Not in Guatemala yet....

We set our alarms, woke up on time, got to the airport, checked in, and had a great flight to Atlanta. We are flying standby so we knew there was a chance we would not make a connecting flight from Atlanta to Guatemala City. We did not. So, we called our friend Tabb and he picked us up. We met his parents, Gary and Joyce Pearson for lunch at the Longhorn. After lunch we went with his parents to sight see around their town. They live in Newnan, Georgia. It has a lovely historic district. We did a driving tour of all the old homes. It was nice. After that we came back to their house and took a much needed nap. When we woke up Tabb, Tonya, and their children picked us up to go to their churches fall festival. We had fun walking around and meeting several people from their church. Their church has taken several trips to Guatemala and we look forward to them coming back hopefully next year. Here are a few photos from our day:

Joyce, Regina, David, & Gary

Tabb and Tonya with their three children, Rachel, Rebecca, and Jonathan, and a family friend

The kids in their costumes

David and I enjoying the Fall Festival at Flat Creek Baptist Church

We are thankful to have friends here to take care of us and put us up while we wait to get home. We will get up tomorrow morning (Saturday) and head back to the airport and wait to see if we will get on tomorrow's flight. Hopefully we will.

Keeping the tradition

We said goodbye to all of our family and went to our friends Reagan & Malinda's house. Two years ago when we left for Guatemala we spent our last night with them. We went to eat at O'Charley's and then to Starbucks for coffee. That night we stayed at a hotel close to the airport. Last night we also went to eat at O'Charley's, and then to Starbucks, but ended up spending the night at their house. We sat up until after midnight talking and then set our alarms for 4:00 A.M. to get us to the airport. We did not get much sleep but enjoyed spending time with them. They have been soo good to us in so many ways. A HUGE blessing was allowing us to use their vehicle while we were home- for the whole month. Here is a photo of it- yes it is a Mercedes! We can't believe how giving they are to us. We LOVED driving that car and will miss it. ha It was a big change from what we drive on the field. Too bad we can't make that a part of next year's tradition. ha

Halloween

Our town celebrated Halloween on Thursday night instead of Friday. It was good for us because that allowed us to see the kids dressed up before we left.

David saying goodbye to his mother and grandmother

Saying Goodbye

We have spent the last few days saying goodbye to all of our family. We will be flying out of Jackson at 5:40 A.M. in the morning (Friday). We hope to make a connection flight in Atlanta and be back in Guatemala City by lunch time. We have had a WONDERFUL time at home. It has truly been like a vacation. But, at the same time we are eager to return to Guatemala and get back to work. We have joked that there are few people who can end a vacation and say they are eager to get back to work but we do love our job.

Of all the places we have to eat we chose to eat our last lunch at our local Mexican Restaurant, imagine that. We then visited a popular place in our town- the Dairy Freeze. They have the best ice cream around.

Please pray for our travels tomorrow. Once we land in Guatemala City we will be driving 4 hours to our home in Coban. It will be a LONG day of travel. We will update you again once we get there and settled in.

New Zion Baptist Church

Sunday night we spoke at New Zion Baptist Church in Crystal Springs. They were very happy to have us and many committed to pray for us over the next year.

We have had a full month of speaking in churches. Just about every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night we have been in a different church. It has been great. We are winding our time down and are starting to say our goodbyes. Please pray for us this week as we say goodbye to family and friends and make our return to Guatemala at the end of the week.

Harmony Baptist Church

Sunday morning we shared at our home church, Harmony Baptist. It was great to see everyone and share with them about our work in Guatemala.

This is a photo of the churches parsonage where we lived for 7 years before moving to Guatemala. You could sit our apartment where we live now inside of that house. It was big. We spoke, did a video presentation, and David preached. After the service we had a receiving line for everyone to come by and greet us. It was like a homecoming/ family reunion.You will notice in the above photo all the flags along the balcony. Each represents a different missionary that our church supports. Ours is the second flag from the left. We are proud to come from such a mission minded/ mission supporting church.

This is our pastor, Bro. Clark Stewart and his wife Pam Chet and Mary Catherine Bryant

Reagan, Malinda, & Sara Madalin

Jackie, Nickey, & Rickey

Holly & Dallas

Sara Madalin

Friday night fiesta

Friday night we met several of our "kids" at Margarita's Mexican Grill in Jackson. That used to be a popular place the girls and I liked to eat at. We love their chicken fajita nachos. I had promised them I would go with them while we were home and we were about to run out of time to go. They were all home from school this weekend so we met up for dinner. We are speaking at our home church Sunday morning so they all wanted to come home to hear us.

They had the bright idea to tell the waiters it was my birthday to try to embarrass me (it's not my birthday). They said they were celebrating the one they missed last year and the one they will miss next year since we will not be together. That's sweet but I know their real intentions!! The waiters came by and sang, put a HUGE sombrero on my head........

and then smeared cool whip on my face! Do you think they knew that was going to happen???

After dinner we came home and played our favorite card game- Phase 10. We put on a pot of coffee and stayed up pretty late playing, talking, and having a great time. We are going to miss them when we are gone.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our two year anniversary with the IMB! We are very excited about that. Time sure flies when you are having fun. It seems like just yesterday we were arriving in Virginia for our training. We will head back to Guatemala next week to complete our three year term. We can't wait to get back to work! We are adding a video that highlights some of what we have been doing over the past two years. Hope you will check it out.

Dinner with friends

Thursday night we visited with our friends Reagan and Malinda. Malinda cooked dinner for us and it was very delicious. Other than eating we spent the night playing with Sara Madalin, talking, and playing cards. It was a great visit with them.

We brought Sara Madalin a t-shirt back from New Orleans. It came in sizes S, M, & L. We bought the small and it barely fit her. She is a chunk! She is a beautiful baby and we enjoyed getting to play with her for a little while.

Larsen playing in powder

Last night after church we went to David's grandmother's house. While all the adults were visiting and talking this is what our niece Larsen slipped off to do-


Robin tells us all the time about how she gets into things and makes messes. We have seen her in action a few times since being home but this one takes the cake.

First Baptist, Crystal Springs

Wednesday night we shared at First Baptist Church, Crystal Springs, with the 1st - 6th graders. We had a large crowd of children there to hear about our work in Guatemala. It was fun sharing with them.

David & Kaylie

Regina & Larsen

David sharing about our workI wore my K'ekchi' clothing and talked to them about how the people dress and live

I dressed Kaylie like a K'ekchi' girl and had her try to walk with a basket on her head

This is Will and Walker. I taught both of them in preschool at this churches Kindergarten

This is Eliza, Levi, and Sawyer. I taught Eliza as well.

Kaylie, Regina, Sawyer, & David

After the service we went to David's grandmother's house. His sister, Robin, wanted to try on my skirt. She said it was not as heavy as she thought it might be but could not understand why they wear so much material.