Celebrating Mr. Wendall

As a follow up to last week's post about our weekend in Coban I wanted to share some photos from the special service we attended for a dear man that we greatly loved.  Mr. Wendall  Parker was a retired IMB missionary who passed away earlier this year.  He spent many years serving among the Kekchi people group.  They are the people group we initially came to work with when we arrived on the mission field.

our Team Kekchi

us, the Parkers, the McGriff's (our supervisors), and Ms. Fran (our Kekchi language teacher)

Mr. Wendall and Mrs. Jane, although retired at the time, continued to return for several months out of the year to continue the work.  They were with us during our first five months in Coban and returned again each year that followed.   They were great mentors and taught us much about the Kekchi people and culture.  They modeled how to love people, care for people, and just sit and listen to people share their hearts.

David and Mr. Wendall visiting in a Kekchi village in the Lanquin area

Our apartments were connected and often times we would hear them praying, singing, and reading the Bible out loud together.   That is a memory I will always treasure.  Their marriage was a great testimony for all to see.  The way they loved each other was just precious.  They were role models for us in many ways and were placed in our lives at a great time.  One of the best things they did was model the missionary life before us.  We could read and study a lot about it but seeing it lived out in their lives taught us so much.

Mr. Wendall left a great legacy among the Kekchi people.  He was loved and admired by each and every one.  Many lives were touched because of him and many will be in Heaven one day because of him.  His testimony will live on because of the investment he made in people and we will forever be thankful to God that we were two of the lives who were touched by him.

us with the Parkers at the Baptist property in Las Casas that they helped build

One of Cruz's favorite memories of Mr. Wendall is them playing baseball together at our house in Camotan.

Our last visit with them was back in December 2013 when we traveled to Georgia to see them while on Stateside Assignment.

It was good seeing Mrs. Jane again over the weekend and getting to spend a little time with her.  Her daughter LeAnne and Mr. Wendall's sister-in-law Leslie were also there.  Before going to the service on Sunday morning we all enjoyed breakfast together at our hotel in Coban. 

Mrs. Jane loves our boys and prays for them often.  It blesses my heart to know that!  Here she is spending time with Cruz before breakfast as they read a book together.  This picture is precious to me.

Our desire as Christians is to live like Christ but I am also thankful for earthly role models that help shape our lives as well. 

Mrs. Jane and the boys

The service took place at the Baptist church in Coban.  This church was just around the corner from where we all lived in Coban.  We considered it our Guatemala home church when we lived there and often attended when we were not out visiting other churches.

Mrs. Jane sharing during the service.

The Parker's daughter sharing during the service.

Their daughter LeAnne had a reprint of some Kekchi hymnals done and added a memorial of her parents inside.  Mr. Wendall loved music.

After the service there was a long receiving line to visit with Mrs. Jane.  We all sat patiently and watched as each one passed by and shared words, thoughts, and memories with her.

Afterwards we all walked to our old Baptist property and shared a meal together.  The Kekchi have purchased the property and have begun a total renovation of it.  You would not recognize it at all- from the inside or the outside.

This is the outside of the property now.  You can still see the corner of the McGriff's house off to the left.  They no longer own that property, just the side of the property where we lived.  The area behind the wall where it used to be our parking and the beautiful yard and garden area is now completely closed in.  They have a ceiling that goes all the way to the back of the property.  They gutted the apartments and rebuilt rooms.   It is completely different!   Their plan is to eventually make the building four stories tall with plenty of classrooms and meeting areas.  That is a big goal of theirs but if you know the Kekchi when they put their minds to something it might take a while but they will get it done.  We are excited for the new life in the property but at the same time it made us a little sad to see how much it had changed. 

Our group enjoying a traditional Kekchi meal of broth soup with chicken, rice, and vegetables.  We also had tortillas and a corn drink.  It had been a long time since we have been served a Kekchi meal and I think it tasted better than I have ever had it.  It just brought back a lot of fond memories as we sat around the table and ate together.

our delicious lunch

LeAnne and Mrs. Jane

We will always be thankful that we were able to be there to share in this special occasion.  We were sad because we miss Mr. Wendall but we rejoiced greatly as we celebrated the full life that he lived.  He is gone but not forgotten.  His legacy will live on for many years to come.

Cowboy Cruz

We were happy to get to spend Sunday afternoon and evening with several special people who mean a lot to our little family.  Wendall and Jane Parker, Fran Eachus, Jim McGriff, and David McGowin all flew into Guatemala City on Sunday morning.  They will be doing leadership training with the Kekchi pastors over the next several days.  Please pray for them as they will be teaching on Tuesday and Wednesday in Las Casas.  They will spend Thursday and Friday teaching in Sayaxche, and next Monday and Tuesday in Coban.    We were able to visit with them at our mission house in Guatemala City.

I intended to get photos of each of them with both boys, but only ended up getting a photo of the Parker's with Ben.  I am sad I did not take more pictures!

Mr. Wendall and Mrs. Jane holding Ben

They brought Cruz an early birthday present- his very own cowboy hat.  He loves it, and we cannot wait to take him riding horses again and let him wear it.  They also brought Ben a cute little outfit.

We had a great time catching up with all of them and look forward to the day we can all visit again.

On another note, Ben turns 3 weeks old today!  I am having a hard time believing that, haha.

Ministry Update

Last week our work team hosted a conference in Coban for the national K'ekchi' missionaries.  David and I were not able to attend because we are in language school (and 5 hours away) but I wanted to send out the update from the conference that our supervisor sent to us.  We miss working with these great men and look forward to finishing school and getting back to walking the trails with them.

Here are some highlights of the conference:
There was joyful worship and singing as 15 of the total 17 Kekchi Baptist Missionaries attended the conference. They represent several large geographic regions and rarely see each other for times of fellowship. We observed a sweet Spirit of unity and love as they talked and laughed together.

They did an in depth study of Joshua 7 concerning Achan's sin and its devastation to God's peple and His mission for them. They made some wonderful applications and agreed that sin must be dealt with and erradicated before they could have God's Power to share the Good News and see their friends saved.

Wendall and Jane presented the "Evangecube" as a means of presenting Christ to individuals or small groups. To our surprise, it made a big hit with them, and they spontaneously began doing dramas depicting the use of the cube to share the Gospel in many different settings. Now we have to order 17 Evangecubes.....ha!

During 3 ample sessions of prayer, each missionary shared his heart for his family, his health and the new believers as well as lost people in his sector of service. Most of them told of serious health problems that hampered their service and lamentented having so many invitations to preach in unreached communities that health, time and funds did not allow them to respond to all. Some of the older missinaries said, "We are wearing out....and who will take our place?"....a sobering thought!

There may be as many as 900,000 Kekchi who have not yet heard the Good News in a way they can understand. Please pray for them and the lostness that still looms large in this people group.
Jim and The Kekchi Team

All In A Days Work

Monday morning began with a group photo before we loaded the cars and started our day.

David, Regina, Carol, Jim, Bro. Miguel, Jane, & Wendall

Our first visit was to the village of Se' Pub. We didn't know until the very last minute that the village required a pretty difficult hike to reach. We thought it was close so we didn't take bottled water or anything (except the camera, ha). Here is a view from on top of the mountain before we climbed down. You can see the river at the bottom.

We went straight down the mountain! It was very steep. All I could say was, "I am going to have to climb back out of here!!!"

This is a view on the way down. The house we visited is in the bottom left corner.

Another view of the house
I was VERY happy when we arrived! The family that lives there are not believers but invited us to visit with them. We had members from a neighboring church hike an hour & 1/2 to meet us at the road and they then hiked down to the house with us. In K'ekchi' when you get somewhere you say "xoc'ulun" which means "we arrived". Boy was I glad to say it then. ha
When we arrived they served us a Kool-aid type drink in these gourds. I don't think we've had that happen before but Mrs. Jane says it was very common years ago. I thought it was cool and wanted to take mine with me but chickened out asking them for it.

I don't know if this picture really shows just how red my face was! I was also wringing wet!

We had a great visit there and expect God to do a great work among those people!

Well, what goes down must come back up. Here we are on the trail.

Once we reached the top we all had a time of celebration and prayer. We sang the hymn "Amazing Grace". It was a great way to end that visit!

This is the entrance to the 2nd house we visited in the village of Palmar. I love palm trees!

There are very few believers in this area. We prayed with these two girls in their home.

Isn't she precious!

There are many orange trees on this property and before we left one of the girls went out and picked us a sack full to bring home.

Mrs. Jane & Mrs. Carol

Our last prayer stop of the day was in the town of Cahabon. We stopped by the mission church there to pray for the pastor and his family.

The pastor's grandson, Franklin, was very sick so we were able to pray specifically for him as well. This is baby Franklin laying in a hammock.

When we left there we were three hours from Coban. We arrived home in the late afternoon, tired, but rejoicing about all we had seen and done in the last two days! Please continue to pray for the Cahabon region of Guatemala.

A Weekend of Pray & Encouragment

This past weekend we went out visiting/encouraging with K'ekchi' missionary Bro. Miguel Chub in the Lanquin/ Cahabon area. In two days we visited and prayed in 9 villages and prayed for 6 more that we did not have time to travel to. It was a great trip and I took tons of photos. So, I will be posting about it in several smaller posts over the next few days.

We left Lanquin early on Sunday morning and first traveled to the village of El Carmen. There is one family of believers that lives in this village. They have 9 kids! This is a photo of their house where we prayed and had a Bible study. This is some of the family
The mother with five of her children

Jim gave a devotion on Zacchaeus. This photo is of Mrs. Jane teaching the kids the song about him

I love this next photo. Right before I took it, the mother came over and put the little girls arm around David. She was embarrased but it was cute!

When we left there we drove on to the village of Pinares

This is a photo of some of the believers there. They are continuing to meet in a home and have Bible study together

We had a service with them that we all took part in. Mrs. Jane read scripture, Mr. Wendall prayed, Carol led a hymn, David & I led a chorus, and Jim brought the message.

Our third stop was at Chi Poc. We had intended to be there in time for their morning service but it was noon before we got there. They waited on us and we started the service then. I am glad they are patient!! This is a photo of their mission church

After the service we all had a meal together

In this next photo I am holding little Regina. I first met her a few months ago. She is the daughter of a K'ekchi' pastor in this area and she is named after me! I think that is sweet! I was very excited to know she was there. Her mom is in the blue with her hand over her mouth and one of her sisters is sitting in the middle. Regina & Regina

We left there and drove to the village of Se' Mil. This village recently had 5 new believers. We prayed there with our last team. This is a photo of a few of them (& Bro. Miguel)

This is a photo of how we all felt at this point, ha. When David entered their house he just fell out on one of the beds. We laughed at him.

I'll post about our last stop of the day tomorrw.