Sunday Service at San Martin 1

Sunday we traveled to the village of San Martin 1 to be a part of the service there.  We had plans to meet a man from the church at 7:00 a.m. here in Sayaxche'.  He got up really early and caught the bus in so he could meet us and ride back with us to show us the way.  What a sacrifice that was.  We picked him up, crossed the ferry, and headed on our way.  We drove about ten minutes on pavement and then turned off onto a gravel road.  We saw a lot of pretty scenery along the way.

At one point we encountered this herd of cattle and it took us literally about twenty minutes to get around them.  That set us back a little from getting to the village on time.  It took us two hours to get there.  When we arrived we had a short visit in the pastor's house before heading to another house to eat breakfast.

We walked this trail to get to the house.

Several kids walked with us.  I love this shot of the girls all holding hands and walking together.  I thought that was sweet.

This is the house where we ate breakfast.  The family welcomed us in.  They had the table set and were waiting for us.  They served us caldo with chicken, tortillas, and coffee (for breakfast).  

a photo with some of the family after we ate

The grandmother was using this to grind her corn to make fresh tortillas. 

After eating we headed to the church building.  We had a few songs and a prayer and then the men went to another place and the women stayed there for Sunday School.  Some churches split it up like that, but most just meet together in the church. 

Each week they have a memory verse to learn.  This is David with the pastor, Bro. Jorge, and the man in the white is the man who rode with us there.  They are helping the men recite the memory verse.

The women had to say it and also the children.  Here is a short video of the young girls saying their verse.  They are speaking in K'ekchi'.

After the service and before lunch we took a few photos outside of the church building.  I took some with my camera and they took some with their camera phones.  :-)  This is Cesarea Baptist Church at San Martin 1.   There are 24 families in this village and 13 belong to this church.  The church is about ten years old. 

Inside of the building.  It is a wood building with a tin roof and dirt floors.  They use wooden benches for sitting.  Almost every K'ekchi' church has some type of lace fabric hanging from the ceiling.  They also love silk flowers, and LOTS of speakers!

David with Bro. Jorge (the pastor) and a very tired Cruz

We ate lunch with the pastor at his house.  They served us caldo with chicken, rice, tortillas, and a Pepsi.

A closer view of our lunch.  Despite how it looks, it was very delicious!

Here are a few photos of some of the kids that were hanging around while we ate.

(three of these belong to the pastor)

This girl held Cruz for us so we could eat. 

The pastor had some errands to do back in Sayaxche' so he rode back to town with us.  It was fun getting to spend some more time in fellowship with him.  As we traveled, he told us about several of the villages we passed along the way.  There were a few villages where there is no evangelical work at all.  We discussed with him about returning to those areas to help start something there.  On our next trip into Guatemala City in March we plan to purchase some video equipment to use to show films in villages such as these with the hope of starting new works. 

The total trip took around seven hours, but it was time well spent.  We were able to encourage a pastor and some believers as well as hear about areas where we might can help share the gospel.  It's days like these that make our job so much fun!

Our Visit to Rosa Jamaica

Thursday evening we received a call from a pastor who was sick and needed to know if we could help him.  He lives in the village of Rosa Jamaica which is about 1.5 hours away and was coming into Sayaxche' on Friday.  David made plans to meet him at the study center in town.  He spent some time there talking with the pastor about his ailments and then prayed for him.  He was in an accident when he was fourteen and suffered a head injury. He said every year the pain gets worse.  Afterwards, they went to the pharmacy to buy him some medicine.  He had a few more errands to run while in town and when he was done we picked him up to carry him home.  He could have caught a bus but we knew he was in a lot of pain and not feeling well and we couldn't imagine him having to ride home and catch several different buses to get there feeling that way. We gladly offered to give him a ride. The trip is about thirty minutes on pavement and an hour off road.  He called his wife to tell her we were coming and when we arrived they had just killed the chicken.  We knew that meant we'd be eating lunch with them.  We didn't mind because while they were preparing it we got to spend a while talking with the pastor and his wife and getting to know his family better.  They then showed us the church.  He leads a small mission church that is seven years old.  The village has about thirty families living there and currently fifteen of them belong to the Baptist church.  This pastor, Bro. Martin, has been there a year and they have had five families join since he moved there.  He is also the President of the Pastor's Conference in Sayaxche'.   I didn't take many photos but here are a few I got-

Outside of the mission church in Rosa Jamaica.  It is a wood structure with a concrete floor.  It has a tin roof.   

Inside of the mission. 

It is very common for K'ekchi' churches to have these wooden benches.  They can be very hard to sit in for three hours at a time during Sunday services.

Me with the pastor's wife, Estela, and a few of their children.

The pastor's house has a dirt floor.  Part of the house has a tin roof and the other part a thatch roof.  It is made of wood similar to the mission building.  It is very plain and rustic.  Their beds are made of wood also.  They don't have mattresses or nice fluffy pillows like we use.  It is also common for the K'ekchi' to all sleep in one room together.  When I think about our house and wanting to fix it up it makes me sad to visit places like these and see how the locals live.  We always come home with a new appreciation for what we have.

I didn't get a picture with the pastor because he was not feeling well and I hated to ask him for a photo.  We did all enjoy a caldo and tortilla lunch together and we had another prayer for them before we left.  Please pray for Bro. Martin to get some relief from the pain he is experiencing and that the medicine will help him to feel better.

On the way home we stopped by the Baptist church in Las Pacayas, but the pastor was not home.  We will plan to visit there again another day.

Cruz's Nursery

I hope that within the next few weeks I can finish posting before and after photos of our house.  We still have some decorating to do and some boxes to unpack, but have not had much motivation to do it.  It's like we are moved in now and things can wait.  Maybe we'll have this house like we want it before our term ends, haha.  Anyway, today I'll start with Cruz's nursery.  He was six months old before he got his own room and we were happy to finally get him unpacked and settled in.  Here is the view from the doorway-

Before we look around any further, I'll show you a few before photos- 

it doesn't look as bad in these photos as it did in person 

I can't believe now that we spent about two weeks "camping out" in here on camp cots while we worked in other parts of the house (we also "camped out" in our bedroom for a few days).  It's hard to remember the house as it originally was. 

We painted his room "glad yellow".  It is very bright and cheery- kind of like Cruz :-) 

another view from the doorway 

My friend Misty painted these pictures for him and they go really good over his bed.  You can read about us getting the pictures HERE.

Since it's too hot to use the quilt that goes with his bedding, we decided to buy a hanger and put it on the wall.  It looks cute there!

We were very happy to get his changing table out of the crate.  We use it everyday to change his diapers and get him dressed.  It is much easier than doing it on our bed or on the floor.  We are very glad we crated one here.

In one corner we have a shelf with his books on it and some baskets with a few toys.  

His bed

This dresser was made here in Guatemala. 

These photo holders were also painted by my friend Misty.  I need to get some pictures developed to go in them.

We bought these letters in Cozumel this time last year on our babymoon.  They had a booth set up selling them and we both thought they were cute.  They are actually small puzzles.  At the time we were not 100% sure we were naming him Cruz but decided to buy the letters anyway and so Cruz it was. 

We love monkey's!

A few of his many stuffed animals.  Most of these came from his MiMi. 

This is the Nosquito we bought recently for his room.  We turn it on late in the afternoon to hopefully kill any critters that are flying around.  It seems to work well.

We are thankful that the weather has been pleasant enough to still just sleep with a fan running at night.  In the next few weeks we will have to install a/c units in our bedroom windows for sleeping.  They say it's going to get pretty warm around these parts.   Also, you can see the sunflower curtain hanging (they are in every room).  I still need to visit a fabric store to buy some material for new curtains.  Maybe soon I can get that done.

Hope you enjoyed looking around his room.

Eight Month Update

We don't know about you, but we are finding it really hard to believe that our "baby" is 8 months old today!  It's like we wake up to a different child everyday.  He is changing soo much and soo fast these days.  It's very exciting to see him growing, changing, and learning, but sad at the same time that we can't keep him little forever.  These are precious days and ones that we are trying our hardest to savor every moment of.   We don't want to look back one day with a lot of regrets because we did and didn't do certain things enough with him.  Parenting is hard!, but you only get one shot at it.  Our prayer is that we will get it right, and lead him in the best way possible. 

WHAT IS CRUZ UP TO LATELY?
*   He is wearing size 9 and 12 month clothes
*   He is wearing a size 3 diaper
*   He is wearing a size 3 shoe (but prefers to go barefooted)
*   His eyes are blue/ gray
*   His hair is really growing and is still a blond/ red/ light brown color, depending on the light.

*   As you can see from the photos above, he is VERY active these days.  There are not many moments when he is awake that he is still.  Those little arms and hands are constantly moving and grabbing.    Taking his photo is starting to be a difficult task.  He is way to busy for photos (he gets that from his dad).
*   He loves to laugh.  If we laugh he will start laughing with us or he will try to do something to get us to laugh.  He is such a funny little person!
*   This month he started sitting up (from a lying down position).  He is doing really well at that.
*   He also started to crawl recently and is now always on the go. 
*   He got six teeth this month- four on top and two on the bottom.  There were a lot of sleepless nights for all of us, and we all rejoiced when they broke through the skin.  Teething is not fun!
*   He does not like to be on his back.  He will flip right over when playing and sleeping.
*   He now pulls up on everything!  He likes to stand and tries to walk alongside whatever he's holding on to.  He also likes to try to walk when we hold his hands to help him. 
*   He throws everything on the floor and grunts for us to pick it up and give it back to him.
*   He is very rough and rowdy these days- ALL BOY!  It makes this mama really tired. haha
*   He likes to make noise both with his mouth and his toys. 

*   He loves to look in the mirror.  He will laugh and smile at himself and whoever is holding him.
*   He likes his story time at night but fights to eat the books. 
*   He loves his bath time! 
*   He ran fever for the first time on January 2, but it was due to him teething. 
*   He is still nursing four times a day and eating three meals a day in between.  New foods he has had this month include english peas and guicoy (a type of pumpkin).  He eats very well.
*   While in his highchair he always crosses his foot over his leg.  We laugh at him doing this.
*   When he is tired he slaps his arms around, wipes his eyes, and makes a humming sound.

*   This month we moved him out of his infant carrier and into a regular car seat.

*   He also moved up to a regular stroller.

*   Because he is pulling up now we had to lower his mattress.

*   He is very social and will let anyone hold him.   This has been a great/ positive witness to the locals.  They eat him up and love that he likes them so much.

*   He started saying Da Da and can say Da Dee when he wants to.

*   On a good day he will take 2-3 naps lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours each.  He will fight to go to sleep for nap time and can be very hard to get down at times.

*   He weaned himself from his pacifier this month.   He started relating it to sleep (which he doesn't want to be still long enough to do) and would not take it.  We quit introducing it and he has not had one in a month now.

It's hard to believe that our baby is turning into a little boy.  He brightens our days in ways we could not have imagined.  We love him more than anything in this world and count everyday that we have with him as a blessing.  He was truly worth the wait and we thank God for entrusting him into our care. 

HAPPY 8 MONTH BIRTHDAY, CRUZ!

YOU ARE THE APPLE OF OUR EYE

Our trip to Jordan

Sunday morning we traveled to the village of Jordan to attend a church service.  It is a little over an hour away.  It was my fourth time to go to this village and David's fifth (he recently went there to do a radio recording without me).  You can click HERE to read about our last visit there back in March of 2009.  Sunday was an overcast day which made the weather a little cooler than it had been for most of last week.  It was refreshing!

We left early because they wanted us there to eat breakfast and visit before Sunday School began.  One of the things I like about traveling to a village early in the morning is you see the ladies out taking their corn to the mill to be ground and then walking back home with their masa to make tortillas.  Each house we would pass by would have smoke coming from the thatch roof.  You knew they were making their tortillas.  The K'ekchi' do not think they have eaten until they have had tortillas.  When we host volunteer teams we usually feed them a continental breakfast (cereal, pop tarts, fruit, granola bars, juice, etc.)  The K'ekchi' brothers eat that with us but when we get to where we are going they will usually say that they have not eaten- because they have not eaten tortillas.  That is funny to us.

It was a pretty drive once we turned off of the pavement.  We passed many palm trees.  We like to call them "praise palms" because their branches resemble arms spread wide praising the Lord.  We see them a lot around here.

We also saw a lot of corn growing.  Corn is life here.  If they have a bad crop one year it means they go hungry.

This was our first stop of the day, what we call "the weeds".  If you have visited us here you know that the places we go don't have gas stations and places to use the restroom.  We just stop along the way.  If we are with a group we usually say that the men walk one direction and the ladies another.  Some of our former volunteer members have handled this better than others, ha.  For us it has become a way of life. 

As I mentioned before they wanted us there for breakfast.  At first they brought us out a cup of oatmeal drink (shown above).  We like this drink.  It is sweet and just liquid enough to drink.  It is also very filling so we were hoping that would be all they served us.  Wrong!  A few minutes later they brought out scrambled eggs, black beans, and tortillas.  After our meal they served us coffee.  The K'ekchi' like their coffee very weak and very sweet. 

I took this photo of a pile of corn that the pastor had in his house.  This was corn he had to sell to his community.  It was dried out and ready for making tortillas.

After eating we walked out back to see the pastor's deer.  I wanted to show it to Cruz.  He is raising it to sell.

The little building above the deer's head is the church "outhouse".  If you were to ever use one of those you would be very happy to just "go to the weeds" LOL.

He liked it.  He seems to really like all animals these days and wants to pet them.

This was another animal he was raising.

We had a good worship service there.  The village of Jordan has around 250 families and around 118 of them attend the Baptist church.  They have a large work going there!  They have three mission churches they are helping, and one guy came to share about one of them.  He said three families have accepted Christ in his village and they are starting to meet in his home for services.  We will try to visit that village (and many others just like that) to encourage those believers.

After the service we had another meal- caldo with chicken, rice, and tortillas before heading back to Sayaxche'. 

David with Bro. Adilio (the pastor) and his wife Erlinda. 

On the way home we stopped by the Baptist church in the village of Chico Zapote to visit the pastor and his family there.  They didn't know we were coming so it surprised them but they were very happy to see us.  We spent a little while visiting, touring the church, and had a time of prayer over them before we left.  I think they were very encouraged that we stopped by.  We hope to make a return visit there soon for a service.

David with Bro. Pedro (the pastor) and his wife Mikaela

Cruz with the pastor's daughter

Please pray for both of these pastor's and the work they are doing for the Lord here.