It is Pumpkin Carving Time

David has Mario, Caleb has a spider, and Nathan has a bat carving.

Personal Narrative/Thank you letter for Guatemala

 As promised, following is the letter David wrote regarding his trip to Guatemala:

The week in Guatemala was the best week of my life!

                When we proceeded to the plane, I was able to visit the cockpit and the pilots. I sat in a window seat right next to the right wing! We flew for 2 to 3 hours. After we stepped off at Guatemala City and went to look at our rooms, we went to bed.

                The third day, we drove to the dump. The people  built their houses right by the smoke so they could get to the garbage faster.  The people would walk barefoot on hot burning coals with a stick to find valuable (at least to them) pieces of trash. They were dirty and they stank. When we fed them, I poured the drinks. The person distributing the tortillas was practically mobbed!

                My friends, Toni and Mary, who went on the trip with me, had an eventful week.  They slept in a different area than us and had some interesting encounters with Guatemalan animals. They discovered a frog in their toilet, a scorpion in their shower, and some bats in their room. Toni’s and Mary’s week was very hard on them, but they made it.

                On day 5, we painted some houses. We painted some blue and others green.  Sometimes I played soccer with the kids. The kids were very friendly.

                On the last day, we dedicated a well. The mayor and the principal held a long white and blue ribbon and Josh cut it. As soon as he cut it there were loud fireworks. Apparently the people have not seen a blonde haired kid before. They thought it was cute because they started to treat me like a rock star! Well I did not like that, so I got out of there fast!  At the end of the day, we started to distribute Bibles to a village that had never seen Americans before. The village was very hilly and I had to climb over huge, overturned tree roots to get to the houses.

                Thank you for supporting me and giving money for me to go to Guatemala. I helped a lot of people there.  I realized our country is extremely blessed. I hope God blesses you for that. Thank you again.

                

                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                David Baierl                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Guatemala part 8 - final entry

Journal Entry Day 7

David writes:
Today we left at 5:30 AM.
We went on a 2 hour bus ride.
After that we got on the plane for 2 more hours to Atlanta.
At the airport we bought Nathan maracas.


Note from Jenny:
They arrived home at 11 pm exhausted!
I think I received the biggest hug ever from David. He seemed taller and older. It was weird.
We stayed up for some time talking about all that happened.  I think he grew up 5 years in one week.

Guatemala part 7

Journal Entry Day 6

David writes:
"Today we dedicated the well.
I noticed that they didn't do it in the name of Jesus,
 but in the name of Carlos Vargas the leader of Hope of Life!
We also distributed Bibles to a village that had none.
We also traveled to a village that had never seen Americans before!
Sally our guide, said they were saying Why are they giving us this?"


A note from Jenny:

David mentioned that the village they distributed Bibles too was very difficult terrain.
In order to reach a house you needed to climb over uprooted trees. It was very steep and
he mentioned that here is where he noticed that everyone has their kitchens outside their houses.

He also talked to us about them dedicating the well in the name of Carlos Vargas.  I think some of the message was lost to David in the translations of the language.  I was able to watch a video that John took of the well dedication.  Clearly communicated is the message that the water was a gift to them from God. Josh did an outstanding job of telling the village inhabitants that the water they were provided was because of Christs love and sacrifice for them. They should be reminded each day they come to drink of the daily provision of water and also the living water provided thru Christ.  Can you imagine going without clean water? I sure can't.....

David's comment on a woman's brain

David made an interesting comment this morning,while doing our school work, regarding how men and women think.

He says:" A woman's mind is like a big ball of rubber bands.
It is able to have many things wrapped around it all at the same time. A man's mind is like a Rubik's Cube. It can only move 1 piece at a time."

My mouth drops open and my eyebrows raise.

He then informes me that he heard this description at Crescent Lake Bible Camp, from his camp counselor,during their mens class.

I think to myself, maybe a few other  people I know should attend this mens class! Because that was a pretty good visual picture of just  how  a multi tasking women's brains work. The visual picture of a Rubik's Cube is a great  description of being single threaded in a thought process.

I have to admit though, my rubber band ball, is having a hard time wrapping itself around my son's knowledge of a woman's brain.

Guatemala Part 6

Journal Entry Day 5

David writes:
"Today we went painting more houses.
There was a kid who is 10-13 years old that helped us paint all day.
 I thanked him alot.
At lunch I played Uno.
I went to the orphanage and played baseball with some kids. 
There were a couple of naughty kids there and one that kept pinching my cheeks.
ne naughty kid there bit dad and a third one kept repeating everything we said while sticking out his tongue.

Yesterday, Toni had a frog in her toilet!
Today she found a frog in her bathtub!

At dinner we tried a bunch of different types of Guatemalan food.
There was a lot of bugs today for some reason."

A not from Jenny:
David felt sorry for Toni and Mary.  But he also chuckled a lot while he told us abut their creature companions.  Toni is a former Sunday school teacher of David's. He knows her very well.  She was very repulsed by her creature companions, especially the bats.

Guatemala part 5

Journal Entry Day 4

David writes:
Yesterday, I saw a scorpion.
Toni and Mary's room has bats!
The ant invasion stopped.
The ants disappeared.
We painted three houses today and handed out stuffed animals.
We saw some coconut, lime, and mango trees today.
We met a woman named Jesus but it is pronounced
Hey Zews.  Her husband committed a crime and has run away.
He is wanted by the police. He has not been found."

Note from Jenny:
After David returned, I had many people from the trip tell me how much of a hard worker David was.
Many of them mentioned how he worked so hard painting in the heat this day.  I guess it was a 100 degrees.
David realized that probably the man who commited the crime would never be found and that he abandond his family.  He had a few questions about how come the police are different than they are here.
He also said that he was certain I would freak out over his scorprion discovery.  I didn't.