Blessings of the Season!

This is the first time we have spent Christmas in Guatemala.  In years past, we have always travelled home for the holidays.  Early on in December, we went with Hector and Arryn to pick up their very first Christmas tree from his uncle.  They don't have spruce or fir here, only long needled pine, so that is what they got.  It was a challenge to decorate, but it turned out to be a beautiful tree and certainly transformed their home into the holiday spirit. 

Back in San Simon on the mission site, Baudilio put up a few strings of lights to add a festive flair to the place.  It was wonderful to sit in the cool of the evening with the lights on.  The weather didn't feel like a Canadian Christmas, but it had a holiday feel.   

We didn't get a tree this year, so instead, I decorated with some of the beautiful tropical flowers that abound on the property.  We even found a berry that looked kind of like holly berries, although I think it was coffee.  Anway, these wonderful flowers took the place of our missing tree. 

Christmas morning was absolutely spectacular.  The sun came up strong and hot and burned off the mist that had settled in overnight and we had coffee outside watching the tucan birds fly back and forth between the tree tops. 

Arryn and Hector came out in the afternoon on Christmas Day and then on the 26th we had our celebration.  For breakfast...waffles and warm vanilla pudding with strawberries, just like home!  Thankfully, Arryn and Hector had received a couple of waffle irons for wedding gifts, so we put them to good use.  After breakfast, Hector's mom, sister and brother-in-law arrived to share a late afternoon turkey dinner with us. 

For supper we had a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.  This was a first for his family!  The sky was clear and the moon full - absolutely beautiful! 

Then we played games and watched a Christmas movie.  It was a wonderful day.  Although we were sad our other three kids weren't here and missed spending time with our extended families, we were so blessed to have this new family to share some time with. 

2012 has been a year full of changes, challenges, but most importantly...blessings.  God is faithful!  He knows our coming and our going.  He has a plan - a good plan - for our lives if we are willing to trust Him and go where He leads. 

Our desire for 2013 is not for an absence of challenges or struggles, but rather for hearts willing to trust and obey our Heavenly Father.  That is our prayer for all of you as well. 

Thank you for your continued words of encouragement and support; we are so thankful that God has surrounded us with such amazing family and friends! 

Blessings, belated Merry Christmas and may you have a blessed New Year!

Rocky & Karren

THE CHICKEN DILEMMA

For the past several weeks, one of the projects I have been monitoring is in the community of Presbeteriana. Once a week I load up with supplies, drive half hour on pavement and another half hour on a very rough gravel road to get to this small community of 35 families. It is a relatively new community that sprung up after the civil war, not far from one of the main conflict areas. My job in this community is to work with the local pastor as he gives leadership to a project for the one room school. They are building two bathrooms with flush toilets and a septic tank and field. A team from the U.S. donated some money for the materials for this project and the community is responsible to do the work.

Along with this visit every week the pastor has his wife prepare a meal for me and who ever may be with me. It is always the same:  chicken broth served in a bowl with a couple pieces of chicken, potatoes and wiskil on a side dish, tortillas, and a glass of Coke.  It is pretty tasty, but herein lies my dilemma. How much chicken should I leave on the bones because I know immediately when I leave the table and go around the corner, the pastor’s kids, who he has been shooing away while we ate, will rush to my plate and see what I have left for them to eat . I want to be sure that I have eaten enough not to offend the pastor’s wife but also left enough behind for the kids to enjoy a bit of meat. It is usually the oldest boy in the family who gets first pickings. He is about 9 or 10. This is a hard thing for me to wrap North American head around.  

But it is the reality out here.  This family has a strong, vibrant relationship with the Lord. I asked Pastor Mateo what he preached about on Sunday and he made reference to 2 Peter 1:2-8. I in my broken Spanish and he in his (his first language is Quekchi) tried to communicate about the wonderful love of the Lord. We didn’t get very far but I know this pastor has a heart for his community and the people that live there and it is a blessing to me to be a part of their community as we work together to better their physical situation. 

Before we sat down for lunch the other day, the pastor and I washed our hands in the pila (an outside dish and body washing sink).  I noticed there was a toothbrush full of soap, and I asked about it.  He told me that the kids brush their teeth with soap because they don’t have toothpaste. These are tough things for me to grasp. I guess I have to look at the positives and see what is happening here, and not focus on the hardships.  In a couple more weeks the children in this community will have their first flushing toilets.  They know enough of dental care that brushing their teeth is important to them, even if they have to use regular soap.  They are able to provide food for their families and for guests as a way of saying thank you. 

Mission2Guatemala is working in many communities like Presbeteriana, and we are thankful to be working with Manny and Cindy Batres as they share love of Christ with the people around the Chisec area of Guatemala.

Rocky

Some things are just out of reach...

All day long the baby cried, not a sick cry or a need to be held cry, but a cry of hunger.  As I listened, my heart broke.  What could I do to help?  I talked to Baudilio and Eduardo, the two men who live and work here at Mission2Guatemala, and the first thing they said was, "Here, all babies cry like that."  I was shocked.  Then they explained that because the families here are poorly nourished or malnourished, the moms are not able to produce enough milk or rich enough milk to satisfy their babies.  And, so, the babies cry.   
All day long, the baby's cries followed me, and at supper, I asked Baudilio if it would be an offense to offer the mom a can of powdered baby formula to supplement the baby's nutrition.  He assured me that, no, it would not be taken as an offense. 
So, off to town I went and purchased a can of formula and a small bottle.  The cost...Q100 or about $13.  On the way back home, I started thinking about why the mom wouldn't have already bought some formula.  Surely the cries of her newborn are tearing her heart apart. 
Then I started to calculate the cost, not in our North American terms, but in the terms of one living here in poverty. 
A good daily wage here is Q50, but many make between Q30 - Q40.  That is about $5 - $6.50 per day.  A good daily wage in Canada is $15/hour for 8 hours/day.  That is about $120.  The cost of a can of formula (Q80) and a bottle (Q20) is the equivalent of 2 - 3 day's wage.  In our language, that translates into between $240 and $360 for a can of formula!  We could never afford to supplement our child in Canada at this rate, and...neither can the people here. 
It may only be $13 to me, but it is out of reach for the average family living in our area.
I know one can of formula isn't going to end their problems, but my prayer is that they will know today that God loves them; He knows their situation and moves upon His people to help.
Blessings!  

The Village of Presbiteriana

This morning is December 1st.  Hard to believe, really, as I sit outside typing this blog.  It is sunny and warm and I'm in short sleeves, capris and flip flops.  I am in the shade, and thankful I'm not in the direct sun.  I am sure the majority of you, reading this blog, are knee deep into winter, with boots, mitts and jackets.  Our worlds are very different.  Yesterday, Rocky, Arryn and I went to a village, about an hours drive from Chisec, called Presbiteriana. 

The last group that was here left money so that this village could build some bathrooms for the school.  It is a one-room school house with between 40 - 50 kids, in 5 different grades with one teacher.  They do not have any bathroom facilities for the kids or the teacher.  The pastor of the church is very excited to see the school grow and the facility improve.  He has 6 kids and values education.  The community, along with planning the bathrooms (two toilets, waterstorage and septic system) are planning for 2 additional classrooms. 

 We arrived around 10:30am and as we drove in, the pastor was happy to show us his newly covered eating area that he had prepared just that morning.  The way that a community shows its gratitude is to prepare a meal for you to share together.  So he was super happy to show us that we would have some shade to eat in. 

 Rocky went to work with some of the men of the community, setting up the stakes and marking out where everything was going to go.  He had the opportuntiy to explain to them the "3-4-5" carpenter's rule of squaring things.  Here, they often use a small metal square to try to square up a large building and then wonder why it isn't square.  It was great to see all the guys gathered around as Rocky explained this simple, but very effective, way of squaring even large structures. 

 We are planning a bit of a septic system to deal with the waste from the bathrooms.  Normally, here, if there was a water system nearby, they would pipe the waste directly to the water and dump it in.  This is one reason why the water here is so contaminated.  So, the guys got to use a cordless drill to make holes in some pipes as part of the septic system.  They were a little nervous to use the big tools at first, but after a bit, they really liked them. 

 As always, as soon as we drive into a community the kids come running.  We had about 40 kids just hanging around watching us.  I knew this would happen, so I came prepared.  There were some containers of bubbles and candies left over from Arryn's wedding, so I brought those out with us, along with some colouring sheets, crayons and other activities.  As there really was nowhere clean to sit, all the kids hopped into the back of the truck and it became our little classroom. 

 When we first came to Guatemala, Les Peters shared with us that a good way to measure the poverty of a community is to look at their feet.  As you can see from the photo below, not one of these kids had shoes.  This was not because they had kicked them off somewhere; it was because they didn't have them.  Maybe they were saving their shoes for good occassions only so that would last, or perhaps (and more likely) they simply don't have any. 

 They loved the attention and the activity and Arryn and I were blessed to just hang out with this bunch of kids and get to know them a little.  I am so thankful that Rocky and I had the chance to study Spanish this year.  It makes interactions like this so much more meaningful. 

So, next week, we'll head back out to this village to check on their progress and outline the next phase for them.  It will be good to see what they have accomplished in a week and to see the kids again. 
Blessings!