Leaving Guatemala

Leaving was hard, but I think we were all pretty exhausted after the week. On Friday, Jon Nason, Ryan Johnston, and Denny Johnston and I went to a village near the orphanage to start building a house. Apparently the plans had changed since they had last discussed them when we went to get the supplies, because instead of using tin like on the other houses we had built, we were going to be using wood. We pulled up in a pickup truck with a very small bed, and had to haul back 8-12 foot pieces of timber that looked like it had been sliced off the sides of trees. Needless to say, this was a tiring adventure. We spent most of the afternoon hauling the wood to the site, since the road was about half a mile away. We only were able to get the posts in the ground, in an effort to at least give the next group who comes in an idea of how to finish building it. We had to leave because it started raining. As we were leaving the site, it was kind of surreal because it was like we were in the middle of a rain forest trekking along a muddy trail.

We left Chimaltenango and spent the last day in Antigua, which is more of a tourist destination. We were able to shop at the markets and get some unique things. We stayed at a really cool hotel with an old-world feel and beautiful court yards. The hotel rooms even locked with skeleton keys.

Overall it was a very good trip. We were able to share the love of God with the people of Guatemala by building houses, holding orphans, and leading over 500 people to Christ! Praise God for the work He is still going to continue to do in Guatemala!

Click the 'Photos' link on the right to see more pictures from Guatemala!