Guatemala – Day 2

Today we spent most of our time at the art school, which is located right next to Carlos and Thelma’s home … half of us are staying here and the Bunso family is staying with the Kunkel’s (local missionary). Carlos and Thelma are the teacher’s at the art school and are self taught artist. Our team brought over supplies for the school and also taught them a new technique for jewelry making. They were very excited and eager to learn and found it very beneficial for other projects as well. There were two class sessions, morning and afternoon. In the afternoon session, we also assembled canvases. It was so cool to build a canvas from scratch. One of the other trade schools they have here is a carpentry school. So the guys were able to cut all the wood for the frames and nail them together. I learned how to measure and cut the canvas and many of us learned how to properly nail the canvas onto the frame. At the end of the second class one of the students shared her testimony and how thankful she was for the opportunity to be a part of the school. It was sweet to hear her heart and what a difference the school had made with her.

After the class we made two home visits. The first one was one of the young boys in the art school, Brian. He is fourteen years old. His father is an alcoholic and his mother works hard to provide for her children. For many years, Brian would work to help his mother but with the help from some of the teams he was able to go back to school as well as the art school. One of the teams that comes to Guatemala helped Brian’s mother, Irma, start her own tortilla stand. She has been working hard on it for two years now. Every day she walks a few miles up and down the mountain to get wood for her stand. Each bundle weighs about 50 pounds. It is incredible to hear the extreme measures the people have to go. The second home visit was Eric. Joey and Amanda, one of the couples on this trip, sponsor him. He is a student at the carpentry school. We were able to see some of the work he has made in his families home. As well as the bunk beds that were made from some of the leaders.

To wrap up the day, we had dinner and a small worship time at the Kunkel’s and had the opportunity to hear Carlos’ testimony. It was a sweet time and looking forward to tomorrow’s journey. 

Ps. All the photos I'm posting now are from my iPhone ... I failed and left my cord to my camera at home :( But when I return I'll post all the photos from my camera.