Guatemala Team Reports

Our Marine View team is booked and ready for our stove mission trip in April! As of this week we are now 16 (traveling) members strong, including eleven “veterans” from previous team rosters and five who will visit the Western Highlands region of Guatemala for the first time.

This will be the largest team ever affiliated with Marine View Presbyterian Church, and will fill the 16-bed Hands for Peacemaking mission house in Barillas, where we will stay three nights during our April 16-26 humanitarian adventure. Most years that stay is just two nights, but we have opted to reduce our travel drive time by one day this year with a quick (45-minute) in-country flight that will save as much as 10 hours over mountainous roads on a Coaster bus. Nights to and from Barillas are in hotels, and nights while in the village are spent in school rooms.

While the team is large, the Mayan village we will serve, Montenegro Yacancax, is also big. We have committed to installing 135 new Aller “clean air” stoves, one for each family, and an equal number of water filters in the village of 810 people. The locally manufactured stoves reduce wood consumption by about 65 percent over conventional Mayan cooking means. They greatly reduce the risk of burns from falling hazards and greatly improve respiratory health among children and adults alike.

Montenegro, sitting at an elevation of 2,865 feet, was established in 1980 when several families decided to relocate to available land in that area. It is 21 miles from downtown Barillas over bumpy and windy roads.

How you can help

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand – 1 Chronicles 29:14 

We are blessed, thanks to the generosity of donors large and small, to be fully funded for stoves and water filters this year. (Team members pay for their own travel expenses). We are exceedingly thankful for this.

In addition to stoves and filters, we take with us hot pads sewn by the Hearts and Hands ministry at Marine View and assorted toys, balls and school supplies for each school child. If you would like to help us fill our school needs list, please use this Amazon link. Orders from here will be shipped directly to the home of one of our team members. We also distribute reading glasses to villagers who need them. Our supply is down so we will order more, but if you have spare pair or three just track me down and I will pack them along!

If you would like to “go big” and help us with an Aller stove, your gift of $319 will buy a complete, locally manufactured stove, or a gift of $1,276 will buy four stoves. Water filters are $50 each. Whatever you can donate will help us change lives in this region of the world. Contributions can be made either through the Marine View giving site (choose Guatemala mission) or through the Hands for Peacemaking donation site. Each year our director in Guatemala has been able to work with village leaders on identifying additional needs, so please be assured that all funds raised will be used to help the people living in the impoverished region we serve live better lives!

As we travel through a part of the world that is frequently categorized as dangerous, we really appreciate (and feel) your prayers and/or good wishes for our safety and good health, both before and during the mission.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! Feel free to comment below, and if you have any questions or suggestions please get in touch!

In His Grip,

Brian Dirks
Team Coordinator