Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Life Lately

It has been three weeks since we left the States and returned to Guatemala.  It feels like much longer than that.  I look at friends posts on facebook and ask myself "were we really just there?"  It seems so weird.  On the other hand it sure does not feel like we were gone from here for almost eight months.    Things feel so normal that it's like we never left.  That is only something God can do and a big answer to prayer.

We have not slowed down much since we got back.  This post will be a catch up from the past few weeks.  Not having internet service for a while kept me from blogging.  It also showed me that you can get a lot more accomplished when you do not have internet service and television.

We found this happy little note taped by our door when we returned home to Chiquimula.  What a sweet way to be welcomed back.  It says Welcome Family (Matthew 28:19)


The interior of our house needed to be repainted before we left for Stateside but we waited until we returned to do it.  I am glad we did.  Getting a fresh coat of paint on everything helped greatly.  David has been busy in his spare time getting one room after the other painted.  As of now we only lack the boys room and the school room.  It is looking great.  We no longer have those golden yellow walls that our landlord  painted right before we moved in.  Now everything is a nice, pretty bone white.  The boys have loved getting to help paint.  David has not always enjoyed their help as much but he is enduring it.

sprucing the place up

All of our bike tires needed to be repaired when we returned so we dropped them off to get worked on.  We were all glad when they were ready and we could ride again.  One of our favorite things is afternoon and evening bike rides around the neighborhood.  I love that we live in a secure place where we can do that.

We have been enjoying some of our favorite foods also.  The boys were most excited when I cooked a pot of beans one night and served them over rice with tortillas.  They would eat beans everyday if I cooked them.

One of the things I really missed while in the States was my kitchen and all of my cooking gadgets.  It has been so good to get back to baking again.  The first thing I made was a few loaves of banana bread.  Our family loves it.

 We have been busy with school these days.  School keeps us in a good routine so I worked hard to get us right back in it.  The boys are both doing great in their studies.  I miss posting about our school activities and hope I can get back on track with that soon.  One of their favorite subjects has always been Science.  The only photos I have taken of them lately is doing experiments.

During our study of solids, liquids, and gases we made carbon dioxide gas.  The gas filled up a balloon.  We did it by mixing vinegar and baking soda. 

I love Ben's face here.  He was fascinated!  It was such a fun experiment.

This was an experiment on liquids.

This was an experiment we also did last year when studying hot and cold.  You move the balloon back and forth from the hot and cold water.  The hot water makes the balloon expand and the cold makes it shrink down into the bottle.  The boys love this one.

As part of his Sonlight reading curriculum Cruz has been reading through The Beginner's Bible this school year.  He recently finished it and he was very proud of himself.  I was proud of him too.

Before leaving the States we decided to ship a package of our things to Guatemala.  We have never done that before and based on the recommendation of some other local missionaries we decided to try it.  I was very skeptical of it and did not really know if it would ever make it here or not. 

Well, a little over two weeks after we dropped it off to ship it arrived at our door.  I was speechless!  I might have even shed a few tears of joy. I was very pleased with the company and the service they provided.  We used Zuleta Express and I would definitely recommend them to any other local missionaries.  I plan to use them again in the future.

Two happy little boys!

We had the Lubecks coming over for supper that night and I did not want the house in a mess so we did not open the box until the next day after school.  The anticipation almost drove the boys crazy (and their constant asking when we were going to open it almost drove us crazy!)


When they finally got to open it they said it felt like Christmas Day.  It should have.  Most of the stuff in there was Christmas gifts they had received from family this past Christmas season.


"Mama, can you believe our box made it?"  asked Cruz.  We had prayed many times for that box since we dropped it off and they said that God had answered our prayers. 

They enjoyed a visit to the mall food court recently to play on the playland.  They especially enjoyed this new ball pit area that was added while we were gone.  David and I enjoyed getting to sit in the a/c and use the WI-FI since we did not have home internet service at the time.  It's the little things that keep us all so happy.


Cruz started back to piano lessons last week.  He has a new teacher because his old teacher did not have an opening on the day we needed to go.  We love the music school here in town and are glad to be back involved in it. 

Cruz practicing one evening and showing Ben a few things.  This made me smile.  We plan to start Ben in first grade. 

brothers

Just yesterday Ben had his first lesson with a Spanish tutor.  It went very well for him.  We had been praying that God would provide someone to work with him when we got back here.  We were excited when one of the teachers at the music school offered to tutor him.  She was free during the same hour that Cruz takes piano so they will both be going at the same time.  That is so convenient and a great answer to prayer.  Pray for him as he learns and continues to get more comfortable in the language. 

I will end with a few ministry pictures.  Here we are loaded up for our first worship service in the mountains after returning. We were headed to the village of Nearar.  We were all excited.

A view as we were driving up the mountain.  You can see the road to the Honduras border down below.


This is a photo of the inside of the new church building in Nearar.  They did a great job on the construction while we were gone.  It looks great!

David and the boys before our first worship service in Nearar.

This past Saturday morning we made a few visits in the mountains.  The boys have missed riding the mountain roads. 

More beautiful views from the road to Lagunetas.


Those little white dots in the center is a town down below.  We travel up pretty high to get to Lagunetas.

The boys climbing their favorite tree in Churischan while we visited with the family.

hiking in Churischan

This past Sunday we were back in Nearar for worship.  This week David preached and did a great job.  We were happy to have Miguel go with us.  He is our ministry partner and we are so thankful for him.  He is a blessing to many.

We plan to be in Nearar later today for a women's Bible study/ mid-week service.  This coming Sunday we plan to be in Muyurco for a worship service.  Please pray for both of these study times.

Thank you for keeping up with our family and especially for praying for us.  I know we say it often but we really do appreciate it!

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