Mountaintops and Valleys in Ulpan

Kris and I have really enjoyed our past month in the Valley. While we have dearly missed the close community that we enjoyed with the Colvetts, we have also enjoyed some time for just us and getting to know the rest of our local team even better by eating dinner together once or twice a week with Cesar, Ricardo, and Flori, our newly hired full-time nurse for the Valley! We are extremely excited about receiving the McKinney family next Thursday as they fly in and begin language school, and we are also eager to receive our friends Rick and Amanda Williams and Elizabeth Roney the following week and bring them in for a week's experience of the Valley before heading back to the States with them.

While overall our time living here in the Valley has seemed to fly by, sometimes the days just seem to crawl. This has been a good lesson for both Kris and I since we are such busybodies. For several reasons, this week in particular has seemed liked an exceptionally long one.

First, I would like to share about one of the deepest "valley" experiences we have had since our arrival here. It has to do with a little boy named Victor. He is an adorable two and a half year old that a nurse from the Lipscomg medical team found two years ago as a three pound newborn that was about to die from lack of nourishment due to his cleft palate. The team was able to offer sufficient knowledge and resources to help him reach 10 pounds so that he could have his first operation for his cleft lip. The surgery went well and significantly increased Victor's chances of surviving. Kris and I have visited his home several times over the past several months to find him gaining weight, running around, playing, and laughing.... a blessing from God! We tried to organize for Victor to go for his much-needed second surgery for his palate this past December, but his parents for some reason couldn't or didn't follow through. We were finally able to reschedule his surgery with his parents through a very helpful organization called Compañeros en Cirugía (Friends in Surgery). This past Wednesday, Victor and his dad were supposed to head to Antigua once again for the surgery and about a week's worth of recovery time. We were praying hard that his parents would follow through this time. Well, we received word late Tuesday night that his parents had decided not to go. We followed up on Wednesday with a couple of visits with his father and thought we might be making some headway on convincing him that all of the costs would be covered (thanks to a gracious donation from the U.S. nurse that knew Victor) and that it was definitely worth him leaving his work for a week to make this very important trip with his son. Well, then Victor's mom finally came home and was very stubborn in insisting that they were not going to take Victor for the surgery, for various excuses. Kris and I stood by during most of these conversations (me just trying to hold back tears) as our Q'eqchi' partners Cesar and Ricardo and even some of the women health promoters from the community tried to speak to the parents. Eventually we came to a point where we had to walk away and realize that we couldn't force these parents to do what we believed was best for their son. I told Victor's mom as we left that we loved Victor and his family very much and that we would continue praying for them. Kris and I were really upset as we drove back home, shaking our heads in misunderstanding. With a bit of a clearer head now, we realize that we can still support this family as they request it and that we can still trust in a God who takes care of ALL of his children, especially those like Victor. We ask that all of you continue to pray for Victor and his family, as well, especially for Victor's continued health and growth as he continues to live with a cleft palate.

I think God knew that we needed some spirit-lifting, because yesterday we had an experience that, even as I reflect on it now, leaves a huge smile on my face. For the past several months, I have been visiting about fourteen schools in the Valley every month to teach dental health classes. A couple months ago, I heard news of a school in one of our farthest and smallest communities (at one of our highest elevations) that wanted to be included in the lessons. It took me a while to get the teacher's number and then to find a date that would work to make the long hike out to Nuevo Amanecer. That day was yesterday. When we arrived in the schoolhouse of about thirty students (after about a two hour hike), we were welcomed with a beautiful song in Spanish and very attentive eyes and ears. We began our lesson by asking how many students had toothbrushes in their homes... Not a single one. Then we asked how many had brushed their teeth before... Not a single one. We continued the class by talking about good and bad foods to eat and by practicing proper methods of brushing their teeth. When we passed to each student his/her very own toothbrush, their eyes lit up! And when we all went outside to brush our teeth, they had toothpaste dripping all over their chins and tshirts, brushing hard and well for at least five minutes. It was a beautiful sight, quite literally a mountaintop experience since the school was located on the top of a mountain. When we returned to the classroom, the teacher expressed over and over again his gratitude toward us and our gift of toothbrushes to the students... he emphasized to the students how they were going to take very good care of their precious gifts. I am so thankful God put it on my heart to get out to this little, far community... and I am so thankful that with God's help we are making a significant impact on the health and lives of the children of the Valley, toothbrush by toothbrush.

Benitzul Water Project - May 2012

The blog below was written by Kristen, a recent grad from Lipscomb College of Engineering.  She helped work on the Benitzul water system during the May 2012 engineering team and then stayed with us in the Valley, along with Luke, until June 10th!  We were  blessed to have her and Luke with us for three weeks!!  And we are thankful for her sharing this part of the May engineering team's project since DeeDee and I were down at the bridge site.  Enjoy!

Update from Kirsten the Intern:

In addition to the bridge team, the water team and solar team successfully completed their projects as well.  As a part of the water team, I am much more able to explain what all happened with water than I am able to for the solar team.  The solar team was able to set up four new solar charging stations and added supplies to a few other stations.  From what I was told, the team had a wonderful experience in the homes of the Qeqchi people and enjoyed their visits.  They worked quickly and efficiently and were able to complete all of their stations within a few days.

The existing water system in Benitzul consisted of an old ram pump from a project three years ago and two spring boxes which gave little to no pressure at the pila at the school.  Our goal for the water project was to first bring water to the Benitzul school and allow the overflow to go down the west side of the hill toward the base camp and other homes.  The idea for the project is somewhat hard to visualize but I’ll attempt to explain through words here on the blog.  The school is close to the top of a hill with the bodega and more homes on the west side of the hill.  The east side of the hill has a currently working system that they helped install although the water pressure was low.  During the dry season, or somewhat less rainy season, the west side of the system gets pretty dry while the east side of the system still has plenty of water.  Our idea was to draw the excess water from the east side to supply the school and then the west side of the system.

The water team included Alex Casey as the project lead/student, Patrick Roesner and I as students, Kevin Colvett and Kerry Patterson as advisors, Brooke Mcallister as translator, and Stephen Dodson and Rick Forehand as alumni.  The students with the help of our advisors decided to install a water system which would include adding three tanks, a solar-powered submersible pump, and a large solar panel.  The pump needed to supply about 1 gal/min up to a tank 3 meters above the school. 

This tank would supply a pila in the yard, a pila in the kitchen, and a smaller spigot in the yard for the small children to wash their hands.





The pump was installed into one of three tanks placed about 25 meters below the school.  These three tanks were connected such that they were essentially one large tank fed by two springs on the east side of the hill.  This new location for the tanks at a higher point also gives the east side more water pressure.  The pump is submersed in the first tank in the picture which flows out of the top up to the tank above the school.



The solar panels which powers the pump was installed on a 20 foot pole on a small hill close to the school which overlooks the valley.  The solar panels and pump are highly efficient which is a huge plus for unfavorable conditions.  Before the solar panels were lifted up with the pole, they were pointed toward the ground in a cloudy sky and the pump was already humming.  It’s really neat to hear the pump humming even when it’s cloudy and sprinkling outside.  In the picture below, the students who worked on the project stand proudly around the panels, Patrick, me and Alex from left to right.

Putting up the solar panel and the pole was quite frightening, but God’s hands were definitely there holding it up while concrete was poured around the base and sticks were installed for temporary support.  Around all of the expensive parts of the system barbed wire fences were put up for security.  The Benitzul community has taken pride in this new system and wants to take great care of it.

A few days later, some of the team went back up to the school to do a dental lesson for the children.  When they went to brush their teeth, they all ran to the pila and spigot to use the water.  It was really fun to see them brush their teeth with the water and wash their hands and feet.



It’s been such a blessing to be a part of this project and to allow God to work through us to bring water to His people.  It’s been a blessing to grow closer to the men during the installation and the children after the project was completed.  I’m so glad that God has chosen to use me here in the valley and I pray that He will continue to find use for me here in the future.



A New Spin on Youth Missions (with the OCYG) and a Belizean Adventure

On Sunday, June 3rd, we received our first-ever mission team of youth in Coban- the Otter Creek Youth Group (OCYG).  They were one of the most energized groups we had ever seen after a very early rising, morning of air travel, and afternoon of bus travel.  We were soon to find out that the energy, bright smiles, and trend of positive attitudes of this group would not fade throughout the week, even in the midst of endless crafts and games, very tight sleeping conditions, and even more road travel.  At the devo on the first night, the chaperones reinforced the theme to the youth that this trip was not about them; rather, it was about God and how he was working in them and through them and in the Valley.  These students definitely took that message to heart!  (And we believe that is a huge reflection upon the amazing adult leadership they had within their group- we MUST give a big shoutout to team leader John Roberson, as well as Greg, Jill, Amy, and Kelly... they were awesome!)

The OCYG made their way into the Valley on Monday after a helpful orientation at Hotel Don Francisco, which helped to give them some insight into the objectives of Project Ulpan, the history and economic state of Guatemala, the culture of the Q'eqchi' Mayans, and their own role in both serving and learning from the Q'eqchi' students with which they would be working.  We tried to make it very clear to them that this was different from a typical "youth mission" where teens from the states come with a mindset that they are the "rich" coming to "give" of themselves and "bring God" to the poor; we challenged them instead to think of themselves as equals with the Mayan youth, to really try to levitate the Q'eqchi' culture, to keep their eyes open for ways God is already present and working in the Valley, and to be willing to both give and to receive during their week with them.

  

On Tuesday, a group of about 25 secondary students from the Sequixpur community joined us at our base camp location in Benitzul.  We chose this group of students for the integrity they had shown in continuing their education and pushing to start the first "high school" in their community.  I can still picture the huge smiles on the Mayan teens and the OCYG teens faces as they met for the first time and their two cultures began to collide.  We all know how tricky and drama-filled teenage girl friendships can be... but it was no time before they were painting each other's nails and braiding each other's hair.  God was proving to us very quickly, as he has with every team that has come down, that any language or other type of cultural barrier could be easily overcome with LOVE!

 We started off on Tuesday with several mixer games.  One of the favorites was our authentic Valley take on the "pass a life saver on a toothpick" game- using non other than nails and washers (thanks to Kevin Colvett's innovative mind)!  As I said, it took no encouragement on our part to get the two groups of youths mingling and working together.

Sadly, we did not get many pictures of the other activities of the youth in the Valley. The first morning, they discussed with the Sequixpur students what God looked like and meant to them, then they made clay crosses and bandana bracelets to remind them of God's Presence always "around" them. The following day we walked up to the Benitzul primary school and the Sequixpur teens were empowered to help lead the same activities with the younger students there. That same morning we also played a very serious (and dangerous) round of musical chairs. The kids enjoyed that almost as much as the Benitzul community fiesta the night before, a complete cultural experience with caldo (brothy chicken and vegetable soup), marimba music, and dancing (don't tell the church elders! ;-)).  The picture below is from Wednesday evening and our attempt to skype with the Otter Creek congregation.  Sadly, we couldn't get the video to work.... but hey, it was another perfect opportunity to integrate our groups and talk about how we had seen God at work!

After three days in the Valley, we took both groups of teens on a very special "field trip" to see the Mayan ruins of Tikal.  The Sequixpur students followed around the guides and their professor, taking notes about the history of their ancestors, which was now materializing right before their eyes.  The OCYG students just stood humbled and amazed before the tall pyramids, soaking in the rich beauty and intelligence of Mayan culture.  Below is Humberto, one of the Sequixpur students who begged me to take his picture, standing in front of one of the largest pyramids in the Grand Plaza.

While the pyramids are the highlight of Tikal, we also thoroughly enjoyed searching through the trees for the howler monkeys who were calling out to one another and who sounded more like jaguars or some other fierce beasts than mere monkeys.

One of the neatest aspects of the trip to Tikal (at least for Kris and I) was that we were able to include our whole Ulpan Valley team- Cesar, Roberto and Julio.  They were as wide-eyed as the secondary students as they walked among the giant structures.  Because a couple of the Sequixpur students couldn't make it, we even had room for Roberto's and Julio's wives and youngest childrent to come along, as well.  I (and many others) LOVED watching and playing with Wilson and Julito as we walked through the park. 

Needless to say, the trip to Tikal was the ultimate experience for the OCYG teens to assist them in "levitating" Mayan culture.  It was a perfect end to our week of cultural exchange.  Kris and I parted with the team after Tikal to head to Belize for visa renewals and a few days of vacation, but we heard that there were tears running down all the teens faces when they had to say goodbye to their new friends.  We believe they now have a new vision of what brothers and sisters in Christ can look like... mission accomplished!

Kris and I thoroughly enjoyed our few days of rest and relaxation in Belize.  Our favorite memory was probably from our day on the beach at Caye Caulker where we went snorkeling with an awesome guide named Sean and swam with (and even held) sting rays and sharks.   

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!

Holistic Health for the Valley

After two weeks of rest, we feel as if we have just barely recovered from the busyness of our week of medical campaigns. We were extremely impressed by the energy and skills that the Lipscomb medical team brought to the Ulpan Valley. Thanks to the organizational skills and many hours of hard work of Steve and Magda Sherman, Kristin Baese, Kris, and many others, the clinics turned out to be a huge success! We'll admit that we were a bit uncertain as to how things would go since we were trying to implement a new model of medical missions.

With the presence of a full-time doctor in the Valley, we decided to assist him in forming a medical baseline study that would help him figure out what types of preventative measures should be taken for the future. So, in addition to just having doctors available for consult and the prescription of meds, we included a women's clinic (offering pap smears and all!), a lab for testing diabetes, HIV, H-Pilori, and other diseases, and a nutritional study station (manned by women from Guatemala's Department of Health) for weighing and measuring babies to help determine the percentage of malnourished children in the Valley. Also, with the recent initiation of training of health promoters in each village, we decided to include them in our clinics, using their knowledge of Q'eqchi' for translation purposes and offering to them invaluable experience working with professional doctors and other health professionals. On top of all of those changes, this was our first year to charge patients for their meds, in order to reinforce our current system with Doctor Misael and the health promoters (previously patients had just payed a flat fee to see the doctor and then received their meds for free). Out of more than 400 patients, only about 30 were unable to pay and signed a contract for future payments.

We had a dental clinic each of the four days, as well, and were able to see more than 120 patients. This was also the first year we set up a fluoride station at each of the dental clinics and painted fluoride on a total of about 400 children's teeth.

After four days of clinics, we had a much-needed day to organize and review all of our patient forms to determine the most prevalent diagnoses, meds prescribed, etc., to help us determine community needs and how to better plan for next year (thanks to Michael Bradfield for leading this analysis!).

We ended our long week of medical campaigns with a night of rest in both Coban and Antigua, but even during this time several students from Lipscomb were pushing us to continue conversations about how they could stay involved with the objectives of Project Ulpan. They were also excited about the prospect of the people of the Ulpan Valley becoming less and less dependent upon outside American groups coming in to meet medical needs. Thus, our new model of missions- of empowering communities to help themselves so that we are no longer needed- is catching on with a new generation... and we are excited to see what God will do with these seeds that have been planted. To Him be the glory!

On another note, life in the Valley has continued as "normal" for the past week and a half. We got back into the schools, teaching how to brush teeth and giving each classroom a toothbrush holder and toothbrushing chart. We also made regular trips down to the Saquiquib bridge site (straight down and straight up again and again... let's just say our "buns" are getting in shape!) as concrete began to be poured to make preparations for the Lipscomb engineering bridge team to come in May. We are extremely thankful to Luke Burris, Chris Gwaltney, and the rest of their team, as well as our Guatemalan foremen Edgar and Francisco, for their diligent work on this project!

We are currently enjoying a week of "vacation" in Antigua, spending time with the Link family from Otter Creek, and looking forward to being a part of Holy Week activities. Although this week in particular turns our eyes to the cross and the empty grave, our prayer is that we would ALWAYS be focused on living the life of our resurrected King!

Update: We posted some more pics from our week in Antigua on Kris's Facebook page... you can check them out at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.397911916900569.96655.100000452935799. Enjoy!