What We'll Do When We Get Back Home

The last 2 days that the Yoders were here, Domingo and his wife also came to Guate from Petén to visit with us. Actually, they left the night before and rode a bus all night long with their 7 month old daughter. It was really nice to have time to just sit and talk. Usually Domingo and I are so busy with activities that we don't have too much time to do that. Our longest talks are on walks to villages, but usually we are both so out of breath we keep our talks short.

Domingo was able to share a lot of his personal struggles with me and hopefully we can come up with a solution for some of them. One problem is that he spends almost all of his salary every month on gas money getting to the villages. He is the only national missionary with his own truck, and for that reason travels the farthest to unreached villages. After traveling so much, there is not much left every month to support his family. Besides feeding his wife and 5 kids, his oldest girls are in high school, which is another high expense. Because of the family pressures, he has been considering taking a few years off as a missionary. If that happens, the Kekchi missionary work will be set back by just as many years. As a comparison- the other 5 Kekchi missionaries each visit around 2 unreached villages per month. Domingo visits 14.

{James asking Domingo some Kekchi language questions}

To help him out, Shelley came up with the suggestion of starting our Institute projects at his house first. That is the whole point of the Institute anyways, to give national pastors a way to do ministry and still provide for their families. Domingo is currently marking off an area close to his house where we will dig the fish pond and build the turkey house. I will go help him get set up when we get back to Petén and we'll build a couple chicken tractors and get started on his compost bins.

Also, we talked about time management. The men here are like many pastors in the States- they can get so caught up in ministry that they neglect to spend time with their families. The Kekchi pastors have requested that our next KBI module be focused on time-management and boundaries in ministry. Anybody out there want to teach this because I don't think I'm qualified...

{Sharing a meal together}

We were also able to discuss more problems affecting the Institute land. The villagers next door have been causing more problems. 5 families came over to the guard shack and wanted to beat the guard for helping us. There was also a secret meeting to recruit families to come and squat on our land and dare us to kick them off. James Yoder was able to explain to us that in the Kekchi culture, whoever clears the land owns the land. He recommended that we hire people to quickly clear the land for us. This week, several families are clearing all the land 50 meters in from our border with this village. It is a total of 14 acres. We'll plant corn there for now and leave all of the large trees until we are ready to further develop it. This should provide a large buffer zone to prevent people from sneaking over.

And for those of you who are worried, we do have the land titled and possess the deed. The taxes have been paid and nobody can actually take the land. Even if the villagers come over and squat on the land, we have full legal authority to bring in the military and police and evict them. We are just trying to take other easier, less forceful means of prevention.

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: During our first day of clearing the land for the Institute, we found out that a family of howler monkeys (mom, dad and new baby) live on our property. Now Shelley has made me promise that we will leave a corner of our property completely uncleared so that this family doesn't lose their trees. I'm sure we'll probably end up feeding these monkeys too and they'll eventually become official mascots of the Pastor's Institute. We saw footprints the other day of wild boar, but those will not be given the same special treatment and will soon become the official lunch of the Pastors' Institute. Monkeys are lucky that they don't taste very good.

What Happened to My Friend?

We have mentioned Manuel and his village, San Miguel Alto Uno, many times.

This is Manuel getting baptized in September. He is a leader in his community. He came to know the Lord and since then has surrendered to preach. He has a friend in another village, who also happens to be a leader in his community. His name is Andrés and he is from the unreached Kekchi village of Mojarra Veintiocho. He went to visit his friend Manuel recently.

{The cross around Andrés' neck is a MP3 player that Louis Powell brought down that contains the entire Bible in Kekchi!}

He was surprised to find out that his old friend was now a Christian. He asked him what happened. Manuel said, "Some missionaries named Domingo and Jimmy came to my village and told me about Christ." Andres was very interested in the change in his friend and asked him to send Domingo and Jimmy to his village so that he could learn about Christ too!

Well, Domingo and Jimmy went last week to Mojarra 28. They prayed with Andrés and his family and asked if we could host a medical clinic there. Pastor/Doctor Andy is here this week! He will be in this village tomorrow morning. Please pray that this outreach will open doors to this unreached community. Please pray that very soon Andrés will come to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

An Arm for Marcelino

Marcelino is a Kekchi national missionary. We have known him for a while, but since he works on the other side of Petén and in the northern part of Alta Verapaz, we have never worked with him before.

{He is on the left talking with Pastor Mateo (from La Ceiba) and Domingo}

Jimmy knows him from the KBI modules and pastors' meetings. He has been a missionary for 11 years and before that he was a pastor for 17 years. He accepted Christ in '72 and was ordained in '86. He has 3 kids and 8 grandkids. In '97 he was traveling in a vehicle and had his right arm hanging out the window when the driver side-swiped another truck. This caused him to lose his right arm from his shoulder down. He was 50 years old when this happened.

{Marcelino is on the far right pictured with Pastor Grover for a KBI module back in '09}

A few months back Pastor Mateo (pictured above), the current legal representative of the pastors' association, asked Jimmy if he knew of a way they could get Marcelino an arm. Marcelino doesn't speak much Spanish and didn't have a way to find out about a prosthetic arm when it happened 14 years ago. He and his family were also very scared that it would involve another painful surgery and that he would lose more bone. There aren't any doctors who work in prosthetics around Petén, but through some other missionaries Jimmy was able to get in contact with a doctor in Guatemala City who would provide a prosthetic arm at cost. Still we had to get Marcelino to go to Guatemala City. Guatemala City is a scary sounding place to people who don't live there. It is spoken of around here like you are really taking your life in your hands by going to that violent place! I understand... I prefer Petén too!

Well it worked out that we were due to go back this past week for another appointment to check on our baby. Marcelino's kids did not want him traveling there by himself, so one of his brothers traveled with him. They both rode a bus and met us there.

Jimmy got an appointment for him on Wednesday. Anything Marcelino didn't understand from the doctor's Spanish he would tell Jimmy, "Just make the decision, I trust you." I thought that was really sweet. I cannot imagine all that was going through Marcelino's mind. His last experience with doctors had to have been very traumatic and painful, so he must have been experiencing a lot of anxiety walking into this office.

The doctor was very nice. He explained everything and even showed Marcelino a video of how his new arm would work. Marcelino was relieved that it would just strap on rather than involve another surgery.

The doctor measured Marcelino for an arm and took a mold of his shoulder. The arm will be made specifically for him.

This is what it will look like:

It will also have a glove that fits over the hand piece that will look like an actual hand. Among other things, he will be able to open and close the hand in order to pick things up using different movements from his other shoulder. It will take some time to get used to, but it will change his life.

Marcelino seemed very surprised after the whole experience. I think the prosthetic offers him much more than what he was expecting. Jimmy said he walked out of the office and thanked him with tears in his eyes.

The new arm at the doctor's cost is $3,000. Jimmy will be presenting this need at the Kekchi pastor's meeting this Wednesday to see if their churches can help raise part of the money. If any of you would like to give money towards Marcelino's new arm, we have set up this Paypal account specifically for this need. Just click on the link below. (Note: This donation is not tax deductible, but ALL of the money we receive will go directly to pay for Marcelino's arm.)

Update: As of Monday the 6th, 20% of the $3,000 has been raised.

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: The other day Silas had done something super naughty and messy. He knew he was in trouble. I had left their room to start cleaning it up. He knew he was going to get in trouble when I got back. We are at a point now where he thinks he can charm his way out of anything. It doesn't work, but he always tries it... he's good at it too. This is how I found him when I came back in. He was sitting real still...

He knew he wasn't completely hidden, but he knew he was cute! He is a little bit rotten.

Babies!

Over a month ago we found out that Domingo's wife was having some complications with her pregnancy (a subject very near to our own hearts.) He had asked for prayer for his wife and unborn child. We thought it sounded pretty serious but they were just going to stay at home and wait it out. We didn't want to pray and let it go if God was wanting us to act. I remember several significant times in our own lives when we had been praying about something and God brought people into our lives who were willing to meet a need or help us through certain times. God has really been dealing with us lately on praying and acting and we want to be sensitive to His leading. So we insisted that he bring his wife into Santa Elena to see a better doctor and where there were better facilities for the baby than in the town where they lived. We told him that we would pay for everything.

Candelaria was 2 weeks overdue when he and his wife set out for Santa Elena. Well they only made it 3 hours before she went into labor. It was still really good though because they made it as far as Sayaxché, the closest hospital to their house. She absolutely needed to be in a hospital for this birth. The baby was having a hard time breathing and was in the NICU for 5 days (well as close as you can get to a NICU in Sayaxché). It was in a little isolette which really frightened them, but we remember the same feeling. We got to share our NICU experience with Domingo and his wife who were going through something similar.

There were so many nurses and mothers of preemies who were calming and encouraging to us. They worried about the baby losing a little weight at first and were worried it may never learn to nurse, but everything worked out just like it did with our boys. It's a beautiful thing when life gives you the opportunity to return a favor.

They had a beautiful baby girl and named her Candelaria, after her mommy!

José had a baby recently too... only his was a grandbaby!
It was a boy and guess what they named it? Jimmy! We thought that was really sweet. José's friendship means a lot to us.

{Baby Jimmy with his grandma, Candelaria}

Prayer Request: Candelaria, Domingo's wife, is having a problem with her right index finger. No one knows what caused it, but it is very infected and there is concern that she might lose it. Please pray that God would heal her finger. She is seeing a doctor, but it looks very bad and they are not sure what more to do to help her. She is in a lot of pain. Jimmy saw her today and told her "My wife and I are praying for you"... in Kekchi! She only speaks Kekchi, so this is the first time we have been able to communicate to her without Domingo's help.

More Believers in Esfuerzo!

This missions team is compiled of people from all over. Jay, our future team mate, got here last week. Amy and Colonel got here Saturday, they are friends from Jimmy's home church in KS. Amy is a writer who comes down quite often. We are so thankful that she is willing to give up vacation time to come down here and work. She has written so many things for us over the years and wrote the 2 skits the team is using this week. Colonel was a youth worker back when Jimmy was in high school and they went on lots of missions trips together... Amy too. He clearly has the gift of evangelism. This is his first time in Guatemala. We have a need here that fits Colonel perfectly, so he and Jimmy have already been talking about him coming back down again.

{Amy & Colonel}

Monday morning, 4 more guys joined our team. They rode a bus all night long to get to Petén. We met Juan and Andrés (back row center) in language school in Xela. They attended the same church as us. They were just starting in the Boggs' seminary that year. They have since finished. Juan is still helping in that church and Andrés has began working with another missionary in the town of Esperanza, close by. He is training to take over that Baptist church as the pastor I think.

Nehemias (bottom) came to know the Lord through Nery and the church that the Boggs are starting in Solola on their property. He has since taken over for Nery as the pastor. We had never met him before, but Jay met him last summer when he worked with the Boggs for a month and wanted Nehemias to be a part of this team. (If the Boggs read this we have said nothing to Nehemias about coming to work with us in Petén, but I cannot speak for Jay;) Levi (back row, left) is a Mennonite from Texas who came down to help out a friend. He has been here long enough to learn Spanish. He is friends with Andrés and attends his church.

So that is everyone on this team.

Monday was a planning day. Everybody met together and went over who was going to be doing what and got to know each other a little bit. Tuesday they hit the road...

The first stop was Se' Tul. This is where Domingo lives and also where the Kekchi radio station is. Domingo is the national missionary that located these villages after they called into the radio station. Here is everyone at the town well.

While they were there a girl came to draw water, so the guys were nice and got it for her.

The team had been invited to see the radio station and share a greeting on the air... yikes! That always makes me nervous.

They did a good job saying hello!

{Colonel}

{Juan}

{Amy}

{Jay}

{Nehemias}

{Jimmy}

Then they began their hour long trek to the village of Esfuerzo. Jimmy went there 3 weeks ago for the first outreach in this village. Today will be the second.

The town sent 6 horses to meet the team to help them on their journey.

The saddles were a little different than what I think any of them were used to. They are not very deep from front to back.

The team took turns riding the horses.

Someone please ask poor Jay about his leg cramp! I'm sure he will enjoy telling you about it.

It is a long, hot trek up a mountain. They had supplies to carry too.

Nehemias is a ham. He always has a good time!

Finally they could see the village of Esfuerzo.

This village has only been around for a couple years. The villagers are squatting on some farmers land.

When the team got there, lunch had already been prepared for them.

Tamales!

This was very kind of the village.

Here are some of the people who came to see the presentation.

The team started off with a wordless skit.

Andrés is stuck in sin (the chair) and the rest of the guys keep trying to think of ways to get him free.

Then they began the puppet skit, which included a beautiful presentation of the Gospel. It was very clear. Amy wrote a story that was very relatable for them.

See our stalk of corn?

The people standing in the front are the new believers. These are the first Christians in the entire village. Some accepted Christ after last week. The 4 on the end on the right put their faith in Christ today!

Please keep praying for the village of Esfuerzo. Pray for the new believers and for the new mission that has been started there. Soon we hope to see more come to know the Lord and a church where they can all grow and worship together.

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: On the way there, there was one casualty... Jimmy's pants! I'm sure it had something to do with a horse, but he ripped his pants from his knee almost to his belt! Jimmy owns one pair of bicycle shorts and thankfully he chose today to wear them under his pants! The pants were Eddie Bauer rip stop... haha! Domingo asked how old they were and Jimmy said, 4 years. Domingo replied, "Well of corse they are going to rip!" He told Jimmy to get some wool pants, they are reliable. Domingo got a good laugh, so did the rest of the team.

UPDATE: Jimmy's pants were ripped while he was gracefully jumping across a river onto a log. He would like to state that unfortunately his pants were not as flexible as his legs were at that moment...