And the band plays on...

Not a day goes by that we don't hear one of any number of school bands playing.  Now, some of you might be thinking, "wow, that would be awesome."  Well, you'd be mistaken!  They all seem to play the same song...actually the same bar of music from the same song...over and over and over and over.  Every now and then it is broken up with some firecrackers going off, but for hours upon hours we hear the trumpets, drums and xylophones.  This past week has been especially bad as schools are practicing for an upcoming parade to celebrate the fair coming to town and Coban's patron saint's birthday. 

On Thursday, we made a trip out to Chisec, about 1 1/2 hours north of Coban, to visit the ministry Mission2Guatemala.  We spent the day getting to know the founders, Manny and Cindy Batres, and two of their board members.  It is amazing how diverse this country is.  Just 1 hour away, and you are in a different world:  jungle!  It was absolutely beautiful...and very hot and humid.  It was great to see what these believers are doing to advance the Gospel in this somewhat challenging area of Guatemala. 

This past week we also had the opportunity to meet our Pastoral Care Couple from Commission to Every Nation, Stephen and Tammie Burger, from Kerrville, Texas. As you know, CTEN is our sending agency.  It was wonderful to spend some time with this couple and share a bit of our hearts...and our struggles...with them. We will see them again when we go to Kerrville for CTEN's Orientation in September. We are happy to go for the orientation, but it will mean not going home for Christmas, as we can only afford one trip a year. So, this will be our first Christmas in Guatemala.  We will plan to spend some time with Hector and Arryn sharing with Hector some of our Christmas traditions.   

On Saturday we attended the wedding of Rocky's Spanish teacher, Jaime.  It was a small, but nice wedding and another opportunity for us to practice our Spanish, as none of the guests spoke any English.  It also meant that Rocky had to dress up, which is good with me!
We spend a lot of time with Jaime and we have become good friends.  He is very open to hearing about the Lord and so, as the opportunities arise, we share with him our faith and our Lord.  It is good!  As I finished reading Radical Together  this past week, I am more aware of opportunities to advance the Gospel and count it an honour to share the Lord with whoever will listen. 
Thank you for your prayers and continued support.  We love you and miss you a great deal!
Rocky & Karren