We are back home, safe and sound. Looking forward to sharing stories with all our friends, and building the relationship with Escuela Integrada into and even stronger partnership. Thanks to friends and family for love, support, and prayers.
God's Peace,
Bruce.
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Friday, July 19, 2019
Volcano Day
Today, we hiked an Volcan Pacaya, and active volcano about 90 minutes from Antigua (depending on traffic in the mountains, which can be very difficult.) We climbed from the village of San Franisco, at about 7,000 feet to about 9,000 feet. At 9,000 feet we had a dramatic view of the cone, and a close-up view of vent that opened up on Wednesday. Since Wednesday, a new lava field has formed on the steep slope, about 300 yards wide, and the better part of a mile long. The lava ranged in temperature from warm (maybe 110 degrees) to hot (enough to start melting the soles of one or our guides shoes) to red hot in a few spots. Seeing the lava flow, and the new rock formed seemed about as close as one can get to seeing new creation in process.
I asked team members to send the best photos from the day to share with you all.
(Bruce)
The cone of Pacaya
I asked team members to send the best photos from the day to share with you all.
(Ryan)
Connor, bringing the drama.
(Stepnanie)
The team, on the mountain
(Lexy)
The view.
(Noah)
Dude attitude.
(Steph)
Sophie makes a friend in San Francisco.
(Noah)
Noah and Heidi, with a view of Volcan Fuego
(Noah)
I have no idea where this came from, but it’s me in front of a chicken bus.
(Ryan)
The Garners in the lava field.
(Steph)
Edgar, our guide. He was the one smart enough to not melt his shoes.
(Lexy)
A chicken bus
(Noah)
One of the puppies of San Francisco’s
The cone of Pacaya
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Spanish phrases from Connor
8 Most Common Spanish Phrases I’ve Used this Week
8. “Como se dice…”
Translation: How do you say…
For anyone learning Spanish in an immersive environment, this is a pretty essential phrase. Everyone in the group, even our resident Spanish major, Darby, used this throughout the week. We would be attempting to engage a kid or a teacher in conversation and would run into a word we didn’t know (or remember despite numerous language classes), and we would turn to one of our translators with a question starting with “Como se dice…”. Being able to ask this question enabled all of us to add depth and meaning to our interactions with those around us who don’t speak English.
7. “Pasa el balon”
Translation: “Pass the ball”
I played a lot of soccer this week. I was trying to play with the kids for at least an hour a day, and for the most part I succeeded. When I was here 3 years ago and my Spanish was considerably worse, I had trouble communicating to the kids that I wanted the ball. Well, that certainly wasn’t a problem this year. Since the last trip, Ive grown 4 inches and gotten a lot better with a soccer ball, so as long as I said something like this, the kids would happily pass off the ball/
6. El tiempo de estufa
Translation: Stove time
One of the main missions Escuela Integrada has is to provide every student’s family with an eco-friendly, cement stove. Throughout the week, we installed 3 of these estufas, and each time, it was dubbed Stove time. Installing these stoves usually involved a couple of us hauling a couple hundred pounds of cement through harrowing conditions, such as a quarter mile trek uphill, a hundred meters at a 30 degree incline, or a 4 block shuffle on Main Street (and I mean down the middle of Main Street) and into someone’s home. And then the stoves needed to be installed. It was tough work, but the gratitude and the occasional cute dog made it worth it.
5. “No me gusta tu”
Translation: “I don’t like you”
My full capacity to insult someone in the Spanish language while at the same time drawing a laugh. This was a good way to interact with the families. For instance, if someone said they didn’t like Hawaiian pizza, they would say “No me gusta la pizza Hawaiiana.” I could then fire back with “No me gusta tu,”, as if I were the pizza, and the family or peer group nearby would snicker a bit. It’s a stupid joke on the surface, but it really made people comfortable to open up to me. I guess juvenile humor is a universal sign for people to let their guards down.
4. “Te gusta futbol?”
Translation: “Do you like soccer”
I spent a lot of time with young kids and tweens this week, and for the most part we didn’t share a language. However, almost all the kids share my love for The Beautiful Game. This was my go-to conversation starter with almost everyone this week. Soccer is so prevalent in Guatemala that almost all the kids play and love the game. This made it really easy to engage even the young kids in conversation, and lead to paths where I could ask them about their favorite team (invariably Antigua GFC, the local squad and Barcelona.) and their favorite player (invariably Messi). This one simple question allowed me to connect with kids I otherwise might not have been able to understand.
3. “De nada”
Translation: “It’s nothing”/“You’re welcome”
A lot of people said thank you to me this week for various things, such as stove hauling and installing, cleaning, and leaving behind makeshift soccer balls we had collected, and this is the customary response. There’s not much to this, other than the fact that the people we interacted with were always especially kind and grateful for even the smallest things.
2. “Lo siento/permisso.”
Translation: “I’m sorry”/“Excuse me”
Antigua is a crowded city, and Escuela Integrada is a crowded school. You can’t get anywhere without bumping into anyone and saying I’m sorry or excuse me. Normally I say these a lot in English, to the point of apologizing way more than is necessary. I started this week the same way, apologizing for everything, especially for bungled Spanish. But as I grew more comfortable with the city, the language, and the people, I found myself apologizing less and less. It almost felt like the people in Antigua were actively helping me fix one of my bigger flaws.
1, ”Gracias”
Translation: “Thank you”
There are so many reasons to say thank you to everyone I met in Guatemala. Everyone, especially the students, were patient with out unrefined language skills and poor hearing (it can be heard to hear a kid speak when the a bus with no muffler drives by every time they open their mouth4.) The people put up with us asking them to repeat or restate their sentences at everything turn. Every single family we visited was gracious and made sure we had a seat and a cold drink, 2 things some of these families find hard to come by. These families often had dirt floors below them and corrugated metal above, but they still made sure that they showed the utmost hospitality to us foreigners. And for that, Antigua, I must say gracias.
8. “Como se dice…”
Translation: How do you say…
For anyone learning Spanish in an immersive environment, this is a pretty essential phrase. Everyone in the group, even our resident Spanish major, Darby, used this throughout the week. We would be attempting to engage a kid or a teacher in conversation and would run into a word we didn’t know (or remember despite numerous language classes), and we would turn to one of our translators with a question starting with “Como se dice…”. Being able to ask this question enabled all of us to add depth and meaning to our interactions with those around us who don’t speak English.
7. “Pasa el balon”
Translation: “Pass the ball”
I played a lot of soccer this week. I was trying to play with the kids for at least an hour a day, and for the most part I succeeded. When I was here 3 years ago and my Spanish was considerably worse, I had trouble communicating to the kids that I wanted the ball. Well, that certainly wasn’t a problem this year. Since the last trip, Ive grown 4 inches and gotten a lot better with a soccer ball, so as long as I said something like this, the kids would happily pass off the ball/
6. El tiempo de estufa
Translation: Stove time
One of the main missions Escuela Integrada has is to provide every student’s family with an eco-friendly, cement stove. Throughout the week, we installed 3 of these estufas, and each time, it was dubbed Stove time. Installing these stoves usually involved a couple of us hauling a couple hundred pounds of cement through harrowing conditions, such as a quarter mile trek uphill, a hundred meters at a 30 degree incline, or a 4 block shuffle on Main Street (and I mean down the middle of Main Street) and into someone’s home. And then the stoves needed to be installed. It was tough work, but the gratitude and the occasional cute dog made it worth it.
5. “No me gusta tu”
Translation: “I don’t like you”
My full capacity to insult someone in the Spanish language while at the same time drawing a laugh. This was a good way to interact with the families. For instance, if someone said they didn’t like Hawaiian pizza, they would say “No me gusta la pizza Hawaiiana.” I could then fire back with “No me gusta tu,”, as if I were the pizza, and the family or peer group nearby would snicker a bit. It’s a stupid joke on the surface, but it really made people comfortable to open up to me. I guess juvenile humor is a universal sign for people to let their guards down.
4. “Te gusta futbol?”
Translation: “Do you like soccer”
I spent a lot of time with young kids and tweens this week, and for the most part we didn’t share a language. However, almost all the kids share my love for The Beautiful Game. This was my go-to conversation starter with almost everyone this week. Soccer is so prevalent in Guatemala that almost all the kids play and love the game. This made it really easy to engage even the young kids in conversation, and lead to paths where I could ask them about their favorite team (invariably Antigua GFC, the local squad and Barcelona.) and their favorite player (invariably Messi). This one simple question allowed me to connect with kids I otherwise might not have been able to understand.
3. “De nada”
Translation: “It’s nothing”/“You’re welcome”
A lot of people said thank you to me this week for various things, such as stove hauling and installing, cleaning, and leaving behind makeshift soccer balls we had collected, and this is the customary response. There’s not much to this, other than the fact that the people we interacted with were always especially kind and grateful for even the smallest things.
2. “Lo siento/permisso.”
Translation: “I’m sorry”/“Excuse me”
Antigua is a crowded city, and Escuela Integrada is a crowded school. You can’t get anywhere without bumping into anyone and saying I’m sorry or excuse me. Normally I say these a lot in English, to the point of apologizing way more than is necessary. I started this week the same way, apologizing for everything, especially for bungled Spanish. But as I grew more comfortable with the city, the language, and the people, I found myself apologizing less and less. It almost felt like the people in Antigua were actively helping me fix one of my bigger flaws.
1, ”Gracias”
Translation: “Thank you”
There are so many reasons to say thank you to everyone I met in Guatemala. Everyone, especially the students, were patient with out unrefined language skills and poor hearing (it can be heard to hear a kid speak when the a bus with no muffler drives by every time they open their mouth4.) The people put up with us asking them to repeat or restate their sentences at everything turn. Every single family we visited was gracious and made sure we had a seat and a cold drink, 2 things some of these families find hard to come by. These families often had dirt floors below them and corrugated metal above, but they still made sure that they showed the utmost hospitality to us foreigners. And for that, Antigua, I must say gracias.
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
More from Sophie
Photo Uno: Yesterday, we installed a stove in a house on the slope of a mountain. The boys, with the help of two Good Samaritans, were able to carry a large cement piece of the stove up a precarious gravel hill. Thankfully, we had so many people to help, not everyone needed to work on the stove. I spent my break time with the kids, being a ‘silla’ for Axel, and holding this adorable little puppy. He was four weeks old and so precious.
Photos Dos y Tres: These two pictures are taken from Sandra’s kitchen. Sandra, a school employee, invited us to her house to cook and learn. In the first photo, you can see Vulcan Fuego, the volcano that recently erupted. Just twenty minutes prior, the volcano was emitting a small black cloud. Sandra described the day when the volcano erupted. What upset her the most was not the eruption, but the lack of tourists visiting her family’s shop afterwards. She teared up while telling us about the weeks they went without any income from tourists. The second photo shows the realistic view of most neighborhoods: rusted metal roofs and cinder blocks squeezed in where they will fit on the mountain. Even for Sandra, someone with steady income and almost fluent English, this is the life most Guatemalans live.
Photos Cuatro y Cinco: While making lunch, Sandra’s mother invited us to make tortillas. While she made it look easy, the process of shaping the tortilla took precision and speed. In the first photo, you can see my mom, Beth, trying her hand at the slapping and flipping motion needed to flatten the tortillas. In the second photo, I proudly display the second tortilla I made. While certainly not perfect, and definitely not my first try, I made it all on my own. The tortilla is in my apron, provided by Sandra, because it was too hot for me to touch. Sandra’s mom was able to grab it straight off of the stove.
Photo Seis: No trip is ever complete without a cute baby. This is Mateo and Samantha, Sandra’s two kids. This was taken just after I held Mateo for at least ten minutes. He didn’t scream or cry, and was always looking around at you. His sister gave him a kiss after I asked, “Te gusta tu hermano?” Darby didn’t let go of Mateo until it was time to eat, and I don’t blame her. He was so adorable and chubby!
Photo Siete: This is a selfie of Emanuel and I. Emanuel is a previous student at Escuela Integrada and ix an interpreter for us. He is seventeen and currently studying music at college. In the picture, he is wearing my hat, which he insisted he wear all the time. We met three years prior when he was a student, and by God’s faith, happened to be here for the two weeks he was helping the school. The picture was taken on a chicken bus, a very colorful bus that is most Guatemalans’ mean of transportation. Most chicken buses are repurposed school buses that are privately owned, but organized in bus lines and destinations by the owners.
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
A busy day.
Today we had a full schedule. We visited the homes of two students in very different settings. We visited the home a a student named Zuladey in Jocotenango. Jocotenago is a very croweded urban area, with many small appartments crammed in very tight spaces. The neighborhood was high on a hillside, reached by steep narrow cobblestone roads that seem impassable to the American eye. Yet Hannah, our guide strained the transmission, not quite to the breaking point, to reach our goal. Zuladey’s father is an out of work carpenter. Carpentry and drafting tools hung on the walls of their kitchen, mixed in with children’s artwork. The family incomes comes from selling snacks from the home, though they don’t consider it a “tienda” (shop), as it is informal, and only profits about a dollar a day.
Next we visited Michelle, about forty minutes away, past Volcan Aqua and Volcan Fuego (the volcano of water, and the volcano of fire) in a village called San Miguel. Michelle’s neighborhood sat on a mountain top, with impossibly steep planted fields along its slopes. The closest spot accessible by car (even with Hannah’s formidable skill, and the van’s solid, if long suffering transmission) was about half a mile from Michelle’s home. Michelle and her mother live in a home a bit larger, but no more well appointed than Zuladey’s. Michelle’s mother is also out of work, and gathers firewood to sell to pay for food and house hold expenses. Michelle is one of the top students at Escuela Integrada, and will receive a scholarship to go on to receive a full high school education.
Next we visited Cerro de la Cruz, a park on a hill above Antigua featuring a large cross, and spectacular views of the city.
After lunch, we installed another eco-stove in a location (and I’m not making this up) high up on a mountain. Today we carried that stove well over half a mile, up a hill that made Monday’s stove install look easy. Happily, we had a lot more hands to contribute to the carrying this time around. The team installed the stove, and chimney, much to the delight of the family, who seemed eager to begin cooking on it as soon as possible.
Next, the group split, with one team shopping for the evening’s events, and the other group visiting the Girls Empowerment Program. The team that went shopping had the adventure of riding on a “chicken bus”, with one of our local partners Victorino. A chicken bus is a form of public transportation, consisting of an out of service U.S. style school bus which has been outrageously decorated.
Finally, our team hosted a family night for 12 school families. We created wind-chimes with the families, servers them pizza, and taught them about our “faith five” program. The students did a wonderful job, and you all should be extremely proud of them.
Next we visited Michelle, about forty minutes away, past Volcan Aqua and Volcan Fuego (the volcano of water, and the volcano of fire) in a village called San Miguel. Michelle’s neighborhood sat on a mountain top, with impossibly steep planted fields along its slopes. The closest spot accessible by car (even with Hannah’s formidable skill, and the van’s solid, if long suffering transmission) was about half a mile from Michelle’s home. Michelle and her mother live in a home a bit larger, but no more well appointed than Zuladey’s. Michelle’s mother is also out of work, and gathers firewood to sell to pay for food and house hold expenses. Michelle is one of the top students at Escuela Integrada, and will receive a scholarship to go on to receive a full high school education.
Next we visited Cerro de la Cruz, a park on a hill above Antigua featuring a large cross, and spectacular views of the city.
After lunch, we installed another eco-stove in a location (and I’m not making this up) high up on a mountain. Today we carried that stove well over half a mile, up a hill that made Monday’s stove install look easy. Happily, we had a lot more hands to contribute to the carrying this time around. The team installed the stove, and chimney, much to the delight of the family, who seemed eager to begin cooking on it as soon as possible.
Next, the group split, with one team shopping for the evening’s events, and the other group visiting the Girls Empowerment Program. The team that went shopping had the adventure of riding on a “chicken bus”, with one of our local partners Victorino. A chicken bus is a form of public transportation, consisting of an out of service U.S. style school bus which has been outrageously decorated.
Finally, our team hosted a family night for 12 school families. We created wind-chimes with the families, servers them pizza, and taught them about our “faith five” program. The students did a wonderful job, and you all should be extremely proud of them.
The team in Zuladey’s kitchen in Jocatenango
Walking to Michelle’s home
The team (and friends) outside Michelle’s home.
The view from Cerro de la Cruz
Installing an eco-stove and chimney
The family seems happy with the new stove.
Lexy and Ryan ride the chicken bus!
Family Night at Escuela Integrada!
Some photos from Sophie
The hill we climbed with to deliver an eco-stove
The view from the kitchen
Walking through downtown Antigua
The famous 16th century arch in central Antigua.
Monday, July 15, 2019
The Surprises and Challenges of Mission
Today was a busy day, in many ways typical of what one encounters on short term mission trips, At the end of the day, Stephanie led a devotion, durning which we discussed the events of the day. she asked us each to share what we had found surprising, and what we had found challenging.
This morning we were welcomed to our week at Escuela Integrada by students who greeted us with hugs, and small gifts. Students stood up and sang songs, recited poems, spoke of the schools history and offered prayers with completed confidence and self assurance. That was a surprise.
We met friends from three years ago, both students and staff, who remembered us, and greete us with great joy. That was a happy surprise.
Even young Guatemalan children are REALLY good at soccer. That surprised Noah, but Connor and I were more challenged by that.
Some of us were challenged by the language barrier, while, playing games and making crafts with kids who speak only Spanish. It was frustrating to be limited in how you can share . Others were surprised and how much you actually can communicate if you let go of your anxiety about language, and just jump in.
Today we visited the home of a young teenaged student named Angel, who we met on our last visit, and who’s education is sponsored by a Bethel Family. Angel has lived in a two room appartment in Antigua for the last five years with his grandmother, Elsa. They moved to Antigua five years ago after Elsa was wounded by ten bullets as a by-stander to a shoot out in Guatemala City. The wounds left her without the use of her right arm. She struggles to support herself and Angel. Their story was challenging.
Elsa’s wish for Angel is that he be a good student. Angel works very hard at his studies, and has the best grades in his class in English. He would like to be an architect or an accountant. He would also like the change to study in an American college, and play soccer there. Angel and Elsa have dreams, and love, and joy in their life. That may be the best surprise of they day. That gives us all hope, and as the Apostle Paul tells us, “Hope shall not disappoint.
The team prepares food bags for students families. Escuela Integrada tries to help meet the needs of student’s families, so that the student will not have to work, rather than attend school.
Darby spends some time with a young student.
This is the view from a home we visited today. We installed an efficient wood stove, which involved carrying an 90+ pound concrete slab about 300 yards up a steep hill.
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