October 23rd 2011

And the shower is as completed as it will get before the team arrives but its ready to go and hot water is flowing. I will have plastering, painting, more tiles, and electrical work to do. That last two days we installed the last of the tile, grouted, and connected the electric water heater. Check out the added pictures.

October 21st 2011

The last two days I have been installing the ceramic tiles. After gluing like 5 tiles I had a knock on our door and two youth from the church came by to offer help while learning to speak English. My new help was a gift heaven because I was behind on the project and didn’t think I could get it done in time for Monday when the team from Canada arrives. Everything though is looking good. Check out the new pics!

October 19th 2011

Today I finished leveling the walls. Took almost the whole day. Then I setup everything so that I can begin tiling firth thing tomorrow morning.  I actually made 2 cuts already. Check out the new pics!

October 18th 2011

I have posted in a few days but work has still been happening. Today I installed a new 12 breaker electrical box. I am already using 9 breakers with out adding any new wires because the setup before was doubled or tripled up on one breaker and since the breaker would trip they just changed it to either a 30amp or 4amp breaker even though the wire was still only 12awg. Not the safest setup however unlike lots of other people we know here, we didn’t blow anything; yet. I also installed the new plumbing and built the rest of the new diving wall between the shower the future sink. Check out the pictures to see the updates.

October 15th 2011

Well today I started working on the bathroom again. I missed a day because I had to go get the car serviced which took 6 hours. I finished the ceiling which I am so relieved because of the pain it caused in my neck from looking up the whole time. The next step is to finish flattening the walls so that I can put tiles on them. Check out the pics from today.

October 13th 2011

Today I worked on the ceiling and running a new conduit line for the electric water heater we plan to install. Plastering a ceiling is not fun however the finished product is rewarding. Ashley was also busy working on some decorations and a frame for our new mirror. Check out the pictures.

October 12th 2011

So we have team from Canada coming on October 24th and well I have taken on the job of renovated one of our bathrooms; well at least the shower anyways to that our guests will have a place to shower that will have an instant hot water heater installed. I have basically 13 days to complete it. Let us see if I can get it done in time. I will be posting pictures of my progress!

October 1st, 2011 we celebrated KIDS DAY… what’s that you say!? Well, like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, here in Guatemala, and other countries around the world, they also have Kid’s Day. It’s a day to honor the children in Guatemala.

Dan and I had the pleasure of celebrating with the children from our street. We took them to a local celebration, at the Villa Nueva Plaza. There was fun, food and games for all the kids. Afterwards we invited all our little friends and their mama’s over for PIZZA!!! The kids just love pizza, and it’s not something they get very often, if at all. We ordered 12 pizza’s, and they were all gone within the hour.

We love the children and families we’ve had the pleasure to become friends with, we were excited and honored to be able to celebrate Kids Day with them!

Check out this fun video from our celebration

http://animoto.com/play/saj0fLDcn1pRGBuih00zzg#

Thanks for your prayers and SUPPORT… without you, we would not be able to touch the lives we are touching here in Guatemala.

BLESS YA,
Dan and Ashley

Help support us this holiday season by purchasing a 2012 calendar filled with lots of pictures from the past year in Guatemala. Funds are going to help us finish renovating our home with a kitchen and living room.

Cost is $75 for the first two and $65 each after the third. They make wonderful holiday gifts!

Size: 13×10.4 inches

Quantity

1 Calendar $75.00 2 Calendars $150.00 3 Calendars $215.00 4 Calendars $280.00 5 Calendars $345.00

Tonight Dan taught Albert how to fry eggs. Albert is a 12 year old orphan who lives on our street. We went outside to round up some kids for soccer. It was rainy and cold, and there was Albert wondering the street. Dan invited him in for some food, and taught him how to make it too!!!!

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

We may not be able to change the world, but we can sure try, one life at a time.

** CHECK OUT THE VIDEO … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2pQQk-Dh-E

On September 14th, people from all over the country begin a marathon to go another part of the country to get the light for the Independence Torch in their communities. There are many places that have a torch where other people from other towns can light their torch to bring back to their own communities. The annual running of the torch became a tradition 40 years ago, after the Pan-American Highway was completed. (It took the original message bearers a month to bring the word of independence through the jungles of Central America to Costa Rica, which was deeply divided on the sovereignty issue at the time.)

Yesterday we took a group from our street and an unlit torch. We drove to Antigua with our Guatemalan flags and excitement. Once we got to Antigua us runners got out of the van, found a place to light our torch, and we began to run. We ran from right outside Antigua to right outside Villa Nueva. We ended up running for a little under 3 hours, most of it up hill.

As each group of runners and vehicles were passing, the onlookers were grabbing cups, buckets, hoses and whatever they could get their hands on to soak them with water. There were people on top of their roofs waiting with buckets of water to soak us. People had whistles, horns, flags, banners, torches. Everyone was shouting and cheering.

It was an overall amazing experience. We felt so blessed to be able to celebrate freedom with some of our friends from Guatemala. And what a better way then to RUN!!!!

**CHECK OUT A VIDEO FROM THIS EVENT … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K_PzP5CnGg

Blessings,

Dan and Ashley

Since I come to live in Guatemala I have taken up a lot of what I call hobbies. My hobbies include but are not limited to carpentry, electrical, cementing, video making, plumbing, etc.

We have been playing soccer in our gym for months now but it has slowly been falling apart. The floor was in bad shape and it was just getting worse.  In Febuary of 2011, a local university (Colegio Vida) was looking to do a community project in which they looked at 7 different community projects including 2 other orphanages in the area. The group lead by Professor Gustavo Morales came over and interviewed us and looked at all the needs throughout the home. After consulting with his class they made the decision and really felt a desire in there hearts to work with us. They decided to fix up our gym so that the kids will always have great place to play. Here are some pictures that show the progress and the ceremony of them presenting us with the finish project. Great relationships have been made and we look forward to working with them in the future!

The Villa Nueva, Guatemala Walk For G.O.D. (Guatemalan Orphan Destiny) took place on May 20th 2011. Many churches and schools in the area walked the streets to help raise money for Casa de Alabbanza & Casa Esperanza Children’s Home. They walked from the Plaza of Villa Nueva to the New Market.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27120892@N04/sets/72157626642494405/show

We are spending 3 days at another mission in Guatemala named Eagle’s Nest. It gets its name because of its location is high up in the mountains on the edge of a cliff overlooking the city of Panajachel & Lake Atitlan. Its been so foggy so I haven’t been able to get any really good clear pictures but check out what I was able to get. I also threw in a picture of our new friend Pedro who is a missionary here on the base at Eagles Nest.

La Ruta del Yalu is located 45 minutes from Antigua or just 15 minutes from San Lucas. Its an amazing beautiful farm with lots to see and do. You can enjoy horseback riding, ecological trails, trout fishing, coffee tours, camping, berry picking, a dairy farm tour, canopy zip lines, bike tours, and a restaurant. Book a missions trip today and discover the beauty and adventure of Guatemala!

Geographic Coordinates: 14.701712,-90.74854

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