A Look Back At Our Second Term

Our second term with the IMB began on March 24, 2010. We flew back to Guatemala that day. I was 30 weeks pregnant with Cruz. 

Leaving Jackson, MS flying back to Guatemala

We arrived back in Guatemala City and spent about 2 weeks at our mission house there before we moved to Antigua.  We spent the next five months living in Antigua.  While there we attended language school to brush up on our Spanish and had our first child.

Some of our Spanish teachers at language school in Antigua.  (WOW my belly was big!)

On May 26, 2010 we welcomed Cruz David White into our family.  It was by far one of the most happiest days of my life!  He was born in Guatemala City.

In September of that year we moved from Antigua to Coban temporarily.  We lived there for about 6 weeks while we made scouting trips up north to Sayaxche to find housing.  While in Coban we enjoyed visiting many Kekchi churches and showing off our new son.

Cruz's first trip to a Kekchi church September 2010.  We were very proud.

We found a place to live in Sayaxche and moved there on November 1.  It needed A LOT of work so we spent at least the first two weeks there living out of a small hotel room while we spent our days remodeling a house.  I do not know how we did it with a small (and even at that age VERY active baby) but the Lord provided.

Our little family on a lunch date in Flores, Guatemala.  Flores was our getaway when we lived in the Peten (northern Guatemala).  When we needed a break we could always go there and feel refreshed.

We spent the next several months visiting churches, encouraging pastors, and helping start new missions among the Kekchi.

me with some Kekchi ladies after a WMU celebration service

 

a mission church we visited one Sunday morning

 

David did a lot of work with these guys helping them record Bible stories in the Kekchi language to air on the Kekchi radio stations.

Cruz was a big hit everywhere we took him.  He still is.

In June of 2011 we were asked to make a vision trip over to the Chorti area to see the needs there.  Fellow IMB missionaries David and Glynis Miller joined us on that trip and did an excellent job of showing us around. 

our family with the Miller's in Chiquimula, Guatemala June 2011

On a return visit in July of that year we made our first contact with a lady in the village of Lagunetas.  She is the one who opens her home to us to have Bible study now.  I'd say that was a good contact we made.

In late August 2011 we found out that baby #2 was on the way.  This is our family in Flores, Guatemala the day we found out.  Cruz was almost 15 months old.

We made two more scouting trips over to the Chorti area and were feeling God call us to move there.  We were there in September and did an outreach in the village of Lagunetas and then in November of that year we met the Lubeck's and had lunch with them at their home.  They were able to share more with us about the people, culture. and the need for more church planting. We also planned to look at housing on that trip and met a young couple who work in that area that showed us a "ready to move in" apartment.  We returned home to Sayaxche, contacted our supervisors, and informed them that we were on board to move and begin working with the Chorti.  We also contacted the landlord of that apartment and made plans to rent it the first of the year.

Our family meeting the Lubeck's in November 2011.  I was about 3 months pregnant with Ben.

We also met Dan Watson on that trip.  We had been in contact with him through email.  He drove over from Honduras and met us for lunch in Camotan.  He shared with us about his work and we talked about ways we could partner together.  It has been a great partnership since day one.  That trip in November was very successful!

In January of 2012 this big moving truck pulled into our driveway in Sayaxche.  The workers loaded all of our belongings and we made the seven hour drive to our new home in Camotan.  We spent a little while getting settled in and began learning as much as we could about the people and culture.  I was five months pregnant and had a 19 month old when we moved.  It was hard!

Soon afterwards David began making weekly visitation trips to the villages with Bro. Nahum from Honduras.  It was not long until he began doing a weekly Bible study in the village of Nearar on Sundays.

In February 2012 we made our first trip over to Copan, Honduras to see the Agricultural Center there.  Dan showed us around.

We also began meeting regularly with the Lubeck's to learn culture and start studying some of the Chorti language.

On April 16, 2012 we welcomed Benjamin Miller White into our family.  It was another one of the happiest days of my life!  This was our first family photo taken the day I came home from the hospital with him.  Cruz was 23 months old.

When Ben was about two months old (and I was fully recovered from a c-section) we began joining David for Bible study in Nearar on Sundays.  It is a pretty extreme hike to get to and from the village so that was a great challenge with our kids.  It was fun though.

 I love being "on mission" as a family!

 

David and Cruz hiking to Bible study

Cruz with some of the kids in the village of Nearar

 

We also continued to make regular visits to the village of Lagunetas.  We partnered with Dan to offer some agricultural training to a group from that village.  In November of 2012 we assisted with that training by teaching Bible stories to the group at night.  The course ended in mid-December and in January 2013 we were invited to come to that village and begin teaching Bible stories on a regular basis.  We have continued up until the end of this term and have plans to return after our time in the States.

The Ag Center graduates December 2012- all but two are from the village of Lagunetas.

David has also continued to teach weekly Bible stories in the village of Nearar up until our term ended.

In March I began doing a separate Bible study with the kids in Lagunetas.  It has been by far my favorite thing.

In May 2013 we made a trip to the village of Tunuco Arriba with the Lubeck's.  Afterwards we prayed hard about getting an open door into this village but it just never worked out.  We tried twice to send a group to the Ag training in Honduras but both times they backed out at the last minute.   We are still praying for this area and hope to target it hard after our time in the States.

In October of 2013 we assisted with another Ag training in Honduras.  This group included two from the village of Lagunetas and five from the Pacren area that is near Tunuco Arriba.  One of the Honduran workers has committed to travel over and continue teaching Bible stories in the Pacren area and we hope to join in on it when we return.  We are hoping that getting an open door in that area would assist us in starting a work in the Tunuco Arriba area.    We are praying about that regularly.

It is now November 2013 and our term is about to come to an end.  We have been on the field 3 years and 8 months during this term.  There have been a lot of moves.  There has been a lot of transition, learning, and adjusting.  We have had two kids this term.  We have been involved in three languages- Spanish, Kekchi, and Chorti.  There have been good days and bad days, but we are certain that God was with us every step of the way from that first day we returned to the field until today.  He has led us and guided us through every transition.  He has been faithful and we have never doubted that He is not in control of it all.  You cannot out serve God and when you are faithful to do what He has called you to do He will be faithful to equip you for every step of it.  We are looking forward to a wonderful time of refreshment and renewal in the States and we are already looking forward to the good things that God is going to do in term #3.  Glory to God!!!