Guatemala Mission Trip, July 19, 2010

Hey Everyone! We had a fantastic first day of work. The time went by so fast that I didn’t even realize when it was time to stop for lunch. This morning we began work on plastering and painting the two brand new rooms that have been added as a second story to school at Salud y Paz in Comenchaj.

We cleared out all of the left over rubble from the previous team and then began mixing the plaster right on the floor of the first room where we started working. That was a job in itself; we had one team whose only job all day long was to sift gravel out of sand so that the sand could be used to make the plaster. We finished the plaster on 85% of the first room and we’ll finish the rest of it tomorrow before beginning the second room.

Others painted the wooden rails that formed the perimeter of the second floor balcony while others were put to work on the “Save the Nails” campaign. They reuse everything here, so we were asked to remove nails from old boards so they could be used again in the future. Several of us also spent time playing with the children from the school.

By the way, the septic system that we installed last year is completely up and running; and it has been a great blessing to the clinic and school. In years past, when it would rain for days on end, the system would back up and overflow into the yard and the conditions were less than desirable, but now the tank that we installed handles everything wonderfully no matter how much rain!

In all, it was a great day and even though our backs are sore and our hands hurt, we are excited to do it all again tomorrow! Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers this week. If you want to send any messages to the team, leave a comment on Facebook or “Tweet” us @fumchurstyouth. The internet is too dodgy to send pics and videos, but I promise I will load them all the minute we get back home.

--Matt Ybañez

Here is a journal entry from Connor Teague:

July 16, 2010

Wow. This place is just truly amazing: the cool air, lively culture, and mix of old and new friends. The scenery is truly right off of a postcard with amazing greenery, historic buildings, and shabby market streets. The seemingly always present smiles on the faces of everyone down here is just another reason to say God is everywhere and in everyone.

Ok, so first thing out of the airport we see about 100 faces looking at us from behind a retaining wall, which kind of startled me because of the sheer number. But as we crossed the street with luggage in tow, the most wicked looking school bus comes rolling up with the words “Super Niña” on the side. This is gonna be fun was the first thought I had. After we loaded onto the bus, we zoomed down crowded streets filled with a billion other buses, motorcycles, and strange looking vans. Soaking in all of the new environment, we rode for about an hour on bumpy, unforgiving roads. Upon arrival in Antigua, we all ventured to an authentic food restaurant that served everything from cow intestines to macaroni salad. Following lunch, we all broke off and explored the countless shops in the Antiguan markets.

After all that has happened today, I am so excited to see what great wonders God has in store for us the rest of the week. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to spread the love of God. God bless everyone that has been involved in making this trip possible.

--Connor Teague

Lake Charles, Louisiana 2010 Day 7

Friday, June 25, 2010

Great finish to a great week.

Day 7 Pics: http://tinyurl.com/lcla625

Day 7 Vids: youtube.com/user/fumchurstyouth

Craig Alford--

Today was a great day to end our mission trip in Lake Charles. The day got off to a great start with pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Soon thereafter, we were off to our work sites for a half day of work. My work group returned to Ms. Perrodin’s home to finish the installation of the wood trim, closet shelving, and air conditioning unit flashing. Once these tasks were completed, we had a large group of kids cleaning up the house so we could move all of Ms. Perrodin’s belongings back into her home. Did I mention that she had a lot of stuff stored in the temporary container. After a lot of sweat, we got all of her things moved in and arranged so she could move around in the home. It was great to be able to get Ms. Perrodin moved back into her home before we had to leave. The kids did a great job this week loving their neighbor.

Praise God,

Craig Alford

Paige Cherry:

Today was one of the toughest days of work. Tuesday my group had a lot of painting to do, but today was by far the most physical.

We moved all of this lady’s furniture into her newly redone home. I was happy to be helping her. She lived in a small (but now very nice) trailer which was filled to the ceiling with furniture once we moved everything back in. It was difficult to move heavy and large things into such a small area but with the help of everyone there, we got the job done.

Once we were finished with all of our work all of the groups met back at the church for lunch. We were finally done with our work for the week! After lunch Matt gave us all little time to shower and get ready to go see a movie. I was so excited to be able to put on mascara and leave my hair down for the first time in what seems like forever.

We went and saw Toy Story 3 and then went to Cici’s where I of course dropped pizza on my white shirt on my way to the table. Overall today was the perfect combination of hard work and group fun.

Thursday June 24, 2010 SM

Today was a good last day. Adam's knee is a little stiff but he is ok. Not a whole lot of work today. The homeowner dinner was good, I enjoyed it. I liked meeting the people and getting to know them. I will always remember my first mission trip.

FACE

-Peyton Lynn


I loved seeing all the families together today, all of their happy faces. I saw God in all their faces, their joy was so cool to see. I loved my group this entire week, I will probably only get to see them once a week, these are some o the last months I will have with Ben, and we won't get to see Adam because he will be away at college. I'm going to miss this place sooooooooooooooooooooooo much, I feel like I belong here. I feel like I want to stay another week and get to know everyone better. Everyone has been crying so much that i can't lie that i haven't been. I am really going to cry because it's never fun to say goodbye to your friends. At first you didn't know them and now they're some of your besties, you just don't want to leave and say goodbye. I am really going to miss Adam and Ben when they both leave. I can't just not stand not to cry seeing all our sad faces. I probably will cry even when I get home. I am just really sad about having to leave and everything.

THE A-TEAM

-Marisa Pendery

Another great day of work!

Day 6 Pictures: www.tinyurl.com/lcla624

Day 6 Videos (still uploading): www.youtube.com/user/fumchurstyouth

Austin Simmons:

Day 5, 06/24/10

Today was a great day!! I woke up without annoying music (yesterday), had an okay breakfast, and had an awesome time. Breakfast was cereal (again), but I made the best of it. I ended up not getting the job I wanted, but if you mix an okay job with great and funny people, it makes the job 10 times better. I knew I would have a great day when everyone in our van was laughing and getting along well. I also knew it was gong to be a good day when our van got lost and it took 2 hours to drive to Lowes and then the worksite (which is a normal 15 minute drive). It may not sound like fun, but everyone was laughing the whole time and not complaining. I even got to know my group better through that experience, like Mac is deeply afraid of bridges that are above water. So after the long drive, things started slow working, but picked up quickly. The jokes, pranks, and singing of random songs kept us through the day. The best part was when Carter, Mac, and I got into a giant paint fight. Hitting each other with paint brushes and rollers sure can get a guy messy (you will find out soon mom!). Lunch was really good., and having the feeling that we knew that we took a really ugly house and made it awesome again. I also got to help grill burgers and hot dogs today for dinner. Donny, Martin, Michael, and I did great and the whole youth group was satisfied. I thank God that I was blessed to be with a great group of kids.

Wednesday June 23, 2010 SM

Lord, tommorrow is our last day of work in San Marcos. I want to work all of the time. I know I''ve been slacking but TOMMORROW will be different. I feel like I'm not making an impact on the homeowner's life; but I know that it feels so good to help the needy. We all are making a huge difference through teamwork by doing what has been asked. I don't want anything in return because it is what is right to do. I know that we get Schlitterbahn as a reward, but if we weren't getting a reward I would be just fine that. We are making an impact on this homeowner's life. Every other team is also making a difference on their homeowner's life. Not just us, but throughout the world. Everyone who helps those in need is a worthy man of God's riches. We all need to know this and even if my team knew this we would work harder. All people deserve God's riches.

We love you God,

Kyle Abrahamson



Today was exhausting. We worked on mudding the walls which gives it that texture you see on normal walls. Let me just say now that the "mud" is soooooooooooo sticky! I had my hands covered in it. After a while it crusted and hurt. After you washed it off you had a glitter texture on your skin. We mudded the ceiling as well. That was probably the hardest part because the blood would drain out of your arms. We have finished the ceiling and a wall or two but it is hard to get all of the room covered in it. Tommorrow we'll finish the walls and the other ceiling. Wheew! After work we palyed a very brutal, serious, and large game of capture the flag. It was so much fun and then we ate watermelon slices. We went to our rooms afterwards, took our showers, then did each others' hair, skipped into the main room like school girls. It was funny! Gotta get some sleep,

Regan :)

-Regan Campbell

Another great day! Check out the video here...there's more, but I don't want to hang out in the Comfort Suites lobby for another two hours to upload it!

Hailey Short:

The pants that I brought with me are freakishly too big…even when I tie the strings they still fall down and Mrs. Little made me roll the bottoms up so I would not slip on the ladder. While painting the same wall over and over again, the exact same color, it really wasn’t that much fun. On the bright side, I met Paige and she is super funny! Even if her jokes are a little dumb. Ha ha, oh well, it wasn’t so bad I guess. I’m just glad I’m here. Plus, I also met Damian and his sister Alex is in my grade. We left our site to go to the bathroom and Matt came and went while we were gone so only two people got to be in the video…ha ha. After that, it was the same ol, same ol. Trey and Chris played basketball, Amber read, and Cheryl and Amanda were playing a card game called “Speed.” Hailey Alford and I got to know each other pretty well because we started talking and I also found out what the “pancake” is in volleyball and I stink at it, but it’s still fun.

Rene Griffin:

Today began with a song. Not just any song, though, but the theme song from Sesame Street. It also began with Tyler being saran-wrapped into his sleeping bag, and with a start like that, the day was destined to be amazing.

After breakfast, we headed to our worksites and got to work. Instead of staying in just one place, my group moved around. In the morning we worked on cleaning out a shower trailer that was about to be sent off to Memphis for flood relief. Working on the trailer gave me such an amazing feeling, because I knew that we had a hand in helping other people that were in need around the nation.

For lunch, a woman named Ms. Renee made us hotdogs for lunch Her house is being worked on also) and we got to enjoy and hour of relaxation and fellowship. She is such an amazing person, and today was yet another reminder of that.

As I said, my group moved around a little bit, so after lunch, we headed out to look at homes that were going to worked on later in the week. One woman whose home is going to be worked on tomorrow really made an impression on me. She was so sweet and welcomed us into her home. The house had had to be completely rebuilt after the hurricane and it was amazing to see what quality work was being done by the groups that come to Louisiana. I really hope that I get to work on her house tomorrow, but I know that no matter where I go, I’ll be making a difference.

Ben Ruby:

Today we went back to Rene’s mother-in-law’s house to paint and clean up. I saw God in Rene because she is taking care of us by making everybody hot dogs and giving us chips. At first I was scared about going on a mission trip because I was going on a mission trip with 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th graders and I didn’t know what to expect. But now, I am happy that I went because I have made new friends.

Tuesday June 22, 2010 SM

This morning for breakfast we had sausage, egg, and cheese cassarole and a hashbrown with gooey french toast. We set out for our worksite, we continued caulking, but then started to paint over it! Then we went to lunch. For lunch we had corndogs and tater tots mmmmmmmmmmmmmm... But then Ben asked me and Marrisa if we wanted to go with him to a special job. We, Marshall, Tony, and Conner went with him to a retirement facility. We then used a level, powersaw, and electric nail gun! Power tools!!! :) Ben went all over safety. It was cool to have a seperate mini group that got to take more breaks in air conditioned places and talk and laugh with Ben and Adam. Our work groups home is the A TEAM although we are having van wars!!! >:D We got glass paint and decorated them. My nickname is the swooping swallow.... Don't ask, Adam named me. we have been vandalizing each others' van but we all know the A TEAM rox!!! After we were done with the special job we went back to our original worksite. When we got there they said we only had like 20 minutes left. RJ, the site helper, always lets us go early. So we got done, around 3:40. but doors weren't open 'till 4:15, so Kim and Adam secretly took us to McDonalds and bought us shakes! Then we came back here. We played a cool game called church on fire when we got back from dinner, which by the way was beans and homemade enchiladas!!! (heavenly) Then we had free time and played guesstures which was uber fun! Now we have worship and free time to write in our journals. I'm sooo tired so I'm hitting the hay, 'till tommorrow..... SO BYE!!

- Audrey Bates


Today was a better day today. I still miss papa, but it was okay. We hung out today after working and I've made a lot of new friends.
I saw God in Caroline. Anytime work was needed to be done, she would volunteer. Anytime I looked at her, there was a smile on her face. That motivated me to keep working and trying my hardest on making the house look its best. I love you God.

-Bailey Taylor