Guatemala Mission Trip #5

Back in Chilmaltenango, Guatemala again for the 5th time and for the second year in a row, the van that I was driving was pulled in a routine license check...no problems, though, as usual.

We have been very blessed by the Guatemalan Myans with the 16 houses that we built. We shared lunches with the families as we ate our lunches. We shared soccer balls with the families as well as with random kids in the community. The families were extremely thankful but were proud of the few things that they had. They didn't hesitate to share their house with us. My teams first house took the longest because the homeowner had to dig the side of a hill out from the side of a hill. It was very difficult for the team to get up to the house. The post holes were extremely hard to dig due to the many rocks in the soil. Our other 3 houses were constructed much faster. It still amazes me that in most cases the families tear down their current homes down and wait for us to build their new home, which is by far more superior to their previous house.

Kip also shared several soccer balls with the principal of the village school, who he observed playing soccer during PE with a flat ball.

As a Christian, you never know who is watching you. After we finished up our house dedications today, a lady and her daughter invited us into her house and wanted to give us presents. They were handmade Guatemalan purses, shoulder bags, etc. that they had made and/or purchased. They wanted to give us presents because they had observed us working throught the village and they were so grateful that we were helping families in their community and sharing the love of Christ with them.

While we had all of our backpacks with camerals, money, ipods, phones, money, VISA cards, passports, etc. stolen from two of our vans while on the zipline at Lake Atatlan, we have tried to keep this evil from stopping our fellowship and work here in Guatemala. Three of us had to spend all day in Guatemala City on Monday to get replacement passports so we could back back home on Thursday so we missed one day in the village. We were very thankful that no one walked up on the vehicles while they were being robbed.

...another rewarding mission trip. It was great to be on the trip with one of my best friends from high school, Mitch, who we have rekindled our friendship.

In Christ,
Jeff Troutman