Back in Guatemala City

We are finally back from the mountains and in Antigua.  The team will fly out on Saturday and arrive in Chicago Saturday evening.  Keep us in your prayers.  We can’t wait to get back to share with you all how God has moved in and through your team.  We are anxious to see you all.  Take time to look at the new pictures posted today.  Grace and Peace Pastor Paul

It’s good to be in Antigua. The city is beautiful. The hard work  of Monday thru Wednesday is behind us. While we will never forget the communities served, it is good to be able to get cleaned up, nurse bug bites, and the swelling caused by dehydration. We look forward to being back with family and friends. Love Jeff, Taylor, & Lynley

Well the Journey is coming to an end, but has been an Awesome Journey that we got to share with our friends and family.  We have so much to share with those of you that were’nt able to come.  We will see you all soon.  Love, Brian, Christie, Logan & Maya

Hello everyone!  I am alive and well….hahahaha It has been the most rewarding trip I have ever taken, bare none. Love Antiqua. it is beautiful.  Anxious to tell everyone about the trip.  I miss you all and love you!!

Love Kathy

Taylor’s thoughts

Greetings from Guatemala (:
Today is Tuesday and the team traveled to the village of Chisec to do service at our first school. We arrived there at 8:30 and as soon as we got off the bus the little school children surrounded the bus. Immediately there was at least 3 or 4 children latched on to all of us, especially Jason. All were amazed of his size and they called him “Mucho Grande”. It seemed that all they wanted to do was touch you and look at the newcomers. It was so heartbreaking to see the little girls with no shoes on and the little boys with their pants above their ankles, I just wanted to hug every single one of them and bring them back to Ohio with me but unfortunately I think that’s a little over 50 pounds. After playing with the kids for a couple hours Manny and Cindy started the VBS, they started by singing with hand motions that the whole team participated in. Then they went over the colors of their salvation bracelets and the team passed them out to everyone. After that we all passed out their goodie bags, and the excitement on their faces was unreal. They seemed so happy to receive their gifts, a little girl who was probably only 5 or 6 came up and gave me a hug and said many thanks. I wanted to give her the clothes I was wearing because hers were covered in holes and mud. At 12:30 the kids went home I probably hugged at least 200 of them, they were the cutest things ever. The people of the village prepared us lunch and it was awesome, they fixed us chicken (their best rooster was part of the team’s meal) and carrots and tortillas and chicken soup that was to die for. But the part that killed me was the people of the village took their own dishes and tables from their own houses just to feed us and they barely got any for themselves. After our feast we finished painting the school inside and out, it turned out to be beautiful. But the most emotional part of the day, for me, was when we went to Hermon’s (sp?) house. Hermon is one of the workers here at the compound with Manny and Cindy. His house only had two rooms with a kitchen that wasn’t attached. Once the whole team piled into his little home Hermon started speaking to us and of course Cindy had to translate, but he started apologizing for not preparing gifts for us and also apologized for not having nicer things in his house and it almost made me cry because to me it was such an honor just to go inside his house and to meet his family, it seemed wrong to me that he thought he had to prepare gifts for us because to him we weren’t equal to him and I just wanted to cry. After him speaking to us the team went to Hermon’s mother, who was bedridden because she had bleeding ulcers in her stomach, Cindy led us in prayer and it was very emotional to all who were in the room. I had a little girl attached to my hip the entire day and she ventured with me into the house I tried my best to explain what was going on and I had some tears on my cheeks and she wiped them off and told me not to be sad. Which of course made me cry more. It was very emotional for everyone. After that we left and came back to the compound for dinner and devotion. It was an amazing day (:

Love,
Taylor )

The team in Coban

Greetings from your team in Guatemala

We arrived safely and everyone is doing great – we arrived in Coban about 8 PM on Friday night and slept great after being up for 36 hours. On Saturday we arrived at the compound and started working – God is doing a great work here – they are preparing the compound to be used as a factory for building Churches and Schools. We played soccer with workers and had a great time – we miss everyone and look forward to sharing. Love Jason, Kathrine and Benjamin

Again, we all arrived safely and in great spirits. I can not believe I am here and going to do what I am going to do. God does work in great ways for all of us. We just have to listen and travel that path, head held high and smile . This is going to be a very fulfilling trip for me . Everyone here is wonderful! We are like one big family, one more piece of God’s family. Love Kathy

We had a GREAT flight. It was great getting off the plane and seeing Christie, Brian, Maya, and Logan’s big smiling faces. Manny and Cindy were wonderful too. It really got exciting when we drove to Coban. That’s the closest I’ve come to nascar driving but the Lord made sure we got thru it. We stayed at a beautiful hotel and ate wonderful food. It didn’t seem like a mission trip and more like a vacation. Thanks to Christies’ fantastic traveling experience. Then we had a great breakfast the next morning and traveled to our destination to work. Then I slung a sledgehammer and vacationing ended at that point…Ha Ha. The view is beautiful here and the people are beautiful. I’m so glad I’m here to experience this. Love, Paul and Tammy )

The girls and I are having a wonderful time. Travels were “uneventful” just like I like. The bus ride from the airport to Coban was definitely an experience. The countryside is beautiful. Lynley, Maya, and Logan were the first ones to swim in the spring water fed pond and had a blast. Taylor had a headache and couldn’t work with the rest of the team as they gathered stones for the foundation of the new factory. The food so far has been really good. What an experience! Love, the Mainous’

Well we’re been anticipating the teams arrival for two weeks now and it finally happened yesterday and it was nice to see everyones smiling faces. Everyone seemed in good spirits. Looking forward to see what God has in stored for us this week. I’ve played soccer with the guys about everyday but like Jason said it was really fun playing with my friend from here and home. Kathrine played and I wonder what the guys where thinking because you don’t see a lot of girl’s playing soccer here. I’ll have to ask Monday. Love, Brian, Christie, Logan & Maya

I am having a great time. I had fun playing soccer and Uno. Hi Mom, Wyatt and Spencer.  Dylan

Everyone is doing great here. We are excited about what God is doing and going to do through us while we are here. No one is here by accident. God has brought us all here for a reason. It is always amazing how quickly the teams come together. There is a great feeling of togetherness and unity among the team. We believe that God is going to use this time of service to touch lives in Guatemala and change our lives (and the life of our Church) as we return to Trenton. Miss and love you Terri, Wyatt and Spencer. Grace and Peace from Guatemala, Pastor Paul.

New Pictures of the site

See the photo gallery for new photos of the job site.   We will be heading out tonight for Chicago.  We are flying from Chicago to Miami Friday Morning and from Miami to Guatemala City.  Keep us in your prayers.

Here is the site

We have had a chance to visit where we will be working. Here is a picture of the site.

Brian and Christie

Greetings from the Powells in Guatemala

Hola All!

Wanted to just let everyone know all is WELL with us in Guatemala.  Everyone is eating well and feeling well.  We got to go to the school yesterday that the Team will be working on.  We were greeted with lots of dirty, messed up hair, BUT Smiling, happy little faces.  They have such limited space for as many kids they are trying to teach, so our help is very much needed. Tomorrow we will be traveling to Tikal, just the 4 of us.  We thought we would go on Maya’s Birthday, in celebration.  We will take lots of pictures of the Maya Ruins.  We will return to the Land sometime on Friday.  We will call someone and let them know when we arrived on both days.   Manny & Cindy’s Land is very nice, secluded, very Jungle like.  We are excited for the team to see it.  They still have a lot of work, but it is very nice what they have done.  Talk to everyone soon,

We Love You All!

Two weeks to go

Once again we are getting close to work and witness trip to Guatemala. Two weeks from today the team will be flying to Guatemala City.  Already 4 team members, Brian, Christie, Logan, and Maya are there.  They will be doing some prep work for the team and visiting with friends.  We have been praying for months that God would use our efforts to bless others.  We have been praying that somehow through this trip we would grow in our relationship with Him.  This time I am taking my middle son, Dylan.  He is 12 years old.  My prayer is that this will be life changing trip.  That God will seem more real to him than at any other time in his life.  As I type these words, I grow even more excited about this trip.  Join us in praying that God will move in our efforts and in our lives.  Grace and Peace, Pastor Paul.