From Hospitals to Wedding Bells Z

During our Discipleship Training School Outreach, Dave offered to carry a table for a mom who was struggling to wrangle the unwieldy piece of furniture home.  The road back to her house was long and he had plenty of time to get to know the mom, Ana, her common-law husband, Luis, and their two kids, Miguel and Damaris.  

After that day we visited them other times, including throwing a birthday party for little Miguel.  Sometime near the end of the DTS we found out that Luis was suffering from a cancerous tumor and the doctor was giving him a dark prognosis if they couldn't scrape together the money for surgery.  We prayed for them, but knew that God was looking for a greatest level of response.  

Dave shared the testimony of Luis and Ana's family during the DTS graduation and a generous couple named Mike and Gloriann came forward with an offer to pay for the entire surgery, as well as covering all the expenses for the family post-op when Luis couldn't work.  Dave sat in the hospital with Luis and Ana for days while Luis recovered from the intensive surgery, praying for complete healing.  A couple months later the doctors pronounced Luis as cancer-free.  

This miracle happened almost three years ago.  Since then we've had the joy of getting to know this family better through many visits and having Ana attend our literacy class in 2014.  In May they announced that they were considering getting married and invited us to come to the wedding.  

It took a couple months to get everything arranged, but this week while we were in Antigua we finally saw our good friends commit their lives to each other in marriage.  When we visited Ana at the beginning of the week to find out the plan for the wedding day, we asked her how she was feeling.  

She said, "I feel valued that he wants to marry me.  I feel safe because now if something happens to him I know that the kids and I will be taken care of.  I never thought this day would come."  

The day they married, Dave and I signed the papers in place of Ana's family, who weren't able to be there.  She said, "You are my family.  You have cared about me when no one else did.  Many good things have happened because you came into our lives."  She smiled all day.  

"I didn't think this would ever happen to me," Ana laughed as we walked through Antigua after eating dessert in a restaraunt.  "I will never forget this special night."  

Congratulations Luis and Ana

May God bless your new marriage.   

Z and Damaris walking to the wedding 

The ceremony (they will be having another church ceremony later)

Officially husband and Wife 

Signing in place of Ana's mom 

Luis' Mom signing 

The newlyweds! 

The three amigos 

Walking to the reception, hosted by a friend of Ana's 

Reception dinner, cow-heart soup with rice, tortillas and coffee

We took them for dessert/pizza in Antigua afterwards.  It was the first time they'd eaten in a real restaurant.  

No leftovers here!  

Enjoying a walk through Central Park 

Luis' side of the family

53 Days and Counting...

We countdown to a lot of things in our family.  We countdown to birthdays, Christmas, going to Antigua—and this time, Canada! 

The last time we were in Canada was for Christmas 2014.  That feels like a million years ago, especially considering everything that has changed.  We’ve moved to Lake Atitlan (which is completely different than living in Antigua!), my sister gave birth to her second child, and my brother is about to get married.  We’ve missed hundreds of days of normal life and all the laughter, and conversation, and fun that could have been had together.  We’ve chosen to say yes to God’s call, and the cost of that decision has been high.  Often painfully high.  

We leave in 50something days to spend two months with our precious families and friends in Canada.  The preparations are well underway, including buying gifts, scheduling to visit churches, and hiring a photographer to take some whole-family photos.  I couldn’t be more excited about this trip... and thankful to the God that has made it possible by resolving our residency paperwork in time, and inspiring someone close to us to pay for our flights.  God is so faithful to me in my weakness and homesickness. 

As I’ve been preparing our ministry updates, I’m amazed to see how God has provided for us.  We didn’t have the money to do everything we did in the past two years, and yet God figured it out every time.  We’ve been lonely and discouraged, and He sent us friends to visit and encouraged our hearts with His Spirit.  We’ve been sick, and tired, and hurt, and He’s picked us up and given us strength. 

He’s been faithful.  So very, very faithful. 

In the past two years we’ve seen breakthroughs in both our personal life and our ministry.  We’ve seen healings, a salvation, spiritual growth in the kids in San Pablo and in Z. We've learned about spiritual warfare in both the classic "casting out demons" sense, and in the prayerful rejection of depression, and discouragement.  Prayer is no longer an optional activity, it's a life-source for survival. It's been an amazing two years, it really has.  

As I reflect on my life away from Canada I realize that perhaps it is I who have changed... and I'm thankful for a God who holds my hand and guides me in the way I should go.  It's not the easy way to go, but it's the right way and I am growing and changing and learning more about His loving character every day.  The crazy thing is that I'm sure the same thing is happening to my family member too-- we have so much catching up to do!    

So as we get down into the 40's, and then the 30's, and eventually to the days of actually packing suitcases and driving to the airport... I fix my eyes not on the sadness of missed days and "lost" time, instead I remind myself of the God who loves me enough to bring me to Guatemala-- and then help me get home again for a glorious two months as a family.  

One of the ways God has provided for us is by sending friends to visit-- like the Snyders (Canadians!) in early June.  The Snyders were our leaders during our DTS in 2013. 

Z and Eli eating lunch together.   

Z and Eli found some more friends to come over and watch "Donut Man".  

The fair came to town while they were visiting.  

It was so great to spend time with friends!