Less than 6 weeks

Time seems to have passed by so quickly. It seems like yesterday that we started planning for our trip to Guatemala but it has been a year. Now as we finalize our plans, we are just weeks away from traveling. Our church is sponsoring 7 Onil stoves to be installed while we are in Panajachel. 7 families will receive stoves, and have a safer means of cooking. Our hotel reservations are being firmed up this week. Our plans in place, we are just counting the days to departure.

Thank all of you who have helped in any way, through prayer, purchasing an item from our fundraiser or donating to the purchase of the stoves. Larry and I feel blessed to be given this opportunity and are grateful for the support of our Shiloh Church family.

Less than 3 months

It is hard to believe that in less than 3 months we will be boarding a plane and heading to Panajachel. Time has really flown since we started planning our mission project. Now we are waiting to find out how many stoves our Church Missions Committee and Church family are going to sponsor, so we can pass the info on to Mayan Families. That way they can let the company who produces the Onil stoves how many they will need.

Can hardly believe that it will be March before we know it. We are very excited to be blessed with the opportunity to give do something to give back to such a beautiful country and it's people.

Merry Christmas

Right now we are just counting down the weeks until we depart for Guatemala. Airfare purchased, reservations and transportation arranged. So all the things that can be done, to this point are done.

With that said, I just wanted to wish every one a Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

Feliz Navidad, Prospero Ano y Felicidades!

Muchas gracias every one for your continued support!

Fundraiser wrap up

We had a lot of fun at the Fall Festival. Daniel really enjoyed all the games. As for our fundraiser; we did pretty well. With the sales from the September event and Fall Festival, I would have to say we had a pretty successful fundraiser. It went better than we had thought.

I just finished boxing the leftover items and getting them shipped back to Melinda at Heart of the Sky. Thank you Melinda for working with us on this.

I can hardly believe just a little over 4 months we will be on our way to Guatemala. Time seems to have really flown by. As the time for our departure grows closer, I hope to have more details to share.

I want to send out a big Thank You to all who have supported us through our fundraiser. Also a Thank You to those who have supported us through prayer.

Fall Festival- coming soon

Well the hacky sacks and chocolate bars arrived this week. We are very excited about getting to set up a table at the Fall Festival. Thanks Anita and Ramona! We also extended the internet sales fundraiser for a couple of weeks. So you can still go online and shop at www.heartoftheskyfairtrade.com. Don't forget, if you decide to make a purchase, use our promo code 'Shiloh UMC' so our fundraiser gets credit. Just type the promo code into the promo box on the check out page.

As far the trip planning goes, we are in process of trying to decide on a place to spend the night in Chicago before our early morning flight on the 24th.

Thanks to everyone who has given us their support!!

Slowly progressing

Not a whole lot new to tell. We did pretty good with the fundraiser, so far. We will have a table at the Fall Festival, also. I'm expecting to receive some chocolates and hacky sacks, to add to our crafts, to sell then. The online sales is still going on, you have until Oct. 11th to check out the stuff online and use our 'promo code.'

Last week and Monday, was spent busily searching for the best airfare and getting that locked in. I'm happy to say that we got a really good rate on airfare and will be flying out of Chicago on March 24th to Guatemala. Trent at Velocity Tours has helped us so much in getting our itinerary set. We have rooms being reserved in Panajachel and Guatemala City. The only thing we have left to get set is a room, for the night before our flight out, in Chicago. Yes, we will be driving to Chicago, the airport there had the best deal on airfare, less than half the cost of the other airports we checked.

Hope to see lots of you at the Fall Festival.

Updates

We are still working out details for our stay in Panajachel. I spent part of the week looking for answers to a question that was asked of me, regarding concern over mosquitoes. I am happy to report, that after talking with several people and finally talking to the right person, I was told there is no problem with mosquitoes in the Highland area, where we will be traveling. The only time this may be an issue is during the rainy/wet season. There are so many choices but we have narrowed our search for lodging down to two places. The details are really starting to come together.

Just a reminder; don't forget to check out www.heartoftheskyfairtrade.com , our online fundraiser is still going on. If you make a purchase, please use our 'promo code' Shiloh UMC, so that it will go towards our fundraiser.

Thank you for all your support through prayer, donation or purchase from the fundraiser!

Good day

Our fundraiser was on Sunday, despite the weather went pretty well. We will be setting up a table at the Fall Festival, so I will have the stuff available over the next several weeks, if any one would like to look. You can contact me through my e-mail address, listed on the blog. The online sales fundraiser will continue for the next four weeks so you can also go online and check things out. For information on where to go and how to make a purchase, that is a part of our fundraiser see the previous blog post.

Now we continue with the planning for our lodging, airfare, work and all the little details that need worked out. So we continue to move forward little by little getting every thing set for our mission trip. Thank you to every one who made a purchase or said a prayer of support during our fundraiser on Sunday.

Fundraiser

I can hardly believe that it is finally here. Our fundraiser begins in 2 days. For those online shoppers, on Sunday, you can go to http://www.heartoftheskyfairtrade.com/, use our 'Promo Code' at check out so that they know it is for our fundraiser. Our 'Promo Code' is Shiloh UMC.

Those who will be attending service and/ or the Pork Chop dinner, we will be setting up tables for our Guatemalan Craft sale just outside the dining area. Hope you come and check out the beautiful items, we will have to display and sell.

Pictures of the Guatemalan Crafts

Pictures of some of the beautiful

Guatemalan crafts that arrived

yesterday

There wasn't enough space on the bed

for them all.

Guatemalan Crafts have arrived

I know I posted in an earlier post that our Guatemalan Craft Fundraiser will be on September 14th. We will also be having an online sales fundraiser, starting that same day and running for 4 weeks. Just wanted to take time to let everyone know that our Guatemalan crafts have arrived. The UPS guy delivered our box, yesterday. Checking out all the items in the box, seemed to make our upcoming Mission trip more real. We've been planning and planning but it has been just that a plan. Now that we are preparing for the fundraiser, we are doing and planning, so it seems more of a reality. Sorry if it seems I'm rambling.

I tried to post a couple of pictures but there seems to be some sort of technical problem. So I will try to post them a little later.

Here's the latest

As I posted in my last post, we are going to be having a fundraiser, selling Fair Trade Guatemalan Crafts, on September 14th, after the 10:30am church service. There will also be a Pork Chop dinner going on to raise money for Missions. For those who are unable to attend our fundraisers, we are also having an online sales fundraiser.
The online fundraiser and the crafts I have to sell are from Heart of the Sky Fair Trade. In order to make an online purchase and it benefit our project, you can go to: http://www.heartoftheskyfairtrade.com/, shop and select you purchase. Then go to the check out page, there you will see a box that says 'Promo Code.' In that box you can type 'Shiloh UMC.' That will let Melinda at Heart of the Sky know that the purchase is for our fundraiser and she will set aside a precentage of the sale for us. The online sales will also start on September 14th, at that time the 'Promo Code' will be effective for 4 weeks.

In other mission related news; we are busily working on getting the final details of our travel set and hope to have our airfare and lodging finalized in the coming weeks. Larry and I are so excited to be blessed with the opportunity to go to Guatemala. As we finalize details I will be sure to post.

Review

Yesterday someone asked about when we were planning to travel. Not sure if I ever really posted a definite date. At this present time, our hope is to depart from the U. S. for Guatemala on March 24th and return on the 29th. We will be having a fundraiser, selling Fair Trade Guatemalan Crafts on September 14th, in conjunction with a Pork Chop Dinner that is being held at Shiloh, to raise money for Missions. The dinner will start around 11:30 with carry out orders starting at 11am, at least that is what I think I remember reading. Along with our Guatemalan Craft sales that day we will also be having an online sales through the site that is supply the Guatemalan crafts. The online sales will begin on September 14th, as well, and run for a month. We will be receiving a promo code, to use so that they know the sales are for our group. As of yet I have not received the info on the promo code but will pass it along as soon as I have it. Our hope is that God's blessing will be on this fundraising event and we will be able to raise enough money to purchase at least 2 or 3 onil stoves for families in Panajachel/Highland area.

Moving along

Things are moving along.  We have a date set for our fundraiser.  It will be on Sept. 14th.  I have been in touch with the person providing our fundraising items to sell and we are all set to receive our box early next month.  We are also planning on doing internet sales with this same group.  I will post our promotion code, as soon as I know it but it won't be effective until Sept. 14th.  Melinda, at Heart of the Sky Fair Trade, has been wonderful in answering our questions and helping us get things set up for our fundraiser.  Has more details are worked out I will update here.  I'm am so excited and looking forward to the fundraiser.  I am praying that it will be successful and we will be able to provide onil stoves to at least 3 Guatemalan families.  

Still working on the details

As many may know there are lots of details to work out, when planning a fundraiser or anything. I haven't posted a lot of details regarding the fundraiser, in case it all falls through. So, we had a date, which received approval from all required persons. But the date didn't work for the persons putting on the dinner. So, now we will shoot for September or October. Hopefully we will have a set date, for the fundraiser, soon and I can post the details.
This weekend was a great refresher for me, we went to our adoptions agency's annual Celebration of Children Reunion Picnic. The joy and noise, was fabulous, from all the children. It was just a great reminder for me, that this mission, I feel called to, will hopefully help many families and their children.
Sorry for getting off track. There are so many families around the world in need. As many know, Guatemala captured my heart because of my son and the people we met while there. I pray for the people of Guatemala everyday. Though there is more to say, I will end here, not to leave my thought open ended but because I'm having trouble putting into words what it is I wanted to say.

General

We are still awaiting the final go ahead for our fundraiser, but I just wanted to post some of my thoughts. With each day, I feel more excited about our upcoming trip. It is kind of scary too, since we will be traveling to a part of Guatemala that we haven't been to before. On our previous trip to Guatemala to bring home our son, we visited Antigua and toured Guatemala City. The upcoming mission trip is heavy in my thoughts and on my heart today. In thinking about it, I feel such peace and joy, that we have been truly called to go on this trip. My son's birth mom, also has been in my thoughts. She gave us such a precious gift. I pray that our Father, fills her with peace that our son is happy, healthy and very much loved.
Though this is a bit scary for me, stepping way out of my comfort zone, I know that this trip is what my family has been called to. Since my first visit to Guatemala, I have felt such a connection to this beautiful country and its' people. I can't help but give thanks and praise to the Father for blessing us with this opportunity. We pray that our fundraiser will be successful and enable us to help many families. Also we pray that our Father may work through us to do his work on this mission trip.

Planning continues

Hi everyone! It has been a while since I last posted anything to this blog. We continue planning for the trip. Over the past couple of weeks, I was researching possible fundraisers. I finally found one, thanks to a very kind person, whom I had contacted for informaiton, who put me in contact with someone else. I have received an e-mail from Anita, saying that we are good to go with this fundraiser. It took a while to find the one that would work for us because we decided to do something a little different. We wanted to have a fundraiser that had Guatemala has it's focus. So now that we have found the fundraiser we want, now the dates just have to be worked out. When everything is worked out with the dates and details of the fundraiser, I will post more.

children with 50lb sandbag, used

in the installation of an onil stove

a family, from the Highland area of Guatemala

Stoves

example of old cooking stove

photo of an onil stove

Since we have decided to work on the stove project, I thought I would post photos of an example of an old stove used by some families in Panajachel and a onil stove. With the onil stoves it decreases the risk of burns. They also are more efficient and use less wood.

Decisions

In my last posts, I mentioned the ideas we were discussing, to do for our mission project. After looking at the estimated costs to build a home, put on a roof, or do a cement floor, we are back to our original idea. Our original idea was to raise money for and help install onil stoves for families who need them. As I said after looking at the estimated costs for the other project ideas, we feel the stove project is the best choice. Working on the stove project, we, I believe can help more families, than with the other projects. I also hope to be able to spend some time helping in the medical clinic.
The more into the planning we get the more we feel that this is the service, we've truly been called to do. Since visiting Guatemala, the country and the people have been very much on my heart. It just seemed to fit, when I started thinking about what area of service He was calling me to, especially when the first thoughts that came to me was 'what can I do to help the people of Guatemala.'