A Cochrane church has begun a special relationship with a community in Guatemala.

A group of teens from the Cochrane Alliance Church returned from a 10-day trip to San Raymundo, Guatemala, on July 15, after helping build homes and lives for impoverished members of a partner church.

“Compared to our other trips and experiences with the students, this was by far the best one,” said Dave Yang, pastor of student ministries at the church.

The group of 23 high school students built a house for a family that lived in a “tin shanty;” a house for a widow with seven children; and an addition to the church that eventually will become a school for the community.

With the help of the church and community, about $70,000 was raised to send the youth mission, and a second group of adults, who leave Aug. 6.

Cochrane Alliance has committed to send missions to San Raymundo for at least five years.

Yang admits the town, located about one hour’s drive from Guatemala City with a population of 942,348, is a “slum,” although the missions are part of a larger community transformation project.

“It’s definitely poorer than I thought,” he recalled.

There’s lots of kids running around without shoes on. It’s dirty, there’s garbage everywhere. Despite that . . . the level of happiness they have far surpasses what we have here in Cochrane.”

Focus on the family unit and faith takes precedence over material wealth, Yang added.

Despite the warm welcome from the locals, a job still needed to be done.

“The first day we went to a site we must have transported 800 cinder blocks,” recalled Katie Koob, 16.

“You’re pretty sore after that.”

The accommodations weren’t exactly restful — 16 girls slept in a 21-foot-by-11-foot room.

But she won’t remember the trip just for the physical labour, which included  mixing and pouring cement and laying rebar with construction tools “probably 20 to 30 years” behind the standard in Canada, according to Yang.

“There are memories I’ll have forever,” Koob said, recalling taking a break from work to talk to some local girls for the first time.

“I had taken a Spanish class, so I knew a few words,” she said. “They would give me Spanish words and I would give them an English word . . . Even though the language barrier’s there, I still felt such a connection to those girls.”

The girls were “beaming” the whole time, a trait that’s apparently not uncommon among Guatemalans.

“They don’t live for stuff down there,” Koob said.

“They live for family, and smiles, and friendship, and God.”

Koob looks at her material possessions in a different light since returning — she’s grateful to have them, but knows they aren’t really what’s important.

“Every year it does touch me how much it does impact the students,” Yang said. “We hit day 10 and we’re about to leave, and they’re in tears, holding these little kids they’ve hung out with for a few days.”

For more information on the trip, including a blog written by participants, visit hungryforlife.org/trips.html and follow the links.

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