At the end of June 2008, my friend Kathy and I joined my

brother and 3 of his friends (Deshawn, Jennifer & Kirstan)

for a volunteer trip to Guatemala.  As many of you already

know, my brother has been doing international volunteer

work for many, many years now, but this was my first time

joining him.  It won't be my last!

While we were there, we built two houses, helped serve

dinner at the homeless shelter in Antigua one night, and

visited a malnutrition center for children.  We stayed with a

local family in Antigua during the volunteer portion of our

trip.

The six of us were divided into two teams, which is why we

built two houses.  "Team Juan" consisted of me, Deshawn,

Kirstan, Desiree and Hannah (a mother and daughter from

North Dakota).  Juan was our team leader from the

volunteer organization.

"Team Eddie" consisted of Chris, Kathy, Jennifer, Molly, Tess

(Hannah's sisters from North Dakota) and John.   Their

leader was "Crazy" Eddie.  While we were there, I discovered

that Molly was in the Peace Corps in Bolivia with my friend,

Brooke, who lives here in Atlanta.  It really is a small world.

We had 3 days at the end of the trip after the volunteer

portion was done to explore Antigua, visit a coffee finca and

spend a night at the Earth Lodge in the mountains

surrounding Antigua.

Guatemala is an amazing place, and I can't wait to go back.