Something Fun

Jimmy grew up a Packers fan, so this super bowl was already going to be exciting for our family. Then Arlen and Keturah had the idea of us all getting together for the game. They live over an hour away, but they made the drive anyway. David and Regina had a full day that day, but they made the trip too. We were glad, it adds to the game to watch it with other fans.

We had great snacks too! Besides pizza, Keturah brought homemade salsa and ceviche, which I had never had before, it was delish! Regina brought brownies, which my boys loved, and I made loaded potato skins and cupcakes. We watched the game on our projector... in English! We got everything but the commercials.

It was a fun day... even more memorable because of the outcome!

Keturah has this cool pulley contraption at her house for her clothes line, I have oohed and awed over it several times. You just stand in one place loading the line and pulling the rope as you go, moving your clothes out into the sun to dry... beautifully efficient. Well on a recent trip back to the States she picked me up one from a Mennonite hardware store in PA. What a sweet surprise, I love it!

Birthing Pains

I remember my night in the hospital with contractions that I couldn't make go away no matter how hard I tried or how many drugs they gave me. I remember the ready or not feeling, the nervous uncertainty. I remember watching Jimmy annoyingly sleep like a baby on the other side of the room and me throwing ice at him to wake him up when someone would give me an update on our twins. Nothing truly wonderful comes easy in this world.

We knew once all the people in Santa Rita saw the huge tractor followed by the subsequent huge hole in the ground, our peaceful existence in that community would come to a screeching halt.

Our last team did such a great job getting things rolling. While they were here we got the foundation prepped and built, Fabio a new and much nicer outhouse since his was now on our half and built a females only one for our Bible study as well. (Our ladies loved hearing that!)

{The new next to the old. The one on the far right is on a different property.}

In the beginning it was difficult, but over the last year we haven't had a lot of resistance. I think it was because we were in the back corner of the community not really bothering anyone. Those who wanted to attend did and they were encouraged to invite their friends. After New Horizon we were really trying not to rock the boat.

Well after the huge hole in the ground, there was a secret (as in we asked ahead of time and were told there wasn't one) town assembly this past weekend. Someone was upset and got 30 of the 80 partners to sign a petition saying that they were going to ask us to leave the community. They have done this twice before with actual partners of the co-op who tried to hold services in their homes. In one case the family had to move out and in the other the family refused to leave, but were forced to stop holding the services.

Recently, some new town laws have been voted in though that are really in our favor. Plus this time around we know the law of Guatemala which trumps any community law... although Petén is pretty lawless. It's basically a mob rule, so that's not all neatly black and white either. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's safe and from what we have seen authorities aren't really interested in coming inside a guerrilla community and refereeing anything. Guerrillas are sort of left alone. If we had lived here the past 30+ years we'd probably know better than to mess with them as well.

Out of 80 partners, 30 is not a majority. The leaders of the community wouldn't sign it, so that was encouraging. Like before a lot of lies are being told about us. One teacher threatened his students to stop attending our Bible studies. They came anyway until he sent his mother down to our building to spy on them and several left out of fear then.

We know of some other adults who didn't come this past week because of pressure from others. When we pull into the community several girls always jump into our micro to play with Jonah and Silas. They were flinging themselves under the seats when we would drive down certain roads so no one would see them with us... that always makes ya feel good!

There is just a lot of spiritual warfare going on. We will soon be permanent and visible to all. We are praying things will calm down and stay safe for us to be there. We want to be old news. We want people to be able to decide for themselves if they want to come and hear about God or not. Please pray!

Cool things from this teams trip:

When we went to Villa Maya, several crocs came up while we were eating instead of the normal one. One was a big one and liked tortillas too.

One night while they were here we had a huge storm come through (during the dry season). It knocked down most of the banana trees in our yard. Since lots of places were flooded we though it was going to mess up one of the work days, but somehow it skipped over the areas where they were working while flooding every place on all four sides of those areas

Forever House #4

...our journey to rent free living, all the entertainment minus the headaches.

It was very humbling to have one of our mission teams work on our house. It was an act of kindness and generosity that will be a part of it's foundation forever... because they really did pour the foundation! There are so many parts of our forever home that are sort of a memorial that will remind us of how God worked in our lives at that specific time. I want to remember it all and share it with our boys so that they do not take anything for granted.

Last week Jimmy was able to borrow a cement mixer which, beyond making a slow job a little quicker, made it more consistent and stronger.

{Pastor Andy working}

To have a supporting pastor (more than that, he's our friend) come down and pour concrete for our house meant a lot to us.

These guys worked hard!

{Our Foundation}

The team also dug our septic tank and leach field.

Thank you to Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church for sending this team and thank you to everyone who came! I plan on posting their work on our building in Santa Rita soon.

Another blessing is that, for Christmas, a church in Topeka gave us money that they wanted us to use half for the ministry and half on something personal. We used the personal gift to purchase a water softener/purifier kit. It is large enough to purify the water for our entire house.

{Water Softener}

That is so exciting for us. That means brushing your teeth out of the faucet, who cares if you swallow water in the shower, and our boys get to take a bath with no worries... yes, we are going to have a bathtub! And no more destructive calcium!

{Water purifier}

Thank you to Central Park Christian Church for this wonderful gift!

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY:

We have a small list of very good local restaurants where we will take our teams. We worked hard narrowing down that list. I even went through several series of amoeba pills to get that list! But that list NEVER fails us. Well... my husband someone strayed from the list. They had good reason but still! We got a call from a restaurant NOT on the list saying that they wanted our team to be their honored guests for a meal "on the house". The catch is that it's a place you really shouldn't say "no" to (wink, wink). I just do not care for the food at this place and it literally takes over an hour after you order your food for something to come out of the kitchen. Well this meal proved to be the same. Beyond that, first it was that they wanted to serve 2 meals "on the house" instead of the 7 that they had specifically said on the phone, then it was we will serve 7 meals "on the house" of eggs and beans, then it was 7 meals "on the house" of steak or chicken (which when we paid it was only 5, but who wants to argue). Each time it was like we had never had the previous conversation... very weird and there was nothing lost in translation, it would have been weird in any language. Whoever's idea all of this was never communicated with the staff evidently.

We had sort of suspected that they invited us so that they could have a photo op of gringos eating at their restaurant for their advertisements. We were ok with that... until they brought out complementary daiquiris for us to pose with. We explained that it was very nice but that we don't drink, to which they replied, you don't have to drink it, just pose with it! Well you know that didn't happen, but it was entertaining none the less. That was one crazy supper!

An Update on a White Field 3 Years Later... With a Little Pisote on the Side

Almost 3 years ago we went to the village of Secacao with Andy, Domingo, and José for the first time to host a medical clinic. It was a "white field", a village without the Gospel, no evangelical church of any kind. You can read about that day here. It's rather ironic that I mentioned in that post how impressive it was to see the Kekchi lady juggling and nursing her twins... little did I know... ha! I'm even more impressed now!

This was a video I made from our second trip there.

Recently a family called the Kekchi Christian radio station from this village saying that they were interested in learning more about trusting in Christ for Salvation. We were able to return there this past Sunday with Domingo and José.

It was Francisco and his family (pictured here with a couple of extra neighbor kids), the same family who let us use their house to show the movie.

We held a service in their house. Afterwards they fixed us a meal.

It was so generous of them. It was chicken caldo. To me it tasted like there was a little bit of habanero in it. It was so good!

See that big leg in the front bowl... it's not chicken. Can you guess what animal that came from? Finally... we got to try pisote!!! Joseph and Samuel (Andy's sons) said it tasted like pork, but I think it tasted exactly like what it was... a greasy jungle rodent! Still, it was very exciting to try it for the first time.

Unfortunately Francisco and his family are not ready to accept Christ yet, but that means God is still at work in their hearts. They know that they want more. Please pray for them and that their eyes will be opened to the Gospel very soon.

CRAZY ITEM OF THE DAY: We learned a very important lesson that day. When Domingo and José say that they know of a short cut where the road isn't THAT bad... take it... because it will be fun! (I speak for our vehicle only. The rest of the team was crammed into a 4 wheel drive vehicle that Andy rented and was in front taking all the rough patches of undetermined depth first!)

A Church Raising!

About 3 months after beginning the Bible Studies in Santa Rita, Lesbia, a friend of ours from New Horizon, told us we could borrow her empty house that she had in Santa Rita. We received permission from the town council and started fixing it up.

{Before}

We added more onto the outside roof, poured a cement floor and built a bamboo wall around the outside portion. She said we could stay there rent-free in exchange for fixing it up for 2 years.

{After}

Well those 2 years are up this February. We hadn't really thought about it until Jesús mentioned it to us the other day. We hoped that since nothing had been said that maybe we would be able to use the house longer, we had no other options. Three days after that conversation Fabio told us that he wanted to give us half of his land permanently for our Bible study.

{The day Fabio told us about the land}

Right after that Lesbia came to talk to us to tell us that she wanted her house back for her son to use. "No problem!" We told her about Fabio and asked her if she would let us stay just until we had a new building done and she thought that would be fine.

This is the land! It is on a busy road in the community which is more accessible to all rather than in the very back corner of the village where we are currently at.

So enter our God-timed teams: Andy and his church have been planning a trip for a while now to come and work on our house. They've had plenty of time to do that, but we also put them to work on the new Bible Study building. They are getting everything ready for another team from Topeka, KS who will be here at the end of February to hopefully help us finish the new building.

Andy, his two sons Joseph and Samuel, Robbie and Larry came to help us this week. Robbie has a lot of experience as a backhoe operator so Andy asked if we could rent one. It just so happens that we have some missionary friends, Arlen and Keturah King, who loaned us one at cost, so we got the Santa Rita digging done in less than two hours what would have taken a week by hand.

Before that the guys had to clear off the forest that Fabio, who is 71 years old, had spent the last month cutting down with his machete.

{Fabio}

While Robbie and Arlen's operator were working on that, the rest of us (with José and Domingo too) went to our land to load 500 block in the dump truck that brought the back-hoe.

{Domingo & José, we are so thankful for their support}

We found out that it is a long way from our back fence to our front door, especially when you have to make 40 trips carrying two blocks each time!

{Pastor Andy}

We had some surplus block from our wall that we won't be using on our house and it is the perfect amount for the base of the new building and it's outhouses.

By the time we got back the tractor was done and it was time to unload. After the long day everybody was ready to call it a day and head into Flores for a big meal at La Luna!

Just the Beginning of the Story

Since we live in a developing country we are surrounded by those in need. It is tough to know when to help and who could benefit the most by the resources with which we have been entrusted. We take these decisions very seriously, because poor decisions in this area can really hurt your ministry. Good intentions alone don't always lead to happy endings.

Before Christmas we were presented with a need in Santa Rita. Their county government, I guess you could say, laid down gravel on all of their previously mud dirt roads.

Their roads were so bad before that during the rainy season we could not pass them in our micro. By foot was completely disgusting. It was sticky mud that made you taller with each step. We chiseled mud off of our shoes regularly.

The added height of these new roads caused flooding problems in people's dirt floor houses. I cannot even imagine what living in that would be like on a daily basis... a swamp. They have been reorganizing the government in Santa Rita so I don't know an English equivalent for this committee, but one day a sort of community development committee came to us with a solution to this problem. They needed to purchase concrete pipes to provide drainage throughout the village. This part right here is why we have a lot of respect for Santa Rita, they said that they already had the concrete and men to do the work, they just didn't have enough money to buy the pipes.

Jimmy did not make any commitments that day, but later when we could talk about it alone we both were sort of reluctant to tell the other that we really wanted to help with this project. We took the fact that God led both of us separately to the same conclusion, as a green light.

We invested a couple months of any of the extra funds we could scrape together into this and then one of our supporting churches in KS (who is coming in Feb) went in with us for the other half.

Here is what they look like installed... and they fixed the problem! It effects people's lives in a positive way on an almost daily basis.

There are no secrets in this town. Everyone immediately new that we had helped with the pipes. One day when we were visiting Maria she told us how thankful she was for those pipes. She is a personal friend, so that meant the world to me that God gave us this opportunity to help her.

God orchestrates everything so beautifully. This happened at the same time that a man who attends our Bible studies announced he was giving us land for a permanent place for a "prayer house." (That is what he called it.) The whole community knew about it before we did really. This committee that came to us with the need ended up telling us when all was said and done that they wanted to support us being in the community openly. (That is a big step in case you haven't picked up on that!) We thought it was just some pipes, but this was a turning point I believe in our future there. There is so much more to the story... I cannot wait to share!

62+1=63

Last week we were officially adopted into the family of Kekchi Baptist Pastors. This is the first time a foreign missionary has requested to be part of the Petén group. It is really the next phase in the work that the Southern Baptists started in Cobán, the churches where these men heard the Gospel and answered the call to preach. Now it is time to take the Gospel to all parts of Petén.

After over two years of working with these 62 men, Jimmy felt like his relationship was close enough to request this and after the shock wore off we were wholeheartedly accepted. Last Wednesday at their annual meeting, we presented our letter of recommendation and other paperwork and then were voted into their association. Their association is a way for these pastors to pool their resources, have fellowship, encourage each other, and have accountability.

The discussion started 2 weeks ago during the January KBI session. Jimmy was tired of being singled out. He did not want the men to feel as though he was trying to come in and take over or start his own thing, he wants to come alongside them and work with them. We can help in the area of training. We have the resources to help start a permanent seminary, which they are very excited about.

I didn't get a photo of them, but our friends David and Regina were there and were asked to come to the front to pray over us. They are missionaries with the IMB who just finished their 3 year internship in Cobán and arrived in Petén as "full-time" missionaries in November to begin an up to 3 year assignment. They are the first IMB missionaries in Petén. We are excited about working with them whenever possible, but more than anything else we are thankful for the fellowship with them and their heart for the Kekchi! They live in Sayaxché, about 1.5 hours from us.

CUTE ITEM OF THE DAY:

{Silas with José's wife, Candelaria}

As we walked up to the front to be accepted, the men were applauding. We clap with the boys all the time, so as soon as Jonah and Silas heard the applause, they started clapping too. The men loved it. They kept clapping just to get the boys to do it! They are 2 little hams. They get so much love and acceptance from our Kekchi friends.