Happy Valentine’s Day pt.2

Please keep praying for Jorge. Jimmy and some guys from the seminary are playing fútbol with him again today.

Jimmy’s birthday is the 18th. I found a present for him, but I needed him to pick the specific one out. He was so excited, that he did not want to wait, so he went Monday to pick it out. I got him a pellet gun that shoots 410 fps. and at 10 yds. has a 5 shot radius of 1.5 in. In the States Jimmy had a couple guns and really enjoyed going shooting, but here he cannot legally own one until he is 25.

Linda went with us to pick one out and then later shot some pepsi cans with us for practice.

This was the first holiday since we’ve been here that actually felt like that day. I guess because you don’t usually spend it with your whole family, just your spouse.

I did figure something out though... I really need to start taking advantage of having a husband whose birthday is close to Valentine’s Day. If I have a really good present for Jimmy and give it to him by the 12th, Valentine’s will be spectacular! Jimmy is always sweet. He said that his birthday present had nothing to do with my Valentine’s!

Valentine’s morning Jimmy made me blueberry, chocolate muffins... they were yummy! Then we opened presents. He got me flowers, some grass seeds, and a new replacement mop. I didn’t think anything of it because I was really excited about having grass to keep all the dirt from blowing into our house and I didn’t think we would ever have any here.

Then Jimmy said that he was just kidding and gave me some beautiful glass globe candle holders hand made in a city close by

and also some house plants... Linda said that it looks like we live in a jungle, but I really like plants. Plus, they are our natural air purifiers!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today I celebrate the day that God gave me my Best Friend!

Bible Baptist Church

Updated by Jimmy: Unfortunately Jorge did not come with us yesterday. I called him and it sounded like he had just woken up, but he said he will come play basketball with me on Thursday, so pray for that. “If by any means I might save some...”

We still got to go to Selvin’s church yesterday. He is such a great guy and a really hard worker. I get to see him working hard at Greek every week, but yesterday it was clear that he puts the same passion into everything he does.

Missionary Doyle Whaley is the one who started the church 32 years ago and Selvin was in one of the Sunday School classes then. Doyle was the first Independent Baptist Missionary in Xela and this is the church he started right out of language school.

This week we are getting ready for Shelley’s parents to arrive a week from tomorrow and the first round of exams for Greek are next week. Valentine’s Day is coming up, so we are trying to find something special to do for that. Jimmy's birthday isn’t too far away either...

Plans for 2007

Feb-April

• Decide on a city and find a house in the Petén.
• Shelley will finish learning Spanish.
• Travel to Huehue and work on logistics for the team coming in May.

May

• Medical team coming 8th-15th that we are taking to a rural area in Huehue.
• The semester at the seminary will end the 24th (Jimmy’s greek class).
• I will have had 9 months of language school (only 6 months with Linda... big difference). Linda said that she thinks we are crazy.

June

• Move to the Petén.
• Find a Kekchi tutor.
• Start working in a Spanish speaking ex-guerrilla community called New Horizons.
• Continue looking for a Kekchi village to begin working in after we learn the language.

July

• Jimmy’s brother Jon and his friend Kyle are coming for 2 weeks to help us with the church planting in New Horizons.

September

• A medical missions team is coming the 18th-25th.

Well, we did not end up going to Coban this weekend. One of the missionaries that could help us learn Kekchi that translated the Kekchi Bible is in the States until the end of March recovering from a broken shoulder. We are excited though because she also translated grammar books, curriculum, and a host of other things that we will be able to use. She has been working with them for over 40 years. So until she returns, we will visit the Petén.

It takes 14 hours of driving just to get to the Petén, so these trips are big ordeals. Driving here is completely different from driving in the States. There are no exit signs for gas stations or Cracker Barrels! Who knows if there are any places safe to eat. It is a little scary, so please pray for our safety and that we will be able to get everything accomplished in only 2 trips... yeah right!

This weekend it is good that we are here, because Jorge said that he is going to church with us tomorrow. We are going to visit Selvin’s church, one of Jimmy’s students, in Xela this week.

I talked to Linda for 2 hours yesterday about what she believes. It was very sad. She believes that there is a light of positive energy that we will all return to after death. She believes in God but only as the creator God. She also believes in Jesus Christ, but does not believe in Heaven or Hell. She said some parts of the Bible are true, but other parts are just lies. She was shaking while we were talking. She keeps talking about different religions, but I kept telling her that we are in Guatemala, not because of a religion, but to tell people that God wants to have a relationship with them, one that lasts for all of eternity. I told her that God loves her and desires a relationship with her, and Linda said, “No He doesn’t.”

A Team Effort

We have water now, but our neighbors behind us still are without, so they came back yesterday.

While they were filling up their containers, Jimmy was talking to our neighbors across the street. They know why we are here because Jimmy gets to talk to them a lot. This time, they asked if we liked water. Then they wanted to know if we take a shower. Jimmy said, “Yeah, every day.” The lady was surprised and said, “Every day?” Jimmy told them that it was our culture. They said, “Not in the morning right.... because it is really cold.” Jimmy said, “Yeah, we know!” I do not think most indigenous people in this part of the country take showers since it is so cold. They just steam every now and then in a little room off their house that is just big enough to sit in.

{“What are all these people doing in my yard?”}

Yesterday, Jimmy was playing basketball with some guys from the seminary and met a Mexican named Jorge. He wanted to know why we were here. Jimmy explained and they got to talk for awhile. He asked when Jimmy was coming back and said that he wants to come to church with Jimmy. There was no more time to talk because Jorge’s game was starting, but Jimmy invited him to come play soccer with the Seminary today. Every Friday the Teachers play against the Students, and the plan is to always have a couple guys sitting out so that they can talk to him. Please pray that Jorge will see the truth, because like many others here he is searching.

Languages, Languages, Languages...

First a Praise: Believe it or not, we already got my truck back. It starts now and I have a rearview mirror and something that is vital here sometimes... a horn!

Jimmy has Greek class this morning, so please pray for him. He has a very diverse class with some only having a 6th grade education. It is difficult to learn a second language without a good grammar background in your first. Last week he had to explain what direct and indirect objects are. His students are all very smart, they just all have not received the same education opportunities.

There are many ways that people from the States can get involved here in Guatemala. The more help from people with different experience and gifts the better! We have added a “Participate” page to our website if you are interested in planning a missions trip. We need some wordless skits or some that just need a narrator. There is a talented writer from our home church in KS, Amy Williams, that has started working on these for us. We are so thankful for her enthusiasm! These are going to be perfect to use with teams that come down and they do not even have to speak Spanish.

Please continue to pray for my Spanish. I have gone through all the tenses that you use everyday, I just have Subjunctive left (which doesn’t even exist in English). I want to be finished by the end of May in order for us to start learning Q’eqchí’ in June. It is one thing to know all the rules, it is another for your brain to get in gear and to speak without hesitating. Right now I am just really good at correcting myself. If someone would have told me 2 years ago that I would have to learn 2 languages, I would have told them they were nuts! Please pray. Poor Jimmy, at night he studies for his Greek class while I talk to him in Spanish and he corrects me in English. Most of the things we say to each other don’t even make sense anymore on the first attempt.

Often I go to central park and eat lunch with Linda. For a long time she thought I really liked food from Miami. She would ask, “Is this like Miami?” Finally I realized that she thought I was saying “Miami” when I would say “Yummy!” Now whenever anything taste good we say it’s from Miami!

Crash Course

First, during the 2 days after our email update last week, there were over 100 hits on our blog. Thank you for keeping up with us and praying for us. We need your prayers everyday!

The online contact company took my prescription somehow. That is a praise. Now my parents can bring them down.

My parents are coming in 2 weeks. We are sooooooo excited. Please pray that our water is on by then and also that we will get my truck out of the shop. It keeps dying or not starting, the door leaks, the window won’t roll down, the horn is broken, the air conditioning keeps freezing up, and we cannot get my rearview mirror back on, the last people who changed the oil put the wrong kind in and they broke the thermometer so my service engine light is always on. Someone must have told it that it is a missionary vehicle now so it is trying to look like one, or maybe someone told it that it was payed for. We are trying to get the important things fixed. Time is not valued here, so who knows when we will get it back!

Sunday we went with the Boggs to San Marcos to Job’s church. He graduated from the seminary and teaches there now. He started this church with the help of David and Dottie Craig. He is pastoring a church in GA now, but they still support and keep in contact with this ministry.

I thought this was a pretty snazzy sign. This church was very much alive; we enjoyed the service.

We are trying to plan a survey trip for this weekend to Coban to meet with some missionaries there that know Kekchi. Please pray that God will work everything out. We want to learn as much as possible before the end of May. Thanks!