August 17, 2009

Praise God for His wonderful blessing and care. We had an accident and sickness free 10 days; we were able to work together in unity; we were able to work, laugh, cry and grow together.

We had no problems in our travels and going through customs. There was a short time of panic over a missing passport but all turned out well. We landed in Toronto at 11:30 p.m.

The team members are now at home - reunited with their families. Pray for us as we make the transition to our regular routines. Pray that God will show each of us where and how He wants us to use our experience here at home. Pray that we will listen to God's leading and be obedient.

Thank you for your prayers.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

We packed up and had an early breakfast with the hope of leaving Camp Shalom at 8:30. Hank had asked the driver to arrive at 8:00 and at 9:30 there was no sign of him. Luckily Timeo has a van so he agreed to drive us today as long as he could drop us off at the airport before 9:00 tomorrow so that he can be back in time for the start of the school session at 12:30.
Here we are at the Mennonite Seminar ready to have our devotions. We will be leaving from Guatemala City at 1:00 tomorrow and arriving in Toronto at 11:30. It will be a long day.

We travelled to Antiqua City to go to the market as well as to see a little of this very old city. Above and below is the city square. Some of the buildings here date from the 1500 hundreds.

A view down one of the rows of market stalls.

Saturday August 15th 2009

The board of directors of Juan Wesley and Karla the primary principal. They came to thank us for our work and presented us with the shirts we are wearing.

Grace and Juan who are part of the National Board of Primitive Methodist came by to thank us for our work and support.

This afternoon was our day out. We first travelled to the hot volcanic springs which helped us all soak out all the aches from our week of hard work. We also stopped in the town of Zunil on the way home. The trip there was absolutely breathtaking as we saw many variations of farming and scenic pictures.

This morning we finished up all the last minute jobs that still needed to be done. Here Angela and Janet are drilling holes for Brian so he could install the window frames. Bert and Ben continued to tile the bathrooms. Bert and Fran finished the landscaping for drainage. Henry completed the painting and Hank installed some more toilets.

Everyone worked together to assemble the cabinets together.

A look into one of the classrooms.

Richard and Stacey carried the finished cabinets into their proper classrooms.

Friday, August 14, 2009

One of the Juan Wesley student presentations.

Everyone enjoyed the children.




KKarla, the primary principal accepted the quilt we made for the school.

One of the presentations.

This student is bent on being a rock star or a pastor!

Today the students put on a presentation to thank us for coming. We were the only ones who got a seat. The students crowded around us and were anxious to sit on laps or share a sweater to shade the sun from our heads.

We brought our load of clothes, school supplies, and medical supplies to the school in the pickup.

Richard assembling cabinets and Ben is ??????

Brian having another coffee. He seemed to like to work close to Casa Wick where the coffee pot was.

Today was a busy day trying to finish off projects. Here Angela and Janet are sanding the cabinets. Today we managed to complete the sanding, staining and varnishing. The hinges are on some of the doors and one of the 5 is totally assembled.
Stacey and Fran varnishing.

Fran decided to go to the third floor in the afternoon to help Bert with the tiling in the girls bathroom, Ben was tiling in the boys bathroom.

Henry sitting on the job (he was back to painting) - he completed both bathrooms.

Thursday August 13th 2009

A view from the third floor of the school looking out at the school wall and the main street.

The children waiting to go home on the bus. Henry ventured on the bus and was bombarded with children wanting their pictures taken.
A look into one of the primary classrooms. The windows are the ones Mike VanLeeuwen made two years ago.
Brian, Bert and Hank setting up for another day. Today Bert, Fran, Janet and Ben continued tiling the bathroom. It is a very slow process. Brian continued installing the door frames and assembling toilets. Richard, Angela, Stacey and Henry continued working on the cupboards for the classrooms.


Henry's interview with the children.

Wednesday August 12th 2009

Recess time! When the bell rings you'd better get out of their way! Kids are the same everywhere.
Snack Time!!!

Angela, Henry and Stacey stained the doors for the new cupboards. They got to be outdoors in the beautiful sunshine getting a tan.

Angela and Stacey also stained the frames for the doors for the bathrooms.

Richard had another day in the workshop. Today he was thinking instead of cutting...uhhh ohhh

Brian and Ben worked on installing the door frames for the classrooms on the third floor.

Ben grunted again...


Luis mixing the cement for the tile floors.

Fran and Janet grouted the tile floor after Luis had finished installing the tiles. They had lots of fun playing in the mud. They tried to make mud pies but it didn't work very well the mud was too wet.

Bert back in his stall tiling again.

Janet decided to break up their cozy close quarters and went in the stall in between Bert and Fran today.

Nicholas decided they needed to be separated even more and spaced them out. Nicholas and Bert did the tiling while Janet and Fran grouted.

Nicholas tiling his stall. He routinely checks to make sure they are still working and not laughing too much.