Visits

We had a great surprise from the Selfs today! They were staying in Panajachel and made the trip across the lake to come see us. It is always so much fun and encouraging when fellow missionaries come to visit. Or anyone comes to visit for that matter.

Thank you guys for the delicious lunch, wonderful fellowship and great encouragement.

Living here in Santiago we get to meet so many special people. It also means we have to say goodbye. Last week we said good bye to Mark & Dr Kiran, (an OB volunteering at the Hospitalito Atitlan). It was great to be under her excellent care while she was here.

It was fun for my kids to play with their two girls, Chloe Ann especially had fun with their daughter Leigh who was the same age as her. We will cherish the fun times we had while they were here.

Our 15th Anniversary...

Today we are celebrating our 15th Anniversary. It's hard to believe we have been married that long. We have had good times, sad times, fun times, & hard times, but through it all we have been together. I can honestly say we are best friends and enjoy being with each other more than any one else. When we have to be apart it makes us appreciate it even more when we are together. Not only are we best friends we are also ministry partners and really enjoy working with each other. I look forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for us in the next 15 years!!

Ayore Team

This month we had a team from the Ayore Church in Kansas. They were here for a total of 10 days. We really enjoyed getting to know this group. It was Pastor Casey & his wife Karen and 3 of their youth Zack, Elsie & Libbie. It was a joy to have them stay with us in our home.

This team came to work at Camp David Phillips. Alfa & Omegas camp just a few kilometers out side of Santiago. We all went in the morning and when the kids got out of school at 12:30 we would take them out to help too. The Church is in the process of building a wall around the camp.

We carried blocks, sand, rocks and sifted sand. It was very hard work, I have not worked like this in a long time and I was very sore...

All work and no play is not fun so after we worked hard for several days we took a day off and went to THE BEACH.... If you have never seen the Beaches here in Guatemala it is worth it. The sand is BLACK and the ocean is fierce!!!

We also had the opportunity to go on visitation with the church youth. We prayed for this man who has had a lot going on with his family and needed some prayer.


After working all week by ourselves we had reinforcements come in and help us on Saturday. It was a team of 64 from Texas (my next blog!!) I said that to say it was nice to be able to work with such a big group. When you have a lot of people the work goes by a lot faster. Once the other team got here we were clearing the land. We were clearing coffee. Digging it up from the roots, pulling the whole plant out, then stripping the leaves and branches with machetes. Naomi, Chloe Ann, Libbie & Casey were having fun... not sure what was going on but it was cute!!!

We had a great time with these guys and and were so happy to get to know them. We praise the Lord for good health, good weather and awesome attitudes.

Casey got to go with Danny & Diego to the Pastoral Leadership training that has just gotten underway in the last few months. Pastors and leaders from the Solola area are invited to come and take classes on various topics. (No pictures!!)

I don't like to say good bye....

Last month we said good bye to some good friends we met here in Santiago. Jared & Traci were here in Santiago for a little under one year. Just long enough to really get to know them. We always had fun anytime we were together. They were here volunteering and helping in many different places. It was neat for me to see how the Lord used them in the time they were here.

This picture was taken at the going away party for them. It was great to see all the people who came to the party, people they had worked with and others they were friends with.

We are ALL sad to see them go. We will be waiting for that visit back here our good friends. We will be praying for what the Lord has in store for the two of you. The other day we walked by Milpas & Naomi said "lets go see miss Traci" I told her you went home to the states. Not sure if she understands that or not. We have had a lot of people coming and going lately.

You are missed by all of us.

Kristyn, our intern for the month of June!!

Kristyn was an absolute joy to have in our home last month. She is from our sending Church, Bible Center Church in Luling, LA. We have known her for many years but to actually live together for a month you learn a lot more about each other! We laughed a lot, we cried some, but most of all we enjoyed every minute she was with us.

Kristyn had the opportunity to work in the Alfa & Omega School. The English teacher was gone for one month so Kristyn was able to help the kids continue their studies. All the students really liked her, she was a kind, loving, Teacher who cared about the kids.

Hard at work teaching the little ones their numbers, colors, and days of the week.

She also taught them Duck, Duck, Goose!!! They loved it. The boys would run all over the field while the girls would barely run around the circle.


This is the Mirador (the look out). It is a great view of the lake and you can see for miles around. The guy standing on the right is our Tz'utujil teacher Diego. He took Patin & tortillas for us to eat. (My next blog is about Diego)

The kids had some time off from school. We decided to take a trip to the beach so Kristyn could see the black sand beaches. AND we did relax and enjoy our time there too.

We went to Pana one day and had a lot of fun shopping and showing Kristyn life in Pana.
The last week Kristyn was here was a busy one. She studied Spanish in the mornings, and we studied Tz'utujil. We had a team come in from North Carolina and we were helping them all week. In the afternoons we would go with them to the Colonia and have VBS classes for the kids.

It was neat to be able to work with the team and to have Kristyn here to help out with all we were juggling.

Kristyn, we appreciate all your hard work and the time you spent with our kids. You became part of our family for a brief month and it was very sad to see you go at the end of the month.

THANK YOU, OUR GOOD FRIEND!!! WE MISS YOU...

Country Cousins...

This is our Team, we call ourselves the Country Cousins. All of us live outside of the 'Big City' (the capitol) except the Sywulkas but he is the team leader.

We have been able to have several meetings and are really looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us and this team. It is so neat to be able to talk about our ministries and get advice on certain issues.

Hanging with the Coolbaughs!!

We had a family come down to visit us and explore what the Lord may have for them in the future. They are both optometrist and would like to help in any way they can here in Santiago.
We had never met them before, but we all hit it off. They have four kids and brought them down so they could see what it was like to live on the mission field. Everyone got along so well, it was like we had known them for years.

We enjoyed introducing them to the Tz'utujil people and culture.
They were a great encouragement to us. We were able to relax with them and share what the Lord has been doing in our lives here in Santiago. Since we have been here we have had hard times, sad times, happy times and encouraging times but knowing we are right where the Lord wants us makes all the difference in the world. They prayed for us and some of our specific situations It was neat to see how the Lord has blessed this family and they were able to come down here to bless and encourage us in a time that I think we really needed an extra boost!!
Thank you Coolbaughs, We all really enjoyed meeting you and look forward to what the Lord has in store for the future.

The Guatemalan ZOO!!

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Zoo. We went with Pedro & Ana Samuc and one of their daughters Heldi. We had a great time together. It was Naomi's first time to the Zoo. She loved seeing all the animals but was vary scared of the elephants. I guess because they were sooo big!!



We went in the late afternoon and a lot of the animals were up and running around. The monkeys were jumping and playing chase. The leopards were pacing back and forth, then started wrestling. It was neat to see so much activity at the Zoo.

Little did Naomi and I know we had some wild Tz'utujiles behind us!!


The last thing we did before we left the Zoo was get a snack, the kids went straight for the cotton candy. We also enjoyed grilled corn on the cob with lime and salt on it.




It was a good little Zoo, we all had fun and it was good to spend time with Pedro, Ana & Heldi Titus wanted to see was a Quetzal bird, but they did not have one in the Zoo. It is the national bird of Guatemala. Titus said "Seems to me if it was the national bird it would be in the Zoo, I guess I'll have to find it in the wild".

"Pablo's Fish Camp"

We have a neighbor who has a little restaurant/hostel in Santiago. He is from Colorado and spends the winters in Guatemala. We have enjoyed getting to know the English speakers in our town through his little restaurant. There is a small Hospital in town and they have volunteers from all over the world work there. It has been fun to meet the different people who have come to work here in Santiago. Pablo serves fish on Fridays and we all enjoyed it last Friday. He has a big Jocote tree in the patio and the kids really like to climb it.Another treat has been PIZZA with "real peperoni's".

Thanks Pablo for the good cuisine!

A very "Happy" Thanksgiving

Last year Thanksgiving was a hard day for me. I shed more tears than was Thankful. I tried to hide it from my little family. Then I just broke down and had to admit I was lonely and missed "HOME". I had comforted my kids during their times of missing home, and I felt like I was letting them down by being sad. Danny reminded us that we were all in this together, They all hugged me and loved me. It was just what I needed. All in all I have to say it was a hard day.

This year as Thanksgiving got closer I was excited, but wanted it to be much happier than last year. We invited some friends from Tectitan. We met them through our sending church in LA. We had not seen them since we had been in the states. It was great to get to know them more and meet their sweet kids.

I've never had to cook Thanksgiving dinner. I was a bit nervous about actually having to cook the WHOLE meal!! I called my Mom for a couple of recipes and my mother in law for a couple others. You have to keep in mind I don't have a grocery store within an hour and a half of me. Even then there is no guarantee that they are going to have what I need. So I went to market and got potatoes, and fresh green beans, a chicken and ran by the tienda(you walk in the door and tell them what you want then if they have it they go in the back to get it) to get Maseca(corn meal they make tortillas with) for my corn bread.

We had Turkey, Corn bread dressing, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, celery with cream cheese, I even found a can of cranberries when we were in the capitol last time!! Kathy made sweet potatoes and a delicious pumpkin pie. I managed to snap this picture before we all dug in. We had quite a feast and everyone was very pleased with the meal. Danny said the dressing may be better than his Mama's (it was her recipe). It was great to have friends here with us in our new HOME. It was a very Happy Thanksgiving.

After Dinner we went out in the garden and down by the lake. The kids enjoyed playing with the coco the rabbit next door. We were thankful for friends, family and for the opportunity God has given us to come work with the people of Santiago. I thank the Lord for loving me and carrying me when I need to be, and for rejoicing with me in times of joy. All in all this year was filled with joy, laughter and especially thankfulness.
Well, I cannot download the pics, I will have to owe them to you.

Friendships

We all need and crave friendship. We need someone who will rejoice with us or cry with us, someone who will comfort us when we crawl through valleys of despair or laugh with us on the mountaintops of happiness. Through the years we have made and still have many close friends. We have not really had that since we got to Guatemala.

Danny met Carrol at Language school and soon after we had the whole family over for dinner. It did not take us very long and we all hit it off. For the past 3 months we have had an Awesome friendship. We all need deep meaningful friendships with other people. The proverb says, "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly." (Prov. 18:24) We have with the Gunters. When we met the Gunters it was like we had known them for ever. We all got along so well and we were able to really open up and share our hearts with each other.

Today our hearts are sad, we said goodbye to our good friends last night. It was a tearful time, and hard on the kids too. Last week as we were preparing the kids for the departure of our friends both of the boys had a melt down and said they were tired of making good friends then saying good bye. I told them I was too, but reminded them how neat it was to have so many friends. God has allowed us to visit many places and meet many great friends. I told them I would rather have friends I may have to say goodbye to than not have friends. Often people do not find the friends they want and remain lonely and wonder why? To have friends we must show ourselves to be friendly, and have to learn to say goodbye.

The Lord led Carrol & Mica here to Guatemala to adopt Sweet Josie. It was so neat to see the love that Christian & Corie have for their new little sister. We learned a lot from them and will really cherish the time we spent together. Blessing to you guys as you take Josie HOME!!http://antiguajourney.blogspot.com/

FRIENDS, YOU WILL BE GREATLY MISSED!