Our team met up at the church around 8am to start our journey to Guatemala.
Then we took a bus to the airport to catch our plane.
This is Ava and I on the plane. I am not sure if this is before or after my Valium. My guess would be before because I look pretty alert in this picture.
First, we flew to Atlanta. We had a long 5 hour layover there.
Our plane did not leave Atlanta until 7:10 pm.
We got into Guatemala City at night. Then we still had a 2 hour drive to the camp in Pacaya. Once we got there, we got settled in for the night. None of the girls wanted to sleep on the top bunk because they could see spiderwebs on the ceiling. We ended up moving a couple of mattresses to the floor and made it like a slumber party. FUN!
Saturday
This is the view we woke up to Saturday morning:
Here we are our first morning and ready to work.
Our team had a wonderful cook who made breakfast and dinner for us each night. Thanks Todd!
We got off to a slow start Saturday morning, but it was kind of nice to ease everyone into things since it was a first trip for many on our team. Ava got to play soccer with some kids in the village.
Of course, it didn't take long for me to find a baby. We actually built a house for the mom of this baby when we were here two years ago.
After playing, we went up to the location where we built a concrete house for a sweet lady and her 15 year old daughter.
After all this, we headed to a nearby village where no gringos had ever been before now. We ended up putting in 6 stoves that day. While putting in one stove, one of the locals cut down a coconut from a tree and let us try it. Of course, he had to give me my own coconut because I would not put my mouth on one that everyone had passed around.
Here is one of the stoves we put in and the family listening as we dedicated the stove to them. These stoves help the families not to have to burn as much wood. More importantly though, they allow the smoke to escape outside of the house rather than in their houses which causes eye problems and issues with their lungs.
This is our leader demonstrating what NOT to do while in Guatemala: eating the local food from a local market.
Of course, I managed to get my hands on another baby. This one reminded me so much of Elia!
The leader of this village was a sweet little old lady named Paulina. We put a stove in for her family, and she thanked us by cooking duck tamale. She had a little pond behind her house with all these little ducklings. When I found out she was cooking one of those ducklings, I thought I was going to pass out.
Half our team ended up trying the duck tamale. All I can say is God must have had his hands protecting the bellies of everyone who tried it because no one from our team got sick the entire week. Truly a miracle!
Ava and Allison served us a normal American meal for dinner that night. Thank goodness because there was no way I was eating duck!
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