First of all I’m sorry I didn’t get this email out on time. Access to my computer is sparse and we have a lot going on.
Traveling with Edwin, who’s originally from Monjas, Guatemala, we arrived Monday evening in Guatemala City, rented a car, and drove to Edwin’s cousin’s house for some sleep. After a solid night of sleep (about 3 hours) we woke up with the sun and got on the road for a 3-hour drive to Monjas.
On the way, we stopped to visit a family who lives together way up on a mountain outside of a small countryside town. The family has managed to build sustainable shelter and they have all the need to survive in modest comfort. Even though there’s a nearby river for water, they don’t have running water in their house. Not even a toilet. So we committed to providing this family with a toilet for the family to share. You can probably imagine this will be a big upgrade from their previous situation. Our connection to these people was through a former pastor in the area, who Edwin knows through local mission work. While we visited with this family, we sang praise songs and I could feel the love that these people shared together.
After our visit, we continued onward to Monjas where we purchased dry food ingredients (corn meal, oil, sugar, beans, etc.) for the 11 families living in Golito, the same small village in the mountains that I visited on the last trip. With the food bagged up in the car the next morning, we headed out to the trailhead where one of the local men was there to pick us up in a pickup truck. Waiting for me there was my amigo, Melvin, and his father with his pickup truck. When I saw Melvin I said, “Hola Melvin!” and his face lit up with joy. He was genuinely happy that I remembered him. Of course I remembered him! But I wasn’t prepared for how much that would mean to him.
After a rather adventurous ride up to Golito in the back of the pickup, we handed out bags of food to the school children for them to bring home to their families. While there we spoke with the teacher (yes, there’s one teacher in a small schoolhouse who teaches all classes at all levels) and decided to supply the village with a swingset to light up the kids’ recess activities.
After a relatively quick visit, we said goodbyes and got in the pickup to go back down the mountain, and back to Monjas. In Monjas, we did some more shopping in advance of the main mission group the following day. After bagging this food up, we had a good night’s sleep. The next morning, we woke up early and got on the road back to Guatemala City, to pick up the main mission group. After picking them up spending a half a day on the road, we finally arrived back to Monjas with our group complete, and celebrated their arrival with a fantastic barbecue dinner at a Yeguada, a ranch.
It was a tremendously busy few days, filled with love, prayer, and gratitude.