Volunteers in Mission
Linworth United Methodist Church, Columbus, Ohio
El Palmar, Queztaltenango, Guatemala
February 2025

Click on a date below to see the photos from that day. The photos for each day are in alphabetical order of the first name of the volunteer who took the photo. Click on any photo's thumbnail to see a larger view of the photo.

• Saturday, 2/1/2025 - Four of us fly from Columbus, Ohio to Guatemala City and then drive to our hotel in Santa Cruz Muluá. Two of us get weather delayed flying from Fort Myers, Florida and have to spend the night in Atlanta.
• Sunday, 2/2/2025 - The Living Heritage Foundation arranged for us to meet with our scholarship students in Mazatenango. Unfortunately, John and Brenda's flight delays meant they were unable to make the meeting to see their students. We go grocery shopping in Mazatenango for our lunches for the week and then do a brief tour of Retalhuleu.
• Monday, 2/3/2025 - We journey to El Palmar where we begin work on a concrete roof for a high school computer lab. The high school principal, teachers, students and student families greet us with the warmest of welcomes. This is the first time I have seen "Welcome" written in K'iche' (Quiché). At lunch time we are surprised by the students and their families sponsored by John and Brenda. We had no idea that the Living Heritage Foundation had arranged for them to take a bus the long distance from their homes!
• Tuesday, 2/4/2025 - We return to El Palmar to continue our work. Also, a teacher and the principal of the high school take us to see a couple of their students' homes as well as hike to a great viewing area of the Santa Maria volcano. It is a great cultural experience, and we still make some solid progress on the roof structure for the computer lab and ordered some materials to begin the process of updating the electrical power to the complex.
• Wednesday, 2/5/2025 - We have a rather interesting awakening around 1:00 AM this morning. There was an earthquake on the coast about 44 km from Nuevo Concepcion. We are roughly 50 miles from Nuevo Concepcion!! It was a 5.6 earthquake and woke us up in our hotel rooms. Wednesday is a full day for us in El Palmar. We moved all of the gravel from the front of the school to our work area, cut bamboo to support the pour for the roof and completed tying rebar cages for all bond beams.
• Thursday, 2/6/2025 - More moving of gravel and sand and more form work dominate today's work. With the arrival of electrical supplies, Dale and the principal prepare for running new electrical lines.
• Friday, 2/7/2025 - This is our last day in service in El Palmar, and what a day it is! We finish pulling the new electrical line for the computer lab with the additional help of our driver, Edwin, and several high school students. We get the second layer of rebar down for the ceiling of the lab and have a joyous farewell celebration! Next week the foreman and local workers plan to pour the new ceiling.
• Weekend - We leave our hotel in Santa Cruz Muluá, and drive to Antigua for sightseeing and relaxation before flying home on Monday.