Aqua, Achi, y Gloria al Dios

Bikes and Bacas. It’s not rare to see livestock roaming the streets. Don’t worry, they know their way home!
This is part of an old Sugar Cane milling operation that is now the main attraction at the regional museum.

This gringo was just kickin’ it there by the tower so I snapped a photo of him. He looked famous…?

Inside the museum are these thematic portraits that represent important aspects of each municipality. San Miguel Chicaj is both the name of a village and the governing municipality within which most of Desert Springs Church’s (DSC) partnership is based (so it’s a village name and county name). San Miguel is the “home base” of the mission to the Rabinal Achi in the area. The area is well known for the abundant corn, sugar cane, and hand crafted Achi weavings. San Miguel is also the home of a Wycliff (Bible Translator’s) couple, Rodrigo & Carol Barrera. They have spent the last 30 years of their lives in San Miguel translating the Bible into the Rabinal Achi language. DSC has come alongside the Barrera’s to support them in finishing the long and eternally important task of translating God’s word into the Achi language.

Chillin’ with the brothers. The gringo in the back is yours truly. The middle dude is a local of San Miguel named Byron. Byron and I spent a lot of time laughing and trying to cross our language barrier (we knew just enough of each other’s language to get really confused, ha!) And the third guy, in the striped shirt is Indy. He was part of our team. He is a native of Beliz, speaks fluent Spanish and English and has a heart to serve God by serving the “least of these.” Indy was our faithful interpreter for the trip. His heart to serve both the Achi and us as a team was seriously amazing. Both of these guys are brothers in Christ, and God really did reveal His glory while I spent time with them both.

There’s no way I could pass this picture up… This is David’s youngest daughter. She quite the little door keeper. David Ixopal is an Achi Pastor/Evangelist. David is a legend in the making. He has a passion to reach remote villages of Achi people for Christ. And his daughter is the cutest thing. Oh, by the way, she is the 10th of 11 children. Viva David!

Here is a photo of David’s sister. She is getting her game on with the traditional Achi weaving device.

Here is Senor S uavesito Byron again. This guy’s smile was one of the brightest I’ve seen. He has a real heart to serve God, and is studying to be a nurse. He gets on a bus every weekday morning around 5:30 to travel to the elementary school he teaches in a remote village (San Rafael). I was able to join him once, and this bus ride must have been the roughest, rockiest, least maintained road I’ve ever been on. So he rides for an hour or so only to hike another 30 minutes over to his school. He teaches 11-13 year olds for about 3 hours or so, and then heads back to San Miguel to help out at the Berrerra’s house with chores. On Saturdays he travels by bus for 2 hours to Coban where he attends university courses all day long. On Sunday he worships the Lord with his brother’s in Christ, and starts all over again on Monday.

These folks are Byron’s grandparents on his father’s side. His father is Achi. Here his grandmother is sporting the traditional head gear and hand woven Achi outfit. Very stylish in this part of the world J (Before the picture she scrambled to make the head dress look just right, I guess some things don’t change no matter where you go;).

This picture includes the same grandparents along with Byron’s parents (standing) and his Aunt and Uncle as well. Oh yeah, can you tell which one is the foreigner? (Hint: The one that glows;)

There’s that smile again. What a stud. The whole point of bringing me up to his grandpa’s house was to “show me the maiz.” Corn is the staple food for the Achi in this area. And you might think that the steep slopes would hinder the planting, tilling, and growth of such a crop….

…think again. Some of these places were difficult enough to hike to. I can’t imagine how rough the planting, tilling, and harvesting of the crops must be. Wow. Humbling for sure.

Ok, back to the Abuela’s pad for some fresh mango, sugar cane, and (something like a small pepper/lemon thing). Nothing like some undiscretionary eating of local foods to really give you a “feel” for the culture. Too bad that “feeling” gave me a few urgent visit’s to the restroom the next dayL I’m thankful we had a doctor on our team, and a faithful dosage of antibiotics to aide the digestive processes. ;)

This photo was shot from the top of Adon’s (second from left) house. We checked Adon’s recently dug well for coliform. The news wasn’t great for him. The whole area has real water/medical related problems from the lack of training/education. The problems range from basic sanitation to advanced medical diagnostics. God really arranged for great meeting times with key people who have a passion to bless the people and glorify God through it. I will be putting together a more detailed report of the water issues for our church soon. If you are interested in that please let me know…

Sunrise or Sunset? You be the judge. As long as you remember Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands!”

The Team: (From Left to Right) – Indy (interpreter and future community health extraordinaire), Ron (or Dr. Ronaldo, as the natives say. He is one of the Elders at DSC and former professor of Hebrew), David (30 + years of being tall and doing environmental/water engineering), Karen (our fearless, team leader and logistical queen), Cleent (the wanna be missionary stuck in an engineers body;), Alwyn (Pediatrician that can grow a mean salt & pepper goatee), and Christy Koil (pre-natal support counselor).

Hiking through the corn fields on our way to a medical clinic in a village called Chichalom.

This is the sole water source for the few hundred people of Chichalom. This spicket is gravity fed by a spring from high above the village (see back ground).

Here’s the spring, and if you look close enough, you can see an empty pesticide bottle between the boys legs.

Here is the only latrine in Chichalom. The owner was very proud that he had addressed the issue of removing human waste from near the home/food preparation. The only problem is, flushing the toilet with high volumes of water sends it running down the hill straight into the river for the next village to deal with. On a (back) side note, the basket behind them is full of mostly corn cobs. Hmmmm…. Let’s just say TP is not in abundant supply around here.

oooooooo. A sweet pic of the misty clouds floating through the valley. Guatemala is a beautiful, green place during the rainy season (now), but the locals say it turns mostly brown during the other 10 months of the year.

Back to hanging out with Byron. This is at his school on Friday just before the big soccer game.

The young Achi ninas got super embarrassed when I’d pull the camera up to my face to take a photo, so I snapped this one from the hip. Even the school girls in the smaller villages wear the more traditional Achi clothing.

In Guatemala, much like everywhere else in the world, soccer is a very big deal. Once a month, regular school is called off for the official soccer game between the 7th and 8th graders. And there are unofficial games going on daily any time they can get there hands on a ball. If it looks like the field has a dramatic slope, large rocks, and very little grass, that’s because it does. They play and love it just the same!

The little locos watching the soccer game from the sidelines. It was fun learning new Achi words and teaching them English words (all through choppy Spanish).

After a long day of riding off-road buses, watching soccer, and a three hour hike back, Byron and I hit the mat for a siesta! This is my sleeping praying mantis pose...



And with that I’ll put to rest this post. I’m so thankful to God and His people for providing me with this opportunity to peek into the partnership to spread God’s kingdom to the least and unreached. It really was challenging to see people living with much less material comfort, yet remaining joyfully faithful to God for His goodness in Christ. Their love for God and passion to make him known, even to unreached peoples of the world, was spiritually energizing. Please pray with us for the Achi church. For the finishing of the New Testament translation (about one year left), for the spreading of the Gospel far and wide in San Miguel Chicaj, for wisdom to serve the people in practical, sustainable ways, and for the mobilization of the Achi to pierce the darkest places where the name of Christ is yet to be worshiped. May the Lamb who was slain receive the rewards of His suffering; here, there, and everywhere.