Our hotel

Here's the courtyard of our hotel. A pool, aviary, good food, but no hot water in the rooms!

We're in the hot culture

Well we made through travel day, and we're in Guatemala! Overall, travel went well with only a few hours delayed through customs when seemed to not like something in our documentation, an then suddenly they said: fine, just take your stuff and go. And off we went.

We traveled part way to our destination before dark and stayed at a nice, although very different than U.S. "nice", hotel. But it's a beautiful spanish building, and this is the first hotel we've been at that has an aviary with several macaws (or something like that) that are brilliant shades of red and green.

Today we're off across the lake for a final day of prep and organization before heading out to the local churches we're supporting tomorrow. We keep bein reminded to leave our scedule-driven culture behind as we prepare to serve in this "event-driven" one. Things start when they start, and end when they end!

Last Day Before Travel

One more day to go, and our bedroom is an explosion of clothes, bags, and stuff we're bringing!  We often think that most of the people going on this trip are going by themselves, and have only one person to pack for.  Multiply that by six and it becomes an endurance event to make sure 9 days of clothes are actually all clean (and still have something to wear for the last day or two of this week).  We are very ready to be done with planning and get this adventure underway.  We both have things pretty much wrapped up at work, have some homework for the kids to take along, and have checked, re-checked, and revised our packing list.  We're ready to go!

One big thing we would love prayer for is family health.  It will be a full-time task to make sure the kids remember to not eat or drink something that will make them sick.  In addition, Pierce is trying to get over a cold/virus this week and Rachel is starting the same cough he just had.  Not what you want the day before leaving!  We know this trip is well established, and maybe even somewhat of a cushy trip as far as mission trips go, but we still have four young kids to look out for in an environment they have never been in.

Other than that, we are ready and excited to go!  We are told there is WiFi at the hotel we are staying and are planning on giving updates as the days progress.  Stay tuned!

There is also a group blog they are planning on updating with each day's activity:
http://dailychickenbus.blogspot.com/

Six days!

We are starting to pack our things. Clothes for warmer weather, check, flip flops!! Check, medicines in case anyone gets sick, check...... The kids are excited, we have been listening to some of the Spanish songs that the kids will be singing, of course they have picked them up quickly. We have now perfected how to make a heart and giraffe from a balloon! The kids are memorizing their favorite bible verse in Spanish. Alayne is trying to learn how to be organized and flexible at the same time for a family of six! Joel is running whatever errands need to be run and keeping sanity amongst the rest of us. Cody, the dog, has no idea that he is going to the kennel and can't figure out why no one will play ball with him!


Our flight leaves at 5:00am Saturday morning, we have to be at church at 3:00 to get on the bus. We are dropping off all of our checked luggage Friday night, so we don't have to deal with it Sat morning.

We are planning to keep updates coming. Our hotel does have wifi, so we will see how that goes! If you look at a map, we will be staying in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. We are excited and know that none of this can happen without God.

Alayne, Joel, Pierce, Christopher, Rachel, and Minzi

What can we offer?

So, we have many years of college studying engineering, seventeen more learning even more in practice, twelve years of parenting, fifteen years learning how to be married, and many volunteer leadership roles across a wide range of places. So how can we use these experiences in rural Guatemala, with people who may not speak English? And we don't speak Spanish? (although the kids do!). Well, that is one of our biggest growth and learning experiences so far.

We have lots of practice designing, fixing, leading, and generally getting things done. Now we are faced with a new challenge: a region, culture, and circumstances where "get 'er done" is much less important than "how are you doing?". For all the "love your neighbor" Bible studies have we discussed academically, it's now time to stretch the comfort of our habits and take action on what we say is the most important aspect of live: people. This trip isn't about telling those that we meet the great things we've learned, but using the wisdom from our experience, letting others tell us what they need, and simply being there to help make someone else successful in the efforts they already are working on.

Our job in Guatemala is to meet with several churches there and help make them successful. It's not about how we can change what they are doing, as if we know better what their own people need. It's about us taking the time to understand them and step in to lift them up in their efforts, provide encouragement, and show them that love can cross cultural and social boundaries just because that's what God wants us to do. He made us in His image, an image of love. And that's the best we have to offer!

We are starting the countdown!

We have now realized that we are leaving two weeks from today!! Our family has been assigned teams and we are preparing for what we will do on those teams. Joel is on a computer team that will be setting up a computer lab at one of the churches. The laptops are being configured this morning, and will be brought down in carry-on luggage by some of the adults on the team. Alayne and the kids will be working with a children's team that will be putting on a little show for the local schools and playing with the kids there. We are also preparing for this. The kids will have the chance to give their testimony (in Spanish) in front of the Guatemalan school kids, as well as recite their favorite verse, in Spanish. The pastor who is organizing this team is a professional clown, so we are learning how to make balloon animals!! Our dog has not been happy about the balloon experiments!! As we are getting close, here are some specific prayer requests for our family:

Joel and Alayne

To not be so caught up in the details that we miss what God wants to teach us

For smooth preparations

For both of our jobs to not be too demanding so we can get everything done before we go

For our funding

The kids

To open their hearts to this n experience

To be helpful in getting their part of things done these next two weeks.

Thank you for you support. We appreciate and love all of you!

Packing day

Part of the needs of the villages we will visit are basic necessities, things we pretty much take for granted here. There are many places all around the world we hear about that have similar needs, and this is an opportunity for us to share what we have. Some of the items we packed were shoes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, vitamins, soap, pens, and water filters. These all were sorted and packed into travel bags that fit under the airline size and weight allowances. Here are a few pictures of the kids sorting and packing one of the cartfulls of things we're bringing. They did a great job!