Friday, June 17, 2011

Family Photos in FL

We are flying back to Guatemala today!!! Before we left we were able to get a couple of family photos with Papa and Kiki. Becca was so nice to be our photographer. She was very patient and did a great job!
We went over to Trinity, my home church the first day. The church is on a beautiful property with lots of photo options!
Silas has recently learned how to pick flowers and take them to his mommy and grandma... he's a charmer.
He kept giving us dandelions.

I think Jonah was eating the ones he found!
We even dropped by the playground to give the boys a break!
{Twin slides}
We all got to play for a while.
Jonah and Silas loved all the jungle gyms. We were running from side to side trying to keep them from falling off. 2 going in opposite directions is tough!

They were funny about the sand and didn't want it on them. This was a sweet moment. Jonah was distressed about the sand he got on his hands as he tumbled off the slide. Silas came over and was concerned about his brother...
so he helped him clean off his hands.
Jimmy had the great idea of getting family photos at the beach since we are in FL. What a beautiful backdrop!
Here the water came up from behind us and surprised us.
This was the boys' third trip to the beach, so they were very comfortable this time.
We had so much fun together!
Papa taught Silas how to write in the sand.
At first he tried to use his finger... that didn't work since he would actually have to come in contact with sand! Once Papa gave him a shell to use, he was set.
We are so thankful to Becca for going with us both days to capture moments with my family.
{Me and my dad!}
{Silas, Kiki, Papa, & Jonah}
Yep... we had fun!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

First Time at the Beach

As soon as we got back to Jax we took the boys to the beach!
Jonah walked with Jimmy right into the water. He loved it!
Jimmy picked him up to take him deeper to get to the larger waves. When a wave came, he would lower Jonah just enough to get a good splash. Jonah thought it was hilarious!
This is what poor Silas thought about the beach. We weren't sure what startled him. Maybe it was the sound of the ocean. He loves bath time. I guess this tub was just a little too big.
We tried hard to cheer him up.
I sat with him for a while in shallow water, thinking maybe we took him into the water too fast. Just about the time I got him comfortable and calm, this happened...
His daddy came up and splashed him. And this picture captures exactly what Silas and I thought about it! Poor Daddy, he had good intentions.
So his Becca took him to play in the sand.
And Silas loved the sand... from his chair. That silly little boy wouldn't even sit in the sand!
Jonah loved the sand, but he didn't want to sit in it either. When he would stumble and both hands hit the sand, he would immediately come to us with his dirty hands raise in the air asking us to rinse them off. I don't think this desire to be clean will last for long, so I guess I should enjoy it. Soon they will be bringing me handfuls of dirt and worms!
Silas was getting braver the longer we stayed. He trusted his daddy to get him this close to the water without screaming!
Jonah was very independent. We had to keep a close eye on him. Actually I think he keeps closer tabs on us than we keep on him. He is very brave if knows his parents are watching! Right now Jonah is a daredevil but likes to stay close. Silas has no problem walking off all by himself, giggling all the way.
We had so much fun watching the boys experience the beach for the first time. Kiki and Becca didn't want to miss it either, so it was an extra special memory!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

The Kekchi National Missionaries

While the radio team was in Petén we visited with Domingo and José's families. They are the 2 Kekchi national missionaries that we work with. They are the only 2 nationals that have been finding the villages that call in to the radio station saying they want to hear more about this God. Recently Domingo's brother, Abelino, has just committed to start working with them as well. We have not done any outreaches with him yet though.
The red dot is radio Berea and the red circle is its coverage range. The blue dot is where we are building our forever house and where KBI will be. The yellow dots are where the white fields are, the villages that have no Gospel in them and call in to the radio. There are dozens and dozens of them in these yellow dot areas. To get to the yellow dot the missionaries drive on a highway from the red dot, to the blue dot, to the lake, down to the purple dot where they can go down some dirt roads into the jungle. It is 4 hours to here from where the national missionaries live near the red dot, so we are in the process of helping them move to the purple dot. The purple dot is actually Poptún, the town where we have been helping start a Kekchi speaking church. This will help them be able to spend more time with their families rather than being gone several days at a time.

We are also working with this radio group, Lifeword, to set up solar powered radio repeaters that will reach the rest of Petén. Until we get KBI set up and start training more pastors, there is no one to work in anymore villages that call in anyway.

So on to Domingo and José's house...
{Silas & Domingo}
First we stopped by Domingo's. Some ladies were sitting out front of his house shelling corn.
This is his wife, Candelaria, cooking lunch for us.
It was a caldo, meat in a soup that taste like is has been simmering all day, very delicious. It was so nice of them to have the whole team in their home and serve us such a wonderful meal. Jimmy is not pictured at the table because he was running a fever and didn't eat a thing all day.
He was chilling in the hammock with my sweaty boys! It was an extremely hot day. Thankfully Jonah and Silas love just plain water, so it is pretty easy to keep them hydrated.
This is Donimgo's family. The two oldest are girls, the two youngest are boys, and his wife is pregnant and due any day!
Domingo lives very close to the radio station, so while we were there we stopped by.
I learned something that day, don't walk into a radio booth unless you are planning on saying something LIVE over the radio. They had all of us say something... yikes! So we all said hello and how thankful we were for all that God is doing through this radio station and all the people that work to make sure it stays on air.
Afterwards we went to José's house. He has a wonderful family too. Most of his kids were off at school, so I just got a photo with him and his wife (whose name is Candelaria as well).
I felt sort of bad because Candelaria had fixed us a large, very good meal too, but we had just eaten about an hour and a half before that at Domingo's. I think we all shoved down as much as possible until we were going to pop!
Except for poor sick Jimmy of course. That was the only point in the day when I did not feel all that bad for him!
I cannot think of anyone in ministry I have any more respect for than Domingo and José. They make so many sacrifices just because they believe with all their hearts that God has called them to reach the unreached with the Gospel. I am so thankful for them and their families. Please pray for these men and their families. Satan would love nothing more than to take men as effective as these out of the ministry God has for them. We see Satan fighting every day.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Our Trip From KS to FL

On the way back across the country we stopped in Indiana for a great meeting at a really special place. The pastor is a guy who Jimmy knew from his childhood. He grew up with Jimmy's uncle. We had a wonderful time there. The people were so friendly and the church is growing (there were several getting baptized that morning.) We got to present our ministry in a Sunday school class and then in the main service that night.
{Pastor Tim and Jimmy in the morning service}
Everyone was so sweet to our boys. This nice man was playing bubbles with them in the lobby.
We had a great time with pastor Tim and his family too!
In between IN and SC I got to meet up with some of my friends from college. That was a really special treat! They are twins, so that part was interesting now that we have our own.
I forgot to get a photo other than this one, but right before we made it back to Jax we stopped by Jay's home church in NC. Jay is the summer intern who just graduated from Appalachian Bible College and is coming down to work in Petén permanently. His dad is the pastor and since Jay is part of our Petén family now (as Becca would say) we wanted to meet his parents in person. We are so thankful for Jay and the great parents he has. We got to share about our ministry in the Wednesday night service. Of course everyone there loves Jay, so it was nice to be able to share with them about where Jay is going to work. What he is going to do there is obviously up to him so we just shared about the overall need. They had some great questions about Petén and the work there. It was a perfect way to end our trip. So we are in Jacksonville now. Jimmy is preaching in Spanish church tomorrow!
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