Homes For Guatemala

Auction fundraising opportunity

2009-04-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

An amazing collection of people have donated great things for you to bid on including a weekend at a cabin on the north shore, hand made pottery, dinner for 8 delivered to your home, muffins once a month for a year and much much more. Please bid bravely at the ARt event on 4/3 or at the gatherings 4/5. It is all set up at the Porch. Or if you prefer, “shop” online at the following ebay link:
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/solomonsporchguatemala

To see a complete list of items, see our ad on Craigslist:
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/crs/1101085182.html

Bidding stops promptly at 8 p.m. 4/5. You will be informed of your winnings. Payment expected shortly after that. All checks made out to Solomons Porch. Thanks for supporting us. Blessings, Your Homebuilding Team

2009 Guatemala trip

2009-03-08T19:38:00.001-07:00

Well it's that time again. We're going back to Guatemala! Our dates are April 17-26, 2009. There are 18 of us and we'll be building 4 homes. It's going to be hard work but amazing. The participants this year are:

1. Victor Barge

2. Brain Kremmin

3. Shelley Pagitt

4. Doug Pagitt

5. Chico Pagitt

6. Erik Beitzel

7. Jill Yaeger

8. Tina Paulson

9. Lauren Ricker

10. Erick Briden

11. Carole Bersin

12. Sarah Beaumont

13. Eric Smith

14. Ashley Krohn

15. Shirley Krohn

16. James Denman

17. Katharine Kleingartner

18. Katie Hutton

We still need to raise money. The cost of building homes has gone up to $1,500 a piece plus we try to raise money to send children to school. It costs about $70 a year to send one child to school, which includes books and a uniform if needed. If you would like to contribute please go to www.solomonsporch.com/homesforguatemala and click the link to donate online or send checks to Solomon's Porch.

Trip Summary

2008-05-18T21:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone that didn't make the trip but supported our team with donations, prayers, and friendship. It was sincerely appreciated. Some very tangible results were:

Four houses were built for very deserving families.
30 scholarships for the cost of one year of schooling were provided to children in San Juan La Laguna bringing the next school year's enrollment to capacity. Since in this culture with the poorest of families, preference is given to males for education, these scholarships will focus on female enrollment as a priority.
An arrangement was reached with the local doctor to provide free medical care to all of the students in the local school in exchange for medical supplies which were donated to our group to distribute.
243 pairs of shoes were distributed to school children.

These are words. Pictures tell this story so much better. Kudos to Erik Beitzel for putting together a great trip summary movie with wonderful still photography contributions by Andrew Vick!

Remember Mentioning Something About An Earthquake?

2008-05-01T06:23:00.001-07:00

In an earlier blog posting, we mentioned that there was an earthquake in Guatemala that we felt while in San Juan La Laguna. Thanks to Heffe for providing some details about this 6.1 Richtor scale tremor!

2008-04-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy past few days! Our group is all doing very well! San Juan has been such a blessing to each of us! On Wednesday, we had a clean-up time with the kids from the school. A lot of basura (garbage) was picked up and everyone in the group had fun walking around with the kids. We finished up our work days on Thursday afternoon with all four of the casas close to completion. We hiked up to the cross to watch the sunrise on Friday morning and blessed the homes in the later morning. It was very emotional and each work team had a time to pray with the family and we gave gifts and a lot of hugs and kisses were exchanged. The families were overjoyed and very grateful. At one of the sites, the father (Diego), said that it was the best day of his life and never dreamed that they would have their own house....with tears in his eyes. There are so many stories we all could share, but we just wanted to give you a taste so you can get excited to hear many more upon our return.

We are in Antigua now and we have a day to walk around and relax a little bit. We have our last group dinner tonight and then the group heads home tomorrow. Everyone is in great spirits and having a blast. We have learned a lot of things about ourselves, about each other, and the people of this culture.

Thanks for following along....we'll have a post trip blog as well, so check it out in a few days! :)

Day 5

2008-04-15T14:09:00.000-07:00

As we settle into our routines of building the four homes this week, we’ve had lots of interesting turns!

First, our home visits were great! We were able to establish closer bonds with several families by spending an evening with them, sharing food, and mixing Spanish, English, and Tzutuhil to communicate.

Our homes are all coming along nicely. Many are much further along than this time last year – we even have one house with a divider wall which we affectionately call “the double-wide”!

We had a minor earthquake on Tuesday evening that we felt at our hotel as we were playing “Mafia”. Our missionary guide, Betty, confirmed that it was indeed an earthquake and it was really amazing to feel our floor and other objects moving by themselves.

We were also on the “radio” today (which is really a megaphone and microphone that is placed on a roof top). An announcer proudly announced to the surrounding houses how a group from the United States had come to help build homes. Although it was difficult to understand a lot of what was being said (since it was in Spanish and Tzutuhil), we were grateful to be here and to see the smiles on people’s faces.

Our zapato (shoe) distribution and neighborhood litter pick-up is scheduled for Wednesday. We are really looking forward to the smiles on the kid’s faces when they receive new shoes!

Several of our team members have succumbed to the “Gringo Itis” but fortunately they are on the mend. Fortunately, we have Shelly’s Cyclone Cider which helps keep our GI tracts in working order.

Thanks for your support and prayers for a productive week. So far things are going great! Please check back soon for future updates and photos.

We are alive

2008-04-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

Well, almost all of us made it. Paige, unfortunatley found out that her passport was expired....at the airport. It is an understandable mistake as her passport was only five years old, but, apparently, since she got it before she was 18 it expired. Bummer. She now is expiditing her new one and will join us on Tuesday.

We did successfully land on the shortest runway in the world - as far as major airports go. And we didn't even fall off the cliff at the end of it.

We were happy to see Andrew made it. He was in Costa Rica for a few days traveling and met us in Guatemala. Janelle was REALLY happy!

We hung out with Betty yesterday and went out to eat etc. Jeff, however slept for about 19 hours.

It is now 7:45 in the morning and we are all up now. It is hard to sleep in due to the roosters. Yes, there are still roosters in the city. Even Victor is awake! Bormes....however is still sleeping.

We will be leaving soon to go to the lake. We are all in good spirits and are parasite free ... so far.

We will post soon and would love to hear from you all.

(We found the bank's limit on currency exchange when converting our spending money today. You can see us counting the Quetzales.)

Thanks to Our Friends at Dunn Bros.

2008-03-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

If you get a chance, please swing by the Dunn Bros coffee shop on 34th and Hennepin in Minneapolis and thank the manager (Sanjive) for allowing us to place a prominent display requesting that his customers donate children's shoes for our trip!

Our display consist of a digital frame of photos, a plaque explaining the purpose of our trip, and a plastic container for collecting shoes.

Zapatos for our San Juan La Laguna bambinos. My Spanglish is getting better already!

Victor

The trip in Naomi's words

2008-03-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

Many of the best experiences in my life happen when I’m traveling or living in other parts of the world. One particular destination calls me and continues to change me: Guatemala. I’ll be making my third trip to Guatemala this year with my community, Solomon’s Porch, to build houses for the people who live in San Juan la Laguna, Guatemala. In the last eight years on our trips to San Juan we’ve built over 40 houses, collected and distributed many pairs of shoes, had several close calls with scaffolding, unknowingly eaten our share of harmful bacteria, and bonded over late night mafia games.

Returning to San Juan is like going home. I’ve heard about the many changes to the village over the last five years, so I’m a little apprehensive of what I might find. But I’m excited to see all the familiar faces I’ve kept in my mind all these years. On my first trip to Guatemala I built a house for a girl named Emilia and her family. She was a gorgeous little eight year-old girl, and we could only communicate through an interpreter. On my second trip the word spread through the village that our group had returned and that I was looking for Emilia. We found each other at a gathering for all the families who’ve been a part of our home building projects. We still could not communicate using our words, but the smile on our faces showed how happy we were to see each other. Unfortunately, the house I built for them was destroyed during a hurricane three years ago, and I have no idea what has happened to them. I hope to see Emilia and her family this year and learn about their lives over the past five years.

The main purpose of our trips to San Juan is to build houses for poor families who would never in their wildest dreams be able to afford a house. I go on these trips to Guatemala because they are an extension of our community and offer an opportunity to build relationships and live out the hopes and dreams of God in the world.

Some pictures of past trips from Dustin

2008-03-07T18:22:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of some past trips I have been on. My favorite picture is the one of Hernan and his family in front of their house. I had built the home with him the year before this picture was taken. When I went back to visit them he was so excited to show me the grass he had planted in front of his home. For those of you who never have been to San Juan before, it is rare to see a "lawn." It just proved to me that he really appreciated and took pride in his home.

Were Off to Guatemala!

2008-03-02T21:06:00.000-08:00

Friends & Family-

In case you had not heard, we are part of a team from Solomon's Porch (a church in Minneapolis, MN) that will be traveling to San Juan la Laguna, Guatemala from 4/11/08 – 4/20/08. We are very excited!

Our fearless leader is trip veteran Dustin Smith and the team members are:

1. Ashley Krohn

2. Brian Kremmin

3. Eric Smith

4. Erik Beitzel

5. Jeff Bormes

6. Janelle Nelson

7. Joan Nelson

8. Paige Latham

9. Michon Pagitt

10. Naomi Schwenke

11. Nate Gustafson

12. Lindsay Nelson

13. Andrew Vick

14. Victor Barge

15. Shirley Krohn

The purpose of our annual trip is to help build homes and establish community with families in the small village of San Juan. Since you are someone that we care about, we wanted to ask for your support in preparation for this adventure.

The most important thing that you can do to support us is to pray. Some very practical and specific things include:

Safe travel
Good health
Good weather
Protection from injury

We have taken prudent precautions, but as with all international travel to developing countries, there is the potential for unexpected circumstances.

The all inclusive cost per team member for the trip is approximately $1,300 (USD). Some team members have raised the funds for their trip. However, others have not and would appreciate your financial support if you wish to contribute.

In addition to travel and accomodations, our team would like to help meet the following needs:

It costs $3/month ($36 a year - USD) for a Guatemalan child to go to school in San Juan - we would like to sponsor all the children of the homes we have built thus far (approximately 50 homes).

We have 3 individuals in our group who have a medical background and will be providing some type of clinic - we’d love to provide more supplies for them and help a few people go to the hospital for more serious conditions.

Our guide, Betty Merida (from OC International), makes $20,000 (USD)/annually and raises her own support - we would like to make a contribution that will assist her in meeting her ongoing needs.

Potentially pay to have a new latrine built in the community - the one that our team built previously was destroyed by mudslides a few years ago.

Also, there are preliminary conversations of working on micro-loans to help start-up new and sustainable work for the community of San Juan such as cloth weaving.

If you would be interested in supporting our trip through a tax deductible donation, the link below will allow you to use your credit card or check card to make a contribution via Google Checkout. You don’t have to give a large amount for it to make a difference!

Contribute to Guatemala Home Building
http://solomonsporch.com/connected_pagegroup/contribute.html

Please do not feel pressured or manipulated into making a financial gift. Our intention is only to make you aware of the trip and the need. We are sure that God will provide.

Thanks in advance for your support of our team during this trip. We plan to provide trip updates before and during so stay tuned!