Did You Ever Have A Big Water Problem?

Paul here...
Yesterday we traveled to 3 more villages and had approx. 40 people at a clinic in Santa Elena. Temperature was close to 95F and we baked hard. We were the first white people that many of them had seen and many of the kids rubbed our skin to see if it was dark underneath. Norma's blond hair was also a big hit with kids and adults alike. The village had no electricity and almost no water (except a creek) but we were tremendously blessed to have the opportunity to work there. Harry went through a bag of 250 balloons, making sombreroes, swords, and dogs.

A highlight of the day was when they called a village meeting to discuss water rights. Santa Elena has a spring but not running to homes, whereas the village down the road (Nacimiento) has neither. San. Elena is almost 100% Catholic while Nacimiento is almost 100% evangelical. San. Elena didn't want to share any water with the other village. After a tense hour of bickering, Pastor David was able to negotiate a deal that would allow water to both villages.

Another problem is the language barrier. Most of the people in both villages speak K'Chi and no Spanish. Tough to translate Norma to Spanish to K'Chi to Spanish to Norma.

Today we conducted another clinic in a village accessible only by water. It was another awesome experience and the pastor insisted that we lunch with him - yikes! We had very fresh hen soup and tortillas. After that we travelled down the river to the Carribean and walked around Livingston. The people there speak yet another dialect of Mayan and are very dark skinned. They have a strong culture that reminds one of Bob Marley and the Carribean islands. Another very exhausting but good day.
We're supposed to have dinner with the Rheas tonight and then visit them tomorrow.

pablo

Monday in the Villages

Did you know there are people in some Guatemalan villages that have never seen white people? Wow!! Our team had a great day yesterday and visited 3 villages and did a clinic at another. They saw 40 people in the afternoon clinic in one village.

They went to Agua Caliente, Tablitas and Bocaron villages in the morning and did the clinic in the afternoon. These are villages where Pastor David and our partner church CCCG go every month and feed the kids, teach them about health care and share Bible stories with them.

The team also got to pray for the Pastors in each village. It is the desire and heart that David has to train and encourage these pastors who are the gatekeepers for their village. Continue to pray for health and strength as our team gives their heart and hands to these lovely people.

Team Arrives in Rio Dulce, Guatemala

Our team landed safely on Saturday and then hit the road with a full day... seeing the city and then off to church for a meal in the evening with our friends from CCCG. On Sunday morning the team attended church and then headed on the road to the Rio Dulce.

Monday morning the team will visit several projects and in the afternoon do a clinic in one of the villages. They will do some basic health care as one of the team members is a nurse.

These villages are the ones that CCCG serves each month with an outreach team. Their visits consist of health care, feeding the children, Bible stories and games. Pray for health, strength and the love of God to go forth from our team.