And Then There Were 3

Only 3 days left with Jimmy’s parents. TIme has flown by. Jimmy is preaching tomorrow at Abundant Life Baptist Church, so please pray for him. This will be the first time that his parents get to hear him preach in Spanish.

I finished this short video to make room on my computer for all the new video with Jimmy’s parents, it is clips from driving in Guatemala... it is very different.

Big praise... we took the dogs to the vet today. Fije’s tumor has not returned. She was so happy to go home with us and not have to stay at that scary place. Please pray that God will continue to keep her healthy. Thanks!

Unfortunately I saw another mouse scurry by in my kitchen tonight, so Jimmy and his mom stuffed all the holes they could find that might lead to outside with steel wool.

We ate supper with Juan and Andrés tonight. We had fun! These guys have been so faithful. They are starting at the seminary in 2 weeks. I know God has big plans for them.

Still Having Fun!

So far we have done a lot of eating!

Today we took Melissa to the market... she is always a good sport and knows no strangers in Guatemala either!

We took them to our grocery store and found Campbell’s tomato soup and string cheese... they must be good luck! On the way to Xela we took them to see the Boggs’ ministry in Solola. They got to see Eagles’ Nest. We are excited about their next trip when we are in the Petén. That is even more different than here and we will be able to show them the ministry that God has been preparing us for. I hope they know that they have to come back in May! They said that the inside of our house looks like our apartment in Kansas, that means a lot to me. Our doggies love them and will probably be sad like us when they leave.

This is not a vacation for Jimmy and I. After they leave it will still be our home. Things are very different here, but I am thankful for the purpose that the Lord has given us and we would not want to be anywhere else... I just might have someone send down a water heater!

They're Here!

We are so excited to have Jimmy’s parents here. It is so strange because we feel like we are on a different planet from everybody we know and then to have someone familiar here is a new experience. Jimmy has already planned an itinerary. We are interested to hear someone else’s perspective of Guatemala, to see if the initially strange things have already become common place to us.

Please pray that nobody gets sick. That would really be a downer to the trip. We are excited to be able to show them around so that they can put a place or a face with a name. It will be really neat for us to be able to spend some time with them and talk about more of our plans and heart for the future.

Yesterday Jimmy gave the doggies a bath so that they would smell good for his parents. They were not very happy about this... Lucha even decided to protest. She kept looking for ways to get dirty again and ended up getting two more baths before we left our house today.

Reaping the Benefits

Why spend years learning something if someone else has already done it for you. We are so thankful to have found information about the Q’eqchí’ people. Jimmy found a study that was done by the Southern Baptist on the Kekchi (informal name and phonetic spelling) in 2005. A missionary couple started working with them in 1960. They did not work in the Petén, but since it was the same people group, we are hoping to learn as much as possible from them. We think they are retired now and living in Texas. Please pray that we will be able to make contact. This couple actually took the time to learn the language. No one had an inroad with the Q’eqchí’ until this happened. We are so excited and really believe these are the people God would have us invest our lives in. The study Jimmy found is over 70 pages long and very practical. This is a huge advantage that will save us from many mistakes. This is the biggest blessing since we have been on the field.

Amoebas

Today I took Jimmy to the doctor. It was a new experience. I took pictures, but I cannot get them from my cell phone to my computer. It is hard to explain, because the facilities and equipment seemed third world, but the doctor was very competent and made us feel very at ease. Jimmy had some blood work done (we watched them take the needles out of their packaging) and found out that he has amoebas and a GI infection. He tested positive for malaria too at first, but the doctor sent his blood work to another lab and that one came back negative. So if the drugs for the first two ailments do not fix him up, we will get some malaria medicine next. We think that he picked these amoebas up from my cooking class, so I am taking that medicine too. He has lost 21 lbs, but is already feeling better just from the comfort of knowing what it is and for 24hrs on Cipro. Thank you for praying for him and please continue!

Prayer Request

Please pray for Jimmy; he is still very sick and I am really worried about him. We are not sure what he has. We though it was just the flu, but his temperature keeps going down and then back up to 102. We are considering taking him to the doctor tomorrow. He is already on an antibiotic. Please pray that God will give us wisdom.

{Our fondue! Jimmy even had a couple bites.}

I thought about saving this for the “Funnies” section of our updates, but I am sure Jimmy’s parents will provide us with plenty of material! Everyone pays for trash pick up with their utilities, but very often no one comes to pick it up. On our street you are supposed to put your trash at the end of the road on Thursdays. Today once again no one came. We did not want to just leave it there because it is right in front of someone’s house. Since Jimmy is sick, I went outside tonight (in the dark) to pick up our trash, but the street dogs had gotten into it and you could not even tell that it had been bagged. I took our clothes basket and a shovel, but it was in-between and on top of a bunch of big rocks, so I had to pick it all up by hand. I thought this is gross, but at least Jimmy said that it was only our trash. There is trash everywhere, up and down the road and all in the corn fields, so I figured that this could be true... we are probably the only ones who actually bag our trash. Well, I believed him until I picked something up and realized that it was a dirty diaper! Jimmy has “immunity” right now since he is sick... it’s a good thing for him.

{Lucha dreaming of ways to torture me}

After I found a good dumping spot for my trash (A literal dump) I came home and found that Jimmy’s new guard dog had destroyed my house. She dug up one of my potted plants and had gotten dirt everywhere. She even went upstairs to get muddy paw prints all over my rug... she does not have immunity.

5 Months

We have been in Guatemala for 5 months without being sick and then some North Americans have to bring us the flu. We did not get any shots to protect us from the germs in the States!

Please pray for Jimmy, he is really sick and we are hoping that it is just the flu. I went to buy some 7up for him this morning. I wasn’t sure what they called it here so I asked for “seven up” and then for “siete up”... neither one worked. The customer next to me asked for “seven up” and they handed one to him. Then I realized that it is “seven up” with a Guatemalan accent!

Yesterday we were able to go to Guate to pick up all the goodies Jimmy’s family sent down and the Greek books for the seminary. Thank you to everyone who helped us get our stuff. Thank you also to everyone who sent us Christmas cards. We enjoyed reading them. Jimmy got me a fondue pot for Christmas (we picked that up too). We are going to have some type of beef fondue for supper tonight (ok, maybe just me... poor Jimmy).

We did not want to pay for a hotel in Guate, so we drove home last night. It is always a praise when you make it anywhere safely in Guatemala. Jimmy said that he is sick because of my driving last night! It is pretty scary driving around mountains at night with hardly any shoulders, or guard rails. One out of every 3 or 4 cars only has one headlight, so they use their brights even when they are driving towards you. I was praying the whole time.