Fun Family pictures...

The other day I grabbed the camera and headed to the garden and this is what I got....

Christ Chapel Bible Church, High School team

Our last team of the season was Christ Chapel Bible Church from Texas. They brought down a team of 64 it was a high school team and they had plenty of energy and were able to get a lot done. They were able to help at the Alfa & Omega church Camp, just outside of town. It was incredible to see how they swooped in and did so much work in so little time. We worked with them when they were pulling up coffee and trimming the branches. We had a delicious lunch with the team at the hotel. It was hamburgers & hot dogs yummy!! After lunch they asked us to share our ministry with them and what the Lord has in store for us here in Santiago and Guatemala for that matter. So as we all gathered around under a tree (not all of us fit under the tree) Danny shared about how the Lord led us here to Guatemala and what we will be doing here. Then I shared about our everyday life in Santiago, school, shopping, language, our kids, the culture ect..

One day we invited the team to come over for some lemonade after working at the camp. We all squeezed in, I have never had that many people around my table... It was awesome. Since we had spoken a few days earlier the kids had some more questions. We had a very detailed question and answer time. It was neat for Danny and I to see the questions they had, Maybe one day the Lord will lead some of these very students to the missions field...We enjoyed the time we spent with this team, the youth and the leaders were a true joy to be around. We look forward to the next time they can come.

Random pictures of my kiddos...

Titus is 11, he is our people person and loves to meet new friends. Isaac is 9, he is such a joy to be around always happy. He enjoys hanging out with Titus.

Chloe Ann is 7, she likes school and her friends she has made, it is neat to see how she shines around others.

Naomi is 2, she is our funny girl. She loves to make faces and make people laugh. Her favorite thing to do is play with her friends & siblings.

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.