Bluffs/CITC Guatemala Trip

We just landed in Houston, some of our team will be taking other flights, but most of us will be going through customers and running to our next flight. Thanks for your prayers, and we can’t wait to see you!!!!

Last morning in Guatemala!  We are sad to leave, but excited to see family and friends.  Last night we sat down with the CCI leader, Werner, and he encouraged us about the trip.  He and his family are wonderful!  They were so hospitable and in love with Jesus.  They even gave us a handwoven bag from Guatemala as a souvenir.  Such a sweet family!

We are up and going this morning.  We are headed to the grocery store with the Ranch to get coffee and then to the airport! Below are the details of our flights:

Guatemala to Houston: 3:12-6:11 pm, Continental 1504

Houston to DFW: 7:35-8:54 pm, Continental 4333

See you soon!!

Last night was a huge hit!!  We had another pirate theme night.  We had a huge treasure hunt across the camp, water balloons included.  The oldest girls cabin came away with the victory!!

Before the theme night, Reuben, the Guatemalan program director, led club. We sang a few worship songs and then he preached the gospel.  The Guatemalan team has done an excellent job with focusing on the gospel.  They take sharing Jesus seriously.  Any opportunity they have had to share the great news they have.  It’s been encouraging to watch.  Last night was my favorite moment at camp.  Seven kids accepted Christ last night.  Their lives are eternally changed.  After the club talk all the cabins separated and joined hands to pray.  The whole camp was praying out loud in Spanish and English.  God heard all of those prayers from his children.  It was a sweet moment to be apart of.

It’s the last day of camp and we are living it up!!  La Pacina, parachutes, archery, basketball, field games, and arts & crafts here we come!  We load up around 1:30 and start the journey back to Guatemala City.  We will stay at the same camp as we did on Saturday night.  Please pray that our eyes continued to be focused on Jesus in the last few hours, that we stay fixed on his will, and we continue to die to self!

See you soon!

We lost internet connection last night, but no worries… here are all the pictures from yesterday!

Let's go!

hitting the waves

the team

sandcastles

Buddy & Bandaid

wave riders

chicas!

Guatemala 2012

The roosters woke us up at 5:30 am this morning!!  We got all geared up to go to the la playa. It was the most delightful morning!  We got to watch the sun rise on the beach!!! Praise God.  We all dove into the most  ridiculously, high waves and had a blast body surfing!

We went back to camp around 9:00 am.  We were all starving by then and we scarfed up our breakfast.  We spent the rest of the morning touring the camp and getting everything ready for the kids!  The camp is a fruit farm and the locals showed us all the fruit this morning.  We were able to taste sugar cane, 3 types of oranges, coconut, and star fruit. It was all delicious!!

We are about to greet 60 kids!! Please pray that our eyes will be fixed on Jesus, that we would be focused on the gospel, and that we would die to self.  It’s go time!

I am having difficulty loading pictures, but I will try later!

We are currently having difficulties getting cell phone reception at the beach!  If there is an emergency please contact Jason Wallace at 903-920-7669 or jwallace@pinecove.com.

Please leave comments! We love reading them to our staff!

We made it to Puerto de San Jose!!  This is the location of our second camp.  It is very close to the beach.  It took us 3 hours to get here from Guatemala City.

Today was a fun-filled, packed day.  We started the day off with touring the historic district of Guatemala City.  We got to see the National Palace where the government officials office out of.  And of course we took pictures all over the city.

After that, we headed to the town of Antigua.  It was about an hour away.  Antigua is a quaint little town in Guatemala.  The streets were cobble stone and the buildings were historic looking.  Our first stop off the bus was lunch.  McDonalds was our top choice of food!!  Big Macs, fries, and cokes for us.  It was a hit!  Once we were fed, we walked over to the market to bargain our way to some souvenirs.  We all came away successful!  Most of the girls came away with headbands, and the boys came away with knives. Typical.  The last stops of the day were a local park and ice-cream!  We then said our goodbyes to the Ranch team and started our trek to the beach.  We had the best sunset on the way to the camp!

Everyone is about to hop into the La Pacina (pool) and cool off for the evening!  We are going to the beach at 6 in the morning!! We are pumped.  Everyone is healthy and joyful!  We are continuing to be blown away by God and what he is doing in Guatemala.  Please pray for our campers that arrive tomorrow at 12:30.  We will have around 60 from some of the poorest areas of Guatemala.  We are ready to pour out again!  Good night!

Ice Cream

Catholic Church in Antigua

A lady from the market. We were impressed!

We made it to Guatemala City around 4:00 today.  We are staying with the Ranch team at a camp in the city for the evening.  It has warm showers and great food!

Upon arrival we decided to head to the basketball court.  Instead of playing basketball we chose the country’s sport of choice, soccer.  What started out as a friendly pick-up game with just our team…ended into a country vs. country soccer match.  The locals at the camp played against our team for an epic battle of soccer.  We played 7 against 7.  Our immediate thought was that we have no chance against them.  We were slightly intimidated, but there was no need for that. We came out with a victory!!! Americans 9, Guatemalans 7.  Whirl, Sunshine, and Storm scored the goals for the American team.  After the match the Guatemalans and us circled up to pray.It was a sweet moment!

We are about to play a huge game of fish bowl and head to bed! We have tourism day tomorrow in the city of Antigua!   Adios

We are soaking up the morning with the kids! Last day.  We will leave at 1:00 for Guatemala City.  The kids are having a blast!!  Broflex learned how to make tortillas with the cooks this morning.  Let’s just say they were a little better at it!