Montana Teams

Since we arrived back home from Montana, much of our time has been spent with short-term teams from Montana, so I thought I would give an overview of what they did. Who knows, it may spark someone’s interest for next summer?

The first team was from the church, SHEC, in Missoula and many of the team members had never been on a missions trip before. They came to show Christ’s love through work on a classroom in the community of Satexa and through building relationships with the people. With the kids, they sang, pushed them in wheel barrels, had water balloon fights, and led a vacation Bible school on the book of Jonah. The team visited homes and community gardens, encouraging and affirming parents in their hard work of raising kids. They worked alongside the community men to move a mountain of dirt for where the next classroom will be built.
Overall, in their activities the team formed a strong bond with Satexa through the sharing and showing of Christ’s love. At times some of the team expressed a little frustration with not being able to share their testimonies and the gospel due to the language barrier. But they came to understand that their role was to be the hands and feet of Christ and support our staff, who are teaching about the Bible and pointing people to Jesus on a daily basis. I think I can also speak on behalf of the team in saying that their two weeks here was mutually beneficial. The team came not only to give, but also ready to let God work in their own lives through the experience. People here are so generous and hospitable, even though they have far less material things, and there are many lessons we as Americans can learn from them (I speak out of experience). So thanks to the SHEC team, for following God’s leading to Guatemala and being His ambassadors.

One night the team came over to our house for a candlelight dinner. Kallie cooked her signature orange chicken tacos. My sister, Katie, was also part of the team. It was sure nice being able to introduce her to Guatemala and get to spend time together.


That overview was longer than intended, so you’ll have to stay tuned for Montana Team 2 later.

Countdown: 3 1/2 months

We had a crazy month and a half with 4 weeks of it spent with 2 Montana teams. We are a bit frazzled but thoroughly enjoyed our time with fellow Montanans and are glad the trips were so fruitful. Pictures and updates will be following shortly. Thanks to the teams I now have some gringo products that I just can´t live without including LOTS of brown sugar and cans of pumpkin (Thanksgiving without it is depressing).


Pray that we can find a good hospital in the capital and a doctor we can trust. Private hospitals in Guatemala have a C-section rate of 70% which is quite discouraging for me since I´m wanting to go as natural as possible. As a first time mom I already have concerns about pregnancy but then adding cultural differences and expectations to the mix has me feeling somewhat stressed. We are 5 hours from the good hospitals so pray that the baby doesn´t decide to come early or we´ll have a chaotic drive full of speed bumps and curvy roads.





We are getting more and more anxious to enter the wild world of parenting and with only 16 weeks left we won´t have to wait much longer. Just two weeks ago we got to feel the little blueberry's movement for the first time! Many have congratulated us through emails and facebook. Thanks for sharing in our excitement.