We arrived in Guatemala City on the 29th July after what felt like endless traveling. We could hardly believe it was still the same day, but of course, with the time difference, it was!
We were glad when we reached Antigua and our hotel!
The first day (30th) was spent unwinding from the long journey. We had an opportunity to visit the market, and do some shopping. In a team of 5 girls this was undoubtedly a good opportunity!
In the afternoon we paid a short visit to the disabled hospital, Hermano Pedro. This is the "best" facility that the Guatemalan’s have. people say if their children are born with any disability, "never mind, send them to Hermano Pedro." we didn't have time to do much more than look on that day, but we returned later on in the trip.
The following day (31st) July, we were taken to meet Thelma, who has a ministry for adults with learning disabilities. A local pastor called Meffy was teaching 5 of these men to run and compete in a race with everyone else. We had a wonderful time sitting with the parents of these men and getting to know Thelma, Meffy and his family.
The Sunday morning 1st august saw us sitting in Thelma's church for half of the service, until we had been introduced. Thelma was keen for us to be there because she would like to organize a workshop for her church in the future. Then we took a quick exit and scooted off to Meffy's church where we did a workshop on how to include people with disabilities in their church and community.
We started by introducing the team members. Hannah is a youth worker in her church which has a lot to do with people with disabilities, and is also a sports coach. Marie and her Daughter Lindsey are Occupational Therapists. Christina and Philippa have been best friends since Christina was Born 18 years ago. She will be going to Oxford Brookes University this year to study music. Philippa is 21 years old and have been blind since birth. Christina gave the greatest example of how inclusion can just become a way of life, because she has naturally always included Philippa in everything. Philippa gave her testimony and experience of growing up as a blind Christian in a sighted world. We also did some parachute activities with the group, including showing how a bible story could be taught using it.
The people at Meffy's church said they enjoyed the workshop very much and that it gave them useful and practical ideas to use when we left.
For the next 3 days, 2nd 3rd and 4th august, we were at New Life School, half way up a volcano in a little village called Santa Maria de Jesus. This was a school Marie and Philippa had visited on the trip last year. There are 80 students there, all with learning or physical disabilities of varying degrees. It is run by Judy and Amy. They demonstrate God's love in an amazing way, not only running the school, but doing great work in the community as well.
We were able to spend time with the teachers, Marie Hannah and Lindsey giving them practical tips about how to help some of the students who had more unusual behavioral problems to cope with. We also spent time with some of the children. Last year the parents of a blind girl with Cerebral Palsy had come to our workshop for the parents at New Life. After meeting them last year Philippa was delighted to find that the young girl Yamalin, had started in the kindergarten class. It was a joy to spend time with her and get to know her.
During our time there, a mother with a baby who had hydrocephalus came to the school. She bought the baby to Amy and Judy because she was very ill. The shunt, which had been put in soon after her birth, had not worked. This meant that her head was 56cm round, but her face and body were tiny even though she was 6 months old. It was the mother's first child, and her husband had abandoned her when the child was born. The baby was suffering now and was too weak to move much. Mum asked us to pray that the Lord would take her home so that she wouldn't suffer anymore. It was one of the hardest and happiest moments in our lives. It was so sad, and yet a privilege to be there and a joy to know that the God, who had bought this mother to that decision, had given us all a certain hope of life after death. The words of the hymn Blessed Assurance were so appropriate for that occasion that we stood by the door and sang them, before leaving to give mum and baby some time alone. None of us expected the child would survive the night, but the last we heard before we left Guatemala was that she was improving slightly.
Judy took us to 2 schools while we were with her. One was a Christian school. They started off with the wrong attitude, saying that their building didn't allow them to accept disabled students since it was inaccessible. However after we explained and demonstrated that it wasn't necessarily the building that was the main stumbling block, but peoples attitudes, and showed them that change is not always needed, sometimes adaptation is enough, we saw a definite change of heart. At the end of our session, the head master sat down and gave them a long talk about changing their attitude in that school. He said that in future they would accept disabled students.
The next school was a bit more challenging. Since Through the Roof is a Christian charity, we give the biblical basis of disability everywhere we go. Teamed up with parachute bible stories, action songs, and Philippa's testimony, it is a very Christian based program. However, at this school, we were asked not to talk about religion any more after giving the biblical basis. A bit of a hard task since Philippa still had to give her testimony. Philippa said, "I can't even give my experience of being a blind person without mentioning God. He is my life, and therefore I can't separate him from It." so after a prayer with the team, she stood up and said that, and said that she made no apologies for mentioning God.
The next day we were with Steve from Love the Child in San Lukas. He took us back to Hermano Pedro, this time to spend some time with the young adult men. We did parachute activities with them, and just spent time with them. Steve asked Philippa to sing to them, and after a few seconds wondering what she could sing off by heart, she sang Seek Ye First The Kingdom of God. This proved to have been God's choice, since hallelujah is the same in English and in Spanish, and the boys were able to join in.
In the afternoon we enjoyed visiting the children at the orphanage. Some children, who had been there last year, were still there. Including Hannah, a 13 year old girl with Brittle bone syndrome, who is very small, but talks fluently in English and Spanish. It was very special to see her again, and to spend time with the children. The baby who Philippa held last year called Diego had been reunited with his family, after a year of being seperated from them by an illegal adoption, which was wonderful to learn.
Friday 6th august was our most hectic day. We were taken to America Latina School for training teachers, and did 3 2-hour workshops with 30 students at a time. This was exhausting, but rewarding as we could see some of the students really taking on board what we were saying.
Our last 2 days in Guatemala were spent with Steve. This time we went to 2 churches on the Saturday, one in a squatter’s village, which was in a garage. It is always amazing to see how in the most unexpected places God will bring together his people to worship him and help each other. The second church was more traditional. We had a group of about 18 young people, and again they said that they found our ideas useful.
Sunday was spent at the church with the deaf ministry, which we went to last year. It was nice to see a couple who Marie and Philippa remembered from last time and learn how they were getting on. There were a lot of people at the workshop, and we received good feedback. We were able to stay for the service too. In the evening we were taken on a spontaneous visit to an English speaking church. We were all ready to sit back and listen to the service and relax, when Philippa was asked to give her testimony and both she and Christina were asked to sing. We sang the lord's my shepherd. Nothing could have been better to end our trip on than the lovely service we enjoyed there.
It is such a wonderful and humbling privilege to do God's work, and we hope to revisit Guatemala in the future to see his ongoing works with the amazing people in that country.
Tuesday 7 September 2010
Wednesday 14 July 2010
£££
My mum had a most lovely phone call from Dunton Lower School the other day.
They wanted to donate some money which is so lovely! Especially from a wonderful little village school. Apparently the children couldn't stop talking about it! :)
Also, on Monday this week, I attended the fiddle fiesta which is a string orchestra held once a year to support all string players in the county from years 3-11. It was lovely to be there and to help out! The reason I write this is because I had lots of young children from Gamlingay and Dunton schools coming to say hello and taking honest interest in how we were getting on. They really enjoyed hearing from us - such encouraging news.
I'm currently writing thank you letters to all the wonderful people who have given so much in time, effort, money and prayers to support us.
Christina x
They wanted to donate some money which is so lovely! Especially from a wonderful little village school. Apparently the children couldn't stop talking about it! :)
Also, on Monday this week, I attended the fiddle fiesta which is a string orchestra held once a year to support all string players in the county from years 3-11. It was lovely to be there and to help out! The reason I write this is because I had lots of young children from Gamlingay and Dunton schools coming to say hello and taking honest interest in how we were getting on. They really enjoyed hearing from us - such encouraging news.
I'm currently writing thank you letters to all the wonderful people who have given so much in time, effort, money and prayers to support us.
Christina x
Tuesday 13 July 2010
Rightio ...2 weeks to go!
Rightio...2 weeks to go. Wow. Where did all the time go!
I can't believe in just over 2 weeks we will be on a plane to the other side of the world with people who've only met as a group once!
It's been such a fantastic experience so far and we're not even there yet! I've been continuously receiving cheques in the post- even from people I've never heard of!
My youngest sister asked to do a 'guess how many sweets in the jar' stall at school through which she managed to raise just under £20! That's brilliant!
I cannot express in enough words how grateful we are to everyone who has supported us in prayer! (as well as financially!)
My mum and my grandma have been absolute diamonds! So have Philippa's parents! They've worked along side us and as often as they can they have pushed for opportunities for us to be able to speak at different places.
We certainly couldn't have done it without them.
And another big thank you to everyone who has donated..! It's been an absolute delight to know all the support that we have!
It's getting late! So I will be off for now.
goodnight!
Christina x
I can't believe in just over 2 weeks we will be on a plane to the other side of the world with people who've only met as a group once!
It's been such a fantastic experience so far and we're not even there yet! I've been continuously receiving cheques in the post- even from people I've never heard of!
My youngest sister asked to do a 'guess how many sweets in the jar' stall at school through which she managed to raise just under £20! That's brilliant!
I cannot express in enough words how grateful we are to everyone who has supported us in prayer! (as well as financially!)
My mum and my grandma have been absolute diamonds! So have Philippa's parents! They've worked along side us and as often as they can they have pushed for opportunities for us to be able to speak at different places.
We certainly couldn't have done it without them.
And another big thank you to everyone who has donated..! It's been an absolute delight to know all the support that we have!
It's getting late! So I will be off for now.
goodnight!
Christina x
Sunday 11 July 2010
Kempston, Dunton, and Gamlingay
Ok, so last Sunday morning I went to Grace Comunity Church, Kempston, to talk about our trip to Guatemala. Christina had skived off for a weekend with young life, so I had to do it all on my own :-(
...but I can't grumble because she let me go to Thorpe Park on the Friday when I should have been helping her run a cake stall! so . . . where was I? yeah, Kempston.
Well they gave me the children's talk slot, and all the kids came to sit at the front while I was interviewed about our trip. then I sang. they kindly gave us £100 towards our costs, which we are grateful for. I also received a donation of £30 from my sister in law Tash's parents which will be a big help.
On Tuesday morning we both went to Dunton school to take their assembly, after spending the whole day before ordering resources and planning for Dunton and Gamlingay. The children were seemingly enthralled and listened very carefully, and also asked some great questions. We then had a look round at the school, which both Christina and I went to when we were little. They have kindly offered to donate some money.
Gamlingay Baptist was on Thursday evening. we put together a powerpoint for this one, as we had an hour. we were a bit nervous about filling the time, but we did it! We had a wonderful time with the members there, and gratefully collected £75 from the evening. iItwas such a blessing to be with them and we both enjoyed it.
We have nearly done ordering resources, I have sort of started packing or rather gathering together things i'll take in a pile so I know where it all is!
Next event is the Rotary club on 27th July. so till then . . . :-)
...but I can't grumble because she let me go to Thorpe Park on the Friday when I should have been helping her run a cake stall! so . . . where was I? yeah, Kempston.
Well they gave me the children's talk slot, and all the kids came to sit at the front while I was interviewed about our trip. then I sang. they kindly gave us £100 towards our costs, which we are grateful for. I also received a donation of £30 from my sister in law Tash's parents which will be a big help.
On Tuesday morning we both went to Dunton school to take their assembly, after spending the whole day before ordering resources and planning for Dunton and Gamlingay. The children were seemingly enthralled and listened very carefully, and also asked some great questions. We then had a look round at the school, which both Christina and I went to when we were little. They have kindly offered to donate some money.
Gamlingay Baptist was on Thursday evening. we put together a powerpoint for this one, as we had an hour. we were a bit nervous about filling the time, but we did it! We had a wonderful time with the members there, and gratefully collected £75 from the evening. iItwas such a blessing to be with them and we both enjoyed it.
We have nearly done ordering resources, I have sort of started packing or rather gathering together things i'll take in a pile so I know where it all is!
Next event is the Rotary club on 27th July. so till then . . . :-)
Thursday 24 June 2010
random update
right! here's what's happened since the concert:
We have gratefully recieved a cheque from New Milton Church for £374.
we have also been sent a donation from someone we don't know, that was sent care of TTR's offices, for £100.
we have been to Gamlingay Village Colege assembly and talked to the children, Christina's sister Kirsten is going to do guess how many sweets in the jar to raise money.
we have been asked to speak at the Biggleswade Rotary club, Gamlingay baptist, and Grace Community church Kempston, so that's all to come. but guess what . . . . we've done it!!! we've raised it all! what we have now is extra, for resources, helping other team members, or just for TTR. thanks to everyone who gave! everyone who helped! and to God! will do a proper post to thank people before we go.
We had our team day on Sunday, we have planned the trip as far as possible, so now me and Chrissy are ordering resources like parachutes, balls, bells, castanets, shakers, fire blankets (multi senssory for the babies-the love them coz they are shiney! and make noise!) etc etc etc. we are loving it!
until next time . . . :-)
We have gratefully recieved a cheque from New Milton Church for £374.
we have also been sent a donation from someone we don't know, that was sent care of TTR's offices, for £100.
we have been to Gamlingay Village Colege assembly and talked to the children, Christina's sister Kirsten is going to do guess how many sweets in the jar to raise money.
we have been asked to speak at the Biggleswade Rotary club, Gamlingay baptist, and Grace Community church Kempston, so that's all to come. but guess what . . . . we've done it!!! we've raised it all! what we have now is extra, for resources, helping other team members, or just for TTR. thanks to everyone who gave! everyone who helped! and to God! will do a proper post to thank people before we go.
We had our team day on Sunday, we have planned the trip as far as possible, so now me and Chrissy are ordering resources like parachutes, balls, bells, castanets, shakers, fire blankets (multi senssory for the babies-the love them coz they are shiney! and make noise!) etc etc etc. we are loving it!
until next time . . . :-)
Friday 11 June 2010
Concert
Okayyy. So we had already got quite a bit of money from our previous fundraising quests. But this was the big one! We decided to do an evening concert in our village at the parish church. It took a little more organising than we had first anticipated but all went well...in the end.
We first thought that we'd do leaflets/flyers and posters which many people took and a few even gave them away to friends etc. Then we decided that we'd see if we could get something in our local newspaper. They did a brilliant article and they have been brilliant all the way through our fundraising and preparations
Philippa and I are both members of a local choir, the amicis and Douglas Coombes is our musical director (and a fantastic one at that!)We told him about out concert quite a while before and before we knew it, we had people calling and emailing asking if we would like them to perform for us. We ended up with a lot of acts and sadly (yet gladly at the same time) had to turn some away - that just gives some idea as to how much response we had, which really was amazing as we had been quite anxious about how we'd fill a concert!
So then leading up to the concert we had tickets to print, programs to write, rehearsals to organise! Aaah!
I designed the tickets and printed them out a week or so before the concert - and it wasn't long before we had phone calls asking to reserve tickets etc. :)
the 4th June...the anxiety reaaaally kicks in!
I spent the day at philippa's designing programs and making sure we had everything we needed. Frustration was evident due to the rudeness of disobedient printers and human errors! But eventually, we had the programs printed, folded and we were ready to go....!?
The 5th June. Ahh. This was the really scary but where we had to make sure we were calm enough to organise everything!
philippa came to my house in the morning and we practises her solos and panicked about my lack of ability to play Just You Wait from my fair lady - but we overcame that with the wonderful creation that is technology (well...sometimes wonderful anyway) and then we practised our duet - for the first time! And it went suprisingly well!
Not having much time to cook lunch, my mummy put a pizza in the oven which we devoured quickly; possibly through nerves more than anything else!
Then it was my turn to be a pain with the beautiful typical teenage girl question 'what shall I wear?' this was possibly Philippas idea of a nightmare, as we both stood in my bedroom with my every other word being 'but' or anything that simply made me more and more indecisive anyway...eventually I had sorted myself out!
We took all of our things to the church ready to start our rehearsing - which would have been fantastic...if I could unlock the church door. Oh dear. :) fortunately one of the church wardens came to out rescue as she watched me looking rather ridiculous trying to open the door!
And once all that was out of the way, we came into the church to find everything set up wondefully for us! So we began rehearsing! Which was brilliant! Douglas was there which helped greatly to add the finishing sparkle to the wonderfully polished performances we enjoyed in the evening.
Pam Rhodes was out compere, she was marvelous! Inbetween the lovely performances, Pam interviewed me and Philippa as well as doing brilliant introductions for each act, each interspersed with funny anecdotes which helped make the evening bright and cheerful.
Everyone involved was completely amazing, we couldn't have done any of it with out them and they really made the evening so special.
As well as a most enjoyable evening, we raised just over £700 meaning we have raised all if the money required for us to go to Guatemala, any money that we might recieve now will be put towards resources for the trip and also be given straight to the charity!
What next.....? Hmmm....
We first thought that we'd do leaflets/flyers and posters which many people took and a few even gave them away to friends etc. Then we decided that we'd see if we could get something in our local newspaper. They did a brilliant article and they have been brilliant all the way through our fundraising and preparations
Philippa and I are both members of a local choir, the amicis and Douglas Coombes is our musical director (and a fantastic one at that!)We told him about out concert quite a while before and before we knew it, we had people calling and emailing asking if we would like them to perform for us. We ended up with a lot of acts and sadly (yet gladly at the same time) had to turn some away - that just gives some idea as to how much response we had, which really was amazing as we had been quite anxious about how we'd fill a concert!
So then leading up to the concert we had tickets to print, programs to write, rehearsals to organise! Aaah!
I designed the tickets and printed them out a week or so before the concert - and it wasn't long before we had phone calls asking to reserve tickets etc. :)
the 4th June...the anxiety reaaaally kicks in!
I spent the day at philippa's designing programs and making sure we had everything we needed. Frustration was evident due to the rudeness of disobedient printers and human errors! But eventually, we had the programs printed, folded and we were ready to go....!?
The 5th June. Ahh. This was the really scary but where we had to make sure we were calm enough to organise everything!
philippa came to my house in the morning and we practises her solos and panicked about my lack of ability to play Just You Wait from my fair lady - but we overcame that with the wonderful creation that is technology (well...sometimes wonderful anyway) and then we practised our duet - for the first time! And it went suprisingly well!
Not having much time to cook lunch, my mummy put a pizza in the oven which we devoured quickly; possibly through nerves more than anything else!
Then it was my turn to be a pain with the beautiful typical teenage girl question 'what shall I wear?' this was possibly Philippas idea of a nightmare, as we both stood in my bedroom with my every other word being 'but' or anything that simply made me more and more indecisive anyway...eventually I had sorted myself out!
We took all of our things to the church ready to start our rehearsing - which would have been fantastic...if I could unlock the church door. Oh dear. :) fortunately one of the church wardens came to out rescue as she watched me looking rather ridiculous trying to open the door!
And once all that was out of the way, we came into the church to find everything set up wondefully for us! So we began rehearsing! Which was brilliant! Douglas was there which helped greatly to add the finishing sparkle to the wonderfully polished performances we enjoyed in the evening.
Pam Rhodes was out compere, she was marvelous! Inbetween the lovely performances, Pam interviewed me and Philippa as well as doing brilliant introductions for each act, each interspersed with funny anecdotes which helped make the evening bright and cheerful.
Everyone involved was completely amazing, we couldn't have done any of it with out them and they really made the evening so special.
As well as a most enjoyable evening, we raised just over £700 meaning we have raised all if the money required for us to go to Guatemala, any money that we might recieve now will be put towards resources for the trip and also be given straight to the charity!
What next.....? Hmmm....
Wednesday 2 June 2010
New Milton Church
This post is in the wrong order-sorry!
on Sunday, Christina's parents took us down to my brother Simeon's church in New Milton, Hampshire. we were invited to speak about our trip, and to sing for them. we spoke for perhaps 10 mins, detailing the things that had happened last year, introducing christina, going through the biblical basis for disability, then we sang "Faithful One". it was a lovely day, the church was very welcoming and inthusiastic! not yet sure how much we have raised, but they will certainly be praying for us!
the next post really will, probably, be about the concert!
on Sunday, Christina's parents took us down to my brother Simeon's church in New Milton, Hampshire. we were invited to speak about our trip, and to sing for them. we spoke for perhaps 10 mins, detailing the things that had happened last year, introducing christina, going through the biblical basis for disability, then we sang "Faithful One". it was a lovely day, the church was very welcoming and inthusiastic! not yet sure how much we have raised, but they will certainly be praying for us!
the next post really will, probably, be about the concert!
opening eyes to blindness
well, yesterday was our Blind Awareness day. people came to put on blind folds and try out various activities such as making a drink, spreading butter on bread, food tasting, object identifying, and even tandem riding. (obviously the person wearing the blind fold didn't go on the front! don't be silly! :-) lol)
People were also allowed to try walking with my white cane, and were given the opertunity to learn how to do sighted guide (lead a blind person) properly. I had various bits of my equipment on show such as my talking scales and colour detector to demonstrate how i manage from day to day.
the day was designed to be fun, yet informative, and I think it was both. we had about 21 people, plus all who were helping tried the activities too! all the feed back was good, we have review forms which we will read soon and post some comments here if possible.
we also had hand outs about things to remember when you are meeting a blind person, information on the trip and refreshments, plus things for sale such as cards and pads. we set up a guatemala exhibition with items bought home from last years trip and information on the charity, the mission trip, and the country.
many thanks to all those who helped, and all those who came. hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. we raised £80.15 from this event! :-) we have also been sent several cheques for £100 £50 and £20. we have sold approx 10 tickets to the concert that we know of.
next up . . . the concert!! keep reading!
People were also allowed to try walking with my white cane, and were given the opertunity to learn how to do sighted guide (lead a blind person) properly. I had various bits of my equipment on show such as my talking scales and colour detector to demonstrate how i manage from day to day.
the day was designed to be fun, yet informative, and I think it was both. we had about 21 people, plus all who were helping tried the activities too! all the feed back was good, we have review forms which we will read soon and post some comments here if possible.
we also had hand outs about things to remember when you are meeting a blind person, information on the trip and refreshments, plus things for sale such as cards and pads. we set up a guatemala exhibition with items bought home from last years trip and information on the charity, the mission trip, and the country.
many thanks to all those who helped, and all those who came. hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. we raised £80.15 from this event! :-) we have also been sent several cheques for £100 £50 and £20. we have sold approx 10 tickets to the concert that we know of.
next up . . . the concert!! keep reading!
Thursday 20 May 2010
Guatemala evening-last night!
Last night was our Guatemala evening at Potton chapel. Tim the development manager from Through The Roof came to lead it. Tim was on the team last year.
We had an exhibition out for people to look at, all stuff from last year in Guatemala. then we had a quiz. on the table were nibbles, crisps and dips, and also tortillas and a traditional dish from Guatemala, Black Beans! (i know the spanish name for it but I cannot spell it!) the winning quiz team were awared a tin of black bean for a prize!! they weren't too sure about that one!
Tim interviewed me and Christina, me about last year, and Christina about why she wants to go this yyear. then we went through some slides of our time in Guatemala last year, Tim explained to everyone as we went through. then we looked at the Bible passages we use over there to demonstrate that God loves disabled people as much as everyone else, and he has not made a mistake or sent the disability as a punishment. and we ended with deaf worship in spanish, we did the sign language nd sung "how great is our God" in spanish.
the evening was wonderful, God was truly there with us. everyone who came seemed to enjoy it, and we hope it has given them more of an idea what we are doing. we were given pads to sell, donated by Christina's grandma, and cards to sell, donated by my cousin in law's parents.
we raised £58.50 last night! thanks go out to Tim for leading, Stan for giving up his wednesday night to us, and all our parents and friends and families for helping! and Chrissy for playing for me while I sang.
Next is blind awareness day! keep up! :-)
We had an exhibition out for people to look at, all stuff from last year in Guatemala. then we had a quiz. on the table were nibbles, crisps and dips, and also tortillas and a traditional dish from Guatemala, Black Beans! (i know the spanish name for it but I cannot spell it!) the winning quiz team were awared a tin of black bean for a prize!! they weren't too sure about that one!
Tim interviewed me and Christina, me about last year, and Christina about why she wants to go this yyear. then we went through some slides of our time in Guatemala last year, Tim explained to everyone as we went through. then we looked at the Bible passages we use over there to demonstrate that God loves disabled people as much as everyone else, and he has not made a mistake or sent the disability as a punishment. and we ended with deaf worship in spanish, we did the sign language nd sung "how great is our God" in spanish.
the evening was wonderful, God was truly there with us. everyone who came seemed to enjoy it, and we hope it has given them more of an idea what we are doing. we were given pads to sell, donated by Christina's grandma, and cards to sell, donated by my cousin in law's parents.
we raised £58.50 last night! thanks go out to Tim for leading, Stan for giving up his wednesday night to us, and all our parents and friends and families for helping! and Chrissy for playing for me while I sang.
Next is blind awareness day! keep up! :-)
Sunday 16 May 2010
Up Till Now ...
So far, we have had 2 stories in the Biggleswade Chronicle, one about the trip and the concert on 5th June, and one about awareness day on 1st June. we have had a lot of encouraging responses to these stories and some donations. we have even had people come forward to perform in the concert! I (Philippa) was interviewed on Premier radio about the trip. Today we went to my brother Ben's church at Yelling and told them a bit about what we are going to do there. they were very kind to us, promised to pray for us and the collection they took for us came to £120! it was a very warm and friendly atmosphere. now we just hope and plan for our next events, and first up is the Guatemala evening at Potton Baptist chapel on Wednesday night! until our next post . . . . :-)
Rightttt...here we go...
What?....so we are going to Guatemala.... scary stuff. :)
When?...29th July to 12 August
Why?....to promote the lives of disabled people and show them the love of God
How?....By giving practical ideas for people to help include disabled people in everyday life and give them biblical based instruction that God is not rejecting/punishing the disabled.
Guatemala... is one of Latin Americas poorest countries. It's predominantly Roman Catholic.
According to the world health organisation just 2% of the disabled in Guatemala will receive an education. Through the Roof is a charity that have set up a program to try and change this. (www.throughtheroof.org)
We are hoping to go with them this year! Philippa is going for the second time and I (Christina) am going for the first!
Obviously we have to raise money for this trip and between us we need to raise £2100!
So far we have raised around £700 ...we have several things lined up that we hope will raise money!
(a concert, disability awareness day and a Guatemala evening)
Prayers would be very much appreciated and we'll keep you posted!!
:)
When?...29th July to 12 August
Why?....to promote the lives of disabled people and show them the love of God
How?....By giving practical ideas for people to help include disabled people in everyday life and give them biblical based instruction that God is not rejecting/punishing the disabled.
Guatemala... is one of Latin Americas poorest countries. It's predominantly Roman Catholic.
According to the world health organisation just 2% of the disabled in Guatemala will receive an education. Through the Roof is a charity that have set up a program to try and change this. (www.throughtheroof.org)
We are hoping to go with them this year! Philippa is going for the second time and I (Christina) am going for the first!
Obviously we have to raise money for this trip and between us we need to raise £2100!
So far we have raised around £700 ...we have several things lined up that we hope will raise money!
(a concert, disability awareness day and a Guatemala evening)
Prayers would be very much appreciated and we'll keep you posted!!
:)
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