Iowa Mission Team

This past week we had a team of four volunteers down to work with smallchangeforbigchange for 7 days. This team included Bill Shirbourn, our third board member who lives and works for us in Iowa, his daughter, and another father and son. Unfortunately the father and son had to leave early due to a death in the family, but we able to meet an incredible family that we have begun working with.

We began in Chichicastenango visiting another project for two days, then returned to work in San Antonio and the surrounding areas. They sponsored a distribution at Hermano Pedro Albergue (an orphanage for children through adults that have severe disabilities and their families

cannot take care of them. The next three days after that we installed three stoves, and constructed two chicken coops. One of the families that we were working with this week has a beautiful story. The father, nicknamed Chaps Chaps, who is 24 and never learned to read, is now putting himself through school in the evenings. He wants to gain an education to support his family better. He has a wife, and two children. Both of the children are studying. The family lives in a remote area of San Antonio, called Alta Verapaz, in a small community of family members. This family clearly loves each other very much and enjoys each other’s company. The women took the opportunity to dress me in my first typical outfit! (Called guipil and corte). This is the clothing that the women wear daily. They typically have one or two pairs only, because they are expensive outfits. They thought it was extremely entertaining!

This particular family connected with Chaps Chaps’ family so much that he will begin our sponsorship program to be supported to continue with his education. This sponsorship will encourage him to keep going and we hope provide the extra support that this family needs; and they will know that people and God care about them!

It was an excellent week, and gave us a chance to talk in person with Bill and spend time with him. He had the opportunity to meet these special people that we serve, and see the projects and how they function a little more.