Viña's offices spruced up & Jericho's walls go up

SOLOLÁ — Viña Studios’ offices are getting a welcome sprucing up, and the walls of Jericho are being raised again some 3,000 years later.

Since their arrival on Sunday, the eight-person team from Lampeter United Methodist Church in Lancaster County, Penn. has been nose-to-the-grindstone. Outside walls are freshly painted, curtains are sewn for the conference room and first-floor windows, and, yes, Jericho’s walls are on their way up. Up to about 2 inches high, that is.

Work projects are divided between indoor and outdoor work; crafts and carpentry. Several members of the team have been working on set design and soldiers' costumes for Viña’s finger-puppet “Deditos” videos, telling the story of the Israelites conquest in Judges 6. Others are completing unfinished construction projects on the addition that was underway when I was here in 2003.

Besides work, the team has taken the initiative to visit a staff members’ house to pray for him and his family as well as spending time after work to pray with staff members.

The team includes Rev. David Nissly and his wife, Linda; Youth Pastor Mike Yowler, former Guatemala Bible translator Sue Hoiland and her daughter, Heidi; Carl and Pam Campbell and Kelly Becker.

Asked to quickly describe her return to Guatemala (after being away from the country for nearly a decade), Sue Hoiland searched for superlatives.

“I’m trying to think of something other than wonderful. ... It’s been really special to be back to share this experience with my daughter and to introduce friends from my church to this beautiful country,” Sue Hoiland said.

“We’ve had a great time, enjoying the culture, the scenery, the mountains,” said Pastor Nissly. “(Lake Atitlán) is just spectacular. Probably the highlight for our group is going to be those times of prayer that we’ve been able to have with the staff and the relationships we’ve been able to build, even with the language barrier. It’s just been a great experience.”

Several construction projects involve outdoor painting and carpentry on outside walls, the roof, where rain can hamper progress. Indeed, rain intervened today, but so did an eight-hour power outage.

We lost power at 7 a.m., and it returned at 3 p.m., in time to accomplish a few chores. Several of Viña Studios’ staff, including our computer expert and our videographer, grabbed shovels and hoes to fix potholes, filling them with concrete. Unfortunately, a sequence of torrential downpours arrived, carving out much of the freshly mixed concrete and washing it down the hill. Flavio, Viña’s videographer, sported four handsome blisters after his morning’s work.

“For me (the highlight has been) developing the friendships and fellowshipping with Viña’s staff,” Mike said. “Coming in with that language barrier, it’s subsided. We’re communicating very well. I feel comfortable around them as if we’ve known them for a while.”

“Knowing it’s helping people in minority language groups access God’s word in their own language is very satisfying,” Carl said.