How good or fresh do you have to feel for you to say, “I feel as fresh as lettuce”? What rampant and overwhelming happiness do I feel inside for me to scream to the whole world, “I’m as fresh as lettuce?!” Well, I will be the first to say that lettuce is pretty good when it’s nice and fresh tucked in between the most scrumptious of God’s edible creations; but I don’t ever recall thinking that I might feel just as good as that head of lettuce that sleeps so succulently on my two all beef patties, no sauce, cheese, pickles, onions–sometimes–on a sesame seed bun. I’m a rosy ripe tomato or a bag of gummy bears on my best day…but I digress. So, when I meet Danny a.k.a. Azuka (a.k.a. Sugar) I was bit taken aback by his crispity, crunchity self. Danny was a hardcore ex-gang member that found a way out of self loathing, violence and murder, to find a life that was meant to be shared with others.
Danny is Mr. personality as he walks the streets with his signature cry “AZUKA!” and the people lucky to hear his call reply back with an enthusiastic “AZUKA!”. As I followed behind him capturing this moment I seriously felt that at any minute we were going to break into song–no one is that happy; I would have reminded myself of that If I had not been so convinced otherwise.
Here is a man who’s lived a harder life than I, yet I can’t seem to even fake a smile while in the drive thru at McDonald’s. Here’s a guy who truly loves God with all his heart, and I can’t find the time to talk to Him. Why is it when we have so much, we have so little? Should I have treated life so recklessly in order to receive all the more joy?
I am thankful for the opportunity to be here and experience the truly magical things that God can do in the life of one man who just said, “sure Lord, come on in”.
So, I might not yet be as “fresh as lettuce” but I know that my experience serves a purpose much greater that I can imagine.

Bengy del Villar

“Sugar” is in the red shirt.

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Day 4 — Our second day of “official” working was a day packed with filming various interviews and footage of yet another neighborhood of Guatemala City. We broke up into 4 different crews to capture as much with our cameras as possible. The highlight of my day (Dave) was watching the kids play as we waited for the various crews to reassemble. They took their skateboard and plastic cars to the top of a huge hill and plummeted down with great speed, laughing all the way.

I also had a fantastic time playing soccer with several children for over an hour. Despite the fact that I don’t speak any Spanish, we managed to communicate enough to develop four or five different games with the soccer ball. They were very skilled and probably would have played all day long!

After filming our interviews and having our fun we visited a community center where children learn a wide variety of skills from breakdancing and gymnastics to hair styling and cooking. They had several computers and classrooms, a kitchen, etc. but once again, the best part was seeing the smiling faces of all the children.

We are fairly tired and learning to be flexible with the constant changes in scheduling, but overall, things are going very well. We often sit in crazy traffic for a couple hours a day and watch cars barely miss each other.

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Day 3: Today we had our production meeting in the morning and then we split up into our two teams.

Team 1 started off with an amazing interview with Joel Van Dyke (Latin America Director of Center for Transforming Mission). Joel did a beautiful job of summarizing all the different ministries we are filming… as well as, paint a picture of what Athentikos is all about. Once finished with Joel, Team 1 was on to film the interview with Tita. Tita is the Director of the “Little School” (a before/after school program) in LaLimonda. She shared from her heart and everyone present was deeply moved by her life of mercy and service.

Team 2 began today by shooting more b-roll film of the “life in the dump”… scenes from the “scavengers” entering the dump in the morning for a full days work. From there, we went to a neighborhood near the dump to find and shoot film of the “Doll Lady”. A woman who makes her living scavenging through the dump for doll parts. She pieces the dolls together limb by limb, washes them, puts on new clothes and sells them.

The discarded trash becoming new life.

Both teams saw this today… and, it is Beautiful!

Buenos Noches,
Kristin Vanzant

See pictures from today on Flicker.

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Day 3: Ramiro Vasquez is one of our translators from Nashville, TN. It has been a blessing getting to know him. The way we are translating so that when we are finished shooting is by asking the questions in English. The person being interviewed answers the questions in Spanish. Ramiro is listening several feet away on headphones and translating into a microphone in English. The director and audio tech can hear English in one ear and Spanish in another. Sounds confusing but it works.

Today our subject, Tita was ready for her interview. We had told her that we were going to ask her a question in English and for her to answer in Spanish. Dave asked her a question in English, She answered in English…and Ramiro translated it back in Spanish…LOL!!! CUT!!! It was rather funny.

Tonight at the end of our team meeting Scott asked that someone pray for us in Spanish. Ramiro offered to pray for us. He stands up, moves behind his chair and bows his head and says…Dear Lord. At this point everyone loses it and starts laughing. Ramiro just smiles and drops his head…he had done it again. This team isnt short on funny situations regardless if they mean to be or not.

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Day 2:  This morning we had our final production orientation.  This afternoon we did some preliminary scouting in at the city dump, Lalimonada, and Canalitos (Shorty’s church).  We returned tonight to a delicious dinner of soup, rice, and steamed veggies.  We had a short meeting and then everyone who had video footage downloaded all  footage to hard drives, recharged batteries, down loaded pictures, and updated blogs.  There are only three of us left still up at 12:52 a.m. but we are about ten minutes away from wrapping it up.  Breakfast is served at 7:30…if I shower tonight I can sleep until 7:25.

This first picture is from our production orientation.

The images below are from the city dump.  There are people who make their living by scavenging through the dump to find anything they can take to the market and resell.  The average days wage is $5.  These people are commonly refered to as “scavengers”.  The Potters House is a ministry that serves the needs of these people and they have a different name for them.  They call them, Treasures.  Because first they see them as valuable creations made by God.  Secondly the see the worth, value and sacrifice these people have to make to provide for their families.  Anything worth “scavenging” for must be a treasure to someone.  Anyone worth being “scavenged” for must be a treasure.  I believe Jesus “scavenged” for us on a cross.

Thanks to those who have commented and are following along, we greatly appreciate your prayers.  Well, ten minutes is up and we are still here…so you can pray for good rest as we continue to work.  I am sure one of us will send out an update tomorrow…well, today but later.

Oh, before I forget…you can view our flicker stream by clicking on any photo or by clicking HERE!!!

Good night and God Bless.
Stephen Major Chisholm

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After a few delayes the Athentikos production crew has landed safely in Guatemala. We had an oversight meeting where we met Tita and Shorty, two people whos stories we are telling. We just finished dinner and are about to have a short production meeting. Then I think we will enjoy some much needed shut eye.

Thank you for your prayers,

Major

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We are all checked in on time. Our flight to Atlanta has been delayed. We hope we make our connecting flight to Guatemala! We will have thirty minutes to get to the next gate.

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Most of our team is looking at a solid three hours of sleep tonight. We will be airborne before the sun rises and tomorrow night we will sleep in a bed far, far away (but not THAT far … maybe just far away). Guatemala is actually in the same time zone as Nashville, so at least there will be no jet lag.

Tomorrow afternoon we will meet with several of the individuals whose stories we will be documenting. I am certain we will all be inspired.

Stay tuned for updates … God Speed …

OK … it is 3:15 AM and we haven’t slept a wink. Adrenaline is great when you are running away from an angry lion, but not so much when you are trying to get some needed rest. Oh well … even though I haven’t slept at all, at least my eyes were closed.

Here we go.

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Over six months of pre-production, team meetings, gear checks, story boarding, story gathering and Skype conferences, Athentikos: Guatemala is nearing the production faze of this HD Documentary. We will be on the ground in Guatemala in two days.

With a desire to tell the stories of the least, the last and the lost, producer Scott Moore has assembled a team of professional artists to help him shoot, photograph and produce this documentary.  Scott and his wife Amelia have adopted two children from Guatemala and through this process have fallen in love with the people of Guatemala.

The team consists of seventeen professionals who are coming together from all over the Unites States.  We are excited about this trip, the work ahead of us and the wonderful people in Guatemala whose stories we are about to cature and tell.

Please feel free to check back here and follow along on this blog and our website for updates and video casts.

Adios,

Stephen Major Chisholm

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