I can’t believe we have already been here for 4 days! Today was a lot like yesterday, but God threw some exciting things in there! Jimmy went to the city early this morning to get the AC fixed in Shelley’s truck. Well, on his way there, the back right tire decided to blow up! God was totally looking out for Jimmy and us…if it was any other time all of us would have been in the truck. The tire blew right down the road from New Horizons and this tire shop. While the guy was rigging a temporary tire to the truck, Jimmy was able to talk to some guys from New Horizon, who he would have otherwise not have been able to talk to.
While Jimmy was waiting for the tire to get fixed, he got a call from Maria Jose’s mother! She is also a teacher and is very interested in what I would like to do someday in the Petén. She knows of a school that is in Delores that has a classroom for challenged children, which means that if there are any deaf children, they could be in that class. We are going to meet up with her sometime this week and go out to that school! She told Jimmy that we have her total support when we start a school here! I am just continually amazed at how God is opening door after door right here in the beginning!
After Jimmy’s crazy morning, he came and picked us up! We did some cooking for lunch and getting caught up on all our facebook and email! One of the girls that I met last week when I worked at camp for a day was online. Her name is Makayla! We were talking, and she told me that she had a question to ask! She wanted to know how she could go to Heaven….she said that she knew that she wasn’t saved, but that she was too scared to raise her hand at camp. Right then and there I was able to share with her over facebook how she could know for sure that she was going to Heaven when she died! She was so excited and relieved! I am still shocked at how God worked through facebook!!
Next we were on our way to pick up Quincho, so we could go to Santa Rita for Bible studies! Santa Rita is such a blessing to Jim and Shelley! It was to Brittany and I too! We started off by driving through the village with the speakers blaring that Bible study was about to start! No lie, like 10 boys came out of nowhere and jumped on the back of the truck for a ride to the Bible study! Before we got to our building, Jimmy stopped and asked a lady in the village, if she wouldn’t mind making some tortillas to go with his sopa roja for his lesson. She was totally willing to do it for free, which Jimmy could not allow her to do, because that is their food, all that they have.
Kids Bible study went great! Except for a little interruption during our game…..all of the kids were looking for their 5 panes y 2 pescados, and one just so happened to find a snake instead!! Not cool!!! Quincho thought he could try and pick it up, but it kept trying to bite him! Well, unfortunately that was a big distraction, but soon everyone was back under control! Brittany and I had so much fun doing crafts with the kids! My whole table was boys….I really tried to use my Spanish, but they just laughed at me the whole time, which I just ended up laughing at myself too! I got to see Anna, Juarjo, Michella, Claudia, Marco Tulio, and so many others again!
We had the Adult Bible study next, and over 24 adults came! Brittany and I served sopa roja to all the adults, which was a perfect way to meet some of them! Many of the girls whose nails we painted back in November during the ladies day were there! 5 of them are coming to our girl’s day! We are so excited!! For dinner we went to Flores and ate at Las Puertas! It was a really good time with Quincho, Jim, and Shelley! Tomorrow we are having a celebration in New Horizons to award all of those children who have come to Bible study and have earned points! Pray for Jimmy as he is going back to the city to get a real tire and the AC fixed!
Love you all!!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Day 3!!!
Today was absolutely a total God day!!! Jimmy picked us up from our hotel, and we went back to their house to pretty much chill until New Horizons. It was a really good time of just talking with true and genuine missionaries. We learned a lot about the Guatemalans just by talking with them. They are very superstitious, and they believe that if you drink cold water or stand in cold air you will get sick, and if you are already sick, you will die. At the wedding that Jimmy went to, there is this one woman who has a little girl, and she was telling some other lady that she gives her daughter a cup of cold water in the morning, to help her build immunity to cold water Well, it’s not really the cold water that makes them sick, but the parasites and amoebas that are in the cold water, which are also in the warm water that they drink. They do not boil or clean their water in any way! So the lady turned to Jimmy and asked him, that’s right Jimmy?? If I give my daughter cold water every morning, she will become immune to it! What was Jimmy to say……
We helped Shelley cut out some more stuff for activities and crafts, and then Jimmy cooked us sopa roja! The recipe was courtesy of Larry Boggs, who has been a missionary here in Guatemala for over 30 years. The sopa roja was really for an object lesson that night in our adult Bible study. He was going to be teaching on Jacob and Esau, but we got to taste test the soup first! It was very good!! By the way it was very hot today! 111 was what Jimmy’s thermostat said in the car!
After lunch Jimmy decided that it would be a good time to go and look for those deaf children in San Juan. I started to get really, really nervous! I don’t know why, but it is one of those things, where I could do nothing without God helping me! We ran to this gas station first, so Jimmy could get a diet pepsi, and the lady there knew exactly who these deaf children were. Their names are Maria Jose and Jaime. She told us that if we went to the tienda in San Juan, we could find out where they live. Well, Jimmy got out of the truck and was talking to the lady for a very long time….needless to say I was just getting more and more nervous as time went by….he came back with great news though!!!! The lady at the counter had actually called Maria, who is Maria Jose’s mom, and they want to set up a time to meet with us! We also went and visited Jaime, who is Maria Jose’s cousin, and we were able to talk with him and his mom. Jaime is actually our age, he was sent to Guatemala City when he was only 3 years old to learn signs. He lived with this family for six years who treated him horribly and came back to the Petén when he was 9. His signs are a lot different than American signs, and he is kind of rusty because he doesn’t use them as much here. His speech is extremely well, and he can communicate with his family by reading lips and gestures. So sometime later this week, we are going to set up a time where we meet with both Maria Jose and Jaime again at our hotel! We really, really need your prayers for this meeting. Jimmy will not be able to stay the whole time to translate due to his other responsibilities, but I will have Brittany!! We both are going to need God’s help understanding languages that we both are still learning. Brittany’s Spanish is improving a lot!! She is practically going to be our translator, seeing that my Spanish is horrible! I know ASL but that doesn’t help me much with Guatemalan Sign-Language. I am hoping to video tape their signs, so I can start learning their language myself! We found this amazing verse, which we would like you to pray for us…. “Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds.” Colossians 4:3
After meeting Jaime, I was soooooo excited at how God was already opening doors here in the Petén. There are no schools for deaf children here in the Peten. There is one in Coban and Guatemala City, but most deaf children here in the Peten do not get to go there. If God permits me to start a school here, not only will they learn how to read and write, they will get to learn about a Savior who died for them!
There was still about an hour before our Bible study in New Horizons, so Jimmy took us back to our hotel to chill. Except our AC wasn’t working right, so we sprawled out on the cold tile and took a short nap! It was definitely a good experience :) Quincho came with Jim and Shelley to pick us up! He is one of the teens that have totally stepped up to the plate, and he helps Jim and Shelley out a lot! We were finally on our way to New Horizons!!!!! Our kids Bible study went really well! We had almost 20 kids come and learn about how “Para Dios no hay nada imposible!” Shelley’s Bible lesson was about the feeding of the 5,000, and the kids really pay attention. It is really sad, because they can all tell you how to get to heaven, but they will also tell you that they are not saved and not going to heaven. For some reason it doesn’t bother them. These kids are thrown into the world and sin at such a young age…it’s heartbreaking!
Oh! I did finally see my first scorpion!! We were playing a game, where we had to look for 5 panes y 2 pescados for our basket. So I decided to look behind the dry erase board, and something fell out by my foot….not the fish, definitely a huge black scorpion! Yeah, I jumped pretty high! Then Jaime, another one of the teens, thought it would be funny to pretend to squish it, and actually make it even angrier, so all of us girls went screaming out of the Bible study! Jaime is a little prankster :)
After the Bible study, Brittany and I went next door to Marcella's house. She taught us how to make corn tortillas from scratch! Starting from the corn kernels, to washing them, then grinding them into corn meal, then to shaping them (which I was not so hot at), to putting them on the oven! We will post pictures for you to see! It then began to rain really really hard, so the Adult Bible study was canceled. After leaving New Horizons we went to dinner at Maya International. It is a restaurant on the lake near Flores. Brittany had grilled chicken, and I had BBQ Pork. They were both really good! Oh! Brittany finally got to try the Limonada! It’s like a glorified Sonic limeade! The best!! We also had flaming bananas for dessert!! Now those were good!! Well, tomorrow we go to Santa Rita for their Bible studies! I am super excited to see them again! Their village is the total opposite of New Horizons!!
Thanks for praying - Becca and Brittany
We helped Shelley cut out some more stuff for activities and crafts, and then Jimmy cooked us sopa roja! The recipe was courtesy of Larry Boggs, who has been a missionary here in Guatemala for over 30 years. The sopa roja was really for an object lesson that night in our adult Bible study. He was going to be teaching on Jacob and Esau, but we got to taste test the soup first! It was very good!! By the way it was very hot today! 111 was what Jimmy’s thermostat said in the car!
After lunch Jimmy decided that it would be a good time to go and look for those deaf children in San Juan. I started to get really, really nervous! I don’t know why, but it is one of those things, where I could do nothing without God helping me! We ran to this gas station first, so Jimmy could get a diet pepsi, and the lady there knew exactly who these deaf children were. Their names are Maria Jose and Jaime. She told us that if we went to the tienda in San Juan, we could find out where they live. Well, Jimmy got out of the truck and was talking to the lady for a very long time….needless to say I was just getting more and more nervous as time went by….he came back with great news though!!!! The lady at the counter had actually called Maria, who is Maria Jose’s mom, and they want to set up a time to meet with us! We also went and visited Jaime, who is Maria Jose’s cousin, and we were able to talk with him and his mom. Jaime is actually our age, he was sent to Guatemala City when he was only 3 years old to learn signs. He lived with this family for six years who treated him horribly and came back to the Petén when he was 9. His signs are a lot different than American signs, and he is kind of rusty because he doesn’t use them as much here. His speech is extremely well, and he can communicate with his family by reading lips and gestures. So sometime later this week, we are going to set up a time where we meet with both Maria Jose and Jaime again at our hotel! We really, really need your prayers for this meeting. Jimmy will not be able to stay the whole time to translate due to his other responsibilities, but I will have Brittany!! We both are going to need God’s help understanding languages that we both are still learning. Brittany’s Spanish is improving a lot!! She is practically going to be our translator, seeing that my Spanish is horrible! I know ASL but that doesn’t help me much with Guatemalan Sign-Language. I am hoping to video tape their signs, so I can start learning their language myself! We found this amazing verse, which we would like you to pray for us…. “Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds.” Colossians 4:3
After meeting Jaime, I was soooooo excited at how God was already opening doors here in the Petén. There are no schools for deaf children here in the Peten. There is one in Coban and Guatemala City, but most deaf children here in the Peten do not get to go there. If God permits me to start a school here, not only will they learn how to read and write, they will get to learn about a Savior who died for them!
There was still about an hour before our Bible study in New Horizons, so Jimmy took us back to our hotel to chill. Except our AC wasn’t working right, so we sprawled out on the cold tile and took a short nap! It was definitely a good experience :) Quincho came with Jim and Shelley to pick us up! He is one of the teens that have totally stepped up to the plate, and he helps Jim and Shelley out a lot! We were finally on our way to New Horizons!!!!! Our kids Bible study went really well! We had almost 20 kids come and learn about how “Para Dios no hay nada imposible!” Shelley’s Bible lesson was about the feeding of the 5,000, and the kids really pay attention. It is really sad, because they can all tell you how to get to heaven, but they will also tell you that they are not saved and not going to heaven. For some reason it doesn’t bother them. These kids are thrown into the world and sin at such a young age…it’s heartbreaking!
Oh! I did finally see my first scorpion!! We were playing a game, where we had to look for 5 panes y 2 pescados for our basket. So I decided to look behind the dry erase board, and something fell out by my foot….not the fish, definitely a huge black scorpion! Yeah, I jumped pretty high! Then Jaime, another one of the teens, thought it would be funny to pretend to squish it, and actually make it even angrier, so all of us girls went screaming out of the Bible study! Jaime is a little prankster :)
After the Bible study, Brittany and I went next door to Marcella's house. She taught us how to make corn tortillas from scratch! Starting from the corn kernels, to washing them, then grinding them into corn meal, then to shaping them (which I was not so hot at), to putting them on the oven! We will post pictures for you to see! It then began to rain really really hard, so the Adult Bible study was canceled. After leaving New Horizons we went to dinner at Maya International. It is a restaurant on the lake near Flores. Brittany had grilled chicken, and I had BBQ Pork. They were both really good! Oh! Brittany finally got to try the Limonada! It’s like a glorified Sonic limeade! The best!! We also had flaming bananas for dessert!! Now those were good!! Well, tomorrow we go to Santa Rita for their Bible studies! I am super excited to see them again! Their village is the total opposite of New Horizons!!
Thanks for praying - Becca and Brittany
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Day Two!
Buenas!! Last night we slept….fitfully….but we indeed slept! We are two hours behind yall, and the sun comes up extremely early over here! I kinda forgot about that and was awakened at 5:30 a.m. Brittany and I have committed to pray together every morning before we start our day! We desire so much to see God work in a powerful way through us and in us!
After breakfast, Jimmy picked us up, and we ran a couple of errands! We went to this one store, where the owners are both Christians. Jimmy asked the gentleman if he knew of any deaf children in the area. He told Jimmy that there were two siblings in a nearby town that were both deaf. They had been sent to Guatemala City to learn sign-language, but now they are back! We are going to go and try to find them this week! Pray for us, because there are rumors that Americans come to Guatemala to kidnap children for their organs and other body parts. So four Americans going around asking about two specific children, is not necessarily the safest thing! Jim and Shelley have heard of people getting lynched and attacked because of these rumors. Pray that God will lead us to these children, but at the same time protect us from any danger!
We went to Jim and Shelley’s house, which by the way is absolutely amazing, to work on all kinds of preparations for our outreaches! The crafts for New Horizon and Santa Rita’s Bible Studies are all ready to go! We also organized an ice cream party that is a reward for all those children that have read their Bible and done the devotion sheets that are passed out in the Bible Studies. They all have a number of points and they can use their points to buy toppings for their ice-cream. We will also be playing tons of games that day as well as watching a veggie tale movie in Espanol. After Lunch, we started planning our girl’s day!! Our theme is “Daughters of God!!” How awesome it that?!?!?! Purity is pretty much non-existent here, it is something that is not taught in the culture or even expected. But as Christians, we are commanded to keep our bodies pure. We want these girls to know how much they are loved by God! Many of them, as young as 11, have already given their virginity away, but they need to know that God loves them anyways, and that they don’t have to live their lives that way. Please pray that God will use all of the object lessons and activities we have planned to open their hearts to Him.
We ended our night with a great dinner….Chicken Quesadilla’s that had a little kick to them…no worries, my eyes only watered and I actually did enjoy them. We also watched a cute chick-flik with Shelley, while Jimmy was at an authentic Guatemalan wedding! This is totally cool, because the drug lords that run and pretty much own everything, including our hotel, in the Petén were invited. So technically Jimmy is in the “In-Crowd” now!
Keep us in your prayers, as tomorrow we go to New Horizons! This is a village that is in total bondage to Satan. Jim and Shelley have been working in this village for two years, but because of many rumors and lies that have been spread, people are very hesitant about coming. We are praying that God will keep Jim and Shelley encouraged, and that He will continue to work in this village!
After breakfast, Jimmy picked us up, and we ran a couple of errands! We went to this one store, where the owners are both Christians. Jimmy asked the gentleman if he knew of any deaf children in the area. He told Jimmy that there were two siblings in a nearby town that were both deaf. They had been sent to Guatemala City to learn sign-language, but now they are back! We are going to go and try to find them this week! Pray for us, because there are rumors that Americans come to Guatemala to kidnap children for their organs and other body parts. So four Americans going around asking about two specific children, is not necessarily the safest thing! Jim and Shelley have heard of people getting lynched and attacked because of these rumors. Pray that God will lead us to these children, but at the same time protect us from any danger!
We went to Jim and Shelley’s house, which by the way is absolutely amazing, to work on all kinds of preparations for our outreaches! The crafts for New Horizon and Santa Rita’s Bible Studies are all ready to go! We also organized an ice cream party that is a reward for all those children that have read their Bible and done the devotion sheets that are passed out in the Bible Studies. They all have a number of points and they can use their points to buy toppings for their ice-cream. We will also be playing tons of games that day as well as watching a veggie tale movie in Espanol. After Lunch, we started planning our girl’s day!! Our theme is “Daughters of God!!” How awesome it that?!?!?! Purity is pretty much non-existent here, it is something that is not taught in the culture or even expected. But as Christians, we are commanded to keep our bodies pure. We want these girls to know how much they are loved by God! Many of them, as young as 11, have already given their virginity away, but they need to know that God loves them anyways, and that they don’t have to live their lives that way. Please pray that God will use all of the object lessons and activities we have planned to open their hearts to Him.
We ended our night with a great dinner….Chicken Quesadilla’s that had a little kick to them…no worries, my eyes only watered and I actually did enjoy them. We also watched a cute chick-flik with Shelley, while Jimmy was at an authentic Guatemalan wedding! This is totally cool, because the drug lords that run and pretty much own everything, including our hotel, in the Petén were invited. So technically Jimmy is in the “In-Crowd” now!
Keep us in your prayers, as tomorrow we go to New Horizons! This is a village that is in total bondage to Satan. Jim and Shelley have been working in this village for two years, but because of many rumors and lies that have been spread, people are very hesitant about coming. We are praying that God will keep Jim and Shelley encouraged, and that He will continue to work in this village!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The Start of My Adventures
Hi Guys!! Hello from Guatemala! Brittany and I have decided to write a blog every day, if we can, about what God is doing here, and some of our adventures :) Our trip got off to a great start, with a 6 hour drive to Miami! Starbucks, worship, and prayer, was our accompaniment along the way! Half way there, we were almost on empty, and got stuck in this horrible semi truck accident! We thought we would never make it to a gas station in time, but because some of yall were praying, God got us there in perfect timing! Well, then it started to rain, which was nice, cause my car doesn't have a.c. But then my windshied wipers decided to flip out! Literally!! My driver's side windshield wiper flew off! And we were in Miami with crazy ridiculous drivers! But again, God had His hand on us, and with Brittany's awesome navigating, we made it to our destination safely!!
We got our last Starbucks for 2 1/2 weeks in Miami, and restlessly waited for our plane to arrive! We were sooooo excited to finally be on our way, that we couldn't sleep! We met this guy named, Angel (Spanish accent) who worked for the Guatemalan embassy in FL, but whose family still lived in Guatemala. He only gets to go home once a month to see them. He was reading the book, The Power of a Praying Husband. Great opportunity for us to start up a conversation with him. We got to tell him why we were going to Guatemala, and He was very excited that we were going to share Jesus with the people in His country! He gave me his card and promised to do everything that he can to help find information about deaf people and their needs in the Peten! He would be an awesome resource and friend if God ever leads me to minister to Deaf children in Guatemala!
Then more excitement came our way!! We landed in Guatemala City with 40 minutes to make it to our next flight! Sounds like plenty of time, right?? Nope, not at all!!! Nobody in the airport know what they are talking about, which Jimmy did warn us about. We did get our passports stamped by immigration, so we can go to Belize, and we didn't have to pay taxes, but we had a little bit of trouble getting through security. The lady did not like the fact that I had 75 toilet paper rolls in my carry on and 6 books! Why, I have no idea, but apparently they like to give Jim and Shelley a hard time too! So thankfully our plane was running on Guatemalan time, and God was looking out for us, cause we made it with minutes to spare! We are now only 45 min from Flores!!
I had an amazing God moment on that flight....we were flying through the clouds, and they were absolutely beautiful...kind of like what you see in movies, when people think they are in Heaven :) Then in only a few minutes, the clouds got dark, and the pilot had no choice but to fly us through! It wasn't the easiest flight, but even with the rain and the lightening going on around us, the pilot knew what he was doing, and brought us safely through to the other side. You know, sometimes, God is like our pilot, and instead of going around the storm, He carries us right through them. It might be scary, and you might not know when you will see the sun again, but you can rest in the knowledge, that your pilot is in complete control of the wind and the rain!
After that short but memorable flight, we were finally there!!!!! Jim and Shelley met us at the airport, then took us to dinner at the newly built pizza hut! Afterward we went to the Maxi and got some groceries for our stay, and other fun stuff for all our activities! On our way to our hotel, we saw so many people that were drinking away....it is so sad, cause that is all they live for. And we also saw a Guatemalan funeral that was taking place, with more than a hundred people in attendance. Life is so short, and there are so many people that have yet to hear how much the God of the universe loves them! Who is going to share this with them, if we don't "get out of our boats and walk on the water."
Love you all and thanks for the prayers! More updates to come!!!
Becca and Brittany
We got our last Starbucks for 2 1/2 weeks in Miami, and restlessly waited for our plane to arrive! We were sooooo excited to finally be on our way, that we couldn't sleep! We met this guy named, Angel (Spanish accent) who worked for the Guatemalan embassy in FL, but whose family still lived in Guatemala. He only gets to go home once a month to see them. He was reading the book, The Power of a Praying Husband. Great opportunity for us to start up a conversation with him. We got to tell him why we were going to Guatemala, and He was very excited that we were going to share Jesus with the people in His country! He gave me his card and promised to do everything that he can to help find information about deaf people and their needs in the Peten! He would be an awesome resource and friend if God ever leads me to minister to Deaf children in Guatemala!
Then more excitement came our way!! We landed in Guatemala City with 40 minutes to make it to our next flight! Sounds like plenty of time, right?? Nope, not at all!!! Nobody in the airport know what they are talking about, which Jimmy did warn us about. We did get our passports stamped by immigration, so we can go to Belize, and we didn't have to pay taxes, but we had a little bit of trouble getting through security. The lady did not like the fact that I had 75 toilet paper rolls in my carry on and 6 books! Why, I have no idea, but apparently they like to give Jim and Shelley a hard time too! So thankfully our plane was running on Guatemalan time, and God was looking out for us, cause we made it with minutes to spare! We are now only 45 min from Flores!!
I had an amazing God moment on that flight....we were flying through the clouds, and they were absolutely beautiful...kind of like what you see in movies, when people think they are in Heaven :) Then in only a few minutes, the clouds got dark, and the pilot had no choice but to fly us through! It wasn't the easiest flight, but even with the rain and the lightening going on around us, the pilot knew what he was doing, and brought us safely through to the other side. You know, sometimes, God is like our pilot, and instead of going around the storm, He carries us right through them. It might be scary, and you might not know when you will see the sun again, but you can rest in the knowledge, that your pilot is in complete control of the wind and the rain!
After that short but memorable flight, we were finally there!!!!! Jim and Shelley met us at the airport, then took us to dinner at the newly built pizza hut! Afterward we went to the Maxi and got some groceries for our stay, and other fun stuff for all our activities! On our way to our hotel, we saw so many people that were drinking away....it is so sad, cause that is all they live for. And we also saw a Guatemalan funeral that was taking place, with more than a hundred people in attendance. Life is so short, and there are so many people that have yet to hear how much the God of the universe loves them! Who is going to share this with them, if we don't "get out of our boats and walk on the water."
Love you all and thanks for the prayers! More updates to come!!!
Becca and Brittany
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