Wednesday June 18, 2014

Hello all,

We finished up today with the last day of VBS at the Utalan Quiche school.  We did VBS with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders today.  I would just like to share that all of the students ( even if they aren't willing to admit it) are excellent Spanish speakers.  if they have had any spanish classes in school they were a HUGE help in the classrooms today and all week.  I also want to say what a great job the guys did with the kids at school they played with them and helped them with their crafts and it was very sweet.  After VBS we went to the gym and had a pizza party with about 150 students.  These were the students that were our prayer partners as well as the students that we send scholarships to.  The amount of gratitude and love that was in that gym today was almost overwhelming. Despite the slight language barrier they were able to communicate how thankful they are to our church and how appreciative they are of everything that RPC provides for them.
After touring the girls dorm and having lunch with the students we made our way back to Chichi.

We had yet another amazing dinner at Casa del Rey hotel.  The food has been nothing short of amazing every meal.  From the fresh fruit at breakfast to the tender meats and amazing vegetables at dinner.  Also the desserts are fantastic, we have had flan, chocolate cake, and banana bread to name a few.

After dinner we went up to the worship room and had devotion lead by Brad and Carrie. Then we shared some of the experiences we had today. We continue to have our eyes opened by the living conditions of many of the families in Guatemala and the great need that many of the families have.  The situations that we have seen this week have been so humbling and I know we all feel much more grateful for everything that we have. After Brad and Carrie spoke to us Laura Dunaway and Erin Malsbury lead us in worship and they have done a phenomenal job all week.

When we were done Brad let everyone know that they could either have free time before bed time or stay and continue to sing and worship.  Knowing how tired everyone is i was so amazed and  proud of everyone that stayed to sing worship tonight.  All of the students stayed and sang for about 30 more minutes and it was so great seeing how close the group has become over the past few days.

Walking out of the worship tonight I realized it was pouring rain and I laughed because I was surprised and I shouldn't have been.  Here in Chichicastenango it can rain at the drop of a hat.  It can be a perfectly clear sky and five minutes later it will be raining.  The one time you decide not to bring your raincoat to dinner it will rain cats and dogs.

We want to thank everyone again for praying for us on this trip.  I wish I can put in to words how life changing this trip has been for everyone.  We have a big big work day tomorrow, two pray America houses to finish, we have painting to finish at Chichi, roofs to patch and concrete to pour.

Please pray for strong arms and backs for us tomorrow.

Thank you,
Stephanie Dunn