Trip Documentary

You can view a documentary about our trip here:

http://vimeo.com/91809569

With thanks to Tim Oberg for his excellent work on this!

Supporter's Lunch

Our Guatemala lunch will be on Sunday, April 13 at 1:00pm in the Family Center.

Come and enjoy a light lunch, video report, testimonies and prayer.

RSVP to a team member or tbodkin@newhopechurchmn.org

Final thoughts

The 2014 Guatemala Team with the Fuego volcano in the background

It was a great week! We are blessed to be able to serve in Guatemala on behalf of New Hope Church. We built some good relationships with the local churches and look forward to developing those further in the future. Kids Alive Guatemala is doing an amazing work, please continue to pray for the staff and kids there. Thank you for your prayers and support for this ministry. Praise God for all the answered prayers - all the glory goes to Him!

Safely Home

We arrived safely back in Minneapolis at 4:30 pm on Monday. After a week of warmer temperatures in Guatemala we were not looking forward to returning to the MN winter. We were surprised to be met with a temperature of 52 degrees and melting snow - not too bad! All our luggage arrived back safely - well, except for one.....but we think everything was still there :-)

Day of rest (and fun)

We had a very busy week and were glad for a day on Sunday to rest and recover. In the morning we enjoyed a great service at Galilea church in San Lucas. After lunch at Pollo Campero we returned to the Oasis for a relaxing afternoon. A group went out to the village of Chicoman while others stayed at the Oasis to play with the girls. In the evening we were invited to dinner with the older girls at Casa Esther. While there we shared a meal, played some games, celebrated Lisa and Kyle's birthdays and exchanged gifts. It is cool to see these girls growing up, now living independently and returning to us some of the love that has been shown to them over the years.

Sunday Pics

Work day at Nazaret Curch

After 5 days of driving out to the school in Zapote we were glad to have a short 15 minute drive out to the Nazaret church for our work day on Saturday. One of our goals this year was to start to develop stronger relationships with the local churches. We were able to do this on Saturday by working alongside local church members on a number of construction projects at the church. The projects included building some new bathrooms, installing a cistern and painting an exterior wall. With the support money we raised we were able to purchase all the supplies needed for these projects. As we only had one day of work at the church we weren't able to complete these projects but the local church members will be able to continue the work when we are gone. Highlights of the day included digging a hole 8' wide by 5' deep, enjoying a delicious lunch prepared by the pastor's wife, torching an ant colony and of course getting to know some of the people we were working alongside. This was an important first step in encouraging and developing relationships with the Nazaret church - we look forward to developing this further next year - Lord willing.

Saturday Pics

Dinner with the girls

This evening we were privileged to be able to share a meal in the houses with the girls - this is without doubt one of the highlights of the week. We have been praying for each house, the girls and the tias for over a month (and they have been praying for us) so we have been looking forward to this for a while! This is such a sweet time of fellowship that words cannot possibly describe the experience, so here is just a picture of each house:

Gold House (Tim B, Lisa & Dave)\

Green House (Kyle & Jon)

Green House (Kyle & Jon)

Orange House (Neil, Dan and Randy)

Purple House (Tim O & Ken)

Blue House (Chris, Kory, Doug & Sandy)

Finishing up

Today we finished up our work at the school in Zapote. Despite having to pack up and leave sooner than we had planned, because of a heavy rain storm we were satisfied with the progress we have made this week. Lisa painted a beautiful mural, we completed all the wiring, installation of doors, painted 5 classrooms and tiled a bathroom.

We also had an opportunity to visit the church in Zapote, meet the Pastor and present the church with a projector. The projector was purchased with extra support money raised for our trip and will be used in the church and also for outreach events for the community.

Friday Pics

Thursday Pics