Coffee Bootcamp: roasting masters!

Well the good news is that we do not feel like we have been through the ringer as much today, although at one point we thought: "wouldn't it have been fun to come here on vacation rather than on a work trip". Ok, ya, would have been more fun but we are so fortunate to be learning what we are learning. We are also thankful we got to do this all together, because we truly have fun together and we each have different strengths and each will be great at different things in the coffee business.

This morning we were left, basically alone, in the roasting room. The task: Roast four different roasts, each three different loads of 18lbs a piece. Total of 216 pounds of coffee this morning. And guess what?!?! We did it!! Not only did we do it, but it was absolutely acceptable for coffee shop use in a quality shop. This was a giant success... not that we won't ever make mistakes but it gave us the confidence that we really needed to be able to say..."we can do this and we can do it well". We still need lots of practice but everything related to roasting is "clicking" and its fun to see it happen.

This afternoon we learned the art of cupping. Again, something we need to keep practicing but even so we learned the methods, how to rank coffees and which to pick and which not to pick when testing different beans from different farms. Even Brock, who is truly trying to enjoy coffee for the first time in his life liked one of the ones we roasted! Success!

It was a fun day to do what we learned and then try them in the form of cupping and then drip coffee. Tomorrow we plan on doing the same thing again (plus the beginning of barista training).

And then because our trainer, Mike, has a fun sense of humor... he gave me this cup...

Coffee Bootcamp: Roasting Edition

Today was the first day of official coffee bootcamp. Phew. We ended hungry and tired but we learned ALOT! 

The morning was spent learning the ins and out of roasting. By lunch we walked away with a little more of an attitude of "we can actually do this". 

Time, temperature, cooling, color, texture... all important part of the process and if any one of those things is off, you have lost all quality of the roast. 

We kinda figured the higher in elevation the coffee grows the better.... NOT TRUE! The sweet spot is between 4000-6000 feet. 

We also realized how much work we will be putting in visiting coffee farms and getting samples and testing it all..... and to that we were kinda like....

It was a productive day where we each got more excited about the idea of having this shop... which we believe will be amazing. However, while we knew it would be work. We had a little more of an idea of the work that will need to go into it. Also, we were able to see what was and was not functioning as well as it could or should here and talked about ways where we can tailor things to allow us to not have as much work. 

Although we were kind disappointed in the lack of coffee we were able to drink today, which equaled zero. We were happy with the amount of encouragement we received when we realized we can roast coffee successfully!

Now to bed before we learn some more roasting techniques and cupping tomorrow. 

Coffee Bootcamp: Trying to get here!

Well, overall we traveled for 24 hours to get to Guatemala! On Monday we made it to Ixtapaluca with enough time to hang out with the Fry family for a bit before heading to the airport to spend the night... time in travel.... 5 hours. 

The next day was the killer. We expected two very short flights. The first one to Cancun was easy and we got there on time. The strange part was as soon as we were off the flight someone from our airline was waiting for us. He shuffled us around the airport like we were infants and he was afraid we would miss our next flight... which we almost did. The guy also informed us that we had an hour, and we didn't so we heard our names over the loud speaker! HA! 

The next flight left early.... we knew it would be a short, little over an hour flight.... on our descent into Guatemala the pilot came on and said, in Spanish of course, something to the tune of.... "There was some sort of accident at the airport in Guatemala. All we know is the airport is closed for two hours. But, don't worry we have enough fuel for 1.5 hours." 

uhhhhh

Turns out it was a helicopter crash, and a doozie of one at that! We were told that it flew up from somewhere and then crash landed at the airport. Kinda a miracle it landed there instead of anywhere else in the city where it could have killed even more people. 

Very shortly later they told us they were turning around and flying back to Cancun to refuel. The entire time we had hope that they would just fuel and fly back. 

Well, no. They got us all off the plane and for the next 6 or 7 hours they changed the planes, times and gates about four million times. But, they did give us food coupons, so thats a plus!

The biggest positive that we saw in this whole situation is..... there were two new mommies on the flight. One with a seven month old and one with a two month old, both traveling alone and both frazzled. We were able to help them in several ways over those hours that allowed them to get some food, get organized and have people to talk to. One mom (of the seven year old) was about to lose her mind and when Heather asked if we could help she basically threw the baby at her. He is a cutie! She ended up, without knowing anything about us or even our names (and i add we didn't know the babies name or hers at this point either) leaving us with her baby for at least a half hour alone. Of course, we knew the baby was safe, and apparently she trusted us, but... wow!

Anyways, we ended up getting to Guatemala super late and then a three hour drive through the windy curvy mountains... motion sickness breeding ground.

Around 3am we were able to go to bed.... a little sick, tired and grumpy but thankful for a bed!

We planned today as a day off before starting to do training so we are thankful for that as well. Naps might be in the order as we still look a little zombie ish.

Until the next adventure...

The Coffee Experience #1

The guy that is training us in "the coffee industry" has suggested that it would be interesting and fun to document the experience from now until we get back from training. He has given us a pile of books to read, some stuff to watch to watch on youtube, and some emails going back and forth.

During the e-mails he has been very clear that it is an intense learning process and we should start resting now for something that happens in three weeks!

The videos we are suppose to be watching explain the process of cupping coffee. I have seen this done in the past, when I was just messing around youtube, and I am super excited to be able to try that and see what is all about in person.  Coffee cupping is where you taste, smell, and examine coffee during different stages of brewing. I love coffee, so this won't be hard for me at all. =) However, a person on our team... does not enjoy coffee and I will also get the experience of him suffering through that a little!

The books. Although packed with a whole bunch of information that is probably pretty useful, its hard to sit and read... at least for me. It is full of information about how much moisture is in a bean, how fast and what temp to roast it. (see the thrilling images below) I know that I will need to learn all of that, but I think it will be more helpful to see it and talk about it in person vs reading a book while falling asleep.

This is going to be an adventure for sure, we don't leave for a few weeks, so i am going to continue learning until then... I keep thinking WHAT HAVE I GOT MYSELF INTO!

And so it begins....

After taking some time to move, get my house ready, settle in the new members of my crew, learn my way around, get to know the church, and rest a bit... things are finally starting for me here in Amealco.

For the past few months we have been working with the Camino Foundation to get set up as a community center/ coffee shop. We are making progress on that and our expected "start" date is mid March to the beginning of April. Now really starts the fundraising, getting the plans concrete, finding the equipment we need etc.
In just a few weeks; Brock, Heather and I are headed to Guatemala to get trained on running a coffee shop. He is going to teach us everything from going to the farmer, roasting, managing and running a successful coffee shop. The guy we are learning from keeps telling us to get lots of rest because we will need it before we go, so we are wondering what we just got ourselves into! =)
Be on the look out for many blogs about this experience. Mike has suggested it would be fun to document this experience, so I am going to! Starting in just a few days! =0)
But, really we are excited about this opportunity and ask you keep us in your prayers. We are also a little short of being funded for this trip, if you want to help out, let me know.

This week begun tons of English classes in Amealco. English is a great avenue to get to know people and create a relationship with them. Before the community center is up and running we are still being proactive in building relationships in the community. Right now, that is in the form of two different things.
1. Teaching every morning at a local rural school. This school has 33 families and very few "extras". While still a government school, it doesn't get much help. The classes range from preschool to Junior high and then also teaching a class to the mothers.  We are also planning days of games and english activities to get the family involved. This will be a fun way to get to know these 33 families and hopefully beginning to build relationships with them!
2. The family that owns the house I am renting have been wanting to learn english. So twice a week, they come to my house for some classes. There are several reasons for this.... first of all, it is a desire that I can help with. Secondly, this is a large family that knows everyone in Amealco. So our circle of influence could become great.

Right now, I feel knee deep in making sure all of my things are legal in the new residence. Changing my address on my permanent residency card, getting new license plates etc. This is all seeming to take more time then I expected, but I am making progress!

As I look towards the next few months, we have a few teams coming, a few trips planned, lots of getting to know people and setting up the new ministries. I ask you pray for us here. Amealco is not as "open" as Ixtapaluca is and we have to be careful at the rate we expand and do ministry.

Looking Forward to 2017

My last post was what happened in a nutshell in 2016 (if you didn't see it, go here!)

There was so much that happened in 2016 and it seems that 2017 will continue in that direction--- new experiences, new ministries, new new new new new....

So, what is in the future...

1. La Cima. La Cima is going to be the organization in which we do everything under. This will include....
- A community center. A place where people can come to learn english, crafts, music etc. While our goal is to reach anyone and everyone in the community, a strong emphasis will be placed on reaching the new universities students who go over an hour away for quality english classes
- Aroma Coffee Shop. This will be a space right next door to the community center. The goal is to allow a place, one of the only places in Amealco that is a place where people can hang out. It will also allow people experience some american style coffee and desserts. It will probably be the first contact that most people have ever had with a Christian as well. Part of this ministry will be a christian book store where they can buy or order bibles and other books.
           
We are working on getting the money needed currently to make both of these spaces a reality! We are working with Camino Foundation to provide the best services possible. Three of us will also be traveling to Guatemala in February to learn how to run a christian based coffee shop. They will teach us everything from picking coffee beans, roasting, barista training, etc. Hopefully, these two spaces will be up and running by the end of March! 

- Partnering with a local rural school. Starting in January, english classes will be offered at this school. Four mornings a week, there will be classes for preschool, elementary school, junior high and their mommies! We are offering free classes to everyone. The rural schools don't normally get "extras" in their education and this will allow them have something fun and hopefully will allow them to advance a little in their education. Most Universities are requiring english now, and this will give them a head start on that and maybe the ability to GO to the university.
- The money earned from both the community center and the coffee shop will go into another ministry. We are not sure WHAT that ministry will be but it will be community service based. Some options are an after school program, a food bank, etc. We are taking the next several months to pray about what this is going to be!
- There are also plans to build a training center for leaders, this will be an ongoing project that you will hear more about at a later date.

2. Manantial de Vida. This is the church plant in Amealco. It has been going for several years. It has been exciting to see how God has been working in this church!
The house that I am living in, has a separate building that we want to make into somewhere where we can meet as a church, in town. Hopefully a group from Nebraska will be coming down in January to help us with that. This will allow us, to hopefully, be more accessible to the people of the community.

3. Groups and interns. We will be using groups and interns this year to help us get all the ministries up and running from January to August. We are almost booked up for the summer. If you are interested in coming down to help this year, please let us know NOW!

There are some other things in the works, that you'll have to wait to hear about. =) But, until then... know that 2017 is turning out to be busy, and it isn't even here yet!

If you would like to give a year end gift..
1. I am still low on one time and monthly gifts. Your donation would help me not worry about money in 2016. To give to my account, go here! 
2. You can also give to the community center/ coffee shop accounts to help us get all that running. Go here and  put project number 063651

2016 Year in Review

Well, I would have never guessed a year ago that I would be where I am now. Basically, the only thing that is the same as it was a year ago.... is my right hand puppy dog, maggie!

The beginning of the year was pretty much the norm. I was loving life in Ixtapaluca. Working with church plants there, helping at an orphanage, at an old folks home and with the movement to end human trafficking

. 

Then, however, God called me away from all of that. I decided that I would be moving to Amealco. 

In April, I bought this wonderful van that has allowed me to transport teams and interns and other ministry type things more easily.

The last few months in Ixtapaluca were full of interns, groups and all the other crazy ministry stuff that make summers nuts! 

August 3rd, I moved all my stuff three and a half hours north west. 

I spent the next few months living with the Hower family, while we got my house ready to move into. It was a great time of rest, getting to know who I will be working with, dream about future ministries and playing a ton of board games. 

I also got to visit Nebraska and go to two Husker games!

The house I moved into is a missionary dream. LOTS of room for LOTS of visitors! Plus room for whatever else I want to do there. We are actually hoping that we have the opportunity to buy this land, so you can pray for that. 

I sold my cute little blue city car, and I am in the process of buying a jeep. Something a little tougher in this beast...

I also have two NEW doggies. Hippo and Gerty!

I am slowly but surely getting use to life in a small town instead of the big city! Nearly everything is different, but God is good and things are progressing. 

Check into the next blog for whats next!