Grace Missions Blog

Our final day of being in Guatemala was a very relaxed one.  We began the morning a bit later (8:00AM) with our worship time and then it was off to Casa Aleluya.  Lee & Candy Sugiyama were so very kind to meet our team and show them around the property.  We were also able to spend a few minutes with Mike Clark.

Our time at Casa was made even more special as Jeff & Nadine Holifield got to meet Eric 4.  They have been sponsoring this young man for eight years and this was their first meeting.  What a blessing!

The team then headed into Antigua where the shopped the afternoon away.  It seemed everyone had a good time.  We had our final group meeting time from 5:00 – 6:30PM before enjoying supper and then making final preparations to leave.

Our team leaves in three waves today.  It is 3:15AM and I am about to take three of them to the airport so they can take the 7:15AM flight.  The Texas folks will leave the mission house at 7:30AM and the rest of us at 8:30AM.  Pray for traveling mercies for all 44 of us.  I will write one final entry once we are home.

This is being written at 6:30AM on Wednesday but is actually a recap of yesterday’s activities.  (No internet last night!)  We began our day with a meeting at 6:15AM and were on the road before 7:00AM.  Our mission was to finish the houses and then to dedicate them.  We have been blessed with tremendous weather and we knew if it held we could finish.  Mission accomplished!  All twenty houses are complete and all have been dedicated!  As a matter of fact, the first van returned to the mission house around 2:00PM which is pretty amazing.

We have been building in a little village called Tunino.  We could not access the road up to the town because of repair work.  So, we had to park the vehicles at the very bottom of the hill and walk.  Honestly, it was a challenge with the tools and the gift baskets but the team did what they had to do.  Great attitudes on this team!  (Charity Hacker is the lone exception! LOL!)

We had our daily worship time at 6:00PM with Pastor Abel challenging us from the Word and that was followed by a supper consisting of pizza and Sherry’s desserts.

Today, 6/23, we are going to visit Casa Aleluya and then spend some time in Antigua.  This will be the first opportunity for this team to shop.  Again, they have had a great attitude about it all.

We haven’t found the girl who disappeared with the islander but there are only so many places to go on an island!  LOL!  Kathy & Cecy – your girls have been nothing short of awesome!

Thanks for reading this entry.  Keep praying!

The internet issues persist so this is actually being written early on Tuesday morning.  We had a good day yesterday as we saw four more houses built to the point of being ready for the concrete and one more started.  We were able to pour cement in five more and four more were completely finished.  I “think” we now have eight completely finished, thirteen with concrete, and fifteen at least started.  So, that means we have five more to build with seven needing concrete.  (I may be off a little but we will eventually get to twenty!)

We only worked half of a day building houses as we then went to Parabej to do a food & clothes distribution.  It took us about two hours each way driving.  This village was hit hard by Agatha.  Our February ’10 GRACE team built houses there and also did a medical clinic.  It was a good afternoon of ministry.

We “had” to stop at Paulino’s on the way home for supper.  Excellent food & fellowship!

Today, we are moving our worship time to the evening so we can hit it hard for the entire day.  Our plan is to finish the houses and at least begin the dedications.

Everything/everyone is good.  We found one of the Mobile girls but we think the other one may have run off with an islander!

Keep praying!

We continue to have internet issues so I am typing this on Pages and will cut & paste once we get online.

We had an unusual Sunday for one of our GRACE teams as this is the first time that a team did NO shopping!  Our day began with a morning devotion where we presented Tico Vargas & Kirk Lightfield with a gift from GRACE Ministries & friends.  Surprised would be a good word to describe their reaction.  Pastor Mel brought the Word to us and we then headed out for the services at Su Presencia.  Pastor Doug Chappelle brought the message in that service.

We then headed to Las Antorchas where we enjoyed a good meal and even better fellowship.  We headed directly back to the mission house and quickly readied to go to a village to distribute food & clothes.  We got back to the house around 6:30PM and the ladies sorted clothes for tomorrow’s distribution after supper.

Everyone is well – praise the Lord!  This team is doing very well blending together.  The students on this trip have done very well!  (We’ve lost the two girls from Mobile but feel confident we can find them before our departure on Thursday! LOL!)

Thanks for checking on us.  Keep praying!

As I type this, we do not have internet service at the mission house.  However, we do have electricity.  It is almost 9:30PM and I am sitting in the office at the seminary where Kirk Lightfield graciously came and got me online.  I am here because Chris Howell is laying tile in an office.  It is actually a continuation of a job started by Tony Hacker last June.

We had a good Saturday.  The house that wasn’t completely finished yesterday was finished today and three more were built to the point of being ready for the cement.  Four more were cemented today.  So, that makes 11 ready for cement with 8 of those having received cement.  Four are completely finished.

We only built until 12:30PM and then we returned to the farm for a block party with the children from Paul & Cristy’s church.  However, we had to literally pull the blue pick up out from a house and were very, very blessed that it did not tumble down a hillside.  I have never seen anything like it and hope to never see it again.

We very much appreciate Katie Parker bringing the team to do the block party.  They were from Knoxville, TN which didn’t make me real happy but they were great folks!

We had a praise and prayer service at 6:00PM and it was special.  Afterwards, we enjoyed supper and the team members are now just getting ready for tomorrow.  We have a full day!

Thanks for taking the time to read this entry and please keep praying for us!

P.S. – I take no blame for any errors in this post and I don’t have my glasses with me!

As I type this, we do not have an internet connection at the mission house and haven’t had one since we returned from our day of ministry.  As a matter of fact, we returned home to no electricity and basically had to eat supper in the dark.  By the way, I have a call into Al about this lack of connection issue.

Good day!  This team is comprised of 44 members and 21 of them are first timers on a GRACE trip.  Since two remained at home to cook that meant that exactly half of our builders were totally unsure of what we were doing.

God blessed and we were able to build 7 (three walls/roof on) houses and another is very close to being at that point.  Four of the seven received cement today.  This team is building in Aldea Tunino and the climbs were significant.

Everyone is well.  Tomorrow we will host a block party for the children just over the mountain (Paul & Cristy’s church) and that will be a good time.  The morning will see us focus on building/finishing houses.

Pray for us.  The internet/phone is spotty.  However, we will try to update daily and no post simply means no internet.

(Wrote this last night at 8:30PM and am posting at 5:30AM because we just got internet service – sorry!)

Just a quick word that we all arrived safe and sound at the mission house around 2:00PM.  A quick meeting then it was off to lunch/supper combo followed by another meeting.  Everyone is now settling down for the night as our Friday begins with a 6:30AM devotion.  Thanks for the prayers & support!  Lord willing, I will blog again tomorrow night.