Time in Kansas City

The last official day of the campaign with the Christ Chapel Bible Church youth was Friday, July 18.  When the team headed to the beach for the day, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Kansas City.  Unfortunately for us, there were storms along the east coast so, even though we had no problems getting into Houston, our flight to KC was delayed two hours--11:00 p.m. arrival into KC instead of 9:00 p.m.  Originally, my dad was going to pick us up at the airport, but I'm so glad we changed it.  I can't image how he would have handled the two hour delay--probably would have tried to sleep in his car in the KCI parking lot.  By the time we got to Lee's Summit it was after midnight, but we still managed to talk to the Guenthers for an hour or so before we crawled into bed.

Stephen and two of his brothers worked in a game of golf on Saturday afternoon and then we all went out to dinner (minus Michael and Denise.)  

We went to the traditional 8:00 a.m. service at Abundant Life on Sunday morning and then on Sunday afternoon we drove to Topeka to visit with Jeff and Paula Rhoades.  It was great to go to church with them and see their home/town.

Stephen drove to Marshall early (5:00 a.m.) Monday morning to have breakfast and play golf with Michael.  In the afternoon, he stopped to see our friend, Kimberly Kelley in Seymour, Missouri, and pick up a Peruvian drum for our church in Guatemala City.  Kimberly tried to bring it to Guatemala in June, but the airlines wouldn't let her carry it on.  We're going to put in a box and check it as luggage.  Hopefully, it will make the trip safely.

He also managed to find time to play the piano and give her brothers a quick lesson.

He's spent the last two days visiting his parents in West Plains while I've filled my time with various annual doctor and dentist appointments.  Our son, Jon, flew in on Monday night so I've been able to spend some time with him, too.

Long Weekend in Guatemala

We started our drive to Guatemala just after 1:00 p.m. and it took a little less than two hours to reach the border.  That would have normally been a good thing, but . . . . . you might remember that last October the bridge between El Salvador and Guatemala was badly damaged when a 2000 pound over-the-limit semi tried to cross.  The bridge is now being repaired and is only open from 11:00 to 1:00 and 3:30 to 5:30.  So we had a 30+ minute wait for the bridge to open.  Once it's open, it's still only one-way traffic.  Five to ten cars from El Salvador and then five to ten from Guatemala.  We finally crossed at 4:00 p.m.  The repair work has made the bridge very uneven and scary to cross in spite of the 10 mph speed limit.  

Our view as we crossed

View looking out my window--surface is a combination of concrete slabs
 separated by sandbags.

The trip on the Guatemala side was uneventful (thankfully) because once we cross over the border my El Salvador phone has no service and, unfortunately, my Guatemala phone did not have any minutes.  

We made it across Guatemala City and to Nelson and Rosemarie's house about 6:30.  She was just starting on the pupusas!  

Worshiping at Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva, Guatemala City, is just like being in our home church . . . . lot's of friends, great music and excellent preaching.  After church we had a quick lunch at Wendy's and then, along with another 3-4 couples, went to a park to hang out.  The guys played basketball (about 4 hours.)  By the time we left, they were exhausted!

Monday morning after a great breakfast at Capistrano, one of our favorite restaurants, we drove to Antigua to visit our Spanish teachers.

   Stephen's breakfast!

It's getting late, so the rest of the story will have to wait until tomorrow!  

Catch-up Post (3)

I blogged a little on Monday when we were in the bus on the way home and in the morning before we left about the landslides just outside of Guatemala City.  Here are the "up-close and personal" photos we took while sitting beside the area.  The two lanes out of the city are completely covered with the mud/debris from the landslide.  They are not trying to remove the dirt at this time because they believe it will cause the area above to slide again.  They are working hard to construct two new temporary lanes around the immediate area of the problem to avoid the long delays they have been having.  We sat at the same spot for about 20 minutes waiting our turn to move up the hill past the landslide area.  We took all of the pictures from the bus--you can see how close we were . . . I was definitely praying that the mud and the broken walls didn't start moving again.  

 Mud and debris covering the south bound lanes includes parts of cement retaining walls.

 Constructing two temporary lanes to relieve the traffic backup.  

Great idea, but they are right on the side of the mountain!  

A view of one of the houses at risk of collapsing.  

It rained more yesterday as we left the city . . . . the landslide could get worse before it gets better.

Catch-up Post (2)

We worshipped with our Guatemalan friends at Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva on Sunday morning.  We have many friends here and it was so good to "reconnect" with them--even better knowing that we will be back in two weeks to help with VBS.

There are always some "firsts" on a trip like this--this time it was singing the old, old hymn, "I've Got a Mansion Just Over the Hilltop," or, in Spanish, "Bellas Mansiones Hay Alla en la Gloria."  I found a youtube video of Elvis singing it, but decided you could search for it yourself if you're interested!

Worship time

Nelson is an awesome expository preacher; he has been preaching verse-by-verse through the book of 1 Corinthians.  We know this because he was just starting the book when we were in Guatemala for 8 weeks in the summer of 2012.  This Sunday's message was on 1 Corinthians 12:12-13.  

Corinth--A church growing in a difficult city

Congregation listening to the message

Small group prayer for VBS

Signing up for VBS donations

 Stephen and Charlie

 Claudia and Andrea working at "Centro de Informacion"

 Gloria Hernandez and her husband, Guillermo, from El Salvador were there
helping to plan the evangelistic events for the November campaign.

Catch-up Post (1)

I didn't have much time to update the blog while we were in Guatemala--just too busy, so this is the first of a couple of "catch-up" blogs.

We stayed with the Rivas family while in Guatemala City.  When we arrived on Wednesday only Rosemarie and the kids were there because Nelson was in Kansas City for the mission's conference of Blue Springs Bible Baptist Church.  We went to the airport to pick him up on Friday night.  Stephen had a little sign so he would know we were there to get him.  The name on the sign is Chabelito (a nickname that Nelson uses for people whose names he can't remember.)  

On Saturday, after a long day of working on VBS things, the four of us had a night out at Cayalá, a very upscale retail shopping, living area on the other side of the city.  You can see the Spanish architecture in the pictures--it was an amazing place to walk around.  The pictures "almost" do it justice!

 We had a great dinner at Saul's and enjoyed sharing the night with our friends.  Priceless!