James and Ashley had a great trip to Guatemala.  The little girls, Briana, and I had a nice time while they were away, too.  We went swimming a couple of times, went on a picnic and hike one day, went to some yard sales, had a campfire one night, and went out on the lake a couple of times.  Briana is still at my parents' house at musical theatre/acting/dance camp--a 2 week long, all day camp at their local playhouse.  We will go see her performances on Friday. 

Even though I didn't get to go to Guatemala personally, I live it through my husband and daughter, and in my heart.  So I wanted to share a few pictures with you.  It was so hard to choose.  If I thought I wouldn't bore you death, I would have posted tons more, especially of all the sweet little children's faces. 

Ashley wrote a great report on the trip.  Go HERE to read it.  If you're short on time, the mission part of the trip starts on Saturday.

The first 4 pictures are in Antigua.  The others are in villages about 4 hours north of Guatemala City.

Volcano seen from Antigua

Yes, that is a SMOKING volcano.

Woman in Antigua using a traditional backstrap loom.

The cottages James and some others stayed in.

Ashley with some of the children.

VBS

Line for the dental clinic

New church that James and the other men were finishing

Binoculars made in VBS

Banana tree

Ashley with the area missionary. He took all the ladies for a spin.

A Guatemalan cemetery

Look at all of the houses on the side of that hill.  They are very poor houses--dirt floors, tin or thatched roofs...

They had been to the market in Antigua and one in a village called Tactic.  They told them they were going to go to a market in nearby Coban.  This is where they ended up.  Some market, huh?  Guatemala is one of the ultimate pictures of extremes.  This is only about 40 min. from where they were working.

They took a hike to a waterfall.

Blowing bubbles

This is my husband's hand.  He was surrounded by children during the services.  One little girl sat in his lap during one entire church service.  Ashley speaks enough Spanish to communicate decently with the children, and 2 or 3 others on the trip speak Spanish, and they had translators, but you find out very quickly that love and friendship can be communicated in many ways--playing ball, blowing bubbles, hugs, tickles, smiles, and holding hands.  Ashley talks more about this, especially related to the church on her blog.  Stop by for a couple of minutes and read about the trip.

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