What a day in La Hacienda and Las Cuevas

Manuel, Juan and Gaspar drove by the house at 0700 and we headed to La Hacienda and Las Cuevas. What a day it was!! I wish I could share all of the photos and events but that is not possible.

We had heard that the road might cause us some problems but we went on..........

When we reached the problem area, we met a truck that had just made the pass. He stopped and we talked for a few minutes. He said that he had only made it, "because God is good." We got out and looked at what would lie ahead.

It was decided that the truck could do it. Juan was in the middle of the road cheering Manuel on. "Come on, come on Manuel, more to the left, that's it!!!" When Manuel finally got a good run, Juan decided that the truck was coming too fast and made a quick dive into the corn field! We all laughed at Juan. When we got back in the truck, we realized we had forgot to put up the windows. There was mud all over...........

Then the next hurdle to jump were the "bridges." We stopped in front of the first one and just moaned. The drop was only about 5 feet but there would be no way to get the truck out.

They were all in a bend of the road or the path we were on. They were not straight so that made the passage more technical. We looked at the tires at each one to be sure........and then prayed. Manuel did a great job on all four of them!

When we arrived at the school, we quickly in-serviced Santos, Sebastian and Felipe. They are the leaders in the community that connected us with the schools. Sebastian offered to dirty-up a little and help with the class. I changed the class some to fit the community. All of the guys pitched in and the students and teachers seemed to enjoy it.

Students practicing to cover their nose and mouth when they cough.

We only had three classes at this school. On the second class, I asked Juan if he wanted to do it. "Sure!" was his response. Juan introducing, "Dirty Sebastian."

The MET students made us some posters for our classes and we enjoy using them. Gasper and Manuel are teaching that bacteria is not our friend.

Juan teaching as Gaspar and Felipe hold a poster that teaches to wash your hands many times a day with soap.

When we finished with the schools, we drove to La Hacienda which is only over a few mountains. I visited here for the first time in 2005, with a group from Health Talents. Looking back, this trip may be one of the reasons I am here today.

This area is extremely poor, economically. In 2005, there was a drought and the crops suffered. A neighboring community, in which we were planning a clinic, asked us not to visit their area but to help La Hacienda because they were dying. I will never forget some things from that day.

This is the new "house of prayer" for La Hacienda. They have been building it for five months. The congregation has about 45 people attending. There are 12 boys who have all been baptized. Gaspar talked to them for a few minutes about them preparing to be ministers, song leaders and leaders in the congregation.

This is the view and it is in the mountains of no-where. It is very peaceful. I wish I could show you all of the view. It would be very easy for me to live here. The guys were loving it too. A small house on the side of a mountain, with a small stream, little store near by.........it only lacked electricity and Diet Dr. Pepper :)

The congregation prepared a delicious meal for us. It was fried chicken, rice, beans, tortillas and horchata. After lunch we bought an ear of corn that had been steamed and ate it before class started.

This was the ABC Class that we did for the families of the ABC Program. As I mentioned, there is no electricity, so we used the computer. Manuel started with a few songs and prayer while Juan translated the class into K'iche'.

We had one water filter to give to this family. Now, I think that all of the families have a water filter. They said that the water is so dirty that they have to clean the filter every two days.

We made our drive home ok. I told Kemmel that we never really got stuck but there were places were had to make several attempts before we made it through. At one time, I told the guys we needed more weight in the back so we hopped out and jumped up in the bed of the truck and it worked!!

That was our day! We spent about 4.5 hours in the truck, had classes in two schools, enjoyed time with the church..............all for the glory of God! I look forward to another day as this.