Independent Service Week

Last week we split ways; we parted company and traversed various distances.  Our fine group of thirty broke off into mighty fellowships of four to six people to be but simple servants.  In these groups of comrades we set off to help out various NGO’s and missionaries in the surrounding area.  Unaware of what we were getting into we went with open hearts and minds ready to help, ready to be.  These are our stories. 

Back To Pana, Ya’ll!

Dominic, Adam, Kevin, Laura, Sandy and Ally

Last Saturday, Dominic, Adam, Kevin, Laura, Sandy, and Ally were given cash for a week of groceries and were loaded on a shuttle bound for the city of Panajachel. We worked once again with Solomon’s Porch, the organization with which we built the basketball court only three weeks earlier.

     Deprive a group of university students of familiar food for three months, and you get a mixed bag of cravings – or should I say a mixed pot. We cooked and ate spaghetti and stir fry, fresh fruits and veggies, homemade burgers and home fries, ice cream and sprinkles, peanut butter, a lot of yogourt, and cold milk with our cereal. (Please take note, parents.)

      Solomon’s Porch founders, Lloyd and Melanie Monroe, welcomed us back to Pana on Sunday at their weekly worship service, but we were also given a warm Southern welcome by another group on a missions trip for the week, from Tallahassee, Florida. So nahs to meet y’all… and yer accents!

      From Monday to Wednesday, we worked passing cinder blocks, sand, and gravel in San Gabriel, building a house for a large indigenous family. The first morning, however, we dug the house’s foundation and impressed the Tallahassee group so much that we garnered the title of “the legendary Canadians,” which Dominic reinforced the next day by digging a 3-metre deep, 1.4-metre wide hole for the drop toilet. Tuesday afternoon, Kevin also had the chance to pull a couple of rotten teeth as an assistant to a volunteer dentist. (Give him a call if you’re due for a root canal...)

Dom and his hole

     On Thursday and Friday, the six of us were transferred over to a different work site to work on duplex for the family of Solomon’s Porch employee, and our friend, Luis. Day one involved a lot of wheelbarrowing sand and gravel, and day two we mixed and passed buckets of concrete.

     We re-experienced the value of behind-the-scenes work this week, the kind of work that is appreciated immensely, but isn’t as heartwarming as feeding someone or as heartbreaking as working with kids. But as Luis’ brother told us as we left, they will think of us every time they step foot inside the walls we helped to fill with concrete. And that feeling of satisfaction is one you can’t get from sprinkles, peanut butter, or yogourt.

 - Ally

Feeding Centre in San Lucia

Elysha, Carlie, David, Joel, and Luke

This week 5 brave young folks worked with Hilmar in San Lucia at Hilmar’s feeding centre. Monday consisted of cleaning the chicken housing area. Hilmar and his friend Alli raise the chickens themselves so that every so often they can serve chicken to the 100ish children who come for a good meal and vitamins twice a week. After we had cleaned the chicken zone and fed the chickens we attempted to make some bookshelves (key word being attempted). 15 uneven cuts, 20 broken screws and 30 minutes of laughter later we completed two things that resembled modern art more than bookshelves, however both were indeed capable of supporting books.

     Tuesday we had the pleasure of making tortillas for the meal we would help serve later. (apparently a person is not ready to be married until they can slap a near perfect tortilla. Heads up Carlie, Elysha and I (Luke) are now ready)We were given the opportunity to perform a couple songs in Spanish for 60 high schoolers from Arkansaw then again for the 100 or so kids it was a grand old time. After the meal the students from arkansa washed the feet of all the kids then gave them all brand new shoes, it was really cool.  

      On Wednesday we made 47 solar lights using 2 liter pop bottles and tin roofing. Hilmar will install these when he sees the need in local houses. Basically you stick the bottle through a hole in the tin silicone the edges to seal it from the rain, fill the bottle with water and a little chlorine, stick it in the roof and it provides 55 or so watts of light (during the day) to what would otherwise be a very dark room without any lighting or windows. Afterwards we experienced a little taste of heaven in the form of home barbecued hamburgers and homemade brownies compliments of pastor Gee and his wife. (missionaries from Ottawa who have partnered with Hilmar)

      On Friday we got up nice and early and headed for the mountains, two bus rides and a ride in a pickup truck through a beautiful more forested area we arrived at our destination. We ate a second breakfast then headed off to the local school to teach a little bit of English, but mainly just have fun with the kids and give the school some supplies. After we finished at the school we were given a brief tour of the local church Hilmar works with. Then we went swimming in a fringed river for some fun and laughs and hypothermia.

This week was awesome; it was great working with Hilmar and living with his family. It has been a blessing to see and take part in such a meaningful ministry. God Bless

 - Luke

Boy’s Home

Kelsey, Kaycie, Maleah, Danielle and Whitney

Kelsey, Kaycie, Maleah, Danielle and I all got the privilege of going to a children’s home this past week.  This was a Christian home made up of 18 boys that ranged from age 8 to 19 and 6 girls who were siblings of boys in the home.  When we first arrived at the home we were overwhelmed with how welcomed we felt as we were swarmed by kids with countless hugs.  We were no longer seen as “gringos” but were invited to become part of the family for a week.  We painted and worked alongside kids, helping with washing dishes and others chores around the house, and were scolded if we didn’t get there soon enough!  It wasn’t long before those kids became our friends who we joked around with, watched movies with, had intense races on Mario cart for Wii and competitive late night games of UNO.  Things became a lot more real for us when we hear some of the stories of our new friends before coming to the home.  The annoying kids, who are constantly passing by trying to sell us bracelets, were no long the kids we wanted to get rid of, but these kids are now our friends.  The abuse stories we had heard about in Guatemala were a part of these kids past and put a face to the stories.  This week was such a blessing and has definitely been a highlight.  These kids have made an impact on our lives and will be in our prayers.  Leaving the boys home was very hard, unwanted goodbyes are never easy, but it was a week that we wouldn’t have traded for anything!

 - Whitney

Mana De Vida

Beth, Julia, Cayenne, and Jess

This past week Beth, Julia, Cayenne and I had the amazing privilege to serve in a Christian Inner City School named Mana de Vida.  This school, solely funded by donations, runs Monday to Friday, 7-2 and on Saturday runs a VBS Bible camp, for not only the students of the school but for other kids in the community!  The school provided breakfast, snacks, and lunch and school supplies for each student!  Located in the hot city of Escuintla, Mana de Vida ministers children who come from rough and broken homes.  Many of these children have poor families therefore the food they eat at the school is something all they got. 

      Arriving at the school us ladies were amazed in how welcoming and loving they were, greeting us with many hugs and kisses.  Straight away they welcomed us into their community and were not afraid to put us to work!  We were able to serve in many different ways for example: helping serve meals, cleaning, teaching English, organizing games for the kids, supervising during assemblies, playing with the kids at recess and more!  We felt so blessed to serve in any way we could but the one thing we really enjoyed was being able to build relationships with the kids and spending time giving them the attention they often don’t receive at home.  Mana de Vida is helping them grow and learn and develop in the relationship with Christ.  During the week the kids were very patient with our somewhat good Spanish!  They loved to ask us millions of questions, teaching us songs and games and even sharing personal stories with us.  They love the camera spot light but enjoyed taking pictures even more. 

      For most of us this week was a highlight, helping us remember why came on this program to serve others with loving hearts, building relationships, digging deeper in our faith but to also support others in their faith journeys, but most importantly to be open to learning from others.  This week did exactly that for us when working with the staff and students in Mana de Vida.  They will forever have special places in our hearts.  We saw the face of Christ this week and learnt so much.  This is one week we will never be able to forget.

 - Jess

Love Guatemala

Natasha, Soyeon, Christina, Maria, and Evan

For our service week we had the honour of working with an NGO called Love Guatemala in Jocatenago led by Judy and Phil Bergen, a Mennonite couple from Canada.  While with them we were treated to some uniquely Guatemala experiences, but one welcome change was the delicious Canadian food that they cooked for us.  All our cravings were satisfied as we ate lasagna, chicken, soup, macaroni, spaghetti, salad, sausages, pupusas, bread WITH BUTTER, crepes and pancakes; and that’s just some of it.  If you’re not jealous yet, you should be.  Canadian cuisine was but one of our experiences, however.  We also went to a Macadamia Nut Farm to learn about agriculture and get facials.  As well we went to Pastores a town comprised of at least 25 shops all selling leather cowboy boots, and experienced our first ever Mariachi band who oddly enough is now in San Juan as we write this.  

      As for our work?  Don’t worry we did plenty of that too, we helped clean up an old warehouse by moving wheelbarrows full of bricks and marble as well as by painting the walls to ready it for its intended use as a market for the local community.  In the afternoon we worked at the school “Casa de Nivios” renovating and often returning there in the evenings to serve soup and play with kids.  In the late evening if we weren’t too tired, we occupied our time by playing competitive poker with M&M’s and by pranking calling other groups with the Lion King soundtrack.

      Throughout our work weeks we meet and were befriended by lots of great people, like Christina, Manuel, David, Tito, Marvin, Jorge, Judy, and Phil.  In many ways they did more for us than we did for them, accepting us, attempting to joke3 with us in Spanish, and just in general looking out for us.  We are all grateful for the opportunity to have worked with them and not only for the food, but for the chance to Love Guatemala in whatever way we can. 

 - Natasha

Roca De Ayuda

Clara, Carly, Lex, Jutters, and Raymond

This past week we learnt a lot.  The five of us went into Guatemala City to work with an NGO called Roca de Ayuda (Rock Of Help) we learnt the idea of being rather than doing.  Your presence can sometimes be more important than the amount of work you do.  During the week we painted, cleaned and organized a room.  We did a lot of measuring and packing food for families like soap, beans and rice.  

      On some of the days we served kids lunch.  One of those days we visited a community surrounding the garbage dump and served lunches to the kids there.  This was a great experience because we got the chance to sit down and have conversation and laughs with the kids… Or get made fun of our Spanish accents.  We had the opportunity to really get to know the staff at the organization as well as the pastor of the church.  They were very gracious and loving to have us there and they tried their very best to make it a great work week.  We were made aware of the problems and issues the people in the organization face.  We will always be remembering them and praying for them.  We were blessed to have this experience and hope to have more like this in our lives.

 - Clara

P.S.  Remember that impressive basketball court we built back in Panajachel a number of weeks ago?  Guess what?!  It’s looking mighty and marvelous now.  After we left the town put some finishing touches on the court, painting on the lines, erecting the final net, and the most important of them all, playing on it.  The group that visited Pana had the opportunity to return to the court where the kids ran out to greet them in giddy remembrance and show them the finished project.  In marvelous excitement they gave the court a proper Outtatown stamp of approval with an excellent jump photo on the court.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, family and friends, thank-you for the financial donations that you gave, this is where a difference was made.  This was where lives were changed, we may have been the ones hauling pail after pail of concrete, but we couldn’t have done it without you helping to provide the concrete.  Kids have a place to laugh and play, and the community has a court that they will put to use for many, many years.  Thank-You.

 - Raymond