Bumping into Barillas

(Note:  I am home now, but this was a post I typed up the night of April 14 on my little smart phone after our arrival in Barillas. Due to difficulties with our Wi-Fi connection at the Mission House, and some additional technical challenges that I could not resolve while there, and unavailability of Internet in the village, I decided to save up my photos and experiences and present them in a different way in this space than "traveling blog" style. So please check back soon! - Brian).



Team with a view. From top left is John, Brian, Larry, Jon, Rueben,
then Marco, Steve, Maxx and Doug

The heavy rain, unusual for this part of the world at this time of the year, has quit pounding on the tin roof of the mission house for now. The noise if the rain has been replaced by a loud chorus of men singing in Spanish at the church nearby, part of a continuing service that's been going on for a couple of hours this evening.

We are now in Barillas, a city of about 125,000 in the upper northwest quadrant of Guatemala. The drive here from Huehuetenango was quite an adventure. Larry, who brought a GPS, reported it was just about 35 miles away as the crow flies but over the windy, hilly and bumpy "highway" it took nearly 7 hours to cover not quite 80 miles in our Landcruiser caravan through the hills of the Sierra Madris.

A cross marks the spot where a bus went over the hill, killing about 30.
Notice the posts without guardrails - locals steal them for the metal.

As we climbed out of Huehuetenango, Marco had to keep it in first gear most of the drive up to elevations as high as 11,300 feet. We had fine driving weather with sunny skies most of the way in. The road got progressively worse, marked in places with crosses or other markers where cars and busses had gone plummeting over the side. Every so often we would drive through a village or even a small city.

Lots of cities along the way have colorful hut-like cemetery
markers  like these covering a hillside or two.

In several of these cities we would see hillsides dotted with what appeared at a distance to be small colorful huts. These were actually cemeteries. We stopped at a Tienda (rough translation: crude roadside store) and bought snacks. I bought a hotdog (chaveres) from a young street vendor and had to choke it down out of sheer politeness. It was one of the worst I'd tasted. A van full of giggling young ladies took a real liking to Maxx - they insisted he climb into the van with him so I could take their picture with him. He asked me not to post it but I reserve the right!

At times we saw whole families gathered around large slaughtered animals (cows and pigs). They will take what they need and sell the rest as fast as they can as there is no refrigeration.

A reluctant Maxx with friends

As we bumped down the road into Barillas, Pastor Jon assured me that the worst of our travels was yet to come.



Steve rests his dogs after long ride

The Aller Center where we are staying tonight is quite an amazing place. We were greeted by Marco's wife Mimi and young son Alan at the gate. It is a two story building with full dining facilities and comfortable rooms. There is a large shop building out back and it was there where we learned to assemble the stoves we will be installing in the village. It is somewhat of an oasis among streets of rough cobblestone, dirt and a mixture of businesses and houses in various condition, some ramshackle and some new.



We received detailed instruction on stove assembly by Marco and his two assistants, then broke into our teams of two to build one each on our own. I am teamed with Doug, Jon Schmick with Maxx, Rueben with Larry and Steve with John Kirk. I think there will be some friendly competition on this trip as to whom can build the most stoves. Steve, an engineer, marveled at the brilliance of the latest stove design.


Team receives stove instruction from Hands for Peacemaking
stovemasters. The head stovemaker is Franklin, at right.

Marco tells us the mission isn't about the stoves really. If that were the case we should just send a check. The real point, he told us over eggs this morning, is to make friends, build relationships and share God's word.

After stove training some of us took a short walk around the neighborhood, passing through a carnival with what has to be the world's fastest ferris wheel. I mean it was spinning around at least four times faster than the ferris wheels we are used to seeing here. After Marco told us heavy winds had toppled the thing over three times in years past, none of us has any desire to get on.

After a wonderful dinner of beef and vegetable soup at the mission house Marco gave us an orientation of what to expect in the village of Xoxclac over the next few days. Pastor Jon then lead us through devotions.

He has prepared a booklet just for our mission that he entitled Upside Down Stories in the Bible. He asked us to think about both what we are going to give and receive over the next few days as we serve some of the poorest people in the world. But are they really poor even though they lack what we all have? Then the four mission veterans shared their thoughts about what it has meant to them.

The music has quieted down now. There is still some ruckus out in the streets but not unusual for a Saturday night I suppose. Tomorrow we will attend church in the city, load our bags and make the two and a half hour drive to Xoxloc. The villagers will have a welcoming ceremony for us then we will likely install our first in-home stove in late afternoon.

I won't have Internet access until we return from the village on Thursday so this will be my last blog post until then. May try to get more pics up on Facebook in the morning. The mission has been wonderful so far but the real work is ahead. Please continue to pray for the safety of our team!

In Christ,

Brian