We started out our year making a trip to the coastal part of Guatemala to the town of Tiquisate. The Credit Union, Union Popular, is the first of our four Credit Unions to start and finish the four year Character Initiative. The whole process started six years ago when we took Luis Salazar, the General Manager, to a Character Cities Conference in Oklahoma City. He caught the vision and wanted this for his employees.We have worked very closely together over the years now. The Credit Union purchased the monthly bulletins for each employee and taught a different Character Quality each month for 49 months. They asked us to be guest speakers at their company-wide breakfast, celebrating the completion of this phase of the initiative. One hundred and ten employees were in attendance, along with the Board of Directors. They converted their parking lot to accommodate the special celebration. We presented them with a nice wall plaque and award for having shown such diligence, perseverance and determination. To our surprise, they also presented us with a wall plaque and two sets of Cross pens to express their appreciation. They have seen such great results that they are now moving on to phase II. With a new series of bulletins on each Character Quality, they will continue the studies over the next four years.
CHARACTER INITIATIVE – CREDIT UNION, UNION POPULAR, TIQUISATE
After entertaining a house guest from El Salvador earlier in the week, we were delighted at the arrival of our beloved Jenni Ramsey, Missions Director of The Village Church in Irvine, Ca., along with her team of three other gals. The Village Church has been a faithful supporter for many years. Jenni was actually representing All Blessings West, a Christian adoption agency. Jenni, along with Emily, Josie and Meryah arrived Thursday night bringing us a new printer we had ordered. They were only with us for two nights before they moved on to the orphanage we did the Character Seminar for in May. We made the best of our time breaking bread together, showing Jenni the work of teams she had sent down in years past and dancing with the folkloric dancers in Antigua. California friends had sent down some goodies for us, so we felt like we were celebrating an early Christmas. They truly were All Blessings!
Prior to our emergency trip to the states recently, we did a one-day seminar for a large orphanage here in Guatemala. Casa Bernabe had heard about the Character First teachings and wanted it for their facility. They gathered about 45 of their staff and teachers to receive a day full of fun and training. We did the seminar at the Vista Real Hotel in Guatemala City. We had great comments from those who attended. We were grateful for the timing as Art’s brother, Ross, passed shortly thereafter and we were suddenly off to California for the funeral. The eleven brothers & sisters released white doves at the cemetery, the 12th being released by Ross’ son. It was very touching. While in the states, Art had his gallbladder removed at Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Hollywood, Ca. Art recovered so quickly, two days later you wouldn’t know he had had surgery. Art’s sisters threw a birthday party for him while we were there. It was another good excuse to get together as a family and enjoy each other, on a more positive note. We also had fun with family at a one-day Iris Festival in Porterville. Pictures follow.
We spent ten days in July in Honduras putting on the Basic Seminar and giving a live Character Presentation to a ministry who reaches out to under-nourished children and adults. Many of the week-long attendees were participants of the feeding center years ago and now serving in the ministry or working in the community. One participant, an elder of a church in another community, ran to us on nearly every break to let us know how great the Basic Seminar was, shown by DVD. Bill Gothard has shared Biblical Principles through the Basic Seminar to literally millions of people for over 40 years.
Our week was not without challenges. We were not used to the hot balmy climate and a torrential tropical storm cut the electricity and flooded the auditorium one night during the sessions, but all in all, the mission was accomplished! (pictures below)
June 8-18, 2009, son, Lance Camarena, along with his wife, Marsha and two sons, Lance Adan (15) and Chandler (8) came to visit us for the first time in the 13 years we have been here. They met many of the people we minister to in San Lucas, as well as, many of our friends from Guatemala City. We traveled to Lake Atitlan, known to many as the most beautiful lake in the world. We so enjoyed having time with our grandsons, playing ping-pong, shooting the BB gun and just hangin’ out together. Lance and Marsha live in Tulsa, Ok. and seemed to enjoy their Guatemalan experience. We hope it won’t be long before they return. Enjoy the picture gallery below-also featured are Bret Sr. (23) and Bret Jr. (4)
2009 started out with a bang! As a result of the Character Seminars we gave to some Credit Unions in November (see “previous post”), we were asked to be the guest speakers at their company-wide “Character Kick-off” meetings. It is a four-year initiative they have embraced to teach and train their employees to be employees of good character. Between January 6th and January 22nd, we did four presentations in four different parts of the country. It was a delight and at the same time exhausting. We now have four Credit Unions using the Character First! materials and teaching the Character Qualities in their companies. We are in the talking stages with other companies, as well. (pictures below)
Due to the overwhelming success of the character initiative in a credit union we have been working with, three more credit unions asked us to do our two-day Character Seminars for them. We first traveled toward the Atlantic Coast (Zacapa) and did a seminar for the “Cooperativa (Credit Union) Guayacán” then the mountainous region of Quetzaltenango to do a combined seminar for “Cooperativa Salcajá” and “Cooperativa Colua” from Sololá. The pictures below are a smattering first of the seminar in Zacapa then in Quetzaltenango.
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