More Heaven on Earth?

Danilo with his turn at the pinata

Danilo receiving a gift & a hug

Today is Danilo's 6th Birthday! He shared his only chicken that his family has, with his teachers today at his home! Yesterday we were able to share in a birthday party for him with his kindergarten class and the teachers. What fun! We were able to help out with this party and the joy this brought to everyone was amazing. Danilo, the children, the teachers & even Al enjoyed the pinata. It was so fun to see the children present gifts to Danilo, enjoy the games and the birthday cake. His Mom and two little brothers were able to attend. This party would be the equivilent of us taking our children to Disneyland for their birthday party. This family would never be able to afford the cake! Danilo may never have celebrated his birthday before this day. This is mind boggling for Al and I. Later on we gave Danilo, his Mom and his brothers a ride home. We were able to meet his father for the first time & we were able to pray for his whole family. They received us into there home so graciously. One day all of God's church, all races and nationalities will be able to share in the joy of seeing Jesus face to face. He will be the center of the party then!

Today we are also at the halfway point of our stay here in Tactic. As we reflect back over the last fourweeks, God has been good to us. God has a purpose for us here! We have met many new people from all over Canada & the USA from the 3 teams that have come to stay at the Guest House so far. What a joy to share times together with them worshipping God & sharing what God is doing in our lives. We probably won't see many of them again until we get to Heaven - what a joyous day that will be!!! We have also met many of the local staff working here at Impact Ministries as they serve the Lord in this ministry. What a joy to work alongside these people who love the Lord & have chosen to serve Him here in Guatemala. Then there are the local Guatemalan people we have met - we have to come to love these people dearly. They are such happy people & yet many of them have so little. What a joy it is to attend a school devotional and see and hear 150 children worshipping our Lord with all their hearts. God is great!!!

Back on the home front, our daughter Michelle hit a moose late on Friday evening, coming back from visiting with her grandma in Three Hills. She Skyped us on Saturday morning from her other grandmother's house and shared the news with us. She had called 911 herself and had been taken via ambulance to Foothills Hospital emergency where she had worked this summer. Her grandmother in Calgary was called to meet the paramedics in emergency. We prayed with her and thanked God that she was alive. She looked good but appeared somewhat anxious. We attributed this to the shock of what she had been through. Later that day she became nauseated. She was checked out further and it was determined she had post-concussion syndrome and an injury to her right shoulder. We saw some pictures of her car today & we are still praising God that she is alive. I am learning what the verse in Matthew 10:37-39 means. These verses kept going through my mind before we left Canada."...if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it." Heaven came closer for me these days as I realize again that another one of my children could be with Jesus right now. We ask why do these things happen? I don't have the answer, I just know that Jesus loves me and he has the Master plan. He is the Master!!!

A Little Bit of Heaven on Earth



On Saturday we got to do a little sight-seeing with this small group of three. We picked up a wonderful Guatemalan family that we had made dobladas with the evening before. A doblada is a native Guatemalan dish which is a little like a perogy but it is a corn tortilla filled with cheese & then fried in oil - they are so yummy with salsa. This couple had 3 children - 2 teenage boys and a little seven year old girl. We also invited a young couple along that are to be married in November. We drove for a long way to Semuc-Champey. What fun we had! When we got to Lanquin, a little tourist town, we decided to leave our van and negotiated a ride up the rest of the way to Semuc-Champey in a 4x4 truck, for a small fee of course, as the road was not good ahead. Before we left though, several of us needed to use the washroom. We had to pay to use the washroom - each of us paid our 1 quetzal (~15 cents) and we were handed some toilet paper and a receipt. To flush the toilet we had to get a pail of water from a nearby barrel and pour it down the toilet! We laughed and had so much fun with this experience.

We all got into the truckbox and finished our rough journey up the mountain road to the site of the most beautiful turquoise waters casacading over rocks into pools deep enough to dive into. The sun was shining into the canyon. It was wonderfully warm and humid. The pools were surrounded by canyon walls covered with the trees of the rain forest. We had a picnic lunch and then swam or lounged around in the warm waters while tiny fish kissed our toes. The little girl stayed by my side in the shallow waters. Giggling became our way of communicating - I heard agua (water) and pescado (fish) a lot. :) This was the first time this family had been to this place, even though it is not that far away for them.

Later on Al and I walked upstream of the pools over the rocks & found a rushing, roaring, pounding river plunging down underground; underneath where we had been swimming, diving and lounging around. It was amazing - what an incredible tourist spot, still so natural and primitive! All of the signs describing the area were in Spanish, but we got the message.

Back where we had our picnic, a lady from Canada got to share with and encourage a Guatemalan brother. She felt that she now knew why she had returned to Guatemala - this was her 7th time here. Again we talked and laughed on the way home and became good friends.

Sunday morning we went to the little church cell group that this Guatemalan family has helped to begin in one of the classrooms at the Purulha school. These Guatemalan brothers and sisters worship the Lord with such passion. I keep weeping everytime I am in any worship service. God is so close.

This morning we said good-bye to a team - 3 new friends; a couple from Boston and a lady from Edmonton. If we don't see one another on earth here again, we will see one another in heaven. What a party that will be!

Bendiciones, Judy

Sponsor Children

Hola!! Today is Independance Day here in Guatemala. On September 15, 1821, the Captaincy-general of Guatemala officially proclaimed its independence from Spain and its incorporation into the Mexican Empire. So today is a celebration for the Guatemalan people - there has been a parade here in Tactic & many festivities. Later today we are going to have our own celebration - a Mennonite feast!! We have a lady (from Mennonite heritage) currently here from Edmonton who is going to make all of us borscht & veranika - yummy!!!!

Suly playing soccer

Yesterday was both an exciting but also a somewhat difficult day for us. In the morning we went to Mocohan School for the morning worship/devotional time. What a great time we had worshipping our Lord & Saviour with the children. We were especially excited about going to Mocohan as we have 2 sponsor kids in this school & it was another chance to meet with them - we had last met with them in May. As we watched the kids walk into the meeting area, we first saw our 5 yr old sponsor boy, Danilo, walk in. He was smiling, looked at us gringos but we weren't sure whether he recognized us or not. As we walked into the meeting area, we then saw Suly, our 12 yr old sponsor girl. She recognized us right away & had a big smile on her face when she saw us. After the worship time we got to hug each one of them (along with the whole school in the hug line) & chat with them in our limited Spanish.

Danilo & his Mom

We have a couple here at the moment who is shooting some video for promotional purposes as they are in the process of establishing Impact Ministries as a charitable organization in the USA. The director of the school had arranged for a home visit to talk to the parents about the impact the school has had on their child's life. Well to our surprise they had chosen Danilo's home to go visit. We were excited to go back to Danilo's home for a visit.

Al with Danilo in his home

We took Danilo from school & all loaded in the van for the drive up the mountain to his home. He doesn't live that far from school but it is quite a steep hill up to his home which he walks every day to & from school with his Mom. His Mom was home with his 2 younger brothers but his Dad was out working. Danilo's family lives in a 2 room mud hut with a dirt floor - the whole family sleeps in 1 bed.

We listened as the Mom explained to us how they had only been eating corn tortillas as that was all they had to eat. They had 1 chicken which they were talking about killing so that they had something to eat. Danilo had told her that he didn't want to kill the chicken yet & they decided as a family to wait to butcher the chicken until Danilo's 6th birthday on Sept 27th. So come Sept 27th, they will kill their 1 & only chicken for Danilo's birthday celebration! But what is even more amazing is that they have invited the Mocohan school staff over to share this chicken with them on Danilo's birthday. Rather than save the meat for themselves they are willing to share the meat with people who have made a difference in their lives. It was gut wrenching to hear how Danilo had been only eating tortillas & going hungry many times throughout the day. One of the many things that Impact's child sponsorship program does is provide 1 nutritous meal a day to the children at each of their schools. For some kids, like Danilo, this is often the best meal of the day that they will eat.

If you would like to hear what Impact Ministries is doing here in Guatemala, the event below is an opportunity to do so. We will be in attendance having just arrived back in Calgary 3 days earlier. We would love to have you join us & hear some of the stories of what God is doing in this beautiful country!!


YOU'RE INVITED to Friends of Impact Ministries

Where:           Foothills Alliance Church - Rundle Hall
                      333 Edgepark Blvd. NW
                      Calgary, AB  T3A 4K4

When:            Thursday, October 27, 2011

Time:              7:00pm - 9:00pm

Program:        Dessert will be served.  Les Peters will share encounters with God and exciting stories of changed lives. Come and be encouraged as you hear what God is doing in Tactic, Guatemala!

Admission:    FREE!! Bring a friend!!

RSVP:            By Monday, October 24, 2011 to Sandra Stephenson by email or by phone.
                       events-calgary@impactministries.ca
                       (403) 295-8731

Rainy Season!!

Big River, SK team

Hola. Well 10 days have already come & gone. The first missions team left Tactic on Friday for a couple of days in Antigua before heading back to Canada this morning. We really enjoyed our time with the team from SK & got to know them quite well. It was interesting watching them throughout their stay here as they interacted in the community doing their various activities - it reminded us of our first visit here back in May. Your emotions are all over the map as you see these people in their culture & many with so little.

With the team leaving this has left us with an empty house. After all the activity here over the last days, the house is quiet!! On Friday night we received a doozy of a rain storm - dumped a lot of rain in a very short period of time. The Guest House is located at the bottom of a hill so all the water during a rain storm comes running down the street in front. About a half a block from the house is a small river. Well last night the water running down the street was about 6-8" deep & the river was overflowing. In talking to some of the Impact staff here they said that is the worst they have seen this rainy season. We heard sirens & heard this morning a house had been washed away further up the mountain. Lightening & thunder came with it & we had the power knocked out for 3-4 hours - we spent most of the evening in the dark. We were going to head out for supper with another couple but never made it so we ended up trying to cook for ourselves which was very difficult with no power. We ventured into the market area in the dark & found out some of the market area had power. We picked up supper from some of local vendors & just watched life continue on here inspite of all the rain. Some of the vendors in the area where there was no power continued on with business as usual using candles.

Judy serving a meal

Yesterday Al spent most of the day helping Impact staff clean up some of the water damage at the Chijacorral School (Impact's high school) here in Tactic. The storm water system adjacent to the school plugged up with all debris & garbage coming down from the mountain & subsequently the water over went on the school field & flooded a few classrooms. Also the sewer system for the people on the mountain was also washed out as a reult of the water going where it wasn't supposed to. Both the storm & drainage systems are very crudely constructed. When Al arrived on site yesterday morning there were about 50 local men digging with shovels & picks to fix the sewer line & by early afternoon they had it repaired - let's say though not as we would have back in Canada. Here is a link to a few pictures of the damage http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/32519857/1/Rain%20Storm%20Damage?h=32f754 Later in the evening Karey (ESL teacher) joined us & we again tried some of the local food down at the market. It was delicious & the best part, all 3 of us ate for about $6! Also no rain yesterday which was a good thing!!!

Tomorrow another team will arrive in the afternoon but this will be a very small team - only 3 members. This was supposed to be a Child Sponsor team but we understand there has been a few cancellations. With only 3 people this will take on a different feel than the previous team. Since it will probably not be as busy for us we are hoping to get some chances to do some things that we might not be able to do with a larger group here; ie. visit our 2 sponsor children, work on the construction of the new Guest House, participate in some of the school's worship/devotional times, etc.

Voting station in Tactic

Today is presidential election day here in Guatemala. Guatemalans will also elect a Congress & well as their local government authorities. This is only the 4th time that Guatemala has held presidential elections since peace accords were signed in 1996, officially ending a civil war that devastated this country for 36 years.

Later today in the afternoon we will head out to the worship service at Isgelia Rio de Vida & spend time with some of the local Guatemalan Christians. Worship here is quite different than at home - the services are very lively. It is not uncommon to see the locals dancing & jumping with their hands lifted high as they worship their Lord & Saviour. It is also not uncommon to see many of them at the front of the church on their knees in prayer of being prayed for after the message is delivered. God is at work here in Guatemala!!

Bendiciones!!

A Steep Learning Curve

It is just starting to rain here, as it usually does every afternoon at some point. It rains for about an hour or so and then we wake up to beautiful blue skies in the morning. We are learning to wear the right shoes and to take an umbrella with us at this time. So far, none of the dry laundry hung up on the wash line has gotten wet from the rain.Yes, we are learning some Spanish. Judy's teacher is the housekeeper. Judy trys to imitate her sometimes and they both burst out laughing. Last week Judy walked to the market by herself and purchased some vegetables. She did not get lost! :) Yesterday the team currently here did their market activity in the morning. Sunday morning the market is packed. People crowd together and you take nothing valuable with you other then your quetzales (local currency) you need. You learn to walk right up against a Guatemalan woman or man - of course they only come up to Judy's chin and Al's chest. We attended the worship service at Iglesia Rio de Vida which always starts at 4 PM. Yes, we walked to church in the rain. It is so comfortable, not cold. Les (director of Impact Ministries) translates into English for us during the service. The speaker was a very dynamic passionate speaker - he is the local butcher in town. He spoke on the family - it was powerful. Judy had tears running down her cheeks as in May! What is with that? We were introduced in their service and we met some new people and some people that we had met in May. We are learning Guatemalan time. If you are scheduled to arrive somewhere at 5:00 PM you are not late if you arrive at 5:59 PM. If you have a meeting set up it may or not happen because something else has come up that has taken priority.

Judy has learned the hard way not to pet guard dogs. :) She was bit on the arm & received 2 puncture wounds - no stitched needed just wounded her pride!

We are finding a routine. The group currently here from Saskatchewan are so gracious and patient with us. They are a lot of fun as well! :) They are away from the guest house doing some construction this afternoon and we are able to catch our breath a little. We purchased some ice cream today for the team at the local ice cream shop and we were able to communicate somehow that we needed a receipt.

Using a propane gas oven has been a challenge for Judy. The heat needs to continually be adjusted to maintain constant temp. The rack needs to be somewhere in the middle or upper level to keep from burning the bottom of the cake or muffins. The heat is not even from one corner to another so the pan must be rotated.

This group loves coffee morning, noon or evening so Al has been kept busy making the coffee. That too is a challenge. The coffee makers are very slow even after Judy tryed to get them to work better by cleaning them with a vinegar solution. It takes more than one half hour to drip a pot of coffee.

Today was garbage day. Al put the garbage out in the street this morning for pick up. He had to keep watch to keep stray dogs away from it.

Thanks for your prayers. Bendiciones!

Hola from Tactic!!

We arrived safely here in the mid afternoon yesterday after our long car journey from Guatemala City. We got right into the swing of things as the team currently here, arrived in GC in the early hours of Wed & made their way to Tactic that same day & therefore beat us here. We are hosting 14 adults (young & old) from the Big River (SK) EV Free Church. This morning after an early breakfast we joined the team for the morning devotional with the students & teachers at the Chamche school. What a blessing it is to join with these Grades 1-5 students who love Jesus & enthusiastically worship Him. At the end of the worship & devotional time, Brett & Chelsea's sponsor child came & gave each of us a big hug - we had met her in May & she had remembered who we were.

On Sept 11th, Guatemalans will cast their ballots for a new president as well as other positions. Les & Rita (field directors of Impact) picked us up from the airport on Wed nite & had driven out earlier that day from Tactic. They had encountered a strategically set roadblock on the highway which casued much grief for the motorists - backed up the traffic for many hours. Les & Rita decided it was best to detour around the roadblock to make it on time to GC. These roadblocks are established by groups attempting to get their beef aired prior to the upcoming elections. More are expected in this next week prior to the election. Good thing no trips are planned into GC during the next week!!

Market

Al with vehicle he drives

As we said we have been thrust right into action - doing some banking, buying groceries in both the Despensa & open market. It is tough to communicate when you don't know the language very well but so far we have done OK. Somehow we have been able to communicate what & how much we want & have come back home as happy campers. We have been given a vehicle to do our various duties & so far Al has done OK on the crazy roads of Tactic. You think driving in Calgary is bad - not a chance!! Yellow solid lines mean nothing here - you pass when you feel led!! Al has never driven a standard right hand drive vehicle before so that has been interesting for him - good thing they still drive on the right side of the road. All in all, a great experience & we look forward to serving here over the next 8 weeks.

Continue to pray for us that Jesus' love will be evident in our lives as we interact with these wonderful people of Guatemala & the members of the teams. We look forward to this amzing opportunity that God has given us to to serve Him here in Guatemala as we build His kingdom!! Great is our Lord!!

Bendiciones!