November 5, 2007
Today has been a very busy and productive day. When we arrived at this clinic this morning, we were greeted by
members of the community waiting for their medical and dental appointments. Pastor Sebastian, the local Methodist
minister led us in devotionals, and we remembered everyone back home in our prayers. We had a conference with Felix,
the Mayan foreman, to discuss the work to be done and we presented an array of tools and supplies that we brought.
Felix has the most beautiful smile and he really lit up when he saw everything. The reciprocating saw was put to work right
away. We still had some shopping to do so several of us went with Felix for supplies at several local hardware stores. We
purchased necessary items from money donated from the congregation: wheelbarrow, sledge hammer, more trowels,
square point shovels. All were put immediately to use and everyone is working very hard. Barbara is very experienced
with the sand sifting (for stucco) process so she organized that activity. Ground needs to be leveled before pouring
concrete floors in two classrooms. There is a large area of old concrete foundation that needs to be sledge-hammered
away and Larry and Gene have been working super-hard with that. We are painting ceilings and walls in the kitchen. We
are stuccoing the ceiling in the patio area outside the kitchen. We are loosely organized into four teams: painting, stucco,
leveling floors for concrete and busting up old concrete. The team is working beautifully in moving from one job to another
whenever necessary. everybody is pitching in every way possible. Charles, our soon-to-be-dental student worked most of
the day in the dental clinic assisting Manuel and he enjoyed that very much. Now he is breaking concrete. Flexibility is
very important here! We are happy and grateful to be here in Guatemala. Thank you for your support and prayers as we
serve God and share love.