Happy Birthday Olivia!

Our niece Olivia turn a whopping 2 years old today. Besides getting a new brother recently, looks like she got some nice new pink cowgirl boots! ( www.lifewithaoc.blogspot.com )

Happy Birthday--we love you!

Road trip to Baja Verapaz

Our day started at 0500 yesterday as we headed north to Santa Cruz del Quiche, met up with the rest of our friends from Paxot and Mactzul and headed east to Zacualpa about an hour away. There we met with families from 4 small churches (about 50 people in total) and all caravaned out another 2 1/2 hours to the town of Pachajop in Baja Verapaz for a worship service and baptism of two people. The scenery was beautiful as we climbed mountain after mountain. The interesting thing is people there speak the Achi language and Spanish. So the sermon was done in a mix of Spanish and Quiche so everyone could understand. We had worship in the morning, baptism service at the river, lunch and another service of singing and teaching. It was a great day and we "sold" (below cost) 60 Bibles. It is encouraging to know that the Word of God will be more available to Christians in the area. We headed home at 4:30 and made it back at 9:00.

Tomas (he usually smiles but he forgot his teeth yesterday!), Kemmel, Ana Elizabeth, Lindy, Sebastian and Micaela, and Manuel tucked in behind.
Church services at the home of the family baptized. The pink cast is from the tarp made of pink grain bags.

Everyone hiking down to the river.

Manuel (left) and Tomas waiting to make their public confession of faith.

The two elders praying before they get started.

Manuel

Tomas

1Peter 3:20-22 ...In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

Abelino and Victoria with Kemmel (they wanted a picture with Kemmel the tall guy).
Brothers Agustin, Andres, Tomas (our new brother) and Victor. Great work!

Leadership Meeting

We are at a 2-day meeting of our organization's management staff. It is a nice time to get away from the usual routine and enjoy some time in fellowship while learning about leadership skills. This time we are focusing on qualities of a servant leader and communication within an organization. Our dynamic activity this morning involved randomly and secretly assigning numbers to each person and then (without talking or seeing) organizing ourselves in numerical order. Instead of blindfolds we used our new sports packs over our heads, hence the KKK look.

We are at a hotel in San Lucas Toliman with breathtaking views of Lake Atitlan and excellent service. What a treat! We are in an area near a cloud forrest reserve near by and right now we are getting rained on so hard that there is a river flowing through town down to the lake--very cool!

A Drive in the Country

Today was clinic in Chutzerob, which is always a joy. The brothers and sisters there are very active in their clinic ministry. Today, brother Sipriano wanted to tell us that several members of the surrounding communities have come and thanked him and other church members for the clinic and the attention we all give.
We saw a variety of patients, and when we finished we headed out with two of the elders to see a very ill woman who has been confined to bed for the last 4 months. The ride out was about 45 minutes. She was a 26 year old mother with severe anemia and probably a pelvic infection post partum. We prescribed some medications and labwork and a follow up appointment at our clinic. We then prayed for them and invited them to church as they were attending worship somewhere but couldn't remember the name of it! We pray that God will heal her and that the family will glorify his name.
We took a different way, back thinking that it would be faster, but we ended up wandering and backtracking and trekking our way through the hinterland of Chichicastenango. But, thank the Lord we made it back to well known roads and got everyone dropped off at home. I kept telling my passengers that we were doing good, and they would say "good and lost!" It was quite the adventure and we met lots of nice people who pointed us the way home.

Satisfied Customer

Well, one of our favorite patients, Sebastian came in to clinic today, a crippled over, mostly deaf guy who came in looking for some relief of his back and hip pain several months back. Each time he says he is getting better and better. Well, today he told us that he has been working his field all by himself, which is something he hasn't done in years. He said he wasn't able to even put his own shoes on or pick up his walking stick by himself until the last month or so. So today he threw his stick on the ground and bent over and picked it up to show us how well he is doing. Although he is still very limited in his movements, he is obviously having dramatic improvements that I can't completely attribute to his naproxen tablets. He is alway praising God for his faithfulness, and we can see how God has helped him be functional again. What a blessing for him and for us to get to witness it.

Sheri's Birthday Party

Well, we didn't eat all the pie by ourselves. We invited Sheri and our friend Dee over for a proper Chilean Once (early evening snack/supper) of ham sandwiches, deviled eggs and apple pie to celebrate Sheri's birthday last week. It was a great evening of fellowship.

YUM!

It's time to take advantage of all the apples we have been gifted!

Welcome Baby Boy!

Well, my sister Anna and her husband Charlie just had their fourth baby. They had numerous ultrasounds which all seemed to show the baby to be their 4th girl. But yesterday after an early c-section, they were surprised with a BOY! We are so excited for them. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having nieces, but what a great surprise and blessing for them to have a boy too!
Congratulations! Hope you find a name soon (and some masculine clothes for the little guy).

www.lifewithaoc.blogspot.com

50 Years and Going Strong

This weekend we had the priviledge of worshiping with over 2000 members from churches of Christ from around Guatemala, celebrating 50 years since it's foundation. Two of the missionaries instrumental in evangelizing this country came as well--Jerry Hill and Dan Coker. Jerry's son David also made it down, which was a special treat for us, as he and Kemmel went to school together while they lived in Guatemala. It was a joyful time of worship and homecoming and recognition of how the churches have multiplied in 50 short years. As a testimony to the power of the Word and the work of the Spirit in this country, we were reminded that after the missionaries left due to the violence during the Civil War, the Church continued to grow and spread despite not having U.S. support. We thank God for his faithfulness and for providing people like Jerry Hill and Dan Coker who have a love for people and for sharing the good news like they did.

Jerry Hill receiving a plaque of recognition from the churches

Dan Coker receiving his plaque of recognition from the churches

Jerry Hill, David Hill, Dan Coker, Kemmel Dunham

Happy Birthday Calli and Sheri!

A big shout out to our niece Calli who celebrates her birthday today.

We love you lots!

Also, Happy belated Birthday to our sister in the Faith, Sheri Kretzschmar who turned ???? over the weekend. Sorry we missed your big day--we'll make some pie this week!

Men's Seminar

Once again we send out a BIG thank you to those of you that directly support the Leadership Conferences here in Guatemala. This week we hosted brother Bruno Valle from Nicaragua to teach on the Gospel of John. It was a little longer than usual (4 days), but everyone commented on how good the teaching was and wished they could continue longer. People were especially appreciative of his methods of teaching, encouraging scripture review and discussion of the passages in group setting. Kemmel and the guys really enjoyed the fellowship and edification.

In addition, Kemmel chatted with some brothers from about 2 hours away, who reportedly have evangelized a family from the Baja Verapaz area about 3 1/2 hours away. The family has requested to be baptised and the brothers asked Kemmel if we could help transport them up there for the day. We are honored and will head out around 5:00 am on the 29th through some interesting backroads to get there. We will have a worship service and baptism and come back in the evening.

Birthday/Anniversary Catch Up

Well, I fell off the blog wagon last week and managed to miss some important days.

First, today is our nephew Lance's 8th birthday. Happy Birthday, Lancer! Did you get the day off from school?

Tuesday was our sister-in-law Kelli's xxxx birthday! We love you and hope Kriss and Kyler treated you right!

Last Thursday was our sister and brother-in-law Aimee and Brant's anniversary. We love you both and wish you many more years of love and happiness together.

Thank You Eastside!

The crew at Xepocol

Our Eastside Church of Christ family came to see us this last week and we have been thoroughly spoiled, encouraged, fellowshiped an loved. Our time was spent going to work together each day--getting up early and going to bed late, but we didn't hear a single complaint (inner grumbling may have occured, however!). We did our regularly scheduled clinics, VBS classes for the churches' children and construction projects including new white boards and book cases for the churches.

What a treat to get to share in this work together, helping patients and the churches, but also being blessed by the hospitality and fellowship shared between our Guatemalan and American brothers.

Ted and Jackie Mogey

Thanks to Ted and Jackie Mogey, representing our elders, for loving on us plenty! Jackie worked hard getting patients their vital signs and ready for their consults. Ted was on his knees relentless in his prayer ministry for our patients. We are sure his prayers were powerful and effective.

Allen and Benita Thomas

Kelind Baker and "Little"Allen Thomas

Megan Mackenzie, Bryant Thomas, Craig Thomas and Meghan Reynolds

Thanks to Allen and Benita Tomas for their hard work in organizing this trip and gifting us so many supplies for our lab. They brought several hundred syphillis and HIV tests for us to use in our clinics. They also gifted us by bringing their terrific sons Allen, Bryant and Craig, who we can never get enough of! The personal ministry of these young men was making sure the ladies at the churches didn't see any food left on anyone's plates after lunch! And tortilla counts per meal were well over 15 each!

Besides the Thomas boys, we were also blessed by Kelind Baker and Megan Mackenzie and Meghan Reynolds who spent their last week of summer freedom with us before heading off to be college freshmen. They did a great job working with the kids in the VBS activities and helped out in clinic without grumbling!

Ferne Rea

Thanks to Ferne Rea for coming down and spending time with us. We only wish we had known her better back home. But she was a blessing to us and to our friends' children helping to organize the VBS activities this week. Her life group at church has always generously contributed to the work here. We hope she enjoyed getting to participate on a different level!

John and Mary Muth

Dr. John and Mary Muth were also instrumental in our activities this week. Dr. Muth got to put his GYN and public health background to use lending us a hand in clinic. He even speaks Spanish--a real plus! Thanks to Mary's hard work putting together the children's education program and leaving us with so many nice materials for the local Sunday school teachers. She may not speak Spanish, but she didn't let that stop her. And she can do a mean Hokey-Pokey!

Joe and MaryJo Keuhlen

Joe and MaryJo Keuhlen's first trip outside the U.S. was spent with us--what an honor. They did really well, even learning a few Spanish and K'iche' words along the way. Joe made himself completely available to us in every way--praying with patients (on his knees), helping out on the constructions projects, and putting his plumber hat on and FIXING our stinky sink problem at Clinica Caris! We were so grateful! MaryJo was instrumental in getting us over 5000 toothbrushes and other materials for the dental clinic. She even jumped in and pulled teeth and did cleanings. Great job, rookies!

Baruch and Julie Rhea

Finally but not leastly, we enjoyed getting to see Baruch and Julie Rhea again. They got in one day earlier than the others and lost Baruch's luggage on Mexicana (all of his clothes!) Of course we didn't get it back until they checked back into Mexicana the following Monday! But they were good sports and became very good patrons of the local grocery store which sells underwear and basic clothing items. Julie was so helpful as a translator and working in our patient check in and pharmacy. All of our staff really enjoyed her visit. Baruch blessed us with several small construction projects for our churches and fixed up a new counter top for ME! He even had time to whip out a book case for our house. Thanks guys!
We just want to thank everyone who came down and the church at Eastside for contributing to and supporting this trip. We love you all and are so blessed to be partnered with you in this work!