Quiet Insignificance

Eloisa and I during class

Z and I by the fountain in Antigua`s central park

One of many artisan markets

Z and Dad playing toys, wearing his Pollo Compero hat

Our friend Collene playing with Z after staying the night at our house

Classic Guatemalan transportation

The 3-times-a-week shuttle to the market that goes right by our house

The private hospital

    Our life has eased into a place of what could be perceived as quiet insignificance.  We aren`t the leaders of a multi-faceted ministry, we don`t speak in front of churches, we don`t send out glossy newsletters detailing all of the important work we do.  Really, we are very insignificant.  But we are following a God who does not see us that way.

     We have been living in our beautiful home for almost a month now.  We will start our fourth week of language school this week, and are learning quickly.  Language learning is always a long process, and can be a bit frustrating when all we want is to be understood and be able to launch into effective ministry... but right now, we are being faithful in the small things:  practicing flashcards, attending church in Spanish, doing our homework every evening.  In all, we are spending about 4 hours a day in focused language training.  Our tutor, Eloisa, has been a tremendous support and encouragement for me, as even on the days when I`m struggling she spurrs me on by reminding me of all that God is going to do through me and Dave here.  She believes in me, and my ability to learn this language, and that helps me to believe it too... even on the days when it feels near-impossible to speak a new language.

      A few times a week we take a bus into Antigua to go shopping at the market for fruits and vegetables, and stop at the grocery store (La Bodegona) for everything we either can`t find, or don`t like to buy in the market.  Then we load it all up into bags and boxes, and hail a Tuc-tuc, for a bumpy ride back to our house.  Living without a car has been a bit challenging at times, but we enjoy the chance to be part of normal Guatemalan life, and to be honest, I love chicken buses.  That still hasn`t lost it`s charm for me. 

       I have a close gringa friend, named Collene, and she and I have had a few coffee dates, and a couple sleepovers (we`re having one tonight after English church!).  She has been a huge support for me, but unfortunately (for me) she is done with her volunteering time her in Antigua at the end of the week then is off to continue her travelling adventures in Africa!  I am sad to see her go, but I know that God will, and already has begun to, provide new friends for me. 

      You may remember Dave talking about our friend Luis who needed surgery (in Dave`s guest post).  Well, that surgery happened this weekend, and was quite successful thus far.  Tests need to be done to decipher if there was cancer in the tumor, and make more decisions from there, but we are praying for a complete healing in Luis`body and that no further intervention will be necessary.  Dave spent some of the weekend at the hospital with Luis and his wife Ana, and was there this morning when Luis was discharged home.  As of a couple hours ago, Luis is home resting and was doing quite well.  Praise the Lord!

     The theme of our life seems to be willingness.  Our efforts seem so insignificant to me a lot of the time, but when I pray I hear God so clearly saying that we are in the right place.  That He has a plan.  That He is happy with our efforts.  It doesn`t always feel like much.  We try to talk to people whenever we go out.  We had our Guatemalan friends over for a movie night and had the chance to talk to them about what Jesus has done in our lives.  We`ve gotten the chance to walk with our friends Luis and Ana for his surgery and now in his recovery (and all because Dave was willing to carry their table home in a "chance" encounter with them).

    We don`t see the plan.  We don`t know what we`ll be doing in a month, or a year, or heck, even how this afternoon will pan out.  I guess that`s normal, but it feels like higher stakes when we`ve left our families, and culture, and now we`re staying in a new country without really much of a strategy for how to be "successful missionaries".  I don`t know what God has for us here, but I believe that we are where we`re supposed to be. 

I believe that God will use this time of quiet insignificance for His glory.  That this is a time of preparation for the work that He prepared in advance for us to do here.  We have joined the staff of YWAM Antigua, and although we will be focusing on language school for another few months, we will working part time on the existing ministries at the base, until God shows us His dream for our life here.  Our YWAM director is excited to support us and help us towards whatever God has for us.

    All this to say, our lives are quiet right now, but it`s not going to be like that for long.  Of that I am convinced.

Thanks for praying.  

A Very Happy 3rd Birthday

Daddy and the birthday boy getting the pinata ready for the party

Miguel and his Mama

Z and Damaris take a break from the party to read a story

Z opening the gift from Eloisa (she`s our Spanish teacher!)

Z wearing the awesome sweater Oscar gave him

Eating pizza in the living room

Miguel loves to hit the pinata!  :)

Z and his cake

     Z`s birthday was last month, when Dave was in the States at our DTS graduation.  For the actual day, Z and I took the bus into Antigua and ate lunch at Pollo Compero.  Then we went to the market and bought the green tricycle that he loves so much with the birthday money sent to him by his Great Grandma in Washington.  (Thanks Grandma T!)  It was a nice day, but we promised him another party once Daddy was back in Guatemala with us. 

     As promised, last week we had moved into out new house, and so started thinking about the party we wanted to have.  We invited pretty much everyone we knew, which really isn`t that many people... but it was going to be a full house.

  But as we got closer to today, all our "white friends" couldn`t come.  We ended up with a party completely in Spanish.  AND IT WAS AWESOME.

    Dave had bought a cake, a pinata, and enough fruit and chips to feed an army (classic Dave).  I spent a stressful 8minutes on the phone with Dominos Pizza and got three pizzas delivered to our front door.  Z had been running around all day talking about his pinata, and about how he and his buddy Damaris were going to take turns hitting it.  He was so excited for her to come over... I think he`s missed having other kids around like we did when we were on our DTS.

     Oscar showed up first and we got to hang out and chat for a while before the rest of the guest arrived.  He was our first Guatemalan friend, who we met at the market where he works.  He`s been such a huge encouragement to us, both in being willing to have long conversations with us, not seeming to mind our broken Spanish, and in being genuinely happy to see us when we come to the market, and not trying to rip us off because we`re white.  He`s so great.

    Then the rest of the guests arrived, including Luis and Ana, and their family, and our Spanish teacher Eloisa and her husband.  It was so much fun to just get to hang out with her outside of class, and of course make lots of jokes about, "yeah, I don`t want to talk, I might say it wrong and my teacher`s listening."  Haha!

     We ate pizza, we all got a turn to hit the pinata, we had a birthday cake and Z even blew out the candles by himself.  I played Lego with Damaris, Z, and Oscar... and we just enjoyed being with our friends.  It was that moment where you go from just being part of someone`s life when you go to them- to having them come into your home and be part of a special day in your life.

    And we did it all in Spanish.

   This past week we finished our first week of language school (with Eloisa), and I thought it went great.  The lessons are fun and challenging without being frustrating.  We get a lot of chances to practice what we`ve learned in the mornings when we go to the market or for walks in the community.  I love this language and I can`t wait to be fluent.  But of course, with a language barrier, it creates a feeling of isolation. 

   Tonight was huge for me.  I saw the way our life will be when we are fluent in this language, and also the way our life IS right now!  We have great friends.  We can`t completely understand everything they say (haha), but we know that they want to be part of our lives, and we want to be part of theirs.  It`s such an amazing feeling, and makes going into another week of language study so much easier.

    After everyone headed out we got the house tidied up, but the birthday boy to bed, and I sat down to write this blog post.  I honestly feel so happy right now.  I don`t feel alone anymore.  I have lots of friends, who all came into my home and celebrated my precious baby boy`s birthday with me. 

     What a very happy 3rd birthday party.   
 
  

A Change of Direction

   We are not going to be houseparents at Village of Hope.

 

    I know, I know.  It`s Dave and I, so no one is super surprised that we are changing out minds.  But believe me when I say that this was not a decision I wanted to make.  Other times we`ve left the mission field we`ve come running back to Canada determined that God wasn`t really calling us into missions.  This time nothing could be further from the truth.  We are called to missions.  We called to bring orphans into our home and raise them as our own.  We are called to adoption.  We aren`t done in Guatemala yet.  

 

    As you know, we rented a beautiful home and are now spending more than three hours a day on focused language study, each.  We take a chicken bus to the market and buy groceries, we have to light our stove with a match, and we have to buy clean drinking water and bleach our vegetables before we eat them.  We are living the Guatemala life, and we LOVE it.  We`re a bit lonely right now because we`re still settling in, but we want to live here for a long time.

 

   So why aren`t we going to be with Village of Hope?  Well, it comes down to God guiding us away.  We have spent the last month trying to find an organization which we can send finances through in Canada, because Village of Hope is an American ministry and can`t process donations for us.  (We live in support, and can`t stay on the field without financial donations from churches and individuals who believe in us and our ministry.)  We believe that God leads through finances, and when we have been on the path God wanted, He has always abundantly supplied for our needs.  So for the past month, we have been stepping out in faith and making paying for things out of our saving, believing that God will provide a way for support to start coming through to us again.  But that door has stayed shut.  

 

   This past week we began to wonder if God was giving us a moment- a moment to think about what we were really going towards with Village of Hope.  There had been some red flags, and we`d begun to realize that at Village of Hope it was not going to be the way we imagined.  We weren`t going to be allowed to be a real family with these kids.  This is not because Village of Hope doesn`t want us to be a family, but because of the requirements of the government for the care of the kids in the houses.  We were realizing that the requirements and restrictions were too much, and that they were going to negatively affect our existing family.  We want more children, and we realized that we were about to basically sacrifice the child we already have for the sake of having more children.  

 

    Today we wrote to the directors of Village of Hope, and told them what we were thinking, and that we weren`t sure we were a good fit.  We weren`t sure if we should continue towards becoming houseparents.  They agreed that they also had their doubts if our vision was the same as theirs.  Our hearts are for giving orphans a home and parents, but we want to adopt, and we wouldn`t be able to do that through being houseparents.  To go into that position with expectations like that would only frustrate and disappoint us.  We "resigned" our future position with their blessing.  We have the utmost respect for both the directors, and the ministry of Village of Hope, and we know that although the Lord has used Village of Hope to keep us in Guatemala, that this is not the ministry He wants us to work with. 

 

    At this point we don`t know what that means for us.  But we know that God has been giving us words and visions about Guatemala.  We believe we were called here, and we believe that Village of Hope was a part of the plan to direct us in the way we should go.  Life following God isn`t always in a straight line, but that doens`t mean we`ve lost the path.  We will be in touch with the YWAM bases here in Guatemala and see what opportunities there might be for us.  

 

    We don`t know what we`re doing now, or how all this is going to work out... but we have not lost our vision to stay as missionaries, and we know that God has a plan in all this.  We`re just trusting, waiting,... oh, and practicing our Spanish flashcards... 

 

    

Superbowl Sunday in the New House

kitchen

the dining area

downstairs bathroom and stairs

living room area (out the windows are the communal parking area and gate)

patio above our parking spot

below the patio (standing on our parking spot)

the laundry room just outside the kitchen, red door leads to the back yard

the yard that the red door leads to

Z`s room

Dave and I`s room

another view of our room (with the basically useless, but fun to have balcony)

    We have now experienced our own version of House Hunters International.  We looked at 6 houses, talked to multiple realtors and home-owners, prayed, and thought a lot about exactly where we wanted to live.  Finally, one beautiful Wednesday afternoon, we came and looked at this beautiful home with a wonderful realtor named Arturo.  He thankfully spoke English, and was able to help us get through the Guatemalan rental process without anything being lost in translation. 

      House hunting in a different country is not quite the same as in Canada though.  Here, they don`t have anything like the "Multiple Listings Service" which makes it so that any realtor has access to almost every home that is available at that time... but here, every home is listed with only one realtor, so you have to spend a lot of time hunting online through every house on every realty office`website!  Plus, lots of people don`t use a realtor and rely on word-of-mouth to find rentors.  So we looked at a few places that we just heard about through the grape-vine, plus got to view a couple houses that we just happened upon while we were walking in the areas we wanted to live.  Quite the adventure, especially with our limited Spanish.

     Also, houses are quite varied here.  The cheapest type of housing are one floor, with only a few windows, and have every room separated and you have to go outside to get from room to room.  It`s the kind of home that a lot of Guatemalans live in, and we looked at a couple of those.  They were certainly cheaper, but we couldn`t find one that was furnished... and we really wanted something more move-in ready to eleviate the stress of trying to furnish a house.

    The house we chose is owned and was designed by a European man (Danish?), who owns all the houses and apartments in our little complex.  All the houses are enclosed in one big yard with a shared gate, but there are trees and plants creating "green curtains" between the houses to make it feel more private.  I LOVE it.

  We felt it was important to live near to Antigua because there are better Spanish tutors here than there are in San Lucas (where Village of Hope is).  Learning the language is our highest priority right now, so by getting this place which is furnished saves us time in getting set up so that we can start school.  Also, this house is in an area very near Antigua and our tutor is able to walk to our home and teach us every day for a couple hours each.

   So now we are living in our own home in Guatemala, starting language school tomorrow, and hanging out in our living room watching the Superbowl on our own TV (well that, as well as "Parent Trap" which is dubbed in Spanish... that way we can learn something as well as watch TV... haha, besides, Superbowl commercials are just not as good here.)

    This morning started out a little different, because we didn`t have an propane (Zeta Gas) for the stove or to take showers (we have a hot water tank instead of "widow-makers"-electric shower heads).  Also, we didn`t have any pure water to drink, and I couldn`t figure out how the washing machine worked.  Thankfully I got that sorted fairly quickly, because we had an issue with fleas last week and I had a bunch of clothes that needed washing.  In Guatemala fleas are a very common problem and can easily be brought home from street ministry or other times like that.  Anyway, we got the laundry done, and hung on the porch, then Dave headed off to figure out why the Zeta Gas truck refused to deliver to us... even though we`d called them three times; although our broken Spanish may have had something to do with that.

Thankfully, about an hour later, Dave arrived home with a five gallon jug of water, a broom, and a package of toilet paper.. and had ordered the Zeta truck to come in a few minutes.  So by lunchtime, the gas was hooked up, and we had a pot of precious Kraft dinner cooking.  

    After lunch Dave sat at the table and read his Bible, while Z played toys on the coffee table in the living room.  I washed the dishes in the glorious sunshine and I felt wonderfully happy to be in my own home again.  It`s been a very long time... but I am at peace because although there may be some very hard times ahead; we are exactly where God has called us to be... and I know He will continue to lead us. 

  Thank you Lord for our beautiful home.