A Full Weekend-

We had a great weekend full of activity and cultural learning. We left Saturday morning heading down to the Polochic Valley. We went to the village of San Antonio.

A few views along the way

We arrived mid-afternoon and unloaded our supplies into this house. This is where the local pastor lives & where we slept.


The Polochic Valley is normally a hot area. We took cots, sheets,and blankets, but much to our surprise it was unseasonably cold. Saturday night we dressed in most everything in our bags and still had one of the coldest nights we have felt while staying out in a village. It didn't help that it was very windy and even rained during the night.

After getting settled in, they fed us a late lunch (eggs, beans, & tortillas). We then had a Bible study time. One of the pastor's that was with us shared about salvation & baptism. There were 9 candidates for believer's baptism. We hiked to the local water source and had a baptismal service. It was soo cool to watch it and be a part of it.

I love this photo!

One thing I thought was funny was that the women took a piece of vine and tied up the bottom of their skirts so they would not come up in the water.

You can see the church and house where we slept on top of this hill.

Saturday night we had a service there. We started around 7 and didn't finish until after 11!!! We were very tired by the time it ended.

We had another service on Sunday morning. The special thing about that service was that there were 5 couples to be married in the service. We were soo excited about getting to be a part of their weddings.

Their church building

The couples getting ready to march into the church

Here is a short video of the couples entering the church-

K'ekchi' missionary, Bro. Roberto Yaxcal, doing the wedding service.

After the service everyone ate lunch together. Here are a few photos of the couples. I hate that they don't smile for pictures. It is hard to even get women to look at the camera. This is K'ekchi' pastor Bro. Pedro, K'ekchi' missionary- Bro. Roberto, and Bro. Alfredo from the Pocola church. They all went went us on this trip.

Bro. Pedro is a lot of fun. This is him clowning around with his lunch.

This is David with the local pastor Bro. Carlos, his wife, and some of his children, and also Bro. Alfredo & Bro. Pedro.

It was a great weekend! We were able to see 9 new believers get baptized, 5 couples get married, and professions of faith in both services we had!! That is soo exciting!!!

Here are a few more misc. photos from the trip-

This is an avocado tree. We were able to bring some home. We never ate avocados until we moved to Guatemala. Now we love them!

We returned home late Sunday afternoon tired and dirty but with hearts full of joy! Thanks again for praying for our travels. We appreciate it more than you know!

Is this called work? (part 2)

We spent the night in Teleman at a motel that was built alongside a Texaco gas station. It is by far the most rustic "motel" we stay in. Normally this is a hot area and it was during the day but it got quite cool Saturday night. The wall's of the motel do not go all the way to the ceiling. They stop and then you have screen to keep the bugs out, ha. We were on a corner room and we thought we were going to freeze. It was very drafty with the cold winds. The beds only have sheets for cover. We put on every bit of clothes we packed (which wasn't much) and snuggled up. I might also add that this place has no hot water. So imagine a cold shower on a cold night. Brrrr........ We survived as we always do and have even laughed about it a lot today, after the fact.

We went to church in a neighboring village to where we showed the film on Saturday. The name of the village was either Sa' Potal or Tzapotal. We are not sure of the spelling (sorry Mrs. Jane). We drove about 35 minutes and then hiked about 10 minutes to the church building. We had a great time of worship and fellowship there. Some churches seem more warm than others and this one definitely was inviting. They have a young pastor, Bro. Rigoberto, and he was so encouraged by our visit.

One of many creeks we crossed to get to the church

Hiking to church

I don't think we will ever get tired of the views here The village church we attended- Iglesia Bautista Filadelfia

One of the things we noticed right away was the drummer boy. He was only about 6 or 7 years old. He really impressed us and brought us a lot of joy by watching him play. He did great!

After the service this little boy's family invited us to their house for lunch. It was another 20 minute hike away. We went and had a delicious Caldo and Tortilla meal with them. We saw a snake on the trail to their house. We know they are here but we don't see them often. This did not go over well with me :(. After lunch we hiked back to the car and headed on our way to Coban. Bro. Roberto seemed to have just as good a time as us and was trying to schedule us a return visit to his region with him. We look forward to going out with him again.

Bro. Rigoberto, his son, David, & Bro. Roberto

Here are some more scenic photos we took on the drive home-