And God Shows Up... (during the Lipscomb Engineering Bridge-Building Team)

From May 8th to the 18th, we had the pleasure of hosting the Lipscomb Engineering Team.  The team was divided into three focus groups: one to build a bridge at Saquiquib, one to repair and add to the water system at Benitzul, and one to build new solar panel recharging stations in several different communities.  We spent most all of our time with the bridge crew, so our blog will reflect on our experiences solely at that site.  However, we must congratulate all three groups for a hard week of work and success in meeting all of our objectives!  Our theme for this week has to be "And God showed up..." because all throughout the week we were amazed by how we saw Him at work and humbled by the realization that none of this could have been accomplished without the blessing of His hand.

Here is professor Chris Gwaltney, suited up for our descent to the Saquiquib bridge site (a drop of  1,000 ft. in just a mile!).  God showed up by protecting everyone on our team from any sort of hiking injury during both our descent and ascent.

During day 1 of work, we realized that a large portion of the metal pieces that would hold the bridge together were fabricated incorrectly.  Despite this disappointment and a realization that our work would be delayed by about two days, God encouraged us to get right to work to accomplish what we could, and He helped keep our spirits high.

Ahhh... home sweet home.  These tents were our "homes" for the week.  Even through some digestive issues that spread throughout the majority of the team and several restless nights, God continued to heal us and give us the strength we needed day-to-day.

Laughter is the best medicine.  We were all thankful God blessed the bridge team with Davide, with his great Italian accent and sense of humor to keep the mood light and cheerful during some of the hardest parts of our week.

Every team will attest that the cook is one of the most important aspects for a team.  We were so thankful to have Nina with us down at the bridge, while Cata took care of the rest of the group up at the bodega in Benitzul.  God continues to bless us with this pair of sisters who have huge, servant hearts and bright smiles every early morning.

Here's our team... all together on Saturday at the bridge site.  God couldn't have fashioned together a better group of young adults and mentors!

Dr. Patterson (or Patti-cakes) was a crucial team leader and mentor for this group of engineering students.  God showed himself repeatedly through Dr. P's humor, leadership, and genuine care for this team.

God gave us just enough days to relax and get rejuvenated so that we would be ready to work hard and put in long hours when the new metal plates arrived.  And even though they went from Saquiquib to Coban to Guatemala City and back to Coban and Saquiquib, God made sure the plates got to us just in time!

We were all convinced that no amount of engineering skills could have fashioned the two sides of the bridge so that the connecting piece would fit in so perfectly upon the very first try... we're pretty certain that God's hand had something to do with it!

We couldn't have completed this project without the help of the community.  God provided to us an amazing young leader Marcelino (in the white hat) and his friend Martin, who daily helped to mobilize the people of Saquiquib to march supplies up and down the mountain and who we even suited up in safety harnesses to help bolt in some of the last members of the bridge.

Looks like these guys- the two student leaders for the project, Luke and Kyle- were pretty proud once the final pieces were put in place!  However, during our devotional later in the week, they both acknowledged that all the glory went to God!

With the help of Victor, our ironworker, who added the final touches of hand rails, we completed the bridge!  Right before this picture was taken, we took a moment for all of us and the Mayans who were present to say a prayer of thanksgiving to our common God who always gives good gifts.

As you can tell, the new iron bridge is quite an improvement over the previous one (made from tree trunks, seen in the background).  We pray that the new bridge will help improve the safety of this community as they travel weekly to the main road and to the market.

Our bridge crew (except for Kris- someone had to take the picture).  If you can't tell, we were pretty happy to be standing on that bridge!  God is good!

And as we packed out, we made our way across the new bridge with our brothers from Saquiquib, all smiles!

Semuc Champey and Sesalche I Water System Repair

Right before the group of engineers and water technicians from Knoxville arrived earlier this week, we took a weekend trip to Semuc Champey.  Semuc Champey is composed of several levels of natural pools created by rainwater runoff in the midst of a gorgeous rainforest.  Below is a view of Semuc from the overlook which we hiked up to.

 We had lots of fun with the Colvett boys exploring all of the pools, underwater caves, and mini waterfalls that served as slides from one leveled pool to the next.  (Kris might have been having a little TOO much fun!)

We enjoyed this time to relax and get refreshed before a busy week of work ahead in Sesalche I.

This past Sunday, we headed with a team of 6 from the KnoxProCorp organization to the other side of the Valley for a week of making repairs and adding to the water system of Sesalche I (this is the community where we are also still in the process of building the large concrete tank).  I think this picture below demonstrates why these water projects are so meaningful to us and the teams that join us.  This family lives right next to the school, which served as our home for the week.  One of our main goals for every water project is to get water to the community school, and we were able to put in a new outdoor pila and spigot that could serve both the school and this family of seven.  As you can see, these boys were all-smiles all week long.  This picture is testimony that not only did we build a water system this week; we also worked on building friendships.

This was our bi-cultural team for the week, consisting of the Sesalche I water committee (and many other community members who helped throughout the week but are not pictured here) and us, the "gringos."

These were the wives and children of the water committe, who loved to yell out our names ("LeeLee"- DeeDee, "Kewin"- Kevin, and "Crobal"- Cristobal/Kris) and who prepared one meal for us each day during the week.

From the time we set foot in the community, gluing and cutting pipe soon became second nature for both us and our visitors...

We couldn't have done this project without the help of the community, including Alberto (below).  This guy has an unlimited amount of energy, and he knows how to get things done!

One of our favorite parts of these projects is making conversation with the community families as we pass by and tie in spigots for their houses.

Needless to say, we were thankful for a good night's rest at Hotel Don Francisco last night after a week on the floor in the Sesalche I school building.

We enjoyed eating the food of the Mayans each day.  They are such gracious hosts!