I knew it had been awhile since I'd updated our blog, but was surprised to see it had been this long! Our interent access has been iffy at best, so this morning we're sitting in a cafe in Antigua where we can have access to wireless if we buy something. We are studying in the afternoons this week as the school is so full in the morning and there was no room. Since we were in the Capital last week we pretty much forfeited our morning spot. But the change has actually been a blessing as we are able to study and find internet in the morning now and don't have to wake up with the clanging of the bells of La Merced at 5 in the morning. Also, because we are studying only every other week, we are not able to stay with the family we had been with for our first 5 weeks. We found a hotel for $40/night, so the amount we are paying is less than what we paid for the home stay. So this week we are on the hunt for inexpensive places to find meals that are safe to eat. The pig head and carved off meat under the heat lamp in the window of one of the restaurants on our street did not beckon us in to try a dinner there, thank you very much. And I'm thrilled that this bed has no bed bugs as the previous home did. Dozens of bites that are getting close to not itching anymore... phew!
We'll only be studying four days a week now as Manuel must pick us up on Thursday afternoons to return for the next mission team's arrival. Kevin has been able to keep his teacher...with whom he has a great deal of fun. I was a little apprehensive about starting with a new teacher, but was VERY fortunate to have the sister of Kevin's teacher. She's just as much fun as Carmen and we had such a great time yesterday. It will make the over 400 verbs I've had much easier to swallow as we launch into the past tense. We're told that we should take our time in this level as it's really crucial to the next ones. I quite agree. We didn't have much time to study while our Delray FL team was down here last week. We were much too busy having a great time serving together. But we're hoping that when other teams that we don't know are here that we'll have more time to continue the memorizing during the 10 days we're away from our school. And I just need to force myself to speak spanish with our boys at the ministry and make the mistakes. Only way to learn, I'm thinkin'.
One of the highlights of last week was Rachel joining the Delray team down here. We had a great time catching up on what's happening in our two very different parts of the world. The ministry is preparing to be at the LCMS National Youth Gathering. This is such a huge opportunity for The Servant's Heart and the sponsorship program and we pray that God will move the hearts of thousands to become sponsors of our kids and ministry workers. What a blessing to see Rach, tho. It's so hard being so far away, not sharing every detail of every day like we're used to. She's right where God wants her to be, enjoying so many new friends in Arizona who have already become like family to her.
It's 5 in the morning and for whatever reason, I've been awake for two hours and can't seem to get back to sleep. So, I thought I may as well keep working at getting this blog up to date before another busy week at the ministry starts. My brain's been so overloaded with language school it's hard to find the energy to fill in more than just the basics. But I hear the birdies beginning their day and will soon hear the cohetes (firecrackers) announcing the "Corpus Cristi" holiday here today. It's a big day in Antigua for the Catholic churches with a procession through the streets, special masses and foods prepared only for special occasions and holidays.
Last week, as I said earlier, we had two mission teams at the ministry: one from Delray Beach FL and the other from Oklahoma. We began their week with a two hour long worship service at the Lutheran church in the Capital. Andy said that the record long sermon was a mere 57 minutes! (Don't get any ideas, Bob!) Something new our teams are doing this year is to take an hour plus drive beyond Antigua to San Antonio where our vendadora friend, Nelli, lives. She and her family served this group of over twenty people a very typical dinner of tortillas, meat, guacamole, beans, salsa, jamaica juice, and plantains. We were treated to watching two women weave the traditional blouses of the country. Each city has its own design and it takes one woman 6 months of weaving several hours a day to complete one blouse! There are just beautiful. We learned that a girl begins weaving one of these blouses when she is around ten years old, to be completed by the time she is married. She then gives this blouse to her new mother in law who wears it on the day of the wedding. One of the women weaving was only 24 years old and already has a 10 year old daughter. A few of the team members tried their hand at the weaving and wondered how the women can sit on their for hours at a time. Quite an art and so very beautiful.
On Monday, we drove to Amatitlan, where it was already beginning to rain. It's rainy season here now and, while it typically rains in the afternoon and nighttime, it got an early start. The Oklahoma team lead the handful of children who attend school in the afternoon in a Bible story and craft while the Delray team headed out for several medical visits with Lindsey, our ministry nurse. Our first visit was to the home of someone we'd visited last time, Walter Santos, who is 35. Walter works at Lake Atitlan, but had been robbed there that week, so was a little apprehensive about returning. His mother in law had had a stroke (I believe I'd mentioned her in a previous update) but was doing somewhat better. His wife, Teresa, had fallen the day before and had really hurt her face. It was obvious she was in a lot of pain. Teresa had polio when she was younger, so her legs are very thin and she walks with quite a limp. There are nine people living in this home and Walter and his father try to provide for the family with the work they do.
Our next visit was to see Carlos. Many of you know Carlos' story...how he became a paraplegic after getting drunk and falling in a well. Lindsey came out of the shanty which is in the middle of nowhere asking if any of us had brought any food along because Carlos hadn't eaten for two days. The family he lives with had gone to another city to pick up their eldest daughter and had left him there alone, probably (hopefully) thinking they'd be back before then. All we came up with was a package of Chicky cookies. Keep in mind, too, that Carlos wouldn't have been able to walk out to the outhouse all this time as well... If we hadn't come by that day...
Third and final on the list to visit in Amatitlan (yeah, this was all before lunch!) was someone whose shanty we hadn't been to. Lindsey wanted to check on the elderly grandmother who attends our Bible studies and asked us to spend time with the mother, Susana. She's been a Christian for five years and has five sons and one daughter. Tatiana, the daughter, had left nine days ago with a man, who, apparentlly, was a friend of the family, but much older than her. Susana wasn't sure if she'd left willingly or not, but hadn't heard anything from her and was very concerned. She said her sons don't love the Lord and are getting into trouble. She's very sad because of her serious problems and is trying to trust in God to know what is best. Coca didn't do a lot of interpreting as you could just see the Holy Spirit speaking through him to Susana and one of her sons who was staying in the room. He told about a friend of his who'd been shot 7 times, but God had given him a second chance to live and turn to Him. He talked about how sometimes things that happen to us don't make sense, but God has a wiser plan and can see the bigger picture. We just need to trust that He knows what we need and when we need it. He told the son that he needs to stay away from people who are a bad influence and to get close to God instead. It was an amazing hour... And long into the visit I noticed that Susana only has one hand...
Tuesday, back in the city, the Delray team had the chance to teach the kids activities in the "park"... which is a flattened out portion of the dump, really. At first there weren't a lot of kids, but they slowly trickled over. They come from a school that is along the side of the park where the teachers release them for a 45 minute recess. The kids just take off to wherever they want to go, totally unattended. So, we take the message to them, hoping that they'll hear just a little bit of the love of Jesus...and perhaps even take it home to their parents. Eventually, we had probably 30 or 40 kids, particularly when we got to the craft part... that brought even more curious faces.
We only had time for one house visit Tuesday morning, so Adrian came with us to see Lorena, who is 21. Lorena already has three children, with baby Shirli, 7 months old being the youngest. She's a single mom because the father left with another woman when the baby was born. One week ago, the father had come to their house, drunk in the middle of the night, and had tried to break down the door. He wanted to kill Lorena and the children. She's a Christian, but is sad because this man continues to bring trouble and fear to her family. She cleans houses and washes clothes to support the children. We asked Adrian if any law enforcement would help in a situation like this and he said he could count on one hand the number of times the police had come to the shanty area to help.
Wednesday, we went to visit Ana who is 32. Her husband, Tereso, works at a gas station. Ana's doughter, Heidi, is 17 and already has two children: a daughter, 2, and little baby, Eric, who is 4 months old. When you do the math, it seems Heidi is following the pattern set by her mother, who would have been 15 when she had Heidi. It's a pattern we see so often here, where young girls have baby after baby, simply compounding the problem of poverty. Ana asked us to pray for her family and for the baby who is sometimes sick.
I think I'll leave it here for now... your heads are probably spinning as you realize that each of these homes we visited have such huge burdens to carry. We are continually humbled to see the faith of some and are brought to tears by the stories of others. We thank God for Coca and Adrian and the other ministry workers who are being used mightily by God to bring comfort and peace to these people who are hurting so deeply.
Hopefully we'll be able to get the internet to be friendly today so we can bring a little glimpse of Guatemala to you!! And I'm also hoping to continue to bring more stories of thse precious people soon through the blog.
God bless you all!!! Thank you for your continued prayers for our safety and health!
Love, Ginny and Kevin
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