Day 3 and 4

Day 3 and Day 4

Monday: The 4:30 am roosters called to us again, an early Monday morning. We went with great expectation to the worksite of the fish farm.  For many of us, it was a first to work on a construction site, but still had with a lot of experience present as well.  The tasks involved everything from moving cinder blocks to several locations around the site, to scrapping cement to make a smooth finish for the fish tanks, to actual building of the tanks and buildings surrounding it, and painting as well.  It was amazing to see team members from thirteen to seventy-plus working side by side. Rudolpho, from Calvary, made note of this work ethic in our team meeting Monday night of those present. It reminded a few of us of the verse in Colossians 3:23-4, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”  The team dove right in working at whatever there was to be done. The only time people stopped was when we were looking for something to do, and lunch of course (LOL).  I, myself, was much too tired to blog of our experiences and fell right to sleep as did many others.

Tuesday: The rooster crows yet again… at 4:30 am. I think we might be getting used to that. I know for a fact it was physically challenging for several of us to roll out of bed, no matter what side we got out of. The men went straight to the construction site while the ladies were privileged to spend time with several ladies from Santiago who enjoyed a time of sharing their Mayan traditional arts.

The Mayan arts included various forms of beading, weaving, and embroidery. Several of the Calvary ladies even got a chance to try some of the arts. It was extremely fun.  I especially found a knack for embroidery. Katie found a pleasure in bead work. While Jennifer, took quite well to weaving. Each of us were given a token of friendship of braided bracelets from embroidery thread from the ladies of Santiago. I do believe that we could have fellowshipped for hours. No matter the culture, ladies (most anyhow) love to get together and share in these types of activities.

This evening Pastor Diego of the local church here shared a rich cultural history of the city.  He integrated his family history, the church history as well as Mayan culture. It was fascinating.

Between the two days, God has truly blessed us with beautiful weather both in temperature and holding the rain to a slight sprinkle.  Pastor Dean and his group have been blessed evangelizing to the Santiago Atitlan community as well. This whole experience of showing and sharing the love of Christ has been amazing. It is hard to believe that it is half way over, and each of us will be back in our school and work lives in a few short days.