Home again

Why hello! This entry is written from my home computer in Utah. Yep, you heard me. I am now home. This is not by choice, we were forced to leave the country due to series of circumstances that I suppose I should explain. But first, I wanted all of those who have given me funding expecting me to stay the whole 3 months that regardless of when we went home, I felt that this whole experience was a HUGE success- both for myself and the people we were there serving. Know that your money was well spent. So here we go, a rundown of why I am home:

It all started on July 4th. If you remember, I previously wrote on here saying that we had a little "blip with safety" one week. Well, it was a little more than a blip. Three of our girls were on a hike with a couple of our native friends (including Lencho if you remember me talking about him), when they were held up at gunpoint for about 3 hours. All of there things were taken, and a native girl not from our group (two groups of hikers got held up) was raped.

So for the next couple of weeks we have been working close with the police, private investigators, and detectives to try to find the people who did this. The problem was, by doing this we were (against our will I might add) put in a newspaper article telling our story along with the name of "HELPS International", Melissa Flores (our country director), Lencho, and a picture of the back of Sean and Melissa's head and the side of Lencho's face. Also, we were on the evening news and on the Internet, name included. Why is this a problem? Well, if the people we were up against were part of any sort of gang or organized crime (we didn't know at this point any of their information), then they could easily hunt us down and retaliate, probably with violence because we were trying to take action and stop their work. Obviously, our situation at this point was not good. Later, the investigators found two houses filled with guns and other tourist items, and then we found out two cops were shot on the same volcano with another group of tourists.

(From this point I will be quoting from my journal to make things easier, so sorry if it doesn't make complete sense. This was written on Wednesday the 22nd, the day we found out we were leaving)

"Well... here we go. Tonight we found out we are leaving, all of us, in the next 2-3 days. Oh man, I don't even know where to begin or what to say. Remember how I said there was a shooting and two cops were injured? Here's what happened. A group of tourists were hiking up Acatenango (the volcano) and brought security guards as an extra protection. One of the tourists got sick, and the cops brought the tourist down to the bottom. On their way back, they (the cops) were ambushed, shot, and left in critical condition. Why was this done? Well, remember how I also said they raided some houses and found two houses filled with guns? That's not all. Those two houses were also filled to the brim with stolen goods: 30 or so backpacks, ipods, cameras, phones, video cameras, tents, even women's clothing. They took one man into custody who they think is related to our shooting as well as these robbings. So what we think is that the shootings of the cops on the mountains this weekend was retaliation from those associated with the robbings, the man in custody, and the raided houses.

"You see, it turns out this community is known for its crime- especially dealing with robbings. Its not just a couple of people, its the whole community we are dealing with. Its not that all of them are part of the gang doing the actual robbings, they fight as a means for the community to protect their brothers and friends. They protect/stick up for each other, and if anyone wants to 'mess' shall we say with one member of the community, the rest retaliate. Its all a matter of a twisted sense of pride.

"Also, it turns out that the man who is in custody is the son of the man we worked directly with for our reforestation and eco-tourism projects. Meaning that said father knows who we are, what we do, and our contact information dealing with HELP. Now lets put that with the fact that HELP was plastered over the newspaper, internet, and TV as the source of motivation behind the police raids against this community. Bad combination. What this means is that now we have men who may or may not be part of an organized crime association, who know all our information and are angry and clearly not afraid to use physical force and violence to get their revenge, who would be more than happy to find the people behind the police investigations and essentially 'eliminate the problem'. Yep. As in not good.

"On top of this, Sean (our country director) has received two phone calls from said father asking for personal information, alluding to certain suspicions and trying to get the volunteer's and Melissa's information. Then, two separate men have contacted Lencho and his friend with threats from this community. Now lets add it all up.

"Angry criminals who are in essence "above the law" (They've been doing this for years and no one's been able to stop them) + Police chasing after them making them more angry = retaliation from criminals to show whose boss + information on who started the whole thing + revenge and pride = trying to find people so that they can then retaliate with physical force = us in danger!

"So this evening we had a meeting where we were told all this information and that the US embassy, HELP's board, and BYU all unanimously agreed we have to leave the country ASAP. So I called tonight and got my flight changed to Friday noon.

"Wow. So there's the update. As for me? I don't even know what to think. Am I done here? No. Not even close. Have I done all that I can? No. Did I feel like I had so much more to give, especially since I am finally starting to get a hold of things? Yes. Was I excited to stay the next couple of weeks? More than I can describe. Overall, I'm not ready to go. I don't want to go. I LOVE it here times a million. I've been though SO much, and have invested so much of myself into this experience that it kills me to leave. I LOVE IT HERE! Man, this is crazy. I can't believe how fare I've come and grown!

"But on the other hand (and I told this to our group tonight full-heartedly in my debate mode), our purpose here is to make a difference. We came to life people out of their current circumstances, change mindsets, help eliminate poverty, and all in all change lives. I honestly believe that by us being here, taking our story to the law, demanding justice on the injustice of these circumstances, and by refusing to let things like this happen, we are making perhaps the single biggest impact we ever could have other wise. These people have been doing things like this for years, and little has been done to stop them. They are in essence above the law, where both native citizens and law enforcement alike are too afraid/not powerful enough to stop anything. But by us being here, going through what we did, and refusing to let evil and unjust men continue to harm innocent people, we could be making a push and effort that is needed to at least start the chain for change. By us doing this, we ARE making a HUGE difference in these people's lives! We are fulfilling all of our goals we started out with at a higher, more powerful political level than we ever could dream of, and by us leaving and tearing down our dreams, we can in return build up a community free from crime, and maybe stop this from happening to at least one person. By us leaving, we save that person. Isn't it worth it for that? Didn't we make a difference in at least their life? This is service and sacrifice on our parts, and if it is what it takes, I'll be the first person on that plane going home to fight for this cause.

"And there's my soap box on the matter. Who knows what's going to happen. Who knows what I'm going to do when I get home. Who knows where my life will lead me next. But what I do know is that god loves me, and he will provide no matter what comes my way. All I need to do is trust in his love, and have the faith to make the best of whatever situation I may be in."


And that is my journal entry on the matter. I thought that it explained everything better than I could now. So Thursday we closed down all of our projects, and Friday I came home. Thus ends my adventure to Guatemala. I do want to thank everyone for your support. Thank you for all of you who sent me money and helped fund this amazing work. I know that I am not done. This trip has taught me SO much, and was truly a life changing experience.

On a much lighter note, now that I am home, I can easily down load pictures. So enjoy!



My GCP orphans.














This man was cooking tortillas and meat on the hot rocks of a volcano. How cool!









Lake Atitlan... Beautiful!

The Move

Buenos Tarde y'all! I know it wasn´t that long ago since I last updated my life here, but there is just so much going on I couldn´t resist writing again (which is a huge change from last time, funny how that all works)! This weekend, we moved towns! Here's what happened. Around Thursday night we had a surprise meeting at about 9 pm, where we were told that Saturday we would be moving to a new town 30-45 minutes away from where we currently live. And that´s that! We all packed up Friday, and were out at 5 am the next morning! Crazy eh? Its all just for safety precautions, we don´t feel very comfortable being in the same spot for more than a couple of months. So now we get to commute every morning (barf!), but the town we live in now is absolutely adorable! The people are a little more used to us gringos so there are a lot less cat calls which is SO refreshing, and the community is great and welcoming. And then there is our house. Oh our house! It is so cute! We honestly live in the lap of luxury compared to the crap shack we lived in before. This new place has a stove, microwave, AND a fridge!! I'm telling you, its nice. Also, I upgrated from a bunk bed to a single, which is heavenly. All in all, I'm feeling quite good about the move.

Today was a really good day. We went to church to the local ward/branch (not sure which it is), and the people practically begged us after to hold english classes and build adobe stoves with them. It was a real treat to be asked for help rather than us doing the asking. We also found an empty field close by that we would like to change into a soccer field. Oh the possibilities are endless! Its going to be interesting over the next while, seeing as how we are going down from 18 volunteers to 11. We'll have our hands full to say the least!

Really though, I know I say this a lot, but I truly love it here. Every day as I walk around I think to myself "I am in the most beautiful place in the world!" I love the people, I love the friends I've made, I love the relationship I've grown with my god, and I love the new understanding and perspective on life I've gained. I had no idea I was going to grow this much being here, but I have. I am continually learning about the concept of love, and how this church is the gospel of love, truth, and the only way to true joy. I never comprehended the love that God has for his children until I came here, and I know that I still have a lot to learn. I feel his love on a daily basis, and its overwhelming (in a good way). I'm understanding my potential and purpose, and am coming closer to the "true me". Man this is great! Anyway, thanks again for the prayers and support, this is a great work! And I'll get pics up soon, don´t worry :)

More of the same

Buenas! You know, as time continues, I find that everytime I write on here I feel like I am just repeating myself. Ah well, here I go again! Life is wonderful as always. This week was a success, I got a lot done, and had a few laughs along the way. Man, I've been sitting here for about five minutes now trying to think of something fun and creative to write, but I'm drawing an absolute blank! Really everything is just the same as before. I am doing GCP orphanage work, teaching english, building stoves, and teaching art at Madre Hogar. I suppose the biggest news is that we have 5 people leaving this upcoming Tuesday, including my co project lead who goes with my to everything. I have no idea what's going to happen, but I'm pretty sure some of my projects are going to be shut down or at least cut down. I'll probably have to pick something else up, which means that gardening may be coming back into the picture.

In other news, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be leaving here a week earlier than I originally thought. If I leave the day I was originally planning, then that gives me about 3 days to get home, find a job, and get situated before school starts. Leaving earlier will give me more time to take care of important things I need to, and I'm feeling good about the decision.

I don't really have much more to say, so I'll just download some more pictures! Except that the internet connection isn't working. I'm sorry! I'll try later.

One month anniversary, and to celebrate... Pictures!!!

Guess what!? I finally can put some pictures up! This is quite the day. I guess first I´ll give some updates for this week. Monday and Wednesday was the usual GCP, Madre Hogar, and Sara Alto work with the kids, which I love more and more everyday! Tuesday marked my official first day sick, where I woke up feeling horribly sick and spent the majority of the day in the bathroom if you know what I mean. Luckily it was only a one day thing, so Wednesday I went straight back to work. Thursday involved more GCP and a lot of planning meetings and paperwork, but it was a good day none the less. Let me see... Anything else? We had one member of our team leave this week, so Monday night we had a huge farewell dinner party at a good friends house (Lencho! He rocks!). So now instead of the usual 19 people in our 5 bedroom house, we have 18. Its quite the fit!

As for me, things are going much smoother. I´m officially LOVING Guatemala! I love the people, the food, the sights, and even the horrible smells. Its growing on me to say the least. I feel like I am connecting to both my God and my spirit more than ever, and am excited to impliment the lessons I´ve learned into every day life. Anyway, enjoy the pics!

These are the kids from the Enlgish class we teach out at Sara Alto. Cute eh?

This is a picture of us working on site building Adobe Stoves. I´d like to make note of the height difference between me and the people in front of me. We are all standing, ever single one of us.

On the way to one of our Vacation spots, they shoved all of us standing into the back of a pickup truck for about 1/2 hour on bumpy, dirt roads. Travel Guatemalan style!

This in one of our art projects at GCP. We made Mayan head dresses out of construction paper to celebrate our trip to Tikal the weekend before.

Oh yes, our hike to Pakaya. This part was the ugly ¨mines of Moria¨part, but the rest was GORGEOUS! At the top was live, flowing lava.

Lets not forget our trip to Tikal! Beautful!

Finally, this is our FAVORITE hang out place, the internet cafe owned by Lencho, the coolest guy I´ve ever met. This is all of our group together for the last time.

Another week come and gone. I can't believe it! This week will mark my one-month aniversary. Just 1 and a half left! Strange. This week went really well. I have set projects that I am in charge of, and it feels great. I feel like I have a place and purpose here, and continually hope I am actually making a difference (I'd say so... but lets not brag about it :) ). I am officially teaching after school English classes at a tiny village called Sera Alto which is SO fun, I'm running art projects at the HIV orphanage Madre Hogar, work with theater work, English, and Art at GCP, and this week am starting up square foot family gardening (hopefully!). Not too shabby, eh? I love these people to say the least! I'm also happy I am here with the program I am with, because I honestly don't know if I could handle doing the same thing day after day after day. With HELP, I get to do different projects nearly every day, yet still have set projects so we get to know the individual people and see changes in their lives. I would go crazy if I only worked in one orphanage or one organization, and would probably get sick of all the kids. But this way, we can just leave when we reach our limit and come back refreshed and rejuvinated. Its quite nice.

Along with all of this, Fridays are reserved for group projects with all of the volunteers from HELP, so that we can interact with eachother more and get a small change of scene. This week we worked with Habitat again, but it was a different house this time. I liked it a lot because it was the first day of work, so there was a lot to do to get things ready. We tore down a brick wall, leveled the dirt, and dug trenches for the foundation. Man, this type of work is fulfilling!

As for this weekend, there were all sorts of adventures. I went with a couple of people to Antigua for a day trip Saturday, and boughyt some pretty fun souvenirs, including a beautiful oil painting that cost about $22 in American money. I got the price from Q350 to Q180, so I was quite proud of my purchase.

In other news, we had a little blip with safety this week. Three of our girls got their money stolen on a Volcano hike this weekend, so that was pretty scary. But we know for a fact that they were protected from the big man upstairs. I personally feel that love and protection everyday being here. I feel everyone's prayers for me, and am so grateful for them. I know that as I teach and protect God's children, he in return will protect me. Know that we do everything in our power to keep our group safe, and that I personally feel safe and secure. Don't worry too much :)

That's about it for this week. On a side note I'll have you all know that I was going to download some pictures today, but my memory card didn't fit into the card reader. But I tried! Maybe I'll get those up sometime this week...

The bug bites continue

Here we are, another week come and come in the land of Guatemala. This week went by very quick, and we got a lot accomplished despite the fact that it has rained everyday without fail. I didn't know it was possible to rain this much. I have been proven wrong.

I'm starting to really get the hang of things here. I've finally found some projects that I really enjoy, and feel like I am starting to make a difference (or at least I'm feeling like I'm not just a burden anymore, which is great). My favorite is when I get to interact and talk with the people here, rather than just at them. I am working on starting up a family gardening program with an organization here, where I will go out to surrounding villages to teach about square foot gardening (a type of gardening that saves time, money, water, and space) and nutrition to the women of the community. It will take a while to get set up, but I think it will be really fun and make a lasting impact. I've also done more work with theater work with the orphans, have done a little with adove stove building, and this week I've started to teach english and art classes in a HIV orphanage and with community children. Fun huh?? I've realized more and more that the solution to the world's problems comes through a good education, and its funny to think that I am the teacher making this change when I feel like I know so little.

As for free time, this week was incredible. We took a vacation day Friday, drove 7 or so hours to a beautiful place called Semuk Champe (sp?), were we played in these crystal, clear blue natural water pools in the middle of the rain forest. The next day we drove a couple more hours and went zip lining through the rainforest for an hour and a half or so. Finally on Sunday we spent the day in Tikal, one of the worlds largest Mayan ruin community. It was AMAZING! I can't even begin to describe how astounding it was. Perhaps when I finally bring my camera in I'll put the pictures up. I really need to get cracking on that one. Until next time!

The rain in spain may flow mainly in the plains, but in Guate, the rain is just EVERYWHERE

Buenos dias!

Life in Guatemala is continuing onward. This week was productive I'd say. I am still trying to get the hang of things and figure out what my nitch here will be. But I think I am getting a pretty good idea. I don't have much time, so I'll just give a quite day by day run through.

Monday: I worked in the morning with Habitat on the same house (its slowly but surely coming along), and in the afternoon I went with a Japanese lady named Kumi to help a family plant a garden so that they could have an extra source of income and nutrition.

Tuesday: We traveled about an hour away to a small highland village to check out an organization to see if we'd like to work with them. The organization is called SHARE (based out of the US), and they work with nutrition, medical clinics, education, and distribution of food. We sat in on a nutrition lesson about child health being taught to some native women. You wouldn't believe the problem they have. The women start feeding their babies real food when they are about 3 months old, and start giving them bottles of coke and coffee instead of breast milk. So this program teaches what and when to feed your babies to try to change the mindset.

Wednesday: I worked again with Habitat (we got rained out about two hours into it), and then I left with Kumi again to distribute vegetable starts to a farm literally in the middle of nowhere. We drove about a half an hour out to the edge of a mountain, and then hiked an hour in on this tiny trail uphill the entire way to a tiny farm, carrying bags of supplies. Mind you that this was all in the POURING rain. We then spend the next couple of hours planting in the POURING rain, and then walked back in the POURING rain. It was great!! I honestly loved every second of it. The location we were at was probably the most beatiful place I have ever seen, and the people were so wonderful. They tried to teach us their native Mayan language, and we tried to teach them English. It was a blast.

Thursday: I spent all day in the local orphanage (GCP- Guatemala Children's Project) teaching theater for therapuetic treatment. I LOVED it there. The kids are so willing to love, and don't care in the least I don't speak their language. They have been through horrible things, and thrist for a strong foundation of structure and love. The amazing thing about this orphanage is it is LDS run, so the kids all learn the gospel while they are their. It gives new hope and faith, and truly changes lives. The goal of the orphanage is to reunite the children with family (usually aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc), and they have a HUGE success rate. They work to stablize the families, and usually the gospel is brought it. This orphanage does SO much good! Now for the bad news. Their sponsers have decided to stop funding at the end of this month. This means that unless they find someone else to give funding, the orphanage will be shut down. It absolutely breaks my heart! I don't even want to think of what this will do to the kids.

Anyway, that is it for this week! I must head. Thanks again for the support!