Day 5

Day 5:

Another day of roosters, but no black beans refried maybe tomorrow for my favorite Guatemalan delicacy. It was back to the work site for most of the team. The tanks are being cleaned out and the office area is being built. The roof even went on today for the office area. It is exciting to see the daily progress of the fish farm.  Each team member (both Guatemalan and American) does whatever they can to see this visions accomplished. I will have to say though that sometimes, I had to recite to myself Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart” (see yesterday’s post J).  On that same note, I just want to keep working until I finish my task, scrapping the little pieces of left over cement from the main floor of the cement. Tedious task as it sounds, I love doing every piece of it. The team seems to have the same sentiments with whatever they were doing.

For a few of us though, we got to go over to the school where several people from Calvary support children to go to school. It was neat to meet with the children, their mothers, and a few fathers.  Some of the mothers are single mothers where the father has died. Three of us who were able to meet with our children, it was a great experience.  The mothers were overjoyed with the prospect that their children will attend school. In Guatemala, public education is not free. The family must pay.  These sponsored children attend Christian school, however, which has tuition as well.  My roommate Karin was obviously ecstatic over seeing her little girl, 5 year old Magdalena and her brother Nicolas.  She was like a little girl herself, it was cool to see. For me, Eric the preteen, had just completed (successfully according to him) a math test before coming to see us.  He had been an angel in Judgment House last June. I enjoyed talking to him then along with another preteen, Maria. It was neat chatting with him and his mother today. Our small group then took Tuc -Tucs (three-wheeled motorized taxis) out to the fish farm site from the chuch.

This evening there were two groups, the youth of Pastor Diego’s church and the ones from our trip. They met together for a bonfire and s’mores and a time to share together what it is like to be a teenager. It seemed to be a neat experience bring these young folks together that come from two parts of the world but are unified in Christ.

Meanwhile a small group of us journeyed in the streets of Santiago in search of the carpenter’s shop our interpreter Diego knows (not to be confused with Pastor Diego). The neat experience here was discovering the “neighborhoods” of this town. In a space of one small American home lot probably ten to twelve families live. The spaces are simple, but very clean. It makes you think... do I really need everything I have? The space is close, but I think that is what makes them community as well. Pastor Diego told us last night of a violent incident that happened 20 plus years ago, and since then, the town has what one might refer to as a neighborhood watch. However, it seems that it is taken more seriously. Groups of men walk about the city to make sure everything is above board. These groups rotate throughout the month. Have we lost this sense of family and community in American culture at large? I am for sure glad though that the sense of family is found in the church like Calvary though, through outreaches like Calvary Cares. Santiago’s church El Buen Pastor is for sure an extension of that family.