Hello everyone!

Chad, Sue, & Karen left Guatemala early this morning for a 7am flight.  Hopefully everyone has arrived home safely.  Kurt Kunst & Kevin Smith were arriving around noon.  Wednesday will be the only day this week that Dan or someone else does not need to make an early morning trip to the airport.  They are extremely appreciative of all the volunteers but please continue to pray for strength, endurance, & patience as they continue to work on the new base. 

Since I (Karen) left early this morning, Al Jurgens has offered to take over the website updating & posting of pictures.  Well…..don’t hold your breath. 

Thank you doesn’t seem like enough to say for walking alongside all of the team members the last several weeks.  Please continue to pray for the team members working this week and for the mission of Paradise Bound!

Muchas gracias!

Hola everyone!

Sorry there haven’t been any updates recently.  We’ve been working long days and are still in the process of moving, organizing, installing, constructing, etc.   

Al Jurgens & Jack Visser arrived Friday afternoon.  Mike, John, Charley, Jan, Amy, Dyann, & Carol left the base at 3am Saturday morning to catch their flight at 6am.  Tim Peters arrives tonight and Chad, Sue, and Karen leave early Tuesday morning.  

Our 1^st night in the base was Thursday & we had an awesome time of singing & praising God!  It’s been great to see the progress each day since then.  

Thanks for all your messages & prayers!!  Enjoy the pictures.

Adios

The team slept at the new base last night … it was an awesome night of singing.  The first dinner at the base was Domino’s Pizza.  The team is hoping to have Internet access at the new base by tonight so stay tuned …

It’s getting late again tonight & we’ve decided to get up at 5am tomorrow to keep moving & unpacking.  Goal:  sleep at the new base tomorrow night!!

I’m not sure there are enough words to describe today – what a privilege for us to be here to unload container #2!  Thanks to everyone who has followed along with prayers & support during the journey to see the base as it is now.

Enjoy the pictures & the “Container Parade” video!  (Dan is the driver of the last truck)

Today’s task:  MOVE!!  Yesterday we transferred about 3 van loads – today was probably 3 or 4 times that many.  Some people stayed at the old base to keep packing things & dismantle bunk beds.  Other people stayed at the new base to help unload the arriving vans.  Many thanks to Estuardo & Max for being the “Two Men & A Truck” team today!

A few other highlights from today:

• John has a new friend – el perro!
• 2 of Noemi’s sisters and another hard-working friend washed & waxed the floors at the new base.  Amy Door also got a little experience in “baptizing” the floor in the medical clinic.
• Welcome Chad VanderHulst – he even came with luggage!
• The OSB from container #1 was moved upstairs to the penthouse level.
• Speaking of containers, tomorrow morning we’re unloading container #2 – THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!
• Sue, Carol, & Karen ventured home tonight without having a van to follow.  We only missed one “una via” sign & still arrived safely.
• The 1st Euchre tournament was held tonight – Amy & Karen emerge as champions.

Great devotions again tonight – are you just working “for” Christ or are you really working “with” Christ?  John 18.

Thank you so much for all of your comments & prayers!!  Continue to pray for health & also endurance as we still have some long days ahead.

Hasta Mañana

The 9 Finishing Team guys left this morning – hope everyone has arrived home safely!  We miss you, but now we can start tearing apart your bunk beds…..

The old base is looking drastically different even though only 3 van loads were brought to the new base today.  The patio is sans-suitcases (if only I had a $ for every crayon I saw today) and the medical room is cleared out except for the shelving.  Mike, John, and Chuck spent the day organizing & cleaning the new base, along with unloading the vans that were going back & forth today.  Sue drove one of the vans for the last load of the day – she did a great job!

The girls spent the day packing up things at the old base, while dressed in a new line of Lepine fashion apparel.  All day I kept thinking “I have a shirt & pants just like that…..oh, it IS mine.”  The group is very happy since the luggage arrived around noon thanks to courier Max, Noemi’s padre.

Noemi made a fine lasagna dinner tonight, we showered & relaxed for a few minutes, had some great devotion & sharing time together, and now all are in bed.  Almost all.

Hopefully we’ll double the # of trips tomorrow for moving stuff and we definitely cannot forget the dulce!!  (good thing we also found a lot of toothbrushes today)

Scroll down on this page to see a few pictures from the medical clinic & the Finishing Team.

Buenas noches!

Hello everyone!

1:20am in Michigan now so this will be a really short post.

The Move In Team finally arrived in Guate today (except Sue who was fortunate to travel yesterday thru Newark & miss all of the chaos in Houston).  Severe weather in TX created a lot of travel problems, a lot of waiting, a night spent in Houston, and many phone calls to airlines.  7 of the team members still don’t have luggage but we’re all here safe!

We had about 15 minutes at the base before we had to leave for the village.  The base didn’t have power all morning again but the Finishing Guys (+Sue) had everything packed & ready to go – thanks!!

The medical clinic helped about 50 families and one special woman came forward during the call – PTL!!

A couple of the guys have morning flights at 6am so they’ll be leaving the base around 4.  Others have later morning flights.  Busier than O’Hare here…..

More tomorrow – need to catch a few hours of sleep.

Thanks for all your prayers!!

The move in/dedication team arrives on April 18.  Please pray for this team and for safe travel.

The finish work, cabinet installation, trim, tile work and finish electrical/plumbing team is currently hard at work.  Please pray for them and please continue to pray for the release of the containers.