Christmas Lunch for the Kids

We were able to have a lunch for nearly 100 kids here this week. Many of these kids will not receive much more for Christmas. It was awesome to see their huge smiles and joy as they enjoyed a traditional Guatemalan Christmas lunch and got a little gift. After lunch Jennifer and I shared the Christmas story and about how much Jesus loved each of them. It was a joy to see these kids and experience this time with them. Check out some pictures below:

We spent all morning cleaning, decorating and setting up.

 A big thanks to Indy Metro Church for making this lunch possible!

 We spent a half of day buying all the food and gifts in Antigua at the market there where everything is cheapest.  That was an experience in and of itself!

 Kids began to fill up the Art School...

 This girl was so sweet and I got a hug from her!

 Another cute kid

 Lots of happy kids with full bellies :)

lots of smiles

 A pic with all of the kids and us

 Antoinetta decorating

We go all out for party's here and decorate a lot!

Meet Ana & Her Family

We had a chance to visit with a family today who has been apart of the cooking school since the start.  She started with the original group over two years ago.  We have been there several times and she has been to our house, but today it felt is if I was able to connect, especially with the kids.  It was fun playing with the kids and praying with them.

This is her son Henry...





Please continue to pray for Ana and her kids.  Especially her son Kevin how has many health issues.  She has many challenges in life but continues to work hard to take care of her four kids and work to grow her business.  Ana was one of the graduates from the cooking school and she has her own business selling cakes at a cafe.  She also received a micro loan which she was able to use to buy a refridgerator to help further her business.

Here are a few more pictures of the family:

Henry

 

 

 

 

Ana

Thanks to all who have given to support her and others like here in Guatemala.  Your sacrifices truly make a difference!

Prayer Requests

A quick post so you can be praying with us.  We are in process of getting our visas and we have to have all of our paperwork in by December 20th.  We went to the immigration office the day after thanksgiving thinking that we had all the paperwork we needed and well we didn't.  So we had to send back some more stuff to the states.  We are at the mercy of the government at this point so please pray that all our paperwork gets approved quickly and back down here before December 20th so we can get our visas rolling.

If we don't get the paperwork back we will have to pay a fine each day until we get it turned in or leave the country for a short time to get our passports stamped. So thank you for praying!

Also we have recently been reminded of all the safety concerns here in Guatemala with a couple different incidents.  One was a fellow missionary here who was shot not to far from where we live.  Please continue to pray for our safety and for a full recovery for Doug Johnson!

We are trusting the Lord for his perfect plans for our lives and claiming this scripture:

Psalm 18:1-3:

I love you, Lord;
you are my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.
 I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and he saved me from my enemies.

Christmas In Guatemala

As you all know Christmas is fast approaching.  We are trying to utilize Christmas here in Guatemala as a time to minister and show the love of Jesus.  We are doing a couple of things here to do that.

The first thing that we are doing is by sharing with our friends and neighbors here and allowing them to have a Christmas through our Adopt a family for Christmas. 

We are also doing a Christmas lunch for about 75 kids here.  Many of the kids here will not have any sort of celebration or special food for Christmas.  So with the help of our ministry partners, Carlos & Thelma and Indy Metro Church we are going to be able to provide a special Christmas Guatemalan lunch to many kids.

We are learning more about how Christmas is celebrated here.  One of the things we are looking forward to is a lot of fireworks at midnight on Christmas Eve.  From our roof we can see Guatemala City and from what we are told it will be an amazing view on Christmas Night.  Another family tradition of ours is looking at Christmas lights so hopefully we can drive around and find some good lights here.

We also have a Love Guatemala Team Christmas Party planned for this month.  Lots of fun things happening!  We are so excited to celebrate with all our friends here.  But we will also miss being able to celebrate with all our family and friends back home. Merry Christmas!

This a large Christmas tree in Guatemala City we passed the other day. Very Pretty!

Escuela de Vacaciones

We have been pretty busy the past couple of weeks!  It has been a lot of fun but a lot of work.  The schools here run from January to October.  So the Art, Cooking and Carpentry Schools follow the same schedule.  After school is over we take off one week and then we have what we call vacation schools.  This is a two week school in which we have all different students in the schools for a two week mini program.  In the art school we had close to 50 students, we had 22 in the cooking school and 10 in the carpentry school. 

This is an opportunity to invite to students into the schools and gain some valuable skills and be able to minister to some different kids and families.  One of the other things we are able to do during these couple of weeks is use the regular students from the schools and give them opportunities to teach and lead different things.  This helps us develop them as leaders and teachers as well.

Jennifer has been teaching young ladies at the cooking school and I have been helping in the Art School.  One of the highlights of these two weeks for me was being able to do some small devotionals for the kids in the art school.  I was also able to pray in Spanish for the first time! Enjoy a few more photos below:

These were the younger kids ages 8-11.

These are some of the regular students in the Art School who were helping teach during the vacation schools.

These are some of the boys in the carpentry school.

These are some more pictures of the young ladies in the cooking school.

 

Adopt a Family In Guatemala for Christmas!

Many families here in Guatemala where we live won't even have a special meal let alone any gifts for Christmas. We have decided as a family to adopt a few families here in Guatemala for Christmas to be a blessing to them and share the Love of Jesus in a practical way.  And we wanted to share this idea with anyone interested in doing the same.  So here is the scoop:

• For $50 you can adopt a family
• This will buy some food for a special holiday meal and a few gifts for the family.
• We will deliver the goods and send you a photo.

Go here and give to sponsor a family.  Please select Love Guatemala - General Support and add a note saying "Adopt a Family in Guatemala"

Thanks for considering being a blessing in this way!

Transitions

We have been living in Guatemala for just over 4 months now and we are continuing to learn A LOT!  Sometimes it is information overload especially when it comes to learning Spanish.  It has been and continues to be the biggest and toughest transition I have ever made.  I have never lived in a foreign country (other than for a few months when I was in the Air Force), I have never learned a different language, and I have never been immersed into a completely different culture.  Not only am I transitioning but I am also trying to help our family transition.  Each day seems to bring new challenges.

Our transitions no matter how big or small are often effected by our preconceived notions about how the transition will go.  That is one of the issues I am facing.  My preconceived notion about our transition here was way off.  I knew it would be tough but the one thing I didn’t expect was the length of time it would take to transition.  I like to work hard and be effective in whatever God leads me to do.  But God has been teaching me through our transition here that I need to be patient.  I need more patience in learning Spanish, I need more patience in learning the culture, I need more patience in building relationships and I need more patience in driving etc etc etc…..  I wanted to be at full speed by now but God is teaching me to be patient in all things.  His timing is better than ours!

We have made a long term commitment to live and minister here in Guatemala.  And so with that long term commitment comes long term goals and desire to see lasting change.  Lasting change comes as we learn what it takes to bring about life long change here in Magdalena, Guatemala and each situation is different and requires different things and more learning and all of that takes time!   We know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what brings about change and so we are learning how to most effectively communicate that here.  Learning about the culture we are in is very important for effective communication of the gospel.

 It would be easy to get involved in many things that changes things for the moment but don’t really change things long term.  So we are praying, learning and growing and trying to follow God’s lead in how to be most effective for His Kingdom long term. Please pray with us as we continue to transition and continue to learn patience. 

The Lord continues to go with us as he has promised!  I have clung to a verse that the Lord brought to me through a friend and partner in our ministry here.  It is Exodus 33:14 it says “The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”  If you think about it, Jesus was the one who went through the biggest transition of all times when he left heaven to come and dwell among us. (John 1:14)  I am thankful that the one who has been through the biggest transition is walking along side me and my family through this time.

Thank you for all your prayers and support for us during this transition and journey in our lives. We are so excited to be here and learning so much and loving on the people he has sent us to!