It seemed like a good idea...

So this past week Nancy & I were in Guatemala City. We had to get our passports stamped for reasons of immigration. The good news is that we will be here for at least another 90 days or so. :) We hadn't plan to stay all day but we were given the option to return late in the day and pick up our passports. A single day would be spent getting "stamped". It seemed like a good idea at the time.

We were feeling encouraged that the day didn't take as long as it could have. It was about 3:30 - 4:00pm and we were headed back to Antigua. The traffic was thick so we looked for alternate methods to get through the city. We found ourselves on San Juan. The road that runs sort of parallel with Roosevelt, which is the main road returning to Antigua. I kept looking for the turn that would take us over to Roosevelt but, with the traffic, the turn became elusive. I saw this one turn that looked like it might be the one, but I wasn't sure until we had passed it. Oops. The return traffic to that street was beyond reasonable so in my wisdom it made sense that we would find yet another turn just up a little farther. This was the critical error in my thinking.

The road we were on took us into familiar surroundings. In that it looked like Guatemala. I thought this is great we should come into the North side of San Lucas, slightly out of the way but still in the general direction of Antigua. In about 60 minutes we find ourselves in the community of San Juan. I was telling Nancy that I thought this was just north of where we wanted to be. The turn we were looking for was probably just ahead. We "knew" the traffic returning the other way was still very difficult. We only needed to continue a little farther to get to where we needed to be.

The view was amazing. These roads winding through these little communities were faintly familiar. But everything we saw was new and different; still having fun we pressed on to explore the new way home. I remember thinking to myself that this just might be the road that will save us hours of travel time in the future. An alternate way to get to the city from Antigua and back again.

We came to a valley with a big river at the bottom. Overwhelmed by the grandeur of the view we pursued our destination of home. At the bottom of the valley we came to a bridge and crossed it. We saw a road sign for the next town. It was here I realized we had missed the intended shortcut and were now way north of Chimaltenango. A community just north of Antigua. Not to be discouraged CA-1, the road back into Chimaltenango, in our wisdom had to just a little farther. I realized that I had made a mistake but figured it would still be best to continue on because "the next road to home was just ahead by a couple of kilometers or so."

Over another ridge and the road was now mountainous ups and downs. The next river had a bridge that defied a certain degree of logic of whether or not we should even drive across. But "Hey the road home to safety is just a little farther ahead". Stay the course, don't turn back, the return trip on the road we have traveled will be very difficult. We are already in the middle of our mistake. We just needed to go a little farther to find the resolve.

Now, the sun is going down. The only evidence that it was still shining was the glimmer of the sunbeam rays we would see as we crested a few more mountain peaks. But in the valleys it was dark, gloomy, and not very inspiring.

For both of us at this point we had lost that adventurous spirit. We were seeing signs to Coban, Quiche, and other cities advertising hotels that didn't exist. We had no map. We had little gas, the cell phone connectivity was intermittent. We were lost. But even in the back of my mind I was thinking, "I know where I am, I am only disoriented of how to get to where I want to be. But I know where I am." My belief system and my reality were clearly out of sync and even that didn't stop us. We continued forward.

We came across a gas station/tienda (The Guatemalan Version of "RaceTrac") in the middle of nowhere. We were fortunate. The attendant spoke something that wasn't Spanish (at least Spanish was not his first language) and English, he spent 5 years in New Jersey. Go figure. But even then his English was in the realm of my Spanish. It was a brief but definitive conversation.

I found out that they only accepted cash for the gas, they had respectable bathrooms, and the road we were on did not go near Antigua. In fact, the road would eventually run out. Any other roads that might connect with another road that might connect to a road to Antigua, were all very bad roads. Had we not stopped the direction we were headed, we would have gone from bad to worse and beyond in a downward spiral direction.

We had been on the road for about 2 hours. Now it was dark. The only way home was the way we had come. We both had the thought well at least it is not raining... God has a great sense of humor. So now we are in the rain along with what seemed to be every other person in the region headed back to the Guatemala City on the same road that we were traveling, moving very slowly. It took us longer to return that it did to get there. Did I mention that fog had moved in.

We eventually arrived safely home 5 hrs from when we first left the city. We had driven an extra 140 kilometers in the wrong direction through the mountains. Both of us were numb after this experience. And I went to bed that night thanking God for saving us from all of the things that could have gone worse in this adventure.

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This was the intro to my sermon this past Easter Sunday. This map displays the intended route in green and the erroneous Route in red. Oops.

Iximche Tecpan...

Approximatley 1hr north of Antigua, is an ancient ruin. It is called Iximche. The layout is very elaborate. When you see the architects re-creation in the museum portion, it puts the magnitude into perspective. A massive layout cover nearly 10 acres of a beautiful mountain top.

It is my understanding that these ruins are the post-modern ruins of what the Mayan Civilization would have become had they not disappeared. As you go through this area there are plaquards that describe the different floor plans and what they would have been used for. Admitedly my Spanish is weak but the indication was that there were 4-5 plazas. With buildings surrounding each. These building included temples, adminstration offices, and domestic quarters. In the center of each plaza was an alter. It was a place of worship.

In fact it still is. In the back end of the complex there is a space the animal sacrifices still take place. Unfortunately it is to one of their gods. Not to the same God that I serve.

Religous differences aside it is an interesting glimpse of building techniques from ancient civiliations that used to be. I wonder what they will find from our generation should the Lord take another 5-10 thousand years to come and get us.

GMO Kids...

So we are waiting for the G-9 Mission Team from Pathways Clearwater to arrive. Nancy and Amber were in the every increasingly crowded waiting area when they found themsleves standing next to an obvious American. As is typical, when you see vans, Americans, and have time on your hands, generally conversations ensue. Most often they begin with comments such as, "Your not from around here are you?". Well as it turns out, the gentleman they were talking with is originally from Indian Rocks Beach, FL. His sending church is Harvest Temple Church in Largo. Being from Pinellas County light bulbs ignited as they know where everything is.

The mans name is Bernard Cohen. He and his wife Trish have been developing an educations and feeding program in a small community, Pannemaquin, about 20 kilometers away, up in the mountains outside of Antigua. The organization is GMO.

A couple of weeks ago Nancy and I had a chance to make the drive up to the school and take a tour. The facilities are very impressive. While we arrived while they were our of session, it did not diminish the allure this school has. It is perch on a the side of a mountain with an amazing view. It classrooms for grades Kindergarten to High School. They also have weekly chapel services.

I am not sure why I thought any different but I was amazed at the child sized pila (washing station). It makes sense since the school has a large number of small children.

The ministry is simple. 14 years ago they came into this small community of about 700 people and establish a school outreach program that feeds the students and families involved. It is very impressive. They have a full staff of local folks that have been trained to run the ministry with anywhere from 50-100 students in the program. This is a ministry that has made and is making an impact.

The Blue House...

So I meet up with a Rafael Aranada. He is the Director for an organization called Brazos de Jesus (Arms of Jesus - AOJ). This is one of those God connections. I first contacted him regarding a reference I was following up on regarding our work with the school for street kids in San Lorenzo el Tejar.

While in this meeting, I learned about the ministry that AOJ is doing in the neighboring community of Parramos. In short they are working to improve communities through education, nutrition, and housing. Since we had been involved with building homes, I inquired further. They have a home design intended to get people out of the dirt floors and bamboo walls and into a simple slab home with wood framing and a tin roof. By any standard from the US we would see this as a really nice tool shed. But for these families that recieve these homes, it changes their lives.

On the recent visit from PCC Clearwater, we put the simplicity of these homes to the test. Of the 18 team members that came that week, 5 left on Wednesday and the family units stayed through to Saturday. Of those extra days, we took one and built a couple of homes. I know that sounds odd to let that statement roll off of your tongue, "Oh yea, we built a couple of homes today..."

AOJ has been building these homes for the past 10 years, and those original homes are still standing solid. The design includes a pre-numbered assembly of 16-4x8 hardy board panels (two panels being windows and one panel being a door), 15-2x3 sticks of various lengths, 8 sheets of tin and an assortment of bolts, screws and nails. They net out to be a two room home 12'x16'. Water and electricity are optional pending what was in the orginal home and availability.

With our team of 13 plus a Nancy, Amber and myself and 3 participants from the World Race Missions Team, two homes were built averaging 2hrs and 30 minutes each. That included painting. This team went into the project not knowing first hand what we were getting into. But now we know.

These homes open up doors for outreach in many methods. Our missions goal for IDC is not to re-create the wheel. We want to enhance life and ministry for any and all in the Panchoy Valley. We have another strong mission project for any teams whether they be 15 college students or a family of 4.

Improving quality of life both physically and spiritually, that is where it is at.