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Concord United Methodist Church Seeking God, Serving the Community, Supporting Each Other
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SALUD Y PAZ August 3 -12 2007 Trip Report by Elise Faike
OUR MISSION We each have our own reasons for going on this mission. Some of us have come before .When disasters happen and others join teams going to Indonesia or Louisiana, I want to help. COMMISSIONING Apparently part of going on a mission means being commissioned. Pam explained this is like when armies received their commissions before going of to war and soldiers were officially sanctioned or blessed into their squadrons. GUATEMALA Guatemala: Land of Many Trees, home of the Men of Corn Guatemala’s colorful beauty is everywhere; in market places, vibrant weavings, the countryside, fields of corn, and brown volcanoes. Ladies’ native dress, men’s red shirts and its people, themselves, whom we have come to see. The Mayans are the people of Guatemala. Indeed, more than half the population is indigenous. DAY 1; August 3 Travel from home to Guatemala City. In Guatemala City, we boarded “Super Nina” for the first time and headed to our hotel, Pan America. During our first devotions, we drew our Prayer Partners out of an envelope. Days 2, 3. August 4-5 Travel from Guatemala via Super Nina to Panachel and boat (lancha) across Lake Atilan. A rough afternoon boat ride across the caldera lake-past two huge conical volcanoes (last erupted 1524) and fisherman in small squarish wooden fishing boats brought us to Santiago de Atilan. Santiago is the former home of Pastor Stanley Francisco Rother, the Martyr of Santiago. Rother was a pastor from OK who was murdered by in his office by government soldiers in 1981. Santiago has also been damaged by landslides, evident as piles of mud up one of the side roads. The Peace Park for Mayan victims of 1990 war massacre. Sunday: Pastor Mark performed wonderful Church Service this morning in the posada on the lakeside. Joining hands and naming a war word, then a peace word. Mark used blue corn panqueques for our communion, and ending with a wonderful round of hugs among our Family. We arrived at Salud Y Paz to find no keys and we had to store our 50pd bags in a dorm room. Jan and Sharon thoughtfully planned our devotions, careful to include things relevant to what we did each day. It has been said that singing is spirtual, but our singing was also fun. Some of you have fantastic voices---Betsy’s come to mind---and Kent’s harmonies added new dimensions to each song he lent them to. Monday Before the medical team left, we assembled school and health kits. The construction team painted rooms in the clinic. The Medical team went to De Modello... We heard reports of corn maize “restrooms” Tuesday August 7: Xela (is the name for Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second largest city) to San Bartola to work at Pastor Alex Methodist Church, holding clinic and performing construction work. We spent the night at San Bartola and the room count was incorrect. Gail, Maribeth, Kirsten and Jan were heard to be singing “Close to Me”. The construction team had to buy rakes and load sand up to the church----30 steps. One nice feature about working with the VIM team was that it gave us access to local people. Because people had been to the clinic and had their pictures taken by the med team and had been allowed to keep the photos, they smiled for more photos. Wednesday August 8 Today was the day that w redefined poverty. Poverty is like a systemic disease with accompanying denial. Everyone needs clean water, food, shelter and living space---- A safe place to live and grow kids. The construction team raked sand, marked where to put the tile squares, mixed plaster and helped the “Jefe”. The elevation was 6867. On our way back to Xela, we hit 8400 feet. That may not be the highest, but we were truly in the Highlands. Thursday Medical staff conducted clinic at Salud Y Paz. The construction team sifted sand, wheeling the sand uphill into a sand room belove plastering so Santiago would have enough to mix his plaster. Kent and Mark attempted to learn how to throw plaster on walls. Chelsea and Dani’s performed at a puppet show. The kids were delighted. On Super Nina we headed out to a fellow Iglesia Metodista, practicing “Des Colores”on the way. Friday August 10: We had to pack up and leave the hotel and move into new hotel before going to Salud Y Paz... Picked up supplies, medicines at the clinic before returning to San Francisco. Once of translators discovered that a village elder was skimming extra money at the expense of the people that we have come to serve. Pam and Kent were our fearless leaders. They took care of the details. Sat August 11 Off to Antigua via Super Nina. The med team had seen and treated about 200 people, our dental team5 for teeth cleaning and extraction. The construction team, painted sifted, mixed and sculpted sand, attempted to adobe a coccina floor, stuccoes a wall and along with the rest entertained kids and adults. We have new friends and have helped the Mayan people. To see a larger picture click on the picture
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