July 2012 Community Development Mission trip to Guatemala

1. Las Conches | Las Conoas |Guatemala City | Antiqua

2. We hit the ground in Guatemala at
1:00pm, when we were promptly
derailed from the schedule and
redirected from touring the surgery
center to going directly to Las
Conches. Team 1 evangelism was on
fire and they wanted us to come be
a part of it. Talk about exciting!
Little did we know, they planned a
welcome party for us. When we
arrived many of our friends were
there – The Rodriguez family,
Jessica (elder), Luci, Juana
(Claudia’s mom), and a swarm of
kids calling out, “Crystal!! George!!”
My heart melted in that moment
and never stopped for the rest of
the trip. We got to work right away
evangelizing in Sector 2 near the
Minta home we built last year. The
boy in the yellow shirt is Dennis
Minta. The little girl on my back is
Claudia’s daughter whose house we
built in 2010.

3. Veronica & Jessica
We began the day with an evaluation of the progress at the
medical clinic and school in Los Canoas. We are building a
Us with the Rodriguez’-
security wall around the clinic and then stocking it with supplies
and medicines. Today is Dani’s 11th Birthday, so our next stop was
to his house to give him his presents. Eudilia (Dani’s mom)told us
that they had been counting the days since March hoping that we
would return. In March we sponsored a water filter for them. They
said is working well, and that they were happy with it. Miss Jessica
and her pal Veronica (in purple) made an appearance too – I loved
seeing her again. Jessica is a handful! Michaela lead the charge on
Michaela leads the way
delivering food baskets in Sector 3. Emma Rodriquez, single
mother of 3 whose flame had gone cold was reignited!

4. Sunday Service at Shalom
Church was a special treat – One
of our own, Pastor Luis Sura,
gave the sermon. Even tough I
didn’t understand the words, I
understood the message. At
church we were visited by Dani,
Elvis and some of their friends.
Grace, Michaela & Margaret Ann Afterwards we changed clothes
and went out to Las Conches to
pray from the Mountain Top and
Grace Roberts
spend some time with our
friends there. Angela (the
photographer), Dani and
Caterine were with me the whole
time.
Then it was back to seminary to
Angela
make more food baskets, PB&J’s
and gift bags for Charlie’s lunch.
Each day we would give out food
baskets & PB&J and each night
we’d make more.

5. Me, Grace, Luis and Shelbi did hard labor
at the school, shoveling and hauling dirt.
Thank goodness for our little helpers!
We are building a kitchen and an office
for the high school principal so that she
can lock the books inside. The last books
purchased were stolen because there was
no secure place to keep them.
The children are all getting taller and
appear healthy. A water filtration system
was installed at the school in 2010 and
the new government started a school
nutrition program in March – it appears
to be improving the children’s health
overall.
Josque, Grace, Mercedes & Edwin
Dale (Dentist), Rachel and Anna Rachel
set up a 3 day dental clinic (Mon-Wed) at
the school and saw 179 children .
Additional dental trips are needed to see
the other 150 children.

6. Sara (today’s leader),
George, Shelbi and I did
what we could to help.
George and Shelbi did
the heavy lifting of 82 lb
blocks up to the top of
the wall.
Today we got to work on Anyuly’s house. Anyuly is a 9 year old
girl with renal failure. She is on dialysis (from Shalom) and
awaiting a kidney transplant. The doctor will not do the
surgery unless she has a more sanitary place to recover so we
are building that place!
Sara (today’s leader), George, Shelbi and I did what we could to
help. George and Shelbi did the heavy lifting of 82 lb blocks up
to the top of the wall.
During evangelism time, Paul, Shelbi and I visited several
families and delivered food baskets to an area of Sector 3 where
I had never been. The level of poverty was overwhelming. And
yet, there was hope and faith found there.

7. Today I was suppose to be helping Colon and
Nick paint Esther’s house next door to Idea
Carmen whose home we built last year. The
project was next door to where Anyuly
(princess in pink) is currently living, so my
interest was in spending time with her today.
God willing Anyuly will survive to have her
surgery in 4 months. Her elder Aunt is the
planned donor. Should there be a reason that
she cannot donate, Anyuly’s younger Aunt
Amanda, age 8, wants to donate her kidney.
(Amanda is the girl in blue) They are both
being kept home from school to protect them
from becoming sick. If you look to the left of
Anyuly you can see the sun shining through a
large hole in the wall next to her bed. It is
next to the dog I gave her and she named
“Cristal”. Her little cheeks are swollen from
fluid retention. Her little cousin Randy is
showing that he had 4 teeth pulled at the
dental clinic – he was a good boy! Then there
is her other cousin with silly makeup. Before
we left Esther arrived home and taught me
how to make tortillas from scratch – fun.

8. The second half of the day ½ the team took a
tour of Charlie’s lunch, a food program for
children under suicide bridge in Guatemala City.
Colon put together a skit for Zacheas was a wee
little man. Courtney, Michaela and Grace acted it
out while Bekah played the guitar. Me and
George sang along and videoed the performance.
The children really enjoyed it. The girls were
curious about Courtney’s blond hair.

9. Today we were in Antigua. I was
feeling quite emotional and
overwhelmed by the experiences of
the week and needed some alone
time. So while the others went to zip
line, I stayed at the Coffee Plantation
for some much needed
decompression time. I laid on this
lawn, watched the clouds in front of
the volcano, watched a bird float on
thermals, prayed, meditated and
relaxed to worship music.

10. Our last day. Today was a very difficult day emotionally. The lady sitting over my left
shoulder is Juana. She broke my heart today. Her pain and suffering is beyond anything
that I have known. Her heart is so completely broken and she only wants to feel the fire
for God and serve him, but right now she cannot. What could I say or do except pray.
Together , through tears we did. For years I have been coming to visit and have seen
Juana. This year we became friends and sisters.
The finale was the Guatemalans vs. Gringo’s soccer game. Gringos won – to our surprise!
Saying Good-bye is so hard. If it be Gods will I pray that he will send me to Las Conches
again.
George & Dani