Picture the Little Things

The Mission team got together recently to complete one of the fundraisers we had committed to at our salmon dinner.  We had five cord of wood to cut, split and deliver and we picked a hot evening to complete the task.  Thankfully, Ray offered up his pool, and most of us took advantage of his generosity and cooled down with some fun.  The evening of work really made me realize how much I enjoyed this group and how close we have become due to this experience we now share.  As I stated in my last post, by re-visiting my journal to write this blog, I fondly remember many of the smaller experiences within the larger one.  Day six of the trip was one to remember and I wrote a great deal in my journal.  Guatemala though has a way of throwing a lot at you all at once.  The weather is hot and sunny one minute with pounding rain the next, the forests are so large and overwhelming, while the villages are so minimal.  It is an area of immensity and contrast, a place where you could spend a lifetime and never completely understand the natural wonders, the economic strife, or the complicated simplicity of the people (that sounds odd, I know, but I don't know how else to explain it.)  After walking through the forest near Villa Hortencia II, and having some time to ponder it now, I wish maybe I would have taken time to look at the smaller things more closely.  As you read this entry, you might want to close your eyes and put yourself in the forests of Guatemala and go beyond what I tell you and imagine the bugs, the individual orchids, the immense tree, all of these things God made, and after seeing them I now feel smaller yet stronger.

May 25, 2010

In the morning I was glad to be feeling great and thanked God for the return of my health.  We had a great breakfast of pancakes and bacon and I ate a good fill to prepare my body for the work of the day.

I wasted no time getting dirty at the work site and started mixing cement.  Chris, Jordan, Ray and I lugged 900lbs of cement the length of a soccer pitch using wheelbarrows, with Jordan breaking his wheelbarrow.  My competitive side came out as we raced up the field.  We then went to work mixing it into concrete.  This process is very physical here, like most things they do.  There is no mixer, you simply keep shovelling 8 wheel barrow loads of sand, 16 loads of gravel, and the 9 bags of cement, from one pile into another until the ingredients are mixed.  Then add water and mix a lot more until it reaches a good consistency.  Then shovel it from the ground into a wheelbarrow and dump it where needed.  It took our team all morning to mix and dump one full batch of concrete, but it was rewarding to see the sport court really taking shape.

At noon I shared my one word with the team and told them about why "LIFT" was important to me.  It led to some very cool discussion and I realize from this that I'm not the only one who struggles to lift his voice to God in front of his peers.  I felt proud of myself for being able to share my story out loud with the team.  Later in the day I even prayed over our lunch and again my pride in faith elevated.  Usually I prey on food, not pray over it.

After lunch some of us returned to the worksite while some went to lead VBS.  Some team members were feeling a bit to ill to go anywhere.  Poor Bill spent the whole day being sick and I could sympathize with him.

Again at the worksite, I went to work doing hard manual labor.  I helped a couple of Villagers hammer apart rocks.  The rocks are used to help keep the concrete slabs in place.  They are placed in the concrete forms and then the concrete is poured over them.  This also reduces the amount of concrete needed.  The issue in Villa Hortencia II is that most of the rock is huge, so in order to get smaller rocks, they beat the larger rocks with sledge hammers until they break.  It was great work for me and I challenged myself to break apart an entire boulder.  Luckily I chose a rock that was relatively soft and where ants had already created many cracks so it came apart with only a modest amount of effort.  I noticed that some of the other men were watching and I think they were either making fun of me or impressed with how quickly I broke the rock down.  I was simply glad I could help them and do something to make their jobs a bit easier.

Earlier we had worked our way through all the gravel so we ahd a short afternoon.  Domingo offered up a hike.  Ray, Jordan, Sara, Bernadette, and I all went along.  Domingo was heading out to find some orchids to take home to Nebaj for his Canadian born wife.  We were blessed to meet her and see their home earlier in our trip.  The hike led us down the road and out of the Village.  We hiked into a steep river valley where a large pool provided a chance to go for a swim.  I decided to accompany Domingo and two other locals up into the mountain side while the rest of the team members on the hike went for a swim.

The hike into the forest was incredible.  It was lush green, and fragrant.  Trees grew in all directions, including down the slope.  It didn't take long and Domingo found two species of orchid, not yet in bloom.  They climbed trees and pulled them out of the bark of the tree.  When I realized he wasn't going much further , I decided to head back to the river and go for a swim with the rest of the team that were there.

The river, like the forest, is unlike what we have at home (I should state here that home is eastern Canada.)  It tumbles from pool to pool at a very rapid pace.  The temperature is bone chilling, and colder than what I would have thought.  The color is a clear aqua green tone.  Along the banks, huge, massive trees grow, while vines and shrubs cover the lower canopy.  We rallied behind each other and bonded and gained energy from this shared experience.  Each of us happy that we made the tough hike down and no longer worried about the hike back up to the Village.  I was a bit sad that Dad, Luke, and Chris, couldn't make this hike.  Dad and Luke for obvious reasons, but Chris was starting to feel sick, so he decided to sit the hike out and recover.

Man, I was so eager to talk about the hike, I almost forgot, before lunch today we were introduced to the ladies weaving Co-op.  It is great to see this local craft skill being handed down from generation to generation.  If I had to guess, I would say we had four generations introduced to us.  We hope that the nurse's effort to provide the resources for a weave will lead to the ladies creating a small business and a much needed source of revenue for the Village.  The life in the eyes of these ladies seems to show determination and though they appeared shy, the examples of their work show they have much to offer.

Our day once again ended in games and laughter and though we are all adults I felt like I was at a Scout camp as we all laughed and joked from our beds before succumbing to our exhaustion.