Day 5 Iglasia del Camino and Gonzalez family

For those of you that were with us in February, this will be familiar. This is the stage with the praise and worship band setting up for Sunday Service at Iglesia del Camino. Last time Pastor Mike was in the U.S.

Today, we had the privilege of meeting him and listening to him preach on "Being bold when speaking about Christ".

This is considered a bi-lingual multicultural congregation. The message is delivered in English and translated in Spanish. Today there were over 300 present in worship. This was a very moving and inspiring experience. After services are concluded, everyone stacks their chairs in the corner and fellowships with one another.

After having lunch, we headed up to find the Gonzalez house that we constructed in February.  An administrative assistant at the church, Obed, knew an easier route to the house. It had been raining all night and most of today. Unlike last time, we traveled to the top by vehicle before walking down a narrow path, in the rain, about 100 yards to the house with supplies and gifts.

Thank the Lord, they were home! As soon as Victoria (in red) saw the Gringos, she squealed with delight. The rest of the family came out to greet us under there newly constructed lean to next to the house.

After hugs were exchanged, we gave the kids some gifts the girls had prepared. We also bought  some dried goods at Cinma Market and a small pressure cooker for the grandmother. Bob informed us that due to the high altitude, beans are difficult to cook over an open fire. The pressure cooker will save her a great deal of time and firewood.

The kids were excited to receive balls, chalks, puzzles, and clothes.

Carla is here showing off her ball and personalized box full of hair bows and ribbons.

One of the boys posing with a container of chalk.

After a short visit, we gathered for a group photo. We also presented the family with a framed photograph of the family and team in front of their new home from February.  The family blessed us and showed their gratitude with hugs all around, as well as heart felt tears. They told of how often they thought of us and wished us back soon.

This is the trail back up the mountain to the vehicles.

Still raining!

With 24 hours of rain, Obed (only having 2wd) had difficulty backing up the narrow, wet path.

Bob got the opportunity to use his newly purchased 4x4 to pull Obed up the hill.

This is the view from the truck window on the slick pathway. By the way, there is NOT a guard rail or shoulder. A little nail biting going on at this point. Billy even opened his door for easy exit out of the passenger door. WHAT A TEAM PLAYER! wuss....

"One for all and all for one, I thought".

Day 4 Casa Shalom Orphanage

Early Saturday morning our team arrived at Casa Shalom Orphanage. The orphanage is situated on 13 acres in San Lucas. The picture above is the home of directors Josh and Jessica Hanson. The orphanage was founded in the early 1980's by Rick Waldrop. Originally, the orphanage housed those displaced by the Guatemalan civil war. Currently, there are over 60 children at the orphanage.

Before we began our work for the day, Bob introduced us to several of the children. Billy shared hugs and laughs with Marta. The children were very engaging and actively sought friendship and love from us.

Bob is a familiar face at the orphanage. He has spent numerous hours working at the facility. The little girl in the picture, Sara ie, is one of the special children at the facility. Her father who battles substance abuse has removed her from the facility in the past. After some time, leaders of the orphanage went to check on her and found her in need of care. Her father relunctantly allowed her to return. Please be praying for Sara ie.

This particular photo is the boy's housing facility. Each house has its own house parents. Some of the boys helped with our work projects.

While visiting the facility that day, we ran into the same team from Rio Bravo. They were departing with several of the children on a swimming trip.

Each child is required to learn a trade while living at the orphanage. The picture above is of the bakery where children learn to bake bread, doughnuts and other pastries. The trades learned will help them obtain work after leaving the orphanage. On our lunch break, we met Chino who is working at a local restuarant. About a year ago, Chino left Casa Shalom and is now gainfully employed.

Evelyn, though nursing a broken arm, was excited to visit with our team, especially the giant Gringos.

The photo above is the children's and girl's dorm. As with the boys, this facility also has house parents. On our visit the ninos were gone to play at another home. Casa Shalom is in need of house parents and sponsorships.

At the back of the girl's dorm is the laundry facility.

On the grounds of Casa Shalom is a building set up for donated clothes. The clothes bodega (warehouse) is organized according to sizes. The children can obtain clothing and shoes based upon need.

Another example of Bob's water purification ministry. This system purifies 15 gallons per minute. Currently, the orphanage is in the process of developing a new system that will allow for the purification of multiple water sources.

Casa Shalom has a school for the children, but due to funding issues the children are now attending public school. The school building now houses work teams. The school is divided into male and female dorms. One of the work projects we participated in was pressure washing this building. We also bleached the entire building and sidewalks. Next week, a work team from the states will begin painting this building.

At the top of the mountain, chicken houses are set up with the purpose of supplying food for the orphanage as well as giving the children another option for vocational training. The chicks are purchased at a young age and raised by those choosing this vocation.

That afternoon, Giovanni, one of the boys helped us on the new cistern. The cistern is part of the new water purification system. Three years ago Giovanni arrived at the orphanage. Giovanni was abandoned by his parents and had to go live with his aunt and uncle. While there he suffered abuse and was court ordered into the orphanage. Giovanni is sponsored by Bob, which is $30 per month.

Day 4-Guatemalan Bible Seminary

On Day Four our team started the morning with a school tour led by the  Director Kirk Lightfield. The seminary is situated on a lot that is 2 city blocks long. GBS offers degrees in music, missions, and biblical training. The GBS has over 200 students enrolled at the seminary. The seminary is a ministry of CAM International, an organization that began in early 1900's. For information about the seminary go to http://www.lightfieldsinguatemala.web.com/

The photos located on the wall are of students who have graduated and now serving all over the world. Advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the primary focus of this seminary. Pastor Gabriel of Santa Maria de Jesus and Luis, Giovanni, and Antonio of Iglesia del Camino are currently attending GBS. Kirk, the director, shared with our team the cost of tuition at GBS is $125 per month which includes room and board. At this time there are potential students seeking support for tuition. The potential students are required to raise a minimum of 20% of their tuition before sponsorship.

The construction project seen above began on Monday by a team from a church out of Virginia. Our team took part in digging the footings for the new housing project. This project will be completed as funds and laborers become available. This facility will house current faculty with families. Upon completion, housing now occupied by faculty members will be converted into student housing.

After working several hours at the seminary, Bob took us to a local retreat center in Chimaltenango. The retreat center was founded by Charlie and Pat Reynolds from Snyder, Texas. This center will host up to 25 short-term missionaries. The Reynolds also operate an elementary school in the city of Chimaltenango.To learn more about the Reynolds and their ministry go to http://www.hisappointedtime.com/

This is an ultra violet water purification system  at the retreat center. The first year of Bob and Georgette's ministry was spent working at this retreat center.

Our last stop of the day was at Joy-Filled Homes in Chimaltenango. This facility was founded by Maureen Casey. Currently, the facility houses 11 special needs children with various disabilities.  The vision for this ministry is to house up to 100 children. Maureen is seeking support from the USA in the form of financial contributions and teams willing to provide labor.

During our visit we were able to participate in a birthday for Helen, one of the children.

In the picture above, the team members are speaking with Brad Lucht. Brad is the student pastor at Greentree Community Church in St. Louis, MO. Brad has been bringing groups to Joy-Filled Homes the past 3 years. On this trip Brad brought 12 high school students for the week. During their stay, they helped feed, play and clothe the children. The group also performed light maintenance. Maureen's desire is to have adult groups able to perform larger construction projects.

Our group took a tour of the facility before departing. This is an example of one project that will require more specialized skills. This particular photo is of the future educational space for Joy-Filled Homes.

Thank you for keeping up with our daily work. Please post comments.

Rio Bravo Church and Feeding Center

Whew! What a day! This morning, after a 3:30 am wake up call, we headed out for Rio Bravo Church and Feeding Center. Rio Bravo is a small, poor, farming town in southwest Guatemala about 30 miles from the Pacific coast. Our drive was about 2 1/2 hours, but the scenery was absolutely amazing. Along the route were numerous volcanoes, huge sugarcane and corn fields, rivers and other unbelievable views.  This was some of the most beautiful country any of us had ever seen. 

Pastor Freddie is the leader of this church and he and Bob and Georgette Kornegay have a great relationship.  Every two weeks, Bob delivers nearly three tons of food to the church. This food is used to feed an average of 200 children breakfast seven days a week. The ministry that Bob and Georgette are associated with provide this food free of charge to the church. This meal is typically the only full meal these children receive each day and Bob says you can see huge improvements in the health of these children after only a few months of these nutritious meals. It was also a special occasion to get to hear the children sing praise songs and pray before the meal.  

After breakfast, we distributed the 270 pairs of shoes we had remaining and what a powerful event this was. The children and mothers were so grateful for the new shoes.

A number of the children had no shoes prior to today and those that came with shoes definitely left with better ones. 

Happy children with new shoes!

These were actually some of Forrest's old shoes. It was awesome to know that someone else could get some more use out of them.

Bob had recently installed this new ultraviolet light, water purification system in the church.  This system can purify 15 gallons of water per minute and the storage tanks hold over 1300 gallons of purified water.  This purified water is used by all of the residents in the area. Bob is standing in front of the system explaining how it works...It is really moving to see and hear just how passionate Bob is about this ministry. "La sed no mas" is written on the side of one of the tanks...In English, this translates, "thirst no more"! This is the motto of Bob's water purification ministry. Clean water is nearly impossible to aquire from a well in Guatemala due to the lack of sewer treatment facilities. Therefore, most people drink water that they catch off of their roofs and then keep in open drums in their homes. This non-treated water usually contains bacteria and parasites that cause huge health issues for the Gautemalan's, especially the children. The clean, purified water that is produced by the systems Bob installs is valuable beyond belief.  

This is Pastor Freddie with us...He is originally from Nicaragua and has built four churches in the area. Pastor Freddie began the feeding center after seven children in his church died from malnutrition. After these deaths, he vowed to feed the children of this community no matter what the cost.

 This is another water purification system that Bob has recently installed a few miles down the road from the church at Rio Bravo in another small community. This water will also be available for everyone in the community. Day 3 will be Guatemalan Bible Seminary of Chimaltenango and a visit to a small school.

Day 1 We Are Busy!

 This is Bob And Georgette Kornegay (our leaders and full time missionaries from Snyder, Texas)

We started out at Santa Maria de Jesus. This photo shows the women doing laundry at the village square and the volcano in the background.

We are installing a water purification system that Bob has put together. This church will be able to provide clean water as a ministry tool and to the children who come to the feeding center daily. Bob has made the water purification his and Georgette's signature ministry. How powerful it is!

The feeding center is a great success, opening just a few months ago. The funds we donated on our February trip went towards this ministry. 13 children have come to know Christ....Praise God!
Georgette,Jeff, Billy, and Richard stayed with a group from Minnesota to have a VBS with the children for the afternoon. Now there were three language barriers to deal with. The other group couldn't understand us and we couldn't really understand them. Just kidding. What a fun time this was.

 Bob and Austin headed to Seima Market about an hour away to purchase the food for the feeding center in Rio Bravo. I have never seen such a large amount of food. It's like Sam's Club x 1000 for produce and dried goods. Bob bought 2 tons of food. We will be delivering it tomorrow.

Our evening finished up at Iglasia del Camino, the church we stayed at in February. Wednesday nights, they brought in about 80 homeless people off the streets of Antigua for a meal, music, testimony, and praise. Everyone had prayer and fellowshipped with one another. The Lord opened up language barriers with love. What a great ending to an unbelievable day. We will post about Rio Bravo next.

Day One

Buenas Dias! The team arrived last night to our host home about 9:00 pm local time. The travel from DFS to Guatemala was smooth and uneventful. Thank you for your prayers for our safety throughout the trip.

This morning we were awaken by the sounds of fireworks. Is it the fourth of July already??? The Guatemalans celebrate a person's birthday by lighting fireworks on the doorstep of the birthday amiga or amigo. Lots of birthdays in this neighborhood it seems. Could the same rooster be with us this week? The sounds of Guatemala.......

After a wonderful meal prepared by our host, Mrs. Georgette, we discussed today's schedule. About 10am we will depart for Santa Maria de Jesus (a church we worked with last February) where we will be giving about 100 pairs of shoes for children. While at the church, we will enjoy lunch and reading Bible stories with the children from the village.  After our visit at Santa Maria de Jesus we will travel to Cinma with Bob to  purchase 3 tons of food for Rio Bravo Feeding Center. Cinma Market is an enormous open air market that Bob uses each month. We will be traveling 2 hours tomorrow to deliver the food to Rio Bravo, a very poor farming community. The food provided each month helps feed over 300 children breakfast each day.

How can you pray for us today?
We covet your prayers as we encourage Pastor Grabiel and his minsitry at Santa Maria de Jesus this afternoon. Pray that we will be able to see the people of de Jesus as God sees them. Also, pray that God will be glorified as we travel and engage the Guatemalans throughout the day.

Thank you church family. We will post more photos and provide a report about today's travels.

To God be the Glory!

Headed for Tampa in the AM!

We will be leaving DFS at 6AM Tuesday. We will be flying out of Tampa at 4 PM ET. A short hop to Miami, then off to Guatemala.
Thank you to all who helped gather and supply shoes. We collected 372 pairs of shoes for the children of the Rio Bravo feeding center and orphanage.
Thank you to everyone who donated funds. We have collected enough money to pay for some of the expenses (like shoe baggage) and for the Lord to lead us where needs may be met.
Thank you for your prayers and the phone calls of support.

Yea God!
Austin Shoaf, Jeff Geoghagan, Billy Dawkins, and Richard Murray