The Presbytery of South Alabama 2026 Guatemala mission trip is officially underway!

This year we are doing things a little bit differently. Instead of doing a large water system installation with Living Waters for the World and stove installations with Helps International in one trip we have split our projects into 2 trips. The reason for this is two fold. First, we wanted to offer a shorter trip and it is difficult to do the water system in less than a week. Second, the location that is in need of a water system is in the far north region of Guatemala and it would be a logistical challenge to get a large group up there. We are still waiting to see if the location will be ready for our team this fall or if we will have to postpone that trip.

For this trip we are working with Helps International and they have been great to partner with! They have already arranged transportation, meals, lodging and our projects. The Helps team in country visited our location several months ago to select families that need a stove and household water filtration system. They sent us pictures of a few of those families which I will share.

I invite you to pray for these families and the others we will be visiting this week

We will be installing an ONIL stove in each home.

These stoves are life changing for families. They are much safer because they are raised and enclosed so there is less chance of burns. The smoke is vented to the outside which improves respiratory health. They are much more fuel efficient- saving families over $100 a year in firewood. And they are environmentally friendly. Each stove we install offsets the carbon footprint for an average person for a year.

This year we are also installing a simple water filter in each home

These filters are called ONIL filters

These filters will also be life changing for families. They will save money because they won’t have to buy purified water or use firewood to boil water.

These filters are simple and last for 7 years before requiring replacement parts.

We have an amazing team this year of 22 people of all age ranges and experience levels. We have been preparing for this for months. Most of us got up very early this morning

Our first flight was on time but the second was delayed. There was the usual backlog at immigration and baggage claim but we finally got our luggage

Unfortunately we did not realize that we were missing a bag. It was a bit chaotic at the airport and our flight had been delayed and our parters had been waiting a long time. The bag that we are missing had 300 toothbrushes and containers of tooth paste and reading glasses and bags. It was all of the extra things but it won’t affect the projects. if it was taken By someone they will have excellent dental hygiene! This is my 11th trip to Guatemala and the first time we have lost a bag

We met Mino and Mauricio outside the airport

This time we have luxury transportation

We had a late but delicious meal at San Martin – a lovely bakery with great food

Then we settled back into the bus for the ride to Tecpan

It took about an hour and a half to get to Tecpan

The hotel is lovely. We are staying at the San Ricardo Tecpan. Our rooms are comfortable although the beds are a little hard. I have not tried to hot water yet but I am hopeful. . .

We had about 20 minutes to unpack then we met for stove training

We are now trained and ready to install stoves and water filters in homes. We had a great dinner and then made plans for tomorrow and had a devotional on Finding Joy.

Now we are ready to see if the hot water works and just how hard those beds are. I don’t think it will matter. I’m sure we will all sleep well!

25 stoves installed and 25 families now have very easy and free access to purified water!

Most of us did have hot water (or at least lukewarm). Most of us slept well in spite of a lumpy mattress.

Breakfast was great

Then we all made our lunches. Peanut butter and jelly was the only option but there were lots of snacks

Then we got on the bus. The drive to San Antonio, Nejapo was winding and steep but we enjoyed a chance to visit with each other.

We met with the families that will be receiving stoves in a large arena.

People in this town have been waiting for us to come for months. And they were very happy to see us!

We spit into 5 teams and we followed and technician and interpreter to the homes that were expecting us.

Most teams finished between 4 and 5 and we drove the same winding road back to the hotel. The bus was considerably quieter

Dinner was a barbecue pork chop and it was great. Matt had a great reflection on Psalm133. And we talked about the day. One thing we noticed was that when the families were given a chance to talk they often stated by praising God and then blessed us and our time here. It was meaningful to work with each other and our awesome support team and these beautiful families. We feel that we have been able to give life changing gifts.

Today was another amazing and perfect day! I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be here with such incredible teammates, support staff and families.

Here a few pictures of our hotel

. They are not heated or cooled but the weather has been pleasant. Hot water has been a little bit iffy but overall we are enjoying our stay

In Guatemala they grow coffee in the shade. There are tall trees and coffee plants under the trees

Mino explained that during harvest season the whole family works in the fields – even children of 8-10. They work from 7 to noon or one and then do schoolwork. The area where we are working has a lot of coffee plantations

Marcia led us in a great devotion on worship. The hotel had a campfire but we were too tired to take advantage. That lumpy mattress sleeps better every night!

Today was our last day of work. We had to get up early to pack everything and have the luggage at the bus by 7. We had breakfast and made sandwiches. Then we loaded the bus for the ride to the community. Miraculously our lost bag showed up. This community got toothbrushes and toothpaste and a nice bag for each family.

We drove through a coffee plantation and parked in a tiny village.

A few teams drove deep into the jungle while others installed stoves in homes near the village.

This family started making tortillas right away. Then they tried to teach us. It looks so easy but in reality the dough sticks to your fingers. I was told mine were like a child’s – someone who is just learning how.

We said goodbye to our Helps support staff and then loaded the bus to go to Antigua. We stayed at Porto which is a beautiful and extremely comfortable hotel. We had a few hours to explore and then we met in a private room for a banquet with the leaders of Helps. The food was amazing. We all told stories and had lots of laughter! I don’t have pictures of the hotel or dinner because sometimes what happens in Guatemala stays in Guatemala. Dr Bob had an awesome devotional that got all of us involved and laughing. It was a perfect way to end an amazing trip.

Today we had to leave Guatemala and travel back to our regular lives. We feel like we have changed the lives of 65 families in Guatemala and that our lives have been impacted as well.

We had an amazing team this year. The youth and new people really made it special. This team just fit together very well. There were almost no complaints and the complaints I did hear were attached to a blessing. One person told me that her bed had some springs that made it hard to get comfortable and she had trouble sleeping but then she said when she couldn’t sleep she prayed and that her prayer life had really improved. Another person told me that people pay really good money for workouts and views like we were getting.

We woke this morning in our lovely hotel in Antigua and had an amazing breakfast buffet. I don’t have pictures because it might make you think the trip was too luxurious. Then we walked around Antigua for a little while before boarding the bus a little after 10. The drive to the airport was in typical Guatemala traffic and took longer than usual but our flight was delayed so we had plenty of time to wander around the airport and eat lunch.

We arrived in Miami safely. Our flight to Pensacola kept getting pushed back and we did not get to the Pensacola airport until after 1 am Saturday. We were thankful to be safely home, but a little sad to leave Guatemala behind. One of the team members, Marcia Willet, puts it beautifully,

When I got into the shower this morning, I opened my mouth wide and let the water fill it to overflowing, running down my neck to the shower floor. But I found myself reluctant to wash the remains of Guatemala off my feet, as the soil there seemed somehow more precious than the clean that would follow. I already miss longing to pluck avocados from tree limbs hanging over the side of the road. Laughing at the dinner table with mission partners who are now new and lifelong friends. Touching the skin of beautiful brown children and bouncing rubber balls between us or hyperventilating blowing up beach ball after beach ball. Watching the slight widening of the women’s eyes when they realized how quickly the stove surface heated. How easy it was to drop tortillas onto it. How little fuel was required to provide such heat. And even more subtly, seeing them straighten their backs to their full height, knowing they won’t have to bend and squat to cook for their families, anymore.

Thanks be to God!

The 2025 Guatemala mission team has arrived safely in Guatemala along with all 23 pieces of our luggage. We appreciate all of your prayers!

This year we are traveling to Coban. We will be installing a Living Waters for the World water purification system at Iglesia La Garcia. We will also install stoves in homes San Lorenzo Sepoc, San Pedro Cacha, Alta Verapaz.the first post from our trip last year goes into details about our two projects.

Iglesia La Gracia (https://www.amicoban.com) is an outreach ministry of Acts Ministry International (AMI). AMI is a group of churches located around the world who share a vision of being the type of church described in Acts 2. La Gracia is a compound with a church and a school. They do a lot of programs in the community and they also have multiple teams of missionaries come to do a variety of projects. Purified water is available but expensive. The system will allow them to produce water for all of their needs. They can also provide low cost water for the community. We are excited to work with them.

We are working with Helps International (helps intl.org) again to install stoves. This is a great group with a lot of community development projects. They help select and educate families and deliver the stoves. We are also partnering with International Caring Ministries (caring min.com) a group which is very loosely connected to AMI here in Coban. They go into villages and spend 5-6 months there teaching skills which will help families be self supporting. They have been working in the area where we will install stoves.

We got our luggage all loaded and stopped at Pollo Campero where we got boxes of chicken to go.

At first traffic moved well but in true Guatemala fashion it was not long before things came to a standstill.

There were people selling fruit and snacks from baskets on their heads

This fellow was seeking fans and phone holder. You can do an entire shopping while stuck in traffic

Soon after we came to our favorite stop and one of the highlights of the day.

They have amazing ice cream. I don’t know if it is their recipe or ingredients or location but it was a great break!

Then back in the vans for more hours of travel. The scenery was lovely but it got darker and darker. We drove through lots of small villages with speed bumps

We finally arrived in Coban after 8:30 local time (9:30 by the time we got up). We visited a grocery store for supplies for our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We had a great meal at the Duesseldorf Cafe.

We are all very thankful to finally be here and excited about tomorrow!

Today was an incredibly wonderful day!! I wish I had a better way of sharing the beauty and wonder of this place. Pictures can’t show the sounds and smells, the joys and the laughter of the day.

We became with breakfast at 7. Some of us were dragging a little bit coffee did wonders. We shared a great meal with our partners from Living Waters and Helps. Then we packed gifts for the families where we are installing stoves and toys for the children (no candy) and set off for the day.

The water team had a 10 minute drive to La Gracia. When they arrived they found that the water room was not quite ready (no real surprise- I don’t think a water room has ever been ready when we got there). In spite of of this and a 10 minute run to the hardware store that turned into 2 hours thanks to traffic, they were able to accomplish a lot by the end of the day (which was 4:30 for them).

Meanwhile, stove teams had an hour and a half drive, most of which was on a rocky, narrow, curvy steep road up a mountain. But the views were incredible and we had time for great conversations

Finally we arrived at the village

We divided into 4 teams of 2-3 team members and 2 Helps staff

By late afternoon each team had installed 4 stoves. Team 1 had been dropped off a long way from the meeting point. We looked for our driver and the van but they were nowhere to be found. None of us had cell service. We did not think they would leave us – would they?

We walked up the mountain and finally had a few bars of service. We called our driver and our pastor and our friends but no one answered. We texted a general SOS to the whole team- still no response! We did what we had to do – we took a Tuk Tuk. Many went past us with passengers but finally one stopped

We made it back to Teams 2 and 3 but still had to get to Tean 4. We had an 11 person van and 15 people. Team 4 had the truck but none of us had cell service. We finally got together and started the long trip back to Coban. it was great to hear everybody’s stories from the day. The van was full of laughter, joy, and gratitude.

We had dinner and devotions and we were all ready for bed.

We can’t wait to find out what adventures are in store for tomorrow

Today was another incredible day. I had low expectations for our water project this year. When we visited La Gracia in February they were not prepared for our visit and several people were out of town. The people we met did not know much about living Waters. We had a zoom call later with the head pastor but we did not have as much pre-trip communication as usual. I was not sure if I would have any educators to train and we weren’t sure what type of support we would have.

The installation has been our smoothest installation yet. The complex has trained plumbers and electricians and by the end of day 2 the system is almost ready to go.

The water room is great and we feel this system will be used well and will certainly be sustainable.

I had an amazing team of educators. First I met Kat.

She is one of the pastors in charge of short term mission teams. Kat is one of those people with the skills and talents to make big money with an international company. She has amazing organizational skills and was one of the founders of ICM (International caring ministries), an incredible NGO making a real difference in small villages of Guatemala. ICM goes into a 15 villages every 4 months. They work intensively with 36 families in each village to teach life skills including values, health, education, and self sustainability. Kat set all of that up but recently got married and now she works for AMI at La Gracia. Omar, who I also met. took her place at AMI. It was this connection that led us to install stoves here.

Kat is discipling a small group of young women who will be working with ICM in their community. She is hoping that they will become leaders and they certainly demonstrated leadership skills today.

We spent the morning learning how to teach the lessons about how and when to use purified water and how and when to wash hands. The lessons are simple but fun – there is some drama and some movement and some art and some games. Then they had some time to plan the lessons they would teach women from the community in the afternoon.

We had a simple lunch of peanut butter and jelly. Then Kat and I had a chance to visit and to enjoy the beauty of the place.

The young ladies who were educators were nervous to be teaching older women but they did an amazing job. Some of the ladies from the community spoke only K’echi and one of the educators did translation. They spoke with confidence and demonstrated true mastery of the material. My heart was so full as I watched them.

These young ladies can really change their communities

The water team headed back to the hotel about 4

Meanwhile, stove teams were busy! Several teams installed 5 stoves instead of 4.

Stove teams finally got back to Coban about 7. We met at San Martin which is a chain and has good and safe food

Tomorrow is Sunday. We plan to go to church at La Gracia. Then some people will install more stoves while others explore Coban.

We have been blessed with incredible weather. The highs have been in the mid 70s with a breeze. Lows are in the 60s. We have had a few brief showers here and there. The hotel is ok. No A/C but there is hot water. Tonight there is a party going on but they usually stop by 10.

In case you were wondering just how classy this hotel is – note the towel butterfly:

Today we all got to sleep in a little bit. We did not have breakfast until 8:15. We had a great breakfast then took some time for sharing and devotions. Then we got ready for church.

We went to church at La Gracia where we are installing the water system. We were greeted by some of the people we have been working with this week. We were some of the first to arrive so we took a few minutes to check out the new water system.

The system is simpler than last year because we were able to install a UV system instead of an ozone system. The UV system does not need the churn which is all the back and forth PVC pipe.

Worship started with a praise band and singing. We enjoyed the music. The whole sanctuary gradually filled up.

The sermon was given by Reverend Moon, the head pastor of the complex

The English speaking visitors were all given headphones and we were able to listen to a translator simultaneously. The translator was very talented. Our team was recognized and the congregation was excited about the new water system.

Johnny took a picture of all of us in the water room

He is a man of many talents but I don’t think he will make a living from photography.

The plan was to go immediately back to the in hotel, have a sandwich and leave to go to the village to do stoves. However things around here have a way of working on their own time. In Guatemala we learn flexibility and patience. By the time we got back to the hotel it was after 1 (the people at La Gracia seemed to have no fears that the Baptists would beat them to their favorite lunch spot)

We had our favorite mission team lunch at the hotel – peanut butter and jelly

Our partners from Helps had gone ahead to the village. I think they realized we would be late

They started installing some stoves. By the time we were ready to leave Coban they had already installed several stoves and we were looking at 3 hours of driving with a high chance of heavy rain on that narrow curvy bumpy road to install one stove for each team. After much discussion we decided to let the Helps team install the stoves without us and we stayed in Coban. We worked on organizing the gifts for families that receive stoves and the gifts for the children.

Then we spent some time exploring Coban.

Coban is a dirty gritty city but parts of it are beautiful. We looked at the old church on the square.

Then we came back to the hotel and spent some time relaxing

Dinner was great. We had good discussion about how Jesus did evangelism using the story of the woman at the well from John 4 as an example

We were all thankful for a day to catch up and we are looking forward to a great day tomorrow!

Today was another fantastic work day for both water and stove teams. We had our usual delicious breakfast of eggs and bacon and black beans and fried plantains and cheese. I’m going to miss that when I get home.

We made our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

Then the stove teams made their way up the mountain.

The water team made a quick stop at the hardware store and then went to La Gracia.

I had the same awesome young ladies. Nataly, Jazmin, Silvia, Sindy, and Heidy are true leaders. They all pitched in to do whatever was necessary. They enjoyed the songs and the drama and the games and we shared a lot of laughter.

We also did the Woman at the Well and talked about how Jesus spread the good news

We visited the water room. Carl and Denise finished in the water room and they explained the system to the students

We did more lessons and then they had some time to plan what they would teach in the afternoon.

We ordered pizza for lunch and they colored while we were waiting for the pizza

That was one of their favorite activities and we had to take lots of pictures of their pages

After lunch the community ladies arrived. The educators did an awesome job teaching again.

The water team got back to the hotel before five and the stove teams arrived soon after with lots of stories

We had a little while to rest and clean up, then we had dinner

Billy shared a map of all the homes where we installed homes. We installed 58 stoves during this trip in a very underserved area.

Tomorrow we will dedicate the water system and then pack up and go to Lake Atitlan.