sjn.youth.blog
San Lucas Tolimán 2009

Tuesday July 21, 2009

   
Today we arose to the sound of firecrackers in our courtyard of the hotel.  Scot and Evan, two young adults from SJN who were long term volunteers were leaving today and wanted to give us a good bye gift.  Firecrackers are used in San Lucas and other surrounding towns to symbolize a big event.  They are usually set off bright and early to alert of everyone of the event.  Scot and Evan sure let us know of the event at 6:45am!!!  Once we all were awake and ready to go for the day, Maddie and Tony challenged us to find God’s blessings in the people and places of San Lucas.  

We all went to the Montessori school today to break big rocks and move some dirt.  Another hot day is upon us.  We were all pretty tired after our hard work morning, and Fr. Greg was concerned about the heat again.  We decided to take a little “siesta” this afternoon to recharge our batteries to make the last little bit of our trip as full as possible.  We are all off to do some last bit of shopping and to find those last few parts of the city we have not seen and to try that last couple types of Ice cream we have not tried.  

Tonight, we have been challenged to a soccer game by some of the workers at the mission.  It will be SJN Vs. La Parroquia!  This will be a great match.  We will be the victors!  As our days are coming to a close in San Lucas many of us are hoping that are trip still has another week to it.  The people of San Lucas are so grateful and joyful that you never want to leave this place.  Tomorrow will be our last day in San Lucas.  We will be making it count and packed full of everything we can do!

Monday July 20, 2009

   
The beauty that surrounds us is getting increasingly hard to leave since our trip is slowly coming to an end.  Kate and Sam R challenged us to Find joy in service and what are the gifts we have been given by God in our prayer this morning.  The traditional Monday breakfast greeted us once we got the mission, Oatmeal and Black beans.  It has been getting very hot during the day.  Each work day has been around 92 degrees and with the elevation we are at, that is very hot.  We split into two groups again today.  One to San Andreas for Stoves and the other to La Granja for more dirt and rock moving.  We moved about a ton of dirt and finally got the bottom of the rock pile with the help of the determination of Kristin and Sam S who led the charge on the rock pile.  

Since it was so hot today, Fr. Greg only had us work in the morning.  He is afraid that the heat and elevation will be to much on the groups.  So the group that was at La Granja got a little break in the afternoon while waiting for the group in San Andreas to return.  The group in San Andreas was in homes so a bit cooler working conditions.  

After we were all back, we headed to go see Crisanto.  He is a wood carver in San Lucas.  Crisanto has been carving his whole life.  He learned the trade from his father and is currently teaching two apprentices the trade.  After dinner, we were graced once again to talk not only with Fr, Greg but with Chona as well.  Chona is one of the elder woman of the community that has now worked at the mission for 42 years.  Fr. Greg and Chona came to our hotel to talk with our group personally.  All of us were extremely thankful to the both of them for taking the time to come and talk to us about the town of San Lucas and how the mission has improved the lives of the people.

It did finally Rain tonight.  Not much, but enough to cool down the evening.  Tomorrow is fast approaching and another hard day of work is upon us.

Sunday July 19, 2009

   
Boat ride Day!!! For prayer this morning we were challenged to do random acts of kindness by Carly and Sarah.  Breakfast was great, Pancakes and Huevos rancheros!!!  After Breakfast we headed out to the boat and then off to Santiago and Panajachel.  Each place is very unique in itself.  It takes about an hour to get to Santiago from San Lucas and then another hour to get over to Panajachel.  We basically travel in a triangle for the day going to the two towns and then back to San Lucas.  

We arrived in Santiago and headed immediately up the hill that is Santiago.  Santiago was built on the side of a mountain.  Once we got to the top of the city, we went into the chapel of Fr. Stan Rother or known to the community of Santiago as Padre Francisco.  Stan is very hard to say in Spanish so he used his middle name.  Fr. Stan was murdered in 1985 in the very chapel we visited.  He was put onto a “Hit list” for his work in up lifting the Mayan community.  His cause and martyrdom has been brought to the Vatican for his canonization.  We then walked back down the hill and did a little bit of shopping.

Panajachel is a great Market town.  Pana is where we find must of the stuff we buy!  We were all able to practice our Spanish in the markets attempting to barter for the better price.  Bartering for the first time is always a great experience, the constant back and forth over a price.  We definitely will be coming back with a lot of fun stuff.

We finished out night back at the mission for dinner and then off to the hotel to end out night with prayer and getting ready for another day of work.

Saturday July 18, 2009

   
Wow!! The beauty of Guatemala is amazing.  Lauren S and Paige led us in our prayer and challenged us to pray in the moment and to spend more time in prayer.  Oatmeal and black beans gave us our energy once again.  We headed to work at the Montasorri school and moved rocks again and buckets of dirt.  Breaking big boulders into small boulders was also on the agenda at our worksite.  We were done with work at about 10:30 this morning.  The rest of the morning was free to walk around town and enjoy San Lucas.  

This afternoon, we headed of to a community called Chitulul, for mass with Fr. Greg.  It took us about a half hour to get there from San Lucas.  The Drive was beautiful.  The road took us along the lake and to some amazing scenic overlooks of the lake and San Lucas.  This community was hit hard by an earthquake in 1976 and since then Fr. Greg has been helping them out.  He also managed to find some land for the community to restart after the earthquake.  The Community had recently finished building their new church, so they do not have the bell installed.  So instead of a bell ringing to symbolize the start of mass, we heard firecrackers!  Some of us jumped because it was a little unexpected.  

After getting back, we had a little bit of free time to explore again.  Dinner was plentiful and delicious.  We sat around after dinner and played cards for a bit.  We will had evening prayer and will be getting a good night sleep because tomorrow is our day for the boat ride and going to the markets of Santiago and Panajachel.

Friday, July 17, 2009

   
Another great morning.  Abby and Steph led us in our prayer and challenged us to Find the face of God in ourselves.  We headed off after prayer for another edition of childrens mass.  Today the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders were there with us.  They are even louder then the 1st through 3rd graders.  A hearty breakfast of oatmeal and black beans gave us our energy to start the work day.  We were split into two teams today, one team headed back to San Andreas to work on the stoves were started yesterday and the other team went to La granja (coffee area) to work on building new coffee drying areas.  The stove team was very excited when they returned and informed us that the stoves we started yesterday were nearly finished.  The La granja team had the privilege of moving bags of dirt to another spot at the worksites and finding big rocks with flat edges on them that were at least 8 – 10 inches thick.  We were very tired and dirty by the end of that time.

That afternoon we were going to head back to our locations, but due to the heat Fr. Greg wanted us to take the afternoon off from hard labor.  Instead we listened to another talk by Fr. Greg about the revolutionary war that happened in Guatemala and about his Friend Fr. Stan Rother who was martyred during that time.  Fr. Greg was very grateful for us listening to his talk and taking the time to learn more about the country and people of Guatemala .

Tonight, we finished our night with dancing! We were able to set up with a place to allow us to go dancing.  Fr. Greg and Scot helped us find a great place and we had a great time of dancing and going nuts!  Tomorrow is a half day of work for us.  The Guatemalans only work in the morning on Saturdays.  We can’t wait for another day. 

Thursday, July 16, 2009

   
Another great day in San Lucas!  We are all feeling great and energized for another day of work.  Sam S and Shannon led us in our morning prayer today and challenged us to Break out of our comfort zones and meet new people today.  Breakfast was plentiful once again, huevos y frijoles negros.  Today, we were able to spend the whole day working in San Andreas.  A community that had been together for many years but was forced to move due to mud slides around them.  They eventually found a safe area to live and formed a new community called San Andreas.  We had the privilege of working with Julio y Carlos on the stove project.  San Andreas in the current community receiving the stoves that SJN has fundraised for.  It was a great and unique experience to see how they are put together and the details that are involved in building a stove.

We were split into two groups today.  In the Morning one group built stoves while the other helped fill bags of dirt and sand for the future stoves to be built.  Lunch time came and we all sat down by one of the schools and ate our sandwiches and entertained everyone around us.  One of the long term volunteers, Scot (who is from SJN), brought his speakers and Ipod to the worksite and we all sang and danced during our lunch break.  Some of the kids even joined in the dancing!!  After our break, the two groups switched places.  All of us got the chance help build part of a stove today.  

Tonight, we finished our night with another soccer game! Guys versus girls were the teams.  A hard fought match by all, the guys won but barely.  The girls have requested a rematch!  Each night so far, we have enjoyed going onto the roof of our hotel and star gazing until lights out.  We are all amazed by the beauty and joy that this country has and brings to us everyday. 

Wednesday July 15, 2009

   
After a great night sleep once we all stopped looking at the stars, the day started great.  Liz and Lauren F led us in our morning prayer, who challenged us to find the face of God in our new surroundings and in poverty.  We then headed off to the children’s mass.  It was for the 1st through 3rd graders today.  Always an enjoyment when you are in San Lucas.  After mass, we headed to breakfast, Oatmeal and Black beans!!  Another hearty breakfast to get us ready for our first hard day of work.  

Our first job at hand was to head over to the school to help out in the classrooms!  We were all split into groups of 3 and then put into different classrooms.  Some of us got to go to P.E, some learned how to count to the number 3, some learned long hand subtraction and others had some reading time.  And Yes, all of this is in Spanish!  We finished with the school about noon and then headed to lunch.

After lunch it was really time to work.  We were helping today by moving boulders and other sizes of rocks to another location around the church.  It was nice and warm while we got to do this.  Some of us even decided to use a little more muscle then we thought we had and broke a sledge hammer and others decided to move boulders three times the size of them!

Tonight, we had another great meal cooked by the ladies in the kitchen.  We never go hungry thanks to them.  This evening we had some free time to walk around town, watch a little soccer and get some more ice cream.  We will close our night with evening prayer and then time to watch the stars.  Another big day of work tomorrow, building stoves in San Andreas.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009