Our Final Post Before We Travel Home

Praise the Lord for our time at Eagle's Nest in Solola, Guatemala!!!! He truly worked through each and ever team member and used us to share the love and message of Jesus Christ. Thanks to each and every one of you who prayed for us and supported us by paying close attention to or activities on this blog. We hope you were as blessed to hear about our experiences as we were to share them.

Also, thank you so much to those who provided quilts for our trip! Our nights have been cool, and we have needed them wrapped around us to stay warm. They have also been a special blessing to those who have not felt well this week. The quilts have comforted and kept many with fevers warm during their illnesses. We thank all the ladies who had a hand in making them with special Bible verses, and we know they will continue to be a blessing to future groups that stay in the apartments.

We look forward to being home Monday morning. We are leaving right now (Sunday, 1:30 pm) for a 3 hour drive to Guatemala City. Our flight gets into Chicago at 1:05 am and we will drive back to Normal by 5 or 6 in the morning. We look forward to sharing all of God's blessing with you in person. Adios!!!!!

Goodbye Guatemala

Hey y'all, it's Ashley Schippert. Today was our last full day in Guatemala. This morning/early afternoon we held a VBS at the orphanage. We probably had about 75 children. There were four rotations, futball, crafts, skit, and music. The kids heard the gospel two times during the morning. It went well and we will continue to pray that the kids understood what they were told and accept Christ. The afternoon was totally free and many people went to the orphanage so some of our ladies could give the mamas manicures. The mamas loved it.

Tonight we had a meeting and said our goodbyes. We shared stories and shared the awesome things that God has done in our lives through this trip. Praise the Lord for revealing Himself to us this week. I cannot thank you enough for your prayers. God's presence was in these places and within all of our hearts. Thanks again for allowing us this awesome privelege. I hope that you will be blessed, convicted, and encouraged by our stories. Ben shared this verse tonight, 1 Cor 12: 26 "If one member suffers, all suffer together, if one member is honored, all rejoice together." We are united together in these experiences and in the revealing of Him and His truths. Hope to see you all soon!

Eli Dean's Saturday

Hola everyone!
This is Eli Dean, and I’ve had an AMAZING week. I’m very glad I came on this trip. Right now there’s a cloud shadowing the view, but up here everything looks gorgeous. Today we had a mini-VBS from 10 to 12 this morning, and we’re packing and cleaning up for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we have church, then after lunch we have a 3 hour drive to Guatemala City. From “Guate” City, we fly to Chicago and then drive home.
All week I saw kids with insanely large smiles on their faces because they were happy to see us. Imagine that! This trip has shown me that I have many faults, but also many great things about me. Our group has a very special mix of people, which is insanely nice. I think I’ve developed some friendships and strengthened my original friendships. I’m very tired and will be glad when I get home.
There have been many discomforts on this mission trip, but many rewards along the way. For everyone who has supported me and prayed for me, I can’t thank you enough. I can’t wait to be home to see everyone!

Adios!

P.S. – This is my first ever blog post, so it's a little rough

Lil’ Dave’s Weblog

This is Dave Rawlins and I thought I’d let you know what we’ve been up to the past day and a half. Yesterday (Friday) was our boat tour on the lake to four major towns: San Pedro, Santa Cruz, Santiago and Panajachel. It was an incredible experience as all of the towns were somewhat different from each other. The first town was full of the indigenous Mayan peoples and their way of life was simpler than most in Guatemala. We ate lunch in Santa Cruz and learned the authentic and organic way Guatemalan coffee is made. For me, the most interesting town was Santiago. Besides being very touristy, there was a strong background in the Catholic Church as well as an idol god, Maximon. (http://www.raphaelk.co.uk/web%20pics/Guatemala/first/Atitlan%20Maximon.JPG) We all have idols in our own lives, but for me, this was the clearest example of people worshipping an idol above our one true God. There was definitely some spiritual battles going on in that city. I should also let you know that Dave Gross got dressed up like an authentic Guatemalan in this town (check the pictures.) After Santiago we returned to Panajachel to eat dinner and shop next to the lake.

This whole week has been an incredible time to serve the Guatemalans, each other and ultimately God. Matthew 10:8 says, “Freely you have received, freely give.” And that has been our goal this week. We are so blessed as a mission team and it’s our responsibility to pass that on with our time, possessions, and love--And that is a calling of every Christian. Thanks to all of you who have been praying and reading this blog. You are such an encouragement to us and we look forward to returning on Monday.

P.S. I'm doing my best to wait until I get home to hear what's up with Brett Favre...

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Hey Everyone this is Julie Myers. First, thank you so much to everyone for all of your prayers for Ashley Bronke and I. It's been a slow, up and down recovery. One minute we will be feeling a lot better and then the next we have to go lay down because we don't feel good again. The worst thing for me right now is that I feel like I can't breathe. I'm not sure if it's the elevation or what it is. If I lay down in a certain position then I can breathe but when I sit up or stand up I get very short of breath. I feel like I have a 10 lb. weight sitting on my chest. If it wasn't for that I would be feeling much better. I have probably 80% of my strength back. They keep telling me to eat but I'm honestly running out of food. I'm kind of getting tired of Easy Mac, teddy grahams and fish crackers. They have fed me a few other things but I'm ready to go home and eat some American food. We were talking about some of the food we were craving this morning. :-)

Today is Sarah 20th Birthday YAY!!! For those who don't know Sarah is my best friend she's pretty much like family to me. Today is also the boat tour day. And when we first recieved the schedule Sarah and I were SO exited because we got to do the tour on her birthday! And I had planned all this fun stuff that we could do! Well.. Then I got sick. So Ashley, Tami and I didn't get to go on the tour today! :-( I spent most all morning sobbing because I was so upset and frusterated that I couldn't be there to celebrate with Sarah. I was crying out to the Lord why can I not get better I know you called me to go on this trip. Why did I come just to get sick. And he just kept telling me Jeremiah 29:11 - I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you not to harm you plans to give you a hope and a future. I just felt his arms rap around me and tell me that there is a purpose for this and that it's okay.

Tonight Ashley, Tami and I are going to take a cab(which could be scary) down to Pana Haschel. I went last night but I had to sit down because I could breath. We are going to be meeting up with the everyone else at a restaurant to have dinner. I'm not so sure if I will eat but I'm going to at least go so I can hang out with everyone and do a little shopping.

Marianne,
We miss you so much and we have prayed every day for you! We hope you that get to come down here A.S.A.P to get Sarah. We all love her so much. She is just so precious! I will still try to take the pictures of her in those onezies. It got slightly delayed with my sickness. Last Sunday when I was in the orphanage just before we left I went over to her crib and she was still awake and was rubbing her head and showed her the pictures of you and your family and she got a huge smile on her face. She knows who you are. I know we will all be very exited when you bring her home. And know that everyone has been loving on her! Except for the sick ones. :-) Love you!!!

Mom and Dad,
I miss you guys and I can't wait to see you! I hope you're supporting the cubbies for me in my absence. :-D I am feeling better so don't worry to much. I miss you and love you tons!!!

Lisa,
We did get Sarah this morning. While she was in the shower we taped the Happy Birthday streamers all over her door so she couldn't get out and we put streamers and balloons all over her bead. I know she is missing you guys as well!


Thank you again everyone for all of your prayers!!!

Julie

Jackie's First Time Blogging!!

Hola

All is going well here the weather has been beautiful. Completely enjoying the babies and toddlers. My heart goes out to all you Moms and Dads who are waiting to bring your little ones home. At the same time I have loved loving on your babies. They are all the best most precious kids ever. Yesterday we had a lot of fun doing face painting during the dental clinic. (thats me painting someones face) I got pretty good at painting soccer balls and flowers. Tonight we went into Panajachel to try to shop a litttle. That was crazy! the people are very pushing wanting you to buy their stuff. I hope all is well at home. I love you all.Mom

Jackie P

Wednesday

Hello everyone, this is Caleb Beaty writing tonight. We had an absolutely wonderful day today. We started off with a tour of a sound studio in Solola at 9 this morning. The studio works in correlation with Wycliffe Bible Translators. They are in the process of making finger puppet movies to evangelize to the children in and around Guatemala. The hope is to make movies for all the major bible stories. VINA, the studio, also works in the field of ethnomusicology. That is basically taking the music of a culture and helping natives write songs in their own style, instead of importing western-style worship songs. They also have translated the New Testament into several different languages that are spoken in Guatemala. There are about 22 different languages in Guatemala and 48 different dialects.

After that we went to a school where we played music, passed out school supplies, and balloons. The children really enjoyed spending time with us, practicing the little English they knew. We were only able to stay for a little while due to time constraints.

After lunch (which was amazing), we put on a dental clinic for the people of Solola. Dr. Martin examined everyone’s teeth that came through. It was hard to get an exact count, but we had somewhere between 75 and 100 people that we were able to serve. We taught everyone how to brush and floss, and gave them toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss. We also presented the gospel to everyone who came.

Alright… I get to have a little personal note on the end of this, so here I go. This week has been a little bit rough for me. I have just been dealing with some issues that I have been ignoring for a while, and I have felt like God has not been listening to me. Monday night when we went to the youth group in Solola, I really got to experience God. We sang songs in both English and Spanish at the same time. I got a chance to pray with a couple other people at the end of the night, and it was one of the coolest nights of my life. Then last night a few of us had a spontaneous time of praising God with music. That was also a spectacular time that I got to meet with God. So it has been a great time of comforting for me, and God has really shown himself to me this week. I can’t wait to see what else he has in store for me.