Moving On

All things must come to an end…

As for you that do not know, Jeff and I have decided to go home early after only five months. We had planned on serving a whole year here in Guatemala, but apparently that is not necessarily what God has for us.
That is hard for me to accept. This was my dream, to come here and just “do” whatever I could find to help out.
But after much prayer, we decided that God is leading us back to Texas. We don’t have to be in Guatemala in order to “serve” the Lord. But it just seems so much more hands on here.
There is such a visible need everywhere you look; it is NOT hard to find someone to help or an organization to join!
The challenge now will be going home and trying to apply all that we learned here and serve people at home. That will be hard to do. People at home seem so happy and seem to have it all together, it’s hard to know who is hurting and who is not.

We all wear a disguise at times. We hide behind walls, cars, jobs and happy faces. But we are lacking something; Being real with one another and vulnerable.

I have had the opportunity here in Panajachel, to form real relationships. For the first time, real relationships with real people! That was my prayer before we left Texas that we would find and bond with others in a real way! God abundantly answered that prayer!
We have made so many friends here: Tricia, Aaron, Ely (from Texas!), Christine, Tereza and sweet Mary. Those are just the fellow gringo volunteers, all our age.

We held a bible study at our place on Wednesdays nights and then would go out and eat. My prayer now is that these relationships, these precious gifts from God, will not drop here and just drown!
I want them to continue to flourish and grow! I want to connect with all these people for many years to come. (Yes Aaron, we will come to visit you in Uganda! Someday.)
We also connected with a whole community of Ex-pat believers, amazing examples of Godly people: Dan & Ann, Allen Stern, Allan & Tereza, Mike & Adelle and their daughters, Kasia & Lungi, Dwight & Maria, and Bonnie.
Then there is all the local people: Brennan & Nancy, Noe, Luis, Hector & Lety, Manuel, Daniel & Wibke, Angelina and her beautiful (large) family, Sabina to fruit lady (and the countless tortilla ladies that I have befriended. I know that I am forgetting someone, but God knows who they are!)

Lord, bless all these wonderful people living in Panajachel. You know their hearts, dreams and their deepest desires, please take care of them and protect them!

Do all things have to come to an end?
Eventually, this earth will end but until then, may these relationships never come to an end…

LA PUERTA

Okay, so in the states we would not even think about calling any house, let alone, any room be complete until the door was put up. I mean, we need to be able to go into any room behind us, turn around and close that door until the latch catches. Well, here in Guatemala that is not really the case. Often times a house or property will have one main iron door that is accessed by a key. After that usually what seperates rooms is a simple fabric hanging in a doorway. Well, today at Angelina's house I spent the whole morning assembling and mounting a door for Evelyn's room. Evelyn is a new mother and I sure she now will appreciate a little extra privacy, not that makes much difference considering most any mother will breastfeed in front of any stranger. Yes, I have been around that and at first it is awkward but it is just a way of life here.

I'll try and post a picture later.

Jeff

Bountiful BECAS!

What on earth is a BECA?

That is something I asked myself when I first met Melanie and she told me that we "do" BECAS. Hmmm...

A BECA is basically a scholarship given to kids and teenagers so they can go to school. So many of them cannot afford to go, but they want to so badly! I have overheard several parents that we have given BECAS to say to their kids, "Be thankful that you can go to school, because without school you can't do anything. If you go to school you can get a good job!"

Guatemalans work in order to survive. In some cases it is more serious than others. For example, Clarita and Gaby (the girls shown below) are a prime example of children in a desperate and somewhat hopeless case. Their father died a couple of years back, from what, I do not know, so their mother left them with her old father and she took off with some guy. So here is this old man with two girls, six and eight years old and no work! He has very little to support them with.

So Porch de Salomon is giving these girls a BECA and a chance to not miss out on their education. An education gives them a chance to succeed in this life and to do something different if they choose to; other than end up making tortillas for the rest of their lives! So many young women end up doing that or working in the markets selling fruits and vegetables. (I have to say though, THANK GOD for tortilla ladies... they make the best corn tortillas here, so warm and soft!)

So THANKS to all the families in Florida and all over the world that give so generously to the BECA program! There are many organizations all around the country doing the same thing and when everyone pitches in and helps these kids go to school, we are making a better Guatemala for their children and grandchildren and for generations to come.

PRAYER REQUEST: Pray for the children during this school year. Pray that God will continue to provide for their needs, like supplies and uniforms, so that they can succeed in thier education!

Dormitory Living

Nat and I have a nice little place up on the hillside. A quite place with lots of beautiful scenery. At night, we like to be alone, enjoying our escape, together.

To refresh a little, the Porch has been funding a project to expand Angelina's house. (Please read the post a little farther down). This project has had more than one setback and after the New Year came and went Angelina was supposed to be back in her new home. That didn't happen. Her rent expired and she was asking her landlord for a few more days here and there. Finally, at wits end, she had to move out. There was room for her to stay with some family across the river but it was going to be too cramped for this family of SEVEN.




Now going back to our place, we have a bunk bed. We have let the kids stay there to enjoy a nice change once before but now we were being asked to let them stay with us...for how long? Nobody knew. So we were okay with the first two nights but then one night when we had just finished preparing a nice dinner we got a phone call from the mother saying her kids were on the way. Not less than a minute later they were there. We had expected them to come, but not for another hour. I responded in haste for a moment "why can't we just enjoy a few more moments alone?!?!" On the phone, Angelina said that they were not hungry and wanted to go. I knew this meant we had to share the little bit of food we had prepared because they would be hungry when they got there. I admit, I was being totally selfish but I was really upset that all of a sudden my privacy was being taken from me; they were sleeping in our room, eatting our food, and for crying outloud, I couldn't finish the movie we had started 3 nights before. Maybe nobody else experiences moments like this where they are being asked to give something they don't want to give but this was the case for me. The following day Nat and I were discussing the situation and both agreed that the Lord has done so much for us and when we are able to give we should give, especially for those in need. I felt terribly convicted for being self-centered.

So Many People Ask... Can YOU help me?

This has been a very interesting past few weeks for Natalie and I. As most are familiar with, Lloyd and Melanie (the Porch de Solomon leaders) went to be with family over the holidays, returning for 2 weeks in between Thankgiving and Christmas. Alas, though our friends come home Wednesday and we are both more than ready to have them back to help carry on with all the efforts here in Panajachel.

This past week has been really crazy. More so for Natalie as she met with many families to help get a new school year started. The Porch helps fund scholarships, called Becas, for dozens of kids in the Lake Atitlan areas. Nat really used her Spanish alot and really stepped out of her comfort zone by just putting herself in the middle of so many different situations. At times feeling unsure that the family needed the money in the first place she found herself being asked for more and more everytime she met with someone. I think sometimes she even felt like a doormat for easy money. That's the honest opinion. But regardless, we believe, that it has to be done and if any of that is the case then they don't take advantage of us but the Lord.

It has encouraged me to look at my own circumstances and examine myself and see how I am using God as a handout. Read on to the next post and I'll explain how I was challenged about freely giving God's provisions.

Christmas with New Friends

Nat and I have been very thankful to Lord for the many wonderful friends we have had the oppurtunity to share this most wonderful time of the year with. Many people have opened their homes to us to share meals, memories and most importantly the Birth of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

On Christmas eve we were with a lovely family from another local meeting of Believers who had family in town from the states. It was an evening full of great discussions and reflection for all of us. We met Jeff and Cathy and their 3 wonderful children. Jeff is passionate about ministering to college aged young adults and Cathy spends her time raising their kids in life's lessons. Gathered around the fire we talked for an 1 1/2 as the kids watched Ratouille. Later that evening we were back at our home and right at midnight the whole town of Panajachel greeted Christmas day with a firework spectacle that lasted for 30 minutes. These fireworks were something else and definitely a nice little touch of Central American heritage.

The following day we went up to an orphanage located in Solola by the name of, Eagle's Nest. We were invited by Ron and Beverely (pictures above) from the local group meeting. These two folks are from southern Washington state and decided spend their retirement helping children. Yesterday was very humbling for one big reason though. Their were two younger couples there wanting to spend this Christmas with the babies they were both HOPING to adopt. The process has not yet been approved by the government but that did not stop them from wanting to be there for the child's first Christmas. What was even more humbling was seeing the parents from both the husband and wife, a couple similar to our age, both wanting to be there, too.

It was both sad, joyful, and hopeful at the same time because the couples both knew that they were going home without that little child. Please pray that the doors open for these couples and that they can adopt these young newborns!

Love,

Jeff

Christmas Across the Lake!

Jeff & I traveled across the lake to a town called Santiago Atitlan. It took us about 30 minutes by boat. The views were amazing.!

Anyway, the reason we went was to deliver gifts to some kiddos from a local church that Salomon's Porch is in contact with. The gifts were not from us, but from kids of "Element Three" church in Tallahassee sent them. We made sure that they knew these gifts were not from us, but from other kids!
Here they are opening their gifts and loving it! They were so thrilled!

Evelyn's Baby has arrived!!!!

Evelyn's baby boy was born on December 2, an easy date for me to remember because that is also my mother's birthday. Happy Birthday to both. He was born at 6 pounds 12 ounces. Evelyn is the daughter of Angelina, the cook for Solomon's Porch.



Nat and I have been given the honor of being the Godparent's for this wonderful child. Though neither one of us know the "responsibilities" of being Godparents we are privileged to be a part of this wonderful family witnessing, first-hand, our Father's miracles.

Santa Cruz to San Marcos

Mondays have become a day I really look forward to. Although I enjoy serving the community and meeting new people throughout the week I have discovered one thing about me...I need time to connect with God's Creation. I am amazed by God's creation everytime I go for a walk around here. It's sad to think that most people will call someone who likes to connect with Nature a Tree Hugger or some weirdo who believes in mythical healing powers...but I am not any of those. I am a Believer of the Truth, the Truth of Jesus Christ who created all things I believe God has revealed some of the most awesome powers of His works through Creation. That is why I believe in taking time weekly, to discover this awesome work. It is a responsibility for every Believer to respect God's creation, whether man, woman, pet, animals, or landscape...it is all His, HE owns it, NOT ME!

Yesterday, Natalie and I got out for a long day, including one hour boat trip (round trip), a 4 hour hike, and many rolling mountains later we had hike from Santa Cruz to San Marcos. It was a very wonderful experience for the both of us.