Hola from Guatemala City! We are back after another week of Spanish school, and are awaiting the arrival of two mission teams today. One is from Lake Worth, Florida, the other from California. They have been planning and preparing for months and months for their service in Guatemala and we are praying that they will have open hearts and hands to serve Him during this very special nine days.
It's always hard to come back from school after such a short time of studying. We're so anxious to learn this language, but will need to accept the every other week time table as the norm for now. We're both enjoying our teachers, Carmen and Ana, so much. I'm sure these sisters go home every evening with stories about their two crazy students. They are both so professional and never watch the clock to see when it's time to go. Kevin's well into Level B with a steady pace. I finished the B book and will need to review for the exam when we return to school in three weeks. We'll see how many of these hundreds of verbs in past and present tenses I can pull out of my little brain by then!! Yikes!
We continued our stay in hotels due to the lack of availablity of home stays. The place we stayed on Wednesday night had an extraordinary view from our window of Volcan de Agua. It was such a clear week with no rain, so we often had a great view of the three volcanoes and the mountains surrounding Antigua. We've found a couple of safe places to eat, so, to try to save on the food budget, try to have a late breakfast, then dinner after classes which are over at 5:30. So far we haven't ordered anything wacky... guess we'll stick with the foods we know!!
Last week we came back to the Capital to help with the mission team from Calvary Indianapolis, a group of ten. Our van is only supposed to be for 11 passengers, so with Manuel driving and a couple of our Guatemalan friends, there was never room for Kevin & me to accompany them on their adventures. We did go along for church on Sunday, but sitting backwards on the floor was good for a short trip, but not through the mountains to Amatitlan or Antigua! The team had an awesome experience through their week.
Kevin was able to spend time at the ministry learning a little more about how things operate down here and having the thrill of driving Rodrigo, our 21 year old truck. Often this is the only way for the Americans to get around in the city when the van is being used for teams. So there were a couple of mornings that Kevin and I were sitting in the back of the pickup for the 5 minute drive to the ministry, with black fumes from the chicken busses pouring out over us that we just looked at each other and wondered how in the world this ever happened!! Pretty crazy stuff. And it gets rather interesting during the rainy season. We pray for safety the entire way there...
The Americanos decided last weekend that it would be rather entertaining (doesn't take much anymore) to have a "cookout" on the roof of the missionary house. We were told that the "grill" was up where Manuel lives. We're still living in the team house, and Manuel lives with his family of 6 in a room on the third floor of that house. So Kevin went upstairs and found that the grill was an old tire rim that had three pieces of rebar (metal bars) welded onto it for legs. Apparently these are pretty common around here and can be bought for Q30 which is less than $4. Kevin and I walked from the team house to the missionary house (those of you who've been here can picture this...) carrying the silly grill. So Andy and Kevin and I went to the store to buy meat... always a little risky in my book, but I guess it was okay since I'm here to tell about it! We also bought three pineapples off a bridge... At this point Kevin's in the back of the pickup, Andy swings the truck around on this really busy street, hailing the two guys with a pile of fruit on the median of the bridge. He buys three pineapples for Q10/$1.50 and they throw them into the back with Kevin. TIG!! It took Kevin and Andy over an hour to start the fire. The high altitude was against them, but with a lot of blowing and smoke, they finally had something hot. The tire rim cooking area is only about 12" wide, so it took a long time to cook the little kabobers. I was told there was no need for plates or silverware as the standard operating procedure is to stand around the grill and eat them as they are cooked. There ya go and that's what we did...only took from 4:30-8:30!! A Guatemalan cookout...or cookup...
Kevin is going to attack the elusive sink in the team house today I think. Third time's a charm, right? He has a wrench from Manuel and just needs to figure out the fifth place to turn off the water to that one sink. We suspect it may be in the wall just because this is Guatemala and it wouldn't make any sense for it to be there. Should be an adventure! If so, we'll stand at the other end of the hall with a big bucket to catch the water while he makes the switch!
A couple weeks ago when the Delray team was here we went way out to the middle of nowhere outside of Amatitlan. I thought Carlos was way out in the country, but this was even farther...Manuel even had to ask directions which I've never seen him do! We went to see three different families, but two of them were the most rural I've been to. One was the family of Pedro and Maria Angela Cruz, an older couple who had 12 children and 46 grandchildren!! Holy smokes! I'm not sure how many of the children and grandchildren live there but there was a steady stream of shoeless little feet coming in and out of the house. They asked us to pray for Maria who has been sick and for work for their children. They also asked for prayer for their corn crop. It had rained that day, so everything was a muddy mess... especially at the next house we went to. There were several tiny shanties within the fence. We visted with Meralda who has 12 children and 15 grandchildren. Her husband had died 10 years ago, but she now has a second husband. One of her sons was in an accident so couldn't work. We had a good visit with her and her daughter in law who is expecting a baby... more little ones... what a busy place! It must be so difficult to live in these places during the rainy season. Everything turns to mud. Such a hard life...
It's time for me to return to the other house to be picked up for the airport run. We send our daily thanks for your prayers and love as God protects us and keeps us in His care. God be with you, as well!!
Ginny and Kevin
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