37th Annual Assembly of the Kekchi Baptist in Coban

 

We recently made a trip to Coban, Guatemala to attend the 37th Annual Assembly of the Kekchi Baptists.  It was a six hour drive from our home in Antigua. Our first five years on the mission field were spent with this people group. This area and these people will always be near and dear to our hearts.  It was a blessing to return and spend some time with them.

 

 

We attended  two evening services. There were 472 in attendance the first night and even more on the second night.

 

With the exception of the sermons, the services were all in Kekchi. We loved getting to hear their language again and especially getting to worship with them.

 

 

Can you spot us in the crowd? 

 

The Kekchi still use a Baptist hymnal for their worship.  We loved hearing the hymns sung. It was comforting to our souls.  Cruz recorded some of the singing.

 

 

 

David with the Coban Kekchi President German Contreras.

 

The boys were a highlight.  After the services everyone lined up to take a photo with them.  It was fun to see the people be so excited about the boys. 

 

During the day David attended the morning and afternoon sessions.

 

David and Sergio

He was our helper and David's Kekchi tutor when we lived in Coban.  He is now the director of the Kekchi Bible Institute in Coban.  We are very proud of him!

 

David and Armando

For many years he ran the Kekchi Baptist office in Coban.  Now he writes and translates many of their study materials.

 

 

While David was in the day sessions, the boys and I did school back at the hotel.  We had a beautiful garden setting as our classroom.

 

 

 

 

  

 

There is a new mall that opened up in the center of town.  It was within walking distance from our hotel.  We ate a few meals there at the food court.  The boys especially loved this wall mural there of different cereal boxes.  I wish we could get all of these options here!  As you can see, their favorite is Reece's Puffs.

 

They also had a virtual reality game that the boys got to play.  

 

 

 

 

 

One afternoon while they did another round of virtual reality, I sat and enjoyed an iced coffee. I also wrote out my greeting for that evening service.  At any Kekchi service or event you attend they are going to call on you to give greetings.  We shared at both evening services.  I tried to incorporate as many Kekchi words and phrases as I could remember into mine.  They love for you to speak their language.

 

Another highlight was getting to have a meal with our friends the Rozycki family.  We first met them back in 2018 when we moved to Antigua.  Now they are living and serving in Coban.  Their friendship is a blessing to our family!

 

We left Coban early in the morning.  We were at McDonald's at 6:00 a.m. waiting on them to open so that we could pick up some coffee and breakfast to have on the road.   It made us think of Ms. Fran Eachus, our Kekchi language teacher.  Almost every day for years she was at McDonald's waiting on them to open.  We miss her and many others who served in the Kekchi area over the years. 

 

Getting to return brought back many fond memories of our time there and a heart of gratitude for those who mentored us and helped us during those years.  They would be very proud to see how the work is advancing and to know that all of their years of labor is still bearing fruit.

 

Pray for the Kekchi Baptist work.  Pray that God would continue to use them to evangelize, disciple, and plant churches.  Pray that God would give them a passion to serve cross-culturally and that He would call out Kekchi believers to help reach the nations.

Organizing, Celebrating, and A Few Days of Traveling (last week in a nutshell)

I spent Monday and Tuesday of last week getting all of my homeschool materials organized.  Our last team brought down all of my supplies for the upcoming school year.  I just get all giddy when I am finally able to get my hands on my stuff.  It is so much fun looking through everything.  I could have started school right away.  I was that excited.

I had already cleaned off a shelf to put everything on before it even arrived.  I spent some time getting all of my instructor's manuals in order, and all of the books lined up on the shelf in the order that we will be using/ reading them.  Now if I can just keep some little hands from pulling them off and randomly replacing them, I will be happy.

I wrote out both boy's lesson plans for the first week of school and am feeling pretty confident about starting the new year.  It is just a few more weeks away.  Where has the summer gone???

We had a quiet 4th of July.  I did not plan to do much this year.  I did not even decorate (gasp).  We started the day by taking a family picture.  It is so hot here you have to do the picture early before we all start sweating so bad that no one is in the mood to do it. 

We had pancakes and bacon for breakfast.  I did get out some flag plates to eat on.  Cruz was really disappointed that I did not do more decorating.  I think I have ruined him when it comes to holidays and special occasions. 

He lost another tooth that morning.  It was a bottom tooth that had been loose for a while.  A few of the team members had wanted to pull it but he would not let them.  It finally fell out on it's own.

After lunch we loaded up and made the drive to Coban.  We have been wanting to visit there since school got out and have just not had time to go.  It had been almost two years since our last visit there and we were eager to return and catch up with some of the Kekchi believers there.  It is a four hour drive from our home.  We stopped half way in El Rancho for a bathroom break.  Ben jumped out of the car barefooted and proceeded to enter the store.  That is when we questioned him and realized that he had left the house with no shoes.   It is cold in Coban.  He needed shoes.  Thankfully we had taken his black rubber boots for an outing we had planned there and packed an "extra" pair of shoes just in case. Sometimes I think my boys pull stunts like that on purpose just to keep me humble.

We stopped again in Tactic at Cafe La Granja.  It is a favorite stop on all trips to Coban.  It is usually cool there so we like to sit out on the porch, drink coffee, and watch the boys burn off some energy on the outdoor play equipment. 

coffee and dessert break at Cafe La Granja on the 4th of July

Inside the restaurant they had a fire burning.  It blew my mind to see a fire burning on the 4th of July.  It is so hot in Chiquimula we could not fathom the thought.  The cool weather was a highlight of our trip.  It was such a refreshing break.  The highs were in the low 70's.  Those are our current lows.

When visiting Coban we most always stay at Hotel Villa Las Cabanuelas which is just outside of town. We got up on our first morning and drove into town to Hotel La Posada for breakfast.  It is one of my favorite places to eat in Coban.  When we lived there during our first term we ate at La Posada many times.  It is always good to go back and revisit it.
   

breakfast at La Posada in Coban

cheese omelet, refried black beans, and fried plantains

Next up we drove out to Chamelco to visit the Grutas del Rey Marcos.  This was another favorite spot of ours.  If you visited us during our Kekchi days there is a good chance we took you there.  We loved going there for picnics and playing in the waterfalls.  We also loved going there to hike in the cave.  It was our first time to take the boys and we were all excited.

it is a fun place to explore

our favorite picnic spot was right inside that pavilion

After exploring around we met our guide and hiked up the hill to the cave entrance.  I had forgotten what a hike it was.  It has been about nine years since we were last there.

that tiny door is the entrance to the cave

The boys were a little nervous at first because they did not really know what to expect.  Once we were inside they were fascinated and loved it. 

We had a nice guide who took a lot of pictures for us.  That made me happy.  

It was cold there and the water was freezing but the boys still wanted to play.  We had taken their swimwear just in case they wanted it.  They changed clothes and spent some time splashing around.

That evening we met our friends, the Wisemans, for supper.  They serve with the Assembly of God mission.  We first met them back in January 2008 when we all started Kekchi language classes together with Ms Fran.  Those classes gave us an instant bond and we have remained good friends ever since.  They still live in the area and work with the Kekchi.  It was good to catch up with them and hear about how the Kekchi work is going in their mission.

We started the next morning with an early breakfast at Kardamomuss.   The boys loved these fun pancakes.  Cruz said, "Mama, you can make these for us at home."  I guess I'll have to try.

We spent the rest of the morning at the Kekchi Baptist office visiting and meeting with several there to get an update on the work.  It was good to hear that overall things are going well.  It is always fun to return but at the same time it makes us a little sad.  It reminds us of how much we love and miss them.

One of our favorites to see was Sergio.  He was our helper and David's Kekchi tutor.  He is now all grown up and working at the Baptist office there in Coban.  It was so good to catch up with everyone there.

Later that afternoon we visited with the Smoker family.  They serve with the Mennonite mission.  They live in the area and also work with the Kekchi.  They moved there after we had left but we still met them and keep in touch.  Our boys love to play with their kids.

That evening we attended a worship service at the Kekchi Baptist church in town.  When we lived in Coban this church was just around the block from us.  We considered it our home church and when we were not out traveling this is where we attended worship on Sundays.  We always love getting to go back and be with them again.  The pastor's wife, Chus, was my Kekchi tutor.  I love her.

a photo with a few of our Kekchi brothers in Coban

We returned home on Saturday afternoon and spent the rest of the day getting ready for Sunday service.  David was preaching in Nearar and I was teaching the kids class.  We had a great service there and then stayed for the monthly business meeting.  It was almost 2:00 before we returned to town.  Bro. Fito's church was not meeting that night so we had the evening off.  We were all tired anyway so we were able to get to bed early.  It had been a full week but such a fun one!