Many of you have asked about our trip: about the house we built, the people we met and so on, so here is a very short story about our adventure.
Our group was made up of 8 men: 5 under age 25 (the muscle), 3 about 50 years old, and myself the token "old guy". We left Vancouver early Saturday morning, flew to LA and then on to Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala. There, we were picked up by a local missionary, Chris Moony, who drove us to the hotel in Chimaltenango by about 9 PM.
We left the next morning for the city of Santa Lucia. That same afternoon we built the 1st house. We had to carry the house components from the highway, through the jungle, to the house location where the concrete slab had already been poured. Over the next 4 days, we poured concrete (all mixed by hand in a wheelbarrow) and assembled 2 more houses. Besides the house, we provided each family with a triple bunk bed, a high-efficiency cooking stove, a laundry basin, and a solar powered electric light. These folks are not able to afford electricity and they were amazed to have free light from the sun. They declared it was a gift from God, and so it was.
Though extremely poor, the people we met were gracious, fun-loving, and devout Christians. After each house was finished, we held a dedication ceremony. Tears of gratitude were shed at each ceremony. These folks blessed us and prayed we would be safe and happy.
We now share this blessing with all of you, who so generously donated funds to make this worthwhile project successful. We also were able buy food hampers for about 10 families in deep need.
Thank you from all of us.
Al, Jordan, Dick, Hank and our 4 Christian brothers from Smithers