Everyone was laughing and having a great time before I took the picture. This is typical of the indigenous culture, they are very solemn for pictures. Juana, Victor's wife is teaching me Quiche - she speaks little Spanish so I am learning her language!
We returned yesterday after a week on a 46-foot catamaran with 10 people. Yes, we are still smiling! It was a wonderful trip, even if the boat got small toward the end of the week. 
These were our "family" for 6 days. All were U.S. citizens, although most lived elsewhere. We had lively conversations about life in Belize, Guatemala, California and New Zealand!
Meet the crew that sailed us around the Belizean reef and fed us. From left to right:
As I told the others, we were "living our dream"! The hammocks were cool during the day and great for sleeping...
the fishing was sporadic but enjoyable...
and I went thru three books between swimming and sitting and soaking up the sun.
Elias was a great cook and after arriving in the Gulf waters, we had fish or lobster every meal except breakfast!
These are some of the beautiful waters we swam and they snorkled in. I found I was a little to claustrophobic for snorkeling but enjoyed paddling around in the water and doing alot of sitting and sunning!
Johnny's first catch
The only time on shore was a couple of hours walking around Livingston. As you can see, we did get a little rain, but that didn't stop us! 
In June of this year, the Emmanuel Church in Panajachel received a water filtration system from First Presbyterian Church of Visalia, California. Since that time, they have offered filtered water free of charge twice a week. Since Panajachel's water comes from Lake Atitlan without any cleaning, this has given the people of the town an inexpensive way to stay healthy. Benefits of drinking clean water are learned along with the spiritual benefit of living water for your soul!
OK, Jess, you wanted some updated pictures! Here are the walls Victor and Johnny built. This incline will go from the parking lot up onto the soccer field. It can be used by vehicles, wheelchairs or, hopefully one day, a lawn mower!
The building on the left will soon have a second floor, with the steps going up! I talked them into adding a bodega (storage area) under the steps for cleaning supplies.
Poor Francisco! I caught him putting stucco on the ceiling of the women's bathroom. He was in semi-darkness and I blinded him with the flash! Oh well, the hazards of working around a woman with a camara!
Here is a recent picture of the new construction here at LBN. Eventually, these will be apartments for guests, office areas and storage. It will be beautiful when it is finished!
This is a holiday weekend here - Independence Day for most of Central America. A group of us from CAM met at Las Buenas Nuevas for a restful weekend and time to catch-up with each other, our ministries and prayer requests. Some of the newest missionaries with CAM have little children, so it has been an experience to plan things around toddlers and kids under 10! But we had a great time and look forward to more fellowship time with each other. Two of the newest couples (and the ones with all the kids) live closest to us! Still an hour or two away, but closer than anyone else!!
Some of you may know that Johnny and I were prepared to take a week vacation, our first since before coming to Guatemala. We had finished with the teams scheduled for the summer and had a break of a couple of months before the next team. Frankly, we were looking forward to the break! Headed for the Gulf of Mexico, sun, fishing, with a bag full of paperbacks, we arrived in Guatemala City to find we had an email stating our vacation had been cancelled! It seemed there were not enough bookings for the trip we were taking, so the company had to cancel it. Of course we were disappointed, but our cloud had a silver lining. As we look at the weather for our part of the world, it appears that even in our disappointment, God is protecting us. We are thankful that even with our desires, He protects us from what would harm us! So we have rescheduled and continue to look forward to our restful vacation. Hopefully there will be sun, good fishing and dry paperbacks!
Now, if I can just teach Xiba to share...
Maria
The fencing around the lower area at the "river" (creek in Alabama) is now complete. This will help corral kids, keep them out of the river and, hopefully, help keep animals from grazing on the grass. It's not the grazing that bothers us, it's the deposits left behind!
The Vacation Bible School of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Decatur, Alabama, took up a collection for Centennial Camp, shortly before the church came here for a mission trip this summer. The money paid for the supplies for the above playground "fort", which was then built by this team. I will post pictures as it is finished, but this will join the other playground equipment (below - built last year) for the enjoyment of all the kids who visit the Camp.
Thank you to Emmanuel Bible Church, Bellingham, Washington, for all their hard work!
Maria
A concrete mixer was rented for the day.
A bucket line was formed.
Just a couple of photos to let you see the progress at LBN. The rain has slowed things down, but we have had several days that we beautiful and the construction progresses!
They continued work on the bathrooms and store.
They tied rebar to prepare to pour concrete on the roof. We didn't ever get to pour the concrete, but everything is ready to get it done this week!
Another part of the group set the posts and started stringing the fence along the riverbank. This will keep the children from falling in the river and, hopefully, keep the animals from grazing (and leaving deposits) on the picnic grounds!
They also leveled and sodded the lower soccer field...
and one gentleman cut steps into the side of the hill especially for me! (I'll bet his wife is short also!)
The youth pastor joined in...
as did Jason, a 6'9" youth leader.
I think all the kids had a go at it, including Josh, who fell in...
four times!
When you live out in the "boonies", you make your fun where you can!!
We had a great time with this group and they actually did do a lot of work! We look forward to seeing them back here again one day soon!
Maria
For those of you that have visited us before, you may remember the restaurant in Antigua that we like to visit on our "free" day. Las Palmas has been a favorite of ours since we lived in Antigua and walked past it every day going to school. In the past, the groups have always been put in a side room so we could all eat together. It was always a little dark and everyone would look out into the outdoor area and comment on the beauty of the restaurant. Well, the First Bible Church/St. Paul's Lutheran team was so large we couldn't fit into the side room so they put us in the beautiful outdoor area! The downside was we couldn't all eat together, but after being together for a full week, that didn't seem to be a problem! I told them they would be the envy of all who had visited Las Palmas in the past! The food, of course, continued to be excellent!
Congratulations to the Lara family (the four in the middle)! They were officially accepted by CAM International on July 12, 2008! Pray for them as they continue support raising and visa paperwork, preparing to leave for Spain.
and dug...
and added a roof on part of the porch!
I have no picture, but Steve and Evan also put shelves up in my kitchen!!!!
(Teams are great for getting things done that my husband doesn't do!)
All kinds of things were learned this week:
Team work helps!
Take advantage of break times!
Power Girls!!!!
Maria
