The playground has been dedicated.

Rich just called and dictated this update to me (Kristin):

Today was the culmination of all of our hard work.  At 9:30 AM we dedicated the playground and then we let the kids loose to play. Imagine 200+ children all on a play structure at the same time. The laughs and screams sounded like we were at an amusement park.  After the kids played for about an hour we shared a puppet show with them followed by a carnival.  It was a very full morning and even late this afternoon at least 50 children are still playing on the playground (even though the rain just started).  Speaking of rain – God blessed us in that it never rained while we were doing our outdoor work.  Several Christian dignitaries came in for the dedication from Guatemala City. All were amazed by the size and beauty of the playground and everyone agreed that it’s unlike anything they’ve every seen in all of Guatemala.

After lunch we broke into smaller groups and went on some home visits. We got to go in the homes of some of the children that we had seen playing on the playground. They still had their balloon animals and faces painted from the carnival.  It was a very humbling experience for all to see the little they had and how many people live in small spaces.  We’ll get pictures posted when we return, but just to give you an idea of what it’s like here - this is a community of about 3,000. It’s very remote (we crossed through four rivers to get to it) and there are no stores/hotels, etc… - just shacks.  Many of the people work for a coffee plantation nearby.

Tonight we’ll be talking about reverse culture shock because often it is more difficult to return home than to go, on a trip like this.  While here we’ve had a wonderful sense of community with our team and a sense of purposefulness as we’ve been impacting Christ’s Kingdom.  We are leaving at 6 AM tomorrow to drive 1 ½ hours to the base of a volcano. We’ll spend about 4 hours climbing it.  If the weather cooperates we are told we will have an amazing view from the top.  The volcano is slightly active and we’ve been told we’ll see a little lava but it’s unlike El Suego, the volcano that has been booming day and night near the site where we’ve stayed. Our team is bringing back amazing photos of El Suego spewing out lava in the night sky. No worries, though, there are many valleys between the playground and El Suego so it will be safe in case of an eruption.  Thanks again for your prayers. We look forward to seeing our families for the 4^th of July weekend, as we’ll be home late on July 2^nd.