R&R Day and Travel Day

Buenas Dias.

We took a team photo before leaving the hostal. It was a great place for the team to rest and be able to get a nice meal before and after our service day.

We started the day with a trip to a park that overlooks Lake Amatitlan and Volcano Pacaya.

 The park also has mini replica's of some Mayan ruins and Tikal. The park is located just outside of Guatemala City about a 1 hour drive.

 (Replica of el Baul is pictured below w/Danielle)


After we visited the park, we drove to Antigua which is about another 1 and a half hour drive away from the park. We had lunch at Pollo Camparo (Chicken) about a half a block from the hotel. The hotel we stayed at is the Posada Don Rodrigo and our room overlooks one of the courtyards.

Each hotel room is different inside and ours has a chandelier and has a 3/4 bath downstairs and a 1/2 bath upstairs. We had a view from the roof top of the active Volcano Fuego in erupted a week earlier.

We spent the afternoon shopping in Antigua and we bought a blanket for Danielle that is a quilt.

 The quilt is made up of small squares of traditional skirt material from many of the small villages around San Marcos, Guatemala. The villages cover the area of where her birth mother lives on Volcano Tajumulco. We managed to negotiate good prices for all the things we bought in Antigua.

We had dinner at de Arco which is more of an outdoor restaurant. In the evening, it gets cool and we had to have a portable heater moved near our table. The food was good and it was our final dinner together with some of our Guatemalan team.

On the way there we noticed that Volcano Fuego was again blowing smoke from its top and we are hoping to get out of Guatemala City today on time. It doesn't look like it is significant, as it stops and starts with no huge bursts or eruptions.


We are ready to go to the airport and are anxious to get back to the freezing temps... well maybe not the freezing temps, but to get home. 

Thanks for all your prayers!!
Terry

Last day of Ministry

Buenas Noches,

The VBS concluded the week by wrapping up the VBS at the church with the presentations of the childrens Bibles to over 80 children. The dental clinic worked with over 160 children. The church and the Precious Moments school had been a blessing to the team as well.

At the VBS today, Denis was Goliath in the story. The children enjoyed taking on this giant and defeating him as they told the story of David and Goliath.

Denis and June also spent time preparing the food and serving the food too.

The childrens Bibles were prepared by Joyce as she carefully wrote the childrens names in each of the Bibles.

The Bibles were then presented to each of the children which they received them gladly.

 







 

The pastor presented the team with a very nice stained glass plaque to show their appreciation to Wooddale Church.

 

Marta, the originator of Precious Moments School, presented myself with a plaque for the dental clinic. She also presented the team with gifts for helping the dentists at the school as well.

 After we concluded our ministries we visited a park that had a topographical map of Guatemala. The team enjoyed getting a perspective of where the volcano's are located in relation to Guatemala City. 

We'll also be spending time tomorrow driving to a park that overlooks Volcano Pacaya. Our stay tomorrow night will be in Antigua, which we should have a good view of Volcano Agua and Fuego.

Thanks again for your prayers and being a part of this ministry.

Dios Bendiga!

Terry

Service Day #3 "Flexibility"

Good Evening

"Flexibility" has been the key on this ministry trip. We had planned a day of service for the team by dividing the team up so some could go to the church and work with the VBS, some of the team would work at the Precious Moments school for the dental clinic and I would spend time visiting 2 different schools today.

The plan was for me to work with teenagers at these schools by demonstrating the effects that drugs have on us through the use of blurry goggles, gloves and Dum Dum suckers. We learned that the schools in the city were closed because there was no water available for the city. Construction was taking place on the main water source and it is anticipated to be restored on Friday. The church and where we are staying has cisterns and can supply a reserve source of water for a few days. The schools however use much more water and the city closed the public schools. Since there was no school, my day was spent at the church where I worked with the teenagers with talking about drugs for double the time that I had planned at each classroom.

                                Dentists from Guatemala City Priscilla and Stephanie
The dental team had changed there plans too, as they got a late start and ended up working later than they had originally planned. We had to change our lunch plans as a team, but by the end of the day we had made it back for supper.  

 The VBS had a busy day as we performed another new puppet show that taught the children to walk by faith and not by sight. The activities with the children were using the parachute games, songs, stories on the Armor of God and working on a craft. I spent about an hour with the teenagers working with them by demonstrating the effects of  drugs, discussions and a testimonial. The team didn't spend as much time in the kitchen area today since there was limited water, no dishes needed to be washed. Lunch was served on Styrofoam plates, cups and plastic utensils.

After our service day we visited a local bakery and bought some sweet bread for the team and it was a nice way to end the day with a cup of coffee and sweet bread.

Thank you for your continued prayers.
Terry

Day 2 of our Service Ministry

Buenas Noches
It was a long day  of service today coupled with a nice church service and coffee at the pastors home.










The day started out with a delicious Guatemalan breakfast at the Hostel. (egg prepared in a slice of bell pepper, frijoles, ham, plantains and cheese)

We went to the church and team helped prepare the meal, performed puppet shows, puppets performed El Sapo, did some crafts with the children, shared some hugs and communicated in Spanish the best we could.





After we had lunch, the team helped clean up the kitchen and did some dishes.

We had our afternoon VBS and we engaged the children with Luis (VBS leader) in playing games, songs and a story. We needed to get back to the Hostel to have our dinner and then return to the church for the evening service. The evening service was focused on scripture, sermon and prayer. I was asked to prepare a sermon and the sermon to challenge the church on seeking the lost was received well. We then closed in prayer, as the Guatemalans laid hands on our team and prayed for us in Spanish. We then prayed for the church, the pastors and leaders for their continued ministry and spreading of the gospel in their community.

J

One of our team members, Joyce, gave her testimony in Spanish. The church really enjoyed her testimony and were impressed on how well she spoke to them in Spanish.

After church, we were invited to the pastors home for coffee. In which turned into more than just coffee, we had some excellent sweet bread, eggs with tomatoes, salsa, rolls and chocolate. We had a great time getting to know his wife, his large family, some of the church members and sharing the love of Christ. 

                                         

Pastor Fernando and his wife
We arrived back at the Hostel at 10:30 tonight and the team didn't waste too much time getting to bed. Tomorrow we start the dental clinic and I will spend time in the schools working with older kids to show them the effects of drugs and share a testimonial of a man that struggled with drugs for 20 years.

Continue to keep us in prayer.
Dios Bendiga!
Terry

Arrival in Guatemala City

Buenas Noches,
We arrived in Guatemala City ahead of schedule today and was able to get started on our ministry work.

We were greeted by Pastor Fernando and they had prepared a spaghetti lunch with tortilla's. We were able to help the VBS by cutting out characters for tomorrow's lesson. I spent some time working with a church member, Freddy, the finer points of being a puppeteer. He is looking forward in testing his new skills tomorrow. We plan on putting together a small stage to use for the puppet shows.

The team assembled the dental kits for the 180+ students and 20 kits for the teaching staff at the Precious Moments School on Wednesday. It took us a little over an hour to put together these kits together.

Danielle didn't waste anytime reconnecting with her friends from Guatemala.

Everyone is a bit tired from the travel/work day and we are really back on track after getting a delayed start. Tomorrow is going to be a long day as we have a full day of service and we will be participating in the Tuesday night church service. Should have much more to write about tomorrow of all of the various services that we will be doing.

Dios Bendiga,
Terry

GCM 2015 Arrival Delayed

We made our 5:30AM early morning departure from Minneapolis and actually were ahead of schedule by the time we landed in Atlanta. We made our way to the international terminal and it seemed that we would be in Guatemala City as scheduled. The pilot announced that the airport in Guatemala City had to close because of the Volcano Fuego (Fire) erupted and the wind had blown the volcanic ash onto the airport. The airport was hoping to reopen soon, but at the time of the announcement, the airline decided to cancel the flight and reschedule it for Monday morning at 9AM. The airport is expected and may already be reopened for flights to continue their normal operation.

We have to stay in a hotel tonight in Atlanta, but will be ready to begin service at the VBS tomorrow afternoon in Guatemala City. The Monday morning VBS will continue as planned and we look forward in engaging the children at the church. We hope to participate in the serving of the meal to the community on our arrival on Monday at the church as well. We are reminded that God is in control and this is all part of serving Him and our best made plans for ministry always can be subject to change. While we wait, the team is enjoying our time together and getting a little rest from our 3AM wake up call today.

Thanks for your continued prayer.

Dios Bendiga!
Terry

Guatemala City Trip 2015 Send-Off Service

We finished our packing today and we got the service bags weighed and ready for travel. Our early morning departure from Minneapolis will get us into Guatemala City around 1:07 PM after a short stop in Atlanta. The team is looking forward in sharing God's love with the Guatemalan's.

                   Denis                          June               Vikki            Terry  Danielle        Denice

We had some family and friends come to share some time with us for the Send Off service this evening. We were able to share our schedule, service plans and prayer requests for those in attendance.  The service consisted of the pastor, Richard Payne spending some time with us and then asking everyone to lay their hands on the team. Individuals prayed for our needs and then Richard closed in prayer.

We were able to get some pictures of the team and our friends and family to share. Please pray for us through this week, as we are involved in a VBS at Planters Life Church in Zona 6 in which we are planning on approximately 200 children in the morning and afternoon sessions. We'll be helping to prepare meals for over 200 people each day while the children transition between VBS and their normal public school activities. Working with teenagers in drug awareness, a dental clinic for over 180 students at the Precious Moments School in Zona 12 and sharing the love of Christ in all that we do. Pray that we can impact our global partners, so that we may be an encouragement to them and bring more people to Christ.

Dios Bendiga!
Terry

Guatemala City Ministry 2015 (Leaves in 3 days)

Good Afternoon,

The GCM 2015 team is planning the send-off service this Saturday, 2/7 at 6:00PM in room 276.  We'll be joined by Richard Payne for a time of prayer and an overview of our ministry this year.

Our one week ministry trip officially begins on Sunday, 8 February.  We plan on arriving at 1:00PM in  Guatemala City where we will assemble the dental kits.

We'll be supporting a Vacation Bible School (VBS) with the Planters Life Church in Guatemala City Zona 6. We plan on working with the children of this community. The VBS will have 2 sessions each day in meeting the morning and afternoon public school schedules. We'll be doing a morning and afternoon VBS with up to 200 children total. We had Bibles donated for the children and plan on engaging them with puppet shows, games, songs, crafts, stories and Luis the clown. Luis has dedicated his life in working with developing children programs to deliver the gospel message.

In addition to working with the children, we'll be helping the church prepare meals each day for the community. Early in the morning a street market opens and produce, meat and grains can be purchased. Once these supplies have been acquired, we go back to the church and volunteers from the church will help prepare the meals. The team will serve the meals to the children and their parents that come for lunch. During lunch, a small program is presented to talk to the families about Christ through Luis or his sons in their clown presentations.

Another large ministry this year will be working with the Precious Moments School and 180+ students that need dental care.  We are teaming up with dentists in Guatemala City that will be seeing these children, as we perform administrative duties, helping them to learn to care for their teeth and coloring book activities. We'll be sharing the love of Christ with them, as they wait their turn to see the dentist.

A smaller ministry this year is again working with public school kids in telling them about the use of drugs and a testimonial.  We have activities for them to help them understand the effects of drugs using special goggles and gloves that affect their gross and fine motor skills.  The challenge will be for them to unwrap a candy sucker with these gloves on and with the goggles that distort their vision. 

I'll be trying to update the blog each night with pictures and some highlights of the days activities.  We are looking forward in seeing how God is going to use our team this year.

Please pray for our safety, a continued servants heart, opportunities to share the gospel and for people to come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Dios Bendiga!
Terry