Tzan Corral Guatemala

I finally am able to get online and update all of you on the adventures that we have been having in San Lucas and Tzan Corral. Its has been a busy couple of days, and we are all exhausted. Since the last post, much has happened: Friday: Friday was our travel day. Because of the roads being bad around the lake we had to take a new route to San Lucas that first took us out of the mountains into the coastal region and then back up into the mountains. Guatemala is an amazing place and we got to see a variety of different parts of the country. Once we got to San Lucas we had lunch and then traveled by Tuk-Tuks (small three person taxies) to the sight where our last team worked on the foundations of three homes. It was cool for us to see the benefit of the work that we had done before, and for all of us to see what the homes we would be working on look like. Saturday: We got up early and headed to Tzan Corral to get to work on the three homes that we are building this week. It is a cute little village about two miles off the main road. We are traveling by short bus, and it was an adventure getting down into the valley. But getting down was not the true adventure. After a hard days work building homes and half the team helping with an afternoon VBS we headed out of the valley early because it had started raining really hard on us. Unfortunately we did not get on the road soon enough, because both our bus and our suburban got stuck in the mud. Eventually we got the suburban out, but had to leave the bus and its drive to spend the night in the valley, while the rest of us (except those who were in the suburban) got to hike up the muddy road in the pooring down rain. And everyone had a great attitude. There was laughin and playing the whole way up the hill, and it really was a blessing for the group. After we got back we went to dinner and then a youth church service, which was fun to see our kids worshipping along side a few Guatemalan youth (the group was small because of the rain). Sunday: Again we went out to Tzan Corral for a day of building homes. Its a lot of work hauling cinder blocks, beams, etc, and laying brick is new for most of the team. In the afternoon, we played our first game for the soccer tourneyment. We did really well the first half with the score being 3-1 in their favor (yeah that is really good). The second half they ran the score up a little to 8-1, to which I am very pround of our team. They played hard and had fun doing it. The best part of the game was that about an eighth of the field was more like a swamp than a soccer field (remember it rained hard the day before), so we were playing in a lot of mud. Monday: Today was the dreaded day of sickness. I'm really not sure what caused it, but about half of us had some kind of stomach issue today (in varying degrees) and another fourth of the group was fighting a nasty cold. And a couple of us had both (myself included). Last trip we had the same thing happen, I think its just part of the deal. However, everyone tried hard to keep a positive attitude, and work through it. We did leave a couple back at the hotel with one of the missionaries to have a day to rest and recover. Please pray for everyone in the group to get or stay healthy and for us to be able to finish our projects tomorrow. Also, please pray for our trip to Pana which happens on Wed. We are having to make some minor adjustments to our schedule, because there is a demonstration planned for Wed. (to protest the need for the road to be fixed, which I can tell you they really need)that will shut down the road that our suburban was supposed to transport all of our gear on while the rest of us took boats accross the lake. Its still going to work out, but we would appreciate your prayers for that. Also please pray for safety as we play our last soccer game tomorrow afternoon. I do not know when I will have access again, but will update you as soon as I can. Blessings, Doug