I've been sitting here staring at the screen wondering where to begin! I looked at the date of our last post and cringed...almost two months!! You must have wondered if we fell in! I suppose in a way we have. We've fallen into a crazy routine since the last of our 2007 mission teams left in September. Each Sunday we pack our bags and head to Antigua with a van full of Manuel's family. It's a little outing for them, allowing them some time out of their one room on the top of the Team House. We talk and chat away the whole way. Each Monday through Thursday morning Kevin and I spend a few hours studying in the little apartment we found for our last two months of school here. (We are ecstatic that it actually has 2 chairs and a little table!!!
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Sitting on a bed 18 hours a day had gotten more than old) At 1:00 we walk 8 blocks to our school and study for 4 hours with Carmen and Ana...they are sisters...we are friends. They've been our teachers for most all of the time we have been studying since April. After class, we walk back the 8 blocks to our little casa to study, work on ministry things, and begin the schedule all over again. Thursdays, Manuel makes his way back to Antigua to pick us up and take us back to the Capital city. We spend Friday and Saturday at the ministry, and Sunday we pack up to return to Antigua...la la la... Pete and Repeat were in a boat!!! I figured out that, since our arrival in April, we have stayed in 8 different places! But, even in the craziness, we try to find the routine that our bodies and lives crave. Not an easy task in Guatemala! Right now we are approaching our last 3 weeks in Spanish school before the ministry Christmas break. This is not to say that we couldn't use a LOT more Spanish instruction!! But we feel that, beginning in January, we need to be in Guatemala City all the time rather than the 2 days a week that we've been doing, as we begin a new year of ministry activities. It'll be great to put the suitcases in the corner for longer periods of time! Eduardo, one of our ministry teens who speaks fluent English (is this fair??), has agreed to continue working with me on my Spanish...yay!! Start praying for him! I'm about to finish Level D and hope to take a bite out of Level E before we finish in November. This by no means indicates what is going from my brain and coming out of my mouth!! I've stuffed so many verbs and nouns and direct and indirect objects into my head, I'm sure it looks like alphabet soup in there by now. We're up to 8 or 9 verb tenses now...it just isn't right... I have vowed to speak only in the present tense...no looking back...no looking ahead...I'm livin' in the NOW!! Much easier, don't you think?
So, how do I summarize 2 months of ministry in Guatemala?? The first thing that comes to my mind is names. Whenever we walk around our ministry neighborhood, it's rare if we don't see someone we know. Victor! The man who's covered in grim who works in the dump and comes to the provision every day for his bowl of soup. He gets a big hug every time I see him. What a smile! Beatrice! The woman with three children who lives in the worst, filthiest shanty I have ever seen. How's your baby? Ana! The little sweetie who sees you down the street and yells your name and runs toward you, jumping in your arms giggling. Hugo! Well, what can I say about this young man?...He hugs the stuffing out of me every time he sees me. Ruth! Did you eat something today?
The names could go on and on... Sometimes I just stand on a little overhang looking out over our neighborhood and watch the kids and teens and adults passing by realizing how much God has done in the hearts and lives of these Guatemalans. So many are growing in their faith, growing in friendships, growing in their education. They've been transformed by the love of Christ. But there are so many who haven't met their Savior, who don't know that God has a plan for their life, that need to hear the Good News. There is much work to be done!
We are excited about 2008!
Our teams will begin arriving again in February, so I've been working on revising and trimming our team manual, making in kind donation assignments, and working with the Guatemalan staff to fine tune our team schedule for 2008. We already have over 20 teams signed up and hope to add even more. What a great year ahead!!
We are so grateful for your continued prayers!! I battled some sort of crud for such a long time, but am now back on track! We thank God for antibiotics and Freidrich the air cleaner!! (It's the brand name, but now affectionately, a name that has stuck! Thanks, Don and Mary for giving us pollution free air in our room in the city!!) As we approach our last 3 weeks of school, please pray that we can absorb as much as language as possible so we can begin to really communicate (rather than just waving our arms around trying to express ourselves!)...to be able to really hear and understand the ups and downs in the hearts and lives of the people here...and to be able to comfort, encourage, and uplift through our words. God is good! And He will give us what we need when we need it!
So...before another month goes by...I will post this and leave more for later! God bless each of you richly! He is an awesome God and we are so humbled to serve Him here. We think of you so very often and pray for you as well!
With love from Guate,
Ginny
