Heylo family and friends!
Well, the clouds have parted once more, and sun is once again contributing to the discoloration of our external dermal layers. Today will be the last day of work on the church site. It was bitter sweet to get in the bus today knowing that we will be coming back no more. However, looking out through the rear window of the bus, we could see a structure each contributed blood, sweat and tears together. Our pride at being called to serve God through this building project has been very emotional for some of us. With the trusses on the church and a roof, it seems like the finish is within sight. We've planned ahead to have the locals finish the final touches on the church (tile floor, stucco, and windows). Our construction manager and I are extremely proud of the team and what God has been able to accomplish here in Guatemala. We've seen God move in not only, some of the larger things, but also the day to day happenings. It's awesome to be in a place where you can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is in control. Even though we have sore bodies and sun burnt faces, it has been an honor to be chosen to be God's hands to the people here. Tomorrow, the group is excited to see Tikal and some of the wonderfully beautiful landscape of Guatemala. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we move into the weekend, not only for the VBS and Evangelistic Series, but also the tough decisions the young people are making here. God is moving in very apparent ways and it's incredibly exciting. Miss you all!
Until next time,
Bryson Bechtel - Guatemala Correspondent
Get updates on the happenings of the Upper Columbia Conference Guatemala Mission Trip 2011.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Bricks, Blisters, and Huge Smiles!
Why Hello Everyone! Greetings from Guat!
It's been two days since I've posted so I'll give you a brief look into what's been going on.
Monday was a wonderful day to get dirty. The church site was hit hard with many hands - particularly the outhouse hole. Digging eight feet down into solid rock and clay proves for countless hours of what seems to be fruitless labor (not to mention sore muscles). However, the rock succumbed slowly and progress was made on the stubborn hole. Along with that, it was decided that a Sabbath School Wing should be added to the church, providing our group with another opportunity for hard labor. A handful of people took off to aid in the construction of a wall at the previous church in Ixyuc. Keeping ties with some of the older churches the UCC has built is such a wonderful blessing. Much was accomplished during the day on each job site - but much was also accomplished during the evenings with the Vacation Bible School (VBS) and Evangelistic Series. Our very own Andrew Sharley preached to the multitudes with good reception and VBS exploded with a multitude of over 50 locals children. The night ended with some much needed reflection and deep look into the happenings of the day.
Tuesday, similar to Monday, contained many hours of back breaking, sweat inducing, muscle building, church construction, along with village outreach, more work at Ixyuc, and prep for evening happenings. Every night it seems we've been greeted with small amounts of rain, however, every time the rain would get in the way of a project, or meeting, God seems to part the clouds and provide us with the time needed to get things done - what a wonderful blessing! The evenings evangelistic series was brought to the masses by Julie Dezellem who preached sans a translator - quite a feat indeed.
Wednesday has been a fantastic day without a cloud in the sky! Spirits are high and God has been showing up in every aspect of the work down here. Blessings to all you out in internet land for your prayers!
Sincerely,
Bryson Bechtel
UCC Assistant Youth Director, Taskforce
Shoutouts:
Paul Trapani wants to tell his parents hello, a couple cuts can't keep him down from a hard days work.
Pictures For You & Your Grandma Too!
 |
| Getting to work on the Church Site in Ixbobo |
 |
| Worship with the jefe Shane Anderson |
 |
| Doing some outreach in the Ixbobo |
Monday, March 21, 2011
We Are Here! We Are Alive! God Has Amplified!
Hey All!
My apologies for not sending out word sooner regarding our safe arrival into Guatemala, but all has been well, maybe not without some scheduling mishaps, but God is good. The events leading up to my writing have been incredibly fast paced, positive, fun, and amazingly God inspired. I'll try to recap:
We began the trip Wednesday morning, some as early as 6:00am others may not have slept at all because of the flurry to get everything packed. Nonetheless, everyone was present at the Spokane airport at around 10:15am and we began ticketing. The poor ticket counter had no idea what they were getting into checking in 56 people with nearly 91 bags. Two and a half hours later, after the wonderfully personal security screening, we all boarded the plane and flew out of Spokane at around 1:05pm. The three flights proved bearable as most the participants were falling over in exhaustion already, and a little sitting time provided some much needed, neck-cramping, sleep.
The sunrise view of Guatemala greeted us as we glided in to the capital city airport at around 6:00am Thursday morning. We immediately began going through customs, and soon realized none of our bags where checked in under the proper participants names. Rather, the Delta counter in Spokane simply assigned a bag to any random person in the group. Unfortunately two of the group's check through bags had been misplaced and we had to begin the laborious task of matching each check through bag receipt with it's corresponding bag tag, in order to find the remaining two receipts and bag numbers. We found the culprits and got the baggage situation under control, boarded the two buses (including the school bus we drove down over Christmas) and fled the capital to San Luis, where our mission post resided.
Nearly two hours into our drive we came to a stop on the road. Cars were backed up for miles due to an apparent sort of political rally protesting the building of some dam in the next town. Needless to say, this put a long halt on our trip. We managed to finally arrive at our destination in San Luis at 9:00pm, despite much waiting around. Our six hour trip turned into one nearly fourteen hours long. The group was in incredibly high spirits though - we had made it!
The following day, Friday, consisted of getting orientated to our surroundings and much more importantly, our group. We spent the morning having worship, playing group games and getting organized. The afternoon began with a trip out to the church site to look it over and get things started. We ended the evening going to bed early...ish so we could all wake up and get to church.
Sabbath morning we had the opportunity to spread ourselves out over the five other churches the past UCC Mission Trips built. Two churches let us preach, opening up the opportunity for translators to step forward, as well as special musics and even participate in a baptism out at ICAP, the Adventist Academy in the area. Testimonies flowed from the mornings happenings, and God showed himself in some powerful ways. We spent the afternoon at the ICAP campus, touring the school facility my grandpa started back in 1972. Ending the tour with a quick trip to the river on the backside of the campus seemed only the most logical thing to do, and provided the group with a great natural look into Guatemala's ecosystem (sounds so educational, haha). Sabbath ended with us reflecting on the wonderful experiences God has provided each of us.
Sunday became our first full work day. Though it took a good while to get things started (or go 5th gear as our work site boss, Shane Anderson, would say). We didn't get quite the amount of work done we wanted, but a couple oiled gears, and greased joints later and the working machine that is our group started gaining some momentum.
Today, Monday March 21, has begun just like Sunday, however, the group is getting into the groove and work is getting done, praise God!
I'll try to keep you updated in the following days, however, the internet dongle is being borrowed and time is scarce!
Your prayers are appreciated! Wish you all the best! Blessings!
Bryson Bechtel
UCC Assistant Youth Director, Taskforce
Shoutouts:
Eric Stentzel Says Hi!
My apologies for not sending out word sooner regarding our safe arrival into Guatemala, but all has been well, maybe not without some scheduling mishaps, but God is good. The events leading up to my writing have been incredibly fast paced, positive, fun, and amazingly God inspired. I'll try to recap:
We began the trip Wednesday morning, some as early as 6:00am others may not have slept at all because of the flurry to get everything packed. Nonetheless, everyone was present at the Spokane airport at around 10:15am and we began ticketing. The poor ticket counter had no idea what they were getting into checking in 56 people with nearly 91 bags. Two and a half hours later, after the wonderfully personal security screening, we all boarded the plane and flew out of Spokane at around 1:05pm. The three flights proved bearable as most the participants were falling over in exhaustion already, and a little sitting time provided some much needed, neck-cramping, sleep.
The sunrise view of Guatemala greeted us as we glided in to the capital city airport at around 6:00am Thursday morning. We immediately began going through customs, and soon realized none of our bags where checked in under the proper participants names. Rather, the Delta counter in Spokane simply assigned a bag to any random person in the group. Unfortunately two of the group's check through bags had been misplaced and we had to begin the laborious task of matching each check through bag receipt with it's corresponding bag tag, in order to find the remaining two receipts and bag numbers. We found the culprits and got the baggage situation under control, boarded the two buses (including the school bus we drove down over Christmas) and fled the capital to San Luis, where our mission post resided.
Nearly two hours into our drive we came to a stop on the road. Cars were backed up for miles due to an apparent sort of political rally protesting the building of some dam in the next town. Needless to say, this put a long halt on our trip. We managed to finally arrive at our destination in San Luis at 9:00pm, despite much waiting around. Our six hour trip turned into one nearly fourteen hours long. The group was in incredibly high spirits though - we had made it!
The following day, Friday, consisted of getting orientated to our surroundings and much more importantly, our group. We spent the morning having worship, playing group games and getting organized. The afternoon began with a trip out to the church site to look it over and get things started. We ended the evening going to bed early...ish so we could all wake up and get to church.
Sabbath morning we had the opportunity to spread ourselves out over the five other churches the past UCC Mission Trips built. Two churches let us preach, opening up the opportunity for translators to step forward, as well as special musics and even participate in a baptism out at ICAP, the Adventist Academy in the area. Testimonies flowed from the mornings happenings, and God showed himself in some powerful ways. We spent the afternoon at the ICAP campus, touring the school facility my grandpa started back in 1972. Ending the tour with a quick trip to the river on the backside of the campus seemed only the most logical thing to do, and provided the group with a great natural look into Guatemala's ecosystem (sounds so educational, haha). Sabbath ended with us reflecting on the wonderful experiences God has provided each of us.
Sunday became our first full work day. Though it took a good while to get things started (or go 5th gear as our work site boss, Shane Anderson, would say). We didn't get quite the amount of work done we wanted, but a couple oiled gears, and greased joints later and the working machine that is our group started gaining some momentum.
Today, Monday March 21, has begun just like Sunday, however, the group is getting into the groove and work is getting done, praise God!
I'll try to keep you updated in the following days, however, the internet dongle is being borrowed and time is scarce!
Your prayers are appreciated! Wish you all the best! Blessings!
Bryson Bechtel
UCC Assistant Youth Director, Taskforce
Shoutouts:
Eric Stentzel Says Hi!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tummerow!
In a mere 23 hours the plane will be boarded and we'll all be on our way to the sort-of-far-away-lands of Guatemala! Keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we make this voyage to do God's work. Already we've seen God come through in a pinch, and we haven't even left the country yet! Thanks for all your love and support for this trip. I'll try to keep each one of you updated as we go out "into the field" and get our hands dirty!
For all of you not coming with us - enjoy your spring break and take the time to recharge and remember, next year's Guatemala Trip is just around the corner... (down the hallway, up a flight of stairs and through a couple doors... then around the corner, haha).
Peace out, and God Bless!
For all of you not coming with us - enjoy your spring break and take the time to recharge and remember, next year's Guatemala Trip is just around the corner... (down the hallway, up a flight of stairs and through a couple doors... then around the corner, haha).
Peace out, and God Bless!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
An E-Mail Update.
Hello Everyone!
The gap between now and when we leave is shortening! I can feel the sunburn already! However, there are a couple extra items we need clear up before we leave. I’ll try to keep it short (lest you lose interest and stop reading, which sounds like something I would do).
Here’s the main points:
Blog: If your parents/loved ones want to keep up with what’s going on during the mission trip I have a blog setup that will be periodically updated during our time in Guatemala. Pictures, stories, and general info will be displayed there. As of right now you can get a preview of what the T-shirts will look like by the banner on the front page. Go NOW and check it out: http://uccmissions.blogspot.com/
Tee-Shirts: They have been ordered. If you were unable to tell me your size, well… sorry about that. I did a rough estimate of each person size and I order several extra, so hopefully if won’t be too uncomfortable.
Donate with your CREDIT CARD ONLINE: If you’re still looking for more ways to raise funds, one easy method is to make a Facebook update asking for funds. Direct them to our website where they can make a payment with their credit/debit card online. Quick, easy, and less painful than chewing on sand. Here’s a link: http://www.uccsda.org/Youth/Guatemala-donations (it’s at the bottom of the page). Suddenly 900 Facebook friends becomes useful…
UPDATE PAPERWORK: The Family groups have been updated YET AGAIN! Take a look to see where you are. The only major changes are Ben Foote and Nathan McGee. The flight itinerary has one simple change as well: On the return trip for Team Saber Tooth Tiger, the 9:45pm flight out of Salt Lake City is flight number 1304 (used to listed as 4829). Thank you to the person who let me know of the error.
Fundraising: Roughly we have about 57% of the funds we need for the trip sitting here at the office. That means there’s still quite a bit floating around out there that many of you either haven’t turned in, or haven’t raised yet. There’s just under 2 weeks left before we leave, get cooking on that fund raising! Start calling those relatives!
Health Form and Passport Copy: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE turn these in if you haven’t already! Fax in to (509) 242-1506.
Thank you all for your time! Blessings upon you during this time of preparation and tests for school! See you all soon!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
We're Nearing the Departure Date!
Greetings Participants and Onlookers!
We are a mere 3 weeks out until our departure to the wonderful country of Guatemala. Preparations are coming together details and getting ironed out. This blog will hopefully contain an updated look of what we're doing while in Guatemala. I'll post pictures, short stories and general updates on a 2-3 day basis (if not more regularly). The fast paced nature of the trip will be working against me as I update this blog, but I'll try my best.
I can't wait for this trip! Keep the trip and everyone on it in your prayers as we quickly approach the date. But don't stop there, continue praying while we minister to those in Guatemala, that our actions be filled with the incredibly wonderful love of Christ!
Give me a call at the office if you have any questions at (509) 242-0492.
Have a Fantastic Day and God Bless!
We are a mere 3 weeks out until our departure to the wonderful country of Guatemala. Preparations are coming together details and getting ironed out. This blog will hopefully contain an updated look of what we're doing while in Guatemala. I'll post pictures, short stories and general updates on a 2-3 day basis (if not more regularly). The fast paced nature of the trip will be working against me as I update this blog, but I'll try my best.
I can't wait for this trip! Keep the trip and everyone on it in your prayers as we quickly approach the date. But don't stop there, continue praying while we minister to those in Guatemala, that our actions be filled with the incredibly wonderful love of Christ!
Give me a call at the office if you have any questions at (509) 242-0492.
Have a Fantastic Day and God Bless!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)