A Life Worth Living

So, Arryn arrived on March 18th and some of the girls had a welcome home party for her. I think it has felt very much like coming home - for her and for us. It is great to have her here

with us. She is busy working at Purulha as a teacher helper in a 1st grade class and loving it.

Hope is busy working with Ruth on the sponsorship program in the mornings and then on her school work in the afternoons. She is taking Spanish, English, Psychology and Bible - a pretty full load.

Rocky and I have been pretty busy with groups. We arrived here12 weeks ago and have already hosted 8 teams and are getting geared up for our team of 50 which arrives on March 31st!

We sure enjoyed spending time with the 2 groups from KCS. It is such a treat to see the young people, whom we knew from a while ago, growing up and desiring to walk with the Lord. What a blessing! The photo to the left is one of a little girl in Chicoy, where KCS 1 did their children's ministry. It is always amazing to watch young people love the kids here. It is our heart's desire that through the experience groups have here, they will be inspired to serve at home, right where the Lord has planted them. God calls some to serve Him on the foreign mission field, like us, but He calls others to serve Him at home. Through the experiences and training gained in a short term missions trip, young people are often encouraged to apply what they learn in their own, home environment, and when they do, lives are changed!

I really like the photo below of KCS team 1 because it reminds me of what we, as believers, are all called to do - take a leap of faith! It was Rocky's idea to have the group all jump at the same time. Not everyone was excited about the idea and for some it was a real risk. But...all were exhilarated when they did jump. It is the same in the Kingdom. The Lord asks us to take a leap of faith with Him. It is sometimes scary and uncertain and often we are hesitant to do it; afraid we might hurt ourselves, embarrass ourselves, or, heaven forbid, even fail. But...when we do finally take the leap we are exhilarated. This is what life as a believer is supposed to be like - exhilarating. Not boring and humdrum, lukewarm at best, but full of adventure and life! It is during those times when we are suspended in mid air without our feet planted firmly beneath us when we grow and learn to trust the Lord in new ways. We like to be "in control" but the truth is, that we need the Lord to be in control, not us. Only then is life really worth living.

Waiting...

Well, we are sitting at Seteca, waiting. KCS team #1 left this morning at 4am and KCS team #2 arrives tonight at 9:30pm. I have to say, although, my focus is on another arrival - Arryn's! She arrives tonight at 7:15pm and I am so excited. This is the longest stretch of time Arryn and I have ever been apart, and I have missed her terribly. It is tough to be separated from our kids. It is one of the sacrifices we make being in Guatemala. I know it is hard on all of us - Alex, Arryn, Marshal, Hope, Rocky and me. So, when one of our kids who isn't here with us, comes for a visit, we are pretty excited.
Arryn will be here for just less than 1 month and it looks as though she will be super busy. Rita has her signed up to work in our Chicoy school and I know the teachers are very excited for her arrival. Chicoy is one of our smaller schools and the classes are split classes, so it is a tremendous amount of work for the teachers. Arryn will be going to help out in the grade 1 classroom. I know she will be a huge blessing.
We are also anticipating a visit from Marshal later in April. He is currently in Columbia and getting ready to make his way back to Canada for the firefighting season. It will be good to see him; he has been travelling since late September.
Maybe one day Alex, our oldest, will come to Guatemala as well. We would love to share this part of our life with her, too, and she would be a huge blessing in our medical clinic.
But for now, I wait...only 2 more hours!
Blessings,
Karren

Tactic is an amazing place!

Tactic is a pretty amazing place. Yesterday, we were blessed to have a day off - Yippee! I walked 5 minutes down the road to the market and went grocery shopping. I bought a huge honeydew melon, a papaya, 3 pounds of potatoes, 1 pound of green beans, 3 carrots, 2 onions, and 4 pounds of chicken for under $15. I also bought 2 pounds of fresh berries - kind of like blackberries but more tart - to make platz for $1.50. I already had a vase full of calle lillies, so I didn't buy any more flowers, but if I had, the going rate for lillies or other exotic flowers is about Q10 per dozen, or $1.50. Wow! There is never a shortage of fresh produce and flowers - in fact the abundance is sometimes overwhelming.

Last week I broke off half of one of my molars. I bit down on a hard candy and the inside half of my tooth just feel off in my mouth. I was pretty nervous about going to the dentist. I don't really like going to the dentist in Canada, but I was actually a little afraid about going here. Les phoned for an appointment and got me in that morning - this would never happen at home! - and off we went to Coban. The dentist told me I needed a crown and he could do it right away. Less than an hour later, I paid my bill - Q500 / $64 - for a crown! It would have been more than 10 times that in Canada!

The scenery here is also incredible. I had actually started to take it for granted until I looked through this last team's photos and found this one here. This picture was taken at the end of the road in Chakalte, a small village 1/2 hour from Tactic. The layers of mountains in this photo give you a really good idea of the landscape here - nothing is flat! Because of the terrain and the difficulty in getting around, there are many who have not yet heard the Gospel. If you can just imagine, in between each mountain is a valley with many little villages scattered on either side.

This amazing place is where the Lord has called us to give our lives away. Wow! We are so blessed.

I just finished reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. My mom and dad were reading it in their cell group and they bought us a copy. If you haven't read it, you should. The subtitle is "Overwhelmed by a relentless God" and it was such a good reminder of how awesome God is and what a privilege it is to call Him our Lord, Saviour, and very best friend. In the last chapter, Chan summarizes what he hopes this book has done..."My hope and prayer is that you finish this book with hope, believing that part of your responsibility in the body of Christ is to help set the pace for the church by listening and obeying and living Christ. Knowing that God has called us each to live faithful and devoted lives before Him, by the power of His Spirit. You do not need to preach to your pastor or congregation; you simply need to live out in your daily life the love and obedience that God has asked of you."

I know for us, we are just learning what it really means, "to live out in [our] daily life the love and obedience that God has asked of [us]." We are learning to walk by faith, not by what we see with our human eyes, but with our spiritual eyes and ears focused and in tune with our Creator. This is not always easy, but it is always rewarding and fulfilling.

I pray the Lord's richest blessings upon you as you walk out your faith.
Karren

An update from Rocky

Yes, that is me - swingin' a pick. Karren has been so faithful in writing these blogs, so I thought I would give her a break and see if I could put my hand to something more than a shovel or pick. I have been given a little more responsibility this year in regards to the work projects that are going on here. In this picture we are preparing the ground for a meeting room/gymnasium at our Purulha school. About a year and a half ago, the director of this school, Hector David, started a cell group with parents and children from the school. Lives are being changed and as a result, this group has grown to over 60 people. The classroom they meet in will no longer hold them, so we are building this all-purpose room with the capacity to seat 200! It will serve as a place for the school's morning chapel as well as a great place for inside activities when it is raining outside. What a blessing it is to have teams come and provide the labour and financial backing for projects like this.

A week ago, Les also signed the contract for the bridge that is being built on our new 21 acre property. Construction has already begun and we are looking forward to all that the Lord has in store for this location. Our dreams include a church to seat 1000 with a commercial kitchen for events; team housing; staff housing; a full sized soccer field - an essential here! - woodworking and mechanic shops; housing for school staff; a Bible school; a residence for the Peters; a storage facility and possibly another elementary school. The property also has areas that will sustain crops of beans, corn, peppers, and tomatoes. It has a beautiful wooded area with tall oak trees, a river and a grazing place for cattle.

We are looking forward to all that will transpire in our relationship with the Pokemchi people as a result of what the Lord is doing! As we have said before, it is all about relationships in the Kingdom of God. We are not here to change this culture, but we are here to share the truth of the Gospel and allow the Lord to do His transforming work among these people. It is our desire to see them grow in the Lord and this will affect their lifestyle, their social and economic status and possibly even the political future of their towns, departments and country. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11.

As we are seeing these truths take hold in the hearts of the families here in Tactic and the surrounding areas, we can only marvel at His wonderful work of grace. The spiritual climate is changing, as God's Word takes root in the lives of these brothers and sisters. We also see the Lord at work among the teams that come. They come expecting to give what they can, and they do; but, they are often not prepared for what they receive from these wonderfully gracious people in return.

We are thankful to the Lord for all of you and we know that the Lord will bless you for your support - prayers, words of encouragement, and financial sacrifices. We are labourers together for the sake of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God.

Please pray that God will continue to give us wisdom and the strength to carry out His will for us here in Tactic.

God Bless,

Rocky