Our Church

Yesterday we attended our church..Canaan Baptist Church. This will be our church when we are not traveling. We were warmly welcomed and received. What a delight it was to actually worship in song, message, and fellowship!

When we arrived in Guatemala, we said it felt like home. Well, again yesterday, it was that same feeling...like home. Isn't God good to prepare the way?

We're back!!

Just returned this afternoon from Mexico..a great prayer retreat of missionaries from Mexico, Central America and Surinam who work with indigenous people groups. It was wonderful getting to know each other and hearing of God's working in and through their lives.

We traveled by plane and bus...it wasn't a chicken bus for sure!


...then traveled to Puebla.


We ate RIBS a Tony Roma's...YUM!


saw friends from language school, Aaron and Gaby, Mylee and Evie.


Saw ice covered mountains...


and volcano...



and enjoyed Krispie Creme doughnuts!


We met together, met in small groups. We worshipped in English, we laughed together, we cried together, and we prayed together. Together we were revived and refreshed for the year before us.


We are so thankful to Longview Heights Baptist Church from Olive Branch, Mississippi who shared in leading worship, in caring for the children and youth, and allowed their paster to refresh our hearts with words directly from God. Here's a picture of our missionary children who presented a program to us on the final day.


It was a time of...
connecting with others who partner with us in reaching indigenous people in this part of the world.

Have house...have crate...YEA!!

Have house...have crate...have a FULL day of unloading and unpacking...PRAISE the LORD!!

In record time...we've been in country less than 2 months and have a house and crates. WOW! Thanks for praying!

Leaving Thursday am for meetings in Mexico but coming home to our place.

The beauty of the west

It is impossible to capture the majesty and beauty that God has created.

We passed many agricultural areas. In the west, potatoes are abundant. Sheep are also raised both for food and their wool.

Back from the West

We left early Saturday morning and drove west to Ixchiguán to visit Gary and Lily and the team working with them this week. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains. We are so thankful for pavement, roads and at times wide roads!!

Only Jesus can satisfy...

Guatemala is not a country founded on Judeo-Christian principles. These pictures emphasize this fact. On the very premises of the catholic church in San Cristobal is a cave built for the shamans to perform animistic worship. The two religions are intertwined producing more confusion and deeper lostness. Only the truth of Jesus can free people from the bondage of religion, from the bondage of spirit worship, from the darkness of sin. May these pictures remind you to pray for the lost people of Guatemala who are bound by generations of deception.


Note the pink house at the top of this picture. It is one of the sacred places for animistic worship. There are four - one on each of the four sides of the city.


This is the natural cave area located just outside the city where sacrifices are offered to the spirits. Pray for San Cristobal and the many lost people here. Pray for those who do know the truth of salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ to stand mighty in spirit and in truth.

Sightseeing

Today we played tourist a little and visited the Museo Nacional de Arquelocla y Ethnologia in the city. What a wealth of information and artifacts! It was so interesting. Today must have been school day though. Don't know how many different classes were there...reminded me of field trips back when I taught school.

Filling it up...

We didn't do it by chicken bus...


but we took our new washer and dryer to our house this afternoon. Slowly we are beginning to fill it up...hopefully soon, maybe when we return from Mexico next week, we will be able to take our crate and begin to get settled. Yea!


Several of you contributed to the washer/dryer purchase. Thank you so much!


Thought you would enjoy the pastoral scen across from our house when we arrived this afternoon...contented place to live, huh?



This dog just chillin' among the cows looked almost like a deer. His chest, neck and face was so big but when he stood up he didn't look as big...just very gentle and kind looking.



Maybe we can take the stove over tomorrow...wow! Soon we can be home!

Traveling...

When we first read some things included in our job description we laughed...a couple without children (or grown children) who like to travel and who like to travel together. We have begun some of the traveling as we are learning about the work in progress throughout the country. Proven travel guides Wendall and Jane narrate the country, the work, the organization, the convention, etc as we travel together. What a wonderful wealth of wisdom and history we are gleaning from them as we spend time together!

Last week we traveled up to the north country visiting Jeff and Karen and their family in San Cristobal and David and Regina in Coban. we enjoyed our times of fellowship and vision traveling. There is so much to share that it will be included in several posts.

Here's some photos to whet your appetite...

It will be Home Sweet Home!

Wednesday, we (actually the business manager) sign papers for our house in Chimaltenango! We will move in as soon as our crate is released from customs and can be delivered to us. I am sure we will be surprised at some things we thought we SO important that had to be crated and wonder what we were thinking about not including other things but it will be our stuff.

Thank you for praying with us for our home. God has truly blessed us - 3 bedrooms (one for us, one for an office and one for guests, 2 and a half baths, living room, dining room, kitchen (complete with many beautiful cabinets),


laundry area complete with a pila (large outdoor sink), little back patio, and small green ready for planting flowers, trees, grass...yea!


Thanks for praying...come, visit,and see your answer and behold this gorgeous view at the end of the road.

Another Sunday...Another Church

We are still visiting different churches. We have not moved to Chimaltenango yet so we have no home church just now. Soon though, we hope. However, this time of visiting different churches has been wonderful for us, and we follow the work of the Lord in Guatemala. We are walking the paths in which many missionaries have invested their hearts and lives. We are reminded of those who have walked these trails and roads before us. May we continure faithful to the One and His work as those whom we follow. And may those who come behind us find us faithful as well.

Today we visited Primera Iglesia Bautista in Guatemala City.



It was a priviledge to partake of the Lord's supper with them.



Parking was a little tight...through these double doors, turn a tight right, and park Clyde. Backing out was more of a challenge, but Clyde made the turn with a couple of manuevers.



Thanks to our wonderful chaffeur, dressed in Sunday go to meeting clothes, we managed just fine.



How wonderful it is to worship with believers who love the Lord and desire to serve and follow Him. What sweet praise and worship! Trust your Sunday has been the same. Seek Him with a whole heart.