the bites and took the barbs out. The "mini surgery" hurt a lot, but I had my whole drama team and a few other amazing supporters standing with me, praying, and holding my hands the whole time. I am SO thankful for the group of people here with me and the relationships I'm building! I
can't wait to tell you more about how God is working here when I get home. I love you guys so much and I hope you're having a wonderful week! I pray for you every day, and I MISS YOU muchas! Did you like that expert use of Spanish there? (P.S.: do the roar.)-Hannah Ainslie

Hello!Another awesome day in Guatemala! I am loving the children's team. I couldn't ask for a better "job" than to hang out with little kids and make them smile. I am continualy amazed by the joy these kids have and it is definitely inspiring. Today
while walking through a market I got to see a few skinned, dead chikens and cow intestines and other various insides hanging from one of the stands which was...interesting. We also ate Sarita's ice cream for the first time today and it was fabulous. Maddie Bessinger and I also took a shower using a bucket last night which was a new experience as well. The home stays have been super cool, it's awesome to be immersed in the culture. I am so thankful for all of you praying for us! -Abby EmersonP.s. Mom and Dad -- see Michelle's p.s. and coordinate with Mr. and Mrs. Bluem (:

On to Malacatan

2011-06-16T00:26:00.003-05:00

Buenas tardes from Malacatan, Guatemala! After a day and a half of service in San Marcos, today we made the short drive down the mountan to Malacatan. We are now in the coastal plain, so we are more used to the altitude, but the temperature is much warmer so it's kind of an even trade.

We stopped at a national park on the way down the mountain. It was a beautiful place - a valley cut through the mountains by a small river. It is a reserve for the national bird - the Quetzal. Wewalked down to where a nest was supposed to be, but we did not see any birds. It was a good walk, though, down to the river. Everyone had fun climbing around the waterfalls and river. After climbing back up to the top where the buses were we all ready to sit down again for a bit.

Driving again, as we got closer to Malacatan the rain started in. It wasn't real heavy, but quite steady. It continued for the rest of the afternoon so it made things a little more interesting. The basketball team could not play a game, but they still went out on the court (in the rain) and shot around with some students from the school. The drama team put on 2 performances so they were still able to share the message of God's love and grace with the students.

The Children's team went to a local school and had a good afternoon. They were able to do their program inside, but then went out to the playground and played games and jumped rope with the school children in the rain. Medical did another half day clinic. It was in a much smaller facility, so they really felt the heat and humidity. They had a good day as well. Please remember them especially in your prayers as they will feel the effects of the climate more than any of the other teams.

Mime was able to do their program at a local school and at the church service this evening. They are continually improving their skills, and every presentation has a powerful impact on the audience. Service spent the afternoon painting some of the classroooms at the church so they were able to be inside as well. Everyone is still doing fairly well.

As we start our next set of service days we will continue to encourage the students to eat and drink - especially drink. Here in Malacatan it is hot and humid. It will likely rain every day with temperatures in the 80s and 90s.

The church here is very excited to have us back. Last year was our first year here and it went really well. This year they have prepared even more for us. Every one is staying with a church family, so we all have an opportunity to build significant bonds with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The worship time was amazing,with lots of music and active worship. The church has nearly doubled in size since last year, from around 300 to nearly 600. The pastor is very dynamic and they are an outreach-oriented congregation. We are looking forward to 2 great days of ministry.

I will close for now as it is once again time for bed. We will work on getting some student input for tomorrow's blog entry. God bless you all, and thank you once again for your prayers! And thanks for the responses you are posting to the blog. We will make them available for the students so they can see the depth of support they have back home. Here are a few pictures of the earlier days.

Buenas noches!

Days 2 and 3 -- San Marcos

2011-06-14T21:08:00.002-05:00

Day 2 & 3 - San Marcos

Hello Families and Supporters!! Here are updates from each of the teams about what has happened so far in the trip. God's hand has been evident in many ways.

CHILDRENS TEAM
As soon as we arrived in San Marcos we went to a school with 120 kids from ages 1 to 12. The kids just connected right away and did an amazing job performing and interacting with the children. We joined with some local leaders, including a clown, and we started to figure out how we could all best work together. We also went to an orphanage where we had a chance to show
love to the kids. Today we had a program at a school of 500 students and again it was so neat to see how well the team related to the children. There were times where they were each surrounded by 20 or more children all trying to get their attention and talk to them. It was so neat! We're leaving soon for two more programs this afternoon.
Lynn Martinson

Hi!I'm so excited to share all of the fabulous things that God has done so far on this trip! One of my highlights so far has been being able to use my Spanish that I have had in school and communicate with the people in Guatemala! On the first day, Mark challenged us to look out the our bus windows and say "That person was made in the image of God" about everyone that
passed. I have been learning that even though we live thousands of miles away and our culture is different, we are all one in Christ and have been made in His image! I can't wait to see what else God has in store for this trip!
Elisabeth Solfelt

So far this trip has been AMAZING! Everything is so different and it's awesome to be able to be immersed in this completely different culture. I was afraid I would not like the food here, but I have loved (almost) everything that has been put in front of me. The coolest experience so far was worshiping at the church that is hosting us last night. Even though we didn't understand each other completely our whole team and the Guatemalans were singing and dancing together. It was a really eye opening experience to see that even across cultures we are still worshiping the same God with the same passion!
Abby Emerson

SERVICE TEAM
We are having a great time here at the church. Our main job has been painting the outside and making some small fixes to it. To explain the color of blue that we used would be hard it's mostly smurf with a dash of deep blue ocean. If we had an award for the worst job Tom takes the cake...or beans... as it may be. His work on top of top of a ladder balanced on weak plastic
makes him a superhero. Our journey that started so long ago is now kicked into high gear. Some of us are tired but we have been tired before. What we do is take all of what God has given us and we use it to serve Him in every way we can. God has been great!!!
FranskeOh ya Mom, I'm ok.

Hello families!! This trip so far is beyond awesome. I think everything I have experienced has been something I have never done before. Service team began painting the church yesterday and we are almost done. It's blue with grey trim and looks pretty sweet. We had an out of body experience last night at our church service. Everyone was up dancing and singing. It was
a really cool thing to see not only myself indulging in giving my all to praise Jesus but doing it along with everyone else on the trip. I'm so excited to see what's in store for all of us because I know it's only going to get better from here. Please continue to pray for our safety and health! Much Love.
Brady Ramm
Words cannot even begin to describe the experiences that we've had, the memories that we've already made, and the things God has done in and through us already on this trip. The church service last night was incredible- people were so excited and filled with the Holy Spirit. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. There's something about worshiping the same God with other people around the world, praising Him together, and sharing fellowship. The food has been INCREDIBLE and the home stays have provided interesting stories haha :) I'm so thankful for the families that opened up their homes to us.
Thank you so much for praying for us!
Ashley Aamot

MIME TEAM
San Marcos....what a great time of ministry! The Mime crew did four presentations at four different schools. Their audiences ranged in size from 70 to 250. They presented the Gospel to 511 students and teachers through these four outreaches. Towards the end of each presentation after our national evangelist, Luis Gilbert gives an invitation, response cards are distributed and collected while the team interacts with audience members. From the four presentations, 413 response cards have been collected. Although we do not have a specific number of first time decisions at this time, we anticipate many responses. Praise the Lord!!!! The mime crew is healthy, definately engaged and excited about the ministry they are having here in San Marcos. From a leadership perspective, this mime crew is very into what they are dointg here and doing an outstanding job. It is a pleasure serving the Lord with them and sharing in the experiences we've had to date.
Chris Erickson

Hello Everyone!!!! Today the mime team had four shows! They all went really well and we had great responses from all the kids. All the kids want autography and pictures with us! It's so great it's likewe are celebrities. All the people are so excited to see people from the United States. They like to comment on how tall we are and how short they are. Our first home stay was last night and we are so thankful for all the families for their hospitality! I am having such a great time here, but I do miss home. Please keep all of us in your prayers because tomorrow we are traveling!
Carley Shaw

BASKETBALL TEAM
To date, the team has played 3 games. The first game was played in from of 400 students. It was an excellent showing of hands at halftime to receive Christ. Our second game was not scheduled, the orginial game with the school was cancelled. So we went to a school near the church and asked if we could play. Their team was very good and it was a close game which we
won. We will be on the local news tonight as they filmed some of the game and interviewed the coach!! We played our third game 40 min outside of San Marcos. We won easily, but their girls beat us at soccer. The team visited a national park. Everyone is healthy and Stefan Dellis scored the first 2 points for the team this year. Everyone on the team is now on the scoring board. Keep praying.
Steve Healy

Hola from Guatemala! It's hard to imagine it's only day 3! We have packed as much as we possibly can into each day. Last night we had a praise service with a Guatemalan worship team. It was absolutely incredible. I don't think any of us have praised God with that much enthusiasium before, especially with not even completley knowing what we were singing. I have learned so much about the differeces between us and the Guatemalan people, however, we are more alike than I ever could have imagined. I'm also so grateful to be on the basketball team. We have played three games and we have been treated like heroes every step of the way. The rainforrest we went to today was awesome and it has the same problems as us. And yes mom I'm fine.
Nate Hilgenkamp

DRAMA TEAM
Monday, the team performed at the halftime of the basketball game. This was the first public performance infront of hundreds of high school aged students. The students were energized by the experience and the reception of the message with the audience. We performed again for our hosting church and host families as they threw a welcoming service for us. Today, we performed at both of the basketball games. The students are really growing from delivering their faith stories during our halftime shows. The public declaration of their faith is making them more bold and open with the people of Guatemala and with each other on the whole team. Actively using their spiritual gifts and being submerged in a full time ministry has definately
started a change in their hearts. I wish you could be here to see it. You will see the end resault. Thank you for your prayers. God bless.
Deitric Newman

MEDICAL TEAM
We have been playing the numbers game, and for this post, will continue to do so. In the weeks and months before this adventure, the medical team has been collecting donations and purchasing medical supplies, scores of thousands of vitamins and a handful of lesser pleasant items. For customs' sake we knew the exact amount of pills and capsules, lot numbers and and bag numberof EVERYTHING. Counting scrubs and green t-shirts after every bathroom stop on the road has been, from a parent's prospective, most important. Clinic Day 1, we were to see 40 people, 50 time permitting. We returned to our church HQ after 136. A good number for what was to be a "half" day. Today we saw another 160. While nearly 300 were given hygienic advice, medical attention and vitamins/medicines, we have kept in mind the biggest number of all. We are priviledged, both Guatemalan and Minnesotan, to worship our ONE, all powerful, creative, loving God.
Justin Satterberg

We made it!

2011-06-12T21:11:00.003-05:00

We had a couple hours to get settled in and orient ourselves to this new environment. Many of the Guatemalans that will be traveling with us stopped in to visit and meet the students. Then we had a good dinner of traditionally prepared lomito (grilled skirt steak) and chicken with wonderful fresh guacamole and local vegetables. To wrap up the night we had a brief time of worship and reviewing the days events.

Tomorrow we are up at 5 and on the road by 5:30, headed up into the mountains to San Marcos. We plan to be there by lunch time so the teams can start serving in the afternoon. So we are putting the kids (and adults!) to bed by 8 tonight. Surprisingly enough, no one is complaining, and most of them are already in bed (it's 7:45). In case you are wondering, the team did a great job dealing with all that goes with travelling. Everyone pitched in when something needed doing and they all waited patiently when things didn't happen quite according to schedule.

I'm sure they already have stories to tell. The ride from the airport to the hotel took us right through the city where we saw a sort of half-size Eiffel Tower (that we got to drive right under), two different parades for political candidates (complete with brightly colored flags and shirts and LOTS of people), ruins of ancient brick aqueducts, and a never-ending array of Guatemalans staring at the buses full of wide-eyed gringos.

I wanted to include some pictures from our afternoon at the hotel, but the connection can't seem to handle the upload, so you will have to trust me that they are amazing pictures of your students. I will try again tomorrow if I can find a better connection....

So far everyone is doing well. I think a good night's sleep will do wonders for everyone - I know I am looking forward to it. I will try to post again tomorrow night if we have internet access.

Thanks for all your support! Hasta manana.

...3 to get ready....

2011-06-11T21:45:00.003-05:00

Well here we are, on the brink of departure. After spending the afternoon collecting up and packing all the luggage onto the truck we are all ready to hit the road. This evening we had our send off service and now each has headed home for final packing and maybe a couple hours sleep.

The send off service was great. Thanks to all the parents, friends and supporters who came out to see the teams perform and pray over the students. The mime and drama teams both presented their programs and did an awesome job. I can't wait to see the effect these presentations have on the people of Guatemala and El Salvador.

We will gather together again in just a few hours - 2:30 in the morning! We will arrive in Guatemala City in the early afternoon and then make our final preparations for Monday which will be our first day of service. Thanks for all your support. Keep checking back. We will try to update this blog every day or two in order to keep you up to date on what we are experiencing.

It's Almost Here!

2011-06-05T16:00:00.002-05:00

Hello OCA Guatemala/El Salvador supporters!

Since Coach (Tim Fox) has been writing the majority of the pre-trip posts, I thought I'd give him a break and be our trip's freshest typer! Today is June 5th and we leave on June 12th, THAT'S 6 AND A HALF DAYS! Is everyone pumped? I know I am!

Actualizaciones de Equipo (Team Updates):

El Equipo Médico was working on finishing up packing all of the medications and medical supplies that we are taking down for their clinics today.
El Equipo de Mimo had another practice to work on their skit(s) that they will be showing the the people in Central America.
El Equipo de Servicio finished ordering the bags for the trip and handed them out over the past couple of weeks and are working on putting together the teams shirts for our trip.
El Equipo de Baloncesto has been perfecting their athletic abilities and attitudes that they will be demonstrating on the trip.
El Equipo de los Niños has been practicing their puppet shows, songs, and games that they will be entertaining the kids that we come into contact with on the trip.
El Equipo Dramática has been learning the characters in the skit that they are putting on - they had help from the others on the OCA trip and Chicago missions trip during the Missions Retreat Weekend since they performed their skit for the first time in front of people and had helpful criticism.
The Big 3 (Mark, Beebe, Coach) have continued their awesome leadership in Boston..I mean Miami..I mean as our leaders on the trip. Thank you for all of your commitment to helping get all of the details figured out (Especially the airlines)!

Well, there you have it. All of the teams are coming along well, growing as teams, as a big group, and as individuals. Thank you parents, siblings, relatives, friends, coworkers, acquaintances, and whoever else is reading this now, for taking time to see how we are doing and supporting us in whatever way you have chosen!

Someone will be keeping up with the blog throughout the trip (probably Coach). Continue to come back and check out the blog to see what new happened in Central America!

Don't forget, SEND-OFF SERVICE this SATURDAY JUNE 11th from 7pm-8pm in the HILLSIDE ROOMS at WOODDALE CHURCH. Be there and pump us up for the trip that we will leave on 9 hours afterwards! Plus, I heard there are a couple of skits that are being performed by multiple teams...

Continue to pray and be thinking about us,

-Cam Fox

P.S. If anyone is wanting to see the video the Drama team is putting on during the Basketball team's half time, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA

2011-05-22T21:09:00.003-05:00

OCA 2011 is 20 days from departure! The time is flying by, but the students and leaders have been working hard so we have every confidence we will be ready to go at 2:30am Sunday morning June 12. For those who are trip supporters or interested in attending the send-off service it will be held 7pm, Saturday evening June 11. The teams will be introducing their members and explaing what they will be doing during our 2 weeks in Guatemala and El Salvador. We would love to have you come and be part of that event.

This year's team will travel to 3 different service sites - San Marcos and Malacatan in Guatemala and San Salvador in El Salvador - and also spend time in Guatemala City on our way to and from the other sites. We are taking a big team this year - nearly 60 students and 15 leaders - so there will be some challenges related to that. But having the large team provides the opportunity to add anew service team this year, a dram team to travel with the basketball team so that the mime team is able to present a longer program in other venues.

We covet your prayers, becuase we know we cannot do this trip on our own power. Please pray for safety during travel, whether it be to and from Guatemala, on the road between the cities, or during the days as the service teams spread out to perform their tasks. Pray for the churches we will be working with in each of the cities as well, that God will provide the resources and people they need to make our visit successful in God's eyes. And pray for the people we will be serving, that the Spirit will prepare their hearts for the message we bring. And finally please pray for our students, that they will have the energy to sustain them on this trip and that their hearts are also prepared for the work God has in place for them so that they are able to truly reflect God to the people we serve and also see what God is doing to them and through them.

There are 6 service teams this year.

Service: exemplifying God's love through performing whatever tasks - painting, construction, concrete work, etc, - they can to assist the partner churches and their fellow teammates.

Drama: presenting a short mime skit during the basketball halftime
showing the power of God's love and forgiveness.

Mime: providing a powerful story of the Gospel and life in Christ
to schools, churches, parks - anywhere we can set up the stage through a medium that avoids the language barrier.

Medical: providing care for spirit and body for people in areas
that do not have regular health care available (we have 2 nurses

traveling with us and will be joined by 1-2 Guatemalan doctors)

Childrens: presenting the Gospel in schools, parks and orphanages
through stories, songs, puppets and play

Basketball: drawing crowds to hear the Salvadoran evangelist preach the Word and to see the drama team skit, as well as to build relationships through fun competition.

Next stop - Guatemala City!

OCA 2011 Is Under Way!

2011-02-03T20:49:00.005-06:00

Good evening from the depths of winter in Minnesota.

Its cold outside, but we are looking forward to the wonderful heat of Central America. The first OCA team meeting was held this past Sunday. 69 students and 16 adult leaders took the first steps on a journey that will take us to Guatemala and El Salvador this coming June.

We are looking forward to another amazing adventure experiencing God's grace and power! Stay tuned for more information as the teams take shape and more of the trip details are set.

Thanks for your support!

Last Night in Guatemala

2010-06-26T21:48:00.003-05:00

Good evening. We just arrived at the Pan American Hotel in downtown Guatemala City. We left Santiago about 10 this morning and spent the bulk of the day wandering the streets of Antigua, shopping, eating, and just enjoying the sights.

Everyone is feeling good and ready to go home, although it is hard to leave our friends who have been our drivers and interpreters. We will spend a little time together reviewing our experiences and then we will get to bed at a reasonable time (I hope) as we have to be up at about 7 tomorrow in order to be to the airport by 9.

We will see you all tomorrow night!

Here are some last notes from the students and pictures from today.

Dear Granlund/DePesa/Solberg family,
I love you and miss you all. I cant wait to see you. Amanda, I would love to go to lunch with you. You are the greatest sister in the whole world. Mom, I got you the greatest stuff. I cant wait to see you. Craig, I want to be in your band.
See you all Sunday! Love you.
Maria.
HELLO COLEMAN FAMILY!
Ok so I am super excited to come home to all the fruit…and you guys! Be very excited for the gifts that I got you guys, I’m excited to see your reactions. The R&R has been so great. I have put on sunscreen papa and I swam laps tonight after dinner mom. I have been leading a workout the past three nights and we are getting in great shape. I’m told that I should get a job as a trainer at the ymca. Well I will be seeing you guys soon and I can’t wait to see you guys at the airport.
LOVE YOU A TON
BRIANNA COLEMAN

R&R in Santiago

2010-06-25T16:09:00.004-05:00

Good afternoon. We have enjoyed a nice day off today. Last night we had a nice dinner and then met for a couple hours of worship and teaching. We are working on helping the students translate what they have learned over the last couple weeks so that they will be able to take that learning back to their "normal" lives. Hopefully they will now have a new normal!

Everyone slept in until 9 this morning, which was well-appreeciated. We spent the morning shopping in the local marketplace. It was fun practicing bargaining and hunting for "special deals". We came back for a lunch of hamburgers and fries, and this afternoon the small teams are doing some debriefing and everyone is just hanging out by the pool or lake and enjoying the exquisite weather. Tonight we will have some more time together to talk about how each of us has grown and worship more in music.

Only 2 more days! Remember we will be coming in Sunday night from Houston on Continental flight 616, leaving Houston at 7pm and arriving at Minneapolis at 9:54. Everyone is excited to see their family and friends again. I will get more student comments tonight at dinner and over the course of the day tomorrow and make one more blog post tomorrow night.

Thanks again for your posts to the blog. The team appreciates the support. See you soon! Here are a few pictures from last night and this morning...

2010-06-24T16:29:00.004-05:00

Hello from the TuriCentro Tiosh Aboj in beautiful downtown Santiago Atitlan.

We had a half day of service this morning, then had lunch at Camp Eden before moving up to the hotel for R&R. We will be here tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night. The kids have been working hard and so are now ready to relax a bit and enjoy the wonderful sunshine (although we have warned them multiple times about the sunburns…).

We had good service days in Santiago. It was a little more challenging with a number of places speaking a Mayan dialect instead of Spanish. We were able to work it out, though, and saw good results at the programs. Service got to spend the day and a half building a baptism beach for the local church so they are the first team to officially spend time actually in Lake Atitlan. Medical was able to do a clinic and a half, even though they were down to the last bits of medicine. We stopped and refilled a number of he meds on the way from Malacatan, but we went through all of that as well. The positive side of that is the number of people they were able to help, people who otherwise would probably not receive any medical care.

We have had some good teaching times for various leaders during the trip during our evening get together. Those, along with the devotional book, have hopefully helped the students develop a better understanding of What missions really means and how to translate what they have experienced on this trip to their lives when they return to Minnesota. We will have at least one more time together to recap the trip and talk about ways we will be able to encourage each other and make this more than a passing experience.

Tomorrow we will sleep in a little, spend the morning shopping in Santiago and the take time in the afternoon to let each team debrief their experiences and then just enjoy the pool and hotel grounds. Saturday we head for Antigua and then a hotel in Guatemala before we fly out Sunday morning. We are all looking forward to the homecoming crowd we anticipate will be waiting at the airport for us.

Following are some more posts from team members, and then some pictures from our time in San Marcos.
Hasta manana.

Hi Family and Friends!
This is the first time I have been able to read the blog so I am sorry if you have been waiting! This has definitely been a life changing experience! My heart has been totally broken by the degree of need the people hear have. The medical team has worked many long hours and we have seen over 1000 patients. I have seen things that I have seen in medical books, but never expected to see face to face. The kids are getting some awesome experience. I am really looking forward to hugging my family. We are soooooo blessed! If you have a chance to blog on the Colorado Blog Please tell Mari I miss her and I can’t wait to hear how things have been going for her.
Scott was sick when we were leaving San Marcos but it passed pretty quickly. I had one day that was pretty tough, but I think it was something I ate. The gluten free diet has been a challenge, especially when you can’t speak the language. Everyone is currently healthy which is a blessing for the nurses! I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences with everyone. God has worked Miracles and has been very very good! I love all of you so much! See you soon! You better be at the airport Kirk and Trent!
Love tons! Wendy Stensrud.
　
Hola Familia y mattsons/hansons!!
This is my first chance to write!!! Yeah!! we are doing so well and building great relationships here both on the team , with the interpreters and with the beautiful people of Guatemala. I miss all of you, rol (aka gringo grande rollie /butt ka), boppa, luke, jen, mickey, ben, Zach, Krista, and of course my sweet little piper (bee-girl) we have seen about 1,000 patients and still have energy left!! Nellie is now almost fluent and I just now sat with 3 little mayans who taught me how to count in Tzu-to-hil!! I pray you are all well and happy! We are really doing great things here, including surgery. The talents on our team all compliment each other so we have such a well balanced ability to serve. It is so cool. Luke and mick, say hi to boppa and tell him I miss him, too!! JAIME SAYS HI TO GRINGO GRANDE AND TOMORROW WE PASS OUT THE SHOES FROM THE KANTARS!!! WOW, HOW GREAT THIS TRIP HAS BECOME. CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL
PS, MICKEY, BEN AND PIPER HAVE SAFE TRAVEL TO TEXAS AND CHICAGO. CAN’T WAIT TO SEE EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD BLESS YOU ALL
　
Kirk are you out there?
Wendy
This is amazing. Today all I could think of while we were riding in the back of a pick up truck to our clinic was that this is surreal. God is dong amazing things here and I’m so thankful to be a part of it. We are staying in dorms now and it’s so fun getting to know all these wonderful senior highers. I really have a heart for all of them and love being called mom by many. Thankfully Jess is only slightly embarrassed of me and her hugs are getting me thru some of the more emotional days after seeing really sick patients.. Only 4 nights left until I can come home and squeeze you kiddos. Claire, have so much fun at camp. Please, be careful and look for a letter from me. I really love you guys. Chris, thanks for encouraging me to do this. I will be changed because of it. Emma, I hope you’re having a fun summer so far. I bet you love sleeping in. Chris jr, I miss your smile, see you soon. Thanks for all the prayers. It’s working. We’re healthy and happy.
Hugs and kisses,
Heather, mommy
　
Jessica Krocak
Hola! Today was pretty hard core for the service team. We were basically moving sand to a spot on a lake where people are going to be baptized , which is super! I’m really enjoying the time here in Guatemala. I think I enjoy it because I’m really connecting with God. Being here is like finding pieces of God. I just love it! I am also getting to know new people. I never thought that are OCA team would be so encouraging and so inclusive. I can’t help but feel welcomed everywhere we go. I don’t want to go home, its just so beautiful here. Sorry I wrote some random stuff, ADHD does wonders. I just wanted everyone back home to know that this trip is worth going on. BUENO! BUENO! BUENO!

Hi family!! It’s Lisi. I just wanted to tell Catie that I am seriously right by tons of volcanoes and that it’s awesome. Miss you! Bye.
　
Hi mom and dad!
Today we start R&R and we only have 3 ½ days until I come home!!! I’m so excited to see you guys! I’m already planning my Sunday night meal, which is macaroni and cheese, an apple (please buy some apples), and milk! I’m having a great time but I’m definitely ready to come home. Well we’re starting lunch now so I have to go but have a great weekend and I can’t wait to see you Sunday night!!
Love you!
~Kirsten

2010-06-23T10:15:00.002-05:00

Buenas dias from beautiful Lake Atitlan.
We had an uneventful trip through the clouds from Malacatan yesterday, arriving at Camp Eden juts outside Santiago about 6:30. It truly is an Eden - beautiful flowers and trees everywhere, surrounded by high (and dormant!) volcanoes. The camp is is enclosed within a high cement wall and so is very secure and quiet… at least until our students got there. We are all staying together again in the dormitory-like rooms. While I think everyone enjoyed their homestays, they like to be able to come together at the end of the day and share stories, and it is nice to start the day sharing plans (more like guesses) for the day.

Sorry I was not able to post a note last night. There is not internet at the camp, so I had to come into town this morning to post this. I will not post another note until Thursday night when we are at our R&R location, so please be patient.

The students and leaders are doing great both in terms of health and behavior.
Thank you once again for your prayers. God has been gracious in His providence for the team and generous with opportunities for each of us to meet Him in new and challenging ways. Please pray that we will all finish the next day and a half of service strong and committed to our purpose, and then be able to enjoy a well-deserved R&R time.
Following are a few notes from the team and a couple pictures from Malacatan and Camp Eden:
　
Guatemala time is an approximation. Today, we’ll make it to Santiago after a 4-8 hour bus ride. Nobody knows due to traffic and landslide hazards. But I’m convinced nobody knows anyway.
Same with our ministry. This absence of knowing what’s going on has acclimated us to a Guatemalan style ministry; knowing neither its next form or function. We know we’re going to share the Gospel, but often times we’re not quite sure how. In Malacatan, the service team (and recruited help) painted the worship center of the church. While we weren’t sharing God’s word firsthand, we prayed diligently for the mime team and their precious ministry. Hopefully our painting and prayer for the church will help them be welcoming both physically and spiritually, respectively.
I have seen countless example of students quick to volunteer for all forms of service. Either to each other, our Guatemalan team, or strangers, please know, our students are present and willing. Please expect us to come home changed for the better… for God’s glory.
We’re driving through a cloud now, and I cannot see the road out of the front window, nor do I know how God will bless us this travel day. I am trusting for both. And hey, we’ve only got 1-5 hours to go.
-Justin Satterberg
　
NOTE TO THE DAVIS & GRANLUND FAMILIES: Write back to your daughters from previous days. They’re important. We miss you <3
　
HI MOM!
I miss you a lot! I’m excited to see you.
I have a few favors…
1. Could you possibly figure out what nights I’ll be at Jessi’s cabin…and POSSIBLY call my work?
2. Could you possibly email Heather Flies and tell her I am for sure in for summer camp. I forgot to email her back and she emailed us the day before Guat.
I have many stories for you and I’m really excited to see you. My last home stay was super nice and the people were so sweet. LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU! See Sunday!
Jackie
　
HELLO FAMILY!
I am so happy that you finally wrote to me! I was getting a bit nervous. My home stay was super funny. The family just loved to laugh at me trying to speak Spanish. The aunt who was only twenty thought Jack was very bonita! The mom was only twenty one and she painted lady bugs on all of my nails and then today when we left she let me pick out a ring and bracelet! Yesterday we had five performances in mime and so today we are super tired but excited for the new town that we are traveling to right now. I can’t wait to see you guys at the airport and tell Jack to tell lisa that I read her letter and I loved it! Ok see you guys soon!
Love Brianna
　
Hey familia
Jon here. I've been having a great time in Guatemala. I also have experienced God in a unique way. Our service team has painted at least four buildings and it is so powerful the way people pray for people. I have been growing stronger in the word every day. I also got to help out the medical team and got to see a tumor being removed. Ok. That’s all for now
jon
　
Hi Kyky! And Mom! And Nana!
I am having so much fun here in Guatemala. We are on the bus right now, driving to Santiago! The drive is so beautiful. We are surrounded by mountains and everything is so green. It is also awesome singing all of my Latin American Studies info in reality! Like, right now, I am looking out on hills and hills of terrace farming. I learned about that! Anyways, service team is really fun. We painted the entire inside of a church yesterday. We started at nine in the morning and ended at seven thirty. Long, long day. I can’t believe that we only have a few days left, it is going to be weird to come home, but I’m excited none the less. Mom- can I please get my hair cut when I get home, asap, like this upcoming Tuesday J thank thank thank you!
Love you all,
Kimmer
　
Hi family!
I’m having such a good time here in Guatemala. So far I haven’t got sick (knock on wood). I have too many stories to write down in this message so I will tell you about all of them when I get home. I just woke up from a nap on the bus and the view from my window is beautiful! Today we just left Malacatan and my host family was the best. The father of the family owned his own television station and he also owned a ranch so they were pretty wealthy. Their house was beautiful and so was the family. My host mom was young and last night we stayed up and talked for at least an\hour. She gave me her address, email, and phone number so I can write her letters, send her pictures, and the next time \I’m in Guatemala I can call her and visit her. Love you guys so much and I will see you in five days! Oh and Jo, Brianna Coleman was wondering if you were going to be at the airport to pick me up because she wants to see you. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to but if you do great! And the little kids love my hair!
With much love,
Paige
　
Mom and Dad,
Hi! We are heading to Santiago and Lake Atitlan. I am so excited to see the lake, everyone says it’s so pretty. I hope you guys are having fun painting the house. When I get home, I would love some fresh fruit like strawberries and raspberries. Just don’t make me chicken, rice, or pizza when I get home J . We’ve been eating a lot of that here! I love you both, see you soon!
Love,
Becca
P.S. Aimee says please make a haircut appointment with Ian as absolutely soon as humanly possible. (I believe he works Friday, right?, and I have nothing currently planned for that day.) AND please stock up on strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries (and don’t let dad eat them all before I come home) THANKS! (and yes, I survived another day).
　
Hi daddy
The trip has been a lot of fun. The medical team is good, I will tell you the stories when I get home because they are long and as you know, I have trouble getting my words out J I can’t believe Heather and John are engaged! Kevin is married to Sarah members? But that’s so exciting! I guess my pep talk worked at the wedding. See you on Sunday
Love, Nellie
　
Hey Erickson Girls,
Hope you might have a chance to read this. I miss you three very much! Thank you for letting me go by understanding that this is what I am called to do as a missionary. Michaela, you asked me over the phone how many people have come to know Jesus. I love the fact that you cared enough to ask. Hundreds Michaela…hundreds of people have come to know Jesus! God has answered our prayers in a way that goes beyond our expectation. Jessi, everyone here is crazy about the World Cup. They are soccer fanatics and watch it everywhere. I’m sure you would love the excitement that is always in the air. You would also love all the opportunities to do the mime programs here. I’m sure you would get a lot of attention as a younger team member, like you did the year you were on this trip with me. Maybe next year? J Christina, I know you are serving the Lord in Chicago. I’m very proud of you and look forward to you being a part of this trip next year. The mime team has been great! They have presented 20 programs and have witnessed to more then 5,000 people. I’m very proud of each of them and the way they have handled themselves here. I’m sure the Lord is working in each of them as they serve Him in this place. I know He’s been working in me J The whole OCA team has been great with each person working within their own team while supporting the work of the other teams through prayer and encouragement. This is a very unified group in spirit and purpose. It has been a blessing to be with them and share in their struggles and their victories as we’ve served together here in Guatemala
Looking forward to seeing you guys and wrapping my arms around you. I’m missing you, that’s for sure!
Love you tons,
Dad

Full day in Malacatan - yikes is it hot!

2010-06-21T23:37:00.001-05:00

Today was our last day in Malacatan. When the Guatemalan’s warned us it would be warmer here, they weren’t kidding. I understand it was up near 100 degrees today, with a humidity to match. We went through a lake’s worth of water, though, so everyone (so far, at least) is coping. We haven’t seen any serious sunburns on anyone, either, so praise God for continued health for the team.

The mime did 5 shows today, 3 in the sun. It was a draining but rewarding day with many of the audience members indicating they had made a decision to ask God into their life. The local church brought along a lot of their youth so they mingled with the crowds after the program to make a local connection with those making decisions and giving them information on what steps to take next. It was a true partnership between our team and theirs.

The childrens team “only” had 3 shows, but they spent a lot of time in the sun playing games and putting on puppet shows for the kids. At the last program 4 of the older kids (6th or 7th grade) not only raised their hands to indicate they had prayed to accept Christ, but were also willing to step forward out of the crowd to pray with the church representatives and talk about how to connect with the church. Between the mime and childrens teams we will have lots more company in heaven!

Service spent the day painting the inside of the host church, turning it from a perky orange to a soothing off-white. They finished the entire sanctuary and most of the stairs leading up from the street entrance - it looked great when they were done.

And then there is medical,. The saw nearly 300 (yep, 300) patients today, many who had very difficult situations. Apparently there is not a lot of medical care available for the people in the area and so many had gone without care for sometime. We used up a lot of the medicince we had brought and more that we had purchased here. It was a hard day for the nurses because a number of the patients had conditions that we just couldn’t treat. The whole team held on to the fact, though, of how many people they were able to help who would otherwise have continued to suffer. The kids have grown into their medical roles incredibly well. All I can say is God knows how to pick a team!

Tomorrow morning we had back southeast to the Lake Atitlan area. We will be driving about 5 hours back over the same roads we recently took up from Guatemala City. We have experienced many things over the days since we were last on those highways. We will end up in Santiago where we will have 1 and a half more days of service before we head into R&R time.

A couple prayer requests:
1) energy for the team to finish strong in Santiago. With all the performances that have already been done it is sometimes hard to be as energetic do the same thing one more time.
2) medicines for the medical team. Because of the volume of patients and the severity of the cases we have used up nearly all of our medicines. Pray that we will be able to find (and have the money for) the medicines we need to finish the next clinics.
3) overall focus for the team. They have been great so far, but the pace is wearing us all down little by little. Pray that we end strong in Santiago so we head into R&R with confidence that we have done our best for God and the people of Guatemala.

Gracias for you prayers and support! Enjoy the pictures from today’s activities and some notes from team members…

Hola Tebbe & Sullivan Families,

It’s Monday today and we just finished doing children’s programs at 3 schools. Many kids raised there hands to indicate they had accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior! It was definitely worth all the sweat due to the heat and humidity. What a privilege to part of this missions trip. It only took 1 full day to recover from being sick and 2 to be back singing and dancing with the kids, God is Good Sabu!!! Happy Father’s day Larry, hope you had a fun and successful fishing trip. I Love You and miss you Grande! Jill, hope you got the job you wanted and all is well in Fargo, missing you Mucho! Que Pasa Steph, Victor and William both say Hi back to you and wish you were here besides me. Maybe next year?!
Thanks for all your prayer’s Mom, Laura, Tom, Connerton’s, and all you Sullivan’s, and friends, we couldn’t do any thing without them. I’ll see you in a week. Got to go, I miss and love you all!

Peggy

Hi Denice and Danielle,

We have been seeing many children ask Jesus into their heart on the mission trip. We are at Malacatan which is near the border of Mexico. We can see the highest point in Central America from our home stay. It is where Danielle’s birthmother lives, Volcano Tumulaco. Trying to get some good pictures of it, but I do have our home stays e-mail address here and they have some very nice pictures that they could share. Learning some Spanish, but I still have mas to learn. Hope everyone is doing well. I miss you guys. We have a day of travel tomorrow and some mission work in Santiago Atitlan.
Love you, Terry.

It is so hot we are melting like popsicles.
Katie Unger

Hi family. Its super hot and humid in Malacatan. I’ve been pushed way out of my comfort zone over these past few days. My home stay doesn’t have a real shower so I had to take a basin shower outside. Church here on Sunday was VERY different from anything I’ve ever experienced. All the Guatemalan kids were crying and screaming and falling down on the floor. Even though it was quite frightening to me, I’m glad I was able to experience something so unique. Love you and I can’t wait to get home and take a hot shower and sleep with a real pillow.
PS. I sprained my ankle the first day we got here, but the bruising and swelling is starting to go down and it doesn’t hurt as much. I’m starting to think I might live. Love ya!
From, Aimee

HEY family!! ITS Autumn. Thank you for the support that you have been giving our group on this blog. It haws been a really cool experience down here and I cant wait to share all the stories with you. Tell Bowe I say happy belated birthday and tell Ron and dad I say happy fathers day!! And Rayna as well. Anyway its all good. Just keep praying for us. LOVE you all.
-Autumn Blatz

Mom I forgot to feed Magenta (my bamboo plant next to my bed.) it would mean the world to me if you would feed it. Thanks mom. Love you lots.

Maria

Greetings,

First time on the blog. The mime team has been doing a great job! They’ve presented the 30 minute program 20 times in a variety of settings to a total audience of over 5,000 people. Many people have received Jesus……hundreds. Everyone is tired after doing 5 presentations today, but now enjoying a pizza dinner and I’m sure a good night’s rest tonight. It’s an amazing time. Keep praying.

Chris Erickson

Sunday in Malacatan

2010-06-20T22:18:00.004-05:00

Well, we start week two tomorrow. The first week seems to have gone by very fast, but then we look back at all the people we have touched and how many have made decisions for Christ through our various ministries. It has been a great first week. Today being Sunday, we served in a different way. This morning we attended a church service at the church hosting us here in Malacatan. It was their youth service, with a wonderful message about finding and recognizing your purpose delivered by their youth pastor. The worship time was charismatic in nature, so all of us had the opportunity to experience that kind of personal expressive worship.

After church we went to a waterpark that lies next to the border crossing into Mexico. We actually had to go through the Guatemala side of the customs area to get to the park. So we made it to within about 50 feet of Mexico. It was a nice sunny (and very warm!) day so everyone was excited to be able to spend it swimming. The local church grilled a churrasco (grilled beef) lunch for us there that was amazing. After about 4 hours of water slides and virtual water volleyball (no net) we packed up and headed back to the restaurant for a spaghetti dinner (which made many of the students happy as they had been longing for pasta). We used lots of sunscreen and so far no sunburns have shown up. Tomorrow morning will be the proof, though.

Tomorrow is a full service day. Mime is scheduled to perform 6 times, which in this heat and humidity will be a test of the kids endurance and a proof of God’s sustenance. The other teams have busy schedules as well. Please pray for energy and good health (and maybe a few clouds without rain) so we maximize our opportunities to share the good news of God’s grace and mercy.

Below are some entries by the students, along with a picture of the highest volcano in Central America (which looms over Malacatan), pictures from yesterday’s medical clinic and today’s time at the pool. See you tomorrow!

Hello everyone back home!
We are all having such a wonderful time here in Guatemala J. It is beautiful to see the places and people, and all the joy God has put in this place. We just moved into our second homestays, and I am having so much fun attempting to communicate in Spanish. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. Mommy, I love you! Kyky, I love you too! Nana, please keep them in line while I’m gone. I am praying for you, Ky and mom, on this day. Stay strong I love you. Oh and I want to bake cookies as soon as I get home next Sunday J
Kimmer

Hi!!
I am in my second home stay now, and although the home is a bit rustic, it’s a really cool experience to see how the people here live. Today was our relaxation day, which was much needed! We have been working hard, and it’s so cool to see all good work that is being done here for God. I miss you mom and dad, and I can’t wait to get home and tell you all about my adventures and show you my pictures! Happy
Father’s Day Dad, I hope you had a good day. I love you!
Love,
Becca
P.S. Aimee says Happy Father’s Day!
P.P.S. Nellie says Happy Father’s Day!

HEY FAMILY!!! I love love love how beautiful everything is here in Guatemala. I eat everything they put in front of me and so far I love it all! Today we had a free day and we went to a pool with multiple waterslides. Tomorrow my children’s team and I will go to different schools here in Malacatan to show love to the kids. The children here are sooo cute and the littlest things fill them with joy - a smile, a balloon animal, a hug. I love that. Mom and Brynn, I hope you guys are having fun at the Rushes but not too much fun without me! Dad, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! We will celebrate when I get back I promise! I miss you and Julie and Gin-Gin. Love you all!
Love, Katie
Ps I miss candy sooo much! but not the cats.

FATHER!
HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!
Your favorite loving son,
Scott

Hello. I am writing to say hi to Mom, Craig, Amanda, and Dad. It is very hot here and I have worn the same shirt 3 times. We have done the mime show over 12 times and tomorrow we are doing it 6 times… the car rides are really long but I have been drinking a lot of water and pooping a lot so that’s nice. I hope everything is great at home. I hope you had fun at camp, Amanda. I have a boyfriend named Pedro. He is 13. We WILL be getting married so start planning the wedding. Amanda, I also found you a husband. Pedro’s twin… his name is Neri. He has already agreed to marry you so no need to worry about dating.
I love you all a lot.
Maria
P.S. mom, will you please pay my two parking tickets. They are due on the 27th. They are on my dresser. Thanks. Love you.
HAPPY FATHERS DAY PAPA!!

Ok so I’m super sorry that I didn’t really celebrate your birthday with you and I feel so bad now that I look back on it. When I get home we WILL be playing ultimate Frisbee because I can cream you! I miss you all and I hope you had a great day dad!
Love Brianna YOUR FAVORITE DAUGHTER (towards dad).

Happy Father’s Day For Real This Time!!!
Miss you guys.
Trevor!

Live From Malacatan, its Saturday Night in Guatemala!

2010-06-19T21:59:00.002-05:00

We had a nice short trip down the hill and then a good afternoon of service. Tomorrow is a day off, with worship in the morning and some time with the local youth group in the afternoon. Sorry no pictures tonight (still working on getting my bag!) but here are some posts from the students...

Hi Dad, Mom, and Luke!
I miss you all so much and just want to let you guys know that Guatemala is such an unforgettable trip. I have learned so much more than I expected to and am so excited to tell you all about it next week. I hope you all are doing well. Andd Happy Fathers Day DAD! I hope you guys have a special day with each other. I am thinking of you guys and am missing you all and praying that everything is going ok at home. Dad make sure to not overdue anything to stress you out anymore, we all know that you can handle a lot J but please do not overdue it. Mom keep the family together like always, take care of everyone and be the mom everyone absolutely adores. And Luke have fun with your friends and enjoy the summer. I can’t wait to see you all; I miss you guys sooo much and love you all. Hope the rest of this week is well for all of you!!

Love always, Lindsey Holzworth

Hi Everyone!
This has been an amazing experience so far! One thing that I wanted to share is our church service at Jaime’s church. This was especially touching to me. The service itself lasted 2 hours! First we had worship time, this was really cool because we were singing the same song as the Guatemalans only in English! The Guatemalans at the his church were all really into the worship, one girl was running around the whole church with scarf, swinging it around her head and bowing down to God on her knees. Then after the worship time we prayed and mark gave sermon that moved people, including me, to tears. It was truly amazing. The children’s team is doing really good also, the kids here are adorable J I also just wanted to give a shout out to my dad on father’s day! I LOVEYOU DAD! And mom and Ben, I love you too! See you in a week!

Love you and miss you! Sarah Anderson<3

Hola mi familia y mi amigos!
Our trip has been amazing. We have been blessed so much throughout our trip, avoiding sicknesses and bad weather. The Lord has really been watching out for us. One of the most touching experiences for me went along with a verse we read a few days ago for our devotionals. The verse reads: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction…” Yesterday, El Equipo De Los Ninos (The Children’s Team) was able to visit an orphanage. I think of all the experiences we’ve had so far, this one touched my heart the most and made us all very grateful for the families and possessions we have at home.
We are all doing very well. Thank you all for your prayers. Mommy, Daddy, Emily & Catie, I LOVE YOU ALL!! I can’t wait to share all of my experiences with you guys! Have an awesome week!!

In Christ, Elise.

Heyyyy Everyone!
I am having an amazing time here in Guatemala, and it has been an unbelievable experience so far!!! The service team has been super fun, we’ve done a lot of different things…for example, we’ve painted, moved rocks from a huge wall that fell over in a storm, more painting, helped place parts for a new roof on a house, and changed the water filter in two different churches. I have seen God work in so many ways here, especially in our church service, which are crazy, but so fun and everyone gets so into worshiping God…it’s unbelievable. Mom and Ted---I’m great! I’m not sick or anything, I feel sooo good! And I miss you and love you soooooo much!!!! To both of my dads----HAPPY FATHERS DAY tomorrow!!! I love you both and appreciate you sooo much!!! Emma, Claire, and Christopher--I miss you guys! Claire--I hope Bob is still alive and well, I know you’re taking good care of him though!! J I miss all of you and can’t wait to see you, this trip is going by really fast, and I’m excited to share what my experience has been like with all of you!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
xoxo Jess Theis <3

Hello everyone!

Guatemala has been a great experience so far! We just arrived at our next town, Malacatan, which is much hotter than San Marcos. On the mime team we’ve done an average of 4 performances per day. The mime team is also a very impacting experience. After each performance a ton of kids come up to us and want pictures with us (LOTS) you kinda feel famous after awhile. We’ve performed at schools, churches, and public parks. People stare at us like we are literally crazy. Tonight is our 2nd home stay and I’m staying with Elise, and our home is super nice. It is a blessing to live where we live though. Well anyways… HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!! (tomorrow) I miss you! I miss you mom and lewis too. See you in a week!

Love you guys,

Jackie

Hola everyone!
I am starting to learn some Spanish and t is still a huge struggle! I wish that the people here spoke French. Guatemala has been awesome so far. My home stay in San Marcos was one of the coolest things so far on the trip. My family opened their house to us with open arms and treated us like we were part of the family. I was really sad to leave them today. Mime has been so much fun, The people are great and we get along so well. People really react to our message and it is so cool to see God work through our presentation. The kids and people that see our presentations are obsessed with us and we feel like celebrities. I have not gotten sick yet mom (knock on wood) I know you are wondering… But happy fathers day dad! I hope you have a great day and I wish I would be there to celebrate with you! Marissa I hope the recital went good, I’m excited to see the video. Jack I hope your not to worn out from all your camps. Sydney, I hope your having fun hanging out with Grace twenty four seven! Ok well this is a super long message but I miss you guys so much! (and fruit mom….make sure we have some please haha!)

Love you guys so much

Brianna

Hi Mom and Dad!
I hope you are having a good time at home! I’m having an awesome time here and but miss you guys soooo much! I got to help out with the medical team today, which was really exciting because I’ve been with the children’s this whole trip. The kids here are soo adorable and I’m honestly going to adopt one when I’m older J. Tomorrow is the week long mark of being here and the mark of one week left until I see you guys! Tomorrow is also father’s day! HAPPY FATHER’S DAY DADDY!! Sorry I can’t celebrate it with you, but I will be thinking of you and we will celebrate it with you when I get back! Mom, have a good trip in Texas, I miss you a lot! I stayed with a host family the last three nights and it was so cool! I never thought I could actually communicate with the people here but I just keep getting better and better! I miss you guys soo much and I love you all! Tell Kady I say hi too!
Love you guys soo much,

Kirsten

Hey!!!

Happy Father’s Day!!!!! How’s Minnesota Dad Travis, Terry, and Tracy? And how’s Colorado mom and Tessa? Guatemala is so cool and mime team is so fun!!!! Today we traveled from the city of San Marcos to Malacatan! It was only like a 2 hour trip but it seamed like forever because I started the trip off with me throwing up a pretty good amount of Tums and vitamins and like three glasses of cranberry juice, which was pretty cool. When we got here we met up with our host families and went back to their house for lunch. After that we did a mime show in front of a younger group of kids. It was super cool because during the show there was a huge downpour that was so loud that it almost drowned out the music. I miss all you guys and hope you are all doing well!

-Trevor

Yo Pops and Trent y amigos!

Como estan? Guatemala is awesome. Mime team is SO sweet and so much fun. The performances are getting better and better every time that we do them. It is amazing to see the impact that we can have for God every day on thousands of people every day. Our biggest performance so far was somewhere around 900 people. We aren’t even nervous any more. Its amazing. Jeremy/Jake/Pauly if you are reading Hairo and family say hi and we played soccer again yesterday! T’ve gotten a bit sick this year but so far no stories quite relate to last year… ha. Its so great. Excited to share stories. Moms havin a good time too! Trent good luck with your sermon to the middle schoolers! Adios
-Scott Stensrud

Hi Minnesota!!
Its Ashley! Childrens team is so amazing! We have brought so many kids to Christ over this past week! I have really been touched by how much these kids and teachers appreciate us being there! The language barrier is really tough but I say what I can to the children. My first home stay in San Marcos was awesome! Kristen and I stayed with a pastor, his wife, 3 children and one of their nephews. This home stay in Malacatan I’m staying with a man, his wife, and 5 kids with Brianna. Tomorrow we rest but I’m really looking forward to teaching the kids about Christ’s love on Monday. I’m learning so much, especially that I need to appreciate the littlest things in life. All of these children love to even get a hug, I’ve given hundreds! So mom: I’m sorry for all of the times that I’ve pushed you off of me when I think you hug me too long! I’m very lucky. Daddy: Happy Fathers Day! Hanna, Samantha, & Nick: I love you all and will for sure be looking for something to buy all of you on our shopping day! John: They have the best coffee here! I’ll get you some! Gram & Gramp: Love you both. & Matt: Happy late birthday mister!!! Hope it was great. I cant wait to see all of you and tell you about this amazing trip! P.S… I wouldn’t mind some pasta when I get home!
-Ashley Davis

Message from Drew Bohleen “Dad, please make sure that we have iced tea and No Yoks at home, oh and please bring a 52 oz. pop to the airport, love you”-Drew Bohleen

Last Day in San Marcos

2010-06-19T00:03:00.005-05:00

Buenas tardes! We had another great day of service today. Medical saw over 140 patients at a clinic set up in Pastor Neri's church. The church people were very organized and so it was a very smooth day for them. Service did some much needed work on a couple of water filter systems, ensuring that the people served by Neri's church and people in a neighboring community have sufficient clean water for drinking. Childrens did programs at 3 different schools and an orphanage. The children really enjoyed the interaction with our students and they responded in large numbers to the evagelist's message of salvation and hope in Christ Jesus. Mime presented at a couple schools and at the town square in San Lucas, the town neighboring San Marcos. Pastor Neri's requests for permission to do the show there had previously been denied, but today the team just went to the park and asked in person and after a few minutes of proving they weren't trouble makers (and much prayer) they were allowed to do the program. Praise God what an opportunity to share the message with all of the people in that busy area of town.

Tomorrow we take a short ride down the hill to Malacatan. It is much warmer there and hopefully a littlel drier. It has been cool and wet here in San Marcos. But the weather has not impacted our ability to share The Gospel.

I will leave you with some pictures of the people we have been blessed with the oportunity to serve in God's name....

San Marcos - First Service Day

2010-06-18T01:21:00.007-05:00

Today's blog entry is brought to you courtesy of the medical team. Not to worry - everyone had a great day today, ending with a service at the San Marcos church who is hosting us that included singing worship songs, a couple sermons, mime, rap and interpretive dance. Oh yes, and it ended with cake and hot tea (since today is El Dia de el Padres - Father's Day - in Guatemala). The other teams will be the focus of upcoming blog entries. Here is what the medical team had to offer....

Today the medical team worked as a well oiled machine(Well, almost)! 170 patients were seen in 7 hours. The need was great as the script list was long. (I) or Sarah W. labeled close to 200 prescriptions today and my fingers are bloody (just kidding mom.). We were at a church and when we got there we were happy to see the clinic was already all set up for us with a welcome sign written in English. When the pace was slower (which was rare) we played soccer with the kids outside. At one point a herd of sheep walked by and we were fascinated. Our communication and tactics have improved dramatically but it got tense when the meds would run out and we needed to compensate. The lunch was perfect homemade soup and tamales which warmed us up since it was chilly up here in the hills. The local people had their winter jackets on. Tonight I volunteered to give my faith story . I hope that Gods presence in my story influences the people here at the church. (editor’s note: Sara did give her faith story at the church service and did wonderfully. Several of the local church members came up to her afterwards to encourage her with how her story had affected them.)

Sarah W

Hi everyone! Guatemala has been a great experience so far. Today we worked at a church way up in the mountains - we were actually in the clouds! I worked in prayer and teaching all day. The pastor’s wife talked to the people about God, and then I taught the people about hygiene. We then all prayed together, and then the people went to collect their prescriptions. Prayer and teaching is really fun! The kids here are so cute, it’s so hard to leave them every day and go home. The food has also been amazing here, and I have not yet gotten sick. I miss you mom and dad!

Love,
Becca

Hola! Earlier today we went into the mountains and set up a clinic in a church. It was awesome! I was playing soccer in a cloud and sheep were walking right next to me, It was the craziest thing ever! I’m having an amazing time and It’s going by really fast.

Love Drew Bohleeeeeeeeeen

Hello all,
Today was a little bit harder than the previous days. Lots of meds needed to go out in pharmacy today, and we got very backed up. Sometimes we had a stack of almost 30 people’s sheets with meds that needed to be given out. I got to do teaching today, which stretched my Spanish a little, but was very cool. One lady was so grateful, she gave me a hug. So far Guatemala has been amazing. It’s such a beautiful country and the people are so friendly and giving.

Sending lots of love,
Mary

Today we drove into the clouds and set up a clinic in a small church. We had a lot of fun. I played hide and seek with a small boy and played soccer on our down time.

Tyler

Up until today, about all I could say to the kids we play with is, “No abolo mucho espanol.” (I don’t speak much Spanish. But today at one of the schools we visited, I was finally able to hold a ten minute conversation with a bunch of kids in Spanish. I’m practically fluent now! (By the way, my 12 years of French have soooo not paid off. I‘m desperately wishing I had been in Spanish for all these years.)

Love, Aimee

Bonjour, hola, hello,
Aujord’hui j’ai assiste a la infermier et j’ai vu des escargots dans les yeux. Yo darmatar el bosque en el nube. I also played soccer with some children. Uno tableta el dia por 35 dias. On a passer beacuoup de temps sur l’autobus avec mes amis. Now I’m in a r3staurant. Miss you family.

Amor, aime, love,
Sam

Day 3 - The Road to San Marcos

2010-06-16T23:54:00.002-05:00

We spent the day on the road to San Marcos. There were a number of places along the way where the road was reduced to 2 and sometimes one lane where landslides had covered some or all of the road. There were other places where rocks and dirt still lay on the edge of the road where they fell, creating some interesting traffic patterns. The drivers continue to monitor road and weather conditions in order to minimize the risk of substantial delays due to the roads being blocked. Over all the trip went smoothly, though, and was only slightly longer than usual. It rained off and on all day which was nice for riding - it kept it cool and people were able to catch up a bit on their sleep.

In San Marcos Pastor Neri and his wife greeted us with a nice chicken dinner and hot tea and coffee at their church. After dinner the team was distributed to their home stays for the night. The steady rain made the process a little more challenging, but the students continue to impress us with their resiliency and patience. Tomorrow we start service again at 8:30. Hopefully the rain will stop, but either way we will be ready to go.

Here is some input from a few students. We shared the blog entries and comments from the first 2 days with the students today and gave them the opportunity to share with you what their experience has been.

Thanks for the supportive blog responses - they are very encouraging for everyone.

Good night!

Sarah Wiczek
I carried on an entire conversation with another teenager in Spanish! She sent another girl to get her instrument and then she played it for me and let me play it too! I am pleasantly surprised by my ability to communicate! The days get long, but we get through on God’s strength!

Mary Richards
Being on the medical team has certainly been interesting. When I ask a question like “le duele”( do you have pain), people answer by speaking very fast! My listening skills are getting much better.

Jessica Krocak
Were driving up mountains/driving through a cloud right now, its so freaking awesome! Anyways, I’m just glad we didn’t fall in a sink hole and that we didn’t fall off a mountain due to a mud slide J . MUY BUENO!!!

Justin Satterberg
We’re not that far from home. There is only Mexico between us. I’m reminded of America’s influence and proximity with every Pepsi sign. We’ve been preparing for months to become influential Christians, and have strangely found it more simple than expected.
Yes, the leadership team has worked endlessly to organize schools and elsewhere for the children’s team and mime team to perform. (Volcanoes, earthquakes and Tropical Storm Agatha have given the medical and service team plenty to do wherever we go.) I am so proud of these students. Our time is well used with the sick, poor or lost, and we all work hard, but our inevitable travel delays allow for conversations, soccer games or just a hand shake or smile - and when we do so with the love of Christ, I realize how God, simply loves us… and how we, simply can love each other.
It encourages me to exercise my God-given influence and share the love of Christ. A Pepsi sounds really good right now, too.

Day 2 - Guatemala City

2010-06-16T00:28:00.005-05:00

Today brought new opportunities to bring Christ’s love into new places. The Mime team went into a large school to perform and share the Gospel for over 700 students at a private but not Christian school. Many of the teachers and administrators were Christians, so they welcomed us with open arms and with a warm reception, treating us as celebrities. After the mime team performed and William presented the Gospel, many students responded to the invitation to accept Christ- over 50! Praise God. Despues (after that) the mime team was able to share the Gospel at a temporary homeless shelter for those who lost their homes during the tropical storm. Over 100 people each night stay at the shelter. God continued to move in great ways during the presentation at this location also. At the end, un muchacho stood in front of the whole group to confess that he has stolen multiple things from those around him, that he was sorry for stealing and that he desperately wanted to change. The team was encouraged to see what God has done and to be a part of it.

The Childrens team traveled with the Mime team. While the Mime team was performing at the high school the Childrens team was about a block away at an English emersion grade school. They played games with and performed for the students (about 100 between the ages of 5 and 11) - they had so much fun the Mime team could hear the noise over a block away! At the second stop the team performed in a little streetside park near the emergency shelter. They had a great turnout there, as well. At the third place the two teams performed together in a park near a school. They drew in families and kids of different ages who were playing in the park. And as the program progressed 3 or 4 classes of students appeared from somewhere, swelling the crowd to 200 or more. Our time was cut short by impending rain, but not before William was again able to preach the message after the Forgiven By His Love sketch. A large percentage of the crowd raised their hands indicating they had prayed with William. As Kari said above, the Spirit is at work here.

Medical had an interesting day at their clinic, seeing 170 patients or so. It was much more efficient now that they are experienced. Between what the doctor had, what was left from the BridgeBuilders team and a little shopping they were able to get the additional medicine needed to treat the range of symptoms and conditions they are seeing this year. The clinic location was a different kinds of interesting today, but the team is very adaptable and took the new “opportunities” in stride.

Service had a much less physical day. They worked at Jaime’s church, painting the support beams that will be used to build a roof over a new children’s area. They enjoyed working in a shaded area after being in the sun so much yesterday. They were able to finish all of the beams, work the church will benefit from for a long time.

We ended the day with a little rain shower and a church service at Jaime’s church. It didn’t seem like a lot of rain, but it was running 6 inches deep in a lot of the roads. The church has a tin corrugated roof so we were able to enjoy the soothing sound of the raindrops (because they nearly drowned out everything else!). The Mime team performed and Mark gave the sermon and we had a good time of worship. A great way to end our time here in the city.

This is our last night in Guatemala City. Tomorrow we plan to leave for San Marcos about 9:30 In the morning. We will be on the road for about 6 hours, so you can be praying for safe travel and good roads. Please continue to pray for health and energy as well. Everyone is doing pretty well which is an answer to prayer, but each day brings new challenges. We will plan to have some of the students write the blog entry for tomorrow so you can hear first hand how they are seeing God work.

Here are a few pictures from some of today’s activities:

Day 1 - Guatemala City

2010-06-14T23:23:00.004-05:00

Buenas noches! We had a great first day of service. It's 10:30 and we are getting the last kids to bed. We started with a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and fresh fruit (first picture), and then hit the road at about 7:30. We drove across the city to a school where all of the teams started. We could not get the bus in through the narrow streets so we had to walk the last 3-4 blocks (second picture). It threatened rain all day, but we experienced only a few very brief showers - they were actually a blessing to cool us off. When the sun was out it was plenty warm.

The teams all did amazing, especially considering it was the first day. Service got to break up a wall that had fallen due to the recent rains and carry all the pieces of block and concrete to the other end of the playground. Mime did 3 shows, two at schools and one at a city park. They got great responses at each of their sites. Childrens also did three different shows. They successfully performed several new songs they just learned Sunday night after we arrived here. Medical took a little time to adjust to the challenging arrangement of rooms, but by the end of the day they had seen 214 patients! It was a long day but very rewarding.

Some highlights. At the mime show in the park, they started with a small crowd of 50 or so but by the end had over a hundred to see the Gospel presented and hear the message preached by William. A number of people raised their hands to indicate they had prayed the prayer of salvation. At one site the Childrens team had the opportunity to perform their program to a crowd of over 700 students! Service found both their inner and outer strength, swinging sledgehammers and moving a seeming mountain of broken block and cement, all in the wonderful Guatemalan heat. And the Medical team worked until after dark, even using flashlights at the end as there were no lights in the school buildings.

Its a great team, and God is already doing amazing things in them and through them. We will try to get some of them to add their thoughts tomorrow as we finish up here in Guatemala City or Wednesday a we drive on to San Marcos.

Thanks for your prayers and support. The encouraging entries on the blog are a real boost.

Hasta manana!

Arrived in Guatemala

2010-06-13T17:23:00.002-05:00

We arrived in Guatemala City this afternoon!!!!! Everything has gone smoothly. We were able to get all of the medicine through customs. Praise the Lord. We are settling into our hostel for the next three days. We will meet in teams tonight and as a large group to talk and pray about our full day of ministry tomorrow. Thanks for all of your prayers. We feel them.

Missions Retreat

2010-05-26T14:42:00.011-05:00

Intimidating service team

Girls' camp out for the night

Skit during Friday evening session

Low Ropes Course

Our missions retreat was a great 24-hour time for our OCA team to bond, get to know each other better, share our faith stories, serve the community, practice sharing the gospel, and prep for going to Guatemala and Mexico.

2010-05-26T14:39:00.000-05:00

OCA 2010 Site Preview

2010-04-19T07:20:00.007-05:00

We will be visiting 4 sites this year - Guatemala City, Guatemala; San Marcos, Guatemala; Huixtla, Mexico (in the state of Chiapas); Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala.

Here are some pictures of those locations:

Guatemala City:

San Marcos:

Huixtla:

Santiago Atitlan:

OCA 2010 Under Way!!

2010-04-16T12:14:00.003-05:00

Welcome back! The 2010 Operation Central America team is in the process of preparing for this year's trip. We will be travelling from June 13 to June 27. This year we plan to serve in Guatemala City, San Marcos, Huitla Mexico and Santiago Atitlan. We are excited to be able to serve along side our friends from Guatemala and El Salvador again this year. We are a little smaller team so we will not have a basketball team this year. We will have service, mime, children's and medical. Stay tuned for further information as we move through the training process and finalize the details of this year's trip. We appreciate your prayers for the tema and for the people we will be serving in Guatemala and Mexico. If you are interesting in supporting our trip please contact Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie (www.wooddale.org).

OCA 2009 Epilog

2009-06-29T01:42:00.002-05:00

Well, we made it back home. There were no bags or parents left at the airport so I think we have everything and everyone back in their proper places. I hope by now everyone has enjoyed a real shower and are tucked into their beds.

I just wanted to add one last note to thank the students and staff for their part in making this a memorable trip. As always, it was not what we expected (or would have asked for had we known!) but God worked through it all. We had a great last couple days. I know there are still some not feeling 100%, so I hope they will be able to get the care they need to get back on their feet soon.

Thank you parents for your support for the trip. Please ask your student lots of questions about what they saw and what they learned and where God showed up.

Thank you leaders for devoting the time and energy to this group of students. Your love and support for the students was a blessing to me, the students and the people we served.

And thank you students for commiting the time to be part of this trip. I hope you feel both stretched and rewarded for the efforts this trip required of you. Be proud of the work that was done to further the kingdom of God, and be humbled by the opportunity to be the face of God to so many people in so many ways. Each and every one of you made a difference in someone's life on this trip. I hope it serves as a foundation for further growth in your relationship with Christ.

So I will sign off for another year. We'll let you know when planning starts for the next adventure!

Dios te bendiga!

Last Day

2009-06-28T00:06:00.002-05:00

Well, we are back at our 'home' in Guatemala City, Telma's missions house. We arrived here tonight after spending the afternoon shopping and sightseeing in Antigua.

Yesterday we had a nice day at the Posada in Santiago Atitlan. It was very nice in the morning so we walked into town and did a little shopping. After lunch the service teams spent some time debriefing the two weeks, talking about their experiences and how each had grown during the time here in Guatemala. It had started raining shortly after lunch, so the bulk of the afternoon was spent playing board games and just talking. After dinner the whole group got together for some worship and sharing time. William, our evangelist from El Salvador, also spoke to the students, encouraging them to continue their efforts to grow their faith even after they return home.

We had the extra entertainment of having a couple students spend the night under observation at the local hospital (5 minutes from the hotel). Oour nurse and one fo the other leaders who is fluent in spanish spent the night with them. One was pretty dehydrated and we wanted to make sure whe was feeling good enough to travel home, and the other had come down with pneumonia. But after the night of care (and a good sleep) they were much better today and were able to participate in the shopping day in Antigua. One of the praises of the trip is that God has provided medical resources every time our staff has needed additional support.

Tonight all of the students are pretty tired but are in good spirits, aniticpating getting back to all of the things they have missed. Things like sweat pants, cell phones, cold milk and friends are all high on their lists. Many are excited to see the reaction of the people they purchased gifts for or to show off their ponchos, soccer jerseys and machetes.

We are planning to be at the airport by about 11:30 for a 2pm flight so hopefully it will be a realtively low stress process of getting everyone checked in and onto the plane. We will all be happy to be done dragging those black bags on and off the bus! We will have a 3 hour layover in Houston so there will be time to get through customs and grab some American food before the last leg to Minneapolis. We will look forward to seeing all your smiling faces at midnight tomorrow.

Thanks again for your prayers. We could not have done it without your support. Here is a poem that sort of captures the experience....

Rain again, yet I rejoice
Although it soddens beast and man.
I know it that whether soft or fierce
It is important for God's plan.

Trees grow tall and mountains rise,
Woundrous vistas to behold.
But hidden in the clefts and leaves
Is where true beauty does unfold.

There each one in perfect form
(According to the Maker's eye)
Begins their journey yet unknown,
Not knowing if they'll crawl or fly.

Each has a choice to trust the rain
And find in it renewing grace
Or curse the skies and bar the door
And search on for a sun to chase.

As for me I'll stand my ground
And each storm face (though hard it be).
For through it all the Son shines bright -
I know it is God's plan for me.

Time to transition

2009-06-26T10:56:00.002-05:00

Greetings from Santiago Atitlan! It is a beautiful sunny morning
overlooking the amazing Lake Atitlan. We arrived in Panahachel
yesterday afternoon after driving through showers most of the
morning. It was still grey when we boarded the boat for the
cruise across Atitlan to the Posada (the hotel where we are
spending R&R). It rained a bit during the ride, but when we
arrived at the hotel it started to clear and by the time we had
eaten lunch and gotten our things put away in the rooms it was
nice enough for the students to swim in the pool and sit in the hot
tub and sauna. The question of the day is: how many gringos fit in
a 4 person Guatemalan hot tub? You don't want to know the answer... ;-)

Our last day in San Marcos was a good day for all of the teams. The
medical team spent the day in s small village outside San Marcos.
Between the dentists and doctor we served over 200 people. The day
started out sunny but quickly changed to rain. In the end this was a
blessing because it kept the clinic cool and allowed the students to
maintain good energy levels. Childrens and mime also had good service
days. They were able to complete their one outdoor appearance while
the weather was good, and all the other locations were indoor so the
rain did not prevent them presenting the gospel message to scores of
people. The service team had the paint brushes out again. They
painted the entire house, inside and out, of a family that is part of
the host church's congregation.

For our day of of R&R we will spend the morning shopping in the market
in the nearby town of Santiago (about a 15-20 minute walk). This
afternoon we will spend doing some service team debriefing and just
relaxing around the hotel grounds. After dinner we will have a last
large group worship time. We want everyone to have a chance to share
what the trip has meant to them and to hopefully lock in the memories
in anticipation of re-entering their regular lives.

We will try to get some input from the students for a post later
today or tomorrow morning.

Hasta luego

San Marcos Day 2

2009-06-24T23:08:00.002-05:00

Hello again from San Marcos. It is hard to believe, but today was our last day of service. Tomorrow we head out for 2 nights at Santiago Atitlan for some R&R. Everyone is looking forward to (hopefully) warmer and dryer weather and lower elevations. The two days here have been very productive, but the weather and altitude have made it a little more challenging. A sunny day and time to relax will do wonders for everyone.

One of the things we have done on the trip is have 'the word of the day'. The idea was to start each day with a Bible passage for the team to consider over the course of the day. With home stays we were not able to do it every day, but here are the ones we have done so far, in case you want to see what we have been using.

6/15 -- Romans 12:1-2
6/16 -- Psalm 118:24, Phillipians 4:4-7
6/17 -- Phillipians 4:12-13
6/18 -- Ephesians 3:14-20, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
6/19 -- 2 Timothy 1:7-9, Galations 1:10
6/22 -- Matthew 6:19-21, 24-27, 31-34
6/23 -- Psalm 103

I did not have an opportunity to get input from students today, but the medical team compiled the following list they titled 'Praises about Guatemala':

* God has strengthened us all in ways that only he knows.
* His healing touch is with us and every person each student
and leader comes in contact with.
* Throughout the trip many children have stepped up and taken
responsibility.
* Over 600 patients have been given care and love by the team
* Dr. Byron sharing the Gospel with patients in Chisec
* medical team kids stepping up and praying and relying on Christ
completely for the words
* God bringing a really sick child to us for care
* Lifelong friendships formed with leaders and students and host
families
* Patients coming up to us with their families and thanking us
a day after their care
* Host families provided with strength and confidence from Christ
to share their faith stories
* Other OCA service teams having shared the Gospel with many people

More tomorrow!

San Marcos

2009-06-24T19:59:00.004-05:00

Hello from San Marcos. We had a little technical issue yesterday so I have to re-post this. Sorry for the delay. Here are a couple entries from students and some pictures. I will post more later tonight to catch you up on today's activities.

Hey dad and mom sorry i haven't been writing on the blog. I'm doing well i haven't gotten sick or anything so thats good. That trip to Arizona to visit mark will be awesome! mime is really fun and our team gets along really well. today when we got
to san marcos we went to this park to perform but it started to rain so we had to leave cause nobody was there to perform to. but i have to go but i'll talk to you soon.
love, Jon Busch

heyo! Thanks mom and dad, nick and rach, I miss you guys a lot!! I've been staying with other families which is really cool. Sorry I missed Father's day, Love you dad!! I see lots of dogs here, but not as cute as Pooh!! I had like weird stomach
cramps early on but I adjusted quickly and I'm doing great! Thanks, keep praying for us down here. I haven't gotten worms yet so that's good ;) although I saw a patient who took off his boot to show me his :/ Alright love you all! Dios le bendiga! (God bless) ~Miss miss

*** Ma n Pa.
HEy whats up parents! How Anna do at the special olympics comp.on friday did she get gold?! Who all came from Montana? was it a good time? it has been a lot of fun down here the weather has been great i have a good tan goin i have not gotten sick yet but i do have an ear infection and cant hear out of my left ear but im takin meds. sry i havent been writtin cuz idk no time. but miss ya lots and pa i hope you had a great fathers day!! love ya Joel Lopez

One week completed!

2009-06-22T00:57:00.002-05:00

Hello again from Guatemala City. Its hard to believe we have already been here a week. We just wrapped up a very rewarding two days of service in Villa Nueva. There were many people seen at the medical and dental clinics held in the host church (Iglesia Vida).church (Iglesia Vida). The mime and childrens teams perfromed at local parks the first day and then went to different churches on the second day.
At the second church of the day for childrens the rains came as they arrived - it was so loud on the tin roof that you had to cover your ears or it hurt. In spite of the rain there were over 200 children who came from the surrounding barrio and they had a great time. The service team spent the 2 days painting the inside of the host church. It is a converted lumber wharehouse so it was more high painting. This time they had good, sturdy ladders and so was not quite so adventurous. Last night (Saturday) the youth group of Vida Iglesia had a get together with out students and sang songs and played games and had a great time of fellowship. Jeremy had the opportunity to preach to the group and he did an awesome job.

Everyone was in homes stays here and I think they all had a tremendous experience. This is the first time Vida Iglesia has done this sort of thing and they were so excited to have gringos in their homes. They went out of their way to make the stays comfortable and to welcome us into their families.

This morning we attended the regular church service and then were back on the road. We went to a local sort of hospice. It is a residence for ill children who have no other place to go. Most of them are HIV positive, but there are some with other ailments as well. They veyr much appreciated the attention from the students, and I think the students were really touched to see how something as small as a hug or a piggy back ride could bring so much joy.

Tomorrow it is breakfast at 7:30 and then on the road by 8:30 for the 6 hour (Guatemalan time) drive to San Marcos. It is a beautiful drive through the highest part of Guatemala. Hopefully there will be a break in the rain so we can see the countryside. Some local friends from previous years (Luis and Immanuel) stopped by to visit tonight. It ws good to see them again. They said it has been rainy and cold in San Marcos - cold enough to have frost on the ground in the morning. So if that is still the case it will be quite a chanbge for us.

Thanks for your continued prayers. It seems that everyone is getting their plumbing back to normal so that is an answer to many prayers. We see God working every day and know that it is in part the result of your continued prayers. Thanks so much for your support. More in a day or so. (We'll try to get pictures on here one fo these days!)

Here is a collaborative entry from a group of the students:

Hola Familias y amigos;
Today we traveled back to the Missions Home from the church and home stays in Villa Nueva. Villa Nueva was a really cool place. So much different from Chisec. It's a suburb of a Guatemala City, so it's really busy and full of traffic and whatnot. From what I have heard,everybody had a great home stay and loved staying in Villa Nueva. The last thing we did was attend a a service lasting about 2.5 hours. On our way home We took a detour to a hospice for HIV patients and played with the children for about two hours. I really think they all enjoyed us playing with them. We once again went to the mall food court for dinner and now are back at the missions home for the night after a great day.

Happy Fathers Day from everyone :-)

Three Days in Chisec Complete, Now to Villa Nueva

2009-06-18T23:30:00.003-05:00

Good evening from Guatemala City! Today we drove through a gentle rain most of the day, coming back to Guatemala City from spending three nights in Chisec. At Chisec all of the teams worked hard. It was amazingly hot when the sun was out and quite humid so we went through a lot of water. It started raining yesterday and was still raining when we left this morning. It prevented us from being able to play soccer with the youth group from the Chisec church but we were able to finish the service work before the rains came.

The students and leaders are doing great. There are a few who are experiencing some upset stomachs and intestinal "processing issues", but so far nothing very serious. Please keep praying for good health for everyone as we continue to experience variable sleeping conditions and food. Tomorrow we will start service in Villa Nueva and go into new home stays. Thanks for your continued prayers. Here is a perspective from some of the students....

Mime Team written by CJ:
Hey all, overall, the mime is going very well. Prestly says 'hey mommy I miss you...not really :)' The whole team took a trip in the rainforest the other day, and the bumpy ride was fun and death defying, kidding, kind of. The reactions from the audience has been nothing but positive. Our pastor from El Salvador said he has seen changes in the faces of the audience, and some little kids cried when Jesus is crucified. Amanda says 'Mom I'm alive.' Some people on the team have had to switch roles and Steph Tebbe did very well when she was put on the spot. Very impressive. I guess I'm a really sweaty Jesus. My shirt is drenched every single time we perform, or just stand around. I am making less mistakes every time we perform. The restof the team is amazing, I couldn't ask for a better team. My stomach is mad at me, but besides that we're all good. A few sicklings is all. We were able to swim a few times which is so incredibly refreshing in this heat and humidity. Miss you family, friends, more than you know. P.S. Victor, Josh, Kike and William all came back!

Service Team written by Scott S.
Hey everyone! we are all having a great time here with everything we have been doing. Me and Jeremy stayed in a home and slept in hammocks outside under a tin roof while it rained every night and it was a pretty cool experience. communicating with all of the people is hard but we are definitely getting a lot of work done. In Chisec Andy, Jake, Nick, and I worked on painting the whole inside of the church and although a bit frustrating it was a good time. They were using some old paint rollers and using really watered down paint,and when brought out the fresh rollers and thick paint things really started to improve. many of the children that were hanging around in the church building picked up paint brushes and paint rollers themselves and helped us the best they could. it was really cool to see that. we also went with the childrens team for a little while and helped out with the kids. Many kids really enjoy throwing around the Frisbee! some of the locals helping out painting wanted to change the color of the paint and decided that adding gasoline was the best solution. it did change it a bit but it definitely changed the smell of the room. We made it work and got the church finished! also I was feeling real sick and after painting for a little while I felt like i had to throw up. so i ran to the bathroom quick and threw up a lot. after going back into the church i noticed that i didnt feel my retainer with my fake teeth in my mouth! so i ran to the toilet and had a very interesting time digging through a very dirty guatemalan toilet for my retainer. but i found them! with my bare hands. im feeling a whole lot better from that and now everyone is dealing with the usual guatemalan symptoms. its been a great time so far and we are excited to continue to work in the next city! its a lot of work but it is worth it and is a great time! we miss you all a lot! see ya soon. (leader's note - we will clean the retainer thoroughly before he even thinks about putting it back in!)

Medical Team written by Missy Vavra

Hola padres! (hey parents!) We just arrived back to our "home base" in Guatemala City after our three day stay in the town of Chisec. We had our first home stays of the trip and LOTS of different experiences that we have enjoyed sharing with each other at breakfast at the nice hotel where we were very fortunate to eat three excellent meals while there. Although everyone has pretty much experienced their own medical issues/ bodies adapting to the food and climate in unpleasant ways, lack of American plumbing has been significantly missed by all to say the least. We still have high spirits and have been able to share with each other the love we've experienced with the Guatemalans, with each other, and with God. His love has definitely been seen in incredible ways and it is so encouraging to hear how God has worked through us, despite the language and cultural barriers to share the love of GOd. The first day of the clinic was definitely overwhelming for us all. We were thrown into this city after a six hour bus ride of mountain roads and we were all a little mixed up on the time of day and our energy levels were out of whack but it was amazing to see how we pulled together and got right to work. There were already tons of people waiting in the church where we set up the clinic and so we got to work immediately. I was really excited to use my spanish that I've been studying for six years...little did I know, the people in Chisec speak Ketchi!! Luckily we had Chisecians who were willing to sit with us for hours in our makeshift intake area and pharmacy station to translate from Spanish to Ketchi (no english/spanish translators but enough of us knew Spanish to figure out a working system). By the second day, we were pros atrunning this clinic instead of it running us down. Team members who didn't know much Spanish, aside from Hola and me llamo, stepped in and took vitals for patients in intake and served as the walkers who walked patients from the waiting area to the doctor and from the doctor to the pharmacy, and also served amazingly well in the pharmacy filling prescriptions. The others of us who could make us of our spanish knowledge communicated with the translators and patients to obtain their symptoms and information about the patients. Working in the church, in the clinic, was a challenge, we all faced obstacles that we didn't necessarily prepare for but I think God had prepared our hearts for our service and we were able to help so so so so So many people it was incredible. We've grown quite close within our medical team and I think this was probably the hardest town considering the circumstances that we worked under (according to the students who went on this trip last year). Most of the patients we saw had worms and complained of stomach problems and rocks in their eyes. It was hard to see all the small children and infants who were dehydrated and some of the more severe cases, non responsive. We have been working with a dentist and his team of students who have been extracting teeth so that's really cool that we have the medical and dental resources to provide these people. I hope in the next town our prayer and teaching area of our clinic can work out, with the language barrier (ketchi/spanish) and lack of sufficient translators, we couldn't provide that part of our clinic which is the most important spiritual aspect of our service. We have adopted the phrase "Dios le bendiga" that we say (meaning God Bless you) to the people and they are very gracious and seem to understand that we are here to serve GOd.

Side note: It's really cool to see one of our leaders on the trip, Victor,from El Salvador, lead intense in-depth talks about God and his life with God and our lives with God and his message is all about the Bible and how to live essentially. The Bible is the truth, there is only one Christianity, one way, and that is all found in the Bible. So, as he has accentuated to us, ask yourselves "have you read today?" Parents, you can take on the challenge too, Christianity is a race, start running with your eyes fixed on Christ and start living the life that GOD has given YOU. =) Dios le bendiga!

Chisec, Day 1

2009-06-16T14:41:00.001-05:00

Buenas dias! After spending the morning driving from Guatemala City we now have one day of service under our belts and the students have had a chance to put all they have learned into practice. We are in Chisec, Guatemala, up in the central highlands rainforest. It is quite warm and humid here - 'sauna-like'may not do it justice!

The students and staff were very excited to finally get to perform and get the medical clinic up and running. The clinic was set up in the church and will be there for the next two days as well. The church is a space about the size of 2 basketball courts, surrounded by brick walls and covered with a high tin roof. They are still finishing the building so the windows and doors are still just nicely shaped holes in the walls and the floor is dirt. We have the doctor see patients in a room in the pastor's house which is adjacent to the church and the dentists (4 graduate students and a supervising dentist) work on the covered patio. The team adapted their system to the facility and language challenges (most people here speak Kechi rather than Spanish so we need 2-step translations) and were running very efficiently. We'll get a count of the number of patients seen in the next update.

Mime and childrens went to a nearby park and performed for and played with a group of about 150 children of various ages. Even with the language difference the interaction has been very good. Last night both teams also did their program during a service at the church. Also at the service 2 of the students were able to give their testimony and Jeremy provided the message. It was a great way to end the first 'real' day of the trip.

Service team had a wonderful day of carrying things here and there and helping the local workers paint the walls of the church. They had an entertaining time with the handmade ladder and paint roller extension handles (long boards taped to the paint rollers).

All of the students and staff have the opportunity to stay with families here. As you might expect the accomodations are a little different than you would probably find at home. But they are having a good experience interacting with the host families and seeing what 'normal' life is like here.

Prayer requests:
1. Health: its hot and everyone needs to be drinking more water than they ever imagined. So far people are doing great and everyone is holding up well. Please pray that we are able to avoid any serious illness.
2. Energy: its hot and the sleeping conditions are not always ideal. Please pray that everyone will be able to get the rest they need to stay healthy and able to stay positively engaged in the trip activities.
3. Connections: we have and will be seeing lots of different people in lots of different circumstances. Please pray that God will touch their hearts so they are open to His message that we bring and also that we will be sensitive to their needs. Also please pray that we can communicate - the interpreters are great and many of the students are doing well with their Spanish but it is always a challenge, so please pray that God gives us the wisdom and ability to present the right message at the right time.
4. Team unity: Everyone is getting along very well, but as days go by and people get tired this may become more of challenge. Please pray that relationships between the team members stay positive and that those who may not be as strongly connected forge some strong connections.
5. Leadership: Our team leaders are doing wonderfully with the "flexible" scheduling. Please pray that they will be able to effectively manage their teams and not forget to take care of themselves.

Thanks for all your support!

Safe Travel

2009-06-14T17:50:00.005-05:00

Well, we made it! It is sunny and warm here in beautiful downtown Guatemala City. Our flight down proceeded without incident. All the bags went through without any being overweight and they sailed through customs in Guatemala without anyone opening a single bag. So thanks for your prayers. One of our bags did not make it all the way - I'm sure it is in the capable hands of the Continental baggage handling service. It is one we don't need until later in the week so we are praying it will catch up with us.

We are staying in a missions house in Guatemala City tonight and then will get on the road at 5:30 in the morning for the 6 hour drive up to Chisec. We are praying for good weather (this is the rainy season after all) so we can see the beautiful country side and the drivers don't have a tough day. For now we are relaxing from the long day of travelling and preparing to start service. The Guatemalans and El Salvadorans who will travel with us are here so they are working with the teams they will be helping in order to learn the program and gets the students acclimated to hearing Spanish. Don't worry - we are going to bed early tonight so we will get everyone a little caught up on their sleep.

Thanks for your support and prayers. Everyone is excited to finally be here and be so close to getting to work. Pray that this level of enthusiasm will continue. Here are a couple pictures from today: students at the layouve in Houston, the Childrens team practicing one of their songs, and Medical talking through their strategy for the first town. Next update we will get some of the students to share their experiences.

Faith Encouraging Faith

2009-06-13T20:37:00.004-05:00

What a powerful sendoff service tonight! One at a time each of the teams (Children's, Service, Medical, Mime) introduced themselves and shared a team verse and specific prayer requests. Then family and friends gathered around them to lift their prayers to God.

The Children's team led us in several lively children's songs, one in Spanish and one in English. The boys sure had some great energy!

The Mime team shared a powerful skit with us called "Forgiven." This team will be able to share the message of Jesus even though they might not speak the language.

We heard from Romans 1:11-12. "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith." In the Phillips version it says, "...that each of us may be cheered by the other's faith." Pray that we might be an encouragement (due to our faith) to the people we meet, and that we too may be encouraged and cheered on by their faith.

Now off to bed for a few hours of sleep!

Nearly Ready

2009-05-30T22:38:00.004-05:00

We are 2 weeks and 9 hours away from taking off for Guatemala City from Minneapolis. The students are working hard to be ready for showtime. There is plenty to do in the next few weeks, with school ending and graduation parties and all that goes with transitioning into summer. We appreciate your prayers for all of us to stay focused and energized during the run up to the trip.

Below is a map of where we will be serving this year. We start in central Guatemala in the town of Chisec. Chisec, located in the rain forest, is a new site for us. We will be working with the local church to serve the surrounding Mayan communities. Our second stop will be Villa Nueva, a close suburb of Guatemala City. This is another new site for us. We will be working with a church with a developing ministry with the local youth and residents of the nearby barrio. Our third and final stop will be San Marcos, located high in the mountains west of Gautemala City. Wooddale OCA teams have served San Marcos several times over the years. We are looking forward to helping the local pastor renovate the building their church recently moved into.

We are learning a lot already about trusting God and seeing Him provide. Thank you for your prayers and other support. If you want to see the team off we have our send-off service scheduled for Saturday evening, June 13 at 7:00 pm at Wooddale Church, Eden Prairie. We'll post another update just before we leave.

Wooddale Operation Central America - 2009

2009-04-30T18:13:00.003-05:00

Greetings! The 2009 OCA team from the Wooddale Church senior high ministry is training for this year's trip. We leave early on the morning of June 14 and return late on June 28. In between we will visit three different communities in Guatemala: Chisec (in the rain forest 6 hours north of Guatemala City), Villa Nueva (a suburb of Guatemala City), and San Marcos (high in the mountains west of Guatemala City).

We have a little smaller team this year - 27 students and 10 leaders. We will have a medical team, childrens team, mime team, and service team. We have a nurse travelling with us but no doctor this year. Once we get to Guatemala a local doctor will join us for the duration of the trip. We may have some graduate students from a dental school in Guatemala City join us for some part of the trip as well, but we are still working out the details on that part.

We recently held a weekend retreat for the team. It was a great time of fellowship and team bonding. During that time some of the students wrote down what they were looking forward to:

Erika - I am looking forward to connecting to the rest of the medical team
and talking with the people that we help.
Lauren - I am looking forward to getting to know the children we meet at
the different towns and learning about their everyday lives.
Sarah - I’m looking forward to just go to a different country that’s so
different than ours and learning about how different they live than us. The
teams exhaustion and uncleanliness might be kind of fun too :]Ö
Katie S - I am super excited for the trip!!! I am so excited to become tight
with the whole team. Yes I am that excited. It’s true I am that excited.
And I love Marine especially but not in a cliquey way because our team is
better than that. YEAA childrens team is the bomb.com!
Steph - I am excited to see all of the huge spiders that are going to be
hiding in my bed. O and I am pumped for the mime team too. Ya mime team.
Jess F - Our medical team is awesome! I can’t wait to see our little clinic
up and running & serving the people of Guatemala. Also, already craving
some authentic Guatemalan coffee, beans and rice!!
Amy N - Our medical team rocks!! I can’t wait to see God’s glory among all
the groups!! Hopefully, my tummy can handle the bus rides!!
Brittany B - I’m excited to be on a different team this year. I think it will
be a great experience. I am also excited to get out of here and go somewhere new!
Joel L - I’m excited to meet new people and see a new country.
Riley B - I’m excited to talk to the kids and people, and I’m really looking
forward to learning about Guatemalan culture.
Tim - I am looking forward to seeing the student’s reactions at the end of
the first day of Service in Guatemala.

So stay tuned We have three more training meetings and then we are off on this year's adventure. We will post updates along the way so you can see what God is doing. We appreciate your prayers and support for the team!

Epilog

2008-06-23T20:04:00.003-05:00

Well, we made it back safely with all the bags and students intact. By now everyone has had a chance to do the one thing they missed the most and eaten the one thing they had been longing for (cold milk was near the top of the list for most of us!). As much as everyone enjoys being back in familiar surroundings, I hope and pray that some small piece of Guatemala stays lodged in their hearts. Days go by and memories fade, but we experienced God's power and grace in so many ways that each one of us cannot be the same after this trip. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your prayers and support that was expressed in so many ways.

Here are each of the teams...

Medical team:

Basketball team:

Mime team:

Childrens team:

Service team:

Please put the date July 27 on your calendar - we will have a report back opportunity during the missions festival at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie. It is scheduled to run from 9am to 2pm.

It was a pleasure and a blessing to be able to serve with these students and leaders this year. God's blessings to each of you!

Tim

Final Day

2008-06-21T22:41:00.002-05:00

This will be our final post from Guatemala. We had a great day in Antigua today. We left our hotel in Santiago about 9 this morning. The streets by the hotel were about a bus and a quarter wide, so it took a little maneuvering to get through town, but we were soon on our way around the lake. It was a bright sunny day so we had some fabulous panoramas across the lake and surrounding volcanos.

In Antigua the students had fun shopping in the market and practing their Spanish and bargaining skills. At the end of the day we headed into Guatemala City to the Hotel Pan American for dinner and early bedtime. Its 9:30 now and everyone is in their rooms and hopefully getting to sleep, although a few are still working on getting everything fit back into their bag...

Tomorrow we are up at 3:30am in order to get to the airport departure of 6:30. Sound familiar? We will have some time in Houston to get reaquainted with bathrooms where you can flush the paper and all our favorite fast foods. The first group is scheduled to depart from Houston at 1:40 and arrive in Minneapolis at 4:29 (Continental 2950). The second group is scheduled to leave Houston at 3:40 and arrive in Minneapolis at 6:32 (Continental 2001). Please check with the airline to confirm arrival times. The kids will be excited to see you when they come down into the baggage area at the aiport.

Thanks again for all your support! See you soon!

Due to the travel day we only had a few minutes to take popsts from the students so here is al we have:

Hey Mom, Dad, family and friends,
Sorry I haven’t written on the blog in a while it is a daily struggle to read the blogs posted from you, let alone fight for a time to write my own response to what I read. Dad- I’m really glad you liked our father’s day present and thank you for praying. Mom- I got your message and I’m a little concerned as to what your “adventure” is…just kidding. I can’t wait to hear more. R & R is going really well! The resort is really nice! Unfortunately, we are all a little gassy so it smells more than it would were we all feeling the way we should. I can’t wait to see you soon. I love you all and thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.
Sarah Wasley

Hey Mom, Dad, Jess, family and friends,
Thanks for all of the blogs…It’s so nice to hear from you guys! I can’t wait to see you when I get back tomorrow! Wednesday was our last service day, so we went to a really nice hotel at Lake Atitlan for rest and relaxation. It is so beautiful here! Too bad we have to leave soon…I’ve bought some things already…they are really cool! Well thanks for all of your prayers! I can’t wait to see you soon!
Liz Rendahl

Friday at Santiago

2008-06-20T18:15:00.003-05:00

Well, we have had a great day of winding down. Most of the team spent some time in town checking out the local crafts and practicing their bargaining. It was sunny this morning, but we have experienced some lovely torrential rain this afternoon. But no worries, its still a good day of relaxing and conversation. We're off to Antigua in the morning and will spent tomorrow night in Guatemala City before heading to the airport at 4am Sunday morning! Woo woo! See you at the airport Sunday afternoon!

Dear Family, Nikki, and Taylor,

Danielle, I’m happy to see you’re busy at work! I’m so jealous. I’m going to be very broke when I get home. Mom told me you had the flu/food poising!! Bummer!! I’m now in Santiago staying at the most beautiful hotel I’ve ever seen for R&R. I imagine this is maybe what the garden of eden resembled. I’m staying in a room with Sammy, Christina, and Taylor and it is a blast so far. I’m looking forward to going shopping and getting presents for everyone! At first I wanted to go home for rest and relaxation but now I’m so glad I stayed! Hope everyone is doing well and I hope the weather turns around for Gary & Connie.

Love Always, Nicole Iskierka

Mommy,
I finally got the comment that you left. We just arrived in Santiago for rest and relaxation, and it is beautiful here! I took my first hot water shower in about 10 days, and it was super nice, even though the cold showers weren’t that bad. The past few days of service in Metapan and Jutiapa were amazing, we saw over 1000 patients. I hope Dad is feeling better, I would really love a salad and fruit when I get home, I definitely will not be craving tortillas. Say hi to Dad and David for me, I love you, see you soon,
Sammi

Hola Family -
Wow. It’s beautiful here, just as I remember. It was cloudy and getting dark when we arrived last night. This morning was beautiful. A few of us got up early (real early) to see the sunrise over the volcano (is that a real sentence I get to say?). Wow. The pictures can’t even do it justice. Excited to get back to you all but honestly this must be a little bit what heaven looks like.
Lori Ask

Hey Mom, Dad, Marty, Julia, Mackenzie, The OT, & everyone from EFC,

We finally arrived at our hotel for R&R time, it is beautiful. We are actually at the same hotel we were at last year, it’s just like I remember it. I am in a room with Christina, Sammi, and Nikki. I am planning on catching some rays today, since I have been inside most of this trip. We are also planning on going to the market this afternoon and getting many presents for people. We aren’t doing the coffee beans again this year sorry to everyone who wanted them :(. I miss everyone from work very much it is great to hear from you all. I am sad to hear I am missing all the kids grow I can’t wait to come home and see them all. OT yes I like the food quit acting surprised! I actually try things here! Going out of my comfort zone I guess isn’t so bad! I think I am just going to get you a poncho thing because a necklace is not enough, and I hope you like it! I don’t know what I want yet I thought you already had something in mind! Check your Facebook! I hope all is well with you guys at home I’m missing you like crazy. Hope to hear from you all again soon!

With Love,
Taylor

Dear Family & Friends:
We have safely arrived in Santiago for some R&R. We are officially finished with the ministry portion of the trip. We are staying in a hotel on a lake surrounded by 3 volcanoes. The scenery is fantastic! I am tempted to rent a boat and wet a line! I had my first hot water shower since we left this morning. The basketball team ended up playing 20 games over the course of 8 days. While it was physically demanding and mentally draining, the boys held up very well. I hope all is well with you and I look forward to seeing you soon!
Bob

Bivans Family!
Me again. I got your blog but have been traveling long hours to lake atitlan where I am now! Its gorgeous done here! The lake is surrounded by volcanoes and mountains! I made new friends with all the seniors and were sitting out by the pool and soaking up all the sun bc its super nice out. And I already burned =[ but im ok with that! The food at this hotel is seriously the best food ever! Taste just like grandpas..maybe a little better. Haha its Friday…so I hope that floor is done tomorrow! I cant wait to get to be in my own room and sleep! Thanks for doing my floors while gone. And I miss peanut already! And very sad he leaves the day I come home. I miss the fam! Is there anything you guys want? Ill for sure bring some coffee..but anything else? Let me kno soon bc im going out later tonight and tomorrow for sure. So ill check the blog tonight to see if you responded. Its 12:30 now…so you have a while to post. Love you lots! And ill be home soon!

Love, sarah bivans

Hey Mom Dad Ryan and Luke,
Hope everything is going well. Its so nice to have some R&R. We went shopping a little today and are going swimming later after lunch. Rachel can stay for the whole time if she would like. Sunday sounds great. I will see you guys soon!
Love Sarah Tapani

Hey Mom and Dad,
Basketball has been awesome!! We got really tired and sweaty our last game against the Jutiapa team that we lost to the first time. We ended up winning the game 68 to 51. Thanks for the update on Celtics basketball championships. We are at a really nice hotel in Santiago that has shore line on Lake Atitlan. Today we went shopping in the markets. What do you think I should get? I already got a nice belt, t-shirt, and bracelets for myself. I also want to get a knife. I have 400 queztales left what should I get for you guys or any one else? There are lots of purses and jewelry. Please blog back with some ideas for Antigua on Saturday. The food is getting more American. I am feeling fine right now as well. I know that you are praying for me and I thank you again. Be home soon!!!
Love Josh Hendricks

Hi everyone!
Sorry it’s been a while… the last couple of days in Jutiapa were really crazy (but good). We are at our resort now, and it is absolutely fabulous. I just got back from shopping at the market. I got some cool stuff I am excited to show you! I am having a blast and still 100% healthy. I love you lots and can’t wait to see you when I get back!
Kelly Anderson

Hey guys.
Thanks for the Father’s Day note (I’m a little slow reading the blog posts). Good luck with the soccer games this weekend. Sounds like you have been doing pretty well. Cam, I hope you had a good week with VBS – I’m glad you had the opportunity to be part of that. Today its nice and sunny. So far we have spent the morning in town and then had a nice lunch of hamburgers and french fries – not a refried bean or plantain in sight. This afternoon we’ll just be sitting around relaxing and drinking coffee (yes, I’ve gone over to the dark side and now actually like the stuff). See you in a couple days!
Tim

Hey Mark, Lee Anne, Peter and family! We went shopping today and I had lots of fun. It is so pretty here and great to relax for a few days. I got a really big painting for only 200 q and it is of the volcano and the lake. More shopping tomorrow. See ya in a few more days.
Love, Amy Anderson

Hey fam!
R & R is amazing. Can’t wait to see you. Love ya, Lucie

Hi Family!
It’s so so so beautiful here at Lake atitlan. Two more days and I’ll be back with you all, can’t wait. I love you!!!
Alicyn

Hello to my familia!
We are now at a resort in Santiago, and it is absolutely amazing. I went shopping in the market this morning and did lots of bartering. It was awesome, and I did well. Mom, you would be proud of me. I miss you guys and can’t wait to see you. Two more days! Yay, I’m really excited to see you guys. God has taught me so much; I have grown in incredible ways and can’t wait to see the fruit of it back home. Can’t wait to tell all to you guys.
Loving you and missing you,
Linz

Mike
Ok I am really sry but we have now just had time to blog or at least for me. I am sry but I am really glad to hear that I will get to meet Payton! I am really excited! Give Danny a big kiss from me!!! HAHA so I still need an idea of what to get you! We went shopping today and we go tomorrow so tell me quick! See you in a few days!
Love Ashley

Mom and Dad
So we went shopping today and we will go again tomorrow. I need to get something for dad still but I already know what I am getting him and a got Travis a switch blade! haha
It is sweet! Erica hasn’t read the blogs cause she didn’t think that anyone will be writing to her but I think that she wrote last night and will be tonight but I don’t know.
Love Ashley Weis

Mom and Dad,
The trip has been great. I’ll tell you all about it in a few days. For dinner could Grandma please make pot roast when I get back. Thank you! Love you guys. See you soon. Lucie says hi.
Love,
Brett

Hey family & friends,
It’s raining here at lake atitlan, which is both good and kind of a bummer. I wish I were able to sit down at the dock this whole afternoon like I did last year, but I got to do everything but swim this morning, so I’m alright with watching the beautiful rain. I got the second nativity set for aunt marlene, and I suppose you’ll have to wait for everything else. It’s nice to be resting—I got almost 12 hours of sleep last night, but I was awake and ready to go at 5:30am…I know crazy huh? I’m loving this part of Guatemala, and I’ll be sad to say goodbye to it, but I’m excited to come home. Oh, and by the way, my foot is swollen and weird looking. It’s pretty interesting. Love you all,
Elizabeth Z

Friday morning update

2008-06-20T08:55:00.001-05:00

Good morning from beautiful downtown Santiago, Guatemala. After a reasonbly uneventful day's travel from Jutiapa we arrived here yesterday evening about 5. We had a little rain along the way, but it was a blessing in that it kept us cool. Of course it made the narrow winding mountain roads a little more entertaining, but our bus drivers are excellent and we arrived without incident.

We are staying at a hotel called Tiosh Abaj (www.tioshabaj.com if you want to check it out). It is a beautiful spot right on Lake Atitlan. Lots of birds and lush gardens and barking dogs and crowing roosters and everything else that makes Guatemala such an enchanting place.

Sorry I do not have any new pictures to post at the moment. We will add some over the day and get input from the students and post something later today as well.

I will take this opportunity to say that this group of students has been outstanding. They have encountered many things: new food, "interesting" living conditions, challenging service opportunities, and not-so-certain schedules. Through all of it they have not complained or given up or disengaged. I am truly impressed with their heart for service and for all the people we have encountered. Thank you for entrusting them to me and the rest of the leadership team.

Thank you for your support of and prayers for our team. We have seen God work in so many ways during these past two weeks, and you have been a big part of that. We will be sad to leave this country and these people, but I think we are all ready to be home. See you in a few more days!

Tim

Third and final day in Jutiapa

2008-06-18T14:36:00.001-05:00

Terri, and the Grandparents:
Haha grandma james I seriously just cracked up at your comment=] and I can agree about the weather its so hot here but we have been inside so no improvement on the tan til r&r days. Terri I wish I was there too I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever! Hope the game went well and tiger scored lots of baskets. Gma & gpa yes I miss you lots too and I will try and come visit Monday after work and bring my camera so you can see my pictures! Missing you all thanks for the comments ! Love you all. See you next week!
Xxoxoxox Hannah

Hey Mom, Marty, Dad, Julia, Mackenzie, The OT and Amy,
All is well here in Jutiapa. I still have not gotten sick yet the only thing I am getting sick of is painting. Just finished day 4 of painting and tomorrow will make it day five. I have never painted so much in my life and probably never will again. I have been wearing the same pants every time we paint so they are now covered with an interesting array of colors. The food is awesome here in Jutiapa I love it! I am definitely ready for some rest and relaxation days though. Dad you are a stinker, you got me good, I was really worried about my car. Mom I’m glad you are still missing me I am missing you and if I would’ve been home I would’ve yelled back sorry I wasn’t. Mac I am glad to hear that people are asking about me and the kids haven’t forgotten about me yet I have been wondering. Sorry you are getting lonely I promise I’ll be home soon and we can watch lots of movies together. Amy it was GREAT to hear from you! How did you get the blog website? I am glad you are talking to Henry about me not a day goes by I don’t miss all of our kids! I am anxious to come home and see how they have grown. Tell everyone hi for me there I miss you all like crazy and I’ll see you soon! OT I sprinted across the church when people told me I had something from the OT! I am glad you got to see your G-ma that is great. I guess it is okay that I didn’t get a stuffed animal or something, I’ll try to forgive you! I am glad you went to Kristin’s birthday party for a bit, will you tell her happy late birthday from me please. I can’t wait to see you when I get home! Do you want a poncho thing with a hood people get them from Mexico and what not. It was just something I thought of let me know if not I’ll figure something out. I am glad to hear from you and hope it continues. I love you all and miss you tons!
With Love,
Taylor

Hey Dad Mom and Mark
Everything is good with me, and I’m not sick so that is a good thing because there is a good amount of people that are not so well. Thanks for the blog notes that you sent, I didn’t get the ones than dad sent me though. But anyway I was on the service team for the past two days and we painted in the church that we are stationed at some they really appreciated what we had done. We will have one more service day and will paint again, but then we will be going to Lake Attalon and have R&R time so that will be nice but anyway got go see ya
Love ,
Jon

Dear Mom, Dad, Sophie, Sweeney, and Angel

HAPPY BELATED FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!
I miss you guys so much. I had a great home stay, the people were very nice. There were three of us and we each got our own room with air conditioning!!!!!!!!!!!! I am feeling better then a couple of days ago when I had to go on the antibiotic, but do not worry I am doing great. The schools and churches we have been visiting are very welcoming and very friendly (I always knew my balloon animal phase would pay off).
I am excited and sad because we have one service day left. But then we get to go to Lake Atalan for rest and relaxation, and shopping. Adam is doing great, he is playing really well and is having no problems with his ankles, not to mention I was able to get some really good pictures of him playing. Also he has been putting on sun screen so he does not get burnt. We are both having a great time. I can not wait to see you guys, I love an miss you guys so much!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Taylor V

Hey Chelsea
How is America ,hope your plane ride back was good. Have fun at work and I wish you could be here, but anyway we have to hang out when we get back and have that bonfire. See you when we all get back!
Jon

Dear Mom, Dad, Sophie, Sweeney, and Angel,
It is the next morning, and I got a great night of sleep. I look forward to having a good day and hope to hear from you guys soon.
Love,
Taylor V

Hey mom and dad and jill!
I miss you guys. You should maybe write me. Im having tons of fun. Love ya
Steph tebbe

Mom and Dad,
Hello! Unfortunately I didn’t get to share my testimony last night because one of the translators shared his and it most of the night. It is alright though because his story was needed to be told to these kids. Hopefully there is another day that I can share it. I am having a good time and I love you guys.
Peace,
Brittany Backlund

Chelsey,
I miss you girl. How is home. We basically are painting all day today. I didn’t get a chance to share my testimony but that’s alright maybe another time. Well I love you and miss you!
Brittany Backlund

Hey family.
I’m keeping this one short because there are people waiting. But I just thought that I should check in! Everything is fine and I just did more painting today and last night. Pretty uneventful.
Love ya and I’ll see you soon!
-Kelsey Essig

Chelsey-
We miss you. Thanks for blogging. I saw in my email that you posted pictures of me on facebook. I haven’t looked at them yet. I am nervous to see what they are. Oh well. Lets do lunch ASAP when I get home. Love ya chica! You are missed. I will tell William HOLA!
Lori Ask

Hey again! I’ll give you 3 guesses as to what we did today and it starts with a P and ends with –AINT. I think the whole service team is ready for R&R and for no more painting. The people @ my home stay are all staying @ the church tonight because we have no water and Sam (the hottest guy on the trip) flushed our only bit of water. I miss you and I’ll be home soon!
Cole Peterson

Gross Gutt Meine Familia,
I had a super odd day yesterday. We went to the basketball courts in Jutiapa and the was a bull’s head in the basket. It was uber cool. I took many great shots with it! It was a Satanic sacrifice to nullify what we had done there two days ago. We prayed the crap out of it and reunnulliffied it. NICE! At the performance, all of the Satan worshipers converted. Then we went to two other schools and had a “service”. It was the most Godly intense moment of my life! I am really connecting with people here and Guatemalans. We then went to our home stay and I flushed our only bowl of water. Whoops. Look at what Cole Peterson’s blog says about me. Fresh! Today I played basketball too and made a buzzerbeater! Ballin’! Last night, Jared and John were morons and put spit, papaya, bad water, and grape juice down the straw of my water bottle and it gave me the skitters. I will get revenge and it will be sweet. But we are cool. Love ya lots!
Love,
Samuel George Knutson
P.S. Dave, if time is love and you won’t write to me does that mean you don’t love me? I am crying now…
P.P.S. My mime stuff smells like crap because I sweat a lot but haven’t washed it.
P.P.P.S. Mom, I am writing in my journal and have written a crap load.
P.P.P.P.S. I probably have the most post scripts ever… world record! GET SOME!

Hey Girls…Dad Erickson here.

If Christina is checking the blog, here’s a message from me to the most important ladies in my life.

“I love you. I miss you. I will see you soon.”

The team had a very special time last night after a full day of ministry. Victor, our El Salvadorian brother gave his testimony. The Lord used it to move in each of us in a special way, giving us a deeper desire to live for Him in this day and age. A day and an age in which the things of the world seem to take precedent over the things of God.

I pray that those things of the world will not have their way with us. I love the way each of you know and love the Lord Jesus. I miss our times at night praying together. Know that I continue to pray for you and I ask that when I’m away like this, you would pray for me. The Lord is attentive to the prayers that come from your heart. I continually lift up our concerns as a family, always hopeful, always trusting, always believing his will is being accomplished. He is using our present trials and circumstance to conform us to be more like Him. As we are honest with Him, he helps us understand ourselves and then helps us change accordingly. I pray that you may always see changes in me that will benefit my relationship with each of you.

Hope you all are having a fantastic day, enjoying the summer and treating each other well.

Love you,

Dad

Jutiapa Day 2!

2008-06-17T17:54:00.002-05:00

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

Jutiapa Guatemala

2008-06-16T19:24:00.001-05:00

Monday June 16, 2008
Today was our first service day in Jutiapa, Guatemala.

Hey Dad, Happy fathers day! I need to know what kind of coffee you want.. you never told me! We are in Jutiapa now and we’re doing great.
Love,
Travis
Ps: Tell Tracy that Brett’s finger is fine.

Happy Belated Father’s day Dad. Everything is well here in Jutiapa. I’m staying in a hotel room. It’s fun though, and we have really funny looking bedspreads. I miss my homestay family in Metapan especially the little boy. This trip is way different than last year, but at the moment I’m struggling to process everything. I think maybe a few weeks after I get home I’ll be able to better. Did you go to the church service Cate/how was it?? Mom&Dad do you even still read this?? Love you all,
Elizabeth Z

Hey papi, happy late father’s day! We have been having a lot of fun and we’re back in Guatemala. Two games so far, today, with one to go. The second game had hoops that were 9 feet tall. So we dunked our minds off. Almost each player on the team threw it down, with authority. The two El Salvadorian guys who play with us and do ministry are really good. We’ve had our toughest competition yet. My home-stay is nice. I’m rooming with V to the C. We have a shower, and a fan! I feel good, besides the time when I ran into a soccer post after feeding off a fast break dunk to Brett. That was a pleasant, hard surprise. Tell Tyno that he would love balling down here, and tell him I miss him. As of right now, we just ate lunch. Hamburgers! And the ball team is picking up some color. Josh told me to tell you that. It helps us ‘fit in’, you know? I’m learning more Spanish everyday, and even some German. Bet you didn’t see that one coming.
Love you like a father! Your Boy,
-CJ

Happy late fathers day, Dad. It is great here. We are in Juitapa now. I have had so many cool experiences here so far. For the next three nights, we are staying in someones house. I will see you guys soon!
-Derek

Mom, Dad, Pookie, and everyone else :
Well first of all happy fathers day dad. Sorry we didn’t write yesterday it was a travel day. Yes well lets see we are now in Jutiapa and it is interesting. It is clean like el Salvador but my home stay this time is definitely not as nice. I am staying with anna rask. Im not sure how to explain but I did take pictures. Well lots of people want to write. Love you all and I really cant wait to get home. Love Ya.
Xoxoxox . Hannah

Querida familia—
Hola! Como estan? Yo estoy bien. Hemos visto a muchos pacientes en la clinica medica. Pero tenemos que irons asi que adios! Los amo mucho!
Courtney

Hey Mom, Marty, Dad, Julia, Mackenzie and The OT,

We arrived in Jutiapa yesterday around lunch time. It is nice here not too hot but it is definitely warm. We went to central park yesterday and the basketball team had a game, the mime was performed, as well as the children’s team. It was great to have a chance to see what each of those teams get to do everyday and how they impact the people. We have home stays again here mine is a hotel. There is a family who owns a hotel in town that has taken like 12 of us and we are staying there. It is decent there kind of run down looking but it is better than nothing. We eat breakfast and dinner as a group at the church in Jutiapa. It is nice to start the day all together and end it together as well. I heard we are painting again today so that should be interesting. Dad happy late father’s day hope it was a good one for you. Since you got the treat of driving my car I guess a present to you isn’t needed for you already got one. ;) Where did you take my car and why exactly? Glad you all are getting use out of it. I am doing fine I haven’t gotten sick yet. My stomach is a little squirmy but not a big deal. I am having a blast but I miss you all. OT hope you are doing well I miss you a ton and can’t wait to see you when I get home. Hope all is well with everyone back there!

With Love,
Taylor

Hey there dad and grandpa sorry that I didn’t write you yesterday. In the shuffle of getting here, unloading, and with some of the team members leaving I didn’t have time to write so HAPPY FATHERS DAY!! We just started working in Jutiapa and we’ve done a whole lot of painting! Hope everything is going well.

Love,
Cole

Hey Mom Dad Michelle Kelsey and Tre. So Dad an opportunity did not present itself to tell you happy fathers day yesterday. So happy belated fathers day! Oh and today has been pretty good, we’ve been painting in Jutiapa and this time everyone got a home stay, I’ll tell you all about mine when I get back! Gotta run and get some food…. We get hamburgers

Love
Jeffrey

Hey friends and family I am in Jutiapa right now and I played with the basketball team for the past couple days because some people on the team were not felling good. Today I was on the service team though and we painted all day which was fun. Hope you have a good time in Florida.

Love,
Jonathan

Hey dad!!

Happy Father’s Day! Sorry I’m a day late, but I didn’t see the computer yesterday. I hope you found my note- I’m pretty sure its laying on my desk. Jamie better have done something awesome yesterday because you deserve it! And I hope grandma enjoyed Katie’s grad party! Before I forget- Tell Jamie that Tap says the birds be flockin’ at the dance recital. Haha Quick update on the trip- we are now in Jutiapa. Everyone got a homestay this time (last town only the girls did) but our group of 4 was put in a hotel room along with 2 other groups. I’m assuming they didn’t have enough room in their house. I’m lucky though because some people are complaining about their homestays. We’re painting the church here- but I think tomorrow we’ll be working on the construction of a new church down the road. Hope all is well  and keep praying for our safety and health!

Love- Nicole C

Hey Everyone,
We are now in Jutiapa, Guatemala. We are staying in new people’s homes and I couldn’t ask for more. I’m staying with Sarah Bivans and Jennifer Sheonrock in a huge house. There are three girls and a mother living there and the house was built with no doors. There is no privacy what-so-ever but when there are all girls, it doesn’t matter. We each have our own bed, sarah and I are in a room and Jennifer is across the hall. They have a dog that we can actually pet and likes me sometimes and is shy sometimes. Sarah and I got to wash clothes last night and we took turns patrolling for cockroaches. The mother ran around the room killing them with her shoe and trying to assure us there were no more cockroaches ( HAY NO MAS CUCHARACHA!!!!) The shower is super nice and has warm water and I couldn’t be more greatful. Well, things are looking up! I love you guys and miss you all! See you soon!

Love, Nicole Iskierka

Hey!! Happy Father’s day dad. I missed not being there. I’ll make it up to you when I get home. Were at our next city, We are in new home stays. They are much different then our last ones. Very very very small and rustic. But I’m surviving. And my roommate is a lot of fun and speaks fluent Spanish so that makes it easy. I’m still feeling good. I’m wearin down a bit. Well cant wait to see you!! I don’t know if I missed a blog but did you answer on whether or not I could stay with Rach for a weekend??? I love you guys and can’t wait to see you!!! Love, Lucie

Hey Mom Dad Ryan and Luke,
Sounds like you guys have been very busy. Luke when I get back you will have to make me some eggs since you are now a pro. Evereything has been going good here, staying healthy. We have been visiting different schools everyday and its a lot of fun. Captains?? For track. You might have already told me but I didn’t read that post if you did. Happy Late Fathers Day. Im sure golfing just wasn’t the same without me. Luke I got your note.. thanks.. any requests for what you would like otherwise I will surprise you. Tell the Aggies hi for me when they get there. Cant wait to see you all.
Love Sarah Tapani

Hola!
Thanks again for all the prayers and support you have been sending. We got to Jutiapa around lunch time yesterday and it is pretty cool. We got to our second homestay and I am with Sarah Tapani and Kelly Anderson. It is again a VERY new and challenging experience but I am really learning a lot. We painted some rooms in the church today and now I am eating lunch! It has been pretty uneventful so far but I’ll keep in touch!
Love you guys!
-Kelsey Essig
P.S. Happy Fathers Day Daddy!

Mom and Dad,
Happy Fathers Day Dad! I hope it was good. I miss you guys and love you lots. We painted the church in El Salvador and now we are painting the church in Jutiapa. This time my home stay is at the pastor’s house with a girl named Kate, she is on the medical team. They live right above the church so it is convenient. I completed my faith story and I’m going to share it tonight. Please pray for me. I love you lots.
Brittany Backlund

Hello Mom, Dad, Dave, Magnet Marie, and Mak,
HAPPY FATHERS DAY Dad! Hope it was fun! I am having a blast. I have my first home stay and it is funky fresh. 8 guys and I are in a studio apartment with full water, a balcony, and lots of wind. I slept like a baby last night. We have our entire mime skit down and have preformed it a gazillion times. I feel like a girl because I wear so much makeup but my masculinity fixes it. The gang has been well except for some having spells of diarrhea, I have been solid the most of the time. About ten others and I sang live on a radio and it was super gangster. I really like it here. Happy Fathers Day again Dad. Hope all is well.
Love,
Samuel George Knutson

Hey Mom and Dad,
How’s the cabin treating you? We are now in Jutiapa and I feel much better than I did in Metapan. I am staying at a home in Juitiapa that has a nice view of the street. Travis is in my home stay group so that’s pretty cool. Basketball is so much fun!! It is also pretty sweaty and dirty. Our jerseys are starting to stink! Did Uncle John write on the blog?? Any way, I got enough food and I take medication when I need so rest assured. I know you are praying for me, so Thank you! Happy Fathers day as well, Markie!!! The food has been getting better. We had Dominos the other night as a group. The competition is getting fierce on the B-Ball courts but we can handle it!!! How’s everything at home? Hopefully Markie isn’t taking to many naps in my bed!!!! Just kidding its fine.
I love you guys,
Josh Hendricks

Hello Mother Hello Father this is a letter from camp Granader, Camp is very entertaining if it would stop… well being hot. Everything is going well down here in this side of the world. We are having fun and doing some really good work. I took the day off from playing to give my knee a rest so I can play some more later this week. To bad Maven flew the coup but maybe it was for the better. It’s strange how fast days can move. Even though I’ve been getting up about 5am everyday it seems like it’s dinner time before I’ve fully waken up. It’s also great to be in another familiar place. Even many things have changed many have stayed the same. Good times. Oh well that about as much as I need to say.
Kevin Franske

Kate, Tom, Mom, Dad, Travis and Mike,
Thank you so much for your support! We are now back in Guatemala in Jutiapa. We have different home stays and the one that I am in is not as amazing as the last one but I guess it is someone else’s turn to be spoiled! I am just glad that we have a real shower not a bucket one like many others have. The lady that we are staying with is named Flora I believe. She isn’t very talkative but we really only stay there for the night so it’s all good and there is three of us so we keep ourselves occupied. Today we painted again in the church that we are working with. They are feeding us American food and its really nice! We had hamburgers and fries today for lunch it was amazing! We will be here in Jutiapa for two more work days and then we will travel to our r&r. One of the girls one my team just accepted the Lord into her life today! I am so happy! She is an amazing girl! Well other people want to write so I need to go but thank you so much for your support! I love you all!
Love
Ashley Weis

Family & Friends:
We arrived back in Guatemala yesterday. The experience in El Salvador was very rewarding. El Salvador is a bit more westernized than Guatemala. The team is tired from playing many games in the heat and from the adjustments in diet. Hopefully the biggest challenges are behind us and we can finish healthy and strong. It has been a joy to watch the students grow in their relationships with each other and to demonstrate the love of Christ to those they encounter. I am seeing some real spiritual growth in many of the students and also some barriers to be overcome. I am praying the barriers are broken and that a spirit of unity prevails. We are in the city of Jutiapa and will be here until Thursday. The church that is hosting us has been very gracious despite losing their building to a fire several months ago. Other than the normal aches and pains from playing basketball, my health has been good – a real blessing!

Until next time,
Bob Moberg

Hey everyone!
Today we had our first service day in Jutiapa. The medical clinic was slower than usual today, but it was nice to have some down time in between patients, especially after a crazy day in Metapan. The people from the church here are really great. They try hard to make us feel at home. I’m excited for tomorrow. I was told that we’re going to be working in the mountains! I miss you all and am looking forward to telling you all about our work and experiences here!
Kelli M

Hey friends and family!
Happy Father’s day, Dad! Sorry I am a day late… I kinda didn’t get a chance to write on Sunday. So I am totally losing track of the days and cannot remember when I wrote last. Well, here’s a recap. On Saturday, we had the busiest day at our clinic in Metapan. We saw 180 patients in about six hours. Wow! It was so busy and so hot… definitely one of our toughest clinic days. But it was great to make such an impact on so many people. Sunday was a travel day to Jutiapa. It was only a four hour drive to Jutiapa, so after our lunch in the church we went to a park to watch the mime, basketball, and children’s teams perform. It was so nice to just sit and relax in the sun. And no, I haven’t gotten a tan because I am so paranoid that I put on loads of sunscreen… on top of the loads of purell . (Remember that purell bottle that you said I would never use that much? Well, it’s over half gone.) We are at another homestay. This one is definitely not as nice as our last one, but we all are managing. Bucket showers are better than no showers, right? Today we had a clinic in this village right outside of Jutiapa. It is crazy how rustic it is right outside of the town. We saw 130 some patients…. Pretty good for losing a doctor (our surgeon had to return home ). Towards the end of the clinic, the pastor’s wife had the kids perform some of their children’s songs. It was so cute! Then they all came up to me and asked me to teach them a game. We started with “oboshinatintatin.” They actually have words for that in Spanish! Who knew? Then we did “Plato, plato, gonzo!” which is the equivalent of “Duck, duck, grey duck!” It was so much fun! Well, everyone is bugging me to finish my novel, so I will close with this: I am having the time of my life, and am (surprisingly) still healthy! I love you all lots! Good luck with your room, Tyler!
Love always, Kelly Anderson

Hi Mom and Dad!
How was fathers day? I hope you opened the present I got you dad! How is life at home, anything new? How are Allison and Aaron? So we are in our last town of the trip and have two more ministry days. You can read Kelly Andersons blog to find out exactly what we have done, but I will be quick. I really enjoy the medical team and I am having fun. We got our final home stays and they are a little less than ideal but I will be okay. I am having fun and I am excited for our shopping and touring days! I miss you and will see you soon! I am not excited for work on Monday though! I love you all SO much!

Love,
Anna Rask

Jutiapa

2008-06-15T14:29:00.003-05:00

We made it to Jutiapa and were greeted by a warm welcome and ham sandwiches. Our kids will be heading off to a park in 30 minutes for mime, basketball and childrens. The service and Medical will have the afternoon to help each of the teams.

June 14 afternoon #2

Mom, Dad, Danielle, Josh, Grandma, Grandpa, Taylor & Nikki,

Hey everybody! I haven’t blogged for a while because it’s a little difficult to get on the computer. I am now in El Salvador (which you probably already know) and we are staying in people’s homes here. I have a family that consists of a mom, dad, and little girl named Kayla. At first I thought I struck gold because it was so much nicer than Campur. I later realized the shower and toilet don’t work and it isn’t as “magical” as some of the other palaces here. So far today we only went to one church to do a performance for the kids. It was a nice break from running from school to school. We traveled with the mime team and the basketball team. So far, I haven’t gotten sick, but this is the point in the trip when everyone is. Just to be safe, everyone is asking “can I eat this?” before taking a bite of anything. Mom, I just read one of your letters. Terry is doing a good job of waiting long enough for me to forget you wrote them before giving them to me. Danielle, everyone liked hearing your hello, especially Kelsey. My host family liked seeing the pictures of you guys, my house, and the snow. Taylor & Nikki, I miss you guys so much and I’m talking about you guys a lot. I start my sentences with “my best friends…..” Okay, so everyone thinks I’m writing to my “lover” because I’m writing so long so I need to hurry off. I love you all soooooo much.
Love, Nicole Iskierka
p.s. Taylor say hi to Zacky. Nikki say hi to Moo moo. And Mommy say hi to Uncle Neil.

Hey Hey Mom and Dad,
Sorry its taken so long to write. I’m having a great time and feeling really good. We are in El Salvador now and staying in home stays. My house is extremely nice. It’s a drastic change from Campur. There are nice beds and showers and air conditioning!!! We have been going to lots of schools and doing our thing. I’m pro at balloon animal making. It’s very hot here. O and sorry mom I took the sisterhood book  Hope you had fun cleaning my room. We gave a whole bunch of kids beanie babies today and got lots of pictures. Me and Sarah are totally bonding and have made lots of plans for our dorm room  I’m missin being at swimming lessons Wendy!!!! I can’t wait to be back. I love you and miss you a lot. Do you know if I can go stay with Rach yet??? Tell Brett hi for me and I love him. Do you have any requests for presents??? Cant wait to hear from you!
Love, Lucie

Hi Mom, Dad, and Friends
After I blogged last time I found out that the brick count was more like 550, so I was just a little off  Right now we’re in Metapan and we have been scraping off old paint and rep-painting the walls for the last two days. Everything has been going well and I’m feeling good. Tomorrow we leave for Jutiapa and I’m very excited to sleep on the bus. I’m not going to write too much because other people are waiting to blog, so I’ll tell you more when I get home!
Love You,
Christina Benjamin

To: The Erickson Girls

Hey gals. Miss you. Love you. We did some ministry up in the mountains here near Metapan, El Salvador. It was great. An outdoor presentation for about 100 town folk. The basketball team played against some town guys that played well. Our guys won the game, but it was close. The mime team did the 30 minute program. Each time they perform they get better and better. In order to get to this town we had to walk across a bridge over a very muddy river. The bridge was a couple of blocks long. It swayed when many of the team members were crossing at once. They could have used this walkway in an Indiana Jones movie 

Christina, tried to email you, but it bounced back. Place a comment on the blog and include your email address. Hope all is gong well with mom and the girls.

Better go now. Have a great day. Love you!
Dad

Hola todo mi familia y amigos.
I don’t recall the last time I updated on this blog, but I’ve been reading all of your comments—I was able to check this last night at our homestay in El Salvador. I’m staying at a super nice house with Sarah Wasley and Hannah Dull. We have our own room separate from the rest of the house; we walk through their 3-year old’s room, out across the balcony and into our room. Yesterday we had a medical clinic in a big open halfway constructed buildingish thing, and today we had one in some church. We saw 180some patients throughout the course of today compared to the 100/120ish we have been seeing. It was pretty intense, but fun. Pray for team unity and encouragement though because tempers have been kind of short with everyone, though we’re coping. I hope all is well back home. I miss you all, and can’t wait until we get home. Mom have you sent my graduation invites yet….please??? Thanks. Love you all,
Elizabeth Z

Hi H-dawgs!
I haven’t gotten sick at all on this trip except caffeine headaches and a stomach ache. There are a few people that have gotten sick, but nothing major. I’ve only ridden the chicken bus once and it wasn’t bad at all. The medical team is doing really good, we’ve been seeing about 115 patients a day and today we saw 183. It gets really awkward and hot and we sweat A LOT. But it’s a really good feeling helping people in need. It’s been a lot of fun. Have a good time on your trip.
Kate Hondlik

To Mom and Dad and Tracy,
My finger is not in a splint. I put tape on it because I grabbed a chain net in basketball and cut it, but I’m good. Were having a great time and we have been playing well. I’ve not had one offensive foul Daddio. Be proud. I miss you Mom and Dad and I love you guys. I miss you too baby sis and love you. Let me know how the fishing is Dad. You the man Tracy. See you soon.

Love,
Brett

Hi Mom, Dad, Chrissy, Joshua and friends-
Thought I would write again. The service team has spent the last two days chipping paint and painting different parts of the church building in Metapan. Its been…well Josh, you remember how long I was interested in painting our bedroom. I stayed as positive as I could and helped “motivate” the students. Overall Metapan has been a good experience. The students are enjoying their home stays and many of them are meeting new team members and enjoying the company of more than just their good friends. The group is definitely more united as we head to Jutiapa. I am excited to get back to Jutiapa. I enjoyed that town last time I was here, good food. I hope all is well back at home or wherever you all are, Boston? Calgary? I want to go to the cabin – can we work that out? I love you guys and think of you often. You’re prayers are felt, thank you. Looking forward to a few hours of rest on the bus tomorrow, then ready for more work. Josh- go grocery shopping, don’t do any of my laundry ;), and have fun with your friends. Love ya! Miss ya!
Lori (Becker) Ask

Kids on radio planned

2008-06-14T20:35:00.004-05:00

We got word tonight that they would like to interview some of our students on the radio on Sunday morning. The kids will be on at 6:30 am (here) thats 7:30 am MN time.

You are supposed to be able to go to the site www.iglesiafuentedeuz.net and be able to hear the interview and singing. This is a group of 10-12 students.

Again- ive tried to post pictures and again failed...if you go to the site above its in spanish but from what i can tell if you click on the headphones on the right side you should be able to get the pod cast

Saturday comments

2008-06-14T17:45:00.002-05:00

June 14 afternoon comments (SORRY NO PICTURES' I´VE BEEN AT THE CAFE FOR 20 MINUTES AND NOTHING IS LOADING' i WILL TRY WHEN TO POST SOME SOON)

Hey Mom and Dad,
Sorry I didn’t write back right away. I have been busy with Basketball games. I think we have won all of our games! The games have been really fun! Taking Spanish has definitely helped with talking to little kids and adults. This trip has been awesome! The views of the Guatemalan and El Salvadorian Landscape are amazing. The food has been interesting! I have had McDonalds and Dominos. Also some different types of authentic food. Right now I am in Metapan, El Salvador. I got a little sick on Friday but I am feeling better. The leaders and doctors have been taking great care of us. I can’t believe a week has passed by already! No injuries on the basketball court. Knock on wood! Other than that everything is going fine. Thank you so much for helping me fit all those extra snacks into my bag. They are helpful when I need a snack.
How’s everything at home? How’s Midwest roofing doing? What’s the word on football and football camps? Could you check the NBA playoffs and tell me which team has won more games, Boston Celtics or L.A. Lakers?
Thank you, for all your prayers. Talk to you guys later!!!
God Bless
Love,
Josh Hendricks

Hey Yall,
Well we’re in Metapan, El Salvador! No one has been hurt so far. I got a little sick but I’m feeling better tho. Our basketball team is undefeated. The weather was great in Kampur but it’s gotten a lot hotter here. The kids are pretty good at soccer too, nothing I can’t handle. Talk to you later!
Prayers and kisses
Love,
Andrew Wight

Dad and Mom,
Hola! I am in El Salvador right now in the church. We painted today it was hot out. I haven’t even gotten sick yet. I did get a couple bug bites on my legs though, but nothing bad. I have been doing daily devotionals while I am here. I also started writing my faith story so maybe I can share it while I am here. My house stay is very nice. I have taken a couple pictures with my camera, but others with digital cameras have taken pictures of me and the children. I have one more day in El Salvador and then we go to the next place. Well how are you guys? Have you gone to the cabin at all? How is Nick, Shelia, and Coen? Hey mom you should tell Shelby or Elle about this website and tell them to write something. Well I love you have a good day.
Love,
Brittany Backlund

Hey Mom, Dad, Michelle, Tre, And Kelsey
Soo im sorry that I haven’t blogged at all! Campur was really fun this year and now we’ve crossed the border and have been in El Salvador for a few days. Today we painted the church the guys have been staying at, we’ve been painting it for a few days now. Its really actually kinda funny that only the girls got homestays because there weren’t enough families to fill the entire team. So while we were sleeping at the church someone left the sink on and used all the water they had so we can’t really use the toilets or use the shower. I’m pretty sure that its about a hundred degrees hotter here than it was last year and I really wish I had about 5 minutes of air conditioning because I’m about to die of a heat stroke…. But not really. Well I have to go because everyone else wants to blog! So I’ll try to blog again soon
Love Jeffrey

Hey everyone,
I am glad to hear that you’re all praying for me! I am doing well and still haven’t been that sick. We have been painting the last two days and it has been very hot out! We are in first home stays and I am with four other girls. We have a really nice house and I am really happy that I am in this house. We have a POOL! I have been swimming in it for the past 2 nights and will be in it again tonight. The house is amazing and beautiful! The family that is taking care of us is really nice and has 3 kids. The family doesn’t even live at the house but I will talk to you about you when I get back. So far I have not been sun burnt that badly; I only have had a little on the top of my shoulders and a little on the back of my neck. Well I should let someone else blog so I will write later!
Love
Ashley Weis

Hey everyone!
It’s good to hear from everyone. Thanks for all the prayer and support! I am doing pretty well. Last night was my second night staying in my homestay and it is definitely a new experience. I am in a home with Courtney and we had to take bucket showers last night. Lets just say it wasn’t the warmest shower I have taken… But overall it is a really cool experience. We have been in El Salvador for a two nights now and it is gorgeous! We are pretty much surrounded by mountains and its crazy hot everyday. I have yet to get sick which is pretty much amazing! But yeah, everything is well and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible!
Love you all,
-Kelsey Essig

Hey Mom, Marty, Dad, Julia, Mackenzie and The OT,

Sorry I haven’t written in a while with having home stays in El Salvador it is hard to keep up with the blog. The travel day to El Salvador went well. I got a little motion sick at first, but once I got some ice cream everything was fine. We got through customs and crossed the border in less than an hour. My home stay is sweet I love the people. The fathers name is Alfonso, his wife is Alicia and their daughter is Karlana. The dad speaks English but the mom speaks only english. Alfonso is hilarious and speaks in Spanish with me all the time. Their house is really nice and we have a nice shower and even some hot water. We had pancakes the first morning and eggs and ham this morning. El Salvador is really really hot. I never thought there could be any place in the world hotter than Campur. We painted the church in El Salvador yesterday and finished the rest of it today. We are pretty much all covered in paint and sweat by the end of it all. We are leaving El Salvador tomorrow and traveling to Jutiapa. I am very sad to leave these people but I’m excited to see what is lying ahead for us in Jutiapa. I hope all is well with you guys back at home and I miss you like crazy. Mac Mac, I’m not mad you took my car I’m glad you got yours fixed every time I drive behind you I think your muffler is going to fall off. I’m glad you like my car I miss it!! OT I hope you are having fun in PI and can’t wait to hear from you. Hope all is well with you and your mom!

With Love,
Taylor

Hola from Metapan, El Salvador- Alyssa, Dana, Steve, Donna, and Jamie-
Thanks for writing Alyssa- that definitely made my day  I’ll show you pictures when I get home! So just a little update about what has been going on in these 6 days out of the country. Well we left Campur a couple days ago- and like I already said crossed the border to El Salvador to a town a lot nicer than Campur called Metapan. Me, Taylor, Liz, and Brittney are all together in our home stay. The father name is Alfonso, his wife’s name is Alicia and they have a young daughter living with them named Karlana. Their house is very nice- and such a luxury compared to Campur. The house is half inside and out, really hard to describe but something I’ve never seen before. It is really really hot and sunny here- but the fan in our room is real real nice. Our service projects here in the Metapan’s church consists of a lot of scraping of old paint and putting on new paint. It is a huge church and I swear we’ve painted almost half of it. I want to know how life back in Minnesota is going- so hopefully I will hear from someone soon 

Love Ya! Nicole Crum

Hey Family!!!

I hope your week has been going well. It has been amazing here. We’ve performed in Campur and Metapan now. Today we went over the most horrendous bridge that you could imagine…it was a good thing that you didn’t see it. It looked like something out of Indiana Jones. We had to walk across it because no cars can go over it into this village/town. I’m staying with a family here and their house is really nice. It’s been wonderful to sleep in a real bed and have a real shower! Anyway my time here has been wonderful, and I can’t wait for this next week. I love you guys and miss you… hope all is well!

Love Linz

Hey Everyone!
We are in Metapan, El Salvador right now and we are leaving tomorrow. Gotta love how I always write the day before we leave but it is usually the day with the most down time. We have been painting the “host church” here both days and it has been very tiring but not too bad. We are traveling to Jutiapa which is in Guatemala again and nobody knows what to expect at all which is ok I guess since no one knew about here and it has turned out pretty good. We had our first home stay here. Im with Kelli, Lindsey, Sarah T, and Kate. We are living in a pretty nice house, and stay there at night and eat breakfast with them in the morning We haven’t gotten to know them very well yet but they seem very nice and the grandma does our laundry everyday. My got chocolate milk shirt is whiter than when I left. Love it! We do home stays in Jutiapa too, but the girls may not since the boys didn’t end up getting to here since there weren’t enough host families so we will see. Not too much drama, just the expected so that’s good. Im so glad you all have been writing me I only got to check the blog responses yesterday so it was a good pick me up since I have been really missing home. I cant wait to get back. Please make sure you update me on life back at home so I still feel connected. One week left tomorrow… weird. Yes well not to much else its pretty much the usual. Miss you all. Thank you for the blogs. Love you all so much.
Love always,
Hannah xoxoxox

Hola Mom, Dad, Sophie, Sweeney, and Angel

I miss you guys so much and can not wait to see you again. I am having a great time today the children’s team went to a church, we were there for four hours and we played with the kids in the park, then put on our performance, and I made about a million balloon animals for the kids. This afternoon I am going to give my faith story at our next location. Adam is doing well. Got to Go.

Love You,
Taylor

Metapan comments

2008-06-14T10:36:00.000-05:00

Hey Parents, Friends and supporters-

Here are some comments from yesterday and today. I will post pictures later today once I get some more from the kids. Its hard to believe that today is the last day of ministry in El Salvador. It has been a quick trip. The teams were busy yesterday- although the night bball and mime was cancelled last night. We had our own team worship before sending the kids off to home stays. Tonight we have a mime presentation in the park at 7 and then the kids are off to homestays. We plan to meet at 7 tomorrow morning to take off back to Guatemala.

I know many of you are worried about your kids being sick…however, we don’t like to list it in the blog because it would just make the parents of those sick worry more. So please know that we are taking good care of all the kids and those that are sick are on their antibiotics and on the mend. If your student was in really bad shape- we would give you a call. The kids are not experiencing any sickness that is out of the ordinary.

Also we are still letting kids blog but not giving as much time because we don’t want them tied to the computer every free minute- so if your student didn’t blog its probably because they were busy having fun.

To all the father’s with kids (or staff) on the trip we wish you a wonderful Father’s Day.

Since tomorrow is a travel day there may be limited opportunity to blog. I’ll try to get one more post on today with pictures.

Dear Family & Friends:

The time spent in Campur was wonderful. Campur is a very remote area that is an 8-hour bus ride from the capital, Guatemala City. The scenery there was fantastic and the people were very welcoming and grateful to host our group. They made great sacrifices for us during our stay there and I will not ever forget it. We have now moved on to Metapan, El Salvador where the basketball team is facing better competition. The team is coming together nicely with the assistance of two players from El Salvador, one of whom also serves as our interpreter. So far, this old man is playing more than he would like and I keep deluding myself into thinking that I am in great shape!

Bob Moberg

Hi Everyone,
It’s great to be back in Metapan. Last night I was given the opportunity to give a short message for the group and also the rest of the church that where there for the service. Basketball is going well the only thing that is getting bad is the smell of the jerseys.

Franske

Hi Mom, Dad and Gina,
It is absolutely beautiful here!!! You would love it so much. Sorry for taking so long to write something. I am so happy that I’m on children’s team! It is so much more fun than any other because we just play with kids all day long and do our performance! I will write more later but I am doing well and haven’t gotten sick or anything. I love you all.
p.s. my Spanish is improving a lot!!
(Hi David Juel!!)
Jessica Abrego

Hola Mama, Papa, Haley, family and friends,
Sorry I haven’t written in a while. Ashley- thank you so much for writing to me! I really hope you have fun on your trip with your mom! Mom and Dad- I will write more later, I’m not allowed many lines but I’d like you to know the trip is going really well and I haven’t gotten diarrhea yet!!! I love you all!
Sarah Wasley
p.s. David it is so nice to hear from you!!! I hope you’re doing well and I’m excited to see you when we get back. We miss you!

Hey Mom, Dad, Robbie, and Friends!

Today we had our third service day, but the first one in Metapan. It is so much fun! I got to help out with and watch two surgeries—so cool! We had our first of three nights in one of our home-stays last night. The family is big and the house is really nice. The couple is very old and they’re fun to watch. Breakfast there this morning was good, although I don’t really know what it was…oh well. Thanks for your posts on the blog, they’re fun to see! Love you!

Kelli Muehlbauer

p.s. David I’m so glad you’re feeling better. We miss you!!!

Hey everyone!
We arrived in Metapan yesterday and it’s very beautiful! I know you’d love it! The Children’s Team is so much fun! I’ve taken so many pictures of kids…I can’t wait to show you! I am staying with a family for three nights, and they are really nice! The dad makes fun of me because I don’t know much Spanish…keep posting blogs! I’ll write again soon! Love you lots!
Liz Rendahl

p.s. David, I’m excited to hear that everything is going well! I can’t wait to see you when I get back!!!!!

Hey Mom Dad Ryan and Luke,
Today was our first day in Metapan. Its gorgeous here and I love playing with all the kids. I stayed in my first night at my home stay. The family is really nice and the house is great. Good to know everything is going good. Captains??? I cant wait to see you all. Love you!
Sarah Tapani

Hey Christina, Deb, Jessica and Michaela,

Had a great day of ministry today at four different schools. Great responses. We are going to the central park tonight for an evening presentation. It’s storming out right now, so the park may not happen. We’ll see.

I miss you all and thinking about you every day. I’m praying for you and hope you are having a great time with mom. It is very hot here….soaking, wet kind of hot, but it is all worth it in the Lord’s economy. Thanks for letting me come. As always, I look forward to wrapping my arms around you again when i return home.

All my love,

Dad

Dad here is what we have done in the past seven days. Got to Campur and worked on a house- we put up bricks and made cement. We worked along side the family that would be living in it. Now we are further into EL Salvador. Having a good time. We worked on painting the church yesterday and more of the same today. Tomorrow we go back to Guatemala. I’m safe and healthy. bye. derick tolentino

Hi Mom and Dad!
I know I haven’t blogged in a long time. We are having fun! We have done three medical clinics, and seen some pretty interesting things. We even saw a couple surgeries. I haven’t felt the best the past couple of days, but I am doing a bit better. We are doing are home stays and I really like my family and they have a great house. I really miss you but I will see you soon. Dad I hope you have a great Father’s Day. I love you all so much! I will see you soon!
Love,
Anna Rask

Hello family and friends!
I have been too busy the last couple of days to blog… sorry! Thursday was our longest travel day, but I was riding in the little van that had air conditioning  It was also great to relax and chat with friends. Yesterday we set up another clinic and saw 113 people. We had to shut down early because there was a wake in the building we were using. Because we were back by about three, we went to with the basketball, mime, and children’s team to watch them perform and play at a local school. It was so much fun! I am in a home stay with two other girls… one of whom is fluent in Spanish… handy! Our family is so nice and generous. I am really having a great time and am still feeling great. I love you lots!
Kelly Anderson

Post...2 days old

2008-06-13T16:49:00.004-05:00

Here are some posts a few days old. Kids will blog some tonight and will put up tomorow. Also pictures from today and one from Medical in Campur and of some silly girls that showered in the rain in Campur (they were following a certain leader :) )

June 11 posts after breakfast

Today the basketball and mime team stopped at two cities. We played basketball and watched the mimes at the first school. We had the most competition at the fist school. There was also a rainstorm. We showered outside, with clothes on, obviously. This morning, Ryan and I went out for a six mile run. We ran up one of the mountains and to another with a cave engraved into the side of it. We were escorted by two locals, Josh and Kike. Ryan is a tank. He is fun to run with because it is a challenge for me. I haven’t played basketball as well as I’ve wanted to, but there is room for improvement. So far, I think we are 3-0. But the competition is yet to come. I love you mom and pa!
CJ

Hey Mom and Dad
We had a great day today! We got to take a shower out in the rain today! It was fun! Hope that you r doing well! We almost finished the house in the rain. The kids are so cute. Let mike know about this please!
Ashley Weis

Dad, Blanca, and Peanut!
You may not have read my other blog but I wanted to write again today and tell you everything that’s been going on. Weve been in campur for 3 days now and leave in the morning for an over 8 hour travel to metapan. So I cant wait!......ehhh. but weve been working on building a house and we finally almost finished today until we got a huge down pour on us and had to stop. But it was almost done. The kids there were soo cute hand would not let us work because they wanted us to play soccer with them. But we had to run back to our house because of the rain. So we decided to save rain water and shower outside! It was a blast! Haha so that’s basically been my agenda. Hopefully I hear from you soon! Ill prolly check the blog tomorrow when we arrive at metapan if we get the chance.
Love you all!
-Sarah Bivans

hey dad , mom, nash ,Baylor, and tate,
Well…I’m alive and well. Today and yesterday we laid cinderblocks and mixed concrete for a small house, and we chilled… not quite sure what else to say. Hope all is well, and I’ll see you all soon
Love,
Cole

Dear Mom, Dad, Sophie, Angel, Sweeney,

I had a great day, we visited three schools (with not hikes) and it was really fun to ply with the children they love to just have fun and play with us. Adam does want to blog so I will blog for him. He is continually putting on sunscreen and did a good job with his testimony yesterday. Kevin Franske says both of his ankles are ok and there have been no problems with them. I am excited because tomorrow we are going to Metapan. While today was really fun, the most memorable moment was when it started to rain and we all just decided to get our shampoo and shower in the rain. There are people waiting to blog so I have to go. Please blog back, I would love to hear about what is going on back home.

Love You and Miss You,

Taylor and Adam

Hola Amigos!

Hey everyone! Our team has had having an amazing trip so far. We have been Ballin at some sick spots! You guys wouldn’t even believe it. God has really been working in all of us. We will be leaving Campur tomorrow morning and heading to El Salvador, which is going to be a crazy drive. I can’t wait to tell all of you about everything. Ask Tessa and Trevor what color poncho’s they want, cause I forgot :P Hope you all are doing well, I miss you all very much!! Hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Travis

Hey everyone,
I’m sitting here for dinner—which nobody knows how long it could take. Today was pretty spectacular. We had our second medical clinic and it went well. I learned which medications do which things, I feel so informed. For lunch I ate two bowls of amazing soup and then worked at prayer and teaching for roughly 4 hours..which is crazy trying to translate to a third language. Then kike came and accused me of not doing any good translating, how misinformed (he’s sitting next to me ahora). Anyways, that’s all, and now I’m out. Adios.
Love, Elizabeth

Guten Tag Fasha, Mutti, Broseph, Magnet, and Mak
This has been a great couple of days. The kids here (we are in Campur and serving the locals) are very fun to play with. It is a GREAT workout. David, I read your card and I rotflol’ed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But John did not protect me from the little girls. Today, two girls touched my butt and ran off! FRESH!!!!!!!!!!!!! How is the family? No David, I did not buy your machete yet so STOP WHINING!!!!!!!!!!!I have no clue what anyone here is saying; it’s all in some foreign language like Chinese or something. Today I gave my testimony and it kicked butt! I’m wining ‘em over to Jesus gangster style. We have had lots of laughs and it has been really fun. Blog back! Hope all is well.
Love ya’ll lots,
Samuel George Knutson

Buenos Dias Mi familla!!
Hahahah look at me speaking Spanish! I’m actually picking up quite a bit, I can read it (not necessarily know what I’m saying) and give people their prescriptions (uno pastille par dia…) The clinic has been quite the experience, we’ve seen some really cool surgeries- today Dr. Husband repaired a tendon in a woman’s hand. It’s a little disheartening though, because there is so much that still needs to be done for these people that we have the technology for in existence, but that we physically can’t do because we don’t have the resources. And even though we are helping them, it’s all short-term. To fix many of the things we see--- like worms, would require a comprehensive change in the way they teach health care- something we are also unable to do in our short time here. On a brighter note, we are able to provide respite from their ailments, as well as plant the seeds for a more healthy life in the children we see. We also play with the children that come into the clinic- which is such a delightful experience. I am amazed by the kids here. We had little 11 and 12 year olds translating for us from ketchi to Spanish and they literally worked all day without complaint. It definitely painted the picture of what a servant’s heart should look like to us. Tomorrow we head out for metapan, across the El Salvadorian Border. Au revoir et je t’aime!!!
Adrienne

Julie,
Happy Birthday! I miss you so much, but monkey is keeping good care of me.  I love you!!
Jim

Hi everyone!
Today was an awesome day. Since the clinic was already set up from the night before, we were able to get started seeing patients right away. Mostly the same stuff that we saw before. Today there were three surgeries: one to clean up an infected toe, another to remove a cyst, and another to sew up a torn tendon. I got to sit in on the one where he fixed the tendon. It was absolutely amazing! Don’t worry, I got a video of it.  Today I was assigned as a “floater,” which basically means that I wander between stations to see where help is needed, and also help with the flow of traffic and entertaining the children. One highlight of the day (beside the surgery) was when I took out the coloring supplies. I had meant to just give them to the children who were pretty bored, but everyone else got into it. I ended up passing out coloring papers and crayons to mothers and a grandpa! It was so cute; they were so excited to be entertained and they were really getting into their pictures! I took a lot of photos of them… so cute! Now I am going to eat dinner, clean up for the night, and get ready for the next day. Tomorrow we have a very long bus ride to Metapan and then the next day we will set up clinic again. I am so excited to see El Salvador, but really sad to leave Campur and all of the people we have met here. I am still perfectly healthy and having a blast. I love you much!
Kelly Anderson

Hey Mom, Marty, Dad, Julia, Mackenzie, and The OT,

We had another hard and hot day at work in Campur. We almost completely finished the entire house today. It was blazing hot in the morning and in the afternoon there was a huge rain storm. We all decided to take showers in the rain it was a blast. While we were working on the house we played soccer with some local boys who wouldn’t leave us alone. Every time we took a water break they were there waiting for us to play with them. It was a blast! Tomorrow we are traveling to Metepan El Salvador, it will be a long drive. I’m planning on sleeping the whole bus ride, I am absolutely pooped! OT I do remember you telling me about that fair I think it’s the one with the cheese right? I am glad you get to go I hope you have so much fun. You better win me something good!! I am sorry to hear about your mom. Tell her I say hi back and I hope she gets better soon. Also tell her I will be praying for her! Tell Logan I say hi too between the two of you I should win something good!! I am sad that I won’t be getting to hear from you for a couple of days I really enjoy hearing from you. I hope everything goes well and I will hear from you soon!

I love and miss you all!

Love, Taylor

Hola a todos, especialmente mi Padre y mi hermana!
Los dos dias pasadas de servicio fue buenos. En la primera dia, manejamos por dos horas a Cobán para presentamos nuestro mimo para un grupo de estudiantes durante un juego de basketbol en un otro luego. Despues, manejamos por dos más horas a Lanking. Luego, intendimos a presenter, pero nuestra sistema de sound no funcionar y no tuvimos la musica. Por eso, no presentamos nuestro mimo. Ahora, la sistema no funciona, y vamos a fixar en Metapan. Por todo del dia hoy (11 de June), presentamos con un sistema más pequeno. Hoy, tambien manejamos mucho a Cobán y el luego iqual en Lanking. Cuando estuvimos en Lanking, hay lluvia y no puedamos presentar todo de la presentación, pero William presentamos Christo a todo de las personas que estuvieron aqui. Todos de los dias, mucha gente acceptamos a Christo! Tuve un buen tiempo.
Matt Crane

Metapan El Salvador

2008-06-13T11:10:00.002-05:00

Greetings

We made it to Metapan. Yesterday we left Campur at 7:55 am (5 minutes before our scheduled time) - this was a major accomplishement.

We had about 6 hours of a bus ride and got to stop for lunch at a mall. Then a 1 hour bus ride to the border- it only took us one hour at the border so it went very smooth. Then a short 30 minute ride into Metapan. We were welcomed at the church by many families and had a great dinner of cheese and bean papusas (imagine a very flat quesidilla) They are a local dish. We had a church service where the mime and childrens team presented. The mime team was able to do Forgiven by His Love and a few of the other sketches theyve been working on. Nicole Crum and Sammi Husband gave their faith storys (both did great) Kevin Franske gave a short message.

Then we got the students ready for home stays. All of the females are in home stays and all of the boys are on mattresses at the church. The boys are a little disapointed they didnt get home stays but are having a fun time being all together.

The students left for ministry at 8:30 this am. The medical team is on the outskirts of the city until 3. The service team is working on replacing filters and painting at the church. The basketball team has 2-3 games today and a very competitive one tomorrow night around 7 (all teams will get to watch this). Childrens has 3-4 schools and the Mimes have 3-4 performances- the last of which is tonight in the park.

All kids are doing well. We have a few kids (and leaders) that have started to get sick but the doctor is instructing them on what is ideal to take. Please continue to pray for general health of the team.

I got to the internet cafe today about an hour ago and the connection is very slow. I hope to come back this afternoon to get comments from parents and upload a few more pictures and comments. We have had very little luck with the phone hotline this year and the church phone system just changed- its probably best to just continue to check the blog.

Thank you parents and supporters for all your continued prayer and comments. They are very uplifting to the kids.

Sarah Bancroft

Pictures

2008-06-11T11:08:00.008-05:00

Detail of pictures- in reverse order.
Picture of half of the service team working on a house (picture was taken about 10 minutes ago and I can see them hard at work outside the window from the internet place)

Basketball and mime at their second stop yesterday in Lanquin- about an hour long bumpy bus ride from campur- next to the 2nd oldest church in Guatemala.

Medical clinic before opening yesterday and then a picture of it today just after it opened and letting the line of people in the door.

Children's team playing with the prachute and kids.
(More pictures of them to come at next post)

Chelsey and Jon enjoying the local kids and me in downtown Campur on my morning walk! (the bricks in the background are the ones the service team are working on)

Campur- Day 2

2008-06-11T11:00:00.004-05:00

Parents- Kids are loving the comments- To leave a comment click on the comments button at the bottom and add a comment and select anonymous...All kids are doing well. Today is our final day of ministry in Campur- tomorrow will be a travel day to Metapan, El Salvador. The comments below are from Tuesday and a few from this morning...pictures to follow. Its harder to update on travel days so the next posting may not be until we have arrived in Metapan or the first ministry day there.

Hey Mom, Marty, Dad, Julia, Mackenzie, & The OT,

I am pooped! We built a house today. They had already done one wall when we got there and we built almost all of the other three. We mixed cement and hauled the cinder blocks to the walls. I am very dirty I have cement and dirt in my hair. I have a wicked tan line now, from my work gloves and t-shirt. I’m a little sun burned but no big deal. While working on the house I saw Eva and she remembered me we talked for a while, but I was busy working. I am pretty sore and really tired, I’m sure I’ll sleep well tonight. We had some good beef stew for lunch and I ate it all. OT I took pictures because I know you would never believe me. I think you and my mom will be very proud of me. I also found Spencer (My Pig) today. I was so excited! He grew a lot but he is still not big enough to eat. I have huge knots in my back, good thing I brought Icy Hot. I slept well last night the dogs didn’t bother me at all. I hope all is well at home how is the construction coming?? OT I’m glad you checked your e-mail! I can’t wait to come home and see you all. Can’t wait to hear from you next!! I love you all!!

Love, Taylor

Hi Mommy and David,

It’s our second day in Campur, and our first day of service. We set up our clinic in the church, and began our day of work. The first night we stayed in Guatemala City at a nice hotel, and I met Carmina and Carmi and gave them their gifts from the Stringini’s. They were extremely nice and welcoming, and asked us to come to Carmi’s fifteenth birthday party. The next day (yesterday) we drove to Campur, which was about an 8 hour drive. We drove way up into the mountains and were above the clouds, it was really beautiful. When we got to Campur all the little kids from the village came into the compound and welcomed us, it was really sweet and they were all really cute. We ate dinner, which I liked, and then had a three hour church service. The sleeping arrangements aren’t actually that bad- Mom you really wouldn’t like it but it is alright. I wore earplugs and had a good night’s sleep. Dad will have to use some earplugs tonight, he is sleeping on the floor of an orphanage with all the guys. Today in the clinic was really tiring and really amazing. It was sometimes frustrating because we had to translate from Queche to Spanish to English and vice-versa, so it was slow. The people here are in so much need, they just don’t have basic health education. Hope everything is going well and that Stephen and Claire are being good babysitters. Say hi to them if you see them. Dad and I are both doing well and having a good time, but we miss you! Love you,
Sammi

Daddy, Danielle, Mommy, Josh, Grandpa, Nikki, and Taylor,

I miss you all terribly. Today was a busy day. The children’s team went to two different schools, each on top of a mountain!! We literally went on 45 minute hikes up slippery slopes with mud and rocks everywhere. The schools were interesting. The first school was pretty nice and most of the kids spoke Spanish. They liked getting their picture taken and loved the bubbles. The second school was a little bit different. They only spoke Queche, so we just kind of smiled and waved. The first day I flew in I discovered they don’t use pesos in Guatemala (Taylor denies telling me they do) so I am without money and you guys might not be getting souvenirs. Daddy, I read your card today. It was really cute. Danielle and Josh, Sarah keeps telling me stories about you guys when you were here. Nikki, all I can think about is stoffers macaroni and cheese and how I was to speed over to your house as soon as I get home. And last but not least, Taylor, I started writing one of your “daily” letters yesterday… but I don’t think those letters are going to be daily. I love you all and I miss you all!!

Love,
Nicole Iskierka

Hola Mom, Dad, and Jilly!

I am having a great time here in Guatemala. My group got in late Sunday evening and met the rest of the team at a nice hotel in Guatemala City. We traveled all day yesterday and arrived in Campur in the evening. I am surprised to say that I have enjoyed all the food we have been given. Today we started working in the medical clinic. I started off teaching people about hygiene and praying with them, then I worked in the pharmacy. The only difficulty was the language. They speak Queche and not Spanish and we were low on translators, but it worked out. I have been using my Spanish and have made some very cute friends. This morning I woke up and saw the biggest spider I have ever seen. After some time Sarah B finally killed it. I am so excited to see what other adventures I will have the rest of the trip. Keep praying for good health (I am feeling good right now). I love you and miss you all, especially Heidi!!

Love,
Stephanie

P.S. KELSEY ESSIG is alive and safe!! She will blog soon!

Dear Mom, Dad, Sophie, Angel, Sweeney

I miss you guys, but I am having a great time. Today we climbed two mountains; we were greeted with warm welcomes. I only fell a couple of times, and luckily on the first mountain I was able to stop the people from wanting to carry me down. The food is fine and I have been sleeping well. It is so cool to be experiencing a new culture. Adam is also doing well (just in case he does not blog.) The only problem in Campur is communication, because the speak Queche, not Spanish. It is almost dinner time and other people need to blog so Adios for now!
(from Sarah Bancroft- Adam volunteered to be the first BBall boy to give his testimony – he did a great job and played a good game)

Taylor Van Clay

Hi Mom, Dad, and Friends,
The trip out to Campur was about what I expected…a lot of sleeping. Today was our first ministry day in Campur and I have never been so happy to take a shower in my life! Our team split up into two; half staying near the church and half driving twenty minutes away. I was in the group that had the drive. When we got to our destination we found a large pile of cinder blocks waiting to be hauled up a hill. The blocks were really heavy and I think there were close to 250. It was gross and sweaty. After we hauled all the cinder blocks we began to help build the house with some of the family members who would be living in the house. It was a long day and I’m sure that I will sleep very well tonight! I’ll blog later….maybe.
Xoxo,
Christina

Hey Mom, Dad, Travis, and Mike,
I am doing great! We had a hard day of work and got some sun but it was still fun! We are now in Campur. I have been able to take 2 showers and its so amazing! Tomorrow is going to be fun! I am wiped out! Well I am really missing all of you but I will be home soon! Love you all! TTYL
Ashley Weis

Hello my family!
I am doing fabulous! Today I carried about 5 million blocks up a hill… It was great… I haven’t gotten too sick yet which is a total surprise! There is a long line of people waiting for the computer so I am going to keep it short! I love you and miss you and I will try to blog again soon!
Kelsey Essig
P.S. thanks mom for all of the hidden notes

Hola from deep in the jungle of Campur!
So I have no idea who will read this (my parents are in Spain) But yeah im in medical team and today we had our first clinic. We saw a total of 113 people. It was intense at times and really slow at other times. There was some sweet stuff we saw today. Everything from diagnosing pregnancies to surgeries for removing imbedded glass that skin had healed over. It was an exhausting but rewarding day. Im sure many more stories will follow these, but for now I better let other people write.
Erica

Hola momasita and papa crum!
So I want to make sure I write a blog to let ya know that I’m still alive. These past couple of days in Guatemala definitely giving me a reality check. We are helping a family build their one room home, where the floor is just dirt, and the windows and doors are just open. They are very grateful though, and love offering us bananas and pina (or pineapple). Most of the people speak little Spanish and mostly Queche? ( I think that’s how you spell it) but my 3 years in Spanish is definitely showing here, or lack there of. You would be very proud of me, how rustic I am living. I was fortune enough to take a shower off all the cement and dirt off me from the little drizzle that comes out of the shower head. My meals so far have consisted of a lot of corn tortillas which is only good with a lot and lot of peanut butter! The people here are very friendly and call us all “gringos” when we walk by. Anyways I’ll talk to you when I get home. Love you all. Say hi to grandma for me, and tell her I miss her!
Love,
Nicole Crum

Hello Family!!
So far the trip has been great. A lot of bumpy driving and eating and sleeping. Today was our first ministry day and we hiked up 2 huge muddy mountains to get to the local school. The view was absolutely amazing.. MN seems very boring now. The schools were very small but full of very happy children. They were a ton of fun. They loved bubbles and cameras. We gave one of the schools some beanie babies… tell Tami J The food has been pretty good…I smell really bad…The weather is nice and not too hot. Well I love you!!! We should totally move here….jk. bLOG ME!! Love Lucie

Hey Mom Dad Ryan and Luke,
This trip has been amazing so far. We are in Campur right now and today we went to 2 different schools and had to walk up 2 big mountains to get there. The kids are adorable and loved bubbles and cameras. Hope everything is going good at home!
Love Sarah Tapani

Hey Dad, blanca, and Daniel boy :]
So I didn’t think id write on this blog so soon because its only been 3 days. But let me say oh boy do I miss home! Its so different here and I feel extremely out of place. We are currently in the village of campur and we’re here for 2 more days and we then travel to metapan. But staying here for even 3 days is so different and makes you realize how good we have it. I cant wait till home. The food here is alright….alot like when grandpa cooks so its nothing new to me. I definitely didn’t pack enough clothes because im already running out! But im having fun I guess and cant wait for the rest and relaxation days at the end! Haha showers feel great…but not nearly as good as home. I cant take a half hour! Oh well…I like the trip so far and hopefully I hear from you soon because you can write back! Please do. Haha theres only 12 more days! See you soon1
Love you all!!
Sarah Bivans

Mom, Dad, & Pookie-
Hey! hope all is well. Well this trip has been different already… We traveled to Guatemala city and stayed there in a hotel the first night which was good, then we came to campur yesterday. Its definitely different from home. We are all stayed in one room houses? And its starting to get cramped. Our first ministry day was today and we hauled cinder blocks up a hill and helped cement a new house . it was tiring but the view was amazing. Well other people have to go on . just wanted to let you know im fine. Ill blog again when more goes on! Love you.
Xoxoxo Hannah James.

Hey Everyone!
Yesterday was just a travel day; 6 hours on the chicken bus. Yay! It was actually really nice to get a chance to journal, reflect, chat with friends, and most importantly, take in the beautiful scenery! The whole time we were on roads winding up the mountains… absolutely breathtaking views. I have plenty of pictures J. Today was our first ministry day. We set up the clinic and immediately people started lining up. We didn’t see anything too serious; mostly diarrhea, worms, heartburn, stomach ache, back pains etc. There were a couple “surgeries” today. One guy had a piece of glass stuck in his back and the skin had grown over it, so the doctor had to cut it open to remove it. Unfortunately I wasn’t there, but there are pictures. Another guy had an abscess on his face that the doctor drained. But that was pretty much the extent of it. It was pretty difficult because every speaks Kechi, so we needed double translations. Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of translators, so we often had to make due with one from Kechi to Spanish. It was hard, but lots of fun! Tomorrow is another ministry day, and then the next day is a travel day to Metapan. I am still completely healthy and having a blast. I love you lots!
Kelly Anderson
PS- everyone here spells my name “Cali” Cute, huh?

Mom & Dad, SLAC, Nate, Claire friends and parents-
I’m having a blast. This group is awesome.
I went with the bball team today and had a blast. Adam and CJ gave their faithstories and did a great job. The bball team played in the most gorgeous mountain with a 1500 year old church. I hope to have those pictures posted tomorrow. The mimos did great too and were able to perform in a school and had a very positive response. Mom & Dad- sorry to hear about the water damage- I like your idea on the OB sign. SLAC- I love you- thanks for the prayers and I’m having a good good time. Fuji ichiban. Claire- can’t wait to see you when you are bback in MN…possibly at the airport. Nate glad we are still undefeated…Texas was not the same without you. I thought about running through the airport for fun…but decided that was a one time thing. I went for a run this am with a few kids and the Dr…and it didn’t take long for me to have to stop because theres a bit of an altitutude difference. I hope you are using my snap card and found the F day gift I left.
Parents- Your kids are doing great. They are so excited and eager to serve.

Hola everyone—
Life is crazy as usual down here in Guatemala. It’s so weird to be back here after a years absence. It’s still just as gorgeous as I remember, and the drive to Campur (ok, the ½ hour of the drive that I was not out cold) was spectacular. There was a fog/clouds that covered most of the mountains as we drove through them. Today our first medical clinic was a success I would say. I still can’t decide if I miss doing the mime, but the medical stuff is pretty exciting and the scrubs are not hot like the mime pants, plus no weird tan lines this year Cate. Anyways, I miss everyone back home but I get more sleep down here you’ll all be glad to know, and I’m a lot less stressed out. I’m excited for the medical clinic tomorrow since we’re getting an idea of the process. The translating is slow, but at least I don’t need an English to Spanish, I communicate directly with the 11 year old Kechi/Spanish kids. Well, I don’t actually have anything to say so I’ll leave this post, but I hope everything is well in the US. Kelly I don’t know if you’ll read this (and I’m afraid I won’t remember on the right day) so happy birthday!!!! I love you, and it’s weird not celebrating with you for the first year in forever. love you all! ~Elizabeth

Friends and Family~
This trip so far is so much fun! It’s really different from back home though. We got to Campur yesterday and it is definitely a change from Edina. It’s a small village in the rainforest and there is no running water. The people here are very friendly. They greeted us with a warm welcome and they make us lots of food. The kids here are also really cute. They asked to play “Tag” with us as soon as we got off the buses. We haven’t had our first medical clinic yet, but we start today. I’m really excited but nervous at the same time to see how all our hard work plays out. So far no one has gotten sick which is really good. We had an eight hour drive yesterday but everyone felt great! Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. It means so much to all of us!
~Kelli

Heyy Everyone,
Today is our first day of service here in Campur, as you may have gathered from some of the other comments. I’m a little bit apprehensive about doing the clinic today, primarily because we really have no idea what kind of chaos we are going to encounter, nor does my Spanish inspire much confidence (hahahah hopefully I’ll pick it up pretty quickly… it shares the same roots as French). The little kids here remind me of Elle, I had a blast playing with them yesterday. Yesterday was a pretty chill day, and I took advantage of the opportunity to do some self-reflection. Andi, if you happen to be reading this, dit “Bonjour” a M. Halloran when you see him in a few days. Ciao for now!!
XOXOX Adrienne

Dad, Mom, and Scooter,
Hello! Hello! So sorry I didn’t blog sooner, but I was busy trying to get situated. The first day we just flew in and stayed in a hotel in Guatemala City. We couldn’t go outside the hotel though so we just hung out inside and ate dinner and went to bed. Then the next day we took a seven hour bus ride to Campur. Today we did are first day of service work. We carried a whole bunch of cement bricks up a hill and cemented them in it was good. Well know we are going to do some worshiping, so I will talk to you guys later. I love you lots.
Love, Brittany

Bonnie- Tessie says hi and she is doing great.

Mom, Dad, Kyle, and Friends,
This trip is going really well so far! It has been really interesting to see all the Guatemalans and attempt to talk with them and understand them. We stayed at a hotel in Guatemala City which was pretty nice and now we are staying in an unfinished orphanage in Campur. The people of Campur are very friendly, especially the kids, who love to play with us and talk to us. Yesterday was our first day of the medical clinic, which also went very well. We saw 113 patients and I worked at intake first and then at the pharmacy. I think I have used more Spanish in these few days than I have ever used in my life! CJ and I ran for an hour this morning through the mountains with two of our translators, Kike and Josh (we left them behind, they were a little out of shape). The view was beautiful and it felt great. I am really excited for the clinic today! God has done some amazing things in the clinic, including 2 surgeries. I miss everyone and am exited to tell stories!
Love, Ryan Anderson

Hola mi familia,
Estoy en Campur, Guatemala. Ayer hicimos una clinica medica en la iglesia. Vimos a 112 pacientes y tuvimos dos cirugias. Vi una de las cirugias cuando quitamos un tumor de la cara de un hombre. Tambien, jugue con los chiquitos de la ciudad. Claire, conoci a tu amigo Jorge. El es muy lindo. Espero que ustedes esten bien. Los amo, Courtney Christenson

Campur Day 1

2008-06-10T13:51:00.005-05:00

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

As many of you know' one of our students- David Juel was not able to make it on the trip due to a serious car accident in April. He is in our thoughts and prayers. The medical team has made a David on a stick so we can still have him included. Enjoy the pictures and pray for David´s recovery.

We have made it to Campur. Last night we got here and had groups of kids welcoming us. We had dinner of chicken, papas fritas and pineapple. We had church service and went to bed by 10 pm.

Hello Family-
We are here in Campur and it is great. Things have changed since the last time I was here but it still feels like I am back in a familiar place. I have seen children I remember from 3 years ago. I am excited to get started on our first ministry day. The students are eager to get started too. As a write this, I hear the girls screaming from the dorm – Sal, the salamander who lives in our sink must be running around. “Scream, bang bang, scream…laughing”. This is why this place is so great. New experiences huh? I guarantee you Sal’s more scared than they are!
I miss you all and hope all is well back home. Thank you for your prayers!
Lori Ask

Hi Mom, Dad, and Dani-
Today is our first full day in Campur. We are doing our first service day today. We are going to be eating breakfast soon and then we are going to set up our medical clinic. I am excited to see how the medical clinic goes today and see what God does through our service today. I am having a great time here meeting the people of Guatemala. It is awesome! I will see you when I get home- and Charlie too!
-Derek Brooks

Hello Family!
I am having a great time. We got to Campur yesterday about 4. We left at about 8 am so it was a pretty long ride. The chicken bus we rode was almost wider than the road in some areas. When we got here, Sarah B. gave us a tour of the town. It was cool to see all of the children that came to follow us while we went on our walk. We got back and talked with their children for about two hours. It was great to actually use the Spanish I learned for a good use. Then we ate dinner and it was awesome. The chicken was great and the pineapple was juicy. We slept in an unbuilt orphanage last night with 2 inch mattresses with holes in them. It actually wasn’t that bad. Right now we are about to eat breakfast then head off to our separate teams to work. Our childrens team is going to 4 schools today so that should be fun. I miss you all and see you soon!
John Cramer

Hola Papa, Moma, y hermana (Lauren),
The trip is going great. I have had so much fun traveling and riding the chicken bus. We arrived in Campur last night and immediately started playing with the children. We played tag and kick the bottle and pass with a basketball. How fun and cute they are! I am so excited to work with the children as we share the message of Jesus and participate in various activities. This trip will change everyone and help open our eyes to the world. I can’t wait!!
-Jared Falkanger

Hey Mom, Dad, Haley and family,
The trip is going really well! Mom- I got the stuffed animal you packed for me and the candy and the book… thanks. Jess says hi. We’re having a lot of fun. Yesterday, we drove 8 hours and arrived at Campur at like 4 or something. I rode the chicken bus the whole way and didn’t get sick : ). We had a really great dinner the first night (better than ever- remember salsa goes really well with steak) and the second night wasn’t quite as good but still delicious. We hung out and played with the kids a lot last night and they laughed a lot while I fell playing tag…Today we are splitting up into our separate teams. It should be really fun. I’ll write to you soon : ) I love you all and miss you…but not enough to come home…sorry.
Sarah Wasley

Hey Mom, Dad, Jess, and family,
The trip has been amazing so far! We arrived in Guatemala City safely at about 9:30 pm on Sunday night and stayed at a hotel for the night…there was towels shaped like doves on our beds! The food is really good, I really like the plantains. Yesterday we rode on the chicken bus to Campur. At one point during our ride to Campur, we drove through clouds! It was amazing! Once we got to Campur, we played with the kids. We played tag, pato pato ganzo (duck duck grey duck), kick the can, and basketball. I was heading the ball to one of the kids then he tried to head it back to me, but instead he headed it to my crotch…it was kind of awkward but everyone laughed. The kids are so cute! It’s unfortunate that I don’t know much Spanish…I only know 4 phrases so I keep asking them the same four phrases. Oh, also I’ve had to do the puppet show! It was a little bit longer then the one I did at the send-off service. Today we’re splitting up into our teams, so that should be fun! I’ll keep you updated! I’ll write again soon! I love you guys! I’ll see you soon!
Liz Rendahl

Hey Lee Anne, Mark, Peter, and family!
I am doing good! It is really cool to see all the different things. Yesterday we walked by the house that the service team made yesterday at the bottom of a really steep hill. We also saw the building that Peter got his stitches in. I haven’t seen any bugs other than flies so that is good. We hung out with the kids and played games. They are soooo cute. I am working on my Spanish but I really wish I knew more. Hope you are doing well. I will try to write later. It still hasn’t hit me that I wont be able to talk to you guys for two weeks. Love you!!!!
Amy Anderson

Hello Mom, Marty, Dad, Julia, Mackenzie and the OT,
We finally arrived in Campur! The bus ride wasn’t bad. The little kids here remember us and some even remember our names. They are soo cute. The orphanage is finished and it is absolutely beautiful. We also visited the house we built last year it is huge. We didn’t get to talk to the family that lived there, but it was still nice. It is nice to be back here it’s just like I remember. There have been some new improvements but it is mostly just the same. I am missing all of you very much! OT tell Rona I say I miss her and all of your family too. Also OT you made my day with what you wrote! I can’t wait to hear from you again! Hope all is well with you guys at home I’m off to probably build some houses!

Love, Taylor

Hello Mom and Dad,
The flight went very well and we spent the night in Guatemala City in a very nice hotel before traveling to Campur. It was a very long drive, but the Dramamine knocked me out and I was able to catch up on sleep. The area around Campur is beautiful, and the people are very nice.

Love Taylor VC

We made it

2008-06-09T14:12:00.002-05:00

June 8, 2008

We made it!

Hey parents and family! We had an early start but have arrived in Guatemala! Our kids did an amazing job of getting through the airports and handling over 100 bags. We made it through customs and baggage in Guatemala city in record time- 20 minutes.

We are staying at the Hotel Pan American in central Guatemala City. The kids are taking advantage of the 1-2 hour down time by napping, doing their devo’s and reshuffling their belongings.

Here are a few comments from your AWESOME AND AMAZING STUDENTS!!

Adrienne-
Per the captains orders, (hahahah mom) here is our lovely update on our first six or so hours in Guacamole (thank elle for that one). I’m absolutely exhausted (six hours of sleep in two days is sooo not a good idea) but I’m so glad to be back and forming new experiences. It’s a little surreal being here without Brian, or many of my other classmates, but it’s also very enjoyable to be building new relationships with people…. I’m looking forward to going back to Campur tomorrow morning and observing how our work last year has affected the life of its denizens. I love you all and give whoever is still left in ep hugs and kisses. You’ll here back from me soon mama, I promise.  in the meantime, know that we have arrived soundly and sans stress. A bientot!!! XOXOX

I’m alive---franske

010101010101011101010101000010101000010101010111101011010110101010010100101010101010010101010100001010001010000000010001011010111010101110101010101101101010101101011110101101010101000001011101101010101010101001010101—Bill the computer says “Hello Humans”

Back on the chicken bus. No better way to see Guatemala. The trip down was without incident – most people were able to nap a bit and make up for the 3:30am start. We’re all excited for our first Guatemalan meal, and then off to bed. Tomorrow we are on the road to Campur! Cam and Colin, good luck in your soccer games. – Tim

Happy Birthday, Gretchen. – Alicia

Greeting all of you at home,

After no sleep the day before meeting at Wooddale at 3:00 am to go to the airport, I’m so tired! All I wanted to do on the plane was sleep. I did catch a few zzzz’s at the airport in Minneapolis before boarding the plane. The seat next to me on the flight to Houston seemed to be going empty. I had my mind wrapped around a little extra room to stretch out in, when suddenly a young man appeared gasping for breath and filled the seat. We didn’t talk, until he asked what this “Operation Central America thing was?” Turned out his name was Jason, working on a Ph D in Areospace engineering. He was a “Catholic boy” growing up like myself, so we had a lot in common and our conversation bridged to spiritual matters, which he admittedly said he didn’t know much about. We had a great conversation. Knowland Loo, sitting near by, entered into the conversation and also shared his faith in Christ with Jason. As we deplaned, Jason said; “I actually learned something new on this airplane ride.” We talked about the book “Surprised by Faith” which he was interested in reading along with the book of John. Tired as we may be, The Lord brings people into our path for His own purposes. As we find ourselves willing, we enter into His purposes for ourselves and others. Jason made a flight he was told he was going to miss and I know why. Pray that Jason will realize the same and begin to explore the reality of what a relationship with God through Jesus Christ means. He’s a step closer than he was before. For a scientist, that’s part of the journey- from what I hear.
Chris Erickson

Hi Mom, Marty, Dad, Julia, Mackenzie and the OT,

We arrived safely in Guatemala this afternoon. The plane ride to Huston was very rough, but we survived. It’s hotter than I remember it being, but it feels good. We are staying in the Pan America Hotel it’s pretty nice. I gave Jamie the card from you mom. I told him I was Jan’s daughter and he remembers you and tells me to say hi and thank you. He didn’t open it yet or at least not in front of me but he has it. I am extremely tired and have almost no voice at all. Hopefully since tomorrow is a travel day to Campur I’ll have time to rest my voice. I am thinking of home often, but am excited to be back here. OT I hope you remembered to check your e-mail. I hope all is well with you all at home.

Love Taylor

Hi Mom, Dad, Michelle, Tre, and Kelsey!
It’s hot here and I miss my guitar. 
Love, Jeff

Hi Mom, Dad, Joan, Tyler, and all my friends and family!!!

Today was a great day. Everything went so well; everyone made it through customs and everyone got all of their bags. Hurray! After arriving in Guatemala City, we rode a chicken bus to a Pan American Hotel. No, there were no chickens since it was just our group, but it was still painted the crazy colors, and all of our bags were piled high on top of the bus. It was a pretty comical sight. After arriving at the hotel, everyone had a couple of hours to relax. Now we are waiting for dinner… our first in Guatemala! Tomorrow we have an eight hour bus ride to Campur, and then on Tuesday we will have our first ministry day. Wish us luck!

With love,
Kelly Anderson
Hello Mom and Dad and Allison and Aaron!
We have arrived safely and all our bags. It was fun to see Guatemala City as we drove in the busses. Tomorrow we drive to Campur but it will be a long bus ride. We are waiting for our dinner right now. I am very excited for our first ministry day! I love you and miss you but I will see you soon!
Love,
Anna Rask

Hi Mom, Dad, Elissa, Sydney, Kari, and Grandma!!!
Today was a whirlwind of a day; we arrived safely in Guatemala City. We are staying at the Pan American Hotel tonight, and then we’re off to Campur tomorrow. Pray that we don’t get too sick from motion sickness…it’s about an eight hour bus ride. I love it here; the culture is amazing, and I cannot wait to actually interact with the people. I’m praying that God will give me a lot of opportunities to share his love with the people here. Please keep this request in your prayers. I love you guys and will miss you, but know that I am doing great and cannot wait to share all the stories with you guys that will unfold throughout this trip.
All my love,
Linz

Well- we told the kids they could head off to bed about 10 minutes ago (It’s about 7:30 pm) and they were excited to get some more rest for the 8 hour bus ride tomorrow. We had a great dinner at the hotel tonight and will have some breakfast tomorrow at 7 and then hit the road at 8- and head to Campur. Your kids are awesome! I’m truly amazed at how great they did today with everything from being at the church at 3:30 to trying new food to managing 100 bags through customs. They are precious!

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers! It’s a true blessing to be working with your students.
Sarah bancroft

Sorry we couldn´t post last night as it was too late to go out. We just arrived in Coban and are at a mall for lunch