Grace Missions Blog

Good morning!  It is a little after 5:00AM and the kitchen crew is cooking breakfast and a few folks are beginning to stir.  All is well.  Lord willing, we will update tonight if the net works correctly.

I think this is going to be a great week of ministry!  Twenty of the forty-five North Americans arrived on Saturday for a couple of days of relaxation, sight seeing, et cetera.  I am in that last twenty-five arriving today.

Here is my day thus far – I ask Soy to take me to the airport (first mistake) to catch my 6:00AM Delta flight.  He arrives at the house shortly before 4:10AM – all is good!  However, he drives (second mistake) like a little old lady on a Sunday afternoon i.e. 35 miles per hour – killing me!  He basically “throws” me to the curve when we reach the airport at 4:45AM and leaves me to manage my four bags.  Appreciate the help!  No need to hang around and make sure everything is good to go!

No customers at the Delta counter which is good – maybe not!  Flight cancelled!  Only one flight per day out of Atlanta to Guatemala.  (Delta failed to notify me of the cancellation)  One seat on a flight out of Pensacola at 6:35AM which will allow me to make my connection in Atlanta.  No problem – call Soy and have him come take me to Pensacola.  Cell phone?  Why would Soy have his cell phone on?  The rental car agencies in the airport are not open and the taxis do not come until mid-morning.  However, one cab driver just left MOB so the kind lady with Delta calls him and he says that can be back in ten minutes.  We leave MOB headed for PNS shortly after 5:00AM.

Nikklos “preacher man” Kidd is my cab operator/owner.  He tells me that he does not speed – I believe him!  (Does drive faster than Soy!)  Call Delta and ask the lady to hold that plane!  The Lord is good as the traffic in Pensacola is very light and we catch most of the traffic lights on green.  Arrive curbside at 6:20AM.  “Preacher Man” Kidd helps me (unlike Soy) get my four bags to the Delta counter.  (For $180 he should have carried me onto the plane!)  A very kind lady (Marisa) is waiting on me at the Delta counter and hands me my boarding passes and tells me to hurry through TSA.  (Everyone has helped up to this point except – Soy!)  Get through TSA and board the plane – that would be seat E on row 37.  (Can you say next to the last row with an engine view?)

Sitting beside me is a very nice young mother, Kristy, and her nine month old son, Jacob.  For some reason, Jacob wants me to hold him.  He finally tires of me and goes back to his mother and I go to sleep – for about five minutes.  Jacob hits me which awakens me and he wants to sit in my lap.  Life is good!  We are ten minutes or so into the flight when Jacob decides to deposit his last three meals on me!  He did not “spit up” but rather he lost his stomach!  From my chest to my knees!  Nice!  I have never used the “call” button but I did in one frantic sweep as I handed Jacob back to mom!  The Delta attendants were very kind and helped clean me up – even offered me a bottle of liquor!

Kristy was distraught.  She offered me money so I could buy a new shirt in the Atlanta airport.  I demanded an entire outfit!  LOL!   Know what Jacob wants?  To sit in my lap.  Mom said no but I said “sure” and Jacob was asleep in less than 30 seconds.  (I had phenergan with me – just kidding!)  And some folks do not believe God has a sense of humor!

P.S. – Could not access the net last night.  Everyone is safe & sound.  The folks who came early fished, zipped, and fed the bears.  The rest of us arrived safely and we did the usual Pollo Campero thing for supper, met briefly, and went to bed.

Deidra sent me an e-mail and said that Soy is sick – cry me a river!  LOL!

It is Friday morning, 7/29, and all members of our GRACE team have arrived home safe and sound.  Ross Genzink and I were talking the airport yesterday about how that isn’t to be taken for granted as God gave us traveling mercies to Guatemala, in Guatemala, and on the way home.  We give God the glory!

This team did very, very well.  Their attitudes, actions, and everything else were great.  Our numbers for this team were down a bit this year but I think that will be a different story next year.

I appreciate each person who led in any way and I won’t begin naming folks lest I forget someone.  God knows each thing that was done and He will reward accordingly.

In closing, it was great having folks praying for the team and keeping up through this blog.  Thank you!

Different day!  The group left early yesterday morning after our devotional time and their destination was Lake Atitlan.  Good plan!  However, a mudslide closed the road and they never got to the lake.  Could see it but couldn’t get to it.  So, they visited some Mayan ruins and just hung out all day looking for Molino’s!  Louise Mason & I joined them at Paulino’s for supper.

It is shortly before 6:00AM here and two of our team members are already in the airport waiting to catch an early flight.  The rest of us leave here at 8:30AM and have a 12:35PM flight.  Pray for us to have safe travels today.  We have had a good trip and we give God the glory!

In closing, I am grateful you have followed this team via the blog.  Thanks for your interest and prayers!

Good day!  Yes, our Tuesday was a good day of ministry and some relaxation.  We began the day with our morning devotion time and then left for Alotenango around 8:30AM.  Ross Genzink led a dedication team, Pastor Max Lara led a second dedication team, and I took the third dedication team.  We presented each family that received a house some gifts including a Bible.  As always, the families seemed very grateful to have been blessed with a house and the other things.

The team stopped in Antigua shortly after noon and ate lunch and did some quick shopping.  This was literally their first opportunity to exchange money.  Then it was back to the mission house where they quickly sorted clothes and we then headed for a village just east of Tecpan to distribute clothes and food.  We saw between 350 – 400 folks come through the line but that is only half of the story.  Those folks came from some pretty great distances and then stood in a fairly significant rain just to get that bag of food and the articles of clothing.  Wow, I am always amazed by that!

Domino’s cooked supper tonight and we were joined by Pastor Max & family along with Samuel & his family.  Great fellowship.  Louise cooked a blackberry cobbler that was excellent!  For a cranky old woman, she is a pretty good cook!

Keep praying that we we will finish well.  I so appreciate you taking the time to read these entries.

Well it wasn’t just as we had drawn it up but it ended as we had prayed.  Yes, God is good!  Our day began with a word from the Word by Pastor Bob.  We then headed to Alotenango and were on the building sites by 9:00AM.  The rains came about 10:30AM and didn’t stop  until 5:00PM.  However, this team did as many others have done and just kept working through the rain as there was no lightning.  At the end of the day they had completely finished 10 more houses.  So, tomorrow will be spent dedicating houses and doing village ministry.  Again, we give God the glory for all He has done.

It happens every mission trip – there is that one “special” moment that just touches your heart.  (Better get your kleenex ready!)  I am putting sand in the wheelbarrow in order to mix cement.  I have my back to the house being built but I hear Ross say, “You want to wear my rain pancho in order to warm up?”  I fully expect to hear Ross’ wife reply but instead hear Pastor Bob Harvey say “No, I’m okay!”   Is that a sweet moment or what?  I just had to walk away and reflect on the tenderness of the moment!  I think Ross & Bob have bonded!

We are having a blessed trip.  Thanks for caring enough to read this entry.  Keep praying!

We had an uneventful Sunday.  Our day began late (8:00AM) with a devotional word from Pastor Bob and then we headed to the services at Su Presencia.  Dr. Tico had asked me to preach in that service and he was gracious enough to translate for me.  The preaching was so so at best but the musical worship was great!

Las Antorchas in Antigua was our next stop and we enjoyed an excellent meal with great service.  However, Antigua was majorly crowded as it was “The Day of Antigua” whatever that means.  So, (with great hesitation) I decided that we would not shop because of the crowd.  The team members were very “flexible” and we came back to the mission house for an afternoon of fellowship.

The team members filled plastic eggs with candy and then hid them in the front of the mission house.  (Pastor Bob’s definition of hiding an egg is to lay it on the concrete parking lot!)  Around 5:00PM the boys from Vencedores at Casa Aleluya arrived and the eggs were found in a matter of minutes.  Soccer, running in the woods, picking berries (black, red, green), and other games consumed their time.  The boys were treated to hot dogs, chips, cookies and a drink.

I am very grateful to Dr. Mike Clark for allowing us to host the boys and to Lee & Candy Sugiyama (dorm parents) for bringing them here.

It is now almost 8:00PM and four guys are in the kitchen “cooking” supper – oh my!  Pray for us tomorrow as we attempt to build the final ten houses.  I think we can get it done if the weather is favorable.  God has been so good to this team in that regard.

Again, thanks for your prayers and for caring enough to read this entry.  All is well here and we give God the glory!  He is awesome!

God  is good!  Pastor Bob brought us a good word from The Word (Luke 15) this morning.  We then headed to the village where we would be working arriving there around 8:30AM where we were met by 39 folks from Trinity Baptist in the Memphis, TN area.  Assignments were made and off we went to build houses with a goal of completely finishing 10 today.  Mission accomplished!  I told you that God is good!

The two teams blended together nicely and displayed much patience as the afternoon slowed down waiting on the concrete teams and the finishing teams.  However, they entertained the children and just had super attitudes!

The TN team came very prepared to make some special donations to the 10 families that received houses today.  I am sure the dedications are going to be sweet!

Yes, two members of the TN team were asked to go find the green board stretcher and after about one hour of diligently searching they came back to share it could not be found.  They even came back for a description of it but to no avail!  Hilarious!

Kathy Genzink, Louise Mason, & Teresa Lara have supper ready so I am headed to a hot shower and a nice meal.  Thanks for being interested enough to read this blog and to pray for us.

I pray that you will have a great Sunday in your church service tomorrow!

The Lord blessed and we had a great second day of this trip.  Breakfast was followed by our morning devotion at 6:30AM and then we were out the door at 8:00AM arriving at the work site at 9:00AM.  We were blessed with a day of no rain which was great regarding the work.

As we walked away from the work site, this team had 10 houses completely finished and ready to be dedicated.  So, we now will go to another village today and join with a team that has never built houses here before to build 10 more.  This will be a challenge as these folks are from TN and teaching them even how to hold a hammer will be monumental.  Again, we will need a good weather day in order to completely build 10 houses today.

We did have one problem yesterday.  One of our young ladies was sent to borrow the “green” board stretcher from Ross Genzink’s team.  They didn’t have it and after about thirty minutes of searching she returned to tell us it had disappeared!  The good news is that another one of our young ladies offered to go help her look.  So, two blondes looking for one board stretcher  – you get the picture!

Pastor Bob is happy as his “man purse” arrived last night!  He was walking around singing “o happy day” or something like that!

The young lady who suffered the cut is doing great as she worked all day with no problems.

Louise Mason & Teresa Lara were our cooks for the day yesterday – awesome supper!  Of course, most “old” people can cook!  LOL!

Pray for us!  Thanks for taking the time to read this blog!

We had a good day of travel yesterday as both the Delta & Continental flights arrived in Guatemala at 11:00AM. We stopped for a quick meal on the way in to the mission house arriving around 2:15PM.

In a move that one our GRACE teams has never made before, most of the team then left at 3:00PM and headed to our work site for the week arriving there shortly after 4:00PM.  It was raining really hard upon our arrival in Alotenango but we began the process of building houses.  When we stopped for the day, we had 3 houses ready for cement and a fourth about 3/4 of the way ready.  Great start to our week – praise the Lord!

In another move that one of our GRACE teams has never made before, I took one of our team members to a local private hospital last night where see received about 8 or 9 stitches in a cut on her shin.  Pretty nasty looking cut.  The hospital was good and the doctor was excellent!  He even spoke fluent English!  Many thanks to Dr. Tico for going with us to the hospital.

Who was it that got cut?  Don’t worry it was only a Yankee!  She is a real trooper and the cut sidelined her for the last few minutes of the day yesterday but it will not keep her down.  By the way, the emergency room visit and the antibiotics cost Q360 which equates to $45.

It should be noted that Pastor Bob Harvey did not go to the work site as he lost his purse!  No joke!  I’m concerned about a man who brings a purse on a mission trip!

It should be noted that Ryan Elenbaas did not go to the work site yesterday either.  Said he was tired!  Reminded me of Joe David Bailey & Jason Bowling wrapped up in one!  Pitiful!

Queen Genzink & Louise Mason had supper ready when we got back to the mission house shortly before 8:00PM.  It was great!

Pray for us as we hit it early this morning!  Thanks for keeping up with us via this blog!