typing with wil

(wil)

Today was our last day in Guatemala,  we are sad.  We have learned a lot while we were here, and hope to share with you guys when we get back home.  We had the whole campus (well, the ones who weren't in the mountains) over for dinner.  that consisted of mostly good-buys and hugs.  We are treating this like it will be the last time we see them thou, we will probably see them again this year. 
Coming down here is some thing I wish every one can do who is over 13.  It is interesting coming down to a different country, and seeing all of the poverty.  It really changes your mind set in your everyday life. 
We will be going to the Barcelo tomorrow.  Spend one night and then fly back to Texas with Mrs. Bell and hopefully Bengie too.  But they are only switching planes in the airport an will be flying to California. 

When we get back we will be able to show you all 2,000 pictures, but until then we can show you a few.

Hugo messing around with some of the sink pipes.

Miriam and Sarah

Our picture with one of the guards.

Louise's family

A dog with his head stuck in the bars.

I hope to see you all soon! But until then, Adios!
See you guys soon,
Wil

Baby owls and the governor of Zacapa

The elusive orange bird!

Friday.  I started the day on a mission.  That elusive orange bird was going to get his picture taken.  I got up early (5 instead of the usual 5:30)  I skipped the laundry and sweeping, loaded up my camera and my coffee and some reading material and headed out in search of that bird.  I wasn't two steps out the door when my owl friend caught my eye sitting on "our" house - my hands were too full to get his picture but I did note that he was acting a little different.  I journeyed to the back of the campus and was preparing to settle in to wait and watch for my little friend when out of the blue - bingo - there he was - there were like 4 of them!  They are very shy and I had to very slowly get all my things put down and get my camera situated - all the while realizing that I forgot to bug spray so I was being breakfast for many.  It was not a calm or serene event which is how I always picture good bird watching to be but, clumsily and while swatting bugs I got the photo in like 4 minutes instead of the hour or so that  I was willing to wait.  Also, now I know where those birds hang out so I think I will go back and try and get a better pic tomorrow (with bug spray a priority).  By 5:10 I was headed back to the house in victory when I spotted the owl again still acting strange.  Then I spotted the owl mate.  Two owls acting weird . . . there must be a fledgling owl around here somewhere . . . so I began a new hunt.  Marching around in the weeds and gauging my hunt by how those owls were acting and all the while being munched to death by bugs . . . but bingo again!

So precious!

He's thinking he's hiding . . . 

She kept a close eye on me.

This guy showed up to watch too - these guys like to have their picture taken.  Every time I get my camera out one of these flies in to get his picture.  They act like little kids.

 
It was a very cool morning and it wasn't even 5:30 a.m. yet.

The kids and I went to Oasis to see Dulce and then went to la tela (fabric "store") for more curtain fabric.  We met a great guy named Mario - it was his store.  He spoke some English - he was telling us how dangerous Zacapa and Chiquimula had become because of the drug cartels.  He said that there had been an assassination every night for the last week.  He said when he closes his shop at 5:30 pm he heads straight home and stays home.  The only place his family goes in the evenings is to church.  He was a typical nice Guatemalan.  These are very relational people.  Face to face conversation is important and evident everywhere you go here.       Mario gave us a good deal on the fabric - I bought 12 yards for 250Q - about $32.  And then he went out and stopped traffic on the street for us so we could get our car out.  We grabbed lunch in town.  Bought 3 boot legged movies for $2 total and met and gave a street girl and her baby money for food and headed back to campus the long way to avoid the continuing funeral from yesterday.

The BAM guys had peeled out early this morning for appointments with the Guatemalan Chamber of Commerce, a local coffee roaster/exporter, and a congressman.  Well, in true Guatemalan fashion, these events somehow end up with them sitting and having dinner with  the top aide and advisor to the Governor of Zacapa and THE First Lady of Guatemala. This is so potentially life changing for so many lives.  Our 20 named babies that are waiting to come here are still languishing in the overcrowded city orphanage lost in the mire of red tape . . . all the prayers and fasting coming out of the New York and other prayer partner churches may be answered in this meeting . . . little lives could be impacted greatly out of this meeting . . . time for intense prayer.

* Steve will have to fill in the blanks on this meeting in an edit later **

It was a very cool day.  As cool as a blazing hot day in Guatemala can be . . .

While the guys were walking into the Governor's office Steve sent me an S.O.S text for prayer coverage.  After that prayer I walked out of House 6 and this is the first thing I saw . . . a rainbow arcing over the entire campus . . . how many times can I mention how cool this day was . . .

Typing with wil

(wil)
Yesterday a new girl came to campus.  Her name is Raina, it's the Spanish word for "queen".  Raina is a 11 year old girl who doesn't know how to read and has never set foot in a school.  (We will post a picture of her when we get one) But I think she is adapting well. She arrived during our church service and pastor German had all of the other house of hope kids line up and give her a hug. That was cool-I'm sure she had lots going on in her head.
We had our English class yesterday too.  We had all of the kids from the whole campus over at our house!  And they are all learning a lot of English.  I think the kids prefer to have English in our house anyway.

The BAM (business as missions) guys from our church came and spent their first night in house of hope too.  They were really hot last night they said.  They are going to be extremely busy while they are here and that's keeping my dad occupied for the time they are here.  They are meeting with local businesses and some government officials and learning about how business works here.  I am staying home with puking James today and Mom took Wade and Sarah into town with her to try and buy some fabric for the curtains.  You have to be careful in town today because there was an assassination in Zacapa last night and today the funeral starts - they start the funerals right away here because they don't embalm the bodies and with the heat . . . you can imagine.  Anyway, one of the top drug people was shot outside a tienda in the street.  So, today we were told to stay far away from the funeral tents and then tomorrow stay away from the people walking behind the body on the way to the cemetery because that's when some of the other drug people try and kill some of their opposition because they are sitting ducks at the funeral.  Sounds like this has happened before here. 

That is the big news for today plus soccer games and arm wrestling matches and welding bodega shelves.

They call all frogs and toads "sapos" here which actually translates as "toads".  Which is opposite of us.  We tend to call all frogs and toads "frogs".

A tree frog Wade and James caught

 

Cindy and Raul in an arm wrestling contest.

And that's all for today folks.
Type to you guys soon.
Wil

Tuesday

Tuesdays start at 5:30 a.m. with chores that have to be finished by 7:00 a.m. all campus devotions.  There were two exciting announcements at this devotion.  The introduction of the Bent Tree Summer staff guys - the kids love visitors to the campus. Josh and Ricky will live on campus through the conclusion of the 3 Bent Tree mission trip teams.   The biggie, however, was that the campus will be receiving a new little girl.  11 year old "Raina" will be coming to live on campus.  She is being rescued by a grandmother out of a desperate situation.  The situation makes it impossible for her to stay in her village.  Raina will join the family in house 3.  Please be in prayer for Raina - the next few months will be hard for her as she leaves everything she has ever known to start her new life.
All kinds of construction and chores happened today.  Shoveling rocks, sawing and hanging doors, mountains of laundry in preparation for teams, more painting, deep cleaning of Casa seis in prep. of the BAM guys coming to stay with us, mopping the school then music and p.e. classes.  A trip to Chiquimula and then we had 10 at our dinner table.  Our guests were Rosemery, Santos, Zuri, and Juansito.  With open windows and doors the laughter spills out of this house so we have to have things wrapped up by 10 or so because the little ones in house 5 (next door) need their sleep.  I love this place.

When you live in the jungle you must do this often.  When the rainy season started - wow - stuff grows here!

These guys work hard.

another street bball game in Zacapa

when the guatemalans play against the gringos an audience starts to form.  

reminder of the cause

Today is International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression.  In 1982, the UN chose this day to highlight the organizations that help children and shine a light on the atrocities committed against them. The 35-year long civil war in Guatemala is one of the main factors behind the high orphan rate that exists today. It began a terrible cycle of kids having kids. It forced kids into gangs, drug cartels, sex trafficking, and poverty. Corruption and lack of opportunity continues to perpetuate hopelessness and desperation.
Watch these short videos and then spend some time praying. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you about how He feels about children.
http://youtu.be/x4vz1IrXcX8
http://youtu.be/v65ae_QKTiI
For Guatemala stats: (www.protectionproject.org)
4th largest exporter of children into the sex trafficking business
80% of prostitution in Guatemala involves children
With a total population of less than 13million, at least 15,000 under age of 18 are affected by sex-trafficking networks
This is one of the reasons Houses of Hope is so important. It stops this cycle and gives kids a chance to be loved and launched into a successful life. It provides hope and healing that can only come from Christ.

Typing with wil

(wil)
Today, Eduardo came over early so I could help him with his math.  When he came over,  he told me he needed a pencil and eraser.  I told him he didn't need help, he needed the tools.  We helped him for an hour, then went to P.E.  Then we built one of the four shelves in the bodegga (What we call a pantry).  That took us the better part of the day, and me and my dad learned a little bit how to work with metal.  We had Quiecho come and weld it for us.  While we were working on the shelves, we had a lot of time to talk with Raul, and we learned some interesting things about him and his dad while they were in the special forces in Korea. I then went to guitar lessons for an hour.  I also got some Spanish grammar from Santos, and I was teaching him some English grammar. This evening the first 2 leaders from Bent Tree arrived to prepare for the rest of the Bent Tree youth teams that all come in June-Josh and Ricky. The first team arrives this Saturday. They got in late and had dinner with us...beans and rice.

yesterday Daveed and Santos got up early and ran 15 laps around the campus. probably about 4 miles and they ran fast and the campus is very hilly!

the Wadell boys got a flat tire on their motto and had to push it a long way home in the rain. they live at the bottom of a very steep hill that was slippery in the rain. "no problemo" they said

Saturday work day

Saturday work day scene

Yesterday was Saturday and around here that means community work day.  Everybody pitches in and sweats and laughs and accomplishes together.  When you involve 30+ kids and the kids outnumber the adults you produce lots of laughter and surprisingly lots of work.  With 21 acres and 13 buildings there is always plenty to be done.  There was mowing, cleaning, and moving.  One group did yard work, one group went and  cleaned the "team house" in preparation for the second team of the season, and one group worked on and moved stuff into house 2.  We finally moved the Sosa's into house 2.   They were so happy with that house.  It made every minute spent preparing that house for them more than worth it.  I wish Gigi had been here to see it.
We had English class at 2.  We moved classes from the school to "our" house.  It is one of the highlights of my week.  The hour slips right by - a little too quickly.  Today, I completely lost track of time - you see there are no clocks in this house and I lost my watch (and my Maui Jims) in the ocean at Montericco - so time is difficult to keep.  Anyway, I kept the kids past time and this shouldn't be too much a problem except that Bible class follows English class.  The Pastor's wife, Isella, was a little perturbed that all the children were late to her class.  My own kids came home to report that Mrs. Isella changed her whole lesson of the day to  one on the importance of "promptness and not wasting the time of people who have prepared a lesson for you".  One of the kids leaned over during class and whispered to Wil, "maybe we should start English class earlier in the day".  Poor kids.  Anyway, one thing that I thought impressive was that Mrs. Isella speaks only in Espanol and all four of my kids totally got the lesson . . . . I was happy.  I will try and remember to explain to Mrs. Isella that I am a little time challenged.  Maybe we can have Bible class at "our" house too :)
After Bible, we held a prayer walk and prayer commissioning of house 2.  Together we prayed for the house, community, family, ministry while we walked through each room.  Then we all had cafe and pan dulce's and more stories and laughs. 
Dinner with Santos and Juansito as dinner guests.  Another round of Pictureka in Espanol. 
Another numbered day comes to a close in the mountains.
Today we will spend more time with Dulce.
Adios, Va Pues.

Quicho caught a lizard.

Narcisso.  I love this kid.

Santiago's mucho grande sapo.

English class in casa seis.

The blessing of House 2.

Dulce, big bug, basketball, and dinner guests.

(Jeana)
Yesterday.  Peter and Carolyn were preparing to take the House of Hope leadership team that was visiting back to Guatemala City.  Steve and I were tasked with being "guardians" to our new family on campus as they learn their way around their new home and ministry.  Truly we are  blessed to be able to get to know this amazing family.  We had plans to go and visit Dulce today so . . . how do we be in two places at once?  Steve made a "quick" trip to Maxi Bodega - nothing happens quickly here - we have figured out that any trip into town takes 3 hours - so his morning is consumed securing lunch for the Sosa's who are busy teaching at the school so we can slip away and spend time with Dulce.

Dulce and Santiago

Oasis Christian School is the best place for us to spend time with Dulce.  As I ponder that previous statement it does occur to me how crazy that sounds . . . us showing up and spending 2-3 hours with her at her school but that is how it goes.  It was a very happy and blessed visit.  She and I sorta teared up a bit in the beginning but we recovered nicely and the rest of the time we truly enjoyed. 
Do please continue to pray for Dulce.  There are continuing concerning reports about her care.  It makes it very hard to consider that we only have 2 more weeks here.  Very hard . . .

We had lunch at Papi's Bar-BQ.  It's a little walk up restaurant here in town owned and operated by some of the now grown up kids that were raised here on campus.  These are some really cool kids and truly a testament to their upbringing here on this campus.  The reach of this campus stretches far and wide in Zacapa.  We so very rarely leave campus without seeing, stopping and visiting with someone who is/was directly influence by the light that shines through the work done here.
We were at Papi's for about 2 hours.  We had to wait out a funeral procession going through town.  Funerals are much longer here than in the states.  The whole village comes to the church where the deceased is layed in an open casket and they stay with the body for the entire night.  The next day the family congregates together under tents set up in the streets until the funeral service starts.  After the service, the deceased is place in some type of vehicle - sometimes a pickup truck - and very loud funeral music is played and the whole village walks behind the truck all the way to the cemetery - sometimes it is miles.  There will be a car somewhere in the procession passing out bags of water. (drinks are often served in bags here - it is an art to master drinking out of a bag).  It is not uncommon to stumble into these funeral processions - either in traffic where it can snarl traffic in fantastic ways or if you try and drive down a street and see big tents in the streets you have to figure out a way to turn around.  Funerals trump all other traffic concerns here.  After the deceased is sealed in the above ground crypt type boxes the family then congregates in the cemetery for that entire night too.  Somebody told me it was because they believe that they need to help usher the departed's spirit up to where it goes.  Then the next day the family paints the crypt a very bright color and places offerings  -often times the departed's favorite liquor or drink onto the crypt.  The cemeteries can be very popular places for residents of the nearby villages after the family leaves.

The rest of the afternoon was burned up trying to shop at Maxi Bodega.

Selections at the meat counter. Can you read the tag?  What in the world is a "beef egg"?

We eat a lot of beans here because we don't know what this stuff is . . .

 This evening Wil and Santos wanted to go into town and play in the every Friday night pick up basketball game.  It is a standing event at the Comex basketball court - rain or shine.  Tonight happened to be raining but basketball trumps rain.  So, Surri and I drove they guys into town.  On our way we got caught in a parade line going through LaFrogua (another procession - and yet we don't even find it unusual or inconvenient - I think we have become guatemalan).  The guys played a very serious and tough game of basketball and Surri and I had a great time of fellowship while watching.

Guys in white shirts verses colored shirts.  White shirts won.

When we got home  Sarah had made the tortillas and finished up the beans - we all had dinner and Santos and Surri joined us.  Over dinner a heated debate broke out about 2 things . . . 1) who was the worlds tallest man and 2) which country was the most powerful and what defines "most powerful".  These conversations are made all the more funny with the mixture of Spanish and English being spoken all around.  We played the Spanish version of Pictureka until Surri's parents showed up to visit for a bit (they speak only Spanish so "visiting" takes time and produces a lot more laughs).

By 10:30 p.m. we got the house cleared out, dishes washed, laundry brought in off the line, kids showered and another blessed day in the mountains comes to a close.
There is a lot of community that happens here.  It is the way people cope in a difficult place to live.  We will miss the community . . . 

We lost sight of this guy just as he was crawling through an opening between our window and wall into the house . . .

After the scorpion, Wil decides to caulk around all windows.

Daveed and Santiago will miss the bugs - each day brings a new specimen to observe.

typing with wil

(wil)

A couple of days ago we went on a "vacation" to the coast and lake Atitlan.  Lake Atitlan is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.
We got some truly amazing photos of that lake.  We will have to show them to you guys when we get back.


The next day we went to the black sands coast.  The sand was totally black and hot.  The waves there were amazing.  Every wave that came to shore was taller than wade, sometimes even taller than me.

The waves would sound like a jet flying by.  It was really loud. 


My mom also touched on the subject of the "ferry", but I noticed she didn't post an accurate picture of how scary this was at the time. 

When we first pulled up the the boat parking we were joking that this was our ride.  And then the man who was leading us to the ferry pointed us to one of them and we were shocked.  Thought the man was crazy, started to question our thinking, and then drove onto it.  After we got on, the man put on 2 motorcycles and a dozen other people.  The raft only had a sheet of plywood on the bottom and sides.  And the frame was only covered enough so that a car could drive on.  The boat made a lot of squeaking and bending, but we made it.

Yesterday, the whole campus had dinner together.  And one thing the kids like to do after meals is arm wrestle.  So the whole campus broke out into these arm wrestling contests. 

  And that's all for now. 
type to you guys soon,
Wil

This is a typical sized wave that we saw while we were there.