Cold Day, Warm Fellowship

Here in Guatemala, February is fraught with all kinds of unpredictable weather.  We are in the middle of dry season, but when February comes it can be rainy or windy or dry or a mixed bag.  Also, it seems like most of the earthquakes/tremors get fired up around this time.  Well, in January we are already getting some rain and cold, and last week we experienced several tremors.  Should be a fun month coming up!

Today we were invited out to lunch with one of our scholarship students and his family.  Fernando is starting high school, which is a big deal around here, but what makes it special is his mother is a widow, and would have no chance of sending him on without this scholarship.  We thought it was just a lunch, but it turned out to be a small gathering of people from the family and church to encourage him and present him with biblical advice as he begins his school year.  We each took turns reading from the Word wise counsel on working hard, staying faithful and being grateful to God for the blessings he gives us.  It was really touching to see this young man who lost his father at a young age, recieve fatherly advice from men in the church.  After the time in Word, we were served a huge meal of chicken soup and tamalitos before we headed to worship services.  As we headed out to church we got rained on a little and were kept alert through the sermon by the cold wind coming in the windows. But we were warmed by the genuine welcome we received from the church!

Checked marked as a great day!

Trucks, towtrucks and tuc tuc's

This is our version of Planes, trains and Automobiles, Guatemala style.   See Sheri's blog at:

http://sheriinguate.blogspot.com/2012/01/trucktow-tuck-and-tuk-tuks.html

Thankfully, everyone is fine. Even the Nissan.  Some repairs but nothing to major.  The brake was beaten up a little as it twisted off and scuffed up the brakepad and we are having to replace a brake pump.

It's good to be back at work again. We have some exciting changes coming up this year, and yesterday during our staff meeting we were able to lay out some of the plans.  We will have a new position open up this year, an evangelist that will be helping us encourage more follow up of patients and home visits in the communities. This also gives us the chance to try a clinic ministry in new areas with the help of local churches to do the follow up.  Gaspar Chan, our very first health promoter to work with us, will be filling this position.  We are excited because the church in Xepocol where he is an elder has been growing steadily and they have a great evangelistic spirit there.  So, we are now looking for a new health promoter to accompany us in clinics.  We have some good options in some of our volunteer promoters so be in prayer that God will bring on board someone who will share the same vision for ministry that Gaspar has had.

We are also in the process of looking for a new dentist and dental assistant.  This will greatly increase our opportunities to offer restorative care (fillings) rather than just extractions in our mobile clinics. We were blessed by a grant by the Caris Foundation to be able to add on to our Caris Clinic building. So we will have two dental operatories, two medical exam rooms and a space for dental cleanings, not to mention our added storage space--hallelujah! 
So, be in prayer for our changes and goals for 2012. May many people come to know Christ through this work.

ABC Celebation Day 1 and Eastside Church of Christ

Every year as part of the ABC Child sponsorship program we have a day of thanksgiving celebrating the accomplishments of the chidren and worshiping together as a large group - a very large group.  Last year we topped 800 people in one day and this year we were able to split it into 2 days topping 1000 people between the 2 days.

With the assistance of an excellent group of people from Eastside Church of Christ (our home church), this year we were able to plan something different and more focused on the children called the Resurrection Celebration.  The day consisted of congregation worshipping, participating in active dramas regarding the life, death and resurrection of Christ and many activities focused on living a christian life.  We had a great 2 days!  Here are some pictures from Day 1 and we will post more of day 2 later.

Enjoying riding in the back of the truck.  One of the little things we do not experience much in the US anymore, but always makes you feel like a free spirit.

People from about 4 communities.  The dramas were done in the balcony above the auditorium.   Ruben had the honors of getting everyone energized up.

Kelly, Violeta and Dany ready to start the dramas. 

Joe and Ruben as the centurions who crucified Christ explaining how Christ was sacrificed for us. 

Allen and Marcos speaking of the last supper and taking communion with the children with Martina translating into k'iche.

 Dany and Octave (yes he is that tall) speaking of how we are holy priests.

 Praying during communion.

Centurions and children hammering names to the cross. 

Mary Jo and older girl crafts and activities. 

 Waiting to enter for the dramas.

Jeff and the 8-10 year old boys. 

 Levi setting up the shields for protection with the younger boys.

 2nd Prize winners - clothing (each child can win prizes based on church participation, school grades and other responsibilities)

First prize winners - beds or dressers. 

Local men volunteers and coordinators of the ABC program from the local communities.  We normally have one per community, but each community has multiple men who want to be involved.

Great day, God was and is Good!

Sobering, but we live in the right Department of Guatemala!

We live in the Department of Quiche.  :)  We will post more positive news next....

Happy 2012

Happy New Year everyone!  We are back after a great 2 weeks home in the States.  We got to see all of our family and were spoiled beyond what we deserve.  And the weather was just perfect the whole time--yea!  It is great to be back in our Guatemala home though, and we look forward to getting back to work.  Since we left in a hurry on Christmas Eve after a great week with our Eastside Church of Christ family, we have a bit of organizing to do.  Part of our living room still looks like a rental storage unit, and we brought medicine and other supplies back with us--but we're getting there little by little!
Tonight we will go have dinner with Sheri and catch up on each other's lives. 
I am working on getting some pictures up of the ABC program's year-end celebration that we hosted with Eastside--it was a blast, and the kids and families gave us some great feedback. 
So, for now we just want to wish everyone a blessed and fruitful 2012 and success in your resolutions and goals!