Life Lately February 2021

 Here is a random look at our lives during the month of February.

David and the boys packing give away bags on a recent Saturday morning.  We keep food bags in our car to give away to random people that we encounter.  Many times this includes children who spend their whole days standing on the street corner with their parents asking for food.  The boys had the idea to include some fun bags for the kids (stickers, crayons, pencils, coloring books, etc.)  This has been a great way to include them in the project.  

My oven went out on New Year's Day.  We found a place in Guatemala City that could order a new part and they said it would take a month to get it in.  It ended up taking almost two months.  I was thrilled when we picked the part up on my birthday while in Guatemala City.  It felt like a gift.  Well, we installed the new part and now the oven still does not work.  Bummer!!!  Thankfully we have a friend flying back from the States in a few weeks and he is going to bring us another part.  I really hope it works!  In the meantime, I have been getting by with my small toaster oven, stovetop burners, and my Instant Pot.

The boys cooking lunch one day after school. 

He would eat black beans and eggs every single day if I let him.

Ben peeling apples for breakfast one morning.

While January was all about fort building, February became the month of wrestling matches.  It seems like that is all they did for weeks on end.  In this collage you can see David and the boys wrestling in the back yard.  Cruz built their wrestling "mat" out of a tarp and some cones to weight it down.  

They also decided that every commercial break of any show we were watching was wrestling match time.

It drove me crazy but they loved it.

We found a new (to us) import grocery store in Guatemala City.  It has been around for a long time but we have just never visited it before.  Puerta Del Sol #2 is the name and they had several U.S. items that are hard (or impossible) to find in Guatemala.  I was like a kid in a candy store walking up and down the isles.  The boys squealed with excitement to see this box of Reece's Puffs cereal.  It is their very favorite and we have never found it here before.  I squealed to find grits.  I bought two boxes and I hope it lasts until we get to the States. 

The boys doing art one afternoon.  I love how they took all of their crayons and sorted them into different cups.

We are introducing the boys to The Beverly Hillbillies series.  We are starting at the first episode and watching through them.  It has been fun for David and I to watch it again after having lived cross-culturally.  We can definitely relate to them trying to adjust to a new culture, people, and environment that is totally different than what they were accustomed to.  Even though the circumstances were different, the idea is still the same.

 

We went on another weekend camping trip with the Jarvis family to Finca Florencia.  It is our current favorite thing to do! 

 

It gets down to the 50's at night and can feel cool.  We have a large tent and two small tents.  We decided to put the small tents inside the larger tent to help block wind.  It works great!  I look forward to shopping for some cool, fun camping supplies while in the States.  

We spent a lot of time hiking and exploring.  We just love being in the great outdoors.  It is so peaceful there.

We rented horses and went for an afternoon ride around the park.  That was a fun experience.

We enjoyed night walks with glow sticks and head lamps and cooking hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire.

fun times with friends

I am already looking over my calendar and trying to find another time we can camp again.  We love it!

Thanks for reading!

Harmony Baptist Mission Team March 2019

This is another catch up post from back in March when our home church came down to work with us.  It had been a while since we had hosted a team from home so we were both excited and a little nervous all at the same time.  We really wanted the week to go well.  It did.  In fact, it exceeded all of our expectations.  It was a really amazing week filled with laughter, reminiscing, and good 'ol fun.  Here is a look at our time together.

Our family waiting at the airport for them to arrive.  Can you tell we were excited?  We did not tell our boys that kids were coming on the team.  We waited for them to find out at the airport.  It was a huge surprise for them.  Probably their best surprise ever.

A group photo before heading out on our first day of ministry.

Bro. Jonathan (the pastor at our home church) with the boys.  It was our first time to meet him and his family.  They are precious and our church is blessed to have them.

We started out visiting the cross that overlooks Antigua.  We spent a little time up there praying over the city and surrounding areas and praying for our week ahead.

Susie and Ben

(mother and son)

Jett and Cruz

Two peas in a pod.  These two were born on the same day and act more like brothers.  Every time they get to be around each other they are inseparable.   Their little friendship makes me smile.

Some of the kids made friends with the security police at the cross and got to know them. 

Next are some miscellaneous ministry pictures from the week.

hiking to go make some home visits

making balloon animals for the kids at one of our visits

playing duck duck goose with a few kids at a church

Praying with some congregation members on a piece of land that they will soon be building a church on. 

The ladies before church on Sunday morning.

 kids Bible study time on Sunday morning

singing during Sunday morning worship

Wayne giving his testimony during Sunday morning worship.  Afterwards Bro. Jonathan preached.

the guys before heading out to supper one night

We taught three different classes at a local school.  Many of the kids on the team shared scripture and their testimony. They also sang songs.  It was a blessing to see them be bold for the Lord.  Here they are blowing up balloons to give out to the school kids.

Most of the boys got swords which they loved.

 sharing a Bible story with the kids at a local school

more hiking and home visits

At one of our stops the kids played soccer while the adults visited.

sweet girls

David sharing scriptures at a home visit

having a spaghetti lunch at a local church prepared by the pastor's wife

In addition to ministry we also squeezed in some fun activities to help them learn a little about the culture. We did a walking tour of town and showed them all around.  We made a few visits to the souvenir market for shopping. We also took them to the regular market to see where the locals shop every day for food and basic necessities.  They really enjoyed that.  We took them to several cathedrals and they got to see an Easter processional pass by the Central Park.  

We had two picnic lunches at La Recoleccion.  We did not plan to go twice but the kids loved it so much that they begged to go back again.  They really loved getting to climb and explore all of the ruins there.   It is a fun place to visit and perfect for a picnic.

Cruz and Jett

Big Ben with the boys

For their free day activity they chose to visit Volcan Pacaya.  Instead of hiking we rented horses to carry us half way up and back down.  We were all very glad we did!

 hiking through the dried lava

 some of the boys with our guide

our family at Pacaya

the kids enjoyed getting to roast marshmallows over the lava pockets

 fun times!!!

our team

During the week our boys got to have their first sleepover.  We hosted all the boys for a few nights at our house and our boys got to stay at the hotel a few nights with them. We even had a girls night and let the three girls stay with us.  It was so much fun for everyone but especially for our boys! Our team consisted of two families (each with three kids) and the grandparents of one of those families.  It was our first time to host kids and it went very well.  We loved getting to be on mission with other families.  We look forward to more of that in the future.

On the last night we hosted all of the kids for a sleepover at our house.  We had pizza, popcorn, and movie night.  It was a great way to end the week.

We were so sad to take them to the airport and tell them goodbye.  We did not want the week to end.  We are thankful and blessed that they chose to come down.  We hope it will not be too long before they come back.