Some Recent Thoughts from Isaac

Our family got back from the states about a month ago. I really enjoyed seeing all of my friends and family and speaking English to everyone. When we got back to Guatemala I was kind of not looking forward to it, because I was thinking I was still wanting to live in the U.S. I didn’t want to go out to Buena Vista because I thought it was boring. After a couple of times of going I started to like it a lot more. I think I didn’t want to go because my mind was still set on the states and how fun it is. But now everything is back to normal.

We've started soccer again which I love and us and the Johnson family have been hanging out a lot. Every thing with my school is going really good. I still miss real school but what we're doing is way better than last year.

This Christmas we are trying to build as many homes as we can for the families in Buena Vista. The homes only cost 3000 dollars. If 400 of my friends gave ten dollars and 400 of there friends gave ten dollars you could have tons of money in barely any time. I think it would be really cool if we could build ten houses or more for Christmas. You guys should try to raise some money for Christmas. See ya later.

Isaac

Back to School

Book Bags


We decided to buy 20 book bags for the kids who wanted to go to school but did not have money. First, we went to the Antigua market to buy supplies and bags with the money that was donated. The people that donated were Hannah Mcord, the Bunso family, and the
Bible study, Between. Once the book bags were purchased, we went to the village with a few kids on our minds. We handed them out to a group of cousins that we hang out with a lot! They were very thankful because their dads did not have work at the moment. This was Susanna and Sofia’s first year of school so they were very excited!


I helped them pack the stuff neatly into their bags. I then explained what everything was for. We bought pens, pencils, erasers, a ruler, a pencil sharpener, crayons, paint, paint brushes, and 4 or 5 mini notebooks.

Thanks for your Help!

Bryn's Thoughts on the Playground

The day I heard we were raising money to build a playground, I was shocked! The kids in Buena Vista were playing on an old, rusty one that was missing a swing and was not concreted into the ground. They were getting a nice big one with 3 slides and good swings that was concreted into the ground.

Once we raised enough money, the boys went to go and buy it. It was going to be delivered on Friday but not ready until Monday. The day it was delivered, all the kids swarmed because they did not know and they had never seen anything like it. My dad explained to them that it would be opening on Monday for them to play.

A few of the workers helped make the concrete and install the playground! The day we opened the playground, was probably the best day of their lives. We explained the rules and counted down, from 1 to 3. They all charged at the playground and it almost made me cry. I was so glad for them and thankful for everyone who donated. THANKS TO EVERYONE! I nearly had to pull a few of the boys out of the slide to let others go down. I also had girls calling me over to push them on the swings.
THANKS AGAIN!

Recent Projects

Playground project

Just recently we raised some money to buy a playground for the kids in Buena Vista. It was really bad what they had before we bought them a new one. It was all old and rusty and it was not a really good safe place for them to play on. They thought it was a really cool playground because they have never seen a nice one before. We thought it would be a great thing to do. It took us about two months to raise the money. Eli my dad and I went into the city one day to look for playgrounds. We chose a awesome one and we were really exited to put it in. It has three slides, three swings and a bunch of other cool stuff for them to climb up on. The day we opened it was crazy. We had a little talk to them that this was theirs and that they needed to take care of it. They were pumped to play. We did a count down and when we said go, there was a huge rush to the playground. It was worse than rush hour in new york city. They were so eager to play. All of the kids had huge smiles on their faces the entire time. They were so happy. The next day there was so many dirt and mud on the slides. You could tell that the slide has been used so many times. If you want to pray for the playground you could pray that no one would get hurt and that no one would want to damage it. Thanks a lot for listening. Just so you know i love getting emails at isaacschmidt11@gmail.com!!!!


Backpacks

Some people have donated some money so we wanted to spend it on something that would help a lot of people. All of the kids in Buena Vista want to go to school but half of them cant. You need to have all of the supplies but none of the families can afford that so what we did was we bought about 25 backpacks and stuffed them with the stuff that they needed. They were all really exited. You would think that getting only a backpack is not such a big deal. But to these kids it is such a great miracle that they get to go to school. Next year we want to raise enough money to buy 200 backpacks. I miss all you guys and i hope to see or visit you guys soon!

Cutting the Grass

Today my family and I went to one of our friends in Magdalena. I helped him build a swing and cut the grass. We built the swing with wood and rope. We dug holes in the ground about three feet deep. Then we took two pieces of wood and stuck them into the ground. Then once we were finished with that we put the crossbar on the top and fastened it with rope. It was a lot of work and we used old fashion tools.

He has planted sections of grass that I noticed were really long. I asked him how he cut it and he said that he cut his grass with a machete. I asked him if I could try to cut it and he said sure. It was really fun but it was much harder than using a lawn mower. It was a really good day to hang out with a Guatemalan family and I am starting to like Guatemala better.

New Life Awaiting

When we actually got here last week, it took me a couple of minutes to realize “wow!, I live in Guatemala!” I was nervous and excited at the same time! Guatemala is a really wonderful place but sometimes there are things that just really annoy me. There are flies everywhere, alot of the men have problems getting drunk, and there are dirty wild dogs everywhere.
Speaking of dogs, my family and I picked up a 6 year old female German Shepherd last week. Her name is Katie. Its actually a funny story about how we actually got Katie. When we were in PA our family decided to get a dog when we got here, and all decided on a German Shepherd. We got to guatemala and couldn’t find one, but after 3 days in Guat we got an email from another missionary who was leaving the US with his family and they happened to have a German Shepherd named Katie. Although is isn’t a puppy like we wanted, we got a dog! God basically gave us a miracle.
Anyways, we are all good and getting settled into our room. We all sleep in the same room. It’s unexpected and kindof nice! We all got phones and everything. I am so excited although I miss my friends.
Love you and thanks for supporting our move!
xxxoooxoxoxoxo

August 30th, 2009 - Bryn's Thoughts

Hey! Haven’t blogged in a while. Just wanted to tell you about some amazing things that happened. O.K. first, Sunday the 30th, we went out to Buena Vista. That is the place where we made a playground nad soccer/basketball field. I met some really nice kids. One name is Oscar-Nueva (9 yr.old) and Christian (7). There were three little girls, the youngest, Stephanie has a small tumor that might be cancer and has to have surgery soon. Her two sisters Susanna and Sophia were so very sweet. “How old are you?” I asked them. “CINCO, CINCO, CINCO!” They told me.

Now I just want to talk about Katie. Katie is our dog. She is our six year old German Shepherd. She loves people and loves anyone who scratches her tummy. Here’s the story. OK, this family emails our friend and says they are moving back to Michigan from Guatemala. They have sold everything but their dog, a german shepherd girl. Just what we wanted, FOR FREE!