Final Post

Computer Lab

Balloon a Time

Good morning, 

This will be our last post before returning to the states. Yesterday morning Paul and Dylan went to a local school to diagnose and fix some computers. They were successful and the school was appreciative of their services. Derek, Christina and Missy cleaned the house, hung up some decorations, and got the house ready for our departure. After another delicious lunch, we went to a church for an activity with the kids. About 180 kids showed up!!!! We made an obstacle course and they absolutely loved it. It was fun to see them guiding each other through the course blind-folded. After that we blocked off the street with cars and had everyone go outside for Human Foosball. We lined them up into 6 rows and they had to play soccer with their arms linked together like on a Foosball table. Last, Jon spoke to the kids about the armor of God, and we made them balloon swords to take home. It was an awesome evening and Pastor Jorge said that he spoke with some families there that he has never met before and they plan to start attending the church!!

 We currently on our way to Antigua to visit a textile museum/factory and visit the market. Tomorrow we are going to hike the hill in Antigua to the cross, and see the sunrise. Then it is off to the airport for a 1pm flight (3pm EST).

It has been an amazing trip. We are so thankful for our hosts Dylan and Missy. We are very proud of the progress of the SARF Ministry. God is doing awesome things here in Guatemala. Much thanks to Servants, Dylan, Missy, Jon, the future SARF teams to come, and you all who have supported us along the way.

John 3:17 "For God did not send his son into the world to condemn them, but to save the world through him. " 

So many Kids !!

Wednesday

Today was a great day. Dylan, Paul, and Derek got up early to help out with the church's CR program (Celebrate Recovery). This is a program designed to help men with their addiction to drugs and alcohol. Every Wednesday morning the church invites a group of men in for breakfast (some still feeling the effects from the night before). Drugs and alcohol have created a lot of problems and broken families here in Guatemala, so this group acts as a support system for their journey to sobriety. For the remainder of the morning, we went to the school to finish painting in the computer lab.

After lunch, we went back and installed conduit for the wiring for the computers. Construction projects are always interesting with 2 languages being spoken and 2 different cultures merging together. In one week school will be over for the year, so we will wait until the January team comes down to actually install the computers. That team should be excited for a beautifully painted room, in a school full of energy and excitement !!
It rained pretty heavily in the afternoon today, but that didn't stop us from accomplishing what we wanted to.

Tomorrow is our last day here in Villa Nueva. Paul and Dylan are going to do some computer work @ a different school, while Missy, Christina and Derek do some cleaning and small projects around the house. In the afternoon, we are going to a church for some activities with the kids. Possibly another obstacle course, some balloon animals, and some other fun activities. Then Friday it is off to Antigua , and Saturday is our day of travel.

We will be sad to have to leave our family and friends here in Guate. The week went by quickly like it always does, but that was expected.

Monday + Tuesday

We finally got to experience what SARFing is all about. Yesterday afternoon we went to Apolonia's house (one of the SARF families) to install a gutter and pipe.

Apolonia and her 3 daughters live on the side of the mountain in a tin structure. Whenever it rains (which is everyday during the rainy season) the water runs down the mountain, through her house, and erodes away the dirt floor. They try to collect the rain water off the roof to use for drinking, bathing, and cooking. We installed a gutter and down pipe to make it a lot easier to collect the water into plastic barrels for future use.



This morning, we went to a local school to start working on a computer lab for the kids.

Today was all painting, and tomorrow we are going to run the wires along the wall for the computers. The staff at the school is very excited to finally have a computer lab. We were told that kids who are educated have about a 40% chance of finding a reliable job, but if their education involves using a computer, that percentage jumps to over 90% !! Plus, all of these computers were donated, God is good ! We had a blast interacting with the kids and it is always fun to see how kids will be kids, no matter what country you are in.

A few other things-

We have been blessed to have a local Guatemalan, Diana, cooking wonderful meals for us each day. 

Everyday it rains for maybe 1-3 hours in the afternoon or evening.

The circus is in town, and literally right across the street from where we are staying. So everyday we get to hear obnoxious circus music, Michael Jackson, and "Barbie Girl".

Thank you all for your thought and prayers,

D+P+C

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday morning we started out a delicious breakfast, followed by a time of talking, sharing and devotions. In the morning we did some painting around the house and after lunch we helped out with a local VBS for kids. Paul, Christina, and Derek set up an obstacle course and had pairs of kids go through it with the first person blind-folded. The purpose was for the first person to trust the second person in guiding them through the course, just like we must trust Christ to guide us through life.

Today (Sunday) we went to Pastor Jorge's church in Linda Vista. It was awesome to a part of a local church service within the community that we will be working with later this week. After lunch we got a chance to visit the children's home for a few hours !! This was a total surprise to us and we were very excited to spend some time with old friends. For those who have been here before- They have begun digging out the foundation to the new comedor. After spending time with the kids, we came back home and had dinner with Jon, our fellow SARFer. We had a great evening enjoying each others company, and of course played some dice.

Tomorrow will be our first day of work. The 3 of us are excited to meet and work with the families that Dylan, Missy, and Jon have been SARFing with.

I promise to post some pictures soon once I figure out how.

Arrival

Hey guys,

We have arrived safe and sound in Villa Nueva. It has been a great evening relaxing and getting settled in with our wonderful hosts Dylan and Missy (and the puppy Cate). They were excited to see all of the goodies and supplies that we brought down for them from friends and family. And we are excited to see and hear all about the work they have been doing so far with SARF. We can already tell that this is going to be a great trip. Thank you for the thoughts and prayers, we will be posting some pictures hopefully tomorrow.

With Love from Guate,

Derek, Paul, and Christina