Guatemala 2010 Team MI/Iowa

Guatemala 2010 Paradise Bound Ministries (PBM) Mission trip
(Blog entries for each day from the Team Blog and my personal blog)
Please check out PBM main website to view all team members blogs
www.paradisebound.org Blogs are listed on the right

2010 January 18 (Team Blog Entry)
Hola from Guatemala. Team IA and most of Team MI made it here at about 3PM. Five people from the MI group are about 1 1/2 hours behind the rest of us due to a delayed check in which resulted in missing a connection. The weather is beautiful and we are glad to be here. We are getting settled and meeting one another. We are excited to begin our service here. We will keep you posted.

2010 January 18 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
Hey everyone thanks for the prayers. We made it just fine. Lost a few folks at the airport, they had to catch another flight and should be here soon. We were able to see a lot on the drive to the base, I learned a lot today. 1st: I do not like airports where no one speaks English! 2nd: I do not like driving on narrows road along the edge of a mountain, and last I do not like driving straight up hills in a 15 passenger van!
Hailey, Braedon, and Addison: I love you and miss you. I am having so much fun. I will add pictures tonight when we have more time. Hailey your Dog has had quite a few photos taken!
Jake I love you and miss you. Great drywall job. Hugs and Kisses!
Chrissy/Mom
XOXOXO

2010 January 18 (Team Blog Entry)
We are so glad that the rest of the Team from MI made it here safely (at 6:30 PM). There was a delay with customs, and they are very glad to finally be here. The rest of the group packed bags of rice, oatmeal and beans to hand out to the families of Guatemala as we interact with them. We had a delicious meal of chow mien and coleslaw. Now we are preparing for our 1st work day tomorrow and will close the night with devotions. There are many tired people here tonight, so pray that we will have sound sleep and be refreshed for tomorrow. Blessings

2010 January 18 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
Hey…have not heard about an earthquake here!! Oh was just told about it. It happened 3 hours before we arrived.
We are getting ready for bed. We need to be up at 5am and leave at 6am!
Mom that was nice about Thursday. Are you still watching them sat? 530pm till 10pm? Make sure you talk to him. He knows about it now!
night nightChrissy

2010 January 19 (Team Blog Entry)
It was an amazing first day in the village. We were up bright and early — at 5 AM and prepared to construct 5 homes. After a stimulating drive to the village, we carried our supplies down a fairly vertical incline. All of us did make it, and we were greeted by some very friendly Guatemalans. The children were so adorable and such excitement in their eyes as they watched us begin our service. We were split into 5 groups and started with instructions on how to construct the homes and began putting studs together and with pure faith and blissful ignorance. All 5 houses soon had the 4 walls up and together. At noon, we took a break and were blessed we a traditional Guatemalan meal of rice, beans, and corn tortillas for lunch. It was delicious. From there, we dry walled the interior of the home and put cement board on the exterior. Interacting with the people from the village was such a blessing to us all. We are really looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow. They love to help and be involved in the process in any way they can. The candy is a highlight too. We made it back to the base safely at about 6 PM. We had a wonderful meal and an amazing time of devotions, praising our Lord together and challenging each other to grow in Christ. We are so thankful for your prayers. We will be up again at 5 AM tomorrow and return to further complete the home. But more on that tomorrow.

2010 January 19 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
Hey everyone. We survived another day! Today was amazing; we met the families we are building homes for. We framed, dry walled, and cement boarded the houses. 5 total. We need to finish roofs, and the outsides. My home is for a man and his 4 children. The wife passed away 6 years ago, I am not sure yet. We invited him to help us build his home and he smiled from ear to ear. It was great having his help and interacting with all the children. I will post pics when I figure out how. I was able to share my milk with the families today. The mothers and grandmothers drank the most and waited at my worksite for me to pump more!! Oh man the stories I get to share with you all!!
We dedicate the home to the families on Thur. Fri and sat we do medical clinincs. Sunday we get free time and are going to Antigua sp? To shop.
We are in Chimaltenago, Guatemala.
Jake be careful. I would move here and live on base with Dan and his family. And become missionary life'er. We will discuss this more when I return! Can not wait to show you pictures. Love you…kiss the kids for me.
Chrissy

2010 January 20 (Team Blog Entry)
We are starting to get our days confused now. Today (Wednesday) we were up again at the wonderful hour of 5AM. Supplies were loaded, breakfast consumed, and we were ready to go by 6 AM. Before departure, we offered a Guatemalan style prayer. That is when we all pray aloud at the same time. We know that God can sort it out. We also pray like this every time we are going to travel. We need God’s protection! God is so faithful! We were able to complete the sanding, put on a 2nd coat of mud, sand again so that the inside of the homes are now ready for a coat of paint tomorrow. We worked together as an entire team to stucco the outsides of the homes after that. We then added a porch roof that will come in very handy during the rainy season here. The families were all very happy with the progress and are eager to move into their new homes. We had a lot of time to interact with the children of the village today. They loved to play games such as “keep away”. The girls got their fingernails painted and they were all so eager to learn English. We taught them the song “God is Good” and Hallelujah/Praise Ye the Lord” They also learned how to say Hello and Good bye and how to count to 10. They were so proud. We arrived home at 5:30 and are now preparing to bring gifts to the family as well as dedicate the home to them tomorrow. Pray for health on our team. One of our members is not feeling well. She is having altitude sickness and hopes to be well as soon! Blessings until tomorrow.
2010 January 20
We wanted to share one God story from today. After stuccoing 3 homes, it looked as though we were going to run short of the material. We still had 2 homes to go. Well, after finishing all 5 homes, we had a whole wheelbarrow of stucco left. We felt like it was the feeding of the 5000. Praise God. He always provides!

2010 January 20 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
Only have a sec but good morning. I love you all. Hailey I am glad you have not had to eat pickles!! Braedon Merry Christmas. Addison…my little monkey I miss you. Jake thanks for being such a great dad and husband! I am so thankful to be here.
It’s 5am right now and we are getting ready to head out and finish up our houses. Have a great day and I’ll check in again later. I love you and have a great day!
Love, Mom, mamma, Mommy, Chrissy, Tina, Christina, and so on! XOXOXO

2010 January 20 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
Today was an amazing day. We are almost finished with our houses. The roof goes on tomorrow and then we are done. I am excited to present the families with their house gifts.
We are getting ready to eat dinner now. Hope to chat with you soon

2010 January 21(Team Blog Entry)
Words can not even begin to describe today. We started again at (you guessed it) 5AM. When we arrived at the village, all of the people were so happy to see us again and we were so excited to see them. We have really built a relationship with them-the need to speak the same language is irrelevant. We painted the homes and put on the roofs. We then personalized each home with a painting, scripture verse and handprints so that those we were there to serve would be able to feel the love of God each and every day in their home. We were able to surprise each family with a bed today too. The looks on their faces were priceless. The afternoon was all about dedicating the houses. We prepared for this already last night and this morning. We knew the devil would be at work and he was. When it came time to dedicate the homes, the entire group would surround the home and pray and sing and read scripture while the family who built the home and the Guatemalan family were inside having the gospel presented. It was spiritually exhausting yet exhilarating at the same time. Each and every family accepted Christ! Praise God! We saw new birth in Christ. We were so privileged to witness newborn Christians. It is an experience that is difficult to even process. Thank you for uplifting us with your prayers where you are. God worked in mighty ways today and we were privileged to be a part of it.

2010 January 21 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
Hola!Before I read my daily devotional this morning I asked God to fill me with the Holy Spirit. I asked him to use me to be a light so that others may see that Jesus is the only way to salvation. I prayed for him to allow me to rid of all my anxieties and self control so that I may follow His will. I asked that my heart my be free to give the love of Jesus to all I see today. Then as I read my devotional it was about giving everything up to God. Allowing him to be in control, trusting in Him fully. It said that he will never let me fall. It led me to one of my favorite verses. Proverbs 3 verses 5-6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, Remember the lord in all you do and he will give you success. I totally feel that this is a God moment for me today.Today friends and family I ask for you to be in prayer for us all day. We are going to be up against the devil today face to face. We are dedicating the homes to the families in the name of Christ. We are preaching to them the love of Jesus and asking if they want to join us in the eternal love of the father. We know that the devil has a hold on these families and need to break the chains and free them.
Thanks again for all prayers and love.Chrissy, God’s little servant!

2010 January 21 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
Words can not express the emotions I felt today. As we prayed outside each house waiting to hear if the family was going to be saved was amazing. Grown men and women just singing praises to God, reading scriptures out loud and praying Guatemala style! (This is everyone praying out loud at the same time) For those of you who know I do NOT pray out loud. And for the last 4 days I have. I have sung out loud without music, read scripture aloud, and prayed out loud. I am again in awe of the finger prints of God. I have been asking God the last few months to help me be better in my prayer time. Then I come here and I have prayed more then I have in the last year. I feel compelled to pray before I make any move so that I know it is fully what God wants me to do. And now when I return to the states I begin my bible study…becoming a women of prayer. I look forward to seeing God challenge me in this.As today as we prayed with our families I was able to first hand witness a widowed dad and 5 of his children come to Christ. It was amazing, even more than amazing, beyond human vocabulary amazing to see her filled with the holy spirit, crying and singing and begging the Lord to live in her heart and give her salvation. AMEN. Ugh I wish you could have all been there. She is only 13 years old but seems so grown up.Again I thank you all for your prayers and support. This trip is something I have needed for a long time. I am feeling rejoiced, filled with the holy spirit, on fire for Christ. I am looking forward to coming home and showing you all my pictures and sharing my stories.As you go about your day sing to your self these words: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like methat was my song today. I sang it about 60 times!! XOXOXO
Have a great week. I love you and miss you.Chrissy


2010 January 22(Team Blog Entry)
Today was full of life in Christ. We were able to sleep in until the whopping hour of 7 AM. We really did get our much needed rest. We all had a personal devotion time to prepare for the medical clinic. We then put meds in bags and prepared gifts to give to those in the village. After lunch we loaded up the vans are left for the village. Although we left on time, we ran into a little glitch when we found out that they were repaving the road. It was going to be a 4 hour wait. We decided to take a different route to the village, but were again stopped when one of the vans began to leak transmission fluid. Praying over Dan seemed the right thing to do, and after that, Dan was led to call a different truck and after about an hour and a half another truck was able to pick us up and we were on our way to the village. The truck happened to be an open rack and the men were all chivalrous and took a ride in the open air the rest of the way. We made it there at 5:30 PM. Those in the village were eagerly waiting for us. They were very friendly and we were able to break the ice by taking pictures of them and then showing them the pictures on our digital cameras. They giggled and giggled. We pulled out colors and coloring books for the kids and we found that the adults loved them just as much. And of course they liked the candy. This was a small village of about 15 families, and they all had the opportunity to get the medicine they needed. We showed them the Jesus film and Hermano Jesus delivered a powerful message. The call was made to accept Jesus and the entire village–including old, teenage and young accepted Christ. We gave them all a New Testament Bible as well as food care package consisting of beans, rice and oatmeal. We were so excited a blessed. They are such sweet people. Blessings until tomorrow.

2010 January 22 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
Good morning from Guatemala.We were allowed to sleep in this am but as I expected I was up by 5:30am! I was able to spend time in my devotional and read roman’s chapter 8. If you have time read it as it has given me encouragement. Esp. verses 30-the end. How amazing is God’s love. We are sorting pills right now for the medical clinic and some are building a sub floor for apartments that they are adding to the base for short term missionaries…So Jake we could stay in our own apartment here for 2-3 months at a time, PLEASE.We are leaving shortly around noon for our first medical clinic and will not return until around midnight. SO this will be my only post today. Love and miss you all.Hasta luago!Chrissy

2010 January 23(Team Blog Entry)
Today was full of life in Christ. We were able to sleep in until the whopping hour of 7 AM. We really did get our much needed rest. We all had a personal devotion time to prepare for the medical clinic. We then put meds in bags and prepared gifts to give to those in the village. After lunch we loaded up the vans are left for the village. Although we left on time, we ran into a little glitch when we found out that they were repaving the road. It was going to be a 4 hour wait. We decided to take a different route to the village, but were again stopped when one of the vans began to leak transmission fluid. Praying over Dan seemed the right thing to do, and after that, Dan was led to call a different truck and after about an hour and a half another truck was able to pick us up and we were on our way to the village. The truck happened to be an open rack and the men were all chivalrous and took a ride in the open air the rest of the way. We made it there at 5:30 PM. Those in the village were eagerly waiting for us. They were very friendly and we were able to break the ice by taking pictures of them and then showing them the pictures on our digital cameras. They giggled and giggled. We pulled out colors and coloring books for the kids and we found that the adults loved them just as much. And of course they liked the candy. This was a small village of about 15 families, and they all had the opportunity to get the medicine they needed. We showed them the Jesus film and Hermano Jesus delivered a powerful message. The call was made to accept Jesus and the entire village–including old, teenage and young accepted Christ. We gave them all a New Testament Bible as well as food care package consisting of beans, rice and oatmeal. We were so excited a blessed. They are such sweet people. Blessings until tomorrow.

2010 January 23 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
Good morning. It’s about 7am. We slept in today and I already feel as though my morning is half over. We arrived home last night at midnight. Just as planned but our trip to the village was anything but as planned, Our 1 1/2 hour trip turned into 4 hours. The route we were supposed to take was backed up and we were told it was a 4 hour wait. Strike one from the devil. So we decided to take and different route that would add an extra hour to our trip. This route entailed driving up a steep mountain and back down the other side. As we approached the top someone noticed that there was fluid leaking from under one of the vans. We stopped and found out the transmission fluid was pouring out. So here we sit on the top of a mountain trying to head to the village. Strike two from the devil trying to stop us today. We arrived in the village around 5pm. this was a very small village of about 15 families, maybe 50 people. This village was so so thankful as we handed out gifts to everyone. The kids enjoyed a small game of soccer with the men and the mothers and children enjoyed about 2 hours of coloring with the women. We played ball with them, colored, played with small toys we brought, handed out hair ties, tooth brushes, soap and meds.We just loved on these kids. I still can not get over how sweet they were. Just hugs around. I was amazed on how many babies there was this time. There was one baby I was drawn to she was 8 months old just like Addison. I was playing with as she was on her mothers back. She was giggling as I would say boo or snuggle was face with hers. After a while I asked the mother if I could hold hr and she said yes. So I did and she was so sweet she would snuggle her face in my neck as I rocked her back and forth. She would let out little baby giggles as I played with her.After a while we finished handing out meds to the families we watched the Jesus film in Spanish. I sat on the ground and held a sleeping 5 year old that was the size of Braedon who is 3. She slept the whole hour film. When the film was over we stood at the front the group and sang a few songs. When we were done singing Hermano Jesus preached and when we were done the whole village joined us in a circle to ask Jesus for salvation. We sang a few more songs and began to pack up. We left around 11:45pm.It was another amazing day to see god’s hand at work. To see that although we had a plan and a time schedule we needed to learn patience and believe that he will put us on the right schedule.We are going to leave at noon for another village and return late as this one (if things go with out error) is 2 1/1/2 hours away. I love you Jake, Hailey, Braedon and Addison. See you soon.Love Mom, Chrissy, Tina!!! Or as my plane ticket says Christian.

2010 January 24(Team Blog Entry)
As for the 2nd half of yesterday’s blog –When we made it to the clinic, we could tell that these people had had a medical clinic before. The kids mobbed us the families were excited to have us there. After a long night, showing the Jesus film and being invited to accept Christ; many people in the village accepted Christ or renewed their commitment. Some are still looking and have not yet accepted Him, but we will continue to pray. We finally made it home and were ready for bed.Today is a shopping day and a little bit of recreation. We’ll let you know how it goes. Until later!Pray that we all stay healthy and have a safe trip home tomorrow.

2010 January 24 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
Good morning. This morning we are allowed to sleep in as we did not get home until after 1am. It was a long hot night. We went to the “coast” last night. No we did not see any water but a few muddy streams in the village. The sun was out early this morning and it heated up quite fast. I was so thankful that we were allowed to wear shorts. I do think I finally burned off some of my carbs last night. Our drive in to the village was not what I would call pleasant. It was a never ending drive up and around a mountain, massive bumps and steep cliffs. I was amazed that anyone could even drive a vehicle where we did let alone 3 15 passenger vans.This village was so different from the one the night before. This village has so many children. So many children that I think they are worried they may not get something too. Although we did bring enough stuff for all. We started by handing out some candy and coloring with the children. It turned very quickly into mass greedy chaos. I do not want to write a negative entry about this village but the manners were lacking in a major way. I do want to say though that after the Jesus film was done and Herman Jesus was praying I saw such a different side of the village. I saw interest in what he was saying; I saw spiritual battles going on inside families. Slowly we all found seats among the people a quietly prayed for them as they listened to the message Hermano had for them.When it came time to ask for salvation it took a while for people to step forward. No, the whole village did not step forward this time but quite a few did. Now what I did observe last night was so sincere. It was true begging of God to forgive them, begging him to take these heavy burdens off their shoulders. I saw people wanting Christ in their hearts and eternal life along side Him. I do think this village was a lot more intense then the one the night before. So although it seemed as though this was going to be a negative experience for me it ended up being so amazing by the end.Today is what we call our “free” day. We are going to the village of Antigua SP? To go SHOPPING!!! I am so excited although my stomach does not feel great today. We leave tomorrow morning at 4am to head to the airport and I will get into Michigan around 8:30pm not getting home until around midnight 1am. We have a 7 hour delay in Houston so we are going to go tour the city for a few hours. So that should be fun, I am so excited to share stories with you and show pictures when I can. I miss you Jake and kids. See you in a few days.Love Chrissy/mommy

2010 January 24 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
I finished my shopping early today so here we sit in the most amazing McDonald’s EVER. I am sitting outside in the free internet cafe they have catching up on my emails. I am having a great time. I am excited to see my family but so sad to leaves the ones here. I have made some real neat friendships through sharing personal testimonies. It is awesome to see how God put this team together. I do not think things would be the same if the teams were different. I started to fill ill last night when we arrived home and it progressed as the morning went on. I was give E-coli meds to help ease the symptoms. I feel a better, a little nauseated and light headed but it is getting better. I could use prayers as tomorrow is a long day of travel. Pray that we are able to enjoy our 7hr lay over in Houston. I again am just amazed by God’s plans for our lives. I look forward to returning home and continuing to grow in my friendships with some people I met on this trip. I am looking forward to seeing our families grow together in Christ. We learn so much from each other. Well off to go sip on some sprite and wait for our meeting time. to head back home. We are heading to bed early tonight was we have to leave for the airport at 4am UGH. I look forward to keep growing in my faith. Our God is an Awesome God!Chrissy

2010 January 26 (Chrissy Blog Entry)
Hello from Michigan! I made it home safe and actually a few hours early. We were all able to catch a flight 4 hours early! Thanks Brian. I am now in that transition to “normal” life and not sure what to do. I am trying to reflect on my trip and determine what God wants me to do. I am feeling so called to enter the mission field but I need to focus on prayer and make sure it is not just post mission high! I will keep you updated! I again am so thankful for all the prayers and support from everyone. God is amazing and I am glad to be his child.Chrissy