Guatemala City-Houston-Chicago-Cedarburg

Hola amigos! We’ve made it back to the great state of Wisconsin after a long day of travel. Here are yesterday’s highlights:

1. We dedicated the two houses that we worked on all week. The women that received the homes were filled with gratitude; it was emotional for sure. Even surrounding missionaries and the head of CALMS attended.

2. We ate one last steak lunch with the company of CALMS board members. The food, as always, was delicious, and the people interviewed us to make future trips even more awesome.

3. We had our final scenic drive back to Guatemala City on the country’s one main road. We were able to travel with some of the Guatemalans that we’d worked with all week. It was nice to learn more about them and their families before we said goodbye.

4. We had an excellent dinner at the hotel, and we readied ourselves for travel.

This morning we had a fantastic breakfast at the hotel restaurant. We packed our bags and rode the shuttle to the airport. Now we’re back and can’t wait to share more details of our Guatemalan experience with you. Thank you for your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for the people of Guatemala. Maybe next year, you’ll be writing the blog!

PEACE

Today marks the last day of construction for us. One house is completely done and wired. The construction has been behind schedule. Ramiro wants the workers to start at 6:00AM tomorrow.
Good luck with that! My friend Nils will start wiring the second house and hopefully be done by noon. I do not have the opportunity to help him as we will be doing the dedication at 10:00 and 11:00. All of us have been blessed with making many new Guatemala friends. Most people call me "Yack" because they have a hard time pronouncing the "J". Tomorrow when I present the crosses I made, all of you at First Immanuel, and River of Life are part of that cross. You have given your support, prayers, monetary gifts and etc. When these Guatemalan families pray at the cross, you at home are hearing their prayers. Thank you for your support and will see all of you soon.
Jack Baker

Hola,
Laura, Kirin, and I worked hard in the morning on the 'casa' down the hill. We also got to play with some of the neighborhood children. After lunch today we headed to the market street in Zacapa to look for a new grinding stone for a house warming gift. The street was a sensory overload awash with color, smells, and people. Our guides said they don't see many 'gringos' downtown so we enjoyed taking in the sights. Raw chicken laid out in stalls, fruits, spices, plastic goods etc. very bustling. Upon our return we already had children waiting for VBS to start. We had laid out coloring sheets and crayons. We sang songs, had a Bible skit, made a craft, and ate snacks. We then handed out toothpaste, crayons, and bubbles to every child -over 70! They were so thankful and gave us all hugs. It was a good day!
Robin Roeske

A Long Day

Hi everyone. Everything here in Zacapa is good. The work of completing the two houses and finishing the church improvements is going well and seems to be on schedule. We did have to work a little longer today to finish pouring the cement floors in both houses and didn't return to our hotel until about 6:45 this evening. We are all a bit sore as the work we did today required a lot of lifting of heavy cement bags, buckets of sand, water, and wet cement mix.
Here is an update on the church building improvements from Jack.

Lori, I had to replace the entire roof along with the rafters. However, today the church has a new roof along with a new entrance door. Nils, my Guatemalan friend, and I will rewire the church tomorrow. The dogs and even the two cats at the new house are being well fed. If time permits tomorrow, we may have the opportunity to visit Gulan and show the rest the work we did last year. Nancy I took a picture of Nils, Karla and myself to show you. It looks like we may have the houses completed by Friday's dedication. Continue to pray for us to finish and return safely to Cedarburg.
Jack



VBS once again saw more than 60 children show up to learn more about God's creation process from the book of Genesis. The kids got to make animal masks and had a lot of fun playing with them.

More tomorrow -our final day of work! God's peace.




P.S. Second Grade: There's been a Flat Erin sighting! :)

3 People, a Pinata, and a Box

Hi again! We have another day under our belts here in Guatemala, and the entire experience just keeps getting better and better! It's not that the work is easy, because it's not. It's also not because we are being treated so well, with good food and nice accommodations, although we are. It has to do with God's hand being so evident in all of our experiences down here, and the fact that we still have several days left to be here and make a difference in the lives of so many people.
Today, our work consisted of preparing floors for cementing to make the homes we are building cleaner and more comfortable for their new owners. Mixing cement here is vastly different from what we are used to where we live. Sand, gravel, and cement are put on a pile on the ground and a hole is made in the middle, making it look like a volcano. Water is poured in the middle and then the whole thing is mixed with shovels. It's hard work, but less expensive to do it this way so the cost of the new house can remain reasonable. After everything is mixed together, we carry the cement into the house in five gallon buckets where the local workers are waiting to level it into a remarkably flat and smooth floor.
The two families we are building these homes for are truly our motivation for working hard. Candida Ramirez lives with her daughter and grandson in a home right next door to where her new home is being built. She has been spending her days with us, hauling water up from the river in a bucket on her head, a walk of about a half-mile. The water is needed for the cement mixing. Candida is less than five feet tall, but is a tireless worker. You can see the joy on her face as she sees her new home take form. They live on about $213 per month and presently reside in a shelter made from tarps, old wood, wall board, and a tin roof.
Rogelia Ventura is a 59 year-old single woman who lives with her daughter and grand-daughter. She spends her days making tortillas to sell, and this brings in about $173 per month. Her old home is also right next to her new one, and we get to see her crafting her tortillas as we work. She has a sixty year-old grinding stone that she uses to prepare the corn, and her "oven" is an upside down barrel that she feeds fire wood into and cooks the tortillas on the bottom of it. Robin, Kirin and Laura tried making tortillas. Lets just say that they will leave that work to the experts next time!
It was much cooler working today with a high of 92 degrees, but some cloud cover really helped keep us from getting overheated. Praise God for small favors.
Our VBS today saw about 65 plus children in attendance. The entire thing was centered around Jesus calming the storm on the sea of Galilee. The kids made noise makers by putting beans in a cup so they could simulate the noise of the storm as Jesus slept in the stern of the boat and the disciples showed their shaky faith by being afraid. It was a lot of fun, we acted out the scene as the story was read in English and Spanish from the book of Mark. We talked with the children about times we are afraid and that we need to remember that Jesus is with us always. We gave them a snack of a juice box and a granola bar which they loved and ended our time together by singing Jesus Loves Me. The thought of doing a VBS after working hard all day at manual labor seems at first thought rather exhausting, but it really gives us a lift when we see so many children attend and participate with such energy!
As for the title of this entry: we have been observing the use of motorcycles and scooters down here. It seems that for many it's their main transportation and many people really put their machines through their paces. Today we saw on a small scooter, three people, a pinata and a large box, a record number of people and items on one two-wheeled vehicle so far. We'll let you know if the record is broken tomorrow!
God's blessings and thanks for reading. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

HI everyone

They are working me hard First day tear off the church roof along with wood beams. Today mixing concrete for the floors. Tomorrow Romero told me I would be the one to help build the new roof.
Nancy I know you are following the blog. Karla is with me every day! I even have the oportunity to see Nels. And yes I have my bones for the dogs and even a cat.
Jack Baker

Guat is HOT!

Good evening everyone!
Well, reality really set in today, our first day of work at the church and homes. After breakfast at the hotel and a short ride to the church in Las Majada, the pastor led us in a worship service, with Carla, our interpreter, keeping us informed as to what he said. Karl had the privilege of leading the group in English prayer while Kent shared a Scripture reading from 1 Cor. 13. We sang a couple of hymns in Spanish and even though we didn't understand what we were singing, we gave it all we had.
It was then off to work. Jack stayed at the church and "razed the roof", completely tearing it off so a new one could take its place. Robin, Kirin and Laura helped with the roof too, lugging all of the debris away.
Kent, Bob, Mark and Karl went to one of the house building sites and spent the morning leveling the dirt floor to make it ready for a three inch layer of cemento. As the morning progressed, it got hotter, and hotter, and hotter!
We all met for lunch on the deck of a local swimming pool. Cedarburg public pool's got nothing on this place! Actually, it was shut down and the water was a beautiful shade of green, but Boris, our driver said that with some chemicals, in a few days, it would be as clear as glass. Okay.
After lunch it was back to work. Jack and company continued their church work, and the four guys worked at the second house. This time, we mixed and poured cement down the inside of the block walls to make them stronger, and installed electric boxes in the walls, mudding them in with soupy cement. Hotter and hotter and hotter still!
We quit working on the house at 4 p.m. and walked up to the church where Robin, Kirin, Laura and Carla were holding a VBS for the local children. Carla told us to expect about twenty kids the first day, and not to worry, that it would grow as the days went by. When we got to the church, there were SEVENTY-SIX children there and four frantic leaders! It was awesome to see so many kids there. Needless to say, we are planning more activities and lessons for the next few days. Please pray for Robin, Kirin and Laura as they have this fantastic opportunity to reach so many children.
When we returned to the hotel, we relaxed a bit in the pool, with everyone but Kent taking a dip. It was really refreshing and our dinner of pork cutlet with salsa, black beans, guacamole with hard boiled eggs, potatoes and tortillas was absolutely delicious. We are being so well taken care of. A real blessing!
Thats all the news from Zacapa. Where all the men are handsome, all the women are strong, and all the children are Guatemalan!
God's blessings to you all. Thanks for following us.
Oh yeah, the HOT part. It got up to about 104 today. No wonder we're all tired! Right now its 9:20 and still seventy-five degrees. Sorry to rub it in. Maybe next trip, you should come!

2 Steaks In One Day

Today we woke up to a beautiful, sunny day at our hotel, Torre Fuerte. After a breakfast of pancakes, cereal, bananas, and coffee, Karl and Kent read Psalms 133 and 134. We said a prayer, and headed out for church. The sermon was spoken from the heart by a blind pastor from the congregation. After the service, we were thanked for coming to work in Guatemala. We then went to Maxi Bodega (a Wal*Mart equivalent) to buy snacks. Next, we visited Zacapa's Train Station Museum. Mark offered to take a picture of a group of Guatemalan men who, in turn, thanked us time and again for our friendliness. After saying our goodbyes to these fine men, we headed to a local restaurant for a steak lunch (the meat was imported from Texas). At lunch we were introduced to the women for whom we're building the houses. Through teary eyes, the women expressed their heartfelt thanks. After lunch we rode in the van to the church that we'll be re-roofing in Las Majadas. Robin attempted the moonwalk on the church's dusty floor as the local women laughed in approval. Soon after, Bob followed with the next act: the leg of his flimsy lawnchair splintered and sent him straight to the floor. (He's fine.) After regrouping, we walked down a steep hill to the first house site. A little boy, Marcos, came and hugged each one of us. We walked a few blocks to survey the next building site. We were met by a group of women making maize tortillas over an open fire. They invited the girls to try their hand at forming the tortillas. Laura produced the best one, but it was still not up to standards. Meanwhile, Jack was busy interacting with the dogs of the house, giving them treats and attention. We piled into the van and were transported back to our hotel. Kirin was given the opportunity to drive a moped around the block. The group then relaxed until dinner arrived. Guess what. Steak again! It was a delicious spread followed by a debriefing, prayer, and bed. Hasta mañana.