tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10657626400258418992024-03-18T20:06:45.379-07:00Our Guatemalan AdventuresThe Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-8868245418242622242012-04-29T08:33:00.002-07:002012-04-29T08:33:23.611-07:00So...what have we been up to lately??<span lang="">The last few months in the valley have been very busy, and we like things busy around here. There have been lots of vistors from the States, and lots of good things going on in the valley. The down-side to all this is that we don't have as much time to sit down and blog like we want. Add to all this a computer that crashed on us in March, and we have been kinda out of the technological loop here lately. So, in case you've been wondering, here's what we've been up to the last several weeks.<br />
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DeeDee and I have begun Dental Health education in the schools around the valley. This has included us teaching the kids the proper way to brush their teeth (with the aid of our friend Marvin Mono) along with giving each kid their own toothbrush. <br />
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Although I feel that teaching proper dental health has much value, the most positive thing we've seen from this is a relationship forming between the communities and us. They like for us to come to their schools and we like being there too. It gives us a good feeling to walk into a village and here our names being called out by the kids ("DeeDee!!" and "Gingy!!!" Or in Kevin's case, "Kewin!!"). It's also lots of fun to hear them singing our toothbrushing song. When we hear it, we realize that we have made at least a tiny connection with them.<br />
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In mid-March we were happy to welcome the Lipscomb Medical Mission Team to the valley. A group of 30 doctors, dentists, and students spent the week with us pulling teeth, confirming pregnancies, treating wounds, and generally building a good rapport with several of the villages in the valley. The dentists were able to donate 1,000 flouride treatments for the children in the valley, and I was able to confirm that I have not missed my calling to be a hygenist in life. It was great though, to have the children hopping into our lawn/dental chairs and having a good first experience with something dental-related. You could tell by the beams on their faces that they were proud to be a part of what was going on in their communities, and the fact that they will have fewer cavities because of this is an added bonus. I wish I had some pictures to add here, but as I said earlier, we've had computer problems and those haven't made it to the new computer yet.<br />
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Shortly after the medical team left, we got to enjoy some much-appreciated R&R in Antigua with the Links for Semana Santa (or Holy Week). Holy Week here is much like our Christmas in the States. They celebrate, and they celebrate big. Throughout the week in Antigua, there were processions of the stations of the cross as well as many alfombras, or carpets, that people made to go before the processions as a sacrifice. The pictures really don't do justice for how beautiful these carpets really were, but they can give you an idea of the work that went into each one. At 3:00 on Good Friday, the sentencing of Jesus was called out from the church in Antigua, and afterwards, a procession started that lasted all day long through the city. We were glad to be able to experience this celebration, and we loved having the Links down to enjoy it with us!<br />
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This is picture was taken fairly early on Friday morning, hence the long faces :)</div>
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Last week, we visited the school in our community for a story hour. Cata, a good friend to so many of you, read a book to two classes for one of the first times in her life. I think the smile on her face speaks volumes as to how this made her feel! We are very thankful to the 5th grde Wednesday night class at Otter Creek who sent us the book, <u>The Very Hungry Caterpillar</u>, and who provided the craft to go along with the book. The kids were so happy to have an activity like this to participate in as they don't have many opportunities such as these.<br />
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Over this past weekend, Kris, DeeDee, Cata and our family traveled a few short hours to Semuc Champey National Park where we enjoyed God's handiwork in the form of beautiful pools of crystal blue water. We enjoyed swimming, sliding and exploring caves while we were there, and we wondered why it had taken such a long time for us to get to this paradise right next door to the valley.<br />
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As I'm writing this, we have welcomed a small construction team from Knox Pro Corps to build a water system in Sesalche I. We will leave for this village tomorrow and will spend most of our nights this week on a dirt floor in an annex of the school in this village. The village is eager to host us, and we are praying for a successful completion of this project by the end of the week.<br />
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As a family, we have the end of our time here in our sights. We will welcome only one more team as a family before the boys and I head home at the end of May with Kevin coming home the middle of June. Our final week in the valley will be spent with the Lipscomb engineering students who will be working on extending water systems, installing solar panels, and building bridges both literally and spiritually. I can't think of a better way to end our time here than to spend it with a group of students like these who are on fire to make this world a better place one hammer and nail at a time. We can't wait to be home and see the people we have missed, but we will leave with a Guatemalan-shaped hole in our hearts. So this, in a nutshell, is what's been going on in the valley. As I said, we've been busy, but we've been busy with some awfully good things.</span>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-35507100099293127262012-03-10T11:37:00.000-08:002012-03-10T11:37:10.970-08:00Water Projects UpdateFrom the "be careful what you wish for" files....last Fall, after we moved to the mountains of Guatemala, it took quite a while to get things moving regarding water projects. Now, there's more going on than we can do, which is a good thing, but has contributed to some tiredness. What many people don't realize is that when they ask "how long does it take to build a water system for a village?" is that the actual construction is the easiest (and most fun) part of the whole thing. But it's only the short middle phase in between the planning and engineering on one end and training and operations on the other. There are lots of opportunities to "go build stuff" or "write a check to build a ____" in the world, but the acts of getting villagers' buy-in on the system layout and then their commitment to maintain it once it's built can take a long time, and it's not the sort of thing that can be done remotely - it involves meetings and relationships and trust. And sometimes frustration.<br />
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But all the sweat and work and often-tiresome meetings pays off a thousand times over when you see a system built and see it working and see villagers take pride in something that they:<br />
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<li>Had direct input on (not all organizations do that)</li>
<li>Worked hard for (not all communities do that), and</li>
<li>See as "theirs".</li>
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In January, a team of professionals from Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon engineers in Nashville came down to build a water system for the village of Sesalche II, one of the two largest villages in the Valley, with close to 1,000 people. Their previous water sources were muddy pools in the middle of town and were very polluted with runoff from the market and with the daily chores of washing clothes and bodies in the water supply. We identified a very high spring that had more than ample flow in it and designed a system to feed essentially the entire village. It's as good a system as you'll find anywhere.<br />
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There are several aspects of this project that are exceptionally rewarding to me. Having people tell you that they believe this will save their lives is a good feeling. Working alongside former co-workers and friends is also a very good feeling, as is hearing them say how much they want to be involved in future projects. Here are a couple of pictures of the project:<br />
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This is a group of men moving a 350-pound concrete pila up to a church in the middle of town, they have since constructed a house around the pila and use it many times a day. Sometimes, during construction, we had as many as 50 men at a time working with us.</div>
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I just thought this little guy was cute. When I walked up, he and another kid were playing in the pila near their home. Technically they were wasting water, but my kids play in the sprinkler sometimes too...</div>
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We actually do some engineering as well. This is Kris checking the level of another tank on a different hillside to make sure the two are level. I mean, what sort of missionaries would we be if we didn't make sure that the hydraulic grade line between two reservoirs maintained a steady hydrostatic pressure, anyway?</div>
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This was a trenching crew I'd put up against any mechanized crew in the US. The first four guys were digging a trench, the next two were placing the pipe into the trench and the last three were covering the pipe. They went about 2,000 feet in one afternoon.</div>
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My favorite memory of the "work" in Sesalche II. We routed a waterline from a tank (the one Kris is looking at in the photo above) down to the school, and in the process came across this tiny house in the woods with an elderly woman in it. Because the most direct line from the tank to the school was literally underneath her porch, I made up some garbage story about how, in exchange for running the line by her house, we needed to add a water spigot at her house (the other sources in Sesalche II were "community" pilas). This wasn't entirely true, but it just sort of seemed like the right thing to do, so for the first time in 80 years this woman can get water at her house, rather than walking 1/2 hour in mud down to a polluted spring.</div>
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We have other projects going on right now - a couple of them very large. I'll post some good pictures of a water tank we are building in Sesalche I (not adjacent to Sesalche II - go figure) and of some upcoming projects in Semesche (the other large community in the Valley) and Sequixpur, where there is enough water in one spring to supply virtually everyone in the Valley with water. Exciting stuff.</div>
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<br /></div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-72276597455976755452012-03-06T13:04:00.000-08:002012-03-06T13:04:11.611-08:00I Think I'll Be a Gypsy<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If I could sum up the months of January and February into one word, it would be SUITCASES.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have packed and unpacked my family more in these two months than I believe I ever have before between our comings and, more often, goings from the valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so, it was a relief to finally make it back to the valley a couple of weeks ago for the long-term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were instantly busy visiting communities to talk about water and to teach dental health, and we were glad to finally be home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So naturally, three nights after we arrived at our home in the valley, we decided to take a family trip to the ancient ruins of Tikal in the Peten region of Guatemala (why not pack up the suitcases again??)!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m beginning to think that I’ve found my true calling in life…gypsy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our family trip began as most do: with a child who threw up and a Visa card that was denied at the car rental company (“We placed a stop on your card because we noticed unusual activity in the country of Guatemala.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“For the ten-thousandth time:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>WE LIVE HERE!!”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, we made it into the truck before noon and were off!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here in Guatemala, the journey to your destination can be almost as exciting, if not more, than the destination itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were stopped at several military check-points where scary looking guys with automatic weapons over their shoulders stuck their heads in the car and turned out to be very friendly when all was said and done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We found out that my husband has a very hard time seeing speed bumps that are unmarked, and we are all recovering from a massive case of whiplash even now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also discovered that in order to get to Tikal from Coban, you need to cross a teeny river in a tiny town by ferry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you can see in the picture below, we even got to ride this ferry with a gas truck!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This concerned our youngest child, Ben, but we are happy to report that all parties made it across safely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After only a couple of speed bumps more, we arrived at Tikal.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Qt6rT94QAvKtvWf8oc5Z3wZiMTwJqhxR9YXsSOz3vH3i2enLNDQSHW70PoL398j8CEydyEWbnNLadZXiHaE30uI9kbLPSgm43wM4Uwyyt-l9aGdhkIQYiOUIgaVBkJ4sYGSkrAZ0OsBf/s1600/feb+2012+112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Qt6rT94QAvKtvWf8oc5Z3wZiMTwJqhxR9YXsSOz3vH3i2enLNDQSHW70PoL398j8CEydyEWbnNLadZXiHaE30uI9kbLPSgm43wM4Uwyyt-l9aGdhkIQYiOUIgaVBkJ4sYGSkrAZ0OsBf/s320/feb+2012+112.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The ancient city of Tikal is found smack-dab in the middle of undisturbed jungle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is one of the most beautiful and most frightening places I’ve seen in my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our hotel, appropriately called the Jungle Inn, was located right in the heart of this jungle, and the beds had mosquito nets and spiders that were uncomfortably large.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were howler monkeys in the trees along with spider monkeys, and I also saw, for the first time in the wild, a Toucan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As luck would have it, there are also lots of animals of the serpent variety in Tikal, and I happened to be the only one who saw these beastly things ( 2 in fact).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this is because I was the one looking out for them the most.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw more species of birds and wildlife than I ever have or probably ever will see again in the wild. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF-kk34pxGSsGT5WiHPtbCi7eJ8-L6kuLRyO-YXL8mRRY_y65AH9DswYcJrncXwxvWXuy8KsXemwMggFGU6upBg8DdNOMsAgn9Pppsffhst_79KdoTE5p7kkSTNneIDNfuJOQ9VQYO1teY/s1600/feb+2012+019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF-kk34pxGSsGT5WiHPtbCi7eJ8-L6kuLRyO-YXL8mRRY_y65AH9DswYcJrncXwxvWXuy8KsXemwMggFGU6upBg8DdNOMsAgn9Pppsffhst_79KdoTE5p7kkSTNneIDNfuJOQ9VQYO1teY/s320/feb+2012+019.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">You can, Toucan!</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXpQbke4Nkc-PjFEVM19hRrDPTi8YELmN15HUTbGD2KNRAx6HitK6FCNVjPkm9lY7DSvAGKtjaHroFuxFrWE2H_KTOoBviKbIkm_RfCx5LIK3iWYLQ-22mnu97bCMU15mOqiRoTWSpx2ER/s1600/feb+2012+072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXpQbke4Nkc-PjFEVM19hRrDPTi8YELmN15HUTbGD2KNRAx6HitK6FCNVjPkm9lY7DSvAGKtjaHroFuxFrWE2H_KTOoBviKbIkm_RfCx5LIK3iWYLQ-22mnu97bCMU15mOqiRoTWSpx2ER/s320/feb+2012+072.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A Spider Monkey swinging down to take a look</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf9VFLwubU-k7kW4ZET5-uPziPBFcpe34KtX5BBsGdA7sEGhaWU5hVjCsnYfccixLkkJDjoAPtYZSJlifYemCfDUyqdnHaeovk0HfJkENP3nXCi-s62Kxa3Ibtphs6TyTaa0AmnEzfhxJq/s1600/feb+2012+015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf9VFLwubU-k7kW4ZET5-uPziPBFcpe34KtX5BBsGdA7sEGhaWU5hVjCsnYfccixLkkJDjoAPtYZSJlifYemCfDUyqdnHaeovk0HfJkENP3nXCi-s62Kxa3Ibtphs6TyTaa0AmnEzfhxJq/s320/feb+2012+015.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Our bungalow</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">All these th</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">ings pale in comparison, however, with the main attractions in Tikal: The Pyramids!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a unique feeling that comes over you when you climb a pyramid that you know was built by hand 1500 years ago, and we got the opportunity to climb several of these structures before our day was done in the park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was also priceless to see the look on Cata’s face, a descendant of the Mayan Empire, as she climbed the pyramids that her forefathers built.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My children, because they are Star Wars aficionados, discovered shortly before we went to Tikal that the rebel base in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> A New Hope </i>was filmed in Tikal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, their favorite structure was pyramid 4 where you could look out and picture the Star Wars battleships landing at the base at the end of a long day (look for it the next time you watch <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A New Hope</i>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My favorite place was sitting just below an ancient throne and looking out at The Grand Plaza as the sun was beginning to set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To say the least, we are counting what we learned at Tikal as a field trip of a lifetime for our boys and at least 1 week’s worth of homeschooling (we’re getting kinda liberal on what we call school).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The experience was more than what I can put into words.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Picture Star Wars ships landing here</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Three good-looking kiddos in their happy place</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Great shot of a temple through the jungle</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Grand Plaza</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd92xMX1o6Tu08p-KcKOa1UR-FfYT1LtilaQSQVSDy5NYlXwDDTabuHdRvux54ixqRcCAWqUfs1h3TOmAAquCNq8IAIMCOZHEITVH_p5gQPtkDLsEUEjnqfO_1tdudF1302P9EewKiWvo-/s1600/feb+2012+065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd92xMX1o6Tu08p-KcKOa1UR-FfYT1LtilaQSQVSDy5NYlXwDDTabuHdRvux54ixqRcCAWqUfs1h3TOmAAquCNq8IAIMCOZHEITVH_p5gQPtkDLsEUEjnqfO_1tdudF1302P9EewKiWvo-/s320/feb+2012+065.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Jaguar Temple</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhphYMMAfyJjtMIPs_0Wl8GgKClHmGOWOs3kBbrx7GkVzmlv5GzZ-RWus5e20SIPDlljRlqluooalymBp9Leoil0Wzsffn9xhnjOzIMLoPrbC7wNaMAdtbQO0xz6X0J7YX9I-gCAGQMeA3U/s1600/feb+2012+100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhphYMMAfyJjtMIPs_0Wl8GgKClHmGOWOs3kBbrx7GkVzmlv5GzZ-RWus5e20SIPDlljRlqluooalymBp9Leoil0Wzsffn9xhnjOzIMLoPrbC7wNaMAdtbQO0xz6X0J7YX9I-gCAGQMeA3U/s320/feb+2012+100.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Cata standing where her forefathers once stood</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">A</span>las, all good things must come to an end, and it was time for us to get back to the valley and the projects that are in full swing here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We bumped our way back through the Peten and even found a Pizza Hut on the way which tasted like a slice of our home in the States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when we finally made it back, we found the sight of the bodega and our home here in the valley to be a sweet and inviting one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps I’m not destined to be a gypsy after all, but it sure is fun to pretend sometimes </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> </div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-35345444743957263582012-01-24T15:26:00.000-08:002012-01-24T15:26:54.079-08:00Holding PatternWe are almost a month into the year 2012, and this is our very first post after our return to Guatemala. Why the silence, you ask? I think it can all be summed up best by saying that we are in a "holding pattern" at this time in our adventures. Allow me to explain.<br />
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On our return to Coban on January 4th, we learned that there had been some robberies in the Ulpan Valley while we were away. Our home had not been touched, but the news was that the robbers were targeting people who have money. As the only people from the states residing in this area, we were somewhat concerned that we might be one of those targets. To add to our concern, it was discovered that these robbers were armed with guns. After much discussion with our trusted friends and colleagues, Christian Aponte and Steve Sherman, we made the decision to stay out of the valley at night until more could be determined about the safety of living in our home. The kids and I spent over a week in a hotel in Coban catching up on some of our homeschooling goals while Kris, DeeDee and Kevin traveled to the valley to accomplish our work there (This is not a sustainable model, I might add. It's like being in a cage with wild animals to be trapped in a hotel room long-term with my children.).<br />
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Last week, we were blessed by the arrival of a very talented and fun group of engineers who installed a water system in the village of Sesalche II. During this time, we returned to what appeared to be a quiet and, once again, peaceful valley. News of robberies had all but disappeared, and we felt at ease in entering our home again on a permanent basis. However, the last night of the engineering team's trip, robbers were spotted once again not far from our house. Again, it was reported that they were armed. Upon these findings, we moved the team out early the next morning as well as our families.<br />
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So where does this leave us right now?? Because we don't know much factual information about this group of robbers (most of what we hear has come through the grapevine), we have made the decision that the boys and I along with Cata and DeeDee will be staying out of the valley for the next month. This has come after many prayers, after much advice, and after many tears as well. Our hearts are in the valley and with the people who call it home. That is where we feel that we have been called to help God's people, and it is frustrating to find ourselves in a holding pattern. Kevin and I also realize that our number one priority no matter where we are is to keep our children as reasonably safe as is within our power.<br />
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During this month, Kevin and Kris will travel to the valley to continue working on projects already started while we stay in Antigua. We are hoping to make the most of this waiting period by taking some more language classes as well as continuing in our home school studies. Also, on a happy note, my parents will be coming to see us in a few days and will be spending an extended period of time with us here. Our hope is that we will be able to show them many parts of this beautiful country including the valley where we most want to be! <br />
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Please understand that we in no way feel that our safety is threatened at this time...even in the valley! We also understand that being cautious is the best practice in this situation. Hopefully, over the next month, we will be able to get a factual perspective on what is actually going on in the communities in Ulpan. Our sincere hope is that we will be able to move back by the end of February, but we are taking things one day at a time right now. Please lift this situation up in your prayers. Pray for the people who are there who don't have the luxury of picking up and moving their families out. Pray for the work that Kevin and Kris will be continuing and for their safety as they travel back and forth. Pray for the perpetrators as well. Pray that God will soften their hearts and that they could have a "Damascus Road" moment in their lives.<br />
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We are continually reminded that we are not doing our work here alone. The prayers that you offer us are felt daily, and rest assured that we could not be here without your love and support. We'll try to keep you posted as we know more, but right now that is simply not much. We love you all and miss you! I'll leave you with a breath-taking shot taken from our home this past week. As this picture beautifully demonstrates, we are hopeful for good things to come in the Ulpan Valley.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2hxJSc-ReBpQOBDJTh3MC4TumTGcEx9DdTapBFl_1-UrdROkipLAXAHHb3aFD58hoHAfd2x2mGQWJJ8Mbl9iJxzdWpUUulL9HAie76j6Ib9pTrkZjacjzdaIX2DdEiM9_PJwQXkJxpY6L/s1600/sun+in+the+valley+fro+the+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2hxJSc-ReBpQOBDJTh3MC4TumTGcEx9DdTapBFl_1-UrdROkipLAXAHHb3aFD58hoHAfd2x2mGQWJJ8Mbl9iJxzdWpUUulL9HAie76j6Ib9pTrkZjacjzdaIX2DdEiM9_PJwQXkJxpY6L/s320/sun+in+the+valley+fro+the+blog.jpg" width="274" /></a></div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-29641494234309295732011-12-14T09:49:00.000-08:002011-12-14T09:49:47.073-08:00It's a Great Place to Visit, But I Wouldn't Want to Get Sick ThereStarting in January, Project Ulpan will have a full-time doctor living in the Valley, bringing medical care to the 7,500 people there closer than they have ever had it. Turns out that last weekend I had the honor of being the doctor's first patient. But first, a little backstory:<br />
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Ginger and the boys left last week to head back to Nashville for Christmas. My plan was to hang around for about another 10 days to finish up some water things and help out with several meetings and trainings we had going in the Valley. My error here was actually making a plan in the first place (see my extensive research on this topic filed under: <em><u>PLANS, nothing here goes according to</u></em>). The day Ginger and the boys left, I did what any healthy man would do - I drove to visit some nuns. And it only took 6 hours - a speed record for a nun run. These amazing women have run a health promotion and training program in southwestern Guatemala for about 40 years, and it was very impressive. In truth, I was along because Kris and DeeDee and Christian were my ride back to the Valley. So, the 4 of us and the new doctor went to visit to see what we could learn. The road was crowded and bumpy and full of sugarcane trucks because it's harvest time right now. Also, there were a few stops where we were searched to make sure we didn't have fruit or other things that might infest the crops there (I didn't mind that necessarily - it makes sense, but I wish that governments put as much effort into addressing the trafficking of humans as they do the trafficking of fruit flies).<br />
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Throughout the visit, it became clear to everyone that I didn't know very much about medicine (more on that later), but thankfully I was able to work in some of my best nun jokes ("dressing as a nun is easy once you get into the habit", "you must think we're as fun as a barrel full of monks", "I assume you're Cardinals fans", and so on). They actually weren't Cardinals fans, though, but they really liked the Detroit Tigers from the 1960's and were pleasantly surprised to talk with someone who could recount Denny McClain's amazing 1968 season and how Al Kaline is one of the most underrated players ever. They also said that they are working in one community in particular where they have a desperate need for water, and it looks like next spring we are going to "trade" some water work for some medicines and health promotion work. It's always interesting to me how things get intertwined for the good.<br />
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And, along the way, it occurred to me that I wasn't eating or drinking much at all. By the time we returned to Guatemala City, I was feeling pretty rotten and really just wanted to sleep. I looked up my symptoms on WebMD and it said definitively that I had a kidney infection. That is probably not fun anywhere, but in the mountains of Guatemala it's especially un-fun. The combination of bouncing along the "roads", the drizzle, the cold (it's surprisingly cold right now), the real discomfort in my back and side, and the fact that whenever I went to the bathroom it sounded like I was sending a Morse code message made it pretty miserable. Thankfully, of the past 144 hours in the Valley, I slept about 120 of those hours. One of the few clear decisions I made was to move my flight back from next week to today. Feeling better and sitting here in the airport gave me some time to reflect on another event that occurred around me in the last few days.<br />
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One (evening?) Kris came in to where I was sleeping and said "Sorry, but this guy's got a broken arm and this is the best place to help him". I really don't remember much else from that time, but the story was that he had fallen and had a severe break that needed immediate medical attention, but before getting him to he hospital for setting / surgery he needed to have the break immobilized. Kris (who could probably use a nap by this time as well) was able to put to use some wilderness training and apply a splint. The family was distraught. He was a new father and needed to support the family. Bear in mind that this sort of injury is often a death sentence in places like this, and even in the best case scenario he wouldn't be able to work for several months, if ever again, and most of the people here live day to day.<br />
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The next day, a group of friends and family came and asked Kris if he could take them to the hospital to visit their friend, who by this time had been informed that he needed treatment costing 1,500 Quetzales (which he didn't have) or they would need to amputate his arm. More of the story came to light as well - that the man had in fact been intoxicated and got into a fight with his father-in-law over the fact that he'd been unkind to his wife and threats were made and punches thrown and just a general sad situation on the family front. I really don't know any more than that, but I suspect that the story, like all stories, goes back several years and possibly generations. I guess we have the option to pay attention to the sweet story of a family rallying around a loved one who is hurt and we have the option to pay attention to the story of a man who made some exceptionally poor choices in exceptionally trying circumstances. Or, we could pay attention to both stories, for they are part of a larger story. The Ulpan<br />
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So here I am - we're about to board the plane. I get to come and go. I get sick and can make a few calls and change a plane reservation and a few hours later be finishing up a drink and typing away on a computer. Another man my age gets sick and faces selling all his property or losing his arm. However, even given his grievous mistakes he's made with his family, he is currently surrounded by his family. That's what I want to be as well. Thank you, God, for a kidney infection because it pushed me to do what I should've done in the first place: stay with my family who is that light in my life.The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-5134043702708572302011-12-09T06:08:00.000-08:002011-12-09T06:08:04.938-08:00On Babies<div style="text-align: center;">"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" John 1:14</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="left">People have lots of babies in the valley. Our family of five is considered a slightly small family compared to many in Guatemala. Over the past few months, DeeDee and I have been helping with a baseline study of the valley. Questionnaires are filled out by a random sampling of families in each village on basic health and education. Questions are asked such as "When do you wash your hands?" and "What do you do when you wash your hands?" (ie: Do you use soap). Among the questions are also "How many times have you given birth?" and "How many of these children are living?". These questions are the hard questions to enter into the computer at times. Some families have six children and all are living. Others are more difficult. There are women who have given birth four times and none are living. When asked "Who helped you give birth?", most women answer that the local mid-wife or their mother helped. One particular woman, however, answered that no one helped her give birth to her children. As a woman who has given birth, this is difficult for me to understand.</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">Even closer to home, our friend and employee in Project Ulpan, Julio, asked for time off about a month ago because he needed to help a friend build a tiny casket for their 8 month-old baby. Only a few days after, Kevin and my boys witnessed a village digging a grave for another tiny casket. It is telling and sad that the newborn we visited last week doesn't yet have a name. Maybe that's just the custom in the valley, but why? Is it because so many die that names are not given until later?</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">There was a baby born a little over 2,000 years ago who we celebrate at this time of year. In the birth of this baby lies all our hopes. The hope that His light will break through the darkness of babies dying and people hurting. I find that the Christmas songs that mean the most to me this year are the ones that talk of the hope we have with the birth of Jesus. One particularly poignant song to me this year is Point of Grace's "Emmanuel". If you've heard it, the melody is beautiful, but the words are what convict me most (If you've not heard it, find it and listen to it). The last line of the chorus says, "Emmanuel, be God in us". Jesus came to be God with us. But He didn't leave us empty-handed when He returned to His father. He gave us His spirit, and with it, the ability to continue to be "God with us" to a world lost in darkness. He paved the way for us by His perfect example and then said, "Now, go be my light to those you find in need".</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">So, I celebrate Christmas this year with extra spaces in my heart for the people in the Ulpan Valley and with the hope that our presence there will be a light in the darkness for them as their lives have been a light in my darkness. I celebrate with thankfulness overflowing that God's perfect plan doesn't leave us alone but gives us His presence forevermore. I celebrate that God is with us.</div><div align="left"><br />
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</div><div align="center"></div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-78141726157553546552011-12-01T15:04:00.000-08:002011-12-01T15:04:31.500-08:00Dry-erase Boards: A Love StoryThe past several years have seen some remarkable improvements in technology, especially in the area of communication. The fact that I can sit at a computer and talk to people anywhere in the world for free by way of Skype, all from a place that's an hour from the nearest electrical service, is amazing to me. Think about it - cell phones, iPhones, the internet, satellites, GPS, and countless other devices are all so commonplace that we barely even notice them, except for maybe when watching re-runs of TV shows from the 1990s and notice that most of their issues could have been solved by mobile phones. None of these inventions, however, can even approach the importance of the dry-erase board and the contributions it has made to humankind.<br />
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I know there are some old-fashioned chalkboard apologists out there, and to those people I just have to say that all you are is chalkdust in the wind. Dry-erase boards use markers that, while not quite as tasty as chalk, come in a wide variety of bright colors as diverse as "green" and "blue", and for extra emphasis when underlining something important, even "red". Black dry-erase markers are so 2005. Go to any office building and inspect the dry erase boards in individual offices - that's how you can tell who is the brains of the outfit and who does all the work. I used to work with a man (and friend) named George Garden, whose marker board was epic. It was always full of engineering formulas and complicated things like "process and instrumentation diagrams" and other things that looked like the washing instructions you find on the tag of your shirt. And for any of you who drink water in Brentwood Tennessee, rest assured that the only reason that water ever got to your house was because there was a note on Travis Lankford's dry-erase board to build something or fix something or "ignore what that geeky engineer down the hall just said".<br />
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So what, one might ask, does this have to do with mission work in Guatemala?<br />
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Our work here has gotten busy enough that we now use a white marker board in our planning and designing so much that even men like George and Travis would be impressed. Here is a photo I took a couple of days ago after a minutes-long planning session:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdGLzoIVelJwh2RmOxhUrRpVbAu9NmFTdr0gs3evP1gdRdHFF9PfcY9r0m-30VdevB1IIdNQ7R2G7IGm2itu69GoZOYvbNzHLQrOZKL6u5EBzehNxjvDkWeL67v0dSNBTY33VMj_w2QzM/s1600/thanksgiving+2011+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdGLzoIVelJwh2RmOxhUrRpVbAu9NmFTdr0gs3evP1gdRdHFF9PfcY9r0m-30VdevB1IIdNQ7R2G7IGm2itu69GoZOYvbNzHLQrOZKL6u5EBzehNxjvDkWeL67v0dSNBTY33VMj_w2QzM/s320/thanksgiving+2011+005.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Aside from noticing that I don't know how to turn the flash off on my camera, you'll notice there are references on here to water projects in places like:<br />
<ul><li>Sesalche I, where people don't have water 3 months out of the year because their source goes dry and for whom we are building a reservoir and extra lines to augment their system</li>
<li>Sesalche II, where the 800 people there obtain water every day from the same location where they wash their clothes and themselves, and where not surprisingly there are high rates of sickness</li>
<li>Sequixpur, where 400 people drink out of a river when we can get safe water much closer to their houses than the polluted river for about $10 a person.</li>
<li>Benitzul, where we live and where many people, especially on one end of the village, still have to look for water.</li>
<li>Don Bosco Setex, where we've designed a new spring box for them that will double their supply and are looking to construct later this month.</li>
<li>Semesche, where a very simple project can get water to about 200 people.</li>
<li>Santo Tomas, where someone built part of a system 12 years ago and never taught them how to maintain it, so it hasn't worked since.</li>
</ul>It's wonderful and humbling that we are getting so busy with what we are doing. Water isn't the answer to the problems in these communities, but it's a start. It really helps, when dealing with the 17 communities here, to accomplish something with water or bridges or other things along those lines, because it seems that they are much more receptive to what we say about health or education. I think that's maybe the point of Jesus's conversation with Nicodemus - that if people can't trust us with what we do and say about earthly things, they're not very likely to trust anything we say about heavenly things either. And there's a part of me that truly believes, through some supernatural occurrence, that Jesus used a dry erase board when trying to explain it all to Nicodemus. Maybe a dry-erase scroll.The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-17122275263193694082011-11-24T16:34:00.000-08:002011-11-24T16:34:26.480-08:00Thanksgiving with Native Americans390 years ago, a group of Pilgrims had a celebration with some of their new Native American friends. The same thing happened today.<br />
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We had gotten the advice long before we moved to Guatemala to make sure we took the time to "do familiar things" and "make things feel like home", and holidays are a really good excuse to do familiar things in familiar ways. The typical Thanksgiving at the Colvett household includes throwing frozen hot dogs at passing cars, but since we don't have a freezer, hot dogs, or passing cars, we had to make other plans. A couple of weeks ago, we decided that we were going to have a true Thanksgiving feast, complete with turkey and stuffing and stuffing turkeys like me. So, with a little forethought, we had some friends bring some food from the US as part of a visiting team last week and we did a little out-of-the-ordinary shopping ourselves. We also invited several people here who we are close to and had a great day.<br />
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The turkey, which is for some reason the centerpiece of the Holiday, was a special challenge. We don't have an oven here in which to cook one and we didn't want to use a turkey fryer because we figured that setting fire to the Ulpan Valley would be frowned upon by the 7,500 people here, although it would teach the principle of "stuff and burn" to people who are more accustomed to "slash and burn". So after doing some intense research (i.e. Googling for a few minutes), we determined that we could cook a turkey underground (like what might have actually been done in 1621). So, yesterday we spent about 4 hours using machetes to chop down and chop up firewood. We had some help from our Mayan friends here, and their wood was cut fairly cleanly but the ones we cut were basically turned into mulch. The next step was to dig a hole:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVg7R3PM9siG7CESnoiSOYnJFBVrSSClo-ir0YNSqlXpUIxP-rtjLGn5QECzJIVv2GFEOFiQ6Ons0y7yk8_Ga5k4FA32v5o_LgdSrmDLQPRBz7cufSW0jfQ7cTwm0wuV-uS3GO8HEOUSn/s1600/thanksgiving+2011+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVg7R3PM9siG7CESnoiSOYnJFBVrSSClo-ir0YNSqlXpUIxP-rtjLGn5QECzJIVv2GFEOFiQ6Ons0y7yk8_Ga5k4FA32v5o_LgdSrmDLQPRBz7cufSW0jfQ7cTwm0wuV-uS3GO8HEOUSn/s320/thanksgiving+2011+006.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The hole needed to be about 3' by 3' by 3', so this took some time. Notice how nice and bright the sunshine is. That lasted for about 45 more seconds. Getting a fire going in a hole isn't as easy as it might sound, but it is as smoky as it might sound. However, we borrowed a trick from the original Pilgrims and started soaking our firewood in kerosene. I assume their 50-year old kerosene heaters they borrowed from other missionaries didn't work either, so what else did they need kerosene for than to create an explosive pit of jet fuel? Speaking of which, let me just say "Poof! No eyebrows!" and leave it at that. Here's proof of pre-poof:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You can see our good friend Roberto Caal in the background cutting up wood. We'd given up long before this. Next was the most sacred of all Thanksgiving traditions: the burying of the turkey where you usually park the Mazda pickup. Of all the things to baste a turkey with, soil is pretty low on the list, so we once again followed the path of our ancestors and wrapped the turkey in aluminum foil, then in banana leaves (those grow on Cape Cod, right???) and then a screen mesh we typically use to screen outlets to spring boxes and then secured it all with rebar tie wire:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY9ZnaTGLjOLwmyHJAqrP4gaxf1_Y2jvZIuXCMpic5SPScEcuxykuXGIsmYaI0yjzQz4W0zKG4BCe3gCRSsV65WQD7yOFRSLkV09MNuT3pQa0ewI5B999CF3H2rLtBruqpmaSDm_Rghk_m/s1600/thanksgiving+2011+013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY9ZnaTGLjOLwmyHJAqrP4gaxf1_Y2jvZIuXCMpic5SPScEcuxykuXGIsmYaI0yjzQz4W0zKG4BCe3gCRSsV65WQD7yOFRSLkV09MNuT3pQa0ewI5B999CF3H2rLtBruqpmaSDm_Rghk_m/s320/thanksgiving+2011+013.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>It was pouring down rain at this point, and well after dark, but to protect our fire we had constructed a plastic tarp over it, firmly secured with scrap lumber, broken fence posts, and I think a small turtle. We were, however, quite confident that we could keep the turkey moist, since there was a nice mix of water and kerosene in its soon-to-be-occupied grave. So about 10:00 last night, we buried the turkey and nervously awaited its exhumation this morning. It did stop raining during the night, and most of the family stopped throwing up as well. Here's Kris opening the poultry-geist this morning:<br />
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Put simply, it was the best turkey I'd ever had. Really, I was chicken at first, maybe a little sheepish, and almost had a cow when I tried it because the concept still seemed fishy to me, but I really pigged out. Our company was even better. It brought to mind times growing up when Billy Ray Warren would write on a chalkboard all the things people said they were thankful for, or when Steve and Debbie Gampp in Boulder would invite a strange new couple from Alabama to their house to share the holiday. It brought to mind the fact that my mother was with my aunt today and Ginger's sister was with her parents today. We were right there with them all. That's the great thing about holidays and being a part of God's family. In this picture you see a bunch of lost Pilgrims and people like Manuel and Roberto and Julio and their wives and their kids and right there with them are people they've never met. But they're all at the same table, and there's plenty of room and plenty of food.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We capped the evening off with a viewing of The Polar Express. Movies have become a real favorite of people here, and it makes us feel like home. Afterward, right at sunset, we said our goodbyes and said "hasta manana" to our friends, or in some cases "wulak chik alooy", which means "see you soon, friend". And as we said goodbye, a huge rainbow spread across the east end of the valley, and this sight was on the west end:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div align="center">Happy Thanksgiving.</div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-81102207091566910532011-11-22T13:01:00.000-08:002011-11-22T13:01:17.083-08:00It Takes More Than One Wing To Fly StraightOver the past few months we have met hundreds of people here in the Ulpan Valley. Not surprisingly, the ones we have gotten to know the best generally fall into two groups: <br />
<ol><li>People who live near us, and</li>
<li>People we work with frequently</li>
</ol>And a few people fall into both categories. This post is about three of them - Juan, Ignacio, and Arturo, and how similar they are to people and groups we know in the United States.<br />
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To describe anyone in just a few sentences is doing them (as well as the describer) a disservice because you wind up stereotyping or gossiping or overgeneralizing. But over the past few weeks, as I have gotten to know these men and worked alongside them, I have become fascinated with their different talents and different approaches to life. It makes we wonder if the lasting effect of our time here will be mixing people together who ordinarily wouldn't be interacting very much.<br />
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Juan is very motivated and seizes opportunities to make things better for him and his family. In fact, he sold us the land the Project Ulpan facilities are located on so that he could benefit from a long-term relationship. When the initial water system was constructed in Benitzul, he made sure that the line ran to his house and there was a good supply there, and when opportunities to serve on things like solar panel committees, water committees, etc., present themselves, you can rest assured that he or his wife will be a part of that. He is respected in the community, but not completely well-liked because of his assertiveness. It's almost an elbow-you-outta-my-way sort of assertiveness, but this community would be less than it is without him in it. <br />
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Ignacio, on the other hand, is very quiet and meek - so much so that it's often difficult to even hear him speak. I think that he is like the majority of the people here in that way. He works and never complains, but works at a slower pace than others, and they notice that. A couple of weeks ago, he came to visit and you could tell that he was very timid about what was on his mind. He was asking if we could help him with a water situation near his house and it took him close to a half hour of "I hate to bother you" to get to that point. Incidentally, the water situation he wanted help with was a location in a cave where many people crawl down 100 feet of mud to get water (including an 80-year old woman - everyday). A few weeks ago, a rock fell and killed a woman doing her laundry. The end result of this is that we will be installing a solar powered pump here and actually using it to augment the water system, including the portion near Juan's house. I hope to post pictures of an 80-year old woman getting water at her house for the first time ever in the next few weeks. Ignacio has helped us with some other situations here and is a true friend, but if everyone were like him in the Valley, I fear not much would ever get done, even though it would be a very peaceful place.<br />
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Arturo is one of the few people in the Valley who everyone refers to as "Don", which in a very Godfather sort of way is a term of respect. Even other communities know and respect him. I do too. He is illiterate and barely speaks Spanish, but he is the local resource from everything ranging from horticulture to knot-tying to construction. If there is something that needs to be done in the community, he will be the first one there and the last one to leave. He shares his food and his very limited goods with, as best I can tell, everyone. He serves on virtually every committee in the community, but it comes across more as "service" than "what do I have to gain by doing this?"<br />
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At this point in the post, it is tempting to create some analogy like: God doesn't want us to be like Ignacio because he wants us to tend the field and improve things, but he doesn't want us to use our success for our own benefit like Juan - he wants us to share and be like Arturo. Some or all of that may be true, but maybe the lesson here isn't necessarily that Person A needs to be more like Person B, or that Person C is better than A and B because he is a blend of their gifts. Maybe the lesson is that Person A needs to be put in situations where they can learn from Person B, or Person B needs to be put in situations where his talents complement those of Person C. I think we get too hung up on trying to change people into something they aren't, or trying to change ourselves into something we are not. Instead, we could simply just accept that God put different people here for different reasons, and the end result can be beautiful. It can also be chaos.<br />
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All this to say - from 1000 miles away the whole "Occupy" thing seems strangely reminiscent of what we are trying to end here - where people mistakenly believe that they don't need other people, regardless of what "percent" you find yourself. After watching an infant be buried yesterday and two others in small communities die in the past week, I feel like inviting a team of Wall Street bankers and occupy-ers to come to the Ulpan Valley for a week and pour some concrete and fit some waterlines together and work with men like Ignacio, Juan and Arturo. In each their own way, I think the three of them would be able to teach such a team quite a bit.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here is Ignacio showing me the cave that will be a new water source for the west end of Benitzul and the east end of Esquipulas. We're 100 feet below the walking path here, and the next rock that falls here I want to hit a concrete box with a pump inside and not a human being.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgV97F47xcVsR1ApwvQ-eTFeKO30rPnxNVPyKuSgeIq2n6pqDM8gmDEDdgGQhhzF6M47RMawsFua_gyS8SUcdiZqH-5f0eNVnJc8dHmm9IMIj2HTl2ajri-thGaTErvaz6stXv-7B1swtM/s1600/november+17+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgV97F47xcVsR1ApwvQ-eTFeKO30rPnxNVPyKuSgeIq2n6pqDM8gmDEDdgGQhhzF6M47RMawsFua_gyS8SUcdiZqH-5f0eNVnJc8dHmm9IMIj2HTl2ajri-thGaTErvaz6stXv-7B1swtM/s320/november+17+002.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This was sunrise out our front door a few days ago. Not really pertinent to this post, but I just kinda thought it was pretty.</div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-7300866858784173432011-11-09T06:37:00.001-08:002011-11-09T07:16:38.992-08:00GIVE THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO SAY "NO"A few years ago at my former job, when I was dealing with a particularly "interesting" client on a particularly thorny issue, I asked a mentor named Garland Rose what I should do to potentially resolve the issue. What I needed to do was to ask them to do something that I figured they probably wouldn't do, so I was struggling with why I needed to ask them in the first place (by the way, I'm not purposefully being ambiguous here - I really don't remember all the specifics of the situation). Garland's advice was simple: "You need to give them the opportunity to say No", and it was good advice. The end result of that was that they did indeed say "no" and that was pretty much that, but the advice has stuck with me: even if you expect someone to say "no", you at least need to give them that opportunity. There is probably some spiritual application to this regarding prayer and petition and our ongoing conversation with God, but this post is about a meeting I had last night with the Benitzul Ulpan Water Committee.<br />
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Backing up a little, about two and a half years ago, the first project of any sort ever done as part of Project Ulpan was a water system for the village of Benitzul. It was primarily a construction effort at the time, but as relationships grew and we learned more about the communities here, we grew with them. And as one might guess, any water system - in Nashville or in Benitzul - is only as good as the people taking care of it. A real problem in the developing world is that many well-intentioned people give money for a project - like a new well or a new school or a new hospital, but there is no follow-up for the training and the maintenance and eventual "ownership" of the project by the community. It's a difficult line to walk between helping and enabling and I'm not sure there's a clear litmus test for when you're doing either. But, at some point, the goal is to make the project sustainable and self-reliant, and last night was a big step in that direction.<br />
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Without boring anyone with the details (probably too late for that), the community approached us with a request to extend their water system a little farther to make it more accessible for a dozen or so more families. Because of the generosity of <a href="http://www.thelivingwaterproject.us/">www.thelivingwaterproject.us</a> and several individuals, we have more than ample money to accomplish this extension. But, we felt that this would be a good time to walk with the community through the process of collecting money from the "customers" and saving that money so they can pay a portion of the cost. The portion we proposed to them was approximately 10%, which interestingly is analagous to the "match" portion many water systems in Tennessee must pay when applying for state or federal assistance for water projects (whether there is ample follow-up or training for those projects is a different set of opinions for a different time). I really had no idea how this concept would be received, but I felt it was important to "give them the opportunity to say no".<br />
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It turned out that their reaction was one of thanks and of excitement and of total agreement. I was really proud of how the Water Committee felt an eagerness to make an investment their system and in their community. They said they would have their share of the money in the next couple of weeks. I think this is a great precedent and a great sign that we are helping teach them how to develop their community. It's easy to forget that most of us work in "community development" - that most of what we do (engineering, teaching, doctoring, preaching, making, selling, cleaning, etc.) is for other people and for the "good" of the community. It's also easy to forget that everything we've accomplished thus far in the "developed" world has been the direct result of someone giving someone else the opportunity to say "no", because every now and then the answer is "yes", and that's when things move in the right direction.The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-65637167515205068182011-11-03T10:31:00.000-07:002011-11-03T10:31:50.565-07:00A Stormy Night The following is Sam's account of our stormy night:<br />
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One night there was a huge storm. It involved a loud noise on the tin roof, a small landslide on the side of the house, and some working in the morning. That night was strange and scary. Lots of people were up for the most of it. Here is what happened.<br />
The most annoying part of the night was that the rain on the tin roof sounded like you were in a movie theater with the volume all the way up, and glass was shattering constantly. My friend Zane and I were asleep for most of it. We were only awake for the loud part of it though. From what I hear it went on for hours, and hours. The front porch was wet all over, and it was covered all the way by tin too.<br />
Another strange thing that happened during the storm was that there was a small landslide right on the side of our house. All of the sudden we heard a thud. I opened my eyes and I saw water seeping through the walls. The others went around the side of the house and they said, " Yep it's a landslide." As it happened a thin tree trunk fence had fallen down with a lot of mud and hit the side of the house.<br />
The next week involved cleaning the little bit of landslide up from the house. We also had to dig up mud from a drain.After that we cleaned up the utensils that we used. And then we took the mud in the wheelbarrow down to the road and dumped it out.<br />
All in all we were okay, but tired.And I still can't believe I slept through most of it!The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-9355080836358112242011-10-25T07:32:00.000-07:002011-10-25T07:32:20.931-07:00God ProvidesWe've been in the valley for a little over a month now, and most days we are there, I think to myself that a year will not be long enough. Oh yes, there are days that creep by (mostly the rainy ones), and I think on those days that a year will be more than plenty. Yesterday, however, was the first time that I thought to myself that I would get on a plane immediately if someone handed me a ticket. You see, my parents have been planning a trip to see us for almost as long as we've been here. We've been counting down the days and making plans for a fun Halloween party while spending some time in Antigua (you who know me well know my love for a good Halloween party! ). But our plans to see my mom and dad came to a halt on Sunday when we received a call from my dad saying my mom was sick. Don't worry, it's just a stomach bug, but she was in bed with fever and would not be able to come. The wind was taken out of my sails, and I, quite frankly, found it difficult to get out of bed yesterday morning. I probably need to insert here that my sister, Mel, still came yesterday, and we are thrilled beyond measure to have her here! She's like food for the soul, and as Ben said yesterday, she smells like our house :)! However, Mel has been here before, but my parents have not. We were looking forward to taking them to the river to find rocks and to the market to see all the beautiful produce...the list goes on and on. I really just wanted to see my mom and dad. Is it weird to still need your parents every now and then even when you are a parent yourself? Now I need to insert that I know the trip was not possible Mom, and I am not upset at you in the very least! I wouldn't have made the trip with the stomach bug, and I am, in fact, 30 years younger than you (always will be :)! I think I speak for all of us, though, when I say that we are ALL dissapointed.<br />
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We made our way to the airport to pick up the Hatchells, my sister, and Brian Berry, and my spirits were lifted just to get to touch my sister and see her, as Cata says, personally. Shortly after piling into the bus, Brian handed me an envelope FULL of birthday cards from some of my favorite people at Otter Creek. Not only was it full of cards but also full of money for the specific purpose of pampering myself on my birthday. As I read through the cards (while we were stopped on the road for 2 hours straight), I was overcome with gratitutde for my friends who are truly the hands and feet of God. You see, I needed to read from Gail Srygley that what we are doing here is important and from Kelly Harlin that we are prayed for daily. It reminded me that even on the hard days, we are here for a reason and God will not leaving us hanging out on a limb. Not only that, but he will send us comfort when we need it. For me, it was through the words of my friends as I sat on the bus yesterday.<br />
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Here's the great thing about our God. He knew way back a few months ago when Kelly asked my husband what I would like for my birthday, that it would come to me a just the right time. He provides for us in all kinds of ways; from the big ways to the small ways. It's amazing to look into the pot of food that Cata has beautifully prepared and think that there is no way it will serve all of us as well as the 7 other people who have decided to join us. But, supernaturally (because God is a supernatural God), we all have plenty to eat. It's a modern-day loaves and fish story in our kitchen on a weekly basis! He provides for us, and we hope that he is using us as His vessel to provide for the people in the valley.<br />
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It's a beautiful day in Coban today, and I am enjoying breakfast on the patio with my children, my sister and my good friend Cata. The Lord provides...The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-52909539223954524032011-10-23T17:40:00.000-07:002011-10-23T17:40:32.032-07:00The Best Laid Plans of Mice and MenI think the original line from that poem makes the assertion that even the best plans can sometimes fail. Not to overgeneralize, but in the Ulpan Valley, plans NEVER fail, but they ALWAYS change. We expected that to some extent, but we're certainly being kept on our toes pretty much all the time. There is a great deal going on right now, and with that there are many people who need to know what they need to do when. The people of the Ulpan Valley are accustomed to having meetings - in fact they seem to crave them about as badly as every place I've ever worked. The only difference is that they go into the meetings expecting to accomplish very little and socialize a lot, whereas in the corporate world there's some strange expectation that a meeting is going to actually yield something besides more meetings.<br />
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So, over the past few weeks we have gotten into the habit of meeting with team members for things like scheduling and needs and things like that. They seem to enjoy it, and it seems to do some good. The problem is that we try to schedule a week in advance, and most of the time we're lucky if plans don't change for 5 minutes at a time. Case in point - last Sunday we were back in the Valley after being gone for a 4-day weekend in Guatemala City (this was not a vacation - we needed to get some new tires for the truck and get our passports stamped for 90 more days, and maybe in a few months I'll be able to share that experience and still keep this blog "family friendly"). So on Monday morning we met with some of the folks working with us about what needed to happen last week and how in the world we were going to pull it off. Everything worked out on paper pretty nicely: Julio was to go to these villages and set up meetings for what's termed a "baseline study", Roberto was to go to these villages and do other things, construction materials for latrines in Semesche were to be ordered, assistance for the midwife training on Wednesday and Thursday and the 73 participants in it were going to happen, a small water system expansion to the Benitzul School's latrine was going be constructed, and so on. We actually had it all worked out pretty well.<br />
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So, it came as no surprise at 6:15 Tuesday morning when a 9-month pregnant woman showed up at our door needing to be rushed to the hospital in Coban. So, all the "shuttle Julio to here" and "take materials there" we had planned for the day went out the window. The trip to Coban is not particularly easy. It can take anywhere from one to two hours on difficult roads, and with all the rains we've been having, those roads are even more difficult, and meeting the occasional truck on a hill makes it even more interesting. We really don't want to become a "taxi service" for the people here, but in this case, there was really no way we could (or should) say no. The trip was straight out of a movie, complete with fog and rain and cows stuck on the road and the obligatory woman screaming in the back seat having contractions. The end of this part of the story is that 30 minutes after we got to the hospital, she had an emergency C-section, so this turned out to be a good trip to make. And while I was helping out in Coban, most of what we hoped to accomplish was actually accomplished up in the Valley.<br />
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So we went to bed Tuesday very tired and looking forward to a more normal day on Wednesday. That was a mistake. Shortly after dinner Wednesday it started to rain, which in and of itself isn't unusual, but it got harder and harder over the next couple of hours. We tried to go to bed (our house is better than a tent, but heavy rain on a tin roof can be very loud) but just kind of gave up after a while and we just laid there in the noise staring at the ceiling, which we were glad to have but ceilings should be seen and not heard. Given the recent landslides in the area, we somewhat nervously keep an eye uphill when it's raining, and sure enough, about 11:00 we heard a loud thump against the wall of our house and when we looked outside we saw that a large chunk of the hill to the side of us had slumped off. It sounds more dangerous than it actually was, but it was still a little disconcerting. After a couple more hours, the rain finally slacked off and we all slept great for a few minutes.<br />
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On Wednesday morning, I needed to get some maps to the far end of the Valley, so I started the approximate 30-minute drive to the village of Sesalche II. There were, as expected, a few smallish landslides on the way, but when I got to the river it had been above the bridge very recently (I now know that the river is prone to flash flooding). Since a large truck had just passed, I assumed it was OK for my pickup, and that turned out to be the case, but a little further up the road a secondary stream crossing was still completely over the road and I could go no further. Another day, another change in plans. We survived. The remainder of the week, a few other everyday things cropped up to keep us hopping, like a dead (really un-jumpable kind of dead) car battery, a smallish snake visitor, and the biweekly festival known as "the latrine cleaning" - fun for the whole family.<br />
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And the funny part of it all: we wouldn 't have changed a thing. We got a lot done, we adapted a lot, and we learned a lot. To cap it all off, our dear friends Jim, Danna, Zane and Emma Arnett were here to visit and to witness the mayhem. They totally rolled with all the punches and we had a great time. Back in June, Jim mentioned to me that they were considering coming for a visit, but he was concerned that October might be "a little too soon" and that we wouldn't be all settled in. I told him that we'd probably never be settled in (little did I know at the time how true that was) and that by October we and the kids would be very ready to see some friends. That might have been the best decision we made in our whole planning process. It's wonderful to see friends who remind you of other friends and remind you of home - I anticipate heaven is a little bit like that, with possibly a few more Cheetos. Please come for a visit.....but don't get too hung up on making really specific plans for when you're here: God is a better trip planner.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYYOuuRedlTev3IR13cxs9-PpBpVLRkwUG1PjZUr5evou3Xx5vsgZcD6L234-7BcTv1Qtem8HKM7UzFwpXDzVfbKsKcTvMVKj96WcujjRExV1Ez-7DC2RAliN8bcasYLfLls5ATNukeou9/s1600/october+2011+011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYYOuuRedlTev3IR13cxs9-PpBpVLRkwUG1PjZUr5evou3Xx5vsgZcD6L234-7BcTv1Qtem8HKM7UzFwpXDzVfbKsKcTvMVKj96WcujjRExV1Ez-7DC2RAliN8bcasYLfLls5ATNukeou9/s320/october+2011+011.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here are our kids and the Arnett kids playing in the river. There are lots of really pretty rocks to find here, and even some interesting pieces of pottery. A few hours later, the water was over the tree in the background.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It's not a great picture quality-wise because there is rain on the camera lens (go figure), but it's a great picture of our kids playing with some of the local kids. Ben is still in his "I like to dance and sing like Michael Jackson" phase, so please keep <strike>him</strike> us in your prayers. Later, we all watched the movie "Babe" in Spanish - see the "screen" on the wall. Something about farm animals who can talk transcends all cultures....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjogGKF5fAFgYJU7H0qb9BXl7_FQkNcsaBGa2tXerJrpv0ac2aGiABNWOeK7VkYrDFJUXh2lPUUid93SVm5rk1sVno8K7PcDV5UDqR4vCeWzjDpcx6OwC0N8LGQm0QSA8-bc-HxLq_GcEQG/s1600/october+2011+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjogGKF5fAFgYJU7H0qb9BXl7_FQkNcsaBGa2tXerJrpv0ac2aGiABNWOeK7VkYrDFJUXh2lPUUid93SVm5rk1sVno8K7PcDV5UDqR4vCeWzjDpcx6OwC0N8LGQm0QSA8-bc-HxLq_GcEQG/s320/october+2011+014.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Just a typical day at the Ulpan II market. It was a fun time for everyone, except for the cow who was butchered. As many plans that we had changed for us this past week, I think the cow encountered greater changes. And there was much rejoicing. Moo.</div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-33624433054835708722011-10-13T19:04:00.000-07:002011-10-13T19:04:24.922-07:00EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER, BUT NO ONE DOES ANYTHING ABOUT ITThat's one of my favorite Mark Twain quotes. Many of you know that, among several other ways, I am a huge weather nerd. When I was young, I used to beg to stay up until 10:15 so I could watch the weather, and then as I got older I would actually plan my time around things like the Weather Channel's Tropical Update, which came on at 10 'til the hour, every hour. At one time, I could name every anchor on the Weather Channel and have considered getting tattoes of cold fronts and perhaps even awkwardly-located low pressure systems. So, I am very excited that one of the things we will soon be installing in the Valley is a fully-functional weather station, which we will connect to the internet so that the whole world can share in the joy and excitement of knowing what the barometric pressure in Benitzul Ulpan is at any given time.<br />
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There are practical applications of this as well. It is good to know precipitation patterns when you are doing things with water: are there times that springs might go dry, would catching rain off rooftops be sufficient, how high would a bridge need to be over the river, and so on. Because climates in the mountains can vary from place to place (if you refer to them as "microclimates" you will make Weather Channel anchor Jim Schwartz proud), we really cannot rely on any data from semi-nearby places like Guatemala City or Coban. So we need this, right? It's not just a toy. I promise.<br />
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The past couple of weeks have really been impacted by the weather in the Ulpan Valley. As one might guess, it can often get somewhat rainy in the tropical rain forest - it kind of goes with the territory. But sometimes it gets exceptionally rainy, and this is one of those times. The locals refer to it as "chippy-chippy" or "mus-mus-hab" which are synonymous for rain that just goes on and on. We have learned that all 7500 people here are qualified to work for the National Weather Service. They all seem to just know when it will start raining and when it will stop. In the mornings, if other people are putting their clothes out to dry, you can bet that the rain is going to hold off for most of the day, but if you don't see them out, you can expect to get pretty wet that day. A couple of days ago, one of the men working with us on some construction projects, Manuel, told Kris and I at about 7:00 in the morning that a concrete pour was possible that morning because the rain was going to hold off until 2:00. It started raining at 1:59.<br />
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Aside from some long camping and hiking trips I've had, it's easy to forget that we have done a really good job of insulating ourselves from the elements. We don't really "live" in the weather - we prepare for it and tolerate it and predict it and at times just complain about it. The flood in Nashville of May 2010 was a stark reminder that there are things in this world that we are completely powerless over. We get reminded of that every day here. In the past couple of days, many people in Guatemala and Mexico have died in floods and landslides. It's not an everyday occurrence, but it is a common one. Yesterday, we drove to Guatemala City in the rain and 30 minutes after we passed a particular spot on the highway a landslide occurred and blocked all 4 lanes of traffic. A smaller landslide keeps recurring near our home in the Valley, and many mornings over the past couple of weeks 15-20 men slop out in the mud with picks and shovels to clear it as best they can. But it keeps sliding. And they keep working.<br />
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The people here are resilient to the sometimes difficult conditions. The men work in the fields or on construction projects under tarps (or not) in downpours and the women walk for hours, often barefoot, up and down muddy mountains to the market or to obtain water. It's just a way of life. A few nights ago, as we tried to listen to the podcast from last week's service at Otter Creek, the rain on our metal roof was so loud that we couldn't hear it. So we had to content ourselves with discussing some prayer items and taking communion (which consisted of hot chocolate and popcorn - close enough, right?). To top things off, we had a somewhat-unnerving earthquake one night during a rainstorm. But thankfully there was a huge nerd at our house who had the USGS earthquake website among his Internet Explorer favorites and within a few minutes we were able to determine that the shaking was, in fact, a 4.5 earthquake and not an entire mountainside sliding off on our heads. <br />
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God is God when it is raining and when it is dry and when the crops grow and when they don't. He's also God of the things we only talk about and of the things we can actually do something about. He's God of the weather and God of water systems built and yet to be built. It's a rainy and exciting time for us in the Ulpan Valley.The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-9843052951612169902011-10-04T08:13:00.000-07:002011-10-04T08:13:09.664-07:00SO WHAT ARE WE DOING, ANYWAY???<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember the Seinfeld episode where Jerry and George were talking at the restaurant about nothing? OK, so maybe that was every episode. But there was one in particular where they stopped in the middle of their dangling conversation and just asked "So what are we doing, anyway?" - it was a hilarious, and kinda sad if you think about it for a while, scene. George and Jerry both came to the conclusion that they really weren't doing anything that amounted to anything for anybody and that their lives were a series of non-accomplishments (that really sounds like it should be a word). We came to Coban this weekend for some hot-shower time and some faster-internet time and to buy some groceries. Yesterday, as the boys and I were in line for Dominoes Pizza, we were stuck in line behind a herd of Mormon missionaries, and the guy in front of us was quite enthusiastic and talkative. I, on the other hand, was grumpy and tired and really didn't want to talk to someone 15 years younger than me who went by the name "Elder".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But, among the 14,326 questions he asked me in the span of "15 minutes or less" was: "so what are you doing here anyway?" We've made some pretty broad statements on this blog about what we are doing: helping people, learning a culture, etc., but it occurred to me that there is a lot that we're doing that many people might not know about. Also, I've been asked several times by several different people what SPECIFIC things are going on and are being planned - not just for our yearlong stay here but for the 10-year Project Ulpan program. So, in no particular order, here is some discussion about what specifically is going on:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><ul type="disc"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Water Supply Projects - </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most of you know that through the support of </span></span><a href="http://www.thelivingwaterproject.us/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.thelivingwaterproject.us</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and others, three clean water projects have been completed in two different communities. There are 15 more communities to go, and each of them have a need. This is special to me - not just because there is a distinct need for clean water in the Ulpan Valley (and about half the world), but because the simple act of having a water system gives something of a communal structure to communities who desperately need them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div></li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Education Projects - </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To say that education is lacking in the Valley is like saying that Hitler was a little moody. It's a problem with the teachers, who maybe show up a couple of days a week, with the system, which provides little oversight and little funding, with the families, who provide little encouragement and help, with the children, who don't take it seriously, and with the entire lifestyle, which doesn't have a mechanism for rewarding education. It's like an elaborate modern-day serfdom, where people just learn to subsist, and there's no value to learning math or history or reading. It's sad that my kids know more about Mayan history than any of the other 5,000 kids in the Valley. We're working with the schools and the parents, and even through home-schooling our kids we're hoping to set an example. We have a goal of starting three secondary schools this fall, and if that falls short, we'll try again next year. But the main hurdle is to provide a light at the end of the tunnel that shows a benefit to education.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Economic Development Projects - </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These will hopefully become that light at the end of the tunnel. The last thing we want to do is train the best and brightest from the Ulpan Valley to the point that they can leave the Valley. Some will, and that's OK, but there needs to be a means and an opportunity for the hardest-working young people to stay close to home, to be (hopefully better) teachers in the schools and to work in areas that bring some income and jobs to their friends and families. We aren't completely sure what all these will look like. There are some microcredit (Google Mohammed Yunus for some inspiration here) programs beginning in the Valley, and more to come. Maybe the future is in aquaculture or commercial organic agriculture or in ecotourism or in manufacturing clothing. Who knows? There is opportunity for all these things in the Valley. And for anyone reading this and saying "I'm in business, not a doctor or engineer or preacher, so there's no use for me in the mission field" I want to point out that a sense of business is one of the greatest needs these folks have. A business sense is by default a long-term effort, and it forces people to look further down the road than perhaps what has been customary.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Solar Power Projects - </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Ulpan Valley has internet access but no electricity. In fact, you could legitimately say that any invention from between 1500 and 2010 is not common here. The nearest electrical grid is about an hour away, and it doesn't seem likely that the system will be expanded in the next several years. People can certainly survive without electricity, but it's really hard to pump water without it or hold night classes or run machinery or anything like that in its absence. We currently have solar panels in 7 communities, and people are using them to recharge cell phones at about $0.40 a pop. In each case, the "solar committee" consists of trusted women in the community and in each case they are repaying the cost of the solar system. It's a beginning stage of economic development and empowering women and things like that. Before the year is out, I predict that the sun will be powering lights in schools and at least one water pump.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Libraries - </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What good is literacy if you have nothing to read? We are starting 8 libraries in different communities this year. Anyone who has a stash of books written in Qeqchi that just aren't selling at the yard sale, let me know. Actually, if anyone wants to get together a shipping container full of children's books (and bibles and books for grown ups), then we'll get in touch with Healing Hands International and send it here, along perhaps with a few boxes of Dino-egg Oatmeal for my kids.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bridges - </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There's something spiritual about building bridges. Here, it's literally life and death. there are two rivers bisecting the Ulpan Valley, and crossing each of them is "muy peligroso". It's amazing to watch a villager loaded down with 150 pounds of wood or corn crossing a 50-foot long bridge consisting of two logs. It's also disheartening. One project coming up this spring will be headed up by a team from Lipscomb University engineering students and will replace a particularly dangerous bridge used by 4 or 5 communities. I like the fact that we are viewed as bridge builders. As I write this, I'm looking at a bridge across a flooded river here in Coban, and this bridge is not only partially submerged, but has no hand rails. There's a good chance it won't last the day, leaving a few thousand people inconveniently stranded on the other side.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nutrition Projects -</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The people in the Ulpan Valley eat almost solely corn and black beans. you see a few chickens running around, and even the occasional cow or pig, but meat is a once-a-month treat for most people here. Traditionally, the Mayans grew squash, tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, and about a million other things, but there's very little diversity left now. Through our garden, we hope to re-introduce people to not only the fact that they CAN grow these things, but that they NEED to grow these things, and they need to EAT these things (and not trade them for candy). We hope to couple this with some soil conservation projects and some projects with Heifer International for increasing food diversity and security.</span></span></div></li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Soil Conservation -</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Deforestation is a real thing here. We always learned that it was the mean old paper companies and the mean old logging companies doing all the damage, and while I'm sure that's the case in some places, that's not the case here. The tropical rain forest is being cut down by machetes one tree at a time. This is partially due to the fact that families need to boil their water to drink it (something we hope to remedy in 15 other communities). It's not because they're bad people, and certainly not because they have no respect for nature. It results from land use and from some land ownership policies that are unfair. Traditionally, where they have practiced slash-and-burn, and on 45-degree slopes, the topsoil doesn't stick around for very long - again we see the problem of not looking too far down the road, and with a high infant mortality and short life span, you can understand that mindset. We have begun terracing our garden to keep the topsoil in place, and we will be teaching others to do the same. Re-planting the rain forest is a little beyond our scope, but at a minimum we hope to help make a transition from "subsistence farming" to "sustainable farming". Between terracing slopes, composting waste, raising red worms (we have about 600 of them in buckets now, ready for our garden, and more in our composting bin, which isn't as gross as you might think), we have lots to learn and lots to teach.</span></span></div></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Latrines - </strong>In this area, many homes do not have a latrine. They simply use the bathrooom outside the house or out in the cornfield or wherever. Needless to say, the most basic of sanitation needs are present here. A few months ago, as a pilot project, we worked with one of the poorer communities here to construct 4 or 5 basic pit-type latrines - in the hopes that they would catch on and more could be built. We have now constructed over 400 of them in almost every community, and there is demand for more. The good news is that this pilot program was a success, but the bad news is that it drained the "sanitation" budget in a hurry. No matter - it's money well spent, even though we technically flushed it down the toilet. Maybe in a couple of years there will be a "Phase 2" of this program, where more latrines are constructed and/or different types, such as composting latrines, are constructed. One of the nicer aspects of this program was that the people all paid a nominal amount for the materials for their latrines, and supplied the majority of the labor for constructing them. It really gave a literal "buy-in" to the project.</span></span></div></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Stoves - </strong>We have been invited for meals at several homes now, and that is always touching and always interesting. As has been the tradition for a couple of thousand years, they cook indoors on an open fire on the floor, balancing logs on three specific stones that are passed down from mother to daughter. What happens is that the whole house is almost always completely filled with smoke, and in a place with so much fresh air, it is unfortunate and sad that so many suffer from respiratory ailments. Many kids cough constantly, and many older people have eyesight problems resulting from this practice. We will be building some "pilot project" stoves in the near future, first at our place and then at some neighbors' homes, that still burn wood (but less of it) but most importantly funnel the smoke out of the house. And if we can figure it out, we hope to incorporate those same three stones into the design. But, the technical issues consist of block and mortar and simple things like that. The larger issues are tradition and practice. This is a good example of the competing goals of not changing a culture but changing health. Josh Graves, "da preacher man" at Otter Creek, talks euphemistically about being "up in someone's kitchen", where you get up close and personal with them. In this case, we actually are in someone's kitchen, and that will make this difficult. Telling someone how to obtain their water is one thing - telling them how to cook is another.</span></div></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Medical and Dental - </strong>We have hosted some medical and dental clinics and plan on several more. There are some people who need treatment and attention for what might currently be ailing them, but what excites me is the deliberate plan to educate people on a regular basis on some of those preventative measures that can improve health. For example, there are very few tooth brushes in the Ulpan Valley. We have visited schools and distributed tooth brushes and toothpaste to the kids there and showed them how to brush their teeth (our kids are the best teachers for this). But, unless there is programmatic follow-up, all we've done is give the kids a novel break from whatever form of school they were having that day. This fall, a team of dentists will be preparing a formal plan for this program, and hopefully over the next decade we can phase out the "clinics" part of things because of better education and practice.</span></div></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Personal - </strong>Kris Hatchell has a good saying: "it's about the people, not the projects". That's hard to remember sometimes, but it's very true. As is the case with most of us, we rarely remember specific things we did with people, but we remember how those people made us feel. We didn't come here to just visit, but visiting is perhaps the most fun and the most rewarding and the most important. In some ways, it's like marketing - where relationships are developed over time and those relationships are the precursor to projects. If we can't be trusted to share some tortillas and coffee with someone, it is unlikely we will be trusted on any other matters either. If we do this anywhere close to right, when we're done, the people here will say "we did this ourselves".</span></div></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, if any of you have actually made it this far in reading, I'm sure you're thinking that we've bitten off more than we should have. That's probably true, but that's the side I want to err on. Bear in mind that this is a long-term project that has already directly involved over 100 people and will probably involve several hundred more volunteers over time, so most of this will ultimately be accomplished by others. And along the way, I'm sure that God will open some other doors and point us in a direction we haven't yet considered. He unquestionably has the ability to "fix" everything here and everywhere, but I believe he enjoys working on projects with his kids, which is something to which I can relate. I think he wants us to try different things, and if everything we try works perfectly, then we haven't tried nearly enough things.</span></div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-58922055615073928502011-09-24T16:13:00.000-07:002011-09-24T16:13:46.573-07:00PICTURES!!So, Kevin promised pictures exactly a week ago, and I'm just now getting around to doing it! Things work a little more slowly here in Guatemala, especially in the valley. We are finding that our computers are the last places we find ourselves, and our work has shifted to more manual and interpersonal labor instead. We are taking a break again in Coban this weekend (only for a night) at Hotel Don Francisco. The people who work here bend over backwards to make us feel at home and welcomed here, and it's very nice to be in a place where the meseros in the restaurant know my kids by name.<br />
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Even so, we had to pull ourselves away from the valley this morning. The kids, especially, are forming good relationships with the other children as was predicted, and it made us a little sad to see Enebol's face this morning as he realized we wouldn't be around today. One of the community coordinators, Roberto, has invited all 8 of us to his home tomorrow for lunch. He said yesterday that we would have meat, which is humbling when you realize what cost it is to he and his wife to prepare a meal with meat for us. In short, we are building relationships in the valley, and we are humbled by the welcome we have received thus far.<br />
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Also as predicted, our car has become a very popular item. Last week, the kids, Cata, DeeDee and I ventured to the market about 20 minutes from our house. We parked the car and walked around the market for awhile, and when we returned to the car, it was completely overflowing with people wanting a ride up the mountain!! DeeDee shared the front seat with a lady who, we discovered at about halfway through the trip, had a live chicken at her feet that she had bought at the market. Yesterday, we went to the river (currently my kids' favorite thing to do, plus it gets boots squeaky clean!!) to collect some rocks for our garden. A sweet family stopped at the river and asked for a ride up the hill. When we said, "15 minutes", the reply was, "no problem". And if you know the hill I'm referring to, I'm sure you can understand why they were content to wait. Their sweet daughter, Anna Maria, helped my boys find snails in the river, and I wish you could've seen the smile on her face as she hopped into the back of the truck with them for the ride up the hill. At the end of our ride, her mother pulled an orange for EACH of us out of her bag as a way to say thank you! It brings tears to my eyes to know how generous so many people are in the valley with the little they have. It also makes me feel guilty about the many times I've found myself being selfish in times past. <br />
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I have to take a moment to give a shout-out to Cata as well. For the many of you who know her, you know what a gift she is to any family who is fortunate enough to have crossed her path. She is already the most popular person in the valley as well! When we walk down the road, you can hear almost everyone we pass say, "Cati!!". We've told her that she could be married three times over if all the men hadn't married at the age of 16 :)! We simply couldn't be doing what we're doing without her...I believe this with all my heart!<br />
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And finally, drumroll please! The pictures!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit7MIZUgoJLeSydAXb8RWlZSsapd4HJazSJtQacMFRlhZ-REaym_dzKLHD7ODeBKgaSLa2zejC8Iu3Rey6pdwUVIZ1817cflO7buWTpvSZeCuyGp183d2GEGRnWeAIsSYBkGxBIFUWUOHH/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit7MIZUgoJLeSydAXb8RWlZSsapd4HJazSJtQacMFRlhZ-REaym_dzKLHD7ODeBKgaSLa2zejC8Iu3Rey6pdwUVIZ1817cflO7buWTpvSZeCuyGp183d2GEGRnWeAIsSYBkGxBIFUWUOHH/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+007.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div align="center" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvhIr_gr9Up4bESjOswVGpMo4fMbg4GS-2cQg1Xpa5YxYD92ojdTfVQ9pKGl-sH6di9NQtd_iV8zTLFZbkCEnZW88EZ0IKN8Eg6jtE3_qfHS6KtUndQrMpWzPOtjR5BzyIJWDifu3YQVou/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvhIr_gr9Up4bESjOswVGpMo4fMbg4GS-2cQg1Xpa5YxYD92ojdTfVQ9pKGl-sH6di9NQtd_iV8zTLFZbkCEnZW88EZ0IKN8Eg6jtE3_qfHS6KtUndQrMpWzPOtjR5BzyIJWDifu3YQVou/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+008.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><br />
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<div align="center">Los trabajodores</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5lhooSUvd5Pl0LHehmeVLCXP8wh1Az1j_l6cII0BAhfP-kYMlu8aX7SfaY2Av9PQv8j37GJ1xz8d0wdAFb2tsERrE7DyE1Bo0upg1tSVnRjCEscYhILCVmv4B86GeQRsXbylv2B__nlgB/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5lhooSUvd5Pl0LHehmeVLCXP8wh1Az1j_l6cII0BAhfP-kYMlu8aX7SfaY2Av9PQv8j37GJ1xz8d0wdAFb2tsERrE7DyE1Bo0upg1tSVnRjCEscYhILCVmv4B86GeQRsXbylv2B__nlgB/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+009.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Cata doing laundry</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheugI-zVk7zf56fVQXInExeJgU4k1oRU3YVSyf7CJLUfl4zwpCGn2yc092LR8EyHaKRjh97iZksmQMOOrYMA70nxRxX3OrHDFUXnO1ou7geUc0DFUnv_tYl_wM6WKeDrKonxurf8vxclk3/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheugI-zVk7zf56fVQXInExeJgU4k1oRU3YVSyf7CJLUfl4zwpCGn2yc092LR8EyHaKRjh97iZksmQMOOrYMA70nxRxX3OrHDFUXnO1ou7geUc0DFUnv_tYl_wM6WKeDrKonxurf8vxclk3/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+010.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Me helping Cata do laundry...hee hee. She can do twenty pair of socks in the time it takes me to do one!</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0QC-SzD9dZ8gtM30b72NLqEMiBFnLWOZt_YLAq8UeXa377AUUB_czXdWGwcm1gCz2Tsb8JatCLgibgFPdwVs6TeCRNq9wdddu_0nDa2PfHrHRo4P-q6fj4Nv3NaEs8Xc12ffJxKP1pMyj/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0QC-SzD9dZ8gtM30b72NLqEMiBFnLWOZt_YLAq8UeXa377AUUB_czXdWGwcm1gCz2Tsb8JatCLgibgFPdwVs6TeCRNq9wdddu_0nDa2PfHrHRo4P-q6fj4Nv3NaEs8Xc12ffJxKP1pMyj/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+012.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div align="center">Using a handsaw requires extreme concentration!</div><div align="center"><br />
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</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigVsTh6peqOoMpaBGOCcZC7BCy6Ott3Kh9HSuh-njL7yLrFrbdW52ofGJqyUmm228HlQ3tEl-yvTg_z-4sN7UvU8VvNCAUmwWCeZL2iLfneXZ7YbA22HCMsK9PO-c0ceSSCB7xp-afN_Y6/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigVsTh6peqOoMpaBGOCcZC7BCy6Ott3Kh9HSuh-njL7yLrFrbdW52ofGJqyUmm228HlQ3tEl-yvTg_z-4sN7UvU8VvNCAUmwWCeZL2iLfneXZ7YbA22HCMsK9PO-c0ceSSCB7xp-afN_Y6/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+013.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div align="center"></div><div align="center">Zaac doing some masonry work</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc1RaVzzJFhLXOIsa_UhOcdhXSXtzNCH0LC3sr-8mQzdRgM-_q1zYiP6itN3N9zN9gMHDqqS1ixLSu1KdWtmu70RHOYxzLYadkODykoGGWBw5_a4g0oB6RpYN7tjohdVJZxWWSJS6gzZNk/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc1RaVzzJFhLXOIsa_UhOcdhXSXtzNCH0LC3sr-8mQzdRgM-_q1zYiP6itN3N9zN9gMHDqqS1ixLSu1KdWtmu70RHOYxzLYadkODykoGGWBw5_a4g0oB6RpYN7tjohdVJZxWWSJS6gzZNk/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+017.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div align="center">Kris and Ben polishing off one of our favorite meals that Cata makes: Chow Mein!</div><br />
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</div><div align="center" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsTsA8N6_QBbreHxK-hTt9MQTopYXrPPJJrX1AhOmygqHCsV5UsyFQNugCFNMMVNlhx8xKk6K-TJFQ9PUDLevMNjJIywYRNyDCgfSIajPc1E4G0Fngrt1gg-RtjncsTYXsAZSuhqgrDNp2/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsTsA8N6_QBbreHxK-hTt9MQTopYXrPPJJrX1AhOmygqHCsV5UsyFQNugCFNMMVNlhx8xKk6K-TJFQ9PUDLevMNjJIywYRNyDCgfSIajPc1E4G0Fngrt1gg-RtjncsTYXsAZSuhqgrDNp2/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+020.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">Bananas from one of our banana trees</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWYIF_-WqspEpycniUu9wR-3v1lfLFfdDNJnjyVZgbiO1Zp5YwbTCcFqByWBpuVyuwTh1C7_fWDoyMpwWBqYFvB0zEBQxA9IW6txl_cqmob7mFdXuktgSmC1zbJRLkv2mOCaTxv9_V-12/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWYIF_-WqspEpycniUu9wR-3v1lfLFfdDNJnjyVZgbiO1Zp5YwbTCcFqByWBpuVyuwTh1C7_fWDoyMpwWBqYFvB0zEBQxA9IW6txl_cqmob7mFdXuktgSmC1zbJRLkv2mOCaTxv9_V-12/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+022.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"> Cata's Cafeteria</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEYcyMqOZnVQueG3avK8WkcKoiRLk17ZzN9Wm2Fqmzy3F_Ck5MRO5WdVpTd8uHgIWVaJjrI_jcJ3x0XG9zk7_2dVxXPKRzHUhut62wL6vrsqx5xjTbfLM5k-9OppTsGDhGZPMZ15ueIk1b/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEYcyMqOZnVQueG3avK8WkcKoiRLk17ZzN9Wm2Fqmzy3F_Ck5MRO5WdVpTd8uHgIWVaJjrI_jcJ3x0XG9zk7_2dVxXPKRzHUhut62wL6vrsqx5xjTbfLM5k-9OppTsGDhGZPMZ15ueIk1b/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+023.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"> Our Pila</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLAT9h52i8wFRZ9AObVXJzH3CRaXJQ4HyVod9UfIpm9NguWZPC9DIS6UzkQxIeLfpoip-wwDPT5NsmvfR-2wrGWS6a7EBodRoNXtzvh99SWUjI0HKs6NxiEiiCAEJzDaKKXgSvvff18dmx/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLAT9h52i8wFRZ9AObVXJzH3CRaXJQ4HyVod9UfIpm9NguWZPC9DIS6UzkQxIeLfpoip-wwDPT5NsmvfR-2wrGWS6a7EBodRoNXtzvh99SWUjI0HKs6NxiEiiCAEJzDaKKXgSvvff18dmx/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+024.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fdv7Mu1gPz-hrcZVTQ0CxjamjPtY4KIfBflQZThG-ztX54NawtzydIutnj_TBpV7yeXoIQo_dN4R0kBaGu70LpqSuMZmN41VQr96FwBGJl71Sqkyu0vQS4CHrxSoqXPeGOpavo4RxGcQ/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+037.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fdv7Mu1gPz-hrcZVTQ0CxjamjPtY4KIfBflQZThG-ztX54NawtzydIutnj_TBpV7yeXoIQo_dN4R0kBaGu70LpqSuMZmN41VQr96FwBGJl71Sqkyu0vQS4CHrxSoqXPeGOpavo4RxGcQ/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+037.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"> Kevin's and My bed</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhbP6yDL255WoARHJh7CgSCRRrzcky-y6A6x-22sTdnNDk4ADU-1BYjqKYu7OGeapR-1kUiSK_J8hqqKyTUAweoopWpE2Zyt5yEvHcuw-w0kChQpVGnzd7ijD-bdwvMEWbkPp9ll53pil9/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhbP6yDL255WoARHJh7CgSCRRrzcky-y6A6x-22sTdnNDk4ADU-1BYjqKYu7OGeapR-1kUiSK_J8hqqKyTUAweoopWpE2Zyt5yEvHcuw-w0kChQpVGnzd7ijD-bdwvMEWbkPp9ll53pil9/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+038.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">The kids' beds</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidf0z_z1wtzZhNXvtNHkRf7NAw4K7NaNYixmWi8nay_hkEihTUCqbMDuetlcQfJQRGrl74qB0gCMlnBexSFLxqtYGZMKtT51B0b6oROguGg7UL4cW0n4BnatvK21jDaq3DCfqhL5fmA4c5/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+039.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidf0z_z1wtzZhNXvtNHkRf7NAw4K7NaNYixmWi8nay_hkEihTUCqbMDuetlcQfJQRGrl74qB0gCMlnBexSFLxqtYGZMKtT51B0b6oROguGg7UL4cW0n4BnatvK21jDaq3DCfqhL5fmA4c5/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+039.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"> Kevin skyping with a bunch of curious onlookers surrounding him</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIvhavgXUlok-WBdIHXG1noUo3IkP4EDeC6-XE_LPFCyWq_7lv1V6zw9fnnMqlDmijQhW036EQ6d9TG6QxFio66ZHHpwypUD52zZyyyW6V8hl_3AEzfZ3dNCZMTLSL2Zd9zeIR-rmljWw7/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+040.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIvhavgXUlok-WBdIHXG1noUo3IkP4EDeC6-XE_LPFCyWq_7lv1V6zw9fnnMqlDmijQhW036EQ6d9TG6QxFio66ZHHpwypUD52zZyyyW6V8hl_3AEzfZ3dNCZMTLSL2Zd9zeIR-rmljWw7/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+040.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">Our Shower...we're living in luxury!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7QjJfprUkISBdi_fjCdO97UlSO3S7vA86M2T6M2GMRRpBrqPC6wFsi_twd0-GqHPB19cwm8g5CqqJTmOvWHcLP46wCFyNybUO7srp0z1LA36DIq-18CYNked3kR4mNgWSduSG5vSbllPp/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7QjJfprUkISBdi_fjCdO97UlSO3S7vA86M2T6M2GMRRpBrqPC6wFsi_twd0-GqHPB19cwm8g5CqqJTmOvWHcLP46wCFyNybUO7srp0z1LA36DIq-18CYNked3kR4mNgWSduSG5vSbllPp/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+041.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"> A typical morning view</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-UGaq_SjRaaeWVu6To1LYc5KWm59QrI-jPiu93eo5_J9PXUjx2oA2hDZjeX7PlzSVK1Sd8bn0SgQhJM0b3UOEQPOARt78wu4X_4qaIqkadpeeeLPtEv1aseHAm2ThV60W-v13ssPFv-O/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-UGaq_SjRaaeWVu6To1LYc5KWm59QrI-jPiu93eo5_J9PXUjx2oA2hDZjeX7PlzSVK1Sd8bn0SgQhJM0b3UOEQPOARt78wu4X_4qaIqkadpeeeLPtEv1aseHAm2ThV60W-v13ssPFv-O/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+043.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div align="center">Our bathroom</div><br />
<div align="center" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCiggBXeFv6UydUsiuTMtwyCVj5V0oEIZK0wxJ4MYxvrhuTa5Uu9RpqQ35Cd8v0a-9xO5gR-SNukb4UUITuCC4F2n5nLAR4-N0pBxJo1ksCB3t3gvPjbzfF1QFcPZ-psr2y19nELiYqqA/s1600/Guatemala+September+2011+044.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCiggBXeFv6UydUsiuTMtwyCVj5V0oEIZK0wxJ4MYxvrhuTa5Uu9RpqQ35Cd8v0a-9xO5gR-SNukb4UUITuCC4F2n5nLAR4-N0pBxJo1ksCB3t3gvPjbzfF1QFcPZ-psr2y19nELiYqqA/s320/Guatemala+September+2011+044.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div align="center">Our clothes dryer</div><br />
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</div><div align="center">Our garden in progress.</div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-86312491237156652612011-09-18T09:25:00.000-07:002011-09-18T09:25:31.479-07:00On Elections and RelocationsSorry it's been a couple of weeks, but Ginger's last entry was good enough that there probably wasn't much to say for a while anyway. If Blog frequency is proportional to Blog quality, you can expect another entry in a few hours. Actually, you probably can regardless because we have some great pictures to dump out of the camera. We have been in the Ulpan Valley for a week now, and it's a little bit of a stretch to say that we are getting settled in, but home is where family is, and home is most certainly where a well-functioning latrine is.<br />
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We wrapped up Qeqchi school in Antigua, and toward the end of our time there, we really began to feel like we didn't belong there, and that's probably accurate. However, after a few more weeks in the Valley, spending some time back in Antigua with friends and family will be a welcome change-up. It has taken some time to get our internet up and running at our house in the Valley, but we think we're getting close to having things figured out. It's still strange to me that we live in a place that is an hour from the nearest electric lines but has cell phone and internet service. Our little solar power system gives us ample light to run a few light bulbs and recharge a few phones and computers, and apart from that, we really don't need anything else.<br />
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Last week was tense here in Guatemala, as it was election time. Historically, elections haven't been very peaceful here, as many times people opt to select leaders by bullets rather than by ballots. This time, however, it really seemed pretty calm. Without exception, the millions of candidates' signs all made hollow-sounding promises to the Guatemalan people: "You deserve better!" "Security and employment" "I am a patriot" "Total change" and so on. And in a country where half of the children suffer from malnutition, all of this seems pretty empty. Come to think of it, they all sound like promises we've heard in the US, and those all sound pretty empty too. It's just reinforcement that the mechanism for improving things in Guatemala and in this world will not be a political one.<br />
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That being said, politics is important. Not the "love me and elect me" type of politics, but the true Greek sense of the term that goes something like "the process by which decisions get made." Understanding how decisions get made in the various communities in the Ulpan Valley is very important and very difficult. Some interesting studies in other areas similar to ours reflect the fact that often the persons trusted the most in the community are not necessarily the "leaders" of that community. Sometimes it's an elder. Sometimes it's a mother of 5. And sometimes it's just a guy who works hard and looks out for the needs of others. Jesus referred to these people as "person of peace", and we know we have found some of those people, and pray we find more of them. And in our more reflective moments we wonder if we're that type of person in our hometown.<br />
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The kids are making friends in the neighborhood already, and although the two cultures couldn't be more different, King of the Mountain is the same in every language. As is making forts and putting mud in people's boots and constructing bows and arrows and all things kids do everywhere. Yesterday, we were invited to a community-wide fiesta. It was sort of a celebration of Guatemalan independence day, which was the previous day, but more an excuse to get together. Independence day isn't really a big deal for the people up in this part of Guatemala, where they don't see themselves as Guatemalans much more than we see ourselves as Western Hemispherians. They aren't militantly opposed to government here, and in fact there are a few signs (schools, roads, etc.) that some efforts are being made to improve their lives here, but election campaign signs of any sort are noticeably absent here. The fiesta included music and dancing (my kind of dancing, where you pretty much just stand still) but it was interesting that the "treat" of the day was getting a soup with meat in it. Meat is something that they rarely enjoy. <br />
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Oh, and a little more Qeqchi sunk in than I thought. They really seem surprised when they hear their language spoken by obvious foreigners - possibly as surprised as I seem on those rare occasions that they understand what's trying to be said.The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-15095377168776569182011-09-03T10:41:00.000-07:002011-09-03T10:41:35.678-07:00Q'eqchi School and Ecclesiates"I have seen what is best for people here on earth. They should eat, drink and enjoy their work, because the life God has given them on earth is short....They do not worry about how short life is because God keeps them busy with what they love to do." Ecc. 5:18 & 20<br />
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Q'eqchi class , to say the least, is a circus. Knowing words in Q'eqchi and being able to find/use them in a sentence are two entirely different things. You may know the word for "to have", but it's a game of find the peanut as you try to find it in a sentence. If I ask the teacher to explain, the answer without fail is basically, "beacuse it just is". I have found myself incredibly frustrated because I'm accostumed to being able to master anything I set my mind to master, but Q'eqchi is not one of those things I'm going to be able to...ever. About a week ago, I decided to just have fun in my classes. I'm trying to find joy in the work given to me. My teacher enjoys life and her laugh is infectious, so we laugh quite a bit (I think mostly at my expense, but hey, that's ok). Things have been much more enjoyable since I've taken this particular attitude, and I have found that I'm actually quite found of my teacher, Zoila. At the end of each week, she gives me a test which is a lot like opening a box of chocolates. In the words of Forrest Gump, "You never know what you're gonna get". Without fail, before the test Zoila asks that we pray. We don't exactly pray together as much as we both say our own prayer aloud (very common in the Q'eqchi culture). As I sat at the desk while we prayed yesterday, I was overwhelmed by a sense of how big our God really is. Here Zoila sat, praying in a foreign tongue, but I knew she was praying for me because I heard my name mentioned in the midst of the Q'eqchi. We were praying to the same God about the same thing but in totally different languages. Then I thought about all the languages of the world and all the prayers that are offered at any given time to our God. And we are really all asking Him for the same thing; for a tiny part of His kingdom to come here on earth. I know that's what we are asking for in the valley...for the people there to be able to see His kingdom through us and that we will find joy in the work He gives us to do there.<br />
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And then I think about the people of the valley. They don't have anything compared to what we are used to having, but they find joy in the work they do. They, more than us, realize that life is short, and I think they have a better handle on what Solomon is saying in the midst of his cynicism. Enjoy life!!! It is a gift from God, and it is gone before you can turn around. Life is hard; the people in the valley know this. They spend an awful lot of time smiling, though. They don't have 401K's that are wrapped up in a failing stock market, or lots of electronics to maintain. They have more time to eat, drink and be merry. It's not a feast by any means, but it's what has been given them, and they are content in ways that I do not see in myself.<br />
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So, this weekend I'm trying to practice Solomon's words of wisdom. There are sounds of my children playing happily outside. There is the wonderful aroma of pepian wafting through the house, and there is the beauty of God's creation surrounding me on all sides. I think I'll eat, drink and enjoy my work today.<br />
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The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-48829072361671505992011-08-29T09:00:00.000-07:002011-08-29T09:00:12.673-07:00AppetizersLast week we took an impromptu trip up to the Ulpan Valley, which will be our "permanent" home in less than two weeks now. It turned out that there were several project-related things that needed to be taken care of before we went, so we just took off and left. Because we are still in language school, and because our teachers are all Qeqchi, we asked if they wanted to go with us, and sort of to our surprise they were all very excited to go. In retrospect, though, we probably could have done a better job of telling them what they were getting in to. Minor details such as "you will be sleeping on a concrete floor" and "it's going to be pretty cool and pretty wet" probably could have been conveyed before we left. Although I think they had fun I couldn't help but think they spent the 3 days terrified they'd been abducted by the Griswolds.<br />
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Out time there was a microcosm of what we anticipate the next year will be like. We fixed a solar system that had a broken power supply in one community, confirmed that the 3 water systems we'd previously installed were working and came up with a few maintenance items, delivered 32 toilet seats to a community (note - the funny scene of me driving a pickup loaded with 32 toilet seats through the mountains is tempered by the fact that they were being delivered to a community so impoverished that no one there has a latrine at all), we surveyed for the construction of a new training facility, and facilitated midwife training for the 17 communities. I was more than happy to be out surveying while the midwife training was going on, but our teachers seemed to be interested in that. Water and sanitation and health and economic development and human rights are all real and tangible things in the Ulpan Valley, and our trip there last week has only served to reinforce our desire to be there. <br />
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We even let the kids clear out our garden with machetes, which was a real treat for them, and is certain to cause angst among their grandparents, so anyone reading this who knows them, please be sure to let them know that you "saw on their blog that the boys spent a few days chasing butterflies and studying safely in a bubble-wrapped room far away from sharp objects." It was nice to find out that a new cell phone tower that the Project Ulpan had pushed for is operational and has excellent service, including data, so we will be able to Skype and Blog and Facebook very easily from the Valley. Please keep in touch.<br />
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As for the main items this week (language development and purchasing a truck), we still have not been able to find a truck, but we have learned at least some Qeqchi. Probably my favorite thing I've ever discovered language-wise is this tidbit: the Qeqchi word for light bulb is "kaxlan xam" which translates into "burning chicken". I love that. When my Qeqchi teacher told me that I said that the first Qeqchi people to see a light bulb must have thought it was some sort of "poultry-geist", but she didn't get it (I laughed at my joke for 4 hours and didn't learn anything else that day).<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>This was the view shortly after sunrise on Friday. We look forward to waking up to this every day.</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Ginger and DeeDee and our Qeqchi teachers at the top of a mountain near the Benitzul Ulpan school</em></div><div align="center"></div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-46837336126006092072011-08-20T11:51:00.000-07:002011-08-20T11:51:14.409-07:00Everything I Needed to Know I Learned YesterdayThe past several days have been really trying as we have been learning to speak Klingon - I mean Qeqchi. Put simply, never, ever play scrabble with any Qeqchi person. Every word in their language is comprised of multiple Q's, Z's, X's, and a few other letters that have yet to make it into the game that are probably worth about 50 points apiece. Also, there are no vowels in their language, and it makes me wonder how much time we squander using things like vowels and other non-spittle-related sounds. A simple click at the back of the throat means "your mother's umbrella is laying eggs", at least when I say it.<br />
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So to cap the week off, Kris and I decided that we really needed to get busy buying a truck for our time in the Ulpan Valley, which starts full-time three weeks from now, so we found a Toyota 4-runner that had some promise and was within our budget, so we asked if we could drive it to a mechanic we've made contact with for him to look it over. So, in bullet-point fashion, here is what I learned:<br />
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<ul><li>I learned that when a vehicle owner makes a passing comment that the gas tank is "a little low" that often they mean "it's nearly empty".</li>
<li>I learned the sounds a Toyota 4-Runner makes when it runs out of gas.</li>
<li>I learned that coasting back down a hill on a Guatemalan road in a vehicle you don't own can be quite unsettling.</li>
<li>I learned that buses speeding up hills on Guatemalan roads don't really care if you're coasting backwards down a hill.</li>
<li>I learned that power brakes and power steering are much more functional when they have power.</li>
<li>I learned that the Guatemalan police will actually stop and help you if you wave your arms wildly enough.</li>
<li>I learned that Guatemalan police also speed on Guatemalan roads.</li>
<li>I learned that the bed of a Guatemalan police pickup truck is not very comfortable (learned at the exact same time I learned that the brakes on a Guatemalan police pickup truck work very well).</li>
<li>I learned that an empty bottle of antifreeze in the trash at a Guatemalan gas station is "on sale for about $2.00" to anyone who happened to run out of gas and stumble bruised out of the bed of a Guatemalan police pickup truck.</li>
<li>I learned that Guatemalan policemen like Gatorade purchased at a gas station that sells things like gas, gatorade, and empty bottles of antifreeze that can be used as gas cans.</li>
<li>I learned that a person should not attempt to drink a grape soda while riding in the bed of a Guatemalan police pickup truck.</li>
<li>I learned that Guatemalan police pickup trucks can drive on any side of the road they please, and that buses generally care more about those vehicles' positions than they do out-of-gas Toyota 4-runners.</li>
<li>I learned that one can use a bottle of grape soda as a funnel to pour gasoline into an empty gas tank, but in order to cut the bottle so it could be used....</li>
<li>I learned that Guatemalan police carry machetes in their back seats.</li>
<li>I learned that Guatemalan police think it's funny when an tall North American with a now spotted-purple shirt offers to hold an empty bottle of grape soda so he can chop it with a machete.</li>
<li>I learned that Guatemalan police generally prefer to cut bottles of grape soda with a machete like a saw, rather than like an axe, and I learned that perhaps it was best to let the experts do their work.</li>
<li>I learned that, while furstrating and a little funny, you can find people to help you out.</li>
<li>I learned that gas stations are not interested in buying back empty bottles of antifreeze for any price.</li>
<li>I learned that finding a mechanic's shop in Guatemala City is not all that easy, even if you have a map, an address, and have studied the area on Google Earth for several hours.</li>
<li>I learned that in some parts of the world, 26th Avenue is not necessarily between 25th Avenue and 27th Avenue, and in fact it might not even exist at all, even if it shows up on a map, on Google Earth, and is the address of the location you are looking for. And on that subject, "Zone 4", in case you are wondering, is nestled neatly in between "Zone 1" and "Zone 9".</li>
<li>I learned that a mechanic in Guatemala City named Andy Young is one of the nicest people I've ever met, and I learned that his opinion was that Toyota 4-runners can be "something of a gas hog", and I learned that it is possible to agree with someone 100%.</li>
<li>I learned that lots of people drive on very few roads out of Guatemala City on Friday evenings and that very few of those people would pass an emissions test.</li>
<li>I learned I really didn't want to buy a 4-runner.</li>
<li>I learned that it's always nice to get home, even if you suspect you got scabies there.</li>
<li>I learned what scabies looks like.</li>
</ul>I hope this information has been helpful to you.The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-26413310612971009932011-08-14T17:04:00.000-07:002011-08-14T17:04:43.265-07:00A Week of Learning and WaitingThis past week has been one of continued learning. Learning languages and cultures and patience and differences. We wrapped up our 4th week of Spanish instruction, and we find ourselves wishing we had time to take many more weeks - not so much because we love conjugating irregular verbs, but because we are gradually finding out how little we know. In many ways learning a language is like running. You rarely notice much difference from day-to-day but from month to month you do. (Alternatively, it's the opposite of daily news or Latin American Soap Operas: you miss a day and you're completely lost, but miss a month and you realize that nothing's changed). Today, we attended church with Christian and Rosie Aponte and we were all surprised at how much of the language we recognized (Martin Luther King quotations are equally powerful in Spanish in case you're wondering). Four weeks ago, we would have understood nothing but we got the gist of things today. While we expect that most of our "church" in the next year will be within our family, worshipping with other people who similarly pray for peace and for grace and hope for better things to come is refreshing and energizing.<br />
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Church today was a Guatemalan perspective of "Iglesia es la esperanza del Mundo" (church is the hope of the world), and while it's not without its flaws, I agree with that assertion. The Bible was originally written by and written for people who needed hope more than anything, and the original readers (hearers) were not unlike the people of the Ulpan Valley and so many other places in the world today. As Christians, or more specifically, as rich North American Christians, we've made a mistake by allowing the conversation in recent years to degenerate into whether we will be saved by the forces of free market or by the forces of government. I'm actually a big fan of both of these man-made institutions, but I believe that the only true mechanism giving hope for better things to come is the God-made institution of church.<br />
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Speaking of A New Hope, yesterday, the boys got the gist of a sign that said "Star Wars Exhibit here" and we opted to explore Jedi culture for an afternoon. People saying "Hey - you look like you might want to buy something" sounds the same in all languages, and those people are a little intimidating when they're dressed up as Darth Maul. But it was a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon anyway.<br />
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We had our first experience with the international medical community this week, as Sam caught a brief, but pretty nasty, fever and stomach ailment. He's OK now and once again ready to eat poorly-cooked chicken, but it was an unpleasant couple of days. The visit was very good in just about every way possible: short wait, courteous staff, and a correct and reassuring diagnosis (i.e. "it's not Dengue Fever, you idiot"). Also, to make the visit seem more "American", there were salespeople coming in and out, and even the token guy coming in saying "I need a prescription for_____". And $25 cash later, we were done.<br />
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Next week is a real gear-shift for us when we start Qeqchi. We find ourselves very restless and impatient to get more permanently in the Ulpan Valley. We have some additional prep work on tap for next week, including some planning of some facilities in the Valley. The good news is that things appear to be coming along very well with Project Ulpan, with many communities enjoying the new cell tower (yes, we will have internet and Skype access, but the nearest electricity will be an hour away). About 400 latrines have been constructed in the last few months, which isn't bad considering that there were none for 2,500 homes just a few months ago. That aspect of sanitation is really catching on. Several communities have solar panels now, and more are planned. In each case, the communities are responsibly collecting money from their "customers" and paying for the equipment over the next several months (more on "microcredit" set-ups and some perspectives from an engineering perspective on how they are changing the world in future postings). The water systems we have constructed previously are running OK (although one community will need some work with maintenance and generally staying on top of things - but there are more than a few water systems in the US that have the idential issue - more on those similarities later too). It is exciting to be a part of this work and we look forward to becoming more immersed into it.The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-529446221693245752011-08-05T14:01:00.000-07:002011-08-05T14:01:44.333-07:00I Heart Publix!For those of you who know me well, you know that I could be in an advertisement for Publix supermarkets. To say that I enjoy shopping at my local Publix is probably a bit of an understatement...I've been known to be in the store 5 times during one week alone! The people who work in my store know me by name. I kinda feel like humming the "Cheers" theme song as I do my shopping.<br />
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As I'm sure goes without saying, there are no Publix supermarkets in Guatemala...sigh. Instead, when groceries are needed, a trip to the local market is required. Please don't get me wrong! The produce is amazingly fresh, and there are amazing fruits and vegetables that I've never laid eyes on before (As an added bonus, none of us have gotten sick from aforementioned produce). BUT, there is no one named Peter who helps me to my car with the groceries. As a matter of fact, I don't have a car AT ALL!! A trip to the market requires a decent walk down the busy streets of Antigua, and the return trip home is usually a bit of a balancing act as Cata and I cart our goodies down the streets. <br />
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Inside the market, please envision tiny narrow hallways where more people than I've ever seen in Publix push their way through, many times carrying baskets on their heads or gigantic bags of wares on their backs. As a matter of fact, yesterday I looked up to see a basket of cow heads walking by me! These are things you just don't see while walking the aisles in Publix (while mentioning things you don't see in Publix, you can also find the most recent Harry Potter movie complete with the back of people's heads and people coughing in it)! Unfortunately, depending on your point of view, I don't have a picture of the cow heads. It's a shame since they had horns on them and all! The very first trip Cata and I made to the market, we somehow both ended up holding ourselves up by grasping a wall above the ladies who were selling their vegetables in the hallway as people shoved their way past us. It's an adventure to say the least!<br />
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Below are some pictures I took today as Cata and I bought fresh fruits and vegetables for the weekend. Fridays are slightly more tranquil in the market than some of the other days, so I was able to take a few shots of our market experienece. These don't really do it justice as you can't hear the sounds or smell the pungent odors of fish and raw meat, but hopefully you can get a tiny feel for what the market is like.<br />
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<div align="center">Feliz fin de semana!</div><br />
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<div align="center">This lady was so cute! I took 3 pictures of her before she was satisified with the way she looked.</div><div align="center"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Nm-C0Hck9RwjVhLGREaXa3Vu94CLJTmtRSJKVjlSK7cBKsTNZ4vugvLJHqpQ3QgzS5SXTOIph1Wu-GkwOeNxExZdYItjT9Xs9p57kE3tkhuLoCRiHFLbhoMK_JXF4lidgHSkv7fdQ-Aj/s1600/Market+and+frutas+014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Nm-C0Hck9RwjVhLGREaXa3Vu94CLJTmtRSJKVjlSK7cBKsTNZ4vugvLJHqpQ3QgzS5SXTOIph1Wu-GkwOeNxExZdYItjT9Xs9p57kE3tkhuLoCRiHFLbhoMK_JXF4lidgHSkv7fdQ-Aj/s320/Market+and+frutas+014.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Fish anyone??</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">How 'bout a whole side of cow??</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">Pollo...and something else</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">Yum! I like this part of the market better than the meat section.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<div align="center">It's awfully hard to see, but this is a pile of chicken feet. Want some "sole" food for dinner tonight?</div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-37028039189787773372011-08-03T21:10:00.000-07:002011-08-03T21:10:22.069-07:00WordsWords are important - the words we use, the words we say, the words we write, and the words we choose to keep to ourselves. It has been interesting over the past 2+ weeks how many people have had the reaction of "Wow - you're actually trying to learn the language before you dive headlong into working on water systems in the Ulpan Valley?!?!?" It seems strange to me that this is strange. I've been told that this approach is pretty unusual for projects that are of a somewhat "technical" nature. Evidently, most of the time the well-intentioned geeks like me come to a place and enlist the services of a translator and drop a project on some people. Whether we ultimately succeed, or to what degree we succeed with Project Ulpan, will probably not be quantifiable for perhaps a decade or two, but I have to admit that learning at least some Spanish and at least some Qeqchi is turning out to be more rewarding than I thought it would be.<br />
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We received lots of good advice before moving here, and much of that advice had to do with words. One of the best illustrations of "language barriers" was given as "you will know exactly how a 2-year-old feels because you understand only a little and can communicate even a little less than that, but you know exactly what you WANT to communicate" and I have to admit that there have been some times in our brief stint here that all I want to do is point at something and loudly pout, just like a toddler (granted, that tactic has proven to be quite successful for me, if not a little embarrassing to the rest of the family, but I got my lemonade, dagummit). But learning how to communicate, I have decided, is fundamental to Project Ulpan.<br />
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It is fundamental in the sense that it shows we are wanting to be involved long-term, not just for a project. It is fundamental in the sense that we can better know what these communities need and what they want (and what they don't want). Thinking back to my "professional life" over the past 15-ish years, I'm sure I made some "technical mistakes" along the way (what's a decimal place among friends anyway?) but the ones that stand out are all mistakes of communication - where I didn't "speak the language" of a client or a customer or a boss or a regulator or whomever. Language barriers are a real thing, even if you speak the same language. But the good thing is that these, like all barriers, can be broken down.<br />
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Scott Owings, a man whom I respect immensely and who always seems to be able to speak the language of the person he is talking to, said that it is comforting to remember that there are three words that are the same in all languages: hallelujah, hosannah, and amen. That's comforting to me. It's also comforting to me that Bernoulli's equation and Newton's laws of motion are constant everywhere too. I hope to be mixing in a little Bernoulli with a little sprinkling of hallelujah and a dash of amen in the coming months.The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-13534378686584256992011-08-01T20:26:00.000-07:002011-08-01T20:26:55.612-07:00the past week my parents haven't written the blogHola! Zaac here...<br />
Since no one's written the blog lately I decided to do it. The past week we've pretty much been bums, if you consider jamming an entire language in your head being a bum. On Monday our spanish teachers tried to take us to a fair. But when we got there we found out it opened in the afternoon. When we got back school was almost over. Then on Wednesday our teachers took me, Sam,Ben,and dad to a serpent house. Thats a house full of cool snakes and creepy spiders. There was a snake the size of Voldemort's snake. My teacher was up in the glass and the snake started hissing then that HUGE snake lunged at the glass were my teacher was. She ran away as fast as she could. Then when we got outside (a) we saw a giant iguana crawling across the roof (b) a full sized pool that I didn't want to know was home to. (c) a spot were you could see and hold snakes, spiders (which I only touched once) millipeds, and lizards.That took a while. Then when we got back school was over. On friday there was a goodbye party for people graduating. Now we're almost the only people in school. Yesterday we hiked or more like walked up about a hundred stairs to have church at a cross at the highest point in Antigua. we stayed there for a while then mom and dad walked down the stairs me, Sam and ben balanced on the side. Here are some pictures from yesterday:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENXVeamPSbv_yjb02GL0PSVVvdQBAYgiRBRfBZrb6J10hVBBi1IcXoS8AxXtCLmWq-V7BeK2dci2mY3RLOmYefYkVQSV9sFE1Pc4XUicoRnDOe3crF03mtoVvRj1Edgz7efgdDZovOfTY/s1600/the+cross+over+antigua+011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENXVeamPSbv_yjb02GL0PSVVvdQBAYgiRBRfBZrb6J10hVBBi1IcXoS8AxXtCLmWq-V7BeK2dci2mY3RLOmYefYkVQSV9sFE1Pc4XUicoRnDOe3crF03mtoVvRj1Edgz7efgdDZovOfTY/s320/the+cross+over+antigua+011.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8oNoFN0TyTRoMkvT3SgcjV8GrJkrvs9EsruIGHD7wfaGouQtqV6EZuILIt3gkervlLMGFB-rFxsctslFyvb3pCb15lFMcgAqLPDGrUH4qUqXLReL3agSqv6j4kryfwcVXF8hjJkqvPBd7/s1600/the+cross+over+antigua+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8oNoFN0TyTRoMkvT3SgcjV8GrJkrvs9EsruIGHD7wfaGouQtqV6EZuILIt3gkervlLMGFB-rFxsctslFyvb3pCb15lFMcgAqLPDGrUH4qUqXLReL3agSqv6j4kryfwcVXF8hjJkqvPBd7/s320/the+cross+over+antigua+005.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1065762640025841899.post-87844183864237313712011-07-24T20:21:00.000-07:002011-07-24T20:21:33.601-07:00Everybody's Workin' for the.....ummmm, EverydayA friend from Ireland once told me that their observation of Americans was that they'd rather spend an afternoon on a speedboat, unlike the rest of the world, who would prefer to spend a month in a canoe. I think there's some truth to that. Whether the rest of the world is better at working than Americans is a different discussion better left to economists and politicians and other uninteresting people, but I think it's a fair generalization to say that most of the world is a step or two ahead of us when it comes to relaxing. Gearing up to work hard and to accomplish things comes pretty naturally. Gearing down to enjoy free time (and there is less of it here than one might imagine) is much more difficult.<br />
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That was pretty obvious today as we did a "weekendy" "touristy" thing here in Antigua Guatemala. We traveled to Mount Pacaya, an active volcano just about an hour's drive away, to spend the day climbing around and enjoying an amazing apsect of God's creation. And the nice thing was that we went slow enough to enjoy it. All around the city there are travel agencies (I use that term loosely) that generally offer the same thing: a turnkey, quick, and relatively expensive trip to Pacaya. It's obviously market-driven; that's what people often want. Instead, we arranged a trip with some people we met here (who have triplets our twins' age incidentally) and took a van whose driver said "just come back when you can" and arranged for a guide up the volcano who was at first assuming we wanted "to be back by noon" but who instead wound up enjoying the day with us.<br />
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Here are some pictures from the day. They don't do it justice, but they give a pretty good idea of our time today.<br />
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<div align="center"><em>A view of Mount Fuego ("Fire") and another one that has a really long name but is really pretty in a volcanoey sort of way.</em></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Some is clouds and some is steam. Here at the top of Pacaya, the occasional warm vents were quite refreshing.</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSQy9gchifcBODcoIC6ve54C5Mebgu65xRm5cOqFZLjiU5aKyZd91h6-N46jGptrxff5nBT4LihsTliLF-8XQafUiu86sxWyvnmDkq1-CLtDbmJ7DHEyZoO2npdr4evTATKpCVRQJkI_tK/s1600/Mount+Pacaya+033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSQy9gchifcBODcoIC6ve54C5Mebgu65xRm5cOqFZLjiU5aKyZd91h6-N46jGptrxff5nBT4LihsTliLF-8XQafUiu86sxWyvnmDkq1-CLtDbmJ7DHEyZoO2npdr4evTATKpCVRQJkI_tK/s320/Mount+Pacaya+033.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Sam and Zaac crawling through a volcanic tube.</em></div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>Our kids and the triplets we met walking across a moonscape.</em></div><div align="center"><br />
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<div align="center"><em>Kevin and Ben crawling up from the depths of the Pacaya crater, or at least pretending that's what they were doing. Go Braves, by the way.</em></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>The boys with Don Augusto, our very patient guide who was surprised that we made it to the top and actually hung around a while.</em></div>The Colvett Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01252209375180413698noreply@blogger.com0