Walking in Promise

Photo evidence that Guatemalan grocery stores love to give "bonus gifts" with all sorts of random items... this was coffee we bought that came with a free plastic pitcher... yet it was the cheapest coffee on the shelf!  Gotta love that!

Walking back towards Santa Ana

The road just outside of our house in Santa Ana. 

    We have done a lot of walking in the past two months.  We walk to Antigua, we walk back from Antigua.  We walk to the base, back from the base, to the bus, back from the bus.  Our house is not in a convenient place and we have gotten our exercise trying to save on taxi or bus fare.  It takes an hour to walk to Antigua (each way), and more than an hour to walk to the base.  We certainly haven`t needed a gym membership!
    
     We don`t mind walking.  Enjoy it really.  But it`s lonely to live so far away from our YWAM team.  So we decided at the beginning of this month that we would start looking for a place to live closer to the base.  It was a frustrating process, once again, as house hunting here yields a lot of very random results for prices that don`t always make any sense to us.  But, thank the Lord, yesterday we agreed on a price with the landlord of a house only three doors down from the YWAM base!!!  I am so excited to get to live closer to our team, and to our other friends who live in that community.  And if we need a long walk, we can just walk into Antigua for our market shopping.  :)

      This morning we were startled awake by someone setting off firecrackers right outside our bedroom window.  I have no idea why.  But since I was awake, I got up and talked to the Lord.  Lately I have been dealing with a lot of frustration, loneliness, disappointment, and discouragement.  I think a lot of it is just the process of culture shock and dealing with the reality that we LIVE in a different country!  This aint Canada, no matter how many times I use the work "eh" or make pancakes with (fake) maple syrup.  I have to learn this new language, a new way of living, make new friends, and... it`s just hard.  I`ve cried a lot in the past couple weeks...
   
    But this morning was something different.  God met with me, and gave me fresh strength.  Reminded me of how many amazing ways He used to bring us here.  The money that was given to us to pay for our DTS, how He intercepted us from going to Brazil and told us to go to Guatemala.  God told us to come here, we weren`t forced by our DTS, it`s not a mistake or fluke that we`re here.  He has given us visions, and words, and confirming signs that we are in the right place.  Even in the moments I was crying and angry, I never once thought we should leave.  We have been called here, and God is going to do something through us and in us in Guatemala. 

    Dave and I were listening to a Bill Johnson sermon online last night, and I was reminded that it is when we forget all that God has done in our lives that we start to slip in our Christian walk.  The sermon encouraged me so deeply, that I just had to share it with you all. (Bill Jonhnson- I am looking for one person)  God has done so much to bring us here, He has promised us so much, and I am not abandoned and forgotten by the God who is able to do more than I could ever imagine or ask for.  He has provided a home closer to those who we know and love in this country, He has provided us with one beautiful child who we adore, and He has provided us with His Spirit- by whom we live and breath, and have our being. 

    So thank you to all of you who have been praying for us, and who continue to pray.  We are asking the Lord for another child this year, for our residency in Guatemala, and for Him to use us to bring the Kingdom to Guatemala.  We must follow after God courageously, ignoring the barbs of the devil to try to discourage us.  I am loved by the Maker of heaven and earth, there is nothing to fear. 


"He brought out His people with rejoicing.  His chosen ones with shouts of joy.  He gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to what others had toiled for-that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws.  Praise the Lord."  -Psalm 105:43-45