Click on a date below to see the photos from that day. While the photos are presented on the correct day, they are not all presented in chronological order, because mission team members had different date and time settings on their cameras. Within each date, photos are presented in time order by photographer.

• 2/19/2009 - Woody and Robin arrive before the rest of the VIM team to ascertain the status of the construction progress, so that plans may be laid for the next two weeks. They meet old friends and check out the status of each new home under construction.
• 2/20/2009 - Woody removes some aluminum roofing that was installed prematurely. Robin and he visit Pastor Felix's family and see the new family addition.
• 2/21/2009 - The remainder of the mission team arrive at the Guatemala City airport and head out to Hotel Bambu in Mazatenango.
• 2/22/2009 - After a good night's rest and some grocery shopping, the team heads out to the construction site for a view of what is in store for construction for the next two weeks. We are building the first four new homes on 15 acres of land recently purchased through contributions of American Methodists to the National Methodist Church of Guatemala for the purpose of helping "the poorest of the poor" in the village of La Toma. After passing by the school built by teams in past years, we see three homes in various stages of construction. Later we journey to San Antonio Barrio Dos to worship with Pastor Manuel and his congregation at Fuente de Vida Iglesia Metodista. We enjoy the singing from each group of their congregation, Howard leads the singing of "Abre Mis Ojos, Oh Cristo", and Maria translates Pastor Manuel's sermon for the team.
• 2/23/2009 - The kitchen crew of Marilyn and BJ remain at the hotel to prepare our dinner. We take the dental team to the clinic that we built between La Toma and San Antonio Barrio Dos in 2006, where they will attend to patients from neighboring communities today through Wednesday. The construction team heads to La Toma. The construction crew focuses on three areas today: painting the interior of the first home, pulling electrical lines for the first home, and laying block on the second home. At the end of the day, everyone pitched in to unload and stack a delivery of concrete blocks. We get to meet the owner of the first home, Sylvia, and her grandchildren. We also meet Enma and her son, Andy, who are two-thirds of the family who will be living in the second home under construction. We discover immediately that Enma is a very hard worker.
• 2/24/2009 - Today the painting crew work on painting a red trim border at the base of the walls of Sylvia's home. Other team members put up the forms required for the bond beam pours on the second home. It was a "concreto" afternoon for everyone, as we mixed concrete and poured the beams and U-blocks for the second home and the U-blocks for the third home. Needing to let the concrete set for the day, we left early enough to get to see the dental team busy at work in the clinic.
• 2/25/2009 - Today Sarah and Summer learn the art of applying stucco to Sylvia's home exterior. After removal of the form boards on Enma's home, a few others install its aluminum roof while Bill pulls the electrical lines for it. The remainder of the construction team lay block on the third home. Today is the final day for the dental team at the clinic.
• 2/26/2009 - Today the dental team has a new twist. Robin, Irene and Maria go to a remote mountain village to see patients with Jim and Diane (Diane is an American nurse who has had a medical mission in Guatemala for the past six years). Due to space constraints in their vehicle, Jeanne and Connie join the construction crew today. Stucco is completed on Sylvia's home, prep work is done for stucco on Enma's home, and more block is laid on the third home. During a break, we visit the Mayan ruins that are on the edge of these 15 acres.
• 2/27/2009 - Jeanne and Connie join Robin today with Jim and Diane, while Maria joins the construction team. At the construction site, the rear exterior painting is completed on Sylvia's home, stucco is started in two bedrooms of Enma's home, and the concrete block is mostly finished on the third home. We also form and pour both front columns and two lentels.
• 2/28/2009 - It is Saturday, and time for us to relax a little. Most of us have done the standard trips to Chichicastenango and Lake Atilan, so we all take a new adventure to Playa de Tulate. We have been told that the Pacific beach isn't much, but it is only an hour and one-half away. We are surprised on the drive as the terrain quickly turns from tropical lushness to dry, brown ranchs. Only as we near the town of Tulate do we start to see farms green from irrigation. In Tulate we take a short boat ride around the inlet, before crossing the island beach. The beach is largely deserted (just a couple of small groups, us and a random pig). The black sands are clean, and the waves are inviting. Had we known it was this nice, we would have planned to spend the day.
• 3/1/2009 - Today we worship with Pastor Felix and his congregation at El Rey de Gloria Iglesia Metodista. Various groups of their congregation lead their singing, our group sings a few songs planned for Bible School the next week, and Maria translates Pastor Felix's sermon for the team.
• 3/2/20098 - The dental team sets up today in a classroom behind Pastor Felix's church, while the construction crew picks up where they left off last week. The exterior wall painting is finished on Sylvia's home, stucco gets applied to more rooms in Enma's home, and the base block work and forms are built for the remaining columns and lentels of the third home. Several of us take a break from construction to hold a Bible School for the children but are surprised that so few children are there - a breakdown in communications somewhere. Sarah leads the singing, Maria tells two Bible Stories, we have a skit of David and Goliath with Sarah as the narrator, Robin as Goliath, Irene as David, and Howard as King Saul, and the 15 children in attendance have crafts. We return to the construction site in time to help with the bucket brigade for the concrete pour.
• 3/3/2009 - Today Sarah completes the exterior paint and trim on Sylvia's home, Jeanne and Summer help Victor and Sergio complete the stucco on the interior of Enma's home, more block is laid on the third home, and we erect the ridge board and rafters on the third home. For Bible School we have 53 children. Sarah leads the singing, and Maria tells the story of Jonah and the Whale. The skit features Sarah as the narrator, Irene as Jonah, four of the children as the sailors, and Summer and BJ as the whale. The children enjoy coloring and decorating the paper plate craft of the whale.
• 3/4/2009 - After sharing our "Where we have seen God these past two weeks" and communion, we head out to La Toma. This is the last day of mission for the dental, construction and bible school teams. We paint the interior walls and begin the stucco of the exterior of Enma's home. On the third home we put the lathing across the rafters, lay block on one gable end, and screw the fascia boards in place. Tim and Robin visit students they sponsor each year. At Bible School we have grown to almost 100 children. Sarah once again leads the singing, and Maria tells the story of Daniel in the lion's den. The skit features Sarah as the narrator, Irene as Daniel, Robin as King Darius, Howard as a royal administrator, and some children as the lions. The craft is a special treat for the children. Ron, a friend of Howard from Ohio, has made wooden crosses for the children to color. Designs and color choices abound as children of all ages painstakingly work their art. At the conclusion of Bible School, each child is delighted to receive a new baseball cap (courtesy of Brian, another friend from Ohio). ... Farewells are difficult today, when we must leave the good friends we have made over the past two weeks.
• 3/5/2009 - During the bus ride to Antigua, we enjoy the scenery of volcano after volcano and eat ice cream at Sarita's. In Antigua we have lunch at Frida's, do a little shopping in the afternoon, and then dine at Las Palmas.
• 3/6/2009 - After breakfast at Cafe Condesa people go their separate ways to shop and sightsee. It is a "laid back" kind of day, before our return home.
• 3/7/2009 - We ride to the Guatemala City airport and take our flights back to the States.

Click on photo of pig to see 6MB video
(Ringing bell in background is an ice cream vendor)

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