the Dave and Shawn show: Counting Down from 10...

We are leaving for our Christmas visit home in only 10 days! We have been here for almost a year exactly, and it feels extremely odd to be leaving our home to go... home. I'm having some very mixed feelings, excited to see family, but nervous to leave our team and friends here, even if it is only for a few weeks. It has been such an amazing year and is heartwarming to see how sad our Guatemalan friends are about us leaving... They all keep asking about when exactly we will be back! It's nice to feel appreciated!

We have a suitcase of gifts for friends at home and Guatemalan items to show to our churches. I will even be speaking at a girls group and telling them all about "life as a missionary". I'm excited to get to share our mission and life here in Guaremala. We have such vision for this upcoming year, and it's the greatest feeling to know that we can spend time with family in Canada with the confidence that we will be returning to our beloved Guatemala. This is our first experience of being "on furlough"...kinda cool.

Wrapping up our ministries and language classes for the year has been busy, as well as helping out in the base kitchen while our cook is on a leave of absence for health reasons. Every day is different, full, fun, sometimes difficult and tiring, but always a reminder of how God has brought us here, is sustaining us, and is bringing us joy and fulfillment every single day. We LOVE Guatemala!

Dave's dad and brother brought down our Christmas decorations when they were here in September, so I decided that Z and I should decorate our room... And then our friend Kalissa got on board and we decorated the base, made Christmas bread and pumpkin pie, and have listened to Christmas music for days... It's beginning to look like Christmas around here!

Z without creative Christmas tree