Getting packed up to go to Canada.

Well, it seems like it's been a while since I blogged - sorry! I tried once and the internet wasn't consistent enough to post. We have had a very busy last 2 weeks. We finished our language classes! Yeh! It was really great to take classes, but it was also really hard. Oh well, I guess anything worthwhile learning takes time. We returned to Tactic and jumped right into a week of celebrations. We were able to participate in all the schools' closing ceremonies and graduations which was a real treat. Arryn made a special presentation to the class she worked with most - she made all of them a little keepsake.

I turned 48 on October 26th and celebrated by sharing in Chicoy's first grad class (those graduating from Elementary school). There was a program in the morning and then a dinner in the evening. It is incredible to think of how the schools have grown over the past few years.

Today, we said goodbye to Larry, Val and Ksenya Schmidt who have been here for two months. It was great to have them here and I know Rocky appreciated working with Larry on the work sites, making plans for the future. So much is happening right now with the properties; it is very exciting.

We are also getting ready to pack our bags and return to Canada. The last two months have been productive for us. We hosted 2 teams, did 2 weeks of Spanish school, Rocky worked on plans for the new property, I worked on updating Impact Ministries documents - a seemingly endless job!

Thank you to all of you who have supported us this past year through your prayers and finances. We are truly grateful for your kindness and generosity. It has been an honour to be used by the Lord to build His kingdom, and we continue to be humbled by the fact that He chooses to use us.

God Bless you, Karren and Rocky

One week down, one to go!

Well, it is Saturday morning and I have to say, we are both happy for a morning without classes! I am sure throughout the weekend we will spend time studying, but to have a relaxing morning for a change is a real treat! Boy, I don't think we really knew how hard it would be to do 4 hours of one-on-one classes every day. I actually thought, prior to starting last week, that in the second week we might increase our time to 6 hours. Boy, was I mistaken. The first two hours go pretty well. Then we take a 20 minute break. The hour following the break is okay as well, but the final hour is really tough. I suppose at our age, there is only so much our brains can absorb in one sitting. It got me to thinking about schools where they only have two subjects per day, but classes are 3 hours long. I think I'd lose it after a while! Oh well. We are both learning a great deal, so that is wonderful. My teacher, Gerber, loves to talk, so we spend the first hour just talking in Spanish about the events of the previous day. Yesterday was great because we had a fairly strong tremor at 5:30am so we spent an hour discussing tremors, earthquakes, tetonic plates, volcanos, etc. It was super stretching, vocabulary wise, but a topic of great interest. We also discussed this week the rescue of the Chilean miners. That has been quite a story! Our daily discourse has kept me up on world news, which is neat because when we are in Tactic, it seems so removed that we really don't know much of what goes on elsewhere.

I thought I'd include some photos of the hotel where we are staying. I have to say, I feel a bit guilty because it is so nice! Thanks Jon and Chris! Our room looks onto a courtyard that has a fountain and an amazing garden. The entire grounds here are beautiful with flowers and trees of every variety. We have a small kitchen in our unit, so essentially we have been eating the majority of our meals in our suite. This has made being in Antigua way more economical than if we had to eat out for every meal. We are only about a 10 minute walk from our school, a 15 minute walk to the central park and no more than a 20 walk to almost everything in Antigua, so our location couldn't be better. We are far enough out of the center of town that we don't hear the church bells in the very early morning - what a blessing!

Rocky has been spending the afternoons with Marshal. They are enjoying the opportunity to hang out together. They have hiked the hills around Antigua and yesterday they climbed Pacaya. Rocky said the volcano has changed tremendously since the erruptions earlier this year.

Please continue to pray for us as we study. We are trusting that the time and energy we are putting in will pay off by strengthening our relationships with our Guatemalan brothers and sisters.

Blessings,

Karren

Language School

Well, I just finished my second day of language classes. My brain is so full of verbs, I don't quite know what to do. It seems to me that English verbs are actually fairly straight forward, or you can at least figure it out that they go together. I know the rest of the language is really difficult, but not so much the verbs.
Spanish is different. The rest of the language is fairly predictable, but the verbs are crazy! For example, the verb "to be." First of all there are two verbs "to be," but if you look at only one, "ser" it goes like this - Yo soy, tu eres, el/ella/usted es, nosotros somos, ellos/ellas/ustedes son. That is the present tense of I am, you are, he/she/you are, we are, they/you (plural) are. For past tense, it is - Yo fui, tu fuiste, el/ella/usted fue, nosotros fuimos, ellos/ellas/ustedes fueron. It doesn't look anything like the present form!
I am praying that the Lord will simply open up the unused parts of my brain so that I can learn Spanish faster and that it will make sense to me. I know He is able to help us in miraculous ways, and learning Spanish would make us so much more effective in our ministry in Tactic.
Please pray for us as we do these classes. We sure need it!
Blessings,
Karren

Medical Clinic in Pombach

On Thursday and Friday of this week, we ran a Medical Clinic in Pombach, a mountain village about 30 minutes out of Tactic. The first time we visited this village was 10 years ago. At that time, we were not really welcomed with open arms, but over the years we have worked to establish a solid relationship with them. 9 years ago, our home church in Canada purchased property in Pombach so that we could build a church. A local pastor in Tactic, Pastor Pedro Fortin, had a vision from the Lord for this village and we partnered with him to see it fulfilled. Over the next three years, Kamloops Christian School worked on the construction of a church and Pastor Fortin trained a pastor fill the position. When we first arrived, the village had only 3 families who were evangelicals. The second year it had grown to 7, the third year 15, and now there are actually three evangelical churches thriving in this remote village with over 40 families serving the Lord. The Lord is so good! Here in Guatemala, the people are hungry for the word of God. When presented with His truth and His hope for the future, they embrace it openly and their lives are forever transformed.

The doctor who is currently here, Dr. Tom Martin from Vancouver, and his family, along with Impact Ministries support staff, managed to see well over 100 people in two days. Along with the common complaints and ailments of headaches, neckaches, parasites, malnutrition, skin infections, and bronchial infections, they saw a few very rare disorders, one of which the doctor said he'd only seen once while in medical school. One young lady was born without a thyroid, not an uncommon condition and totally treatable in Canada. Because she didn't receive any care, although, she is only about 2 1/2 feet tall and severly mentally handicapped. They also saw a rare chromyzone deformity where an 8 year old boy is only 27 pounds. He is blind, cannot walk and due to his illness, he will probably not see his 14th birthday. What a challenge to live in a remote village, trying to care for the special needs of some of these children.

The Lord, however, is interviening into situations just like these and miracles are happening. When medically we can do nothing, that is when the Lord can step in and do amazing things.

We listened to a young man from Pombach tell of how his wife had 3 still born children in a row. After their first child was still born, the witch doctor visited them and told them if he would have performed certain rituals over the lady prior to conception and then during the pregnancy, the child would have been healthy. So, wanting desparately to have a healthy child, they paid for the rituals to be done. Because this man only earned about $15/week and the ritual cost $100, they had to borrow money to have it done. The wife conceived and carried the child to term, but again it was still born. The witch doctor returned and said they obviously needed to have more rituals performed because the gods were not pleased with them, so they borrowed more money - now the price had more than doubled - and performed multiple rituals. Their third child was also still born. The pastor of the church visited their home and shared the Gospel with them as they mourned the death of their third child. They accepted the Lord and their lives were transformed! They now have 3 healthy children and are actively serving in the church and telling others of how the Lord healed them, physically and spiritually. In their time of huge need, the Lord met them and provided for them. What a miracle.

We may not be able to address all the physical needs of the people of Pombach through our medical clinic, but the Lord can. He asks us to do what we can, and then leave the rest to Him. Nada es imposible para Dios - Nothing is impossible for God!

Making arrangements for language school

Well, we dropped off the team from Leduc, Alberta this morning and returned to Antigua. We spent the afternoon checking out all of the arrangements for our 2 weeks of language school. Jon and Chris Loewen, friends of ours from Kamloops, have a time share they offered us for a hotel in Antigua. When we finally found it, we were blown away! It is a beautiful hotel with all the amenities. Our room is not a room at all - it is a suite, with a living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. We are going to be totally spoiled. I am really excited to be able to prepare our own food, as eating out in this country long term is generally not good for the tummy!

We also stopped by the language school where we had booked on line, and I was really thankful we did. It was on the opposite end of town - not in walking distance from the hotel - and it didn't look at all like it did on line. We cancelled those arrangements and went in search of a school we found a year and a half ago. It is located on Calle Espiritu Santo - Holy Spirit Street! It is only a few minutes from our hotel and we had the opportunity to discuss the program with someone there and feel really good about it. It is also cheaper than the other school. God is so good!

Rocky hasn't been feeling so great today, so he is resting. We are thankful for the time to rest and to check things out for our classes. Although our Spanish has improved this year, we need so much more! I hope our brains are ready to be stretched!

Marshal arrives tomorrow - yeah! We are really excited to have him come and see where we live and what we do. There is a doctor here right now running some medical clinics, one of which will be held in Pombach. We are hoping Marshal will be able to go along one day and take some photos. Arryn is really excited about taking Marshal to school with her. Her Prepa class at Chijacorral has prepared a little surprise for him. After spending a week with us in Tactic, Marshal will be coming to Antigua with Rocky and I and doing 1 week of language classes before he takes off to explore Central America.

Well, I'm going to go wake up Rocky and see if I can convince him to get something to eat.

Blessings,

Karren