The Herringtons in Guatemala

We're Going to Guatemala!

2012-01-30T09:20:00.000-08:00

John and I feel very blessed that God has chosen us to minister to the people of La Arenera Guatemala. Three years ago, while we were staying in Guatemala, we both felt God calling us to La Arenera. This is clearly God's plan for our lives. Please browse around our blog and check out the "How It All Began" section (above) to read the full story of how we found out about La Arenera Guatemala.

CAM
We are not just heading off to Guatemala on our own. We are going through and organization called CAM (Soon changing their name to Camino Global). CAM is an amazing organization that has been around for 122 years. Their focus over these years has been mainly in Central America. You can check out more about them HERE.

SPIRITUAL SUPPORT
We also COVET your prayers. We ask you to pray for our physical safety and health. We, most importantly, ask you to pray for our spiritual well being. There will definitely be spiritual warfare going on and we want to be ready for that. Please pray for our walks with the Lord during this time.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT
In order to go, we have to raise financial support. (Cue Jaws Theme Music)

The base amount that we need to raise is $37,007.00. This will cover expenses for furniture, a car, visas, language school (in Guatemala), travel expenses, etc.

The monthly support that must be pledged before we can leave is $5,591.00. The monthly support that is given will go towards our rent, insurance (think COBRA for three people), salary, CAM's 13% that they take to run the organization, etc. You can start giving monthly support now, which will go into our base amount until we leave, or you can choose to give monthly starting the day we leave. If you would like to give monthly, but not until the day we leave, please email Sarah or John the amount you plan on giving or Tami Cornelison at CAM. They will enter that into the amount pledged so that we can know approximately how much we have left to raise.

That's a total amount needed pledged or given of $171,191.00 before we can leave.

Thank you for considering to support us. We value our relationship with you.

Love,
John, Sarah, and Jackson

Day 28 The end of Week 4 and pictures from yesterday!

2009-07-25T20:11:00.001-07:00

Today we drove to Antigua. We bought some souveneirs and hung out most of the day. This is our 4th year to go to Antigua, so it gets a little bit old. We leave for home tomorrow. Now that we have left the kiddos (The saddest day of my life every year) Im very ready to get home! We leave the airport at like 8 and dont get home until 7 because we have a super long layover in Miami. Sucks. Anyway, this has been an amazing trip and we are so blessed that we were able to be here for a month. This is a crazy country with some amazing people. Its so corrupt and at the same time has some of the sweetest people living here. We cant wait to go back next year!!!! Thank you again for your support and prayers we have felt so safe this entire trip and considering that we lived in between a drug lord and a hit man for three weeks, God was clearly protecting us. Please pray for us as we fly home!!!
Pics of Julio's presentation that John put together for him and us praying over Julio

Pics of the work project on day 27 We cleaned out a building painted it and laid three truckloads of gravel!

On the 27th day we also gave journals out to all of the Awanas kids. People from Dallas wrote notes to each kid by name. They kids loved them!

One of the guys that works at the farm climbed up a tree and got some coconuts down. We all drank coconut juice during our work break. So good!!

We also got to see the food kitchen in action (the NWBC group had not seen the kids at the kitchen yet. It was great to see these little kids again. We got to know them so well over the last 4 weeks. Just think...if these kids didnt have this food kitchen three times a week, they would be eating bread and cream for their meals...Julio wants to extend it to 5 days a week and bring in another 50 kids. YOU CAN HELP!!! Just go to CAM international and support Julio Garcia in Guatemala. Ask me about it if you are interested!

These our pictures from last night. SAD NIGHT! But there was also good stuff. Here are some pics of the dance, mime, and saying goodbye!

Day 27. Our last night in La Arenera

2009-07-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

Wow. To say that tonight was sad would be an understatement. Not only did we have to say goodbye to the Garcia family who so graciously put us up in their house and became our family for three weeks, but we also had to say goodbye to all of these people that we love so much. We had to say goodbye to the people who have, over the last 4 years, become a family in another country. Ok, but let me start at the beginning of today. We got up bright and dearly and had a workday at the farm. We cleaned out a building and painted it and we laid 3 truckloads of gravel. It was hot and it was hard work, but we cant wait to see how Julio is going to use this new building. After our work day, Mark, Erin, John, Me, and Marleny went to Julio and Luci's house for one last delicious lunch. We came back to the hotel after that and got ready for tonight. Tonight was so much fun (before the goodbyes) we had a mariachi band and then the kids in Awanas performed a dance (that they had been practicing for the last two months) and a mime skit (that they had also been practicing for forever. All of my new favorite teenagers were in it. Andrea, my new favorite girl, was the lead in the mime. It was great. Once all of the fun was over it was time to say goodbye. "Te Amo mucho. Te Voy a extranar. Nosotros oramos. Proximo anos. Te amo mucho!" Thats what I said all night long tonight as I was saying goodbye. "I love you so much. I will miss you. We will pray for you. See you next year. I love you so much!" Its so hard to say goodbye to these little kids who have nothing. You never know what will have happened in the year that you are gone. Gabby's father of her baby and long time boyfriend left her during this last year. Eloisa married a 50 year old man and moved away. One of the mom's committed suicide. So much can happen. It sucks because we cant email them, we cant call them, and we cant write them because they dont have physical addresses. Anyway, I could go on and on, but the point is... Most of them are saved. That's all that matters. The Bible says that our life here on earth is like the blink of an eye compared to eternity in heaven. As long as they have salvation, life here is short. Julio is working on the rest of the village that isnt saved yet:) so I'm not going to fret about those that aren't saved. Thank you so much for helping to send me here. I will be forever grateful to all of you who were involved in me being here. As cheesy as it sounds, a good majority of my heart and John's heart is left here each year, and we cant wait to go back and see them next year. This month long trip has been an amazing experience. We will forever be grateful that we were able to embrace this culture for an entire month. Thank you so much. We go to Antigua tomorrow! I will update pics from today tomorrow!

Day 26 Visit to the schools

2009-07-23T17:25:00.001-07:00

Today was a rough day. We went early to our first school. It was mostly pavement with the hot sun shining down on us. It gets really hot and tiring with that sun beating down on you. After three schools in a row, you are exhausted. We sang some songs, put on a skit, and went over the Gospel presentation with them. We were there for about an hour. After that school we went to Monte Grande. It is a beautiful school up by the mountains. Those kids are soo well behaved. We have gone to visit them for a few years now and they remembered most of the songs that we sang. After Monte Grande we headed over to a high school with 450 kids. We put on the same show, but this was more fun because some of the kids that we support in the scholarship program go there, so we were able to see them (You can donate money to send some of these kids to school because otherwise they stop going after middle school....just ask me about it if you are interested. Its one of the new programs that Julio started) Once we finished with that school we headed to the camp and had lunch. We also thanks Gustavo Frati and his son for giving us so much of his land for all of these kids. We came back to the hotel and swam for a few hours while John made a power point presentation for Julio to give tonight to the rest of the team. We are hoping that this will get more people interested in donating to his ministry. Im sitting in the room right now with John waiting for the rest of the team to come upstairs so that Julio can give his presentation. After he does this, we will head off to an early bedtime. Tomorrow is a work day at the farm where we will clean, paint, and put gravel down to make a pathway!

Day 25 Day 3 at Camp

2009-07-22T22:24:00.001-07:00

Today was good. I was pretty beat down and feeling crummy because I was up all night coughing. I’m feeling great now. The Dr. gave me some blue pills and they worked wonders. Today was the last day of camp. We had a great day. Camp went really well and we said goodbye to the kids coming from the other schools. We came back and I took a nap. We had dinner and then headed to the farm to feed the village. The kids got to see super disciple. Tomorrow we go to three different schools and share the Gospel and then tomorrow night we hear Luci and Julio talk about supporting their ministry. I feel blessed beyond words that God has given us a relationship with this tiny little village in the middle of nowhere. These people are amazing and I feel honored to know and love them. I cant imagine not seeing them at least every year for the rest of my life! God is good.

Day 24 Day 2 at Camp

2009-07-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today was great. We had our second day of camp this morning. I stole some of my favorites from the last three years and brought them to my group, so I now have 18 little ones. Its much more fun. I took my three favorite girls and one of them is Dulce. She is a big trouble maker so it made the day more exciting. John was in charge of all of the games for the kids. It was tons of fun. We did an obstacle course and a water balloon game with tarps. The kids had a blast. After camp we had lunch. We came back to the hotel. John went to the pool and I slept. Im not feeling well. I have had a really bad sore throat for the last 3 days and I cannot stop coughing which hurts like crazy. I think its allergies. The Dr. on the trip gave me some hardcore medicine today so I think I should feel better tomorrow. Dad, so far no one has gotten sick on this trip. I don’t count mine because its allergies. You said you would come next year if less than 10% got sick….so far you better start planning for next summer!!!

After my nap we went and had dinner around 4:45 and then went back up to the farm to feed the village. We had Super Disciple come tonight for all of the little kids. He was great! He was dressed in a cape and costume and he entertained the kids for a good hour and a half. The women had a great Bible study and Mark and Erin were asked to be God Parents!! There is this girl named Gabbe. She is precious. She is 21 and was with this guy named Donal for the last 3 years. They had a little girl together and right after she gave birth he ran off with another girl. Donal and the girl were there tonight just like 5 feet from Gabby and her daughter. He doesn’t even acknowledge that this little girl is his daughter. So SAD! Anyway, Mark and Erin brought Ryanns clothes down for this girl. Erin and her have a close relationship and tonight she asked both of them to be her God Parents. It was really cool. We just got back from camp. Its about 10:30 here. Im super tired and going to bed. John says hi to everyone!! Here are some pics from the last two days. Enjoy!!

Sarah

Day 23! First day of camp

2009-07-20T21:48:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day of camp. It was fun and went smoothly but was
super tiring. I'm getting a bit sick so I was moving a bit slow today,
but it worked out because I only
Had 14 kids. I've recruited some of my favorites to join my group
tomorrow because I get kind of bored with just 14. I've always had at
least 25. After camp we had lunch at the farm and then came back for
swimming. After swimming we had an early dinner and headed back to the
farm. Once we got
To the farm we fed over 500 people dinner and then put on a skit about
Jesus an the woman at the well. Our theme this week is Jesus is the
living water and bread of life. After the skit we took about 200 kids
to watch a vegie tales movie while the teens played some crazy games
and the women and men went to Bible study. We came back around 8:45
and had cake for two people whose birthdays are today. Now I'm
updating the blog. I'm a bit tired and we have to be at breakfast at 7
and then head to camp. It's a good tired but tired non the less. It's
a blast being with all of these kids and I wouldn't trade this month
for anything. We love these people soo much. We are already planning
next years trip so just let me know if you are interested!!!!!

Sarah

Day 22

2009-07-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

We met the Americans for breakfast. So good to see Erin. We then went and walked around the village and passed out hygiene kits to all of the families. Then we had La Arenera's first church service. It was great to see that happen. Tonight we came back and had dinner with everyone. We miss the Garcia's but are happy to see the Americans! Running low on battery power, so will tell more tomorrow! Here are a few pics from today!

Day 21. Most fun day of our entire trip for sure!

2009-07-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

To see the faces of those kids is something I hope to never forget. These kids dont have much. They make the most of what they have, but really its not much. Their faces were glowing as they entered the park. We were there for 7 hours and I am pretty sure that everyone had fun the entire time. Really, there isn't much to say about it. Just enjoy the pictures!!!!

We have many more pictures but I don't have time to upload them. We are going to the hotel because the team is coming tonight!! Sorry I didnt have time to call you mom and dad! We are alive and safe!!!

Day 20...time flies when youre having fun

2009-07-17T22:20:00.000-07:00

I feel like we just got here. I cant believe we are already on day 20. We have one week left. The rest of the team is coming tomorrow night and we will be going to the Hotel Atlantico. Im not going to lie. I'm soo looking forward to the air conditioner!!! I am going to seriously miss Luci's cooking though. And we are all going to miss the girls and the family sooo much. We will still see them this next week, but it wont be the same as living with them. Those girls are soo precious. Today was a good day. We got up very early and went to the farm to seal all the walls on the new church so that the team can paint them when we have our work day. We were there for about three hours....we played a little bit of basketball and John and I have decided we are going to add one on top of our garage in our driveway when we get back. Good investment:) So after we painted we came home and played with this little guy named Carlos. He is one of the kids that lives in the village. We played Uno for a good hour or so. Then, we had lunch (Chinese food cooked by Luci) and then we went to a pizza place and met Nancy and her son for lunch. We had dessert. We had a great time talking with Nancy and her son Stephen (we didn't really talk to him because he only speaks Spanish.) We met Nancy about 3 years ago when she was at camp. She is so sweet and lived in America for two years so she speaks English. She loves seeing us when we come, so it was really nice to see her for more than just camp. After lunch we came home. Awanas was canceled today because of the water park tomorrow. All Carlos talked about all day was the water park. I think the kids are super excited. We have pics from today, but John has not uploaded them so I'll upload them tomorrow. Have a great night!!

Day 19

2009-07-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

Today was quite a slow day. Thursdays typically are slow. We sat around all afternoon and morning and read books. Julio and Luci had to do other things and we didnt want them to feel like they needed to take care of us, so we just kind of sat around. At about 4:30 we went to the camp and Mark and John cleaned out the new church building while I played with all the kids....I know I know, but I truly believe that its all about relationships:) The kids were practicing their dance and play that they are putting on for all of the Americans next Thursday. It was lots of fun. I learned a new game that I played with some of the girls. After all of the kids left, Luci, Julio, Carlos (11) John, Mark, and I played basketball for about 30 minutes and then came home. Tomorrow we are getting up uber early to go put sealant on all of the new church walls. Here are some pics from today. I love these kids!

This is what our morning looked likeThese are the screens that have been put on the food kitchen so that bugs cant get in. It looks like there are a few tiny holes, but those are just dark parts on the screen.
This is the new church building that Mark and John cleaned..there was poop on the floor and...
This...thats why I didnt go in.
Now just pics of us with the kids. This is when Julio was telling them about the permission slip that they had to get to go the waterpark on Saturday. SOO EXCITED ABOUT THAT

Me helping Darra with her English homework

Day 18

2009-07-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

Today was a very busy day. We got up early and went to the farm to wait on the gravel for the path to the new church. The gravel man never showed up so we played basketball for about an hour. We went home for a little bit and then went back up to camp to sit with the kids at the food kitchen. They are soo precious and I cannot recommend a better place to send your money. Their food is so healthy and nutritious. They add protein powder into all of the food. Its really good for these kids. After the food kitchen we came home and had lunch. Veggies and hotdogs.... We then we back up to the camp and had Awanas with the little kids. That lasted for about an 2 1/2 hours and when we came home we were all exhausted. Mark, John and I just walked to get icecream...I didnt have any:( Thats all for today. Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow.

Day 17

2009-07-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the farm and worked our booties off. The guys finished fixing the bathroom doors and toilets and I painted them. They look ok, but I had to use a pretty big paintbrush to paint the words banos on them, so it kind of looks like a 5 year old did it. Once we were finished we played basketball for about 40 minutes because Julio wasnt ready to pick us up yet. After he picked us up we went to the hotel and gave them the information on preparing our food (health safety stuff) and then went and purchased a TON of gravel for the walkway to Julios new church and the bathrooms. It was sooo cheap! Gravel here is like nothing. So, then we came home and had a delicious lunch and were done for the day because the kids dont come on Tuesdays. We are going to go to church with Julio tonight (They have Tuesday night church). Here are pictures from the last few days! This is us two days ago when we went to ChiciMula. Kevin is the boy in the picture with Dara. He is from the village. He has a very hard family life. The other picture is of me with this man and his dogs. His only family are his dogs so he built his bike so that the could ride with him. He grooms them every day.

Here are pictures from yesterday in the city. Most of them are us eating at TGI Fridays...sooo good and the other one is of me getting sick and having to drink soda water with alkaseltzer. NOT GOOD! There is also a picture of Lucy's house in this picture. She handles a lot of the details for us with camp and we had to stop by her house in Guat City. Beautiful house! Oh yea, I forgot to mention that we saw a guy on the side of the road that had just been hit by a car that did not stop. Apparently this is a common thing, but it was really weird driving past him as he just lay there on the side. We are not sure if he was dead or not, but there was already a group of people around him so we did not start.

The last pictures are from today. One is of my first cup of black coffee ever! So proud of myself. No sugar or cream. The other is of lunch today. very healthy. Then, there is a picture of the bathrooms once we finished them. And finally and I have no idea what order these are showing up in, there is a picture of mark haggling the people that run the water park into a better price. We are taking all of the teenagers on Saturday (Thanks Randy and Allison!) We are taking 50 people and it includes lunch for about $306. Not bad!! There is another picture of Mark, John and Edgar (the farm gate keeper) playing basketball at the farm.

Day 16

2009-07-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

We went into Guatemala City today. The strike had not started yet so everything was fine. We went into the city to pick up 1,000 white water bottles for camp. (We will only be using 500 of them) The kids are going to decorate them during craft time. They go with one of our main Bible verses for camp about Jesus being the living water. I got pretty car sick on the way to get the water bottles and basically had my head out of the window in case I threw up, but it didnt happen. We pulled over to the side and got some sparkling soda water and Alkaseltzer (sp?) and my stomach chilled out a little bit. After we got the water bottles we went to a few stores to find some bug bombs for the new building we will be cleaning up, and we bought some other stuff for camp. We then went to TGI Fridays again and had some delicious food. Its funny. In the states, I would not even consider eating at TGI Fridays typically. I have never really been a fan, but these last two times, it has tasted amazing! I guess because it is American food. So after TGI Fridays, we went and bought some authentic coffee and came home. Julio drove like a mad man the entire way home and it was really quite funny because Mark, John, and I were all piled in a small area trying not to fall on top of each other as the car jerked back and fourth with the thousand water bottles crowding us. Thats all for today. I have pictures but John has not loaded them onto the comp yet, so I will post them tomorrow. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow!

Day 15

2009-07-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

So today we went to church. It was our last Sunday at this church because next Sunday will be Julio's first Sunday preaching to our village. We have been waiting for this for about 3 years now. We cannot wait for him to open up a church on the farm (or camp as I have called it in previous posts) So, anyway, today we went to church. After church we came home, changed, and headed out to Chicimula. It is about a 40 minute drive. We took the Garcias and Kevin (one of the boys in the village) to lunch and a movie. We ate at McDonalds (it was that or Subway and we had Subway last time) and then the family went to see Ice Age and we went to see Transformers 2. We split up like this because Julio told us that Transformers would be in English with Spanish subtitles....not so. It was definitely all in Spanish. Im not sure what it was like in English, but I would not suggest seeing it. I had a nice nap during most of it. After the movies we headed home. We got home at about 8 and I just finished reading my book, "And My Hands Came Away Red" SOOOOO GOOD! Its about the religious violence in Ambon Indonesia. Im thinking about reading it again next week. I have run out of books, so I am borrowing one of Marks seminary books to read next. That's all for today. We are supposed to head to Guatemala City tomorrow to pick up water bottles for one of the crafts during camp, but apparently there is a strike going on in the streets, so it might not be safe for us. If we do go, pray for us. If we dont go we will be at the farm working on the bathrooms some more and ordering screens for the kitchen (right now all kinds of bugs can get in and land on the kid's food while they are eating and we find that unacceptable. Thats all for now. Love you all!

Day 14 2 weeks down/2 to go....SAD!!!

2009-07-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

So, day 14 was pretty uneventful. Julio had school from 8-4 so we were at the house all day. So, the three of us read all day. I am reading a fabulous book though. Its called "My Hands Came Away Red" I highly recommend it. Once Julio got home we went to the farm to finish the bathroom doors, but the gate was locked and we couldn't get in so we went up to the mountains to this AWESOME waterfall. We had fun playing around. After we got back, we hung out some more and walked into the village until it was time for Luci's basketball game. While she played we went to another court and played HORSE. Mark won. Thats all for today. Tomorrow we will go to Julio's church and then to Chicimula. We are taking the Garcias to lunch and to a movie there. We are doing this because we wanted to send them on a date tonight, but Jaris (Their three year old) got sick and puked all over Luci, so they didn't want to leave her alone. It should be fun. We are going to see Ice Age. Here are pics from today!

Day 13 so much fun!

2009-07-10T21:28:00.001-07:00

So today we went and painted the bathroom doors. We chose a bright green color. They look pretty. We had to let them dry and then tomorrow we will paint the word Banos on all of them. (I will make it pretty though...dont worry) After we painted the doors, we ran some errands then we started preparing for the BONFIRE we had tonight. It was so much fun. The older kids were supposed to come to Awanas today, but in lieu of Awanas we had a bonfire with them tonight. There were a little over 25 kids. When they got there at 5:30 Mark and John set up capture the flag for them. They had a great time playing that. We played on the soccer field. It is amazing how fast some of them are. After capture the flag, the kids came over and played some game in Spanish with Julio and Luci. It looked like lots of fun, but Im not really sure what was going on. After that game we sat around the bonfire and Julio spoke to them about the narrow and wide gate. Once he was finished speaking to them, we sang worship songs. It was nice. Dinner was after that, and then Mark, John, and I introduced them to SMORES! SOOO GOOD! We roasted them over the fire and everything. Mark at one point shared his testimony to them. It was all in all quite a nice night. I am so sorry to tell you that I have absolutely no pictures of it, and Im so mad at myself for that!! Tomorrow we will have been here for two weeks. I cant believe how quickly it has gone. I am looking forward to seeing family and friends when we get home, but I cannot imagine leaving these people. They are so precious. We have fallen in love with them. Each year when we have been here for a week, I cry like a baby when we say goodbye. I cannot even begin to imagine how much I will cry once we have been with them for a month. Thank you for sending us here. It has opened our eyes to so many things. We appreciate it more than you could know.

Day 12

2009-07-09T21:24:00.003-07:00

Today we had a slow start. A lady from a church came over to talk to Julio and Luci about some problems in her life, and they could not very well leave her, so we didnt get started until about 11:30. We went to the camp with the intention to clean the bathrooms that are there. They have not been used in over a year. I had every intention to clean, but once we got there with all of our cleaning supplies, I decided to be the rinser of the bathroom as opposed to the actual cleaner. Mark, John and Julio got into those bathroom stalls like it was nobody's business and cleaned away. It was NASTY! Roaches the size of your middle finger were crawling everywhere (Ok look down right now at your middle finger. Are you looking at it? Now picture a roach that long scurring at you...not a pretty picture eh?), but that did not stop Mark and John. I on the other hand, ran screaming.......This is the before picture of the toilets. They look a lot dirtier than this picture shows. I mean picture roaches and spiders on the wall, and then think about the fact that some of that brown is possibly poop...

Here is the finished picture of the toilets after they were cleaned (And rinsed)We are going to try to find some CLR to get the rust off the inside of the toilets. They scrubbed and scrubbed, but it wouldnt come off. After cleaning the bathrooms out (And rinsing...always an important job) we went and had some awesome pizza. Then we went to the hardware store and bought a hinge for one of the doors and some nails, screws, and sand paper. Then we went to the paint store and bought some green and white paint. We went back to the camp and sanded all of the doors. The older kids had Awanas today so they helped us with everything instead.

We also started cleaning up around the Awanas room. It was really good to see them all working really hard.

While we were sanding the bathroom doors one of the kids started pointing and saying "serpiente!" There was this snake (only about 15 inches long, but not your typical garden snake) right in front of us wrapped up in one of the door frames. The guard of the farm came over with his machete and chopped it right in half. Everyone went back to their sanding. (no picture. Sorry!) Its just a different world over here and chopping a snake in half is no big deal. I, on the other hand, ran screaming:). After we finished sanding the doors, we played another game of baseball with the kids. Its just soo much fun to be in this place playing with the kids. There is a boy named Brallio (he is Eloisa's brother) and he has cerebral palsy. He played baseball with us today and it was so awesome to see how nice all of the kids were with him. Apparently, in the past, they made fun of him, but Julio has been working with them on that, and they were so nice to him. (run on sentence) Anyway, here are some pictures of baseball and basketball tonight.

Look at those mountains in the background. Isnt that beautiful?

This is Kevin showing off his muscles. Tomorrow we will go back to the camp and paint the doors. Tomorrow night we are having a camp fire with the kids! So excited!

Day 11 pictures

2009-07-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

Day 11

2009-07-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

So I dont have pictures to put up yet because John has not loaded them and I dont know how. Today was a slow day but a good day. We went to the food kitchen and sat with all the kiddos again. I got some more good pictures that I will post later tonight or tomorrow. Then, we went and talked to Frati about giving us another building. He said yes! He is such a generous man. We found out that he is not even a believer. He just likes to give his land when he is not using it if it benefits the community. So, we will be cleaning up another building in order for Julio to turn it into a church! After we talked to Frati we had awanas with the younger kids. It started raining and so it only lasted about an hour and a half. We came home around 5 and ate pb and js for dinner. Until about 5 minutes ago we were playing Uno. Thats our default game because Luci and the girls can play it with us. Now, we are all going to bed. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow, but we definitely got an answered prayer request of getting that building!!!!

~Sarah

Day 10 having fun again!!!

2009-07-07T22:26:00.000-07:00

So, today we got up at about 9 am and had pancakes for breakfast then......we went to another waterpark. Its not our fault. We had every intention of coming down here and working hard manual labor, but the Garcia's wanted to go to a water park and so we obliged! It was quite fun! We basically had the entire water park to ourselves once again, but this park had way more slides and was huge. We got home tonight and watched the girls while Julio spoke at their church and Luci went and played basketball. Tomorrow we are going to talk to Frati (the owner of the farm) to see if he will give Julio another building for the church at the farm. Pray that he will! He is such a nice man and has already given Julio a good portion of the farm, but Julio really needs another building if he is going to start this church. I will keep you updated! Here are pictures from today!

Day 9 and feeling fine!

2009-07-06T22:35:00.000-07:00

So today was day nine. It was quite a nice day. We went to the food kitchen and helped feed some of the kids and played with all of them. Then we went home and had some lunch. Luci made a delicious soup. After lunch we went to walk around the village and visit some of the people in the poorer area. We got to see Eloisa!!! She is the girl who married the 50 year old but she happened to be in town for a visit and we got to see her. We convinced her husband to bring her back for Campamento Esperanza...we'll see if he does, he is clearly a shady man since he married a 21 year old and is 50. After we walked around the village we drove back to the hospital in Zacapa to pick up our pregnant lady friend. She was not there. Her husband had come and picked her up without letting us know. Wasted trip. Once we got back we ate dinner (PB and J's and cheezits!) and then played Uno (Julio, Mark, and John won....Luci and I did not) After Uno we went and got icecream and now are going to bed. It was a fun day with lots of great pictures. Enjoy!

I need to clarify the facial expressions that the three of us have in these pictures. It appears that we do not like the food we are trying, but that is not the case. The food was actually quite good. I think we all have this facial expression because we are worried about eating food that we do not know for sure is safe. So, once again, the food was really good, and the kids are eating some delicious stuff!

Day 8...Well, Im not sure we can still call ourselves missionaries..

2009-07-06T10:54:00.003-07:00

Today was soo much fun and I dont have pictures of most of it. Sorry! We woke up and went to church with Luci, Julio and the girls. Church in nice, but we have no idea what he is saying, so its not a blast, but its nice. Here are some pics of church

After church we came home and had taco soup. Everyone liked it. The plan on Sunday is kind of to just sit around and rest, but Mark, John and I didnt really want to rest so we asked Julio to drop us off at the Hotel Longarone so that we could go swimming. He took us to the hotel and when we were asking them how much it cost to swim there we also asked the price of going to the water park next door. It was only $6.25 per person to have the entire water park to ourselves!!! ok not really to ourselves, there were about 20 other people, but that was it. It was soooo much fun. There were 7 water slides and 4 of them were wet n wild top water slides (huge!), there was a lazy river, and a wave pool. We were there for about 4 hours until Julio came and picked us up to go the village and play soccer with all of the kids. Once we got to the village it turned out that only boys were playing soccer (kind of sexist if you ask me) so I played with all of the little kids. I taught some of them how to shoot a basketball, and Mark and John played soccer with all of the guys. We got home and Mark and John watched Transformers with Luci and Julio and I went upstairs and read a book (its a good one that I will give you when you get here Erin). That was all for day 8. It was mostly playing! Sorry I dont have pictures. The view of the mountains from the top of the water slides was amazing. We were all kicking ourselves for not taking a camera. Im thinking about paying to get back in just so I can take pictures of this place. So much fun. Today we are going to the food kitchen to feed some of the little ones and then we are going to walk the village and visit some of the families. I'll try to post later tonight.
~Sarah

Day 7

2009-07-04T22:26:00.000-07:00

Today was a slow day. Julio had school this morning in Zacapa so we just kind of hung out all day. Luci made an amazing lunch of steak, guacamole, grilled potatoes and fresh made salsa (John is getting very spoiled here) While we were sitting there eating lunch, this is what walked by. Not even kidding. They walk by the house every single day around the same time.

I decided to make dinner for the family tonight so Mark, John, and I walked into town where the market is (dont worry parents, grandma, and Erin its like a two minute walk from his house) We went to the main grocery store to buy ingredients for Taco Soup. Alas, they did not have taco seasoning, so it did not turn out as good as it is at home, but Julio and Luci both said that they loved it and Mark (who is always honest with me) said it was really good. After we went the grocery store, we went to the outdoor market to buy vegetables for the Taco Soup. It was a lot of fun! I got 5 tomatoes for only 35 cents and 2 onions for only 25 cents. I almost wanted to give them more money because I felt like I was ripping them off, but thats what they asked for. We also bought Luci some roses to say thank you for all of the meals that she had cooked for us. Get this. we bough a dozen pink roses (medium size) for $2.25. Can you believe that? It was lots of fun. After that, we went and got some Sarita (ice cream) and then came home and I started cooking (the boys helped) Two of the girls from the village were there when we got home. Julio and Luci help them with their homework. Their names are Andrea and Roxanna. They both have scholarships from the camp. Me and John with our tomatoes and onions and flowersNotice all of the Gatorade. We are drinking at least two or three bottles a day each. They look at us like we are crazy when we get to the register, but it tastes so good when its so hot!
Andrea and Roxanna are both part of the food kitchen, which means that they come from very poor families that cant afford to feed them all of the time. You can donate money for the food kitchen specifically through CAM (Central American Ministries)Tonight we went to a town about 30 minutes away where Luci had a basketball game. She was very good and their team won. I think Luci scored the majority of the points. The other team was ridiculous. They were fouling like crazy and the ref did not care. Luci got hit in the jaw and no foul was called. Anyway, that was our day today. Here are some pics of the game!This little one (Dara) was so crazy tonight. She loves it when we tickle her, but she typically calms down after a while. She was hilarious and kept trying to make us laugh. I have never seen her so hyper, but it was fun!

Day 6

2009-07-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

Today was also a fun day...shocker. We took a very pregnant mom into Zacapa because she thought that the baby was breech. We were there for about 3 hours. Turns out the baby is fine and is due in about a week. When we got home we had a quick lunch and went to the camp for Awanas. This is Awanas with the older kids, so its a little bit different. While they were doing their Bible work (in Spanish) we finished putting the basketball goal together. After we finished that a lot of the girls stayed and played basketball with Luci while about 25 of us went to the field and played baseball. SOO MUCH FUN!!! Seriously. These kids have never played baseball before and it was awesome to watch them. They are talented kids! They had so much fun and so did the three of us (Mark my brother, me and John) After that we came home and Luci made dinner for us. She made Plato Typico. It was scrambled eggs with all kinds of peppers and salsa, beans, rolls, and fried plantains. SO GOOD! After dinner the three of us watched Finding Neverland. (John slept through most of it)Now we are getting ready to go to bed. We dont really have any pictures from today because none of us had any pockets to carry the camera in. We will have more tomorrow. I could see myself living here...I would definitely need an air conditioning unit though!!

Day 5. We're still alive!!!

2009-07-02T22:05:00.000-07:00

So today we went into Guatemala city to get a fan and a basketball goal. We also went to get the money that we brought for the trip. It was a lot so Julio was nervous to take it out of the bank. Apparently the tellers there can make signs or alert other people around as to how much you are taking out and then those people can kidnap you or just hold you at gun point and steal your money. Thank goodness that did not happen:) So while we were in Guatemala city we had lunch at TGI Fridays! It was nice once again to have American food. We all had hamburgers and Julio had a steak. After we drove back from Guatemala city we picked the girls, Luci, and Cindy (works for the Garcias)up and went to camp. We watched the high schoolers practice their dance and their miming routine (Erin you will love it!) Then we attempted to put the basketball goal together...that did not go so well, and we will make the second attempt tomorrow. Tonight we went to watch Luci play basketball and when her practice was over we played some two on two. I did not win. Poor Mark was on my team. Oh well. Thats all for the day. It was a great day! Who knows what tomorrow brings. Here are some pics of the drive to the city today and the basketball goal before all its glory.

~Sarah

Day 4...So much Fun!

2009-07-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

So, today we woke up and went to the food kitchen. We dropped of another lady named Luci (a different Luci from Julios wife) who is in charge of fixing all of the food. There is a pavilion there that the kids play their games on that was very dirty. We scrubbed it with soap and water and swept it...pathetically it took us about an hour, but that is some darn clean concrete!
Then, we went to pick up the certificate that allows the kids to be out the week of Campamento Esperanza. After that we went back to the food kitchen and sat with all of the kiddos as they ate their food. It was soo sad to see them because the fact that they were in the kitchen, meant that they dont typically get to eat very often. At the same time it was soo nice to see them because they were stuffing their bellies with nutritious food. (Potatoes, meat, cabbage, carrots, rice etc.)

After the food kitchen we went to get agua pura and then went home and Luci had another delicious lunch ready for us. Chicken breast, vegetable salad, and mashed potatoes. SOOO GOOD! They eat bigger meals for lunch and small meals for dinner. Oh yea, then after eating lunch, we shaved John's head. Mark started out doing it, but made a big mistake in the back (too short) so I finished it up. I really like it! After eating lunch and some hair salon time:), we went back to the camp and had Awanas..Oansaz in Spanish. It was so much fun to sing with the kids, color with them, and play games with them. We loved every second of it. The boys went and played soccer with the older kids, and Im pretty sure that they are exhausted!! Right now, they are downstairs watching a movie (Ice Age) with Dara and Harris. That's all for the day. We are getting up early to go into Guatemala city in the morning to get a basketball goal for the kids. We couldnt find a nice enough one in Zacapa when we went the other day. Ok good night!!

Some pictures from day 3

2009-06-30T22:27:00.000-07:00

This is the guy in the village that is in charge of all of the construction work. We had hime come tell us what it would cost to add on to the food kitchen. $5,000.
This is me trying to take a really pretty picture of the mountains...its blurry. Sorry.

Here is Mark at the camp trying to measure how high the basketball goal should be.
Here are Dara and Jaris with the cake that Julio got for us and the family. YUMMY!!!...arent they adorable??!!!
Here are Dara and Jaris coloring in their coloring books that Erin got them. They love Dora!
Here is a picture of Mark right after he cleaned out his wound with a wet wipe. :) It was horrible/funny to watch.
This is a close up of his wound. It looks a lot worse in person. He got this playing soccer with the kids the other night and calls it his "right of passage" with the children:)
Thats about all for pictures right now. Tonight we went to Julio's church again. They go on Tuesday nights as well as Sunday nights. John and Mark both gave their testimony. It was really good. It was fun worshiping in two different languages. We came home and played another round of Uno. So far I am the champion and have won most of the games. Mark finally won his first one tonight! Thats all for now. Getting up early to go to the food kitchen and start preparing lunch for the kiddos tomorrow! I cannot wait!!!
~Sarah

Day Three so far

2009-06-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well we woke up this morning, had a granola bar and went to hotel Atlantico to check out where we will be staying when the entire team comes. After that we went to the village where Julio does the food kitchen and awanas program. We are trying to see where we want to put the basketball goal that we are getting for the kids. We also wanted to check out how we can make the small building that he has, bigger. As we were leaving, we got to see Dulce. She is my favorite girl in the camp. We have pictures of her all over our house. She is sooo precious. Her name in English would be "Sweet" and that describes her perfectly. She is also a troublemaker, but that might be her middle name. Here is a picture of her from last year.
She was confused when we saw her because we jumped out of the van and all started hugging her. When Julio told her that we were going to be here for a month and that we would see her tomorrow at Awanas, she got a huge smile on her face. If I could steal her, I would, but I would be no good to her in jail. Anyway, after we went to the village we drove to the town of Zacapa to look for a basketball goal. We couldnt find one so sometime this week we are going to drive to Guatemala City to find a good one for the kids. Right now we are at the Garcia's home and Luci is cooking us lunch. It smells AMAZING!! Seriously. It smells so good. So, thats all for now. This place is amazing and beautiful and just perfect. If only we spoke Spanish!

~Sarah

Day two part two

2009-06-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

Have you ever looked up at something and thought, "I don't ever want to forget this picture for the rest of my life?" Thats how I felt around 5:00 pm today. We went to La Arenera and got to see a lot of our little kids. It was so much fun. After we went around the village and said hi to most of them, we went to the soccer field for a game of futbol (soccer in Spanish:)) Well, I decided to sit it out in the beginning because these people are serious soccer players. So, I was sitting with some of my kids on the bench talking to them (minimal speaking, mostly pointing), when I looked up to see how the game was going. Thats when it hit me that we were here. It was just the right time of day. It was not to light out and the sun was just starting to go down. It was the perfect temperature. I looked up and saw these huge gorgeous mountains in the background. Below the mountains were these tall lush green trees and in front of the trees was this worn out soccer field with about 30 little Guatemalan boys and girls running around barefoot playing some amazing soccer with Mark and John trying to keep up. It was just perfect! There was this huge language barrier. No one could talk to each other. No one could communicate, but once we got a soccer ball out there, it was like the languages didn't even matter. Everyone was just having fun and we were able to love on these precious children during it. I know that these details don't even begin to describe the picture that I hope to carry in my head for the rest of my life, but I wanted to share it with you. I just felt so blessed that God had given us this opportunity to come down and be with these people. I didn't have a camera today, but I pray that we will have the opportunity to play a game of soccer like that again, so I can capture that beauty. Until then, you will just have to picture it in your head. Thank you for sending us here. We feel blessed beyond words to be with these people.

~Sarah

Last Night and Part of Day 2

2009-06-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

Last night was a lot of fun. Julio made this stuff that was sweetened milk and rice. We had it for dinner. It was quite good. Then we sat around with the kids and played Jenga and Uno. So much fun because you dont have to speak the same language to play the game. Luci is very good at the game! She won a few times. We are ready for round two tonight!

Today has been a very enjoyable day. We woke up, had a breakfast bar, (we dont want Luci to cook for us each morning. way too much work) and drove to a town called chiquiluma (something like that) and did the grocery shopping for the month. It is a about a 40 minute drive so its a full days trip. We went to two different grocery stores and then went to this mall type place and had Subway for lunch!!!!!!! It was nice to have American food even though we have only been here for two days. Funny how much you can miss the stuff when you know it should be a month before you have it again. Anyway, then we came home, and now, in a few minutes, we are going to go to our village with a soccer ball and see who wants to play soccer with us. I have a feeling that once the kids start spreading the news that we are there, lots of little kiddos will come out to see us. I cant wait to see some of my kids and give them hugs!

~Sarah

Our First Day

2009-06-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Last night we all slept really well. The temperature dropped, so it felt really nice. Today we awoke to the smell of Luci cooking us breakfast, which included pancakes, eggs, toast and beans. It was delicious and a nice way to start the day.

At about 9:00 we headed over to Julio's church in Teculutan where we met many familiar faces. One of the cool things about this trip is going to be our kids faces when they realize that we're here for so long. Julio & Luci decided to keep it a secret so that they would be surprised.

After praise, worship and a sermon from Julio that we all tried to follow in Spanish, we headed to Pollo Campero for lunch. We all had our share of chicken nuggets, fries and 7Up. We also have been able to really ask Julio questions about his background, how he met Luci, his vision for the village and much more.

After lunch, we started watching US v. Brazil but we couldn't keep our eyes open so we decided to take a nap. Now we're getting ready for whatever we have on the docket tonight.

we are here...and i cant find the cap button so everything will be in lower case

2009-06-28T07:11:00.000-07:00

hello friends and family. we are here. we got here last night around 12 and got quickly settled in. we will try to upload pictures as quickly as possible, but we are not sure how to do that yet. julio and luci are wonderful and have a beautiful house. we havent met their daugthers yet, but they are upstairs getting ready for church and will come down soon. i really wish we spoke spanish!! today we will go to julios church and then im not sure what we will be up to. we will get to see some of our kids today i think and we are uber excited about that. we have already discovered some sad information...erin if you are reading this...so sad....elosisa, one of our favorites, is twenty years old and we found out today that she moved away with a 50 year old man and is no longer here. julio said that she just wanted to get out of the village and it appears that she thought this was her only way out. i cant imagine being 20 and with a 50 year old man. sad. also the man that was killed last year...his wife killed herself this year. im not sure whats happening to the children. thats the only bad news so far. hopefully nothing more will come up. we feel very blessed to be here and are very grateful for your prayers and support!! will type again soon! Julio has wireless internet here!!!

sarah

TWO DAYS!!

2009-06-25T14:30:00.001-07:00

So, we are leaving in two days. Of course, we have almost nothing packed. Oh well. I have so much to do, and I am starting to get nervous. Please please please pray for our safety! I know God is in control, but you never know what God's plans for us are. Pray that we will be lights for Christ. Pray that He will use us! Pray that we will honor Him in every way on this trip! Thank you again for sending us and for praying for us! I will update as soon as I can when we get there! So excited to see what God is about to do in our lives!!!!!

I cannot believe I get to see them in 12 days!!!

2009-06-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

I feel like being with these people is another form of worship for me and John. There is this different kind of praise that goes into loving these kids and glorifying God for their sweet spirits!

21 "So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the LORD." Psalm 120:21&22

9 "Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy." Psalm 99:9

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe." Hebrews 12:28

"Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness." Psalm 29:92

2 Weeks!!!!

2009-06-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

So today I decided to watch one of our Guatemala videos that we made. So far it has all been about getting stuff ready for the trip you know...details details details. I havent really had time to think about WHO we are going to see. Well today, I watched a video (you can see it on my facebook page) and I got soooo excited. I kind of forgot that we are not just going to this country to do this mission. We are going to get to see these little people that we love soo much! I am so super pumped right now! I get to spend an entire month with all of these fabulous little kids!!! I get to love on them for more that 5 days! I get to serve them and work with them and hug them and tell them over and over and over again. "Te amo y Jesus te ama!" I just feel really blessed that I am going to get to serve the Lord while spending time with these children that I just adore. So thank you so much to all of you who are supporting us on this trip and who are praying for us and our safety. Maybe you could add in your prayer requests that John and I can become fluent in Spanish in the next two weeks!!!!

~Sarah

Prayer Requests for the Trip

2009-06-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

-Pray for safety. It is going to be obvious when we get there and it will be obvious who we are staying with. Julio (the pastor that we are staying with) was held for ransom about two years ago and one of our campers brothers was murdered last year when we were there. I know God will protect us if that's His will.

-That we will be a light to these people. They have heard the truth and so we feel like our goal is to go down there and serve them. We want that seed that was planted 5 or 10 years ago to start growing. We want them to see something different in us, and we believe we can do that by serving them. Pray that it never becomes about us, but that our focus is always on serving them...in any way.....

-That we will grow closer to Julio and his family while we are down there and encourage them in what they are doing (We are living with them while we are there). Julio has his degree and could be in a church in America, but he chose to stay in this tiny little beat down village. He has a wife named Luci (the c sounds like a k) and two little girls. They are always getting sick, and live in pretty bad conditions. I imagine that they often get discouraged, so we want to also serve them and encourage them in how they are living for the Lord....that's Luci in the picture teaching the Awana group.....

-That this will be a time when God tells us what He wants us to do with our lives...I know its a tall order to ask for, but we just want Him to make it clear to us if this is what we are supposed to be doing for the rest of our lives. Missions is in vain if its not His purpose for us, so we don't want to do something we are not supposed to be doing. Basically, please pray that He will write it on the wall for us where He wants us to serve and at what time He would like for us to go:)

Thank you so much for your prayers. We covet them and feel blessed that you would take your time to pray for us.

Please continue to check back and see any new prayer requests, or to find out about our trip. We leave June 27 and will return July 28th!!! We will try to post each day that we are there in order to keep you all updated on what is going on!

26 days left!

2009-06-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

Wow! We are leaving for Guatemala in 26 days...I'm not counting today because its 10:30 at night:). I am so excited to see what God is going to do while we are there. I am ready for Him to use us over there, and I am excited to see how that happens. Please pray for us while we are there. We will be there from June 27 - July 26. We will try to update this blog at least every day that we are down there so that you will know what to pray for. Thank you so much for your support. We are only able to go on this trip because of you. God Bless.

~Sarah Herrington