Construction memories...

Les made a statement at the beginning of our trip that had a huge impact on my time in Guatemala. When he was speaking to the Beerseba School in Tactic, he told the kids that this group of Canadians would be building a school for you because they love you. They haven't even met you yet, but I know they love you. When Les said this to the children at this school, my mindset for the trip completely changed. I knew we were building part of a school, but it was more real after seeing these kids.

While the work on the construction site was a challenge, or even a struggle at times, we kept pushing on because we knew who we were building for. By the end of our days on the work site, I know my whole team was getting tired. Our last day working was probably the hardest day. We were asked to move hundreds of bricks. We loaded and unloaded one truck, but when it came to loading the truck full a second time, my team was less enthusiastic. A verse came to mind while our work was slowing down. Philippians 3:14 -- "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Jesus Christ." The goal was getting a school built for the kids in Purulha. But the prize was even greater... reaching lives for God's kingdom through the blessing of Christian education.

I was again reminded of our purpose in moving these bricks. As I was passing bricks, I started thinking of the kids I met over the past ten days, realizing that we were moving bricks for them. One of my favorite memories of the trip was when we started putting names to each brick. "This brick is for Carla, this is for Olby, this is for Mynor, this is for Mydia..." When we started doing this, the mood of the team quickly changed and they started to "name" bricks. It was a gentle reminder as to why we did this. The team moved bricks, rocks, cement bags, dug a trench and mixed cement, not because we had to, but because of our love for the kids and the potential we saw in each child. We weren't just building a school, we were building a part of each child's future with every brick that we moved.