Mission countdown and all systems go for Guatemala

As I watched the wonderous Artemis II Orion capsule (Integrity) splash down in the Pacific tonight, I was reminded that, although not a shade as complex, we had a lot of moving parts and mission goals of our own to accomplish long before our stove team’s anticipated landing in Guatemala City, which is less than a week away now. Both of these milestone events have me in awe.

So in true “mission countdown” style update I am pleased to give our own system update prior to our departure.

Team formed and active: Go. The Marine View team has been meeting and communicating for months now. While we’ve had drop-offs and even some last minute add-ons, all 17 of us are “green” for takeoff. Airfare purchased, documentation signed, most meetings behind us, shots and pills taken as needed, and packing started (or at least thought about).

Funds raised: Go. Once again, thanks to our generous donors (some super generous) we have exceeded our goal of raising what we need for purchasing 135 Aller stoves, water filters and general supplies needed to work in the village of Montenegro.

Supplies purchased or otherwise acquired: Go. We will assemble everything at our “packing party” at my brother Tom’s house in West Seattle on Saturday and load in supply bags. More details on that in tomorrow’s post.

Stoves built and delivered: Go. The Hands for Peacemaking staff has done all of their advance work by manufacturing the stoves at the foundation’s Aller Skills Center in Santa Cruz Barillas, loading everything up in trucks and making the more than two-hour (each way) drive to the village. Marco, our man in Barillas who is over all operations and will serve as our guide once we arrive, has been transmitting a series of photos this week of his crew in action. Our Hands for Peacemaking labor force has even set up our showers (our new team members have no idea how important that is, and won’t until after that first stove installation day).

Shower building for team — Showers that will be beckon to us like planet Earth to the Artemis astronaunts after our days of stove-building in Montenegro. And, unlike the astronauts of the Artemis space capsule, we do not anticipate any issues with our sanitation facilities.

Villagers ready: Go. By all accounts they are ready and eager for our arrival. We can’t wait to see them.

All that’s left at our end is the aforementioned packing meetup, the team “blessing” at Marine View on Sunday and, finally, getting people and supplies to the airport.

I had the ackward job of calling all (well most) team members earlier this week to ask their weight, a combined figure needed for our in-country flight for load and fuel allocation purposes. Even made a little game out of it by creating a “Weight Weight Don’t Tell Me” style trivia contest, with the closest total team tonnage guesser getting a complimentary lunch from me while there (likely a hot dog from one of the local tiendas – just kidding). Brian E., who is joining us with his wife Karen all the way from Florida, was the lucky winner with a guess just 49 pounds off the actual sum. I also used these “weighty” calls to check in with everyone. Every one of our team told me how anxious they are to get down there, to begin serving the villagers of Montenegro.

We’re ready. We’re excited. We’re going.

May God bless our team and our mission staff.

Here are a few of the photos and videos Marco forwarded from his team (I am sure a lot of these were taken by Alex, so thanks to Alex as well).