Ashley Van Dyke's Update from Guatemala

Ashley Van Dyke sends the following field report from Guatemala:

Hello,

I am in Guatemala right now. We have already been here for about a week. Before that we were in Belize for about 10 days. Belize was very different than a lot of central america. Everyone speaks English, which was different hearing Spanish all the time. The time in Belize was pretty low key. We just helped organize and clean some of the rooms that the base has people stay in.

We are now with a friend, Ryan, who has lived here in Zacapa, Guatemala for the past four years. He is originally from New Hampshire and has come down through his church as a missionary. He has a lot of different ministries he doing here. The beginning of this week, we were constructing a wall that would close of a house to make it more secure. The Florian Family is who we were building the wall for. Their dad was just killed a few weeks ago so the family didn't feel as safe without an enclosed area. We did as much work as we could there and a few other people are finishing it up.

Yesterday was really awesome. Sharon, Ryan and I took the Sunday school class (all girls) up to an old volcano that is full at the top with water to swim in. We hung out there all day and sharon and i shared on being a virtuous women and staying pure, etc. The girls really enjoyed it and thanked us a bunch.

Ryan, who lives here, leads a Bible study every Wed. a church service on sat in a village, and a kids program in another village, and Sunday he leads Sunday school. Before each one of these activities we drive all around town and into a few different villages picking up a bunch of kids. The truck is usually jammed packed! but it is awesome to see how much they love coming to church and all the activities.

Tomorrow we have church then the bible study group is going to get together and help build some houses. There was bad flooding here a few months ago so there a lot of families with no homes. They are just wood small houses but work well for the families.

We will be here in Zacapa for about another week. This town has a lot of hurting people. Alba, is one of the sunday school girls, was in her house a week ago and people barged in shooting guns. Her brother was really hurt. He still has a bullet in his leg but doesnt have enough money for the surgery. There are lots of other stories like these.

I attached a few pictures from the past week.

Thank you for your prayers.
Ashley