Another Trip Up the Passion River

While Pastor Andy was here he wanted to help a young mission by hosting a medical clinic. Domingo chose the church plant in the village of La Pasión.

 It isn't that far away, but the roads are impassable (we learned the hard way), so we went by boat again this time. It is about a 3 hour drive from our house and then a 1 hour boat ride.

{Sleepy Eden!}

It's hard sometimes to decide, especially since they're young, whether our kids should go or not. We want them to be a part of our ministry so when it is logistically possible, we all go. If they end up feeling like we took them on a crazy trip for 18 years from their "real life" in the States, I might cry. This is it! Sometimes we get tired, lots of times things are uncomfortable, every time my children are introduced to things I would NEVER think a "normal" mom would allow, but thankfully they survive. Because, this is it, this is our life and I bet you one day my kids will miss home, their home! Not just the inside of our four walls, but their life here! 

{Joseph sharing his canary melon}

{Silas and Jonah joking around with H and Juan}

After the boat ride we walked up to the top of a hill

to see this beautiful place!

 Juan, and the 4 institute students came too!

 Here is the church, the pastor had been advertising. 

Samuel and Joseph, Pastor Andy's sons, were in charge of the pharmacy. 

 Ro explained to each family in Kekchi what the medicines were and the correct dosage. 

Jimmy and Juan were in charge of crowd control and keeping a somewhat orderly line. 

Mainly Jimmy was greeting people and practicing Kekchi! 

He met a family with a deaf son. He is the boy in white shirtbelow. He told them about Becca's deaf school and how they all could learn to communicate with him. They were thrilled! He should be school age about the time Becca's school is up and running. Very exciting! 

H played soccer with the kids!

There was no shade on top of that mountain! It was a nice hot Petén day.

Jonah, Silas and I tried to teach them how to throw a frisbee!

They thought it was hilarious!

Later Jimmy had a frisbee tournament with them! The winner got a snack bag of CheezIts… if he only knew how special that prize was, haha!

Throughout the day the crowd grew!

Ri and P would pray with each family as they left. 

I lost Eden for a minute and then found her resting on a bench!

She gets a lot of attention, so much so that it can wear her out. I didn't think anyone could get more attention than some twins I know, but seriously… what twins?!

E loves babies! 

And she got to see lots that day!

Of course the ladies in the church made us a big meal before we left! So we got to take a nice lunch break

Guess who ate first?!

Miss E!

We had a delicious chicken caldo. I've started growing cilantro since they put it in everything here. We really like it. 

They seated us at the table. 

My babies love caldo and tortillas!

No one had to teach these boys how to eat soup without a spoon!

{Jonah}

{Silas}

It was a beautiful day. Please pray for this village, especially for the young mission, that God would use this medical clinic outreach to help it grow. We also wanted to say a special thank you to Pastor Andy for bringing down all the medicines and hosting the clinic!

CULTURAL ITEM OF THE DAY:

No one told me that you are not supposed to pee close to a corn field. That piece of information was kind of irrelevant until about a year ago. It offends the good spirit of the corn. So if you ever have to raise boys in Guatemala here's the heads up! Oops! It's not my boys' fault, it's their mama's.

Back to Esfuerzo 2

Pastor/Doctor Andy called a few months ago and wanted to plan his next trip to Petén. A baptismal service was already planned in Esfuerzo 2 (we visited this village in July for the first outreach there) so Andy decided he could also hold a short clinic on that day. It is so hard to get to that you want to accomplish as much as possible with each trip.

We we went back with the evangelistic team from the States at the end of July, the village had sent horses to carry our stuff, but on the way back made us all ride the horses out. It is a tough 1 hour hike up and down very muddy hills, so the horses are a good idea...if you have a saddle big enough for larger than average Gringo behind. Last time I rode about 15 minutes and decided it was more comfortable to walk instead. I told Shelley that next time I was going to buy my own saddle.

I almost did, but then decided against it at the last minute because Domingo was supposed to be arranging for larger horses from a different town for me and Andy with larger saddles. We arrived to find the pack saddle I was still sore from 3 months later and one regular sized saddle, with no extra large horses. I decided to let Andy ride as he has been having some foot problems for over a year now. The joke was on him because neither of our feet could fit in the stirrups anyways, so he was at the mercy of the bouncing horse ride.

The church from El Pato sent their band with their sound system, who carried their stuff themselves. I still maintain that I was carrying just as much extra weight as them, but mine was around my middle...

Everybody else was spending the night there, so they had no specific time table. We were heading home that afternoon though and knew we didn't want to make that hike (horses or otherwise) in the dark, so we got right to work under the new roof we purchased for this mission. Elías had agreed to come with us too to help Andy translate.

The ladies waited patiently for their turn as Andy saw around 35 adults and 50 children in just a couple hours.

Pastor Carlos also came, as his church is considering supporting Esfuerzo 2 as one of their missions. He plays the concertina and is very good at it.

Two men were baptized this day. So far since the beginning of July, 13 families have accepted Christ in this village. The book that's open in the picture below is a Kekchi hymnal. During the baptisms Domingo was leading everybody on the bank in song.

When we reached the river I joked and asked if there were any crocodiles around. One of the men said seriously that there could be and we should all keep a look out!

For the ride out of the village, from somewhere they had found a second riding saddle and sent me, Andy and Elías out on horseback. Please keep praying for this village and for Domingo who visits every two weeks to hold services.

Medical Clinic in Mojarra 28

*Please excuse the cell phone photos. My point and click camera bit the dust a couple days ago. I must have worked it too hard!

I shared about how we got the invitation to come into this village here. Andrés, a leader in the village, invited us because he noticed a change in his friend from the village of San Miguel who had become a Christian. This was our first outreach in this white field, a community that has no Gospel witness.

The clinic was held in the school.

The children are learning Spanish and English! You can see the phonetic spelling of the English words written below them. That is what my Kekchi notes look like!
There are 25 families in the village and Doctor Andy was able to see about 120 people that day, so I'd say that was about everyone!

Tutor #4 (orange shirt), our Kekchi tutor, came with us and translated from Kekchi to Spanish for Andy. We really like working with Tutor #4!

We are so thankful that Pastor/Doctor Andy was willing to come down and do this clinic. They are always helpful in building relationships with these villages... plus we like the fellowship too!

Please continue to pray for the village of Mojarra 28. Pray that people will come to know the Lord and that soon a mission will be started. Thanks!