Guess What's In Guatemala

Yes that is a Walmart sign. All the Hiper Paizes in Guatemala City turned into Walmarts while we were gone. It didn't really change anything about the inside of the store or the products it carries. We were only in there a minute when we flew into the capital, so maybe I missed something. It sort of makes me sad. I'm all for capitalism, but I think I just like my 2 worlds separate for some reason.

When we got to Petén we saw that they opened a new grocery store in Santa Elena. It is inside a new mall like structure. Most of the stores are outside and right on lake Flores.

It has a beautiful view. Most of the mall is still empty and the stores that have opened aren't any different than what you would find in the market. I didn't see any store that I recognized.

For those of you that have been here it is right next to the Burger King. It sort of kills whatever ambiance was left after the Burger King went up. My beautiful world is changing and I can't make it stop. I'll take the grocery store though!

This was the flooring inside... gorgeous! It looks like travertine. There is going to be something like this going on in our forever house somewhere with all the reject pieces we purchased from the mine. Probably on the walls though and not the floor.

This is the cute little grocery store. It is SO clean, I hope it stays that way. It is smaller than the Maxi Bodega, but has nearly all of the things we would buy at the Maxi plus some extra treasures we found!

Another plus is that they didn't have music playing on the loud speaker the whole time and it wasn't very crowded. It was so peaceful and relaxing!

Here are some of the products we found that we haven't been able to find in Petén before (not saying they don't exist here in some form, but we couldn't find them). Many of you have brought us some of these things down in your suitcases before!

Crisco

Tabasco Sauce

Desitin (It works better here for some reason than Butt Paste.)

String Cheese

Nice toilet paper!!!!

Sprite (The only soda we drink. We mix it with Orange juice sometimes.)

Brownie mix (And it wasn't expired!)

Jif (It was expensive, but still cheaper than poundage on a plane.)

Baking cups

Cheerios... even Honey Nut ones. (They use to carry Cheerios here, but then quit.)

Quaker Oatmeal Squares

Campbell's Tomato, Minestrone, & Clam Chouder Soup (The Maxi recently started carrying Cream of Chicken, Mushroom, & Chicken Broth)

Wheat Flour

Dijon Mustard (Can you tell my camera died?)

Blue Cheese Dressing

After we finished grocery shopping we took the boys on their first ride in their new wagon! We walked all the way around the island of Flores. They kept their hats and sunglasses on the whole time... they know they're cute!

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: This is on a main street in Guatemala City. It is a company that bullet proofs vehicle. Evidently this is a service that is in high demand here... enough demand to put their business on a prime piece of real estate. You can see the example car doors on the left with bullet holes in them. The sad part is we know people with bullet proof vehicles and yes they need them.

Our Trip to Guate With a Couple of 6 Month Olds!

We took the boys to Guatemala City (this time it was an 8 hr drive) last week for their 6M shots... yes, we have 2, 6 month olds... crazy! Even though they entered the world 2 months early, they are catching up fast to the size of a normal 6 month old. I have packed away most of their 0-3 month old clothes already because they are so tall! Since exiting the NICU we have enjoyed 5 months of perfect health... other than pink eye that we keep passing back and forth. We are so blessed!

Silas ready for the jungle:

"Wait a minute... I live where?!"

Jonah in the hammock:

Their doctor wants us to begin introducing solids, but we are not sure. I want their GI tracts to be good and ready (since they are somewhere in between 4 and 6 months developmentally), so we might wait another month. We are having fun planning their first meals. We are going to make all their baby food fresh. Hopefully this will help them grow up being veggie lovers... don't scoff at my optimism! We can't decide if we are going to make our own rice cereal or just start with avocados. It's all an adventure!

I took this photo at our doctor's office. Do you see anything funny about it?

They translated the Spanish name of the movie back to English and then printed it. I don't think this is an official Pixar product! We see stuff like this a lot.

The Boggs happened to be in the city at the same time, so we got to visit with them. Never thought we would live this far away from them (10 hrs).

We got to do several other errands while we were in the city, like grocery shopping and extending our visas.

What do missionaries like us get excited about when going to the "big city"?...

14.5 lbs Bisquik (because it's nice not to have to make everything from scratch once in a while)

12.5 lbs Cascade (same price as 2.5 lbs in Petén)

1008 wipes (1/4 of the price in Petén)

624 diapers (1/2 of the price in Petén, 1/4 of the price in the States... yes, all parents of twins should be missionaries!)

4 6'x4' metal shelves (since we live in a house without closets, not sure why we didn't buy these 2 years ago)

90 pop tarts (guilty pleasure)

24 cans green beans (to hold us over until Jimmy's garden starts producing more... his are better)

15 Bibles (these were double their normal price for some reason... they said that we had been buying them on sale for the past 3 years... it was a little shady)

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: The other morning I left the boys playing in their crib to go put in a load of laundry. When I came back, this is what I found!

KBI

So we have been working on our dream of a Kekchi Seminary here in Petén. It still seems like forever away. We have a team of pastors scheduled to come in June to teach another module of classes to the pastors we met in the SW part of Petén. What we eventually want is an established 3-4 year college where Kekchi men and young people can come and be equipped for ministry and life. We want to help ground them in doctrine and give them the tools they need to have a successful, and productive ministry. We also want to teach them a trade to help them support their families.

We have a very talented friend who just came down on our last team. She has been designing several logos for us to choose from. It pays to hang around people smarter and more talented than yourself!

We already have a website, so we just need to meld the two and we will be up and running. We thought about having a vote, but we already picked our favorite! Thank you so much, Leslie, for all of your hard work!

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: We went to the city to buy some groceries, but this time we couldn’t find any bacon. Jimmy asked if it was in a different place. They told us, “No, it is out of season.”

Odds & Ends

Tuesday, Lucha was barking in our backyard. Our dogs never bark unless there is a problem. Jimmy looked out the window and there was a man on top of our wall getting down. We did not recognize him, so I do not think he lives next door. Our house is surrounded by fields otherwise, so we really do not know why he would be up there. Lucha is a good guard dog. Please pray that God keeps us safe. This has made us be even more careful.

Yesterday Jimmy made virgin Piña Coladas... they were yummy. I made some no bakes and some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I could not find any brown sugar, but they taste good anyway. Jimmy took some no bakes for his class this morning. It is hard to find a lot of things here, but we have figured out how to make all kinds of new things since we have been here. If anybody has some great recipes for meals that do not require anything prepackaged we would love to try them. We can buy beef anyway it would come in the States and we can buy boneless chicken breast. Turkey is very expensive. Other than that we cannot find any other meat that we feel safe eating yet. If you have any good recipes please email them to us.

Jimmy always fusses at me when I let Lucha on the couch or bed. I went upstairs during my class to ask Jimmy what something was in English... Lucha was sitting on the bed with him. There is a double standard here!

You probably heard that Bush was in Guatemala on Monday. There is a large population here of liberal hippie gringos, they are the ones that were protesting. On top of that, the only news Guatemalans hear about the US is through CNN International and that is just propaganda. It is really sad. Linda says things that she hears about the States all the time, and they are just not true. It seems as though Mexico is causing all types of problems for which the US gets blamed.

Please continue to pray for my spanish. I am learning subjunctive right now and then afterwards I will have 2 and a half months of just practicing. I would really like to translate for the medical team that is coming in the middle of May. I study three hours with Linda every day covering new material and only speaking in spanish. I try to practice with Jimmy for several hours too (only using spanish). Please pray that I will be diligent. When you’re in the middle of everything it is hard to see progress especially when there is so much new material everyday. I was encouraged when my parents were here because I realized that there was a big difference in my spanish from when Jimmy’s parents were here a month earlier.

Starting From Scratch

We still cannot believe we are here. I just keep thinking in my head that it is just a vacation from Deputation! I feel like I need to hurry up to learn and see everything before I have to go home. Thankfully we get to stay! The Boggs, Larry and Claire, are awesome! They are an endless resource. We love them! They are so patient with us.

Saturday we got to go to a wedding that Larry was performing and Jimmy got to be the camera man. It was suppose to start at 2:00, but because of the laid back atmosphere it didn’t start until 3:15. This wedding was very special because it was done to honor God's plan for families.

The Boggs took us grocery shopping at the store (some stuff you get from the store and some from the market). We have a whole lot to learn. Today we went to church in the morning at the Seminary where we will have our language school. It is about a 7 minute drive from our apartment. Tonight the Boggs took us to another seminary graduate’s church in Cantel.

Thank you so much for praying for us. We are so excited about what God has planned. Please pray that God will show us how we can get involved the best at the church we will be attending during language school. Also please pray that God will open up a door for us to get into the Peten next year.