Spanish School

We arrived in Antigua on Sunday, July 24th, only to discover that the school didn't arrange for a homestay for us, like we asked, and that there were no classes on Monday because of a holiday in Antigua. Thankfully there was 1 room left at the school - praise the Lord! - so we took it.

We decided to take advantage of our day off and we made a trip to the coast. We only got lost two or three times and what was supposed to be a simple 2 hour drive took over 3 hours. We never did actually find the spot we were looking for, but we did find the beach and enjoyed a couple of hours of fun in the sun, sand and surf. The trip home was pretty uneventful, in comparison to the way there and we made it back to the school in under 2 hours. Overall it was a good day. The scenery through Escuintla is amazing - field after field of sugar cane as far as the eye can see. It is a little like Saskatchewan grain fields!

Tuesday morning we started classes. Because Monday was a holiday, our days were increased from 4 hours to 5! The first day, I thought I was going to lose my mind! The last hour of instruction was almost a waste of time. There is something incredibly difficult about going back to school. I don't know if it is that as we age, it is more difficult to learn new things, or if we are just unaccustomed to this type of learning. Whatever the reason, language school is hard work.

Don't get me wrong - I want to learn - it is just a lot of work and I often feel like I have to start all over again. This time around, I am learning all of the things I have been doing wrong. I am at the stage in my language development that I can understand a fair amount, but my speech is way behind my understanding. I suppose that is normal - frustrating, but normal. Anyway, I don't really use any tenses other than present correctly. I simply add on the time frame of an action to give it tense instead of deciding how to conjugate the verb. That has the been the area my teacher is focussing on. Rocky is at the table just behind me and I can hear him speaking Spanish! That is awesome. His goal this time was not to allow himself to default to English when it started to get tough, and he isn't taking the easy way out. That will help him tremendously.

We actually only have one more day of classes, tomorrow, and then we will be readying ourselves to pick up the next team. We are excited to see the Lighthouse gang again. We sure enjoyed them last year and know they will be a lot of fun again. We are also really blessed to have an entire team devoted to medical clinics. We won't be involved in the clinics, but the group will join us for all of the cultural/spiritual activities we do with the Lighthouse team.

I know the Lord has good things planned for both of these groups. There have been some challenges in organizing things for them, and I know when the enemy tries to frustrate us or take our focus off of the Lord and direct it to the challenges, it is because God is planning something big. I am excited to see what that is and be a part of it. Pray for us as we really get busy now. We have teams back to back (and overlapping) between now and the end of October. Pray for an abundance of health, wisdom, patience, and love to be evident in our lives as we serve the teams and the Guatemalans we work with.

Blessings on you!

Karren

Two days ago Rocky finished installing our new wood stove! We were so excited to have our first fire. We sat around the stove, warming ourselves as the rain poured down outside. It was so incredibly nice to feel warm and dry! Rocky had a hard time getting the wood to burn, although. Here they use dense, wet hardwood for firewood - can you believe it? Q5 or about 60 cents bought us an arm load of wood, but it was too wet to burn. So, we had to improvise. We found a pine shelf from one of the cupboards we don't use, and burned it! It worked great!

This morning, we took the Land Cruiser 4x4 up to Bem Pek to check out the road. We are making our second trip up to this remote village with the Lighthouse Team and wanted to check out the condition of the road, as we have had some pretty crazy rain storms lately. Last year when we did children's ministry in Bem Pek, we had to rent 4x4's to get up the road because it had rained a lot and the road was in pretty rough shape. Now, although, the ministry has 2 of its own 4x4's, so we are good to go!

We didn't encounter any other vehicle traffic on the road, but lots of foot traffic. Many men were carrying down loads of wood. Some had long pieces, like the photo above, and others had short wood, meant for burning in the kitchen. In Tactic, the majority of people still cook over a fire. Some have pretty sophisticated wood stoves to cook on, but they still use wood.
The end of the road in Bem Pek offers quite a view. From one direction, looking back towards town, you can see the valleys full of corn. Every bit of land not covered with trees is planted in corn. From the opposite direction is a little foot path leading down to the small public school.

The vegetation is lush and varied and you can sure see the creativity of the Lord in the landscape; it is absolutely spectacular. In 2 weeks, we will be returning to Bem Pek, this time with a team. We will be doing 3 days of children's ministry in the little village and I know it will be a huge blessing to those living in Bem Pek. The miracle of the work that we do, although, is that as we serve, we receive an even greater blessing than the one we give to those we serve. How does that work? I don't know; but, I know it works. Time after time our hearts are humbled and filled with gratitude as we give ourselves away.

The principle in Scripture that speaks about giving your life away and in doing so you will find real life - life to the full...it is true!

When you are serving others, it is pretty tough to focus on your own challenges and hardships. I read somewhere that the best therapy for those suffering from depression is to plug in somewhere and volunteer. Yes! God knew this all along. He actually designed us to serve, not to be served, and in the serving we are lifted above our circumstances and blessed. Try it out - it really works!

Back in Tactic.

We arrived in Guatemala on Monday, July 4th. This morning is the first chance I have had to connect to the internet to let you all know we are here!

We arrived with a team from Richmond Christian School, so we hit the ground running! This group is doing children's ministry in San Antonio and working in Chijacorral. They are a great bunch of young people, full of enthusiasm and interested in growing in the Lord.

There is also a doctor and two nurses with this group, so they are running medical clinics each day. Today they are in San Antonio doing a clinic for the community.

My mother-in-law, Sherry Chupa, loaned me a small, hand-held video camera and I have been having fun learning how to use it. I tried attaching a video to this blog, but for some reason it won't let me. I must be doing something wrong; so, I'll have to keep trying!

I have been really stretched, language wise, with this group. They needed multiple translators for their children's ministry program, and I had to function as one. I find translating from Spanish into English easier every day, but when I have to go from English to Spanish, it is a real challenge! I simply don't have the vocabulary. So, Rocky and I are hoping to get into language school the last week of July, as there isn't a group here then and we both really need to learn more. This would be a great area for you to pray for us - that the Lord would increase our capacity to communicate in Spanish.

That's it for now. Thank you for your continued support and prayers! May God bless you richly!

Karren

Our last days in Canada!

Well, it is Saturday, July 2, 2011. Tomorrow we leave for Vancouver and fly out Monday morning bright and early! Our time here in Canada has been wonderful! Although we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to, we did have wonderful opportunities to connect with those we love. It just amazes me what a wonderful family the Lord has blessed us with.

We spent time with my parents before they left for another one of their motorhome adventures. We were at the coast to see Rocky's side of the family for a few days, reconnecting with our youngest neices, Izzie (5) and Tilly (2 1/2). When we spend the majority of the year out of the country, it is the youngest in our family who forget who we are, so time together is important. I was able to take a "girls" trip with Alex and Arryn and really enjoyed just hanging out with them. Rocky was able to connect with a bit of work - PTL! - and we got Hope all set up for camp.

We also had an opportunity to share at our home church - Bible Truth Church - and our sponsoring church - Gateway City Church. It is such an honour to share, even if just a little, with those who are praying and supporting us here in Canada.

Yesterday, we went out to Paul Lake government campground and had a hotdog roast with my family. My sister Chris, brother-in-law Dean, and their entire family were there (Josh, Christa, Zeke (3), Zoe (1); Chels and Jesse). What fun! The weather hasn't been typical June heat, but it was really fun to sit around a campfire, visiting and eating, just sharing time together.

Now, this morning, I am working on taking care of the last minute things to prepare for our return to Guatemala. It is at times like this when I feel a little "torn between two homes." I suppose that is just part of being a missionary. I have been reading through the book of Acts, and Paul was torn between many homes which had a piece of his heart! I am very thankful that as we go from Canada to Guatemala, I am not feeling overwhelmed at leaving family behind. Rather, I am anticipating what the Lord has in store for us over the next 4 months.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me the opportunity to embrace two homes, two families, and two cultures. What a blessing!

Karren