Costa Rica Update

Here is a picture of the team on the beach in San Isidro!

6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written: 
   "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; 
      his righteousness endures forever."^{a]" style="line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} ¹⁰Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

 ¹²This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.¹³Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. ¹⁴And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. ¹⁵Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!       

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

We are on our way out of San Isidro today, and on our way into Nicoya for our 4th week.

We appreciate all the prayers. =)

blog 3

We cannot believe that it is almost week 4! We feel like we have been here forever, but also not long enough! Its hard to think that in three weeks we will be back home with you all. We are also very excited to see the Costa Rica team. We love and miss them as well!
This week we got to do some painting and will continue to do so in the coming up weeks. Justin was very excited about that.
Swine flu has hit Antigua, so our pre-school was shut down for the week. It is not really a huge deal, people are just being careful, so don't worry about us here. We are all fine and healthy. But before that happened, we had sports day with the kids. That was so much fun! We got to take them out of the school and play lots of games outside! We got rained out at the end, but that was fun with all the kids too.
We are adjusting to the heat and the sun. We have been to the beach three times now and instead of burning, we are tanning nicely...well, some of us at least :-)
After being here for 3 weeks we have learned a lot about the people of Antigua. We have grown to love them. We now understand what we learned about at orientation. Anyone can go on a missions trip and paint a wall. They could hire people here to do that. We are here to share the love of Christ with others. We are here for the people.
"Who will be my hands my feet...To the lost, the last, the least...Who will stand...Who will go?"

Costa Rica 3rd Update

We are having such a wonderful week in San Isidro!

Yesterday, Josh, Sarah and I were able to go visit a rehabilitation center for mentally handicapped adults. We joined them for their afternoon classes and it was such a blessing. A few of the people who go to the center live in a home nearby that the Army provides. We are about to go there tonight to visit them and do some worship time, and tomorrow we will be having a service at the rehabilitation center. We're all pretty excited for that.

This morning, the corps had a "Cultural Day" celebration type thing. They had all sorts of mimes and a big group of 'cultural dancers', who later tried teaching us their dances and we had a dance off. Sarah and Kelly tied in their amazingness. 

We love the corps officers and the lieutenant! The lieutenant is very young, our age, from the Dominican Republic, and we're enjoying getting to know her. 

We are surrounded by indescribable beauty everywhere we go here! When we open the door of our hotel rooms in the morning theres a perfect view of the mountains right in front of us! And there are so many interesting little living things of God's creations joining us in our bedrooms! 

Kelly has told me to write that as we look at the trees on the mountains, we are waiting to see them rustle and move around like a T-rex is walking through them because it looks so much like jurassic park here. 

More to come soon! Keep praying for us! God is using us and teaching us. 

-Kalin

Costa Rica Update 2

Sarah, David, and I are sitting in a cloud right now. We have just arrived in the mountains in San Isidro!

Last week was incredible! We all had a blast playing with the children in the daycare and having VBS with them. The Captains and their family that we stayed with were very welcoming and treated all of us as one of their own children. It was hard to leave and say goodbye to them and their three sons, and to all the children and the wonderful people we met in Limon. 

We drove out of Limon this morning and into San Jose, to the DHQ of Costa Rica, where we met with the D.C. for a few moments and talked about how the trip was going and spiritual growth.  The drive to San Isidro through the mountains was breath-taking. God's creation is incredible - His beauty is unfathomable!

Everyone is doing good on the team! Stephanie became sick earlier this week and was taken to the hospital just to be extra safe, but it was just a bug and she is perfectly fine now. Claudia has been feeling a little under the weather for the past few days, but tomorrow she will be getting the day off so she can rest and recover. 

I pray that God works through our team and uses us for unimaginable things this week. I pray that he gives us strength, energy, guidance, open eyes and open hearts to share His love. 

And I pray that for the Antigua team as well! We miss and love you guys!

-Kalin

and another week goes by....

This week has been so much fun! We have really gotten more involved with the people of Antigua! We had open days this week at the pre-school and the parents got to come into the school to see what their children have been doing all year. We also got to do a lot more teaching! It has been so much fun to get to know the kids more and more.
We have had a lot of homeleague this week as well. We got to be in charge at least twice and have developed bonds with the women of the congregations. Our group has also gotten to know the youth of Antigua. They are very nice and has asked us to join them on Saturdays for their swim practices. We went to one on Saturday and almost died! It was so hard! Many of us were not able to finish the whole practice, but we tried our best. Swimming in the ocean is not as easy as it looks, especially after running 2 miles!
We got to meet the Governor General of Antigua this week. She is very nice, British lady, who loves the Salvation Army. We were very honored to have met her and were able to take a few pictures with her.
This Sunday our team was split into two and went to the two corps in Antigua. We celebrated Father's day and honored the many fathers that were with us today. At one of the corps, the congregation prayed a blessing over a set of chairs they received. 10 in all. They were very grateful, and we were humbled to see it.
We have discovered that the Salvation Army is different here, but is still very much the same. We wear different uniforms, sing different songs with different beats, our worship looks different...but our God is the same, and our aim is the same. Our hearts are united together in worship and it is wonderful!
Please pray for us because some of our team members are still dealing with sunburn, but we are MUCH better then before, and we are excited to be here and ready to get to work! Love and miss you all!

first post from ANTIGUA!!!!

Hello from beautiful Antigua!!!!
It is so beautiful here! We are staying at a retreat center run by a nun named Sister Mary Joe. It is hard to explain in words what this place is like. All we can say is that we are very blessed! The people of Antigua are extremely nice and everyone has opened their arms of love to us. Majors Griffin are taking very good care of us and we feel right at home. Although it is a little bit hotter here then it is in the states :-)
Oh my! Our first week is over and we can't even believe it! We have been working very hard all week with the children at the preschool here. They are sooo cute!!! We have fallen in love with them and they with us! They call us "teacher" and a lot of us have gotten the chance to actually do some teaching.
One our second day here, Emily and Justin were chosen to go with Major Griffin to meet the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. He is basically their president. They got to read scripture and pray with him. It was an honor and very exciting. Emily read scripture and Major Griffin did a devotional. Justin was able to tell the Prime Minister how lovely his country is. It was very neat to see how the goverment here is different then the United States. The whole team is scheduled to meet the Governor General tomorrow, vice president, which we are all very excited about it.
We came at a very interesting time here in Antigua. We arrived in the middle of Unity Week for many of the churches around St. John and we attended a service every day our first week that was a combined service of all different churches, and we got to be a part of one of the services on Friday.
Saturday we had our first day off and we got to go to the beach! How amazing! The girl's home that the Salvation Army runs is right next to the beach, so we got to meet some of the girls and took them with us. The beach is so beautiful and the water is so blue and so clear! We had every intention of not getting burned, but unfortunetly that did not happen and we are now dealing with having to aloe up every night. Some of us are worse then others, but we are all healing. We all had such a wonderful time regardless.
Sunday we had a wonderful welcome at the St. Johns corps and the All Saints corps. The way they worship is different from home, but we are excited to be able to experience new things!
This week will be very different then last week and we think that is how it will be all summer. We are ready to work, grow and share God's love with the people in Antigua! Keep praying for us! We love and miss you all!!!

Costa Rica's First Post!

June 15, 2009
Wow! What an amazing week it has been! We arrived to Costa Rica safely, welcomed by the incredibly friendly D.C., D.S., Capitan Murio, and overwhelming humidity and heat. We were taken to the city of Limon for our first and second week. The first week we worked at the Corps of Limon 2000, which is in a very poor neighborhood just outside of the city. There were many children in the neighborhood that loved to come to the corps and play with us, and a few of the teenage youth of the corps that spent a lot of time with us. Everyone is incredibly friendly and kind.
We were able to speak with a man named John from that neighborhood whos story touched us all. He lead a very dangerous and sad life, and was shot by one of his enemies 7 months ago and is now paralyzed from the waist down, but God came to him during this time and has filled his heart and life with His love and His word. It was amazing to see so much of God in Him.
As for the team, we are all doing well! We are most DEFINITELY learning our spanish! We are enjoying the food. We went on a trip to the beach on saturday. We all love the gorgeous and exotic land, plants, and animals. Some of us are a liiiiittle sunburned though. =) We haven´t had any access to phone or internet until yesterday, so if you haven´t heard from us yet, we might be able to get in touch with you sometime this week, as the officer we are with now wants for us to be able to be in touch with family back home.
This week we begin working at a daycare center just a few blocks down the road from the hotel we are staying in. The Officers, Capitan and Capitana Josua and Marlena Taura, are so kind and treating us like family. The daycare center has 63 children everyday, from the ages of two to six, and we will be doing VBS with them starting Tuesday. We are all very excited!
All of your prayers are very, very appreciated.
God is at work here, and in all of our hearts.
Blessings.
The Costa Rica Team
written by Kalin

Guatemala's Last Post

So we arrived in Tecpan and it is FREEZING! We take turns laying in
front of the one little hearter we have, but it's going well. We had a
few issues trying to figure out the shower, but we are all able to take
warm showers. We have been line drying our closes, which is kinda cool.
I'm sorry, but I won't be posting anymore pictures on snapfish until I
get back to the states. The internet connection here in Tecpan
unfortunately doesn't stay connected continually enough to post
pictures.
We painted a VERY long wall and we were all very relieved when we
reached the end.
We've been having open-air meetings in La Giralda which is up the hill
from where we're staying. We'd walk up there everyday, sunshine or
rain. The kids were a little hesitant at first, but when they saw Cara
running through the field they opened up a little. The Tecpan corps has
been going up there for six months yet the kids have never come down to
the corps. We had an average of 60-70 kids on Monday, Tuesday, and
Wednesday. On Thursday we had a little over 90! The best outcome the
Wilson's said they ever had.
We also had a carnival Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I am VERY
happy to report that we had an average of 176. About 8 of those being
from La Giralda! We dressed up and told Bible stories. I think the
highlight of our night was the puppet show those. Put on20by Annie,
Maggie, and myself. The reason it was so funny though is because we
were able to put a puppet to a team member and then we would make them
do things that team member does. It was great and we had a blast.
On Thursday we ventured off to the market... I don't even know what to
say about that! It was really crowded and a little uncomfortable, but
it was very interesting to see the way it all worked.
I have some pictures of the market and in there you'll see a picture of
some chicks on a truck and I started snapping them and the guy who
owned the chickens showed me pretty clearly that he didn't want me
taking pictures of his baby chickens. It was kinda funny, but we
figured it was because I was white... oh well.
At the market we found roasted iguana, live crabs on a stick and
unproperly refrigerated chicken. As you can probably assume, it was an
interesting experience.
Friday we visited some Mayan ruins! So cool! We saw a few rituals that
were going on as well. We climbed the VERY steep steps to reach the top
of the pyramids. I'm hoping to start a youtube when I get home because
I have some funny videos... on including Cara rolling down the side of
a pyramid. CRAZY girl! We enjoyed ourselves very much.
Friday night we had a cook-out. The members from the corps in Tecpan
came and we enjoyed a great dinner with them.
Wow, after this blog you
guys aren't going to believe we've actually
been doing any work.
SATURDAY WE HIKED UP A
VOLCANO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pacaya was quite an adventure. There are 37 named volcanos in
Guatemala. Four of those being active. Pacaya is the only active
volcano that you can get close to the lava. We were able to get so
close that we stuck our walking sticks into the lava which then BURST
into flames! It was a beautiful climb up. We were able to stick around
the lava for 30 minutes and then had to head out because it started to
rain. It rained the ENTIRE way down!!! We were all shaking and soaked
as we climbed back into the van.
Sunday morning came early, but we were excited to get to the meeting. I
gave the sermon in the morning and David gave it in the evening. We did
our timbrel routine for the 5 billionth time, but they loved it. It's
always difficult saying bye, but we knew it was coming.
We're now in Chimaltenango building on top of the security wall. We're
all VERY sore and it's only day two. We had to putt bushes with tons of
thorns off the fence and drag those around a few different places until
they decided where they wanted them. Then we cut rebar (not sure on the
spelling of that)... with a saw. Installed the stuff and reinforced it
all. It's the end of day two and we are all exhausted and my hands 0D
hurt...
We have 3 more days left of tough labor and then one more Sunday. We're
trying to soak it all in, but there's so much more to do.
We're excited to see you all though!

Team Guatemala

You're Invited!

Dear Friends,

On July 23 at 6:00 p.m. the Salvationist Service Corps will be hosting a Cultural Night to which you are invited to come. Please join us as we hear their stories and learn of their travels to the Dominican Republic and Guatemala.

Cultural Night will be held at Atlanta Temple.
The address is:
2090 N. Druid Hills Rd
Atlanta, GA 30329

Please RSVP to Joy Mikles at 404-728-1300 x470 or Joy_Mikles@uss.salvationarmy.org. You can also leave a comment here if you'd like.

Thanks!
Joy

Guatemala Team Update

Hey guys! Sorry it´s been so long since the last blog.


So we finished in Limon and Maya. It was hard to say bye to the kids in
Maya because they were really the first group of kids we were able to
interact with.


We had a few issues with food. Chris, David, and Tammi got sick. The
boys took a little time to get better and are back to work. Tammi just
wasn´t getting any better so Major took her to the hospital. She stayed
one night and came home the next day. There were a few times where she
started to feel better, but then it would just return.


Last Saturday we made a trip to the airport and picked up the
Iglehearts! We were so excited to see them and they were such an
encouragment to us. Unfortunately their trip was too short. The left on
the 2nd and they took Tammi with them.


So now there´s only six of us.
This week we were in Central and Tierra Nueva.
In Central we scraped old paint off and painted the outside, a room,
and the railing up three flights of stairs to the chapel. I think we
all woke up at least one day this week really not wanting to paint, but
we knew that God had something in store for us that much bigger than
our own desires.
A song that´s been on our minds lately has been. A lyric from it says;
I surrender dreams to the plans you have for me.


I think that our hearts have been challenged by this line. We´re
seeking what that really means and what that means to us.


Our team becomes stronger everyday and we realize more and more how
hard it´s going to be to part from each other...


Today we went to Antigua. We did TONS of shopping and I think we would
all agree that today was a very good bonding day.
This week we will be going to Tecpan and we´re very excited because we
will be staying at the camp there. This is up in the mountains and we
will be staying in a house. How awesome is that?!?
We will be with the Wilson´s there.. who speak English! YEY! They have
a busy schedule for us. I don´t know how many pictures we will have
from there because the people there belive that when a picture is taken
of you part of your soul is being captured. Craziness, but if that´s
the way they say it is then that´s the way it is...


We´re all excited that you guys have been keeping up with our blog.
We do have more pictures up.
www.snapfish.com
username : Misstritton@gmail.com
password: 307857


We will see you all in about two and a half weeks!
Keep praying for us!
Team Guatemala

Dominican Republic Update 5

We are going into our 5th week here and are all very excited to be almost done but also sad because we do not want to leave. We leave Cotui tomorrow and head for Moca. we will be there for 2 weeks and then head home. its hard to leave Cotui because we have been here for so long and have made friends with everyone. Our Sunday service today was amazing! Johanna preached about hands and servant hood. A lot of youth were there, which was great because we had an amazing youth meeting last night. I have never worshiped like we did last night. The Lord is wonderful!
We finished VBS for cotui yesterday. We ended up with over 200 children. which was hard to handle but God worked it out. So many of those children came to church today! Tonight we had a surprise birthday party for Johanna. We are early, but she would expect us to have it closer to her birthday and we wanted to surprise her! We totally did!
We are excited about tomorrow because we should be working really hard in Moca. It was nice to have some time off and relax a bit in Cotui but I think we are all ready to get back to working really hard for these last two weeks. Please continue to pray for us. We love and miss you all! oh! AND WE PUT PICTURES UP ON THE SNAPFISH WEBSITE! :-)

Guatemala Update 4

So we are still in Limon, but I was able to upload some more of our pictures so make sure you check those out.
They´re at:
http://www.snapfish.com/
username: misstritton@gmail.com
password: 307857

I hope that our blogs have been able to keep everyone informed at much as they´d like. If you´d like to ask us questions that you have you can write misstritton@gmail.com and I will try to answer them in the following blog.

Also, we´d love to hear from you guys. It´s not always easy to respond, but it´s a real encouragment to hear that you´re thinking of us still!

We´re having so much fun together and although things get a little stressful sometimes, we still all seem to stay on a good page, pray that continues as we continue to work.
We had our first day of VBS yesterday and it went very well. We were expecting about 30 or so kids and ended up with about 60 so that number will only grow over the next few days.
Cara picked out a few kids to act out the Bible story of David. We hadn´t run over it before we actually did it so it was funny when we got to the part where he cut Goliath´s head off. Tammy looking at Cara wide eyed and slightly shaking her head started to translate in Spanish the violent act. It was funny, but she did a GREAT job!
Annie and I were in charge of crafts. Between 60+ kids, beads, string, knots, and a lanuage barrier... it got a little crazy. We did end up with braclets and no fingers cut off though so all in all it was a success.
Chris and David were in charge of games. What better sport to choose than soccer?!? They closed off the street in front of the building for games and we divided up the boys and girls. Because the lack of goals, the guys stepped up to be moving goals. BRAVE SOULS. The kids had a great time and there were only 2 or 3 minor injuries (bumps, bruises, etc.)!
We´re looking foward to VBS tonight and can´t wait to see how many kids show up.
Thanks for keeping up with us as we continue on our adventure.
We love you all and we miss you all!
Team Guatemala

Dominican Republic Update 3

We had our first sunday here in cotui yesterday. The corps here is very active and there are a lot of members. It was nice to see so many people. I got to preach again but this time there was a thunderstorm that started right when I started. The rain came in and, well, lets just say it was interesting. God is good, however, and a few people came forward. We have been painting and doing open airs this week. It was interesting to do an open air when REALLY LOUD motorcycles came by every 5 minutes. The cars here do not have the thing that makes them quiet so it is VERY loud. That is one thing I do not think I will miss.
The corps officers here are very nice. They have accepted us as family. Personally, I think Mrs. Captain wants to adopt me. It's nice to have a family here. Andrew is all better now. He is giving blood tomorrow just to make sure. Everyone is a little sun burnt again but we are dealing with it. We are learning what it means to be servants and we really love it. We feel blessed to be working for Him. Oh! We also got to visit the hospital here. That was a different experience. There are about 4 to 7 people to a room and they have no privacy. We got to talk to a lot of people and asked them to come to church. It was nice to see the people and to tell them that God loves them and everyone needs to hear that. Keep praying... we all love and miss you all.

Emily

Guatemala Update 2

Don´t freak out. So there was an earthquake on Thursday night, I (Afton) was in my room digging into the word when I was pushed off my headboard... I lived in San Francisco so I knew immediately what it was... It was small, but you could feel it. It lasted for about 5 second. I jumped out of bed and ran into the "living room" to see if David, Tammi, Cara, Chris, or Maggie felt it... and of course they had no clue... I walked into Annie´s room and she said that she did feel it, but thought it was David running down the hallway. HAHA. I walked back out to tell them about it and I noticed that all the pieces on the light were moving and showed them as proof... Well, we finally finished the roof in Satelite (not Salite). Although we ran into ran a few times during the week, it didn´t hold us back too long. It was great to watch God work though. We prayed for no rain and we literally watch the rain move around the building. It was amazing. On Saturday we attended a youth rally at the school in Limon. We performed our timbrel routine for the first time. It went well for most of us (cough Cara cough)... Cara was also picked up as an extra in one of the skits... she was a robber and she did great. I´m hoping that I will have the chance to upload more pictures this week. To end the rally the school had their drumline perform! It was great. We all really enjoyed it. After the rally we were able to go to the mall and the movies. It was so interesting because we totally forgot that we were in Guatemala. The Cup of Worlds (soccer) was on here in Guatemala last night, they played St. Lucia. Guate won 6-0! There were lots of fireworks last night. This morning we were able to participate in the service by doing a puppet show... with sock puppets..... that we made. So you can imagine how it turned out. It was funny, but it seems that our team always finds everything we do a bit more funny than everyone else does. Haha! We all want to wish our Father´s a Happy Father´s Day. SHOUTOUTS Maggie-The city is beautiful by day and night- the view continues to amaze everyone with every new part of the city we see, surrounded by green mountains and volcanoes. Cara- Wow! I´ll be in Guatemala for 5 more weeks. I love it. I can´t get over how breath taking the views are. The people here are such a blessing. We get home cooked meals everyday. I can´t wait for the many more experiences the summer will have. Oh, by the way parents- don´t have me, but I have a mohawk. I love you all. David- I love you Mom, Dad, and Katie. Annie- It is still overwhelming to me that we are actually here! I am loving my time here in Guatemala- I feel so content here. Everything is so amazing- the views, the people, and the food too! Love and miss everyone! XOXO Tammi- Mommy, I love you so much! I love you! ¡Me estoy divertiendo mucho! God is blessing us so much and we are doing very well! Tell Amber and Flo that I love them! Be Bold Chris- One week down, 5 to go! Guatemala is amazing! The people are extremely nice and I haven´t eaten this well in a long time. By the way, I definitely "mohawked" my hair. It was a smart move on my part. We have made where we´re staying feel like home mostly because we have become a family. Continue praying for us as well as the other team. Afton- Wow, I miss all of you so much, but my time here has already become somthing that will never be able to be replaced. Coming on this trip is one of the best decisions I have ever made and I wish all of you could experience it! The more I see the hard it is for me to believe that with all of this beauty there are still people that don´t believe there is a God. It is our mission to change that though. Our team is marching toward making people aware of the hope that there is one Savior and one Redeemer that loved us so much he was willing to lay down the life of his own son so that we may live with him forever. I miss you all and I love you and I hope that you continue to keep in touch with us and pray for us. Dad, I love you so much and I wish I could be there to show you how much I appreciate everything you have done for me. Happy Father´s Day and know that you´re my hero. I am so thankful for the example you have set for me. I love you sooooo sooooo soooo much! Well, that´s all for now and please continue to pray for us as we head to Mesquital.

Dominican Republic Update 2

well, we are done here in santo Domingo. we have been to three corps so far...Tres Brazos, Los Alcarrizos, and Los Olivos. We have had an amazing time so far. And only a little trouble. We got to go to the beach yesterday, and pretty much everyone got burned, some more then others...apparently the sun is hotter down here :-). Andrew didn't get burned, but he did catch a little dengue fever....just a little though, so he should be alright. we were really worried about him for a while there. God is good.
we leave for Cotui today and should be there for almost 2 weeks. it is supposed to be more remote and dengue is worse there, so please keep us in your prayers. we are looking for more bug spray with deet, but that is hard to find around here.
we have loved spending time with mr. and mrs. major Gochez and their family. we feel like they have adopted us, which is a wonderful feeling when we are so far away from home. it will be hard to say goodbye to them. in Cotui we will be sleeping on cots underneath mosquito nets :-D. wow!
please continue to keep us in your prayers, we love and miss you all!

Dominican Republic Update 1

What a wonderful first week it has been. God has blessed us so much and we have seen so many amazing things. We were welcomed with open arms and the love of these people is awe inspiring. Our hosts are so wonderful and caring. And the food is great! We have been able to do community visitations and pray for healing in peoples homes. We have had a HUGE turn out for our VBS programs. The first expected around 100 children and ended up with almost 200. We have experience what it is like to have electricity one minute for our worship meetings and the next not, but to keep on worshiping God. We have gone through trial and error, and have learned how to come together as a group and decide how to fix problems. And the children! Oh! How wonderful. One our first day we developed a fan club and the have not left our sides since. Many of us are learning how to communicate without speaking the same language. We feel so blessed to be here living and learning among the people of the Dominican Republic. And we cannot wait to see what else God has in store. Thank you so much for you prayers, and keep them coming! We love you all!
~Dominican Republic Summer Service Team 2008

Guatemala Update 3

We started in Mezquital this week and we got off as much of the old paint as we could and started painting again. We were a little nervous because it´s not a safe area at all, but no need to worry we are already done there. There were tons of kids there and they loved playing with us and us with them. The view from the roof of the building was amazing and I am hoping that I will be able to upload the pictures on Monday.
We finished early so we started working in Limon. We had to sort clothes that had been donated and bag them. Along with moving a HUGE pile of dirt to the other side of the school. The Captain at the school is very nice though and when he found out that once we were at home (Ta Ta Chino) we had to stay there he offered to take us out sometime.
On Friday the Captains from Mezquital took us to the beach. The waves were awesome and the sand was black, which was different for all of us. We were all doing okay until the tide came up and nearly washed all of our stuff away. I think everyone was pretty much done after that. A few sunburns, but we´re doing well. We had lunch right next to the beach and it was great. It was funny because most ordered fish, but when an entire fish fried came out, we were a little shocked. It was great to be able to relax though and I know we all appreciated it.
We learned last night that we are no longer (not that we were ever allowed) to flush toilet paper down the toilet. So, that´s been an adventure for us to overcome.
Today we went to a market and thank goodness we had Major with us because he save us probably a couple hundred quetzals. He worked it. Haha!
This upcoming week is going to be a challenge for us. It´s going to be long days and tough work. We´re building a computer room in Limon. So keep us in your prayers. Pray for strength, encouragment, and unity... I know all of these will be tested for us.
Also it isn´t the safest of place, but remember Psalm 27: 1-6 says:
The Lord is my light and my salvation
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life
of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.
One thingI ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
For in the days of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.
Then my head will be exalted above the enemies that who surround me; at his tabernacle I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Thank you all again for your prayers. I hope to have more pictures put up on our snapfish on Monday. Make sure you look for them.
http://www.snapfish.com/
username: misstritton@gmail.com
password: 307857
Team Guatemala

The first update from the Guatemala Team

So we made it to Guatemala City with no problems. It was hard to say bye to the other team but we knew that what we were going to accomplish would be well worth it.
We had a fun flight. Cara was asleep before the door shut and Maggie found out that she has the unique ability to sleep sitting straight up. The flight was calm and the views flying over the city were amazing.
We were all very excited to finally be here. Major Munoz, the divisional commander, picked us up and took us to the hotel we would be staying at for the next 4 weeks. We were all amazed at the beauty of Ta Ta Chino (our new home) but we were made aware quickly that we were not to leave the hotel because of the area.
We had our first meal together at the Major´s house and enjoyed each other´s company. They asked if we wanted a tour of the city, but we ALL wanted to rest. We all slept until we woke up to go to dinner.
The next day we started work...
We are currently in Satelite. We´re working on restoring the roof.
We had to take down a baptismal, then notch the roof. Which I think everyone would agree was long and tiring. We had to lower the concrete that we broke off down into a truck which carried it away. We then worked on sealing the roof and are now in the process of pouring more concrete. Our final step in this will be to seal it one more time.
You should be able to look up our pictures on Snapfish.
If you´d like, you´ll be able to order prints from them as well.
Go to www.snapfish.com
username: misstritton@gmail.com
password is: 307857
Thank you all so much for all your thoughts and prayers we can feel them and we are so blessed to have the chance to do God´s work.
Thank you again! We miss you all, we love you all!

Team Guatemala

Safe and Sound

The teams have all arrived safely. Please keep checking back for updates from them. Also, check the link on the side to see one of the Guatemala team member's myspace account.

Enjoy everyone!
Joy

We love Peru!!!

We are very sorry for slacking on the blog. This blog might be a little to long but I know all of you will enjoy reading it.

Well we were in La Esperanza Corp for two weeks. We certainly had amazing experiences there and were able to see God’s work in many ways. One of the things we did was go out to the neighborhood and invite people to the campaign and to church. We gave out War Cry magazines and were able to pray with some people too. One Saturday morning, the last day we went out to the neighborhood, we went to an outdoor super market. There were a lot of people buying their groceries and many who were in a hurry to listen to us. There was a man who was selling fruit and was using a microphone to announce the price to people. So David goes up to San Juanita and tells her that she should offer the man three soles for using the microphone. We wanted to use the microphone to invite people to our campaign. San Juanita was very nervous about this but she felt the Lord leading her to do it. So Capt. Samaniego went to the man and offered him the money. He agreed and so we began our speech. The Holy Spirit was present because not only did we invite them but we also sang choruses, read the Bible and told them about the Lord. Capt. Samaniego almost preached right there. It was amazing because people started to come up and asked questions about the campaign, church meetings and about what we had read from the Bible. The Lord used us and a lot of people were blessed.

We also had the opportunity to attend a youth camp similar to Youth Councils. We were in Shiran for a weekend and God worked amazingly there too. The team was in charge of teaching four different workshops: mime, praise and worship, chorus and dance. The mission was to let the young people know there are a lot of different forms of praise. The corps were divided to where each workshop had at least two or three people from each corps. Each of the young people had the challenge of learning about each workshop and then going back to their corps and teaching the rest of the young people about it. Not only being able to learn but also to go back and begin their own mime, praise and worship, chorus and dance groups. Each of the workshop teachers, us, also had to teach the group a special number so they could perform on the Sunday morning meeting. A lot of people were blessed and were able to learn many new things.

Now we are in Lima, staying at the Vitarte Corp. Vitarte has a Salvation Army school of about 305 students. They have a lot of classes going on and we have been able to help teach some of them. We have been helping with the English classes and the Christian Education classes too. It has been a great experience too. Last Friday we were able to visit a very poor region of Vitarte called Monterey. We had an open air meeting with the children from there and had a great time singing choruses and playing with them. The Lord showed us so much. He wants us to embrace and love his children and let them know how much He loves them and cares for them.

Please continue to pray for us as our mission trip comes to an end. Our prayer is that we may continue to fight the battle for our Lord Jesus Christ right where we live and not just when we go to another country.