It has been a crazy last week with our ministy here in Quichè. We started this month doing construction at a new church plant of Pastor David's, then moved on to painting the office at his church, to painting another church in the area and then…. "sanding" and priming his clasico.
That's right everyone! Pastor David has a clasic car. Now what may be coming to your mind is a beautiful 1956 Chevy or a Model-T Ford – this is better! Pastor David has a 1970-something (we couldn't figure out if it was 75, 78, or 79) Datsun stationwagon. This is how it looked before we got our hands on it –
After 3 or maybe 4 days of "sanding" the car, this is what it looks like –
We think that it looks worse… As we dug in to it, we had no idea that most of both fenders had at least half an inch of body filler on the whole thing. We began the process using screwdrivers, putty knives, and Diablo remover. It worked well to get the top layer of paint off, but after we reached the Bondo, the tools were rather ineffective. Then the man who was going to be painting the car brought us a present. A huge grider with a steel brush disc on it. It went through the Bondo like butter. It was excellent and made the process so much faster.
During Thursday night service Loly, and Ana Lucia gave the girls a gift while Pastor David, Rene, and Julio gave Christopher and I ours. They had purchased traditional Guatemalan clothing for us. We all tried on our shirts and loved them. Then later in the service, a few men from the congregation presented us all with sombreros.
On Friday afternoon, we really worked hard and fast to get the sanding done. We had to get it to the shop to get the primer on it. The whole week we had been driving the clasico back to Agape in Action headquarters to park it in the garage to avoid the rain (exposed sheet metal rusts very easily). Little did we know, that they actually wanted me to spray the primer on it. Who knows why – because I have never painted a car with a sprayer before.
We are all so extremely grateful for the opportunity that God gave us to serve in Quichè with Pastor David and his family. I am very sad to be leaving and hope to see Rene on his very own World Race in three years when he turns 21. We aren't saying goodbye or adios, but rather see you later or hasta luego!
Today we are leaving Santa Cruz Del Quichè, Guatemala and going to our 1 month debrief in Antigua, Guatemala. Then it's off to an orphanage in Honduras! You can get a sneak peek by clicking here.
