Guatemala.... star lit night.... sunshine this morning! They say we brought the sun and we will take that! We arrived to Mike Wenrick the Latin American Director for Medical Teams International and Amalia the Food for the Hungry representative who will be with us during our stay meeting us with big welcome smiles. The night was warm and beautiful.

We met one of our medical teams that has just returned from eight days in the same area north of Coban that we will travel to today (Sunday, September 5th). This team was four nurses - Mike from Anchorage, Alaska, Diane from Wisconsin, Emily from Seattle and Nancy from Portland. They were filled with wonderful stories of their experience here. They worked in three different villages with a local doctor doing child assessments and counseling. More than 70 percent of the children in Guatemala are malnourished and this program is set up to teach families how to nourish and stay healthy. Records are kept so that each team can evaluate the progress. Amalia promised to share with us some statistics to show that progress is being made and that positive results are recorded. This team wanted to stay with us - they loved Guatemala, the people and the work they did while here!

Our team.... Deb Hirsh, Medical Teams International Corporate Development Officer and Auction Manager (team leader), Mike Wenrick, Director of Latin American Countries, Amalia Toc, Food for the Hungry representative, Bob Albers, Sondra Meyers, Mike & Alix Truax, Mike & Chris Cusick and of course my husband Scott and myself! This is a first time team experience for all but Scott and Dana... everyone is a bit anxious about what this week will bring.

Sunday morning.... We are going to a mass at a nearby Catholic church! This beautiful building is the only building left from the original, classic colonial architecture.  The twin bell towers and ornate facade are very striking.  The interior was beautiful with five huge floral arrangements at the altar.  We walked the exterior aisles with the side altars - the pews filled quickly so many Guatemalan families walked the aisles and greeted their neighbors.  The choir was outstanding and the "people watching" over rode the fact that we understood very little. 

Luggage is coming down so I had better close for now but wanted to get our first blog message out. Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts. We feel very blessed!

Dana Cress