July 2023 Newsletter

 

Summer Sojourners June was a full busy month!  We hosted seven Summer Sojourner students for three weeks.  Thank you for praying for our time together.  They did a fantastic job of sharing the gospel, their testimonies, scriptures, songs, words of encouragement, teaching English classes, being camp counselors, and more.  We could not have hand picked a better group to host.  They were a dream team!   Continue to pray for this amazing group of young adults.  Many feel a call to either ministry or missions. This trip helped them explore that call deeper. We are thankful for the small part we got to play in that by hosting them and look forward to seeing how God is going to use them in the days ahead.  I blogged their whole adventure.  Visit: www.davidandregina.blogspot.com if you would like to read about their three weeks in Guatemala and see photos and videos of them serving. We will begin planning for summer 2024 soon.  If you know of a college age student who would like to serve with us like these just did, please get in touch with us.  We would love to have them on our team!

Mission Team

During the month of June we also hosted a volunteer team from The Church at LifePark in Mount Pleasant, SC.  They spent time in four different towns doing home visits, sharing the gospel, and encouraging local pastors. We have been partnering with this church for many years and always look forward to their visits.  You can read about their week of service here- LifePark Mission Team 2023. Camp Guamiski The boys attended Camp Guamiski and had a wonderful time.  It is a summer camp for all missionary kids whose parents serve in Guatemala.  We are very thankful for this annual ministry to our kids.  They love it and look forward to it all year long!  Our summer interns served there as counselors.  New Teammates We have been praying that God would send us some more families to serve full-time on our team in Guatemala.  He has answered that prayer.  In mid-July we will welcome the Robertson family to our IMB Guatemala team.  They will be transferring from another country and will be serving in the Quetzaltenango area with the Stones.  Pray for them as they transfer, get settled, and begin to find their fit in ministry.  Also, at the recent SBC Annual Meeting there were 79 new missionaries appointed.  One of those was the English family that will be heading to Guatemala.  They will begin their training in late July and will then spend a year in Mexico for language and cultural learning.  We do not anticipate them actually arriving in Guatemala until the fall of 2024 but we are very excited that they are coming!!  Pray for them as they will have a lot of transition over the next several months. If you would like to read an IMB article on their appointment that highlights them, visit: Sending Celebration We are excited to not only have these couples but to also be adding many new MK's to our mission family.  Our boys have been the only IMB MK's in Guatemala for many years.  Pray specifically that these kids would adjust well and thrive to life on the field. Traveling We ended the month with another work trip to Mexico.  It was our third for this year and the last one currently planned for 2023.  We returned home on Sunday with just enough time to unpack, wash, and repack.  Today, we will fly out again for a short time of vacation with family and friends in our hometowns in Mississippi.  We look forward to visiting, eating some delicious Southern food, shopping for things to bring back, and hopefully squeezing in a little rest.  Please pray for us as we travel this month.  If you are in our home area, we will be looking forward to seeing you!!

Life Lately June 2023

We began the month by hosting seven Summer Sojourner students.  They spent three weeks in Guatemala serving alongside us.   We stayed very busy with them.  The taught English classes at a school in Jocotan (English classes Day 1 and English classes Day 2).  They visited pastors and did a youth activity.  We spent a week in Antigua. They shared in local churches.  They did a chocolate class. We hiked up to the Antigua Cross.  They toured the Jade Museum.  They did a coffee farm and biking tour at La Azotea.  They spent a day making home visits.  They did a sports day at a local park.  They spent more time teaching English classes at a school in Parramos.  They served as camp counselors at Camp Guamiski.  We did a day trip to La Aurora Zoo.  Then, sadly, we had to say goodbye.  They were a fantastic group to host and we miss them greatly.

 

We spent one of our weeks serving in the Chiquimula area.  We took this photo on Sunday morning as we drove up the mountain to have attend a worship service at our church plant in Nearar.

 

Here is a video from that day.

 

 

Ben enjoying a frozen frappe at the hotel in Chiquimula. 

While in the Chiquimula area we did a day trip to the Ipala Volcano and swam in the crater lake.

 

enjoying the day at Volcan Ipala

 

 

Me and Cruz at the Antigua market.  We made many trips there in June with our summer students.

 

an afternoon coffee break at Cafe Barista in Antigua

 

He has grown so much this summer! 

 

 Cruz lead the group on a climb of Volcan Pacaya.

 

Cruz hiking Volcan Pacaya with our Summer Sojourner students.

 

 

clowning around at McDonald's in Antigua

 

grocery shopping for our June mission team 

We hosted a group from The Church at LifePark in Mount Pleasant, SC.  

 

Here is a video highlighting our week together.

 

They brought down some of our school books for the upcoming school year.

 

Taking a coffee break at Cafe Condesa in Antigua.

 

David and I enjoyed a fun date night.

 

Lunch at Pizza Hut in Guatemala City

 

A video highlighting the robot delivery at Pizza Hut in Guatemala City.

 

We overlapped a night with the Stones and Cadenheads at our mission house in Guatemala City.  It was great to catch up with them.

 

We tried to squeeze in all of our annual medical checkups that we could.  Here are the boys with my gynecologist.  He always comes out to the waiting room to see them each year and loves seeing how much they have grown.

 

We also did dental cleanings and eye exams.

 

 

Everyone got haircuts.

 

 

a video of the boys getting a haircut

I am trying to post more to our YouTube channel.  If you would like to follow us there, here is the link- https://www.youtube.com/@davidandregina

We ended the month with another work trip to Mexico.  It was our third trip there this year and was the last one we currently have planned to make for 2023.  

 

 

Here is a fun video of our travel day there. 

 

While there we received a certificate recognizing our completion of fifteen years of service with the IMB.  We will actually be completing seventeen years of service this October but just now received our certificate.  I was very proud that the boys also received certificates for completing years of service alongside us.  That made them proud also.

 

 

Here is a collage of us getting recognized at five, ten, and fifteen years of service.  We look forward to adding more photos to this collage in the years to come.

 

We returned home tired but with just a stopover to unpack, wash clothes, and repack.  We'll be on the move again for the month of July.  It has been a very busy summer for us but the best is yet to come!!