Wow I'm so far from home!- Project Trip to Nebaj, Guatemala

Last friday, January 25th, my team and I flew out of San Jose, Costa Rica to Guatemala City. As soon as we landed, there was a definite temperature change, since Guatemala City is at about 6,000 ft. After we had gotten all of our luggage, I was in charge of carrying the 4ft plane surveying tripod through customs. It was pretty comical to explain (in Spanish) what was in this big cardboard box, and that it wasn't a weapon. But luckily it all went good.

We then pile into 2 taxis for 9 people, with 4 of us in the back and 3 in front of a 5 seater car! We get into Guatemala City, which is a large city with big buildings. There are hints of the western world, with some mcdonalds and pizza huts. But not for long...

The next day we all pile into two vans headed for very steep roads with hair pin curves all over. The mountains here are very steep, green and lush. In Guatemala, there are renovated school buses with crazy paints jobs that become their public transportation, everyone calls these chicken buses. These chicken buses are packed full with people and are driven by crazy madmen who pass at all costs barely miss oncoming traffic and think 2 lanes means more room for them! ha!

As we drive, we pass many people walking up these roads, some carrying very heavy loads of wood tied to their backs. Cows, sheep, horses, and goats grazed about and often pulled along. We pass many small villages spread all over these hills. Most people live in houses more like metal panel boxes. This is definitely a third world area.

So, it took us a little over 8 hours to get to Nebaj which is located on the Northwestern part of Guatemala. The village is rather small with very unstable roads and people walking everywhere. Most of the women dress very traditional with colorful textiles. Us gringos definitely stood out a ton, we were all way taller and lighter skinned that everyone! I almost got used to people just staring at us! It was very cold there at night since there was no heating and the wall were very thin with no insulation. I definitely slept with 5 blankets and wore the same sweatshirt everyday! Yeah I didn't expect it to be so cold!


Within my team, there are 4 of us interns with eMi, 2 eMi leaders, and 6 other volunteering design professionals. During our time in Nebaj, we worked with a non profit called the Agros Foundation. Agros is based in Central America and works to train and educate the indiginous people in carpentry, textiles, coffee production, agricultural practices and tons more! Agros helps and stays with a village for over 10 years, building strong relationships.


So, Agros has a vision for a large site with training centers, a school, and greenhouses for a piece of land they recently purchased. eMi's job was to do the land development, water engineering, electrical, planning, and design of one shop building. I was able to work along side a very experienced structural engineer and help in the design of the shop building. The week was filled with design work. On the last day, we presented our ideas and the work we have done so far to the Agros team. It was so satisfying to see their excitement for the work we have done for the center and seeing their vision come to fruition.

The Lord is teaching me a lot about what it means to serve and His love for ALL people in ALL countries.
"This is how we know what love is- Jesus Chris laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." 1 John 3:16 and also
"Each should use whatever gift he has recieved to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in various forms." 1 Peter 4:10

Well thank you so much for reading and please keep my team and I in your prayers. A few of us have been feeling sick so healing and energy would be a blessing!

We are currently starting another project for an orphanage wanting to build a school in Guatemala City today. So here we go into another week! (By the way, I took tons of pictures that I will try to upload to a website :)

The pictures I have posted are: 1. Aerial view of Nebaj 2. Ali and I with Nebaj 5. View from my hotel room in Nebaj

Headed to Guatemala for two weeks!

My team and I are headed for Guatemala in like 5 minutes. Please pray for safe travels and that we will be able to discern the Lord's will wherever we go. More information to come as I find some more internet! :)

Dios le Bendiga!!

Arriving

Ali, Brad, Josh and I arrived in Costa Rica on Saturday January 19th! After two plane rides and 6 hours we are in San Jose, Costa Rica. As we step out of the airport, we are looking for any sign of our two leaders, Tom or John, we aren't totally sure what they look like and there are a ton of people waiting outside. Tom and John both arrive and we are off headed to Atenas, Costa Rica, about 30 minutes away. The driving here is really fast and people are very aggressive.

I can see through the darkness that the scenery is beautiful!! The terrain is very extreme- many ups and downs, mountains and valleys. The vegetation is very lush and gorgeous! There are many palm trees and a lot of greenery. The roads here are very curvy and steep, its truly amazing how skinny a road can be and yet still fit two cars!

Sunday

On Sunday we head to the Iglesia Biblica de Atenas (church) located in Atenas. The first thing I hear is "Dios le Bendiga!" (but really fast, so it sounds like one word :), which means "God Bless!" I pick this up quickly and begin meeting everyone with hugs and kisses. People are very friendly and welcoming! The entire church service was in Spanish, which I tried really hard to understand but only picked up a few words. The worship was lively and great for praticing my Spanish :) The sermon was filled with many verses from the Bible. There were about 30 people there and I can't wait to get better at Spanish so I can get to know them better!

Host Families

Ali, Brad, Josh, and I are going to be staying with host families. This is such a blessing as the eMi team here just moved to Costa Rica from Guatemala a few months ago. So, all the connections with people here are new and we are all learning together how things go here. We are all also learning a ton of Spanish so far, as all of the families speak only a little English. So we are trying our best.

My family is currently moving to a different house, so I will be staying with a couple of eMi leaders, John and Sharon, until we leave for Guatemala on Friday. John, Sharon, Tom, and Debbie are the eMi leaders of Costa Rica. They are all amazing people and I look forward to working and learning from all of them. Hector, a 22 year old from Guatemala is staying with John and Sharon also. He used to be an eMi volunteer and is attending university in Guatemala for Architecture, and John and Sharon are helping sponser Hector for school. Its been great getting to know him and practicing my spanish and his english too.

eMi Latina America Office

Since the eMi team has recently moved from Guatemala, the new office in Atenas is not set up. So starting Monday we opened all the boxes, step up desks, and painted the office to make it look more like a place we can work. The office is located above a bank and has three rooms and a big main room for all of us interns. There is a lot of natural light and is very homey. We are starting to become more and more like a family
everyday. Its great!

So, I've been trying to load up some pictures onto this blog, but the network here is so slow that I need to keep trying. So stay posted for pictures and more stories to come!!

Hasta Luego!

Orientation Goodness!

Orientation/training for eMi (Engineering Ministries International) started on Jan. 13th-19th in Colorado Springs, CO. There were 20 of us future interns and staff members who attended. All of us have the same passion for Jesus Christ and serving others around us. Oh and we are all some sort of engineer or architect.

The week's schedule was packed full of great teachings about culture training, learning about God's heart for missions and poverty, and great times of getting amped for what is to come in our journeys the next 6 months! I had a great time meeting and hanging out with new friends from all over the US and Canada. Its amazing how fast of a bond can be created when the commonality of Jesus Christ is in our lives!

Ali, Brad, Josh and I are all headed for the Costa Rica office. While the other interns are headed for the India, Uganda, Canada, or Colorado Springs offices. We are all ready to serve the people in third world countries using the skills we have learned in school and to reach out to the communities around us. Its all exciting stuff!!
(My team in Costa Rica- Josh, Ali, Me, Brad)

(Culture Training Greatness)

(eMi Office Ceiling)

Graduated college!! Wohoo!

I made it through my undergraduate education!! In December I graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in Architectural Engineering. Now is that a relief! I definitely loved college, pretty much every social part of it, but it sure does feel good to be done. I am very excited to learn and grow outside of the school setting and start applying some of what I have learned so far. My passion to serve in third world countries is about to be put in action as I will leave for Costa Rica in one week to volunteer with EMI (Engineering Ministries International)for 6 months! Excitement is definitely in the air!!


I would like to thank all of my family and friends for supporting and encouraging me all these years!!