FCC - Guatemala Mission Report 2008 </head> <body style="margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt;"> <div> <p align="center"><font size="5" face="Times New Roman"><b>2008 Guatemala Short Term Mission Trip Report</b></font> <br></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Thanks to the generous support of family, friends, coworkers and the Farmingdale Christian Church, we were able to take a group of 19 people on a 10 day short term mission trip to Guatemala. This trip enabled us to help many people and changed our lives forever.</font> <br></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">It all began with the flight out of JFK airport in New York on Friday, July 19. We checked in fine at 10:45AM for an 11:45AM flight to Miami. We boarded the plane and discovered that there was a problem with a switch. We all had to get off the plane and wait until it was repaired. We finally took off at 5:40PM. By this time we had missed our connecting flight to Guatemala City so American Airlines put us up in a Miami hotel for the night. Thanks to some quick thinking from Mike Mitchell, Frank Howell called American Airlines Reservations at 3:00 in the afternoon to get seats on a flight the next morning for all 19 people. We arrived at the hotel at 9:30PM and had dinner paid for by American Airlines. We did not finish and get settled in our rooms until about midnight. Everyone was glad they packed extra clothes in their carry on bag!</font> <br> </p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">On Saturday, July 20 we were up at 4:45AM and caught a shuttle bus back to the airport. We did not have to get our luggage as it was still checked through to Guatemala City. After getting our new boarding passes and going through the security checkpoint, the plane took off at 8:10AM and landed after 2 hours and 10 minutes. Guatemala is on a 2 hour earlier time zone than we are, so it was about 8:15AM when we landed there! We were met by Peter Bell who is one of the house parents and the director of the Guatemala orphanage compound. In a short time we loaded our luggage on a bus that was very comfortable. Peter gave us some Guatemalan money and we stopped at a McDonalds on the way out to Zacapa! Yes, McDonalds! We had a nice lunch and made the 3 hour drive out to the orphanage. When we arrived we brought in our luggage, picked out our bunk beds and had a quick Skippy peanut butter and Welch’s grape jelly sandwiches. We left the House of Hope compound and drove into town to a government run orphanage. Here we joined the team from Bent Tree Fellowship, which is near Dallas, Texas. The kids in this orphanage have lost their parents, been abandoned or have been abused and are under the care of the courts until another family member can care for them. This process can take a long time. We played soccer and some other games with them until it started raining. Some of the ladies were allowed to go into a room with six or seven infants to hold them and feed them. This was very heart rending because the place is understaffed and the kids don’t get picked up much. We returned to the HOH (House of hope) at around 4:30PM and had a dinner of a thin steak, white rice, lettuce and home made Tortilla’s. It was very good. By now the rain had become very heavy. We were scheduled to go out to Mission Zoe (Mission of Life). This is a church in the town of Zacapa that was started by People for Missions which is part of the HOH organization. We drove there in flooded streets and the worship time had already begun. Nathan gave a testimony about how God had changed his life in Guatemala. Tom gave a testimony about how he was glad to be there and ready to help anyone who had a need. Clare gave a testimony about how God showed her she was in the palm of His hand during a very serious back operation. Nathan, Elliot and Dan, with Ben from Texas and a number of our group played and sang “Open the Eyes of my Heart Lord” and “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever” in both English and Spanish. A Spanish pastor preached a message that was interpreted in English for us to understand as well. Vinnie Deletto and Gary Havens, Directors of HOH & PFM, gave a short word of encouragement as well. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">We drove back to the HOH in an incredible downpour. One of the vans stalled but the folks were picked up by the other van and everyone made it back safely. It was quite an adventure.</font> <br></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">On Sunday, July 20, we woke up early to an overcast sky. We had cold cereal or toast with jelly for breakfast. Then we had a church service in the outdoor cafeteria. Dan, Nathan, Elliot and Ben from Texas led us in singing English and Spanish songs. Many people read scriptures after the songs. Foster gave a good message from Psalm 122 about how God is our faithful helper on whom we can always depend. We had a hot dog lunch with beans and tortilla chips. The afternoon was spent in free time with the kids at the HOH. We had a good dinner and people rested, played games and talked. </font> <br></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">On Monday, July 21 after breakfast, we began construction work on the orphanage. A section of the road made with paving stones about 6 feet wide and 30 feet long had been removed due to settling. Some of our group including Patrick began to re-set the stones. Others mixed concrete to pour two counter tops on the second floor of two apartment units. We passed the concrete in five gallon buckets down a chain of people and up a ladder to get it poured. This group finished and went out to pour a concrete pad for the drive around the compound. This group included Foster, Frank, Tom, Nathan, Stephanie G., Alexis, Lindsay, Elliot and Daniel. Meanwhile, a group of the ladies began painting the cafeteria for the school. This Group included MaryAnn, Rosanne, Laura, Alicia, Clare, Gina, Lisa, Kelsey and Stephanie D. There is a Christian school on the compound that has about 90 students from the area and from the orphanage. The room was about 35 feet by 60 feet with 20 foot high walls at both ends. We broke for lunch around noon. By now it was about 90 degrees and some people were getting a sun burn. After lunch, the concrete work continued and the ladies finished painting the inside of the cafeteria. We were not able to shower when we finished because there was no water. Instead, we practiced a drama that we would use on Friday. We finished by 5:00PM and there was now water to take showers. We had a dinner of chicken, rice and vegetables. After resting for about half an hour we practiced our drama again. When we finished, some people played card games, talked or played their guitars on the porch outside. We packed our gear to go to the mountains the next day. Most people went to bed between 9 and 10 PM.</font> <br></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">On Tuesday, July 22 we were up at 7:00AM, ate breakfast, and headed off to the mountain. Our original destination of Lampicore was cancelled due to flooding rains washing out a bridge and parts of the road to get there. We broke up our groups. The New York team went up to Plandomoro and the Bent Tree group went to a village called San Francisco. We only had to carry water and snacks on the hike as all our other gear was packed in two four wheel drive vehicles. Four or five people rode up in the vehicles with the gear. The first part of the hike took about an hour and was up small hills and flat areas. Then we got to the bottom of the mountain. It took about 2 ½ to 3 hours to complete the hike up. It was very steep. Once we arrived at the church, we unpacked our gear and had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips for lunch. We had bottled water to drink. We then painted 3 walls of the inside of the church. We could not finish because we ran out of paint. We cleaned up around 4:00PM and walked up into the village to find some cold Coke and Pepsi to drink. These cost about 75 cents each. We spent time with the children of the village playing with a soccer ball, a foot ball or making drawings. Dinner was bean burritos or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Heavy rain began about 7:30PM and we were concerned we would not be able to have a church service. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">We prayed that it would let up and some people began to come from the village. Pastor Baltazar welcomed everyone, sang a Spanish song, and introduced our group. </font> <br></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Elliot, Dan and Nathan played guitar while Stephanie D., Kelsey and Gina sang the two Spanish songs we knew. Then there was a testimony given by Lisa, Alicia and Foster. Frank preached a message and we ended the service around 9:30PM. We gave out some tracts and New Testaments and Foster had some toys for the children. We slept on the floor of the church in our sleeping bags. The temperature was in the 70’s up on the mountain. It was almost impossible to get any sleep due to dogs fighting, roosters crowing, donkeys braying and other animal noises. </font> <br> </p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Wednesday, July 23, some of us woke up and watched the sunrise over the mountains it was beautiful. Everyone was up by 6:00AM, dressed and packed up by 7:00AM. We had a hot breakfast of instant oatmeal. We started down the mountain by 8:30AM and it only took about an hour. We had to cross a stream that was just above our knees due to all the heavy rain, but some of the young people stood in the water and helped the older ones across. This was quite an adventure. We walked back to the bus and drove about 20 minutes back to the HOH compound. This would be a day of rest. When the Bent Tree group arrived, we packed up and went to a hotel pool in Zacapa. This is an Olympic size pool with water slides and plenty of shady places to sit. We had lunch there and swam and rested until about 5:00PM. We felt refreshed. We returned to the HOH and had dinner. After this we gathered in the cafeteria for a time of worship. Dan, Nathan and Elliot picked out some songs and did a wonderful job. The presence of God really came. Foster and Frank had a few prophetic words and Alexis had a testimony that touched every heart. We then prayed for a few people who needed it and there was not a dry eye in the house. We broke up and many discussed what happened and wanted to know about the Spiritual Gifts. </font> <br></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Thursday, July 24, we had a great pancake breakfast made by some of the team members. Today we continued with construction on the orphanage. The pavers were reset and finished, two more concrete pads were poured and the ladies painted the outside of the school cafeteria. It is amazing how fast they did it! There are two children in the orphanage who have a mental handicap. Wendy, who has been teaching them, found out that Lisa is a special Ed. teacher and Stephanie D. works with special Ed. Kids. They spent the morning working together with amazing results. This was an unplanned blessing to everyone involved. Nathan and Elliot went over to Mission Zoe to learn some Spanish songs with the Guatemalan musicians for our school outreach on Friday. We finished our day and had a nice dinner and showers. At 7:30PM we had a communion service with the teams and the families that live at HOH. It was a special time. </font> <br> </p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Friday, July 25, we had some fresh baked sweet rolls and cereal for breakfast. There is always great coffee made as Guatemala is a large exporter of coffee. We left at 7:30AM to drive to a school about 20 minutes away. This was a Catholic boy’s school of 4-7 grade students. There were at least 200 kids that came outside on the basketball court to hear our presentation. First the praise team of Nathan, Elliot, Christine, a Guatemalan drummer and a Guatemalan song leader sang two songs. Stephanie D. & Gina gave a testimony, then we put on our skit for about 20 minutes. A Guatemalan pastor preached for about 15 minutes and about 50 young people raised their hands to accept Christ as their Savior. We gave out tracts and prayed for the kids. It was amazing. We packed up the sound equipment and drove about 5 minutes away to another school. This was 8-10 grade boys and girls. </font> <br></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">The singers sang, Alicia and a girl from the Texas team gave a testimony, then we did our drama. After the message, about 30 young people received Christ. They rushed up when they saw we had Spanish New Testaments to give away. The team prayed for many of them. We packed up and drove back to the HOH for lunch. Today it was fried chicken, white rice and coleslaw. We were back on the bus at 1:15PM to go back to the final school. This was the same building as the last meeting but this time they were senior high school boys and girls. Once again we had music, Dan and Gina gave a testimony, we put on the drama and a message was preached. No kids raised their hands this time. This is a place of peer pressure indeed. However, when we made Spanish New Testaments available, many young people came up to get them. We returned to the HOH at about 4:00PM. Once again there was no water to shower. It was discovered that a pipe was leaking at the water tower. A water truck came to fill the tank and we were able to get cleaned up, have dinner and rest for the evening.</font> <br> </p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Saturday, July 26, we had breakfast, packed up our luggage and cleaned up our rooms. An air-conditioned coach bus took both of our teams to the town of Antigua. The drive was about 4 hours. Here we would shop for souvenirs, have a banquet dinner and share our experience on the trip. Antigua is at 5,300 feet above sea level so it was cool, dry and comfortable. We spent the afternoon shopping, then had a great grilled steak dinner and met afterwards to talk about our trip. Everyone felt like it was a great experience and felt sad to have to go home. The eight days we spent in Guatemala seemed to fly by in a moment. </font> <br></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Sunday, July 27, we left the Lutheran Center where we were staying at 4:30 AM and drove to Guatemala City. This took about an hour. We had no problem checking our luggage and boarding the plane. The flight left at 7:30AM and landed in Miami at 11:45AM Eastern Std time. There was a tremendous rain and lightning storm going on in the Northeastern U.S. That snarled all air traffic. We were supposed to take off at 2:25PM but were not able to take off until 1:00AM. It was a very long and frustrating wait. We landed at JFK around 3:30AM and drove home quite exhausted.</font> <br> </p> <p align="justify"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">The Sunday morning before we left the team received prayer at the Farmingdale Christian Church. Someone sensed God was saying that, “<i>He was going to show us what little we have was going to be broken to feed a multitude that we did not even know was there</i>.” This certainly came to pass as many opportunities came our way that produced fruit for the Kingdom of God. Many other things happened that I am not yet aware of through every member of our team that will not fit into this report. I hope you get a chance to talk directly to some of the people who went to get their perspective on our trip. Many of the team already wants to return to Guatemala because every day was filled with doing things that made a difference in the world around them. May God bless you for your support and prayers and give us all His grace to continue to make a difference wherever we are. We are already looking forward to our next trip.</font> <br></p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">If you would like to see some pictures from our trip they will be posted on our church web site:</font> <br></p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.farmingdalechristianchurch.com/" target="_blank"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">www.<wbr>Farmingdalechristianchurch.com</font></a><wbr> <br> </p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Farmingdale Christian Church</font></p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">125 Main St</font></p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Farmingdale, NY 11735</font></p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Email: </font><a href="mailto:fccelders@aol.com" target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Times New Roman"><u>fccelders@aol.com</u></font></a></p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">If you are interested in taking your own short term mission trip with People for Missions, or supporting the House of Hope Orphanages please contact:</font> <br> </p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">People for Missions</font></p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Box 916 </font></p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Estero, Fl 33928</font></p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">239-949-9403</font></p> <p align="center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Email: <a href="mailto:info@peopleformissions.org" target="_blank">info@peopleformissions.org</a></font></p> </div> </div></body></html>