Saturday, August 23, 2014
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
They're off
And they're off...
Neal is with the students on a plane to Atlanta as I write this. I am sitting in the home of Edwin's parents relaxing and preparing to head back to HueHue. Antigua was great. Lots of shopping. Lots of historical sites. Good times all around.
REMINDER: your children will be tired when they get to Kalamazoo today. They will also take some time processing what they did, saw, and experienced in Guatemala. Please be patient with them. Their responses will be short and surfacy. Give them time. They will open up and talk to you freely if you give them a few days to process.
Neal is with the students on a plane to Atlanta as I write this. I am sitting in the home of Edwin's parents relaxing and preparing to head back to HueHue. Antigua was great. Lots of shopping. Lots of historical sites. Good times all around.
REMINDER: your children will be tired when they get to Kalamazoo today. They will also take some time processing what they did, saw, and experienced in Guatemala. Please be patient with them. Their responses will be short and surfacy. Give them time. They will open up and talk to you freely if you give them a few days to process.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Earthquake
So, we were all awoken this morning by an earthquake at 5:30am. Well, everyone except Taye and Jadyn. It was pretty impressive. Everyone is safe and okay. We are leaving for a long trip to Antigua this morning and then Neal and the students will fly out of Guatemala City early tomorrow morning.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Church
Today we are sitting in our last church service in Guatemala. They have all been different yet similar experiences. This church is very large. There definitely over 200 people here and still room for more.
We had the opportunity to share testimonies, sing songs in English and Spanish, and listen to Edwin and Jesse preach.
It was bittersweet to sing our songs for the last time. Many did now know the songs before we started singing them 15 days ago, but now they are like old standards.
As I sit here in this church and take it all in I can easily reflect on all that we have done. Listening to our group talk about God and love for others makes me extremely hopeful for this generation. Our beautiful, amazing young people are not selfish and arrogant. They love others and care for the needs of others; that is something I am sure of.
These last two weeks have been amazing and definitely a time that I will not soon forget and I am sure the students agree.
We had the opportunity to share testimonies, sing songs in English and Spanish, and listen to Edwin and Jesse preach.
It was bittersweet to sing our songs for the last time. Many did now know the songs before we started singing them 15 days ago, but now they are like old standards.
As I sit here in this church and take it all in I can easily reflect on all that we have done. Listening to our group talk about God and love for others makes me extremely hopeful for this generation. Our beautiful, amazing young people are not selfish and arrogant. They love others and care for the needs of others; that is something I am sure of.
These last two weeks have been amazing and definitely a time that I will not soon forget and I am sure the students agree.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Agua Dulce Part 2
The last few days in Agua Dulce have been amazing! The trip up was the hottest trip to Agua Dulce that I have ever experienced, but everyone was amazing with no complaining. The sun was beating down on us the entire trip, but everyone kept their spirits high and enjoyed the trip.
Upon arrival Edwin took the group on a two hour hike through the mountains. We basically walked about 4 miles down to the small river and then came back up a different way. We stopped in a few small villages and even had the opportunity to buy a cola. We saw the first Protestant church in the area as well as a few Catholic Churches. It was a great way to start our time up here and it was definitely a workout!
The next day we headed over to an area church and painted the inside of it the entire morning. The cement was not the easiest thing to paint, but everyone got the opportunity to paint a textured wall. The biggest difference is that in Guatemala they add water to their paint. This is something we don't usually do in the USA, but it is how they paint. The church is now a very nice soft yellow on the inside and it looks great. The only tough part about painting was the smoke. Right outside a few women were cooking a huge meal for a wedding the next day. The smoke from their cooking fire was intense and filled the church, making it hard for many of us to see. After painting we held a Vacation Bible School in the church for about 50 kids. We acted out and read a Bible story, face painted, played games, did crafts, and played soccer. It was a lot of fun and also crazy at times. It was especially great to see some of our students get mobbed at various times...
On Friday we painted a small kitchen on the coffee plantation in the morning. This was even more difficult than the church on account of the cement walls. We also had more water in the paint with some lime and sugar as well. This was to help the paint act as a sealant on the cement walls. After much most of us started a Vacation Bible School right on the plantation while Neal, Kaylan, Katrina, and David kept painting. It was incessantly raining so not very many kids showed up, but the intimate group made it a lot more manageable and we were able to give a lot more attention to each child.
Seeing as it was the Fourth of July Gail cooked us an amazing American meal consisting of hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, and jalapeño poppers! It was perfect. After dinner we played music on the loud speakers and danced to a couple of songs while we waited for it to get dark. As it grew darker we went down to the patio to set off fireworks!! We had a lot of good ones (loud ones, colorful ones, and bright ones). We did a lot of lighting, running away, and laughing! Once all of the fireworks were done we came back up stairs for cake and more dancing! We held an Agua Dulce dance party for the whole area to hear and enjoy. It was amazing and fantastic! Everyone was dancing and having a great time as we celebrated America and our time here in Guatemala!!
This morning we are preparing for our trip back to HueHue where we will relax, hang out, go to church, and prepare to head home.
Rob Bradford
Upon arrival Edwin took the group on a two hour hike through the mountains. We basically walked about 4 miles down to the small river and then came back up a different way. We stopped in a few small villages and even had the opportunity to buy a cola. We saw the first Protestant church in the area as well as a few Catholic Churches. It was a great way to start our time up here and it was definitely a workout!
The next day we headed over to an area church and painted the inside of it the entire morning. The cement was not the easiest thing to paint, but everyone got the opportunity to paint a textured wall. The biggest difference is that in Guatemala they add water to their paint. This is something we don't usually do in the USA, but it is how they paint. The church is now a very nice soft yellow on the inside and it looks great. The only tough part about painting was the smoke. Right outside a few women were cooking a huge meal for a wedding the next day. The smoke from their cooking fire was intense and filled the church, making it hard for many of us to see. After painting we held a Vacation Bible School in the church for about 50 kids. We acted out and read a Bible story, face painted, played games, did crafts, and played soccer. It was a lot of fun and also crazy at times. It was especially great to see some of our students get mobbed at various times...
On Friday we painted a small kitchen on the coffee plantation in the morning. This was even more difficult than the church on account of the cement walls. We also had more water in the paint with some lime and sugar as well. This was to help the paint act as a sealant on the cement walls. After much most of us started a Vacation Bible School right on the plantation while Neal, Kaylan, Katrina, and David kept painting. It was incessantly raining so not very many kids showed up, but the intimate group made it a lot more manageable and we were able to give a lot more attention to each child.
Seeing as it was the Fourth of July Gail cooked us an amazing American meal consisting of hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, and jalapeño poppers! It was perfect. After dinner we played music on the loud speakers and danced to a couple of songs while we waited for it to get dark. As it grew darker we went down to the patio to set off fireworks!! We had a lot of good ones (loud ones, colorful ones, and bright ones). We did a lot of lighting, running away, and laughing! Once all of the fireworks were done we came back up stairs for cake and more dancing! We held an Agua Dulce dance party for the whole area to hear and enjoy. It was amazing and fantastic! Everyone was dancing and having a great time as we celebrated America and our time here in Guatemala!!
This morning we are preparing for our trip back to HueHue where we will relax, hang out, go to church, and prepare to head home.
Rob Bradford
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Wifi
Quick message that the wifi in the house is not working. I am at an Internet cafe, sending this out. Everyone is doing well and everything is great! We are headed to Agua Dulce this morning and we will not have any internet access until Saturday afternoon!!!
Rob Bradford
Rob Bradford
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday
In the afternoon we went to a hot spring. It was really relaxing.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Church today
Saturday June 28th
Saturday was a relaxing day and a cleaning day. We said goodbye to five of our team members and then we cleaned the guest house. We all had chores to complete and they were done swiftly and without complaining. That's always a good thing!
We had a lot of free time and many of us read and played cards. We also went to the market and the store. Around 3pm we went to a new village to visit a small Catholic cathedral. It was very interesting and definitely worth te visit. Following the church we went to a market and a leather shop where some of our team members bought some pretty cool machetes...we then went to a cool little coffee shop and watched the end of a World Cup game. Most people got lattes and some even got some cakes and pies for dessert. It was a posh little spot for sure.
We came home for dinner and then went to a church service. The church was about an hour away and when we arrived thy had already begun. But we quickly go immersed into the service as they were expecting us. We sang a couple of songs in English and then Peyton and Katrina shared testimonies, followed by a short message given by Jesse(the intern). We ended the service by going around and talking to all of the members of the congregation. It was a good time for sure. The students all seemed to really enjoy it.
Sunday morning we were allowed to sleep in and we had a huge brunch at 11am. We did more chores and now we are preparing to go to another church service.
Rob Bradford
We had a lot of free time and many of us read and played cards. We also went to the market and the store. Around 3pm we went to a new village to visit a small Catholic cathedral. It was very interesting and definitely worth te visit. Following the church we went to a market and a leather shop where some of our team members bought some pretty cool machetes...we then went to a cool little coffee shop and watched the end of a World Cup game. Most people got lattes and some even got some cakes and pies for dessert. It was a posh little spot for sure.
We came home for dinner and then went to a church service. The church was about an hour away and when we arrived thy had already begun. But we quickly go immersed into the service as they were expecting us. We sang a couple of songs in English and then Peyton and Katrina shared testimonies, followed by a short message given by Jesse(the intern). We ended the service by going around and talking to all of the members of the congregation. It was a good time for sure. The students all seemed to really enjoy it.
Sunday morning we were allowed to sleep in and we had a huge brunch at 11am. We did more chores and now we are preparing to go to another church service.
Rob Bradford
Friday, June 27, 2014
Pics from today
Dust
Today was another day of a long clinic. But this time we went up to 11,000 feet to a community called Arenal. This community was very different from the community in Agua Dulce. Today we held our clinic inside of the community church, which was rather small. We had to make a few changes, but we were still able to see over 50 patients with a wide variety of illnesses. Many of the illnesses were curable with rest and common medicine. But of course there were many ailments that we were unable to treat. This reality never gets any easier to deal with.
The students were wonderful again as they continued to assist the medical professionals as well as play with the area kids. There were still a lot of medical glove balloons and a lot of soccer.
Rob Bradford
The students were wonderful again as they continued to assist the medical professionals as well as play with the area kids. There were still a lot of medical glove balloons and a lot of soccer.
Rob Bradford
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
More clinics...
Today was exhausting, exhilarating, busy, intense, fun, and so much more. We started with a 7:30am breakfast and opened the medical clinic at 8:30. Today we saw 71 patients and we were open from 8:30-3:30 with a short break for lunch. Many of the patients came in with the same conditions as yesterday and again it was hard to not be able to help everyone as much as we would like. There were a couple of hernias that were treated with braces, medication, and education. We also saw a few pregnant women as well as young children. There were countless guys with headaches and backaches as well.
The clinic ended with a women with a complicated cyst that Sally and Laura decided needed to be removed. Laura was prepared and performed the minor surgery with assistance from Sally, Grace, Sharon, and Hannah. The cyst was causing the woman a lot of pain and the hope is that this removal will help her a great deal.
Everyone was amazing today and all of the students filled amazing roles throughout the run of the clinic:
Peyton - pharmacy
Ginny - runner
Cammy - kids
Kaylan - blood pressure
Katrina - in take
Hannah - translator, blood pressure
Jessegrace - blood pressure, asst. to Laura
This has definitely been a great experience for everyone, even though it has been emotionally and physically draining.
Agua Dulce
We finished our first day in Agua Dulce and it was a success. The morning started off normal with breakfast and going into the market and the mall. But then the adventure started. We loaded our stuff and ourselves on to a sweet, brand new Suzuki truck. The back/bed was equipped with seats and storage bins, but there was also room to stand up during the ride. So, most of is stood the whole trip. If was great to stand in the back of the truck and see the beauty of Guatemala. The trip was about 3 hours long and it was absolutely gorgeous. Standing there, gripping the bars tightly with the wind blowing in our hair!
Once we arrived in Agua Dulce we unpacked and unloaded and had lunch. Lunch was a true Guatemalan meal: tortillas with cheese and black beans with crema! Delicious. Following lunch we opened our first medical clinic. It was definitely something new for all of us, but everyone did so well. We ended up seeing 48 patients in the three hours we were open. Some had very minor issues like coughs or fevers, while others had enlarged hearts and heart murmurs. It was not easy for our health professionals or our students to send people off with the minimal amount of care we could provide. But yet, a lot of good was done during the clinic. The language barrier was also tough, but a few people really stepped up. In particular, Hannah was on fire - helping to translate with anyone who needed it. She said she spoke more Spanish in that 3 hours than she had her entire life. In general everyone did their part and did it with smiles on their faces, showing God's love to all who entered.
Rob Bradford
Once we arrived in Agua Dulce we unpacked and unloaded and had lunch. Lunch was a true Guatemalan meal: tortillas with cheese and black beans with crema! Delicious. Following lunch we opened our first medical clinic. It was definitely something new for all of us, but everyone did so well. We ended up seeing 48 patients in the three hours we were open. Some had very minor issues like coughs or fevers, while others had enlarged hearts and heart murmurs. It was not easy for our health professionals or our students to send people off with the minimal amount of care we could provide. But yet, a lot of good was done during the clinic. The language barrier was also tough, but a few people really stepped up. In particular, Hannah was on fire - helping to translate with anyone who needed it. She said she spoke more Spanish in that 3 hours than she had her entire life. In general everyone did their part and did it with smiles on their faces, showing God's love to all who entered.
Rob Bradford
Monday, June 23, 2014
Cultural Day
Today was eventful and loads of fun. It started bright and early for a few of is who went on a 3-4 mile run at 7:45 this morning. The participants were Hannah, Peyton, Rob, and Jesse(the intern). It was a tough run in this altitude and with all of the hills, but it was also exhilarating.
Breakfast and clean up followed the run. Soon after that was many of us went on various excursions. Some people went to the market, others went to exchange money and lastly a couple of people went to a paper store. The goal was to walk around town and take it all in. This is essential in a cultural immersion trip like this one.
Next we went to a blanket factory where many of us bought blankets of various shapes, sizes, and colors. They were gorgeous.
Our next stop was at the Mayan Ruins here in HueHuetenango. This is always fun as we can climb all over the ruins and really explore. The only downside today was the torrential downpour that started when we arrived. Many ran for shelter while others braved the storm and walked all over the ruins.
Our last stop of the day was at the biblico instituto de Berea where Sharon have a health talk on pregnancy (post, pre, and during) with some Of the local women. Sharon was joined by Pat, grace, Laura, and Sally. The rest of us were there as well, but we worked in a different room cleaning and organizing medical supplies. Katrina took charge and got us all in line. The cleaning and organizing went well and we did a great job. Now, we are chilling and relaxing back at the guest house as we wait for dinner.
Tomorrow morning we will be leaving for the plantation at Agua Dulce. There is absolutely no wifi and I will do my best to write every day, but I will not be able to post them until we return to HueHue.
Breakfast and clean up followed the run. Soon after that was many of us went on various excursions. Some people went to the market, others went to exchange money and lastly a couple of people went to a paper store. The goal was to walk around town and take it all in. This is essential in a cultural immersion trip like this one.
Next we went to a blanket factory where many of us bought blankets of various shapes, sizes, and colors. They were gorgeous.
Our next stop was at the Mayan Ruins here in HueHuetenango. This is always fun as we can climb all over the ruins and really explore. The only downside today was the torrential downpour that started when we arrived. Many ran for shelter while others braved the storm and walked all over the ruins.
Our last stop of the day was at the biblico instituto de Berea where Sharon have a health talk on pregnancy (post, pre, and during) with some Of the local women. Sharon was joined by Pat, grace, Laura, and Sally. The rest of us were there as well, but we worked in a different room cleaning and organizing medical supplies. Katrina took charge and got us all in line. The cleaning and organizing went well and we did a great job. Now, we are chilling and relaxing back at the guest house as we wait for dinner.
Tomorrow morning we will be leaving for the plantation at Agua Dulce. There is absolutely no wifi and I will do my best to write every day, but I will not be able to post them until we return to HueHue.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
HueHuetenango
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Guatemala City
The American airline people are safely in HueHuetenango!
The Delta Airline people are safely in Guatemala City!!
We arrived shortly after 7pm local time and had a small snafu at baggage claim...we are missing two pieces of luggage. One is full of medical supplies and the other is all of Taye and Jadyn's clothes plus Sharon's cosmetics and toiletries. We hope to get both bags soon. Following that, going through customs was a breeze. They didn't stop any of us. We just walked through! Edwin and Hilde were there waiting for us and we quickly boarded the van and were on our way! Our first stop was at Edwin's parents house where we had a wonderful spaghetti dinner. Now, we are at our sleeping quarters. It is a guest house in a safe neighborhood with at least one other missionary group here. The accommodations are wonderful and everyone is settling in. My hope is that they fall asleep quickly because we are leaving at 5am to head out to HueHue!
It is good to be able to lay our heads down and get a good nights sleep before our 5-6 hour drive tomorrow.
Rob Bradford
The Delta Airline people are safely in Guatemala City!!
We arrived shortly after 7pm local time and had a small snafu at baggage claim...we are missing two pieces of luggage. One is full of medical supplies and the other is all of Taye and Jadyn's clothes plus Sharon's cosmetics and toiletries. We hope to get both bags soon. Following that, going through customs was a breeze. They didn't stop any of us. We just walked through! Edwin and Hilde were there waiting for us and we quickly boarded the van and were on our way! Our first stop was at Edwin's parents house where we had a wonderful spaghetti dinner. Now, we are at our sleeping quarters. It is a guest house in a safe neighborhood with at least one other missionary group here. The accommodations are wonderful and everyone is settling in. My hope is that they fall asleep quickly because we are leaving at 5am to head out to HueHue!
It is good to be able to lay our heads down and get a good nights sleep before our 5-6 hour drive tomorrow.
Rob Bradford
Barely
Well, we barely made our flight after a delay in Detroit. We had to run, but we are here and boarding now! So excited. Next stop - Guatemala City!!!
Rob Bradford
Rob Bradford
Friday, June 20, 2014
Guatemala 2014
Well, in just over 24 hours we will all be in Guatemala. Tonight is our packing party and sure it will be a blast. We are going to load all of our luggage with medicine, soccer balls, crafts, and little toys. I'm really excited about this opportunity and the group we are taking to Guatemala this year. We are going to work really hard and have a lot of fun. The perfect combination!!
Rob Bradford
Rob Bradford
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