Guatemala!

Buenas from Guatemala City!

We´ve been here nearly 2 weeks now. We arrived in Guatemala city, driven by an extremely irritable mini bus driver who liked to mutter gringo insults under his breath. Now you might think that this is a bit harsh, and it is, because we could never have done anything to aggrevate him at all... Well... When we were about 20 mins into the journey, Guy and i realised that we had left something at the hotel. Not just an item of clothing or some possesion, it was a very part of ourselves. I am talking of course about our cowboy hats. So.. after about a minute of discussion - we decided to return for them (massive amount of credit goes to Faye who helped sway the minds of other less convinced team members that we should go back.) So when we arrived once again at the hotel i jumped out and ran in. Slyly, I had put my passport in my pocket so that when I came out again - I hid the cowboy hats as best as I could while proclaiming I had what I went in for and waved my passport about in front of me. Despite the laughter/disbelief from the team, the driver was still not amused... When we arrived in Guatemala City, the driver asked us for directions to the address we had given him. Our response - completely blank faces. So after another 30 mins of driving around the city we eventually saw Suzanne waving crazilly from infront of a house. We quickly unloaded the van and said goodbye to the driver (after he tried to scam some more money out of us for apparently having too many bags!)

We are now living in a student house with 6 other Guatemalan students near the University - Norberto, Julio César, Aldo, Sergio, Eder, Eduardo. Ouselves included there are 17 people in the house which is most definitely cosy. The lads we are living with are awesome and already feel like family - nothing like paint fights for breaking the ice! The house we´re living in is the headquarters of GEU, the Guatemalan Christian students union, it’s a space for all the students to use as well as providing living space for 6 students who wouldn´t otherwise be able to afford accommodation. The house is pretty old and a bit of a mess so our first project is renovation inside and outside, building a new outside roof ( which we´re pro´s at now) and sorting out the garden. Work on the house takes up 3 days of our week (tues-thur), Friday we´ll be helping the students with any outreach programs they have running in the morning and giving English lessons in the afternoon, Saturday we have another English lesson in the morning and sports outreach in the afternoon and Sunday is various church stuff.

Work on the house is going well, we have alreday repainted the main living area and the front courtyard which definately bright up the place. Unfortunately, some bright spark decided to pebble dash all the ceilings inside which makes painting them an absolute time consuming, arm aching nightmare. But despite that, we buckled down and the ceiling is now nice and white which brightens the room alot! Another task we are doing is sanding and repainting balcones, which are basically big metal grates which cover all the doors and windows. Scraping them of rust and sanding them so they are smooth is no easy task and takes alot of will power to stop yourself from going crazy... Painting them, however, is just as frustrating. Not the painting but the paint itself. We are using this black anti corrosive paint which when you get it on your skin, refuses to come off unless it is scrubbed with white spirit. It also means that cleaning the brushes and pots is not at all fun. Anyway - we are looking forward to getting started on the roof on tuesday and will continue with the painting and sanding nonetheless.

We have recently had the pleasure of a visit from Andy Lawrence (the Step Coordinator) It was good fun having him along for a few days, sharing stories and generally having a laugh. He very kindly shouted us all to a meal out at a nice restaurant (no idea where). Guy and I sufficiently topped up our protein intake by sharing a huge platter of meat (various steaks, sausages and chicken). For a couple of the nights, as there wasn´t enough room, all the lads came and slept over in the living room so Andy wasn´t on his own (he is scared of the dark...) Guy made him feel very comfortable by sharing a double lilo with him and holding his hand while he slept (well maybe not holding hands but they shared the lilo...) He and Suzanne led a devo on Wednesday evening, before going to bed and seeing him off at 6 on Thursday morning.

Devotions are going really well. Since we arrived here we had a mini series on Acts, before starting a series on Revelation on Thursday. It is going really well so far and im excited about the discussions we are going to have as we go further. We have just about reached the tricky stuff in chapters 4 and 5 but there is plenty more to come!!

We have 1 huge prayer point. Behind our garden there is another house occupied by someone who delights to play music ridiculously loud at very unearthly times of the night. He has positioned his speakers so that they are facing out of his windows at the back, basically at our house. Music sometimes starts at about 3-4am and continues for hours. It is also played most of the time during the day. This is obviously incredibly annoying. I have been woken up pretty much everynight by it and it is having a really bad effect on the team as a whole (health and attitudes). Last night in particular I got hardly any sleep, came downstairs ready to give an English lesson, only to be sent back to bed by Helen and Claire. Apparently my face was quite green and i couldn´t keep my eyes open. I feel much better now after sleeping most of the morning but this really cant go on. Please please please pray that this stops, im not sure what state we will be in if we have to put up with it for another 6 weeks.

There is probably more I could write but cant remember because i left my diary at home. If you guys fancy sending any post (maybe with chocolates...) then the address is:

Joel Pambakian
c/o GEU
11 Avenida 30-23,
zona 12,
colonia santa rosa II
Ciudad de GUatemala
GUATEMALA

Dios te bendiga…

Joel

Holiday time!

So...

On Monday 4th we woke up at 4am, and got to Headman Alas coach station for 4.45. That was when the tearful farewells began. Blanca, Pamela, Pastor Reny, DeeAnn and Sara all waved us goodbye as we left them for the last time. Blance obviously was especially emotional as we had all formed a very strong relationship with her and she with us. It was very hard and there were tears all round but eventually we got onto the coach and left. Bummer news was that Helen had been really ill the week before so was unable to come with us to Utila! It sucked big time so we were waving goodbye to her aswell as she stayed with the family for a few more days. We took a 7 hour coach journey to La Ceiba (which was fine because i slept for 4 hours of it) and then had to wait around in La Ceiba for a little bit before getting a 1 hour boat journey to Utila aka Paradise. Utila is one of the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras in the Carribean Sea. It was insanely beautiful. We arrived, however, hot, tired and burdened with all our bags, so we hurried to our hostel and with minimal stress got settled in to our rooms. We went out that night for a brief look around before com¡ng across something that God had specifically put on Utila for me. A curry restaurant. Oh Wow! It was incredible (we obviously went in there and then) as i hadnt had a curry for a couple of months. After that went back to our rooms and fell asleep pretty quickly despite the heat because we were all so shattered.

Tuesday morning we woke up late and had a lazy start. Then we made our way down to the beach. There was powdery white/golden sand with amazingly clear Carribean waters. It truely was paradise. We spent all afternoon there sunning ourselves, swimming, reading and generally chilling. Lunch was absolutely incredible. Faye and I went to a restaurant which was basically on the beach. We ordered our food (i had a huge plate of breaded shrimps with rice, salad and fried plantane) and sat eating it on a pier that stretched out over the sea, looking down into the water admiring the fish we could see swimming below us. It was fantastic! Easily the best restaurant i have been to in a long time. We went back to the house when it got dark, and then went out for dinner at a mexican place which was also really nice. The waiter was a super chilled Guy called Jean who came and chatted to us for a bit. Everyone on the Island was so chilled out - it was awesome. Its also alot safer than Tegucigalpa (although thats not hard...) which meant that we cold walk around at night!! That was really nice after not being able to do it for almost 2 months!

The beach - the hut is the place where we ate lunch.

Wednesday we woke up and had a devotion in the morning, before heading out to the same increible beach we were at the day before. Quite obviously, I went to the same restaurant, this time accompanied by Guy. Same amazing setting, but this time i was munching on a whole Red Snapper with all the same extra stuff. Again it was incredible... In the afternoon we hired bycicles and we went off on an absolutle epic cycle ride around Utila. We cycled for quite a while, until some of the girls decided to turn back. The lads and Heulwen decided to go on for a little bit longer. We saw some huge flat lava thingys which were basically a big expanse of smelly ooze. Not really sure how it was formed - some sort of volcanic activity but it was pretty cool. We also went through some really overgrown paths and eventually came across the airstrip! We went in and raced down the runway in true topgear style... When we got back to the hostel i realised that i was horrendously burnt under my knees which was incredibly whenever i walked or sat or generally moved. Lots and lots of aftersun later, 5 of us headed off to an Israeli restaurant for dinner (Guy, Matt, Rachel, Claire and I). It was a great meal and nice to chat in a smaller group over a meal aswell.

My Red Snapper!

Red Snapper is no more...

The bikes..

Overgrown paths...

By the sea.

Heulwen on the runway

Thursday was an incredible day. We woke up really early and went to Captain Morgans dive centre for 7am and got on the boat to the Cays (little islands about 20 mins away from Utila). Unfortunately insurance didnt cover scuba diving, but we had an incredible time snorkelling and kayaking around the islands and the reefs. The snorkelling was amazing - the water was so clear and the reefs were huge! At one point Heulwen and I saw a fish that was about 3 feet long and just under a foot wide, with these huge white eyes. It was easily the biggest fish ive ever seen while snorkelling. The main Cay was called Jewel Cay which was little islands joined together by a little bridge. Just next to that was Diamond Cay. We swam/kiaked there and had a game of rounders with a huge bit of bamboo and fallen coconuts. Then, Guy and I (who had snorkelled there) left on the kayaks (while whistling the Pirates of the Carribean music) leaving the others stranded on Diamond Cay. Then came along Luke on the 3rd Kyak, on a rescue mission. He tried to board my Kyak, which ended up capsizing. All good - except that I had mine and Guys flippers and masks on board. The flippers were fine cos they floated, however, the masks quickly sunk to the bottom of the sea. Quite amazingly, however, after a while, one of the dive masters who Luke had told what happened, turned up with 2 masks that he had found on the bottom of the sea. It was very fortunate and saved us lots of money! We had some lunch on Jewel cay (we bought all the Baleadas in the only shop on the Island that sold them!) before going out again for the final Kyak. We went for about 10 mins until we found a tiny little island with a house on it. To get to it we had to kyak through a little path in the reef surrounding the island. When we got on, we arrived onto the softest sand i have ever felt. We walked around it (no-one was at home fortunately) and sat on the pier for a bit. It was probably the best place to live i have ever seen. At about 3 the boat took us back to Utila and we chilled at the house and packed for the rest of the day. Packing is stressful at the best of times but i had Guy who was quite ill in my room asleep - so it was even harder!

Diamond Cay.

Snorkelling

Kyaking

Claire giving me a ride...

A few seconds later....!

Friday we travelled away from Utila (sad!) and back to La Ceiba. From La Ceiba we got the coach to Copan - to see the famous Mayan Ruins there. When we first arrived we were shattered so chilled at our hotel, but the next day we went out to see the ruins. They were incredible. Our tour guide, Oscar, spoke good english so we learnt alot - he also cracked some really poor jokes - about how these funky statues looked like Ricky Martin... We also saw Macaw parrots which live wild in the area. They were amazing too - bright red with blue and yellow and green (i think...) When we got back to the house it started raining! This was the first proper rain we had had all the time we had been in Honduras so it was quite welcome.

Wild Macaw Parrots

The ruins

Sunday we had a very lazy morning. We did nothing until 3pm when Luke, Guy, Kossy, Rachel, Heulwen and I set off to go horseriding! It was so much fun. We rode up a mountain where we could see the ruins in the forest, aswell as other amazing scenery. Despite it being my first time horseriding, i set of on a full on canter on my noble steed. She was actually called Princessa, but i renamed her to Shadowfax (obviously...) It was so much fun - Guy and I were wearing our cowboy hats so we fitted the bill perfectly... kinda... We went out for dinner that night and our legs got bitten like crazy under the table but it was awesome fun. Claire´s parents had donated some money for the team which we used for that meal - so thank you very much if you are reading!!

Horseriding - Luks horse was evil and tried to bite us all...

Princessa/Shadowfax

Heulwen and her horse

That was our holiday - it was absolutely immense, filled with many epic moments - none of which will be forgotten. After we were all ready to rock up for Guatemala to see what Latin Link had in store for us there....

Joel

Last week in Honduras

Well hello everybody. Its been ages i know (which means this is gonna be a hefty blog so i apologise...)

So... 2 weeks ago we were still in Honduras in our last week. We had slightly adjusted the timetable so that we didnt go to the school as usual on Tuesday or Wednesday, but instead spent the whole week working on the building site. On Monday and Tuesday (27th and 28th) we managed to finish off all the actual building work. This involved putting the finishing touches to both roofs that we were building. It was quite hard work - clambering over the roofs and hammering nails through metal sheets and into the wooden structure (obviously completely safely...) We were also using this big cutter to cut through the sheets of metal which was incredibly fun.

On Wednesday morning and Thursday, we made some banners to brighten up the place. They all portrayed different stories that we have acted out and taught the kids over the 7 weeks we were there. They look absokutely fantastic and really brightened up the place. It was so much fun actually painting them - mainly because just as much paint ended up on each of us. At one point my face was painted completely blue (with clown additions painted on by Guy) We also painted ´Club De Niños´ on a big piece of wood which also brightened it up.

The banners we painted.

Guys sign.

Angel wings on my back.

Wednesday afternoon was the last actual meeting of the kids club! It was very emotional... When we arrived we sat down and Pastor Reny said that this week we would just be watching as the kids performed for us. They sung us all the songs that we had taught them while we were there - Dios es Poderoso (Our God is so Big), Ser Valiente, Ser Fuerte (Be Bold, Be Strong), Marchamos en la luz de Dios (We are Marching in the light of God) and other ones that they knew. We also took some pictures of each of us with 2 kids who we will continue to specifically pray for. I had mine with a kid called Dimas who is an absolute legend - he is so passionate when he prays and sings, and Anthony who is also a legend who i have a great laugh with. They are both awesome kids.

Friday was a Holy Day so we had the day off. It was also Claire´s birthday which was awsome. We had 3 of Kossy´s frinds, David, James and Jonathon, staying with us because they were travelling up through South America and decided to come see us. They were all really cool - the lads went with them to play football at the Church for the last time! It was great fun as ever. We also went back to the Club on that day to show Suzanne the finished product. We then had to leave it for the last time :-( In The evening, DeeAnn and Sara came over for dinner. It was a really nice time (Pamela had cooked for us). Whenever it had been someones birthday here they had been given Honduras football shirts, so after the meal they presented those of us who didnt already have them with Honduras football shirts which are really cool. They also gave each one of us t-shirt´s that they had had made, with a big photo on the front of us with the kids that had been taken a couple of weeks ago at the kids club. Its really amazing and is a great memory! Those along with the army t-shirts they gave us means we all now have 3 really cool Honduras t-shirts!

Us in our kids club t-shirts.

On Saturday we went to a traditional village that had been preserved in its traditional way called the Valley de Angels. It was a really nice time to buy some souviners and have a look around. Then, on Sunday we had our last Church service at Rockafuerte... We all went up to the front and said a little bit about what God had done in each one of us and lots of thanks to everyone. After the service they put on a meal for us at the Church with loads of people that we had got to know well. It was incredible - but also hard saying goodbye to alot of people for the last time... Sunday eveing we managed to pack up all of our stuff and then spent as much time as possible with Blanca and the family.

Our experince in Honduras was absolutely incredible. I will never forget it or the people there that became so special to each one of us. We had some amazing times of worship, prayer and bible study and never forgot the reasons why we were there - to do the work that we all believed God had called us to. Its seems silly to try and sum it up in words or photos but the memories will always be there to remember the outstandingly fantastic time i had.

God Bless

Joel

Another blog coming with Holiday stuff...

Update

Im alive people but dont have time to write a blog now. Next time i will fill you in about our last week in Honduras (emotional with lots of tears) and about the week holiday that is coming to an end (its been incredible!)

Love to all.

God Bless.

Joel