Tamale Time

Yesterday we spent the day with the Lux family. Marcos, our dentist turned 27 and we were invited to celebrate with them and his mom and I planned to make tamales together. It was a fun day with all of us women-folk hanging out in the kitchen working on the various phases of tamales making. Our recado (tamale sauce) consisted of pumkin seeds, sesame seeds, ancho chiles, another kind of dried red chile, chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, red bell peppers and tomatoes. All ingredients had to be toasted and then thrown together in the blender to make the sauce. Then, after a great lunch, we set up the assembly line--rice dough or potato dough, sauce, chicken or pork, sauce, olive/prune/pepper garnish all wrapped in two big green leaves.

Yummy!

Count Down

Just two more days of work! Don't get us wrong; we love our work, but it will be nice to take a break for the holidays. Things are hopping around here in town with parties every night, costumed dances in the streets, and more fair ground and market booths (you got it--more ROSCAS! - estimate we are up to 20000 pounds of roscas for sale!)

Snake oil salesman in the park

Party trailer complete with band and sound equipment. Making its round to all the neighborhoods in town--and blocking traffic!

Roscas

Yesterday was clinic in Xepocol. We saw several people, the majority of whom do not attend church. One patient in particular came in for some health issues, but we ended up talking about her husband who is dying at home, from probably a brain tumor. They have sought treatment and were told there is nothing else to be done, and he is unconscious in bed this week. She is young (35) with 5 children, and says she used to attend one of the churches in town, but since her husband has been sick, she quit going. The sad part, is she says no one from that church has come to pray with them and said that the pastor only prays for those who can pay him. And the other members and some neighbors have told her that as soon as he dies, she too will die as punishment for whatever sins they have in their life. We spent some time in counseling and praying and getting her some medications, and Gaspar arranged for a visit from people in his congregation to go to their home to pray with them.

Great Season, Zach!

Just a quick salute to our nephew Zach and his football buddies of the Bridgeport Bulls. They went undefeated this year until last night at the Texas regional 3A playoffs against Liberty Hill. It was reportedly a great game, but not meant to be this time. We are so proud of you, Zach and the hard work you put into the season! He is a great christian guy and terrific big brother to his little sister Anyla!

Roscas

It's getting crazy around here with lots of celebrating of various holy days and getting ready for the fair. Kemmel's favorite thing to watch is the stands of roscas (kind of a dry mildly sweet pretzel, eaten with coffee). What cracks him up the most is that the vendors are here for almost 2 weeks and get here with all of the roscas they plan to sell during the fair--they don't make fresh ones as the days go on. But the sales seem to escalate as we get closer to the 21st (the actual day of Sto. Tomas). We find it hard to believe that they are any good after sitting in a basket for 2 weeks, but hey you never know. One family had more than 20 baskets of 100 lbs each of roscas in their booth. And there were at least 6-7 booths--That's a minimum of 5000 lbs of bad bread out there! We need to introduce them to a good coffee cake!

Headed to the Hills

I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber.... Psalm 121:1-3

We have been praying and thinking about where to expand our clinic ministry in the next few years. One of the areas is Zacualpa which itself is about 1 1/2 hours from where we live and another hour to the surrounding communities we want to target. There is a lot of need there and many small congregations with which to join forces, but we don't know very many people there yet.

Well, Saturday, we were called by one of the elders from the church in Chichicastenango to meet with him and another elder from another town. We were a little nervous because he didn't specify what we were meeting about. But when we got together, they explained that they are a part of an organization of area elders that go out to new or struggling churches to disciple and train up leaders. They commented that in the last few years they had seen less need in the churches here as they have been maturing, and have been praying about where to focus their efforts. They said they would like to go to the Zacualpa and Joyabaj area because of the many churches there, but very little education or training among them. They asked us if we would be interested in working together combining teaching seminars and clinic days.

We were so excited as they talked and we told them about our ideas as well. We agreed to check calendars and get back together in a week and finished our meeting with a prayer, thanking God for his leading and for our christian brothers in the remote areas.

New Life

We are always so excited when our volunteer promoters tell us about how their churches are growing. No one person can claim responsibility for bringing someone to salvation. But how exciting to see results of the all of the labor we all put into the ministry together.

In I Corinthians 3:5-7, it says: What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned at each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neigher he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

Last week, the church in Mactzul V baptized 5 new believers, two of which are direct contacts from the clinic where their father was ministered to. This man had been so resistant to hearing the word of God, but after his health improved, he agreed to hear the gospel message, and although he is reluctant still, his son and daughter-in-law believed and wanted to put on Christ. The church in Xepocol has added 18 new members this year, and plan on 8 more baptisms in the next 2 weeks! People are drawn to the church and thankful for the service they provide through the clinics and the compassionate offering of prayers and counsel (without pay!--unlike some local pastors who ask for money, clothing or even land titles for their prayer services). It's so exciting to see God's work!

Baptismal service in Mactzul V

Happy Thanksgiving

Just want to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving Day tomorrow. We feel thankful for so many things, but especially for our loving family and friends who pray for us and support us. May God bless your time tomorrow.