Clear River

THE TRASH PROBLEM

Guatemala, like virtually every country in Latin America, has trash haphazardly tossed and dumped in many places.  In most smaller villages in Guatemala, there is no garbage dump or designated place to throw trash. This has polluted many of their streams, rivers, and water-ways.  Through the years we have worked with mayors and public health officials on various projects. In February of this year, Ray Gurney brought up the idea of having friends from the U.S. come help do something about this growing problem.  

Ray Gurney talked about his trash idea while walking through a beach community in Las Lisas, Guatemala.  "Your country is such a beautiful country," Ray said. "It is a shame that trash is spoiling its natural beauty."  "You are right!" Manuel, a rancher and community leader from a village near San Pedro Alvarado, agreed. "We must do something about it before it gets worse. Can you help us?"

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"Obviously, we can't do it all for you," Cesar Gonzalez, our ministry leader in Guatemala, chimed in. "But we could help you develop a trash plan and work with you on it."  

Cesar spoke with Manuel on a boat trip to explore a protected river canal that is being negatively affected by trash.  "I would be glad to help raise awareness for this and do what I can." Ray offered.  "To be clear," Cesar added, "if we get involved, we would use the opportunity to talk about God." "Of course!" Manuel answered, smiling. "We know you! You always bring messages to us of how we need God. And that is what motivates us to do more to love our neighbor."
 

From that conversation in February, Cesar met several times with Manuel and multiple other leaders, mayors, and public health officials. Those talks prepared the way for our scout team to see what might happen if we brought a team down to work on this kind of a project and share the gospel at the same time. 

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In a village near San Pedro Alvarado, Guatemala, Manuel and a group of community leaders gather a group to talk about their trash problem. Before setting up for this meeting, a new Christian Rancher group was established that will make this project their way to demonstrate their love and concern for the people of their community.  During this trip, each team member shared stories of faith using trash as the main topic. For example, Ray shared how God made us stewards of this earth. Tim talked about the benefits of living in a clean community. And Mark talked about how his father taught him how to handle trash on his farm west of Fort Worth, Texas.