Trip to Palin

Randy, Jonathan, Todd and I went to Palin and then on to Balcones de Palin to introduce Todd and Jonathan to the work there and show them what Jonathan will be doing. For lunch in Palin we had the traditional dish particular to this area - Iguana. and we ate under the Ceiba tree in the central park. The base of the tree was about 12'-15' in diameter and the spread of the branches was almost 200'.

Our time in Balcones was productive and I will give a better introduction in January when Jonathan comes back to live and work there. I will be supervising Jonathan and traveling there at least once a week.

See more Palin photos here

Farewell to Randy

Randy, you were and will always be a good friend.

Church plant in Chichi

Manuel of Tabacal was the "pastor" of a group of people in his home village in the department of Chichicastenango. When he left for Tabacal many of the people just stopped meeting. On his visits back to the people he encouraged several small groups to get together and formally start up a church. We were able to be there for the openning service of the new Christian and Missionary Alliance church.

About an hour out a rock road and over some hills we arrived to a welcoming of the whole church. There were a couple hundred people there with banners and flags. I felt like some sort of royalty or something. They lined the path to enter with people on both sides greeting, thanking and hugging us. There was definately a party energy in the air. We made our way around to the central courtyard and soon the festivities started. Manuel asked if I could preach the first sermon. I told him I would be honored. When I asked how much time I had to prepare, I was told, "about 5 minutes." Thank God that He had placed on my heart from my reading in Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes on the trip over that this life is a vapor. The treasures and sufferings of this world are only temporary and our trust should not rest here. Rather let us place our trust and efforts in Christ and his righteousness, preparing us for the life to come. It was a fitting message for these people that wealth has passed by. Merari performed communion with the people and their devotion was inspiring.

After the service was the offering. The people didn't have much money so they offered fruit, corn and chickens. The peopel gave with thanksgiving and pressed their way to the front to give. I was given a white rooster and hen for my, "beautiful white twin girls." I will pick them up from Pastor Merari's house on sunday. Then it was time to feast. The group of us from San Lucas ate near the pulpit. We had typical Mayan soup with the ladies standing nearby to geth whatever we needed with huge smiles on their faces.

When we left, the scene was the same as when we came with all the people out to send us off.
Wealth and happiness are not joined. Visits to places like this remind me of that principle every time. For this reason, I think we all need to spend time with God's people who have little but still have "the joy" so we can equally bless one another.

Widow in Acatenango

A new friend of mine named Paul came to me asking about our house design. He wants to build homes for the poor and wanted to see how we might be able to help. I showed him our prototype home that was constructed in the backyard of the office in the very beginning. We were taking down the prototype and he asked what would be done with it. The timing couldn't have been better. He told me of a widow in Acatenango who needed a home.
He wanted to see both the steel stud design and the electropanel design so he accompanied us on the trip to Iztapa (see previous post) and he and I went to Paraxaj, a village near Acatenango, to reconstruct the prototype home there with some modifications. Paraxaj is in the middle of a coffee farm where most of the villagers work.

When I first arrived and saw where the widow was living with her 4 children I was reminder of the necessity of this project. She was living in a mud home wrapped in barbed wire that was the size of a bathroom. The house we were building would be split and shared among her family. She would live in one half with her children and her other family would live in the other side, like a duplex. Imagine if a shared 320 square feet home (160 sf each family) would work for your family let alone bee seen as luxury. Often I am confrinted with the difference between what I say I need and what I actually need. God has been soo gracious to my family.

Wedding gift for Iztapa

I had heard of wealthy parents providing a house as a wedding present to their children but I had never heard of a young couple who would ask all their guests not to buy them any wedding gifts but rather donate money to build a home for a poor person who lost their home in a hurricane.

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting a newlywed couple just like that, Ben and Elizabeth, ranchers from Wyoming. Their wedding gift was one of compassion for others. We built a home for a family living on the sand under plastic and leaves in Iztapa, right on the western coast of Guatemala where hurricane Stan waters rose and flooded the whole area devistating the lower, poorer areas. I have some friends ministering there, the Braun family. We ave constructed a couple homes with them there already. As far as anyone knows, the Brauns are the only people providing housing aid to the Stan victims in Iztapa.

The construction went fast even though the scorching heat and humidity made us break often. The evenings were rough because sleeping was hard in the heat and with the mosquitos. The interns Matt, Josh and Jonathan joined Ben, Elizabeth, the Brauns and I in the construction.

After the house was ready to be stuccoed (our finishing point) we took a break and went to the old abandoned pier at the ocean for a swim. On our way home we had a couple breaks or should I say breakdowns. The van overheated several times until we could get to a gas station to put more water in the radiator but if the trip went too smooth...it wouldn't be Guatemala!

Church in Tabacal

We had a team from Sierra Bible in Reno Nevada come down to build a church in Tabacal. The church is the first "permanant structure" because it is made of concrete and steel instead of bamboo, cornstalks, wood planks and pieces of corrugated tin.

I especially enjoyed the team because my parents were able to come down with the team. We stayed in Antigua and rented an entire hotel in a perfect location 100 yards from the central park. Half of the team was scheduled to do a VBS in the neighboring town of Zapote (read here) the other half was my construction crew for the church.

First off I told them that the reason for them comming was not to build a church, which got some confused looks. They had come down to love the people of Tabacal and show them that they are equals, not inferiors who need a handout. We needed to show that we didn't provide the money for the church and now not trust the men of Tabacal to build it correctly. We jsut wanted to share their burden and help carry the load. To do this we needed to be sure that we focused on what we are doing. First we are here to glorify God by loving people by serving them by building a church and it would make no sence to violate a primary goal in order to fulfil a secondary goal, meaning, getting impatient if things go slow, being impersonal with the people of Tabacal... Many things. We got a primary example of this which I will explain later.

Oue first day was spent in the most dangerous zone in the city, Zone 18, at the campus of the Nazarene denomination central offices. In their "shop" they build prefab churches, LOTS of them. In their 2 years of running they have built more than 200 churches. We had paid for the materials but not for labor. In order to help the ministry, repay the labor, and be more invested in the actual structure we spent a day cutting rebar, bending webs for trusses and welding. Everyone worked hard and at the end of the day we loaded all the pieces needed for our new church into the trailer and set back across the city for Antigua. The plan was to keep the trailer in the parking overnight and bring it to Tabacal the next morning. Three guys from the factory (Mouricio, Jaime, and Fili) joined us for a couple days to show us exactly how to put it together.

When we reached Antigua we found out that the trailer will not fit between the concrete posts in the street designed to keep the busses off the cobblestone streets of Antigua. It was dark and we needed to get in. By God's grace (and by going the wrong way down a few one way roads) we were able to make it to the parking area. The roads in Antigua are small and narrow. I took the truck (Ford F250) with the trailer down an alley where we rode with two wheels on the curb, inches from the wall on one side and parked cars on the other. There was no backing out of this one! We came to a place we couldn't get through so we knocked on a door to get a lady to move her car so we could pass. Getting the trailer there was just the beginning. Now the trailer would only fit by a couple inches in the gate of the parking and we had to detach it and push it up by hand and then we attached a tow rope to the back of the trailer and also to my van which was parked inside. The van pulled and the guys guided and finally the trailer was in place. Getting it out of the parking as well as out of town was much easier than getting it in.

Tabacal has very steep and rutted roads so we parked below and carried all the pieces up by hand. Americans with the natives together. Once all was in place the construction started. The men of Tabacal had already leveled an area and dug the holes needed for the footings. The structure went up quickly but before we could get the concrete in the footings it rained like it only can in Guatemala. all our holes were filled with water and we spent a good amount of time just getting it out.
We got the footings poured and called it a day.

The second day was a time of putting on the roof. Our three guys from the factory decided to just do it themselves to save time which left the rest of the team standing around. At first I was a bit frustrated thinking to myself, "these guys didn't come down here to just sit, they need to let them work" and before I finished my thought, I was reminded of all the men of Tabacal standing around in their usual place at the bottom of the ladder. The guys from the factory were in charge with the Americans next and finally the grunts were the men of Tabacal. I called the team aside and told them what was going on and that there was a change in plans. Manuel (the chief of Tabacal) would be in charge and he would tell us what to do. The men of Tabacal would help the factory workers while we did grunt work. This got back to the whole point of coming down. I told Manuel that he was in charge of the guys building and asked him what he would like us to do also because he was our boss, we came to serve him. The road was in terrible shape after the rains but he said that was the responsibility of the people of the town but there was more earthwork to be done for the church and the steep bank needed to be filled in so a car could get to the church to park. So...we dug! All these men came down...to dig. It was an AWSOME testimony. It was this simple act of humbling ourselves to do the grunt work of digging while the men of Tabacal were able to do the technical work of the roof and direct the construction that really communicated our message. After then the demeanor of Manuel and the men changed. We were not the oppressors taking a pity trip to "the other side of the tracks" but rather equals who just wanted to share a loving, helping hand.

We finished the digging with the help of 82 year old Jose and 11 year old Julio. When I had mentioned to Craig Foster that we were going to dig he made the joking comment, "I didn't come here to work so hard like an 11 year old boy!" These two both put us to shame. The people of Tabacal were more than capable of doing the construction better and faster than we ever could but that was not our goal and I am so glad that our goal was understood and accomplished.

The comrodery was further established when, at the end of the day I went to turn the truck around and got it stuck in the mud. We pulled, pushed, put down planks and corn stalks... We had called for Heather to come get us and were just getting ready to abandon the truck there when I decided to give it one more college try. Slowly but surely we backed it all the way down the mountain.

Once the church was cleared of all the boulders we had a small first service there with prayer in three languages and blessings to go around. A couple things that Manuel said will stick with me. He mentioned that when they stand before God to account for how they used this church and the ministry done in the building they will call the men from Sierra Bible over to share in the blessing because they will always be remembered and be a part of all the ministry in Tabacal. He also mentioned that he wished he could give something in return but they don't have anything to give. Thank you just is not suffucient.

After some sightseeing I believe the team went home genuinely changed. I pray that their view of life has moved toward loving the poor and looking to see how Christs love can be displayed and understood.

The needs of Tabacal are slowly going down as the community gets on its feet. The footwork has been laid to minister to their spiritual needs. This is where I am starting to hand things off to the local ministries. I am glad that we all were able to serve and answer the call in obedience.

Persecuted church in Ocosingo

I co-led a project team to Ocosingo in Chiapas, Mexico. The project trip was rescheduled over Heather's birthday. We had planned on going to Atitlan together. She was still able to go with a friend (read here)

To save costs, Todd, Matt, Josh and I decided to drive my ratty old van up to Tuxtla to get the team and then on out to Ocosingo Mexico. On this 12 hour drive we only brought cookies to eat although we had a ton of cookies. We ate them until we were sick. There were over 100 speed bumps before we actually got to the airport in Tuxtla. The only way for my van to get over them was to go fast and jump the low spot in my van over the speed bump. I don't have many pictures of the trip because I left my camera at the border :( .

We made really good time considering that we needed to have my brakes done in Huehuetenango and then when we arrived to Tuxtla, to where the airport was supposed to be, we found out that 4 months prior, they had moved to airport to a new location about an hour away. The tickets even still listed the old airport as the destination. So, bunches of more speedbumps later we arrived at the airport to find that the team had taken a cab to the hotel 15 min prior. We returned to where we were to start in Tuxtla. The next day we PACKED the van full of stuff and the team. With tires bulging we slowly climbed the mountains to Ocosingo. Most all of the signs in Mexico have to do with leaving the signs alone. "Obey the signs" "don't destroy the signs" "Don't mistreat the signs" and the like were about 80% of the signs.

We arrived and that first evening I was informed that I would be preaching to about 600 people. God was gracious and the sermon went well. I was able to share about the cost of discipleship as seen in a "tour" of the gospel Luke and encourage them about the value of faithfulness. I felt unqualified to say these things to them because they suffer much more than me but they are always ready to be excited about heaven. whenever I didn't know a word or just got stuck, I would just shout, "amen" and the crowd repeated it back to me very graciously.

We stayed at the church on cots and the next day the team got to work. There were a couple of issues to address. First was the design of the two story children's building. The church has a wonderful ministry to children but has no place to hold them all. They currently have a wood plank structure that has two classrooms that should hold about 15-20 kids but they squeeze about 60 in them. There still are too many kids for this so they also meet in several locations around town like small groups. The building will also house a real kitchen. At times they are cooking for over 1500 people and right now they are doing it in an open plank wood shed. The second task to address was the settling of the sanctuary. One corner was showing signs of significant settling. The third was just to check on the back wall of the property because it looked like it was going to fall.

I was the resident "surveyor" so I started surveying with a 50 meter tape and an eye level. Matt and I spent the day surveying and at the end of the day after having moved from one spot to the other out the wall, down the street and through a field, we came within 3" of matching the elevation of our first shot. I was able to get rough existing utility information to work with. The water for the site comes from a 1/2" drip irrigation pipe and the drainage pipe just runs under the building to the stream. The stream also runs under the corner of the sanctuary. This is where the trouble with settling was. The footing of the building had 2x the weight on it than it was designed to carry.

We decided to look at the failing wall and saw that it was about 20 feet high and about 2 1/2 feet away from the back wall of the church. We walked around the block to see how high the dirt was on the other side. We found the wall only to be about 3 feet high, meaning dirt was filled up almost the entire hight of the wall and this neighbor was parking huge bucket trucks on this dirt right next to the wall. The only reason the wall hadn't fallen was that they had put wood blocks between the top of the wall and the columns of the back wall of the sanctuary which had now caused cracking in the wall of the sanctuary. The legal documents for the property line has no bearings or directions only distances. They roughly matched up with mine but there was an ongoing arguement with the neighbor behind (whose wall was falling) as to the interpretation of this document whether the dimensions are from the center of the road or the edge. If it is the edge of the road then the neighbor needs to fix the wall. If it is the center of the road then the back wall of the church is technically on the neighboring property. YIKES! As far as I understand, the propertyline would come from the center of the road but then why would all the surrounding neighbors including this one construct their wall 3 meters away from the propertyline when land is so valuable? It was a matter that we pressed as important to the church though I really don't think they find it very important.

Once the survey was done I drew it up on AutoCAD and noticed that the sanctuary came out looking like a parallelagram. This couldn't be right so I took interior measurements to find out what the problem was. What I found was that the drawing was correct. The sanctuary is 2 meters out of square!! The building was not built by a contractor. People in the area are poor so instead of being able to offer money to build they offered their time and sweat. It is kinda cool that the congregation itself actually built the church with their own hands but then again you end up with a parallelagram church.
There were lots of engineering difficulties that we were able to address with the pastor so their future construction can take a much better path.
The people of the church were VERY hospitable, offering their very best for us. The meals were incredible with the ladies ofthe church cooking for us each meal in the shed and then we ate with them there in the kitchen.
The last day of our design we presented to the leadership and now we are finishing the details of the design in the office.
We were able to visit a widow of a pastor in a village of exiled Christians and a family who had their home burned for being Christians. I was challenged by the extent of their faith.
Each morning we had our devotions together and most mornings we sang a hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God being the favorite. The pastor and the people of the church often heard us and asked us to sing it in the midweek service. It was great to join with them in worship and prayer.
On the way back we spent a day in San Cristobal de las Casas which is a very clean and touristy town in the mountains. We took the team to the airport and returned home again eating cookies all the way.

Up, up and away!

I had another oportunity to design another jungle airstrip for AGAPE ministries. I was able to bring EMI intern Josh with me on a voyage to Chel . Chel is a small village in northwestern mountains of Guatemala. It has no electricity and little influence from outside.

Our job was to survey the land and design the new airstrip. We took and hour and a half flight up north into the middle of nowhere in the northern mountains in Guatemala with Ludin from AGAPE in a small single engine 'jungle hopper' plane. Ludin even let me fly the plane for a while when we were up flying around stormclouds. Once the GPS said we were there we flew around and made our way through the maze of clouds as we descended to our destination. We flew into a small dirt runway on the side of a mountain in the farm called "the pearl" La Perla (see the video below for the landing)...

At La Perla we met with the local pastor and got ready for our couple hour journey even further into the jungle. We packed up his horse with our surveying equipment and Josh, Ludin and I went on the motorcycle. I rode the motorcycle and took Ludin part of the way and then returned for Josh. Once we arrived on the other side of the river we were able to ride in a pickup the rest of the way and the pastor took the horse back while Ludin followed us on the motorcycle. The road, or should I say path, continuing on to Chel was almost more than Josh could bear. He was already not feeling well and now he needed to stand up for a long bumpy ride on a container of diesel which got all over his pants and the fumes were making him even more sick. When we rounded the final hill, the sight of Chel was almost magical. It was beautiful. A little village nestled in a small valley with a river running through the middle.

We arrived at the church and we settled into our room. There would be no work done today because it was already getting dark and we were tired from the trip. Josh went to bed to try and shake the sickness while Ludin and I went to a lady's house to get food (because there are no restaurants in Chel). After dinner we went to bed at about 6pm. It was an early night because there are no lights so when it gets dark most people go to bed. Some people have solar panels and car batteries for minimal electricity and lighting but for the most part the sun rules the sleep schedule. My bed was just some boards with a blanket on them and my jeans for the next day for a pillow.

The next morning Josh had a fever and did not get out of bed the whole day. We traveled to the site to begin the survey. The truck could not make it all the way up the rocks so we walked the final bit. To my surprise, I found that about half of the area to be surveyed had thick brush about 15' tall. We decided to start the survey at the bottom where it was clear but after a few shots the battery was dieing in the survey equipment. I didn't know there was no electricity in Chel so I had not thought to charge it prior to leaving. we tried to charge it over night using a car battery but to no avail. The next day we were up against the wall. Would we need to go back just because the battery was dead?

I remembered that the equipment had a second battery but it was useless because it couldn't accept a charge so I had a hairball idea to cut up the battery to use it as a shell that can snap into the survey gun and then wire the two walkie-talkies together and then wire them to the broken battery in the gun and...it worked! we held the broken battery in place with a plastic bag we found that we rolled up into a rope and tightened it up by twisting a twig in the loose part of the bag. We held the walkie-talkies on top of the gun with Ludin's hankie and vuala! we had equipment that worked again.

The other problem was the brush. We had 5 guys with machetes and we told them a path to take and marked off every 100' where they would branch out to both sides so we could take side shots. This did take time but it worked It rained on us a while and we kept going with another plastic bag put over the gun with a hole cut in it so it could take measurements. By God's grace we finished the survey just, and I mean JUST in time. At the last scheduled shot of the survey I could barely see the yellow target good enough to take the shot and within 2 min, while we were taking down the equipment, it was totally dark. The next morning we set back out for La Perla and waited at the pastor's house for the weather to clear enough fro takeoff. Our one day trip turned into three and the fam was very happy to have me back home.

Another example of Guatemala…

Believe it or not I got another flat tire on my motorcycle…in the rain…on the road from Tabacal! Last time the adventure was getting to the tire shop. This time that is where the adventure begins.

I made it to the highway before picking up yet another nail and getting the flat. It was raining and I had already started up the steep windy road so there really was no continuing or going back. I flagged down a truck and we loaded the bike. I stayed on the bike standing in the back of the truck with the dog. He gave me a ride to a tire shop at the entrance to Ciudad Vieja where I met brothers about 14 years old each named Juan and Juan at San Juan’s tire shop. After wrestling with the rim Juan removed the tube and gave it to me explaining that I needed a new one which, of course, he did not sell. The place that sold tubes was clear on the other side of town. By now the rain was falling at a good clip and I started my journey across town. Upon arriving at the shop I showed the owner my tube which he recognized right away. His nodding approval gave me hope until he said, “yep we carry these…normally” His solution was to patch it as best that could be done. I waited for about 10 min to see if the rain would calm…which it didn’t so I tredged back to the tire shop. The streets were more like small rivers at this time. After trial and error, Juan at the tire shop found and patched 4 separate holes. The rain was lighter now but it was about 7:15 and dark!

Riding a bike in Guatemala is not so bad but I never ride at night. My headlight has been bent and shoots up into the sky. I never bothered with it because…I never ride at night. Now not only was it night but raining! I unhooked the top fasteners of the headlight to get it to dangle down but every time I went over a big bump the headlight bounced up and caught back on the upper right fastener so again the headlight was shooting up…and to the right! One thing you cannot do at this point on a motorcycle is use one of your hands to fix it because it is raining and dark, you are blinded by oncoming traffic which is complicated by the water droplets on your helmet visor and you never know when you will hit another one of the many potholes you cannot see. Another issue is that when my bike is drenched, sometimes the throttle sticks…which it did (A very inconvenient problem in my current situation).

On the other side of Antigua, and now thoroughly drenched, I found icy cold fog, which did not help the “seeing where I’m going” problem. Shaking on my bike I comforted myself by saying that I was nearing the top and close to the coldest spot there is and soon it would be getting warmer. On the way down the hill, the highway is under construction with many obstacles and in order to see these obstacles most people turn on their brights. I could only hold on tight and prepare for bumps at any moment.

Finally I reached San Cristobal with its well lit streets and warm air. The last of my ride I actually did take one hand and hold the headlight pointing down at the street because the road leading to my part of town has more than pot holes but just plain holes in the road... large ones…and lots of them! I did make it home safe but that definitely goes on my top 5 list of craziest things I have ever done!

The waterline goes in...

We finally were able to buy the materials for the pipeline to bring sufficient water to Tabacal. The water is from a mountain spring which, although it is not technically potable, the people have been drinking from it and sickness is still at a minimum.

Last week we staked out the waterline alignment. Matt and Peppers (two new interns accompanied me to stake out the alignment. We brought and unloaded the food for September and used the rest of the day engineering. The men of Tabacal were waiting for us there to dig the trench as we staked it. They have been anxious for this water system. First we soaked ourselves with deet and then joined our entourage into the jungle. The men carried our stakes for us with their machetes.

Again we did our surveying with a string, an eye level, a tape measure and a notebook. Several of the men went to work digging at the dam trying to find where the spring originated from the side of the hill. The other 5 men accompanied us and anticipated our route in cleaning the jungle floor so we could “survey”. We were sure to keep a 2% fall for the pipe and put in a stake every 25’. Our team of men we called our “jungle removers” or “jungle mowers”. The whole day was spent going across the jungle. Near the end of the day we were afraid that we would not reach the end before the rains poured down. We had anticipated that we would have about 80 stakes at 25’ spacing. We were at about 45 and nearly all the day had passed. Then I looked and saw the village. “How could this be?” I thought. We went back to measure the stakes and they were all about 35’ apart. Nevertheless we had finished the task. As we were going back measuring the spacing I think my deet wore off. The mosquitos had a feast on my arms.

As we were leaving I noticed that Peppers was making a quick line for the truck. We were invited to eat lunch but needed to go because Peppers had been stung by a bee and wasn’t feeling well so I said my quick goodbyes and met Matt and Peppers at the truck. Peppers was all swollen with a rash all over. Apparently he is now allergic to bees, well Tabacal bees anyway. We rushed into Zapote to find some Benadryl. We were told of a pharmacy there and a boy walked us there. Unfortunately, as is common in the middle of nowhere, they didn’t have any. We now were bound for Esquintla, 10km back out the dirt road and then another 15km of highway. We went as fast as we could without destroying the truck but before we reached Escuintla Peppers said he was feeling much better. For the next few days he had a swollen arm but that was about it.

The pipeline and its associated parts were delivered a few days later and I inspected the trench that was already done. Heavy rains called the day early so the next day I went out to Tabacal again and this time they already had 600’ of the pipe laid. We hashed out what materials we needed for the spring box to capture the water at the spring and planned its construction. I instructed them on the placement of the springbox and its needed features. We looked at the elevation of the place already made to receive the storage tanks in the village. The rains came for another visit so we waited at Jacinto’s house until a break came and I headed out assuming that I could miss most of the rain just like I had the previous day. Boy was I wrong!!

Yet again I was stuck riding my motorcycle through the jungle in the middle of a true torrent. I found myself chuckling about it thinking of the funny story it all was when I came to the second river to cross (there are 4 rivers in total to cross). With the rain falling the flows are strong and about 28” deep at parts. As I came to the other side of river 2 I noticed that my rear wheel was sliding all over. I stopped and sure enough it was completely flat! At first I was just thinking of it as an inconvenience like any flat tire, until I was reminded that I am on a motorcycle…without a spare…in the middle of the jungle…during a big rainstorm! I could not call for someone to get me because not only would it take forever for them to reach me but even if they could cross the two rivers in front of me and find me, what would we do with my bike? My only option was to continue on with a flat tire, a sketch ride in mud I must add.

I made it to the asphalt highway slowly but without incident. At the town Rodeo at the highway, I asked a group of men waiting out of the rain where a “pinchazo” or tire-fixer-guy is. In typical Guatemalan fashion they all came to agreement that there was a pinchazo about 1.5km down the road instead of telling me the truth that they had no idea. After driving there I asked another man and he told me “there is no pinchazo here, but there is one back up the road about 1.5 km” right back where I had started. I needed to return that direction anyway so when I made it back to the shelter of the first group of men I had asked, I asked them again and they said back down the dirt road. I traveled a couple blocks there and asked a group of women which replied, “about 1.5 km further down the dirt road” I think this is just the generic answer to say “I have no idea!” At this same store there was a drunk man that asked me to come out of the pouring rain and talk with him. He encouraged me to stay and have a beer with him. After insisting that no, I needed to return to the city, he told me that he knew of a pinchazo just a block away and he would show me. He proceeded to try and mount my bike to drive me there. I stopped him and he began to jog instead. Upon reaching the corrugated gate, my drunk companion entered shouting. A matter of seconds later he returned telling me that the pinchazo would probably not be there for another 2 hours and that I should return with him for that beer. After wishing him well I accepted my only option, to continue on with a flat tire down the highway all the way to Esquintla, another 15km.

By this time the rain had lightened up and I was coming into the plains looking at a mountain with large rocks on it that has always fascinated me. I saw a storm passing over it and I could see the front of it with the rain falling and the lightning flashing. It was beautiful. I wasn’t concerned because the rain travels away from where I was going…normally! As I continued down the road I noticed that this storm kept getting closer and closer and with the flat I could go no faster than 20mph. I could do nothing other than brace myself for the punishing rain. Did you know that when it rains hard enough, motorcycle helmets leak? The water just finds its way around the shield, fill the cushion in the helmet and just drip right in your eyes.

Finally I reached Escuintla and began looking for the pinchazo. I noticed a motorcycle parts store and went to pull in but my bike wasn’t moving. I looked down and noticed that the inner tube of my tire had come out and wrapped around my gear and now the tire was just spinning on the rim. I pushed the bike across the street to the shop where my need was obvious.

After purchasing my tube I went another two blocks to the pinchazo. Because my bike
would not go I was forced to push it the two blocks there. Normally this would not be a big task but because the rim was locked in place by the tangled tube I had to force the tire to spin on the stationary rim…In the rain. If this wasn’t enough the roads of Escuintla are terribly rutted because of the heat and during the rain these ruts fill with water. Escuintla is a busy town and has constant traffic so I received a splashing about every three steps from the passing trucks. I was already soaked and was wearing a helmet so it was more comical than anything. After helping the 12 year old pinchazo change my tire I was able to return home.

The next day I headed out for Tabacal once more. The materials for the spring box were delivered and I went to the dam to see how the men were doing in prepping the
location for the box. They had a great start…in the wrong location! I asked them why the change in plans. They had decided that it would be better to have the tube lay in the open and have the box in another location to clean out all the stuff that had entered the pipe at the spring. After a simple explanation of physics I finally told them that It simply would not work and they needed to stick with the original plan. There would be no way to capture the water without a box there and a second box would do no good.

They are ambitious people who work hard. The downside is that they often do things first and then think about them later. A true field design as you go approach. Luckily I was there to keep them on the right track. I will go again on Tuesday to ensure the plan is still the plan. God has been there every step of the way guiding us and keeping us from making any permanent errors. He is faithful and is continuing to do His work there.

After a time of prayer I started off, early this day. I was able to avoid rain all the way until I hit my city and just one block from my house there is a concrete road that has no texture and is very slick. Well, while slowing to go around the corner my wheels locked up and I actually laid the bike down. I was going only about 5 mph but still slid about 8 feet. Both me and my bike got up without a single scratch. I guess it was like ice. Either way, it stayed an adventure right up to my doorstep!

August was big for Tabacal...

There have been a lot of developments in Tabacal in the month of August. The corn that was planted has finally come to harvest. The people have been waiting for this for a long time. The moral is high as they are not just receiving aid but making a way for themselves. Pastor Merari and I were able to take part in the "firstfruits" service where the people brought the first of their harvest as an offering to the Lord. It was amazing. This was the first time I had ever seen anyone offer food as an offering. Out of respect for the good harvest and for lack of money they offer food. One lady even offered a chicken.

The people were worshiping God with all their hearts and were very grateful for the harvest. They spent much of the time singing and praying. Indigenous prayer is much different than in the states. We are accustomed to one person praying, representing the whole. The Mayan way to pray is for everyone to pray together (union) but praying individually out loud and building on the atmosphere and what you hear around you. I cannot really explain it but it was very encouraging to "eves drop" on people’s prayers and hear their grateful hearts. After the service we all feasted on humble tamales wrapped in banana leaves.

The location for the church started as just a leveled section of land but once the rain started, church was difficult. Our church provided some simple supplies but still the church is just simple corrugated tin sheets on top of planks of wood with wood posts and a dirt floor. There are no walls and only rocks with boards across them for benches. The church was decorated for the service with large leaves, ribbon and grapefruits hanging from the rafters. The grapefruits are almost as big as your head and they grow on trees in the area.

Plans are being made for the new church structure to be built the last half of this year. It will be the first "permanent" (made of concrete and steel) building in Tabacal. Hopefully groundbreaking can wait until late September. The people just want to start working and then plan as you go so it is hard at times to slow them down. An example of this is that they have constructed a landing in the side of the hill to house the water storage tanks but I think the landing is too high for our gravity system to work and have water flow from our dam down to the tanks.

The village is able to give more attention to infrastructure now. They cut a road continuing from the church around the side of the mountain so now nearly everyone has access to a road nearby. They even took the initiative in constructing a "bridge" made out of dirt with a concrete pipe underneath. Things are moving along especially with the water project... but that has happened in September so I can't include it in this post!!

Here are more pics of the month in Tabacal!

New interns and A final trip to San Juan Bautista...

I cannot believe our construction journey in San Juan has come to a close. The people of San Juan are very loving and I always look forward to a visit there. I was able to get pictures of 4 of the 5 families there in front of their home.



Our 4 fall interns have arrived. Minye, a Korean woman who just received her masters in structural engineering from NYU stayed with us for the first week. Jonathan, Josh (Peppers), and Matt are the other three interns. The interns needed a cultural experience living with a typical impoverished Guatemalan family for a weekend to understand the culture a bit more and I still needed to make one more trip to San Juan Bautista to deliver the final stove. We have constructed 5 homes there. Killing two birds with one stone, the interns stayed in San Juan.

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