From Tiny Seeds Come Giant Trees

Some of the team over for Potluck night!  (Look, we have a couch!) 

Eloisa teaching Dave to make Pepian (National dish of Guatemala)

The Lord has provided so that we finally have a fully-furnished kitchen!

Z and Damaris hanging out during literacy class

Two of our lovely students in class

Forming and reading words for the first time!!! 

 The past few weeks we've been hosting a potluck night at our house for the base staff.  We hoped it would catch on as a weekly tradition, and so far it has, with everyone squishing into our place every Thursday for a fun evening of food, conversation, and usually a card game and coffee to wrap up the evening  (our sweet Susy sure loves card games).  With three volunteers here now from Texas, our house is full of even more people and laughter.  We have a great team, and our goal is to help build community through regular social time.  It's been a lot of fun! 

   This past Thursday Dave decided that instead of having regular Spanish lessons, he wanted Eloisa to teach him to make Pepian.  It is the national dish of Guatemala, and is a tomato-based, chicken (often times) soup.  It is served with rice, tortillas, and of course the typical plate of salt, limes, and chiles.  Eloisa was trained as a professional cook before she became a Spanish teacher, and so the two chefs had a wonderful afternoon preparing what appeared, in my opinion, to be the most complicated dish ever created by humans. 
   
 Everyone loved the Pepian, and Eloisa and Dave made such a huge pot that we are still eating it, four days later. 

     As you may notice from the pictures, we have accumulated a lot of new furniture!  God has provided the money, gifts from others, and creativity for new storage solutions, that now our house is fully furnished!  Praise God!  We have almost lived her for 4 months now, and it feels amazing to finally be able to just relax at home... on my couch!!!  Thank you God!

     Literacy classes are still the highlight of my week.  The ladies have begun to form words using the letter/vowel sounds they have learned, and they take turns reading their words in front of the class.  We all cheer and clap after each student reads, and it is the most victorious feeling to watch these women reading for the first time.
 
    Before each class we take time to share from the Bible with all the students, and we have memorized a Bible verse (Phillipians 4:13), which we recite together.  Anytime someone gets frustrated in class we all stop and recite the verse together.  Watching these women persevere is helping me persevere in language school as well.  It is just so excited to think about the Bible going into these homes for the first time, and these students being able to read it for themselves!

    We hope to see this class graduate within a month.  We will be doing another intake of students after that, and already have interest from quite a few people.  The YWAM base has started a Bible study for women, and the literacy class is being promoted there, as well as our students are attending that study and learning even more about God and the Bible. 

     Living away from family here in Guatemala sometimes I feel lonely or scared... but God keeps whispering in my ear that I only have to trust Him.  I only have to keep walking every day, putting my whole faith in Him that He is able to finish everything that He starts.  And He keeps telling me that I should not despise small beginnings. 

    Our little family... little house... little school... but it will not always be this way.  This is our little beginning, and God will create something magnificent out of it.  Please continue to pray for our students, our team, and for us.