Hope of Love

This week I was cold for the first time since moving to Guatemala. 

We spent four days in a mountain village, drinking hot chocolate, playing Settlers of Catan (well, the boys, not me), eating delicious food, jumping on the trampoline and enjoying the encouragement and fun of time spent with beloved friends.  It was the best week of my whole year. 

We prayed with our friends, for their ministry of training village pastors and for our house of prayer.  We prayed for each other’s marriages and children, and then of course, as we always ask people to pray—they prayed for our future adopted children. 

My sweet friend Bethany asked the Lord to put the “hope of love” in our children’s hearts.  Knowing that our children may already be alive and in an orphanage somewhere, I often pray that they will be cared for and have food and a bed to sleep in.  I pray for their salvations and that God will bring them into our home soon… but Bethany put into words what I am truly praying for in all the variations.  

Somewhere in Guatemala there is, or will be, a little child that the Lord has reserved for our family.  I long for the day we are united, but until then, I pray that they will be filled with hope of love.  That they would know, somehow, deep in their hearts that God loves them, is with them, and has prepared a family to receive them.  I pray they would feel hope, no matter how hopeless the situation which orphaned them. 

God loved me and my family.  He loves my children who have yet to come to me.  He has helped Dave and I build a stable, joy-filled home.  This week as I reveled in the happiness of spending time with our friends and their kids, I saw the Lord’s heart for family.  I felt His pleasure that we are raising our sons (Bethany and her hubby have two boys) to follow Him. 

He is preparing us to receive His blessing… but for now we pray for hope.

The hope of love. 

Our attempt at a family photo, with the highest point in Central America behind us.  

Tailgate party after hiking up the big hill (in the background of the picture) 

Dinner time!  

Watching Elf and eating homemade apple pie as part of our Christmas party

The boy's side of the table, where they played 9 rounds of Settlers.  Bethany and I took over the other side of the table and made jewlery and paper boxes.  

Guest Post by Darrin

In the middle of October we had my brother visiting from Canada.  Because we have been here for two years already, sometimes I don't notice what is "different" about living in Guatemala.  I asked my little bro to write up something to share with people what his experience was like... so here you have it, a guest post about a visitor to our home:

Hello my name is darrin, 

A month ago I embarked on an incredible adventure. I went off into a foreign land with no idea what to expect. A place very different from what I know. Guatemala.

As someone who does an abundance of backpacking and camping I am accustomed to being slightly uncomfortable as I sleep, but nothing was to prepare me for a night in Guatemala. I recall learning very quickly that regardless of the low income status areas, Guatemalans always seem to have just enough money to buy a variety of fireworks on a daily basis. So basically come bedtime all hell breaks loose with the most obnoxious percussion of "bedtime noises" and street dogs fighting often come rippling through the air. In addition to my discomfort a mysterious banging against my barred-over window naturally filled my imaginonation with pictures of black masked barglars yeilding machetes attempting to break in and attack me in my sleep. Long story short, not some crazed lunatic trying to break into my room, it was an avocado falling off of a nearby tree which was very common as I found out avocados seem to fall on the roof almost every night. 

Now you have to understand, that literally everywhere in Guatemala there are wild avocado trees and coffee bushes growing. This makes for an amazing jungle like atmosphere. The houses on the other hand are not as majestic. Each building gives you the impression as though it was slapped together in an extremely rushed fashion, with cinderblocks and scrapwood thrown down with some elementary kid's school glue to hold it all together. The worst part of the buildings being that each room is seperated by outside facing doors. Which renders a terribly unfortunate scenario if you find yourself having to go to the bathroom at night. Where the Guatemala night breezes are crisp to the bare-bum. But hey, alleast thats a 5 minute time out from the constant 24-hour sweat bath you're in during your first week. 

Now let me describe for you Guatemala traffic. The variety of vehicle selection is scarely small. You got the basic 1997 Toyota Tacoma with 40 people riding in the box,  the Tuk-Tuk (  A trike with a roof which 8 people ride in somehow), the classic dirtbike, and my personal favourite The Chicken Bus! The Chicken Bus is an old school bus that has been jacked up, semi truck motor dropped in, then loaded with 70 person passenger plus the chickens and a few goats for long and very fast drives from town to town. Add in the fact that there are no rules of the road and you end up with not only The Chicken Bus but "The Chicken Road" too. 

Yet, when I look back at the falling avocados and the people driving wildly down the road I recall in between these events some of the greatest memories that I will carry with me for a long time. Fantastic food ( a.k.a tacos and casedieas ) and the pleasant King family home setting and the dazzling Guatemalan firework lighting up sky.

 To say the very least I came back changed, and what I mean by that is I now know what mass poverty is, I know what it's like to feel as a minority and completely out of place ( all 6 ft 200 lbs blonde hair blue eyes of me ). I know how extremely blessed I am to have grown up and reside in a country that is free of questions like how do I get my next meal and how do I not get shot by gangs? Yes this trip was an adventure  that changed me and I would recommend that if you would like and adventure full of bizarre and crazy stories that you might go to Guatemala; and maybe even stay with Dave and Shawn.

Thank you Shawn, Dave and Z

taking a boat across the lake 

lunch at a somewhat sketchy eatery 

for all the adventures and talks.

Abundant Peace

      We moved to Lake Atitlán almost four months ago, certain that God had called us here... But not certain of anything other than that.  

      Dave and I began meeting in our living room every evening to pray.  Sometimes we listened to music and sang, sometimes we drew pictures or waited for God's voice in silence, but more than anything, we just talked to God.  We prayed for the problems around the world, our friends and family, and asked God what He wanted us to do.  Then, one night, He spoke.  

      His voice was not audible in that moment, but it was intensely clear.  "You are already engaged in the ministry I have called you to do.  I want you to start a House of Prayer".  

       In the weeks since we received this word from the Lord, we have begun to clarify how to start this work.  We believe that the House will be built in one of the towns where we have been working (we live in one of a string of four towns, each with a unique flavour and set of needs, but they are close enough that we can work in all four from whichever one we build the House in), and we believe that God will call a team of dedicated prayer warriors to come and join us in the ministry.  The foundation is prayer, and evangelism, which may demonstrate itself in many ways, including visiting homes to pray for the sick, and hosting prayer services for the community.  Our hope is that one day we will have a team large enough that we can have 24/7 prayer in the House.

    We desire to be filled with the Spirit of God that we might pray with power and authority.  We desire to see nations transformed, the gospel carried to those who have not heard, the sick to be healed, and for those with no hope to find it through relationship with Jesus Christ.  We believe that God will accomplish all these things through our dedicated pursuit of His face.  

     The next thing we asked the Lord for was a name for the House... He told us: 

    Paz Abundante 

    which means... abundant peace

     

Quinceñera

Finally a post from Dave!!!  Today's post will be about the quinceñera.

What is a quinceñera?  It is the birthday celebration for many girls that have a Latin American background.  It is to celebrate their fifteenth (quince) birthday, as the U.S. has their “sweet sixteen” birthdays.  Here in Guatemala it may look a bit different as we have crossed paths with many different fifteen year girls; they have been on a variety of life paths by the time we’ve met them.  There are some that have already experienced child prostitution; some are already a mom; some have made the choice of marriage; some are seeking fervently after the Lord; some have either only the mom or only the dad; some are orphaned; some are working; some are washing clothes, cleaning houses, making tortillas, or working in the fields for some extra money; some are in school; some are playing in the streets.  Wherever life has taken them, their fifteenth birthday comes around and culture tells them that it is time to celebrate the girl becoming a woman.

Here in Guatemala, people give any reason to celebrate, the quinceñera not weighing in cheaply.  I’ve seen pictures of some quinceñeras where it looks fancier than a wedding.  And living here at Lake Atitlán, some people have money, some don’t.  In turn, this celebration can cause people to take out loans, which they pay back slowly with an outrageous interest rate.  It is a day that girls dream about and talk about growing up, with their friends.  They may forget the rest of their birthday celebrations, if they’ve even had any, but they’ll remember their quinceñera.  They have now become grown-up.

Why all this quinceñera talk?  We partook in learning more than ever about the quinceñera these days.  There is a girl, from Puerta Abajo (Chimaltenango), who we have known for almost two years now, who turned fifteen.  Her dad left when she was an infant; her mom got together with another man, whom she is currently with, and has had three more children.  The dad always seems to be working; in fact we’ve never actually met him, until the day of the quinceñera.  Yet the money never seems to make it home; it is little what he earns and he ends up spending it in different manners.  This fifteen year old wasn’t able to attend school in 2014 because she had to help her mom around the house and because the dad didn’t think too highly

of her education.  Thankfully, as we could convince them that education was a good idea and they didn’t have to be the ones paying for it, this past school-year January-October she was able to go; she came out as one of the top students in her class, with the majority of her grades falling between 90%-100%.  We pray that she’ll be allowed to continue pursuing a better life.  As she is not this man’s biological daughter, he doesn’t always treat her kindly and it has a negative effect on family life.  Every time we visit Puerta Abajo, we go with a Guatemalan missionary couple from the capital, and we find that there is always need with this family; the struggle with the dad/husband, finances, and food.

Right, her quinceñera.  I had the privilege of taking her out of the village and go shopping.  When dreaming of the quinceñera, the girls dream about their dress.  This girl, being of a poor family, she chose a simpler dress that she could use again, though it was still very elegant.  Next I got some of the necessities for a quinceñera: heeled-shoes to show that she is now a woman; a tiara to show that she is the Lord’s adopted princess and daughter; a ring to show that she is set apart for God and marriage; and makeup and hair products for the big day.  As we put on this special day with help from this missionary couple from Guatemala

City, they did a lot of the other logistics.  Of course, being a chef, I took care of the main dish: pepian.  I prepared, for fifty people, this Guatemalan dish which consists of a roasted tomato based sauce (that has pumpkin seeds, which gives it is name), and a meat (for the occasion and the sake of cost, I did chicken).  When the day came, word spread, and over a hundred people came; thankfully the Lord multiplied and everybody was able to eat.  There was rice, pepian, tortillas, cake, and a drink.  There was eating, fellowship, tears, laughter, and even singing of “happy birthday” in English.

During the special day she was filled with emotion and excitement.  We were able to tell that she was deeply touched and appreciated all that was done for her.  We were able to share some passages from the Bible and a word about identity and how God sees her.  Following that we were each able to pray for her life and future.  We hope that by showing her God’s love on her special day; that her life will be impacted and restored; may God move in a supernatural way on her behalf.

For the Joy of It

The knock came at the door around 5:30pm.  It had been a long day, and I was feeling worn out and discouraged about trying to adjust to life in our new town.    I was in the middle of making dinner, but I hurried to see who had come to visit us.  It was a new friend of mine, a lady who lives only a few blocks away. 

I invited her in, noticing that she had brought her little daughter with her.  She was very direct and said that she’d come to see how much I would charge her to give English classes to her daughter, Patty.  I said that I didn’t offer classes, nor was I looking for money, but that if she just wanted to bring Patty over to play a couple mornings a week that she would probably pick it up naturally.  My friend thought that sounded great.

Patty came to play the next morning, and it was instantly obvious that she was a bright and funny little girl, and that she would have no trouble at all picking up English.  She and Z spent the first morning colouring, and playing with toys, and painting pictures.

 It was truly wonderful. 

As you all know I have been praying for a sibling for Z.  There have been many days when I felt angry with God for not providing a real friend for my child, someone who he could spend a lot of his time with, not just see once in a while.  So many of the kids here treat him differently because of his skin color, and I wanted to find him a friend who would treat him like a peer, not a pet. 

So God sent Patty.

I don’t know what happened really, but God has used that little girl to show me how to find joy in my life again.  How to be a happy mom again.  Z had been so lonely, and now he is content becuase he knows that every morning his buddy is coming over.  I can enjoy him as my only son without feeling guilty and sad that he doesn’t have siblings. 

Before, I kept thinking that God expected me to start up some kind of huge “ministry”, and to spend my time visiting hospitals and preaching in the streets or something.  There is value in all those kinds of work, but for me I had become burdened with “missionary guilt”, thinking that I needed to be busy all the time.  I felt guilty when I enjoyed a quiet day at home with Z… but God has used a three year old to remind me that being a mom is my most important work.

These days, my mornings are full of playdough-shaping, finger-painting, mud-cake-making, and story-reading… and the walls echo with the giggles of to little kids that I adore.  I make them snacks and tie their shoes, and watch them run outside... 

just for the joy of it.    

  

Friendship

What is friendship?  Is it merely time spent with someone else, or is it more?  Is it conversations deepened past the state of the weather and familiarity with another person’s history, or is there a greater purpose for friendship?  In the past six weeks I have learned a lot about what it is to be a friend, and not just friendly. 

Our friend Juan helped us move.  He rode along in the truck with our boxes and beds, and helped unload everything when we arrived.  Then he went home to Antigua. 

And suddenly we were alone. 

We knew that moving to a new town, without a team or pre-existing ministry, would be challenging.  We expected to feel lonely at times.  For a couple days it was pretty isolated, but three days after moving we invited Chris over for dinner.  She was a friend-of-a-friend, and even though we didn’t know her, she was more than happy to come over and enjoy a meal with us.  We connected instantly.  Her sarcastic humor kept us laughing, and her compassionate heart comforted me as we sipped tea and chatted in the living room.  She even took the time to sit with Z and do a puzzle.  

The next day, Chris brought over a big bag of spinach for smoothies, since I had mentioned that was something I liked to make. 

During this time, our neighbors, Maria and her son Kevin, were over almost every day, helping us figure out the logistics of life in a very different setting than what we were used to.  They invited us to church, and to parades, and we shared time around the table over multiple meals and pots of tea. She was ill for a couple days, so we brought dinners and prayed with her.   

Our only contacts in our town prior to moving, Pastor Antonio and his wife Kata, also extended friendship to us in the form of spending one morning a week teaching Kata to cook North American style food at their house and then sharing lunch together.  It has become a weekly tradition that everyone looks forward to, although Z’s favorite part is getting to watch Dora the Explorer on their cable TV. 

Over the first three weeks we discovered the other three white missionaries that are working in different towns around the lake.  Each one of them had been feeling isolated from any form of Christian fellowship in English, and so the Saturday night potluck was born.  If you know me, you know who’s idea that was! 

Yesterday night we had dinner with Kevin and his mother.  It was a time of laughter and good conversation, ending with a pot of popcorn and a 500-piece puzzle after Z had gone to sleep.  We introduced Kevin to the melodious sounds of Taylor Swift, and talked about his dreams to be a television anchorman. 

It got me thinking though, what is friendship and why is it so important?  I’m not a philosopher, so maybe my answer isn’t very profound, but to me, friendship is filling the gap.  I showed up in a new town six weeks ago without a single person I would have called a true friend.  I was feeling a little scared and very much alone in the world… and then people stepped up to fill the gap.

Living at the lake still feels foreign to me, but I can feel my heart beginning to take root.  Instead of loneliness and displacement, I have a network of friendships to depend on.  I want to be part of their lives, and they want to be part of mine. 

A cup of tea.  A loaf of bread.  A puzzle.  A smile.  A healing embrace.  A shared prayer. 

Friendship isn’t complex.  Find a gap.  Fill it.   

Learning To Be Kind

I want to appear capable and good-natured at all times.  I want to be compassionate and be “the helper” for everyone, instead of “the one in need of help”.  I want to be perceived as intelligent, and to be treated with respect.  I get upset if I feel that I am failing at communicating well with others and or that I am being laughed at.  Perhaps that is common to everyone. 

      Missions is difficult because one can no longer feel capable all the time.  There are systems and ways of doing things that have to be learned.  It’s kind of like being a toddler, except not as cute.  There is always more to learn about the language, and for us now we are living in an area where the majority of people’s mother tongue is a Mayan dialect called Tzutujil.  Many do speak Spanish, and we are able to get by, but it is common to go shopping or for a walk, and see that people are talking about us.  It is an unsettling feeling, and it can feel like everyone is ganging up on us and that “nobody likes us”. 

      Living in our house has also been an exercise in learning to be humble.  Almost everything has had to be re-learned.  How to wash the dishes.  How to deal with the garbage pick-up.  How to avoid spider/mosquito/scorpion/ant bites and keep the house clear of pests.  How to handle the water system, where we have city water three times a week, and have to be home to fill up the pila and water reservoir on those days.  And then of course there is the normal aspects of moving to a new town like finding our way around and finding stores that carry the things we want (no grocery stores here).  During the past two weeks we have had to rely on the kindness of our neighbors, new friends, and even strangers to help us figure out the system.  It can be painfully humbling.    

       I am learning what it means to be kind to myself.  I can’t always get through the whole day with a positive attitude.  Sometimes the way the women in the market look at me and try to rip me off gets the better of me and I come home feeling like I’ll never be accepted.  Sometimes I feel like my extended family is just too far away, and I wish I could jump on a plane and be reunited with them… maybe even go to Starbucks and forget this whole crazy idea to move to the Lake.  But when those moments strike and I feel like I might not even make it through that day- I am learning to be kind to myself. 

       I can’t speed up the process of adapting to a new place, nor can I force people to extend kindness to me, but I can choose not to give up.  I make a cup of tea and read my Bible, or put up the hammock and enjoy a cuddle with Z in the backyard, or I watch a movie, write a letter, or do a puzzle for a couple hours.  This is only the first few days of our life and work here, and if I am patient with myself it will turn into years.  God is not discouraged by my need to take a couple deep breaths, He is with me in those times, whispering confidence back into my heart. 

       God has been faithful to me, even in my weakness.  He has already helped me get connected with two amazing missionary ladies who I have already come to call my friends.  Our neighbors, a recently-widowed Christian woman and her two teenage sons have also treated us very kindly, and we have enjoyed spending time with them as well.  One of the boys is learning English and has taken a real shine to Z.  The two of them are adorable as speak spanglish together.  Our kitchen has been filled with laughter and conversation (in both English and Spanish!), and in those moments I am so thankful to God for bringing us new friendships to fill our life with joy.  

       God has shown me that we are not alone.  We have so far to go in adjusting, deciding on what ministries to be involved in, or pioneer, and continuing to work towards the ultimate goal of adopting children… but God is not afraid of time the way we humans are.  He has a plan for our life and in everything He is kind to us. 

      So if you are in a time in our life when you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed, remember to be kind to yourself and take your strength from quiet time spent with God.  Maybe He’s even been waiting for you to tire out so you’d actually sit down and listen to Him.  And hey, why not invite that immigrant neighbor from down the street over for tea… chances are, they would appreciate some kindness too.  

Z working on a puzzle in our improved kitchen

Some freshly hand washed laundry 

Z in his newly organized room

The living room is really coming together too! 

Rough Waters

   Tuesday at noon we loaded the moving truck and Jeep, then set out for Lake Atitlan .  We were about halfway there when it started to rain so heavily we had to pull over and wait because we couldn’t see anything through the windshield.  We sat at the side of the road and thought about all our stuff in the truck.  We knew that although the driver had covered most of the boxes with a tarp, the mattresses were unprotected.  In my head, I started making a plan for how we could sleep that night without our beds.  The rain let up enough to keep driving, so onward we went. 

    Less than an hour after the blinding rain we were stopped by a police checkpoint.  They looked over our paperwork, found a flaw with our documentation, and charged us with a fine.  The officer was polite enough about it, but I was shaken the rest of the way to the lake.  I was upset that not a single person in  any of the offices where we transferred the car papers only a week before had told us about the missing paperwork!  I am a law-abiding citizen, and I felt frustrated that not only were we now knowingly driving without correct documentation, we didn’t have a way to solve the problem either, since the papers could only be obtained in the City (about a three hour drive in the opposite direction from where we were stopped by the cops).

      Regardless of the shenanigans on the road to the lake, we arrived in good time and unloaded the truck with the help of our friend Juan, who’d come in the truck, and our new neighbor, a woman named Maria.  We shared a quick snack once everything was in the house, and then the guys took off towards home to try to beat the descending darkness.  Everything was damp.  The beds were soaked at one end, so we propped them up to start drying while we attempted to unpack the kitchen enough so we could eat dinner.  That proved to be about a two hour job, including dealing with a flooding toilet, a pila* without water, and a little boy who wanted nothing more than to find every piece of his train set. 

       After dinner we layered the drier side of Z’s mattress with towels and secured them with a fitted sheet.  He went to sleep in less than three minutes.  I had been feeling scared in the house  the entire evening, and even though I’d been praying, the sense of unease hadn’t gone away.  Dave and I walked through the house, into each room and touching all the walls, and we prayed the Lord’s covering over our home.  We could sense peace settling into the rooms as we went, gaining momentum and even filling the areas we hadn’t prayed over yet.  By the time we circled back into the kitchen I felt calm.  We found some more towels to cover the wet part of our bed, and we slept right through the night. 

      The first morning in the house Z woke us up early, as usual, and we got started trying to unpack everything.  We’ve gathered up quite a lot of stuff in the past year and a half, but unfortunately not enough furniture to truly furnish the house or even find a place to put everything.  We have a lot of books and kids ministry materials that I had been boxing up slowly during our time at the base, so I hadn’t realized how many we truly had.  Apparently the lack of libraries in Guatemala has turned us into book hoarders?! 

      We walked to the market the first afternoon, which ended up being fairly unproductive because of rude teenage boys who thought we didn’t understand Spanish, and also due to a lack of vendors in the market at that late hour.  We bought enough to get through the night and called it a day.  I made crepes with pumpkin sauce for dinner and we watched a movie.  Thankfully there had been enough sun to dry our mattresses on the roof and everyone had a clean bed to sleep in. 

       Day two dawned gray and overcast.  Of course this was also the day I was going to do laundry.  I was feeling out of sorts, and struggling to make the kitchen work for me as I got breakfast ready, but I dumped the laundry into a big bucket and filled it up with water.  The toilet was clogged, so I went to deal with that and when I came back I saw a scorpion on top of the clothes in the laundry pail!  I ran and grabbed a pair of tongs and a bowl, and I snatched the insect (are they even insects? they look more like tiny dragons!) and drowned it in some water.  I was so angry.  Here I was, just trying to take care of my family, and what do I find?  Poisonous bugs waiting to ambush me! 

        I could feel the spiritual attack in that moment.  I don’t know if the scorpion was sent to scare me, or if it was just an innocent little guy who thought our clothes looked like a cozy cave.  It didn’t matter.  I felt discouraged and completely alone.  I prayed as I washed the clothes asking God for help, and for the courage to keep going.  A line from Z’s favorite movie crossed my mind. 

       “You came here to be a firefighter.  If you leave today, think of all the lives you won’t save tomorrow.” 

              - Blade Ranger, Planes 2

        Granted, I didn’t come to the lake to be a firefighter, but the quote strengthened me anyway.  I came here to bring glory to God, and if I gave up, I would never have the chance to see how He might be able to use me here.  I didn’t decide to move here on a whim, or even necessarily with very much eagerness, but I have peace because know it was what God wants for my life.  God has a plan for our family, and this is an opportunity for growth in my relationship with Jesus, if I choose to be brave and not give away to fear of the unknown.  It doesn’t need to be easy; I just need to cling tighter to the One who will never abandon me. 

       As you can probably tell, this move has been challenging for me.  I miss my friends at the base, the familiarity of daily life in Antigua, and being able to contact my families whenever I want through the magic of email and FaceTime.  I’m starting completely from scratch in making new friends and figuring out the way life works here. I feel lonely and disoriented.  But I know it will not always be this way.

Packing the truck at the base

Kitchen 

Sala 

our bedroom

Front patio area

Front yard

double bathroom... fancy.... sort of 

The path towards the main road.  no one lives in the white house

Z´s room  

     God will help us to forge a new path… after all, this was His idea in the first place. 

 “I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up… then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” 

       -Isaiah 49:11 and 23

 (This chapter of the Bible has been my life’s chapter for about two years now.)          

*A pila is a cement sink with a water reservoir underneath.  Water is then removed by scooping it out with a plastic bowl.  The pila is used for everything, including washing clothes, dishes, and in some homes, for bathing as well.  Our new house has a shower, but the pila is the only sink.  We have a water filter in the kitchen for drinking, but everything else has to be taken outside and washed or a bucket of water has to be brought inside.  So far this has been a bit tedious, but it’s the way almost everyone lives here, so we are trying to work out systems to make it easier.  It will become normal eventually.  

House Hunters International

There is a show that Dave and I like to watch on YouTube, called House Hunters International.  It's a reality show where a person or couple moves somewhere outside of the States and the cameras follow them on their quest.  They always look at three houses, throw around some clever banter about the pros and cons of each, pick one, and then there are some quick shots of the chosen house three months after they move in, and usually the people do a voice-over about how subliminally happy they are with their choice.  The show is 25minutes long.  

This past week we did our own version, but the difference was that we were not aided by a local real estate agent, nor were we followed around by a camera team.  On Wednesday we drove our trusty new Jeep, Matilda the Tank, and arrived at the lake in time to look at three houses before dinner time.  One had previously been used as a yoga studio, and the walls of the other two were covered with art of Buddah and other stuff. All three houses had a dark presence over them, the second house so thick with demons I could hardly breath inside.  We knew we'd have to keep looking. We prayed together as a family, slept at a friend's house, and started fresh the next day.  

Day two we looked into 15 houses.  Every one has some sort of inexcusable flaw.  Either they were too expensive, too small, moldy, no yard, no windows, full of demons, too expensive, no parking, had a weird layout with the bedroom separate from the rest of the house, or had obvious dangers like rickety stairs or no railing on the porch.  Most houses had a combination of a few, or all of the above.  

It was incredibly frustrating, but we stuck with it all day, driving from town to town, calling every number we found of anyone with a rental property.  By the time we returned to our friends' house for dinner I was ready to pack up the truck and leave forever.  I told Dave I thought maybe God was closing the door for us to live at the lake.  My ever-steady husband said, "I think we just have to hang on.  God isn't done yet."  I reluctantly agreed with him, but I felt very discouraged.  At that point, including the houses we looked at during the DTS Outreach, we had seen 23 properties.

The next morning we decided to relax, that we needed a break from the stress of house hunting, so we took a boat across the lake to a village to take part in an organic farm tour happening that morning.  We hiked up the mountain to the farm and enjoyed learning about permaculture, and petting the goats and dogs. We had lunch out and then went back to our friends' house early to rest.  

As soon as we got there, our friends told us they had a house for us to see.  We drove over before dinner and found THE house!  With a big yard, four bedrooms, no mold, and surrounded by peaceful trees and coffee farms, we agreed to live there on the spot!  The house is owned by our friend's uncle, and he offered us a really low price because we are missionaries and he wanted to rent it to people who would use it for God's glory!  We are even allowed to have chickens if we want!  

We are now at the base, getting the last of our stuff ready to go.  We prayed for so long that God would give us a nice place to call home; and now He has!  Unlike a TV show, it took 23 houses instead of 3... But God never forgot about us, and was leading our family to a place we can really make our own.  

Number 24 the win!  We move in two days!  

  Dave and Z eating dinner at our friend's house after a long day driving around.  

On The Road Again

For six months we lived in the green house with a garage at our disposal.  The only time a car was ever parked there was one time when a leader from another YWAM base came to visit.and needed a place to put her truck for a night.  Other than that, the garage was used as a place to hang a hammock where it wouldn't get wet in the rain. 

Almost every evening Dave took Zane in the garage and they would pray for God to give us a vehicle to fill the garage.  We had felt prompted by the Lord to give away our old car before coming to Guatemala, and although it was inconvenient to have to rely on public transit we never felt right about looking for a car to buy.  Chicken busses are an adventure, but fairly reliable and cheap to travel on, so it usually wasn't a huge deal to live car-free.

I only started to wonder what we were going to do if we didn't get a vehicle once we decided to move to the lake.  Because we will still be part of our YWAM base and will be going back and forth from the lake every 6-8 weeks, it was ominous to imagine the four-five hour trek by bus every time we needed to come to the base.  We continued to pray for a vehicle and held to the belief God would replace the car we gave to Him in California.    

About three months ago some of our coworkers announced that they felt called to go to Japan, and began the difficult process of uprooting their family who has lived in Guatemala for almost ten years so that they could follow God to the other side of the world.  They had two SUVs, so eventually we sent them an email asking for how much they'd be selling them.  They sent back, "we've prayed about it, and we've decided we would like to give you one of them."  

As soon as I had read the message, I burst into tears (as I do when anything really wonderful happens) and ran to tell David the exciting news.  God had found us a new vehicle!  

Fast forward to today: we went and met with a lawyer to transfer the papers into our name.  Tomorrow we are heading up to Lake Atitlán to continue the search for our new home.  God figured the timing of getting our new truck down to the last- and perfect- minute.  Impeccable.  

To be honest, I had almost given up that God was going to answer that prayer, and had almost decided that maybe he would just provide money to buy a car instead of giving us one for free... But He had a surprise waiting just around the corner.

Isn't He amazing?!

Family Camp... well, sort of

   Dave was scheduled to be home for two weeks before he left again for Outreach with the DTS students.  I was looking forward to spending time with him and feeling a little annoyed that we would have to share the base with two different teams during those precious days as a family.  Regardless of how I felt though, the first team arrived and settled in for five days of ministry.
 
      I immediately was convicted of my selfishness as we got to know the first group.  They were students of a YWAM training course and had come with hearts wide open to love on Guatemala.  They were cheerful and willing workers, putting all their energy into every ministry they were involved in.  They uplifted us in our Christianity, parenting of Z, and work that we are doing.  I enjoyed having their team here and could see God using their efforts every day.

     The first team overlapped with the second, and for one night we didn't have a single empty bed in the whole base.  In fact, one of our staff moved out of her room so we could put more people in there, and we put some of the boys on the floor!  The next morning we said goodbye to beloved team one and greeted team two.
 
     They were a large group, 21 people in all, including four leaders, from a youth group in Delaware.  The very first day I was impressed when a couple of the teens sat on the ground outside our room and played Playmobil with Z for over an hour.  I got to chatting with one of the leaders, a mom of one of the teens, and we hit it off right away.  I felt revived to see them interacting with Z and be able to relax and have a conversation with another mom.  I began to realize that God had sent us exactly what we needed, even if my heart had been resistant to receive them.

     Over the next week I felt life poured back into me in a way I haven't felt in an extremely long time.  The team embraced us like one of their own, and Z was the team pet.  They constantly played with him or carried him around.  The girls were doting and affectionate, letting him sit on their laps when they watched movies in the sala, or playing endless hours of Playmobil and trains with him.  The boys were equally as friendly towards him, playing tag, teaching him to hit a baseball, and goofing off with him at every possible opportunity.  I felt rejuvenated and appreciated by the team, and even broke my "I don't play games" rule almost every day to enjoy round upon round of Jungle Speed at the lunch table.

    Thursday morning our family went into town to do some errands, and came back stressed.  Dave and I weren't communicating well, and although neither of us voiced it, we both were wishing that we could just go on a date and have a nice time with each other instead of spending our family time quarreling.  A knock came on the door and two of the girls invited us to come downstairs because their team wanted to talk to us.  We followed them down and found the whole group sitting around the table, smiling.
 
     "We've decided to send you on a date," Matt, their leader, said.  "We'd like to babysit Z for you and we've even taken an offering to cover your meal."  (Paraphrased, sorry, Matt, I'm sure you said it in a cooler way than that.)

     Then he handed us enough money for a very nice dinner.  I almost started crying right in front of them, I was so happy and thankful.  In the evening Dave and I got dressed up and went out for a delicious, peaceful meal together.  We enjoyed having time together, literally stress-free; we knew Z was happy and well cared-for, we knew the food was paid for, and we knew that this wonderful group of people really wanted us to have a romantic date.  It was probably the best evening we've had together all year... and then when we got home we got to play games with the team!

    Sometimes it surprises me what God does for me.  He saw that I was feeling discouraged and worn-out, so he sent ambassadors of joy in the form of two amazing teams.  Being part of the Outreach, and having Dave be the leader of the DTS has been a stressful process for me, and living at the base has been a challenge as well.  I didn't want to share the base with any "strangers", but God sent them here, knowing that I needed them.  Obviously He brought them here to help other people too, but those people can write their stories on their own blogs.  Ha, ha.  :)

     In these past two weeks Dave has loved playing games and doing ministry with the teams, Z was entertained and cherished, and I was befriended and encouraged.  It's been like family camp around here!

A family photo before we left for our date

The obligatory "on our date" selfie.  :)

  

     

         

Z snuggling with Kelsey while they watch Mulan 

Playing Jungle Speed with the team leaders and Turner 

Z and Kate

Z and Turner... Homeschoolers unite!  

  Dinner time with everyone!

Everyone learning about intercession before we had a great prayer time!

 Z and Noah 

Dakota and Z just loungin' 

Tim teaching Z to play baseball 

Connor and Z playing baseball.  

The End of the Road (Puerta Abajo)

Juan teaching some of the kids how to make things out of recycled pop cans 

Puerta Abajo

Brayan and Dave at the school 

All of the students teaching songs during kid's club

Time to colour!

Little kids song/game time

Puppet show!

Juan presenting the gospel using a giant "EvangeCube"

Hosting an evangelistic movie night at one of the churches- seven people accepted Jesus!  

Z and some friends eating lunch.

Amarilis was the only student for the literacy program, and she only showed up for one day of class.  We were prepared for ten students, but we will just have to save our supplies and try again somewhere else.  

Brayan's impromptu morning music group, with Z and Francisco.  

     On the way to Puerta Abajo we had to bring both of the base vans to get all the gear up there.  We had big plans for ministry that week, including a literacy class, movie nights, kids club, and Bible distribution (door to door prayer and encouragement ministry).  We also had to bring in all our own food and cooking utensils, and bedding.  It was like a big camping trip, and we weren't packing light!
     We stayed in two small houses that share a yard, and had a kitchen with stove to use, as well as a dining room table that we could all fit at to eat meals.  Not a bad set-up.  The shower in one of the houses even had a widow-maker shower, so we could have warm water.  The houses were right down the hill from the school where we held the kids club too, so it was a easy to carry supplies up there for each afternoon.  Dave made all the meals and we never had to worry about left-overs because there was always a group of kids hanging around outside to see if we'd give them something.

    Literacy class was a no-go, due to the fact that none of the women showed up.  We invited them personally, and sent other people to tell them about it, but no one had the time for it.  I wasn't too upset about it though because as it turned out Z got quite sick on the fourth day, and after spending the day cleaning up his puke until we had no more clean clothes or towels, I decided that we'd had enough Outreach and it was time for Mom and Z to be done. (He recovered completely within 6 hours of arriving home.)

    Everyone else carried on though, and saw great victories as they went door-to-door and visited people in their homes and prayed for them.  Dave's group saw a woman's knee instantly healed of pain caused by diabetes, and both groups were used to the Spirit to minister to people's hearts and show them the love that God has for them.  Puerta Abajo has a deeply-rooted poverty mentality, and one of the challenges was encouraging people to look to God for their help instead of just asking the "rich white people" to give them hand-outs.  The two teams visited almost every home in the entire community (over 100), and gave away about 50 Bibles into homes that didn't have one.

    The kids club was also a big success, and was attended by around fifty kids every day, along with many of their mothers.  The gospel was preached, Bible songs learned, and everyone participated in the fun games and activities.  Many of the children don't receive a lot of attention at home, and they drank up every moment of time the team gave them.  If the sun was up, so were the kids, ready and waiting to hang out with the team!

    Our students facilitated a church service, and also hosted an evangelistic movie night.  After the movie Brayan presented the gospel and six children came forward to accept Jesus.  When many of the people had left another man came forward and said that he also wanted to re-dedicate his life to God after many years of bitterness because of a dispute between himself and the pastor of his church.  He was reconciled with the pastor, and tearfully submitted himself to the Lord in front of everyone.

     The team arrived back to the base for a good night of sleep and a chance to wash laundry before they headed out for El Salvador on Sunday morning.  They will be gone for two weeks, but Dave did not go with them for this portion, because he can't leave the country... our residency paperwork is now pending approval at the immigration office!!!

    With our involvement in the Outreach basically complete (except for DTS graduation in a few weeks), our hearts are being drawn towards our soon-to-be home at the lake.  We have started packing the room, and with the boxes piling up, it is becoming very real that we are actually moving!  We are very excited to finally be doing what we have prayed about for the past year, and we know God is about to do even bigger things in our life and work here in Guatemala!