Yes I am still alive.

It has been a very, very busy week here is Guatemala. So this really is the first time I have had a chance to sit down at a computer and write this. So here has what has happened in Guatemala over the last week.

The team that was here when I got here did construction on Friday and then left on Saturday. In the few days that I had with this team I made some really good friendships. That is something that I am not going to like about my internship is meeting these awesome people and only having a week to share with them. But even though our time together is so, so short this is all the more reason to just pour and pour into their lives. But in a since it still bites.

So Saturday was really busy. The team left in the morning and the next team was going to be arriving at around 6 Saturday evening. So Michelle and all of the house 1 girls came over to clean the team house. So after it was already clean, Michelle looks over at the wall where all the donated clothes are and all the sheets and towels, and says "lets organize all that". So we spent the next few hours shorting through all of the clothes, shoes, sleeping bags, and towels that had been left here over the summer to separate what was going to stay here and what was going to go up to the mountain ministry.

So in the midst of all the cleaning my shoes which where outside drying got thrown away or packed away for mountain ministry. So I have been doing everything in my hiking boots since.
Well the new team arrived about 2 hours late, and went to sleep pretty soon after that. Sunday woke up and had a service here with the team. Then Sunday afternoon I went with Jason and Laura to help out at Mission Zoe. That was really fun being part of that service and seeing the passion the Mission Zoe team have for the youth. That night was a pool party at Danny, the long term Mission Zoe missionary, for the church. So I was also able to spend most of the evening with the youth. Since Jason and I were the only Gringos in the pool the Guatemalatecas had fun rough housing with us and hitting us with the balls.

Monday was another work day. This team is made up mainly of middle age men. So they are all really hard workers. And also all of the kids are out of school because this is their spring break week so a lot of the older guys were out their helping us. We got a lot done on Monday. I spent the morning working on tamping down cement in the walls we were filling. Then the afternoon was using the pick axe to break up a dirt pile we were using to level out on of the terraces at the new team house.

Tuesday was a hike up to the village of San Francisco. The hike was about 2 hours I think. It was a pretty easy hike. This was an actual trail, instead of a road like Plan Del Morro. However I got a little sick going up, but felt fine after I had rested for a while. The team did some work with the kids. I spent the afternoon talking to the pastor and his family. The pastor is a really funny guy. One of the guys on our team is a little heavy, and so the pastor asked us is he was doing okay coming up the mountain, or if we need to send a donkey down for him.

Wednesday we hiked down the mountain. Then the team and the entire orphanage went. It was a really fun afternoon. That night while we were having dinner Sam came in and told us that someone from Plan del Morro had gotten sick and that Baltezar (the pastor) had come down and needed a ride up the mountains so that he didnt have to spend the night in Zacapa. So some of us loaded into the back of the pickup and rode up to Plan del Morro. We found out that it was his daughter and that she was in labor. We also learned that she had been taken down to the base of the mountain on the back of a motorcycle, and then the fire department took her the rest of the way.

Friday was the last day of work. And I was literally working a pickaxe most of the day. We were digging a trench to the footing for the foundation of a retaining wall. We went down about an inch and started hitting rock. So I got to swing a pickaxe and break these rocks up.

Tomorrow I get to go to Antigua with the team. Antigua is going to be PACKED!!! Its a good thing we are staying in the city.

Hey if you are reading this leave me a comment. I really appreciate any contact I get from home.

In Christ
Justin Friel
1st Timothy 4:12