Utz utz!

(From Don)In the highlands where we go to serve, many of the people do not speak Spanish. We often need translators to communicate with the people. In the Mayan language Quiche, the word for 'good' is 'utz'. To say very good, you say it twice, "Utz utz!".

Last Sunday evening, we attended a church service at the home of one of the translators/preachers that we met on our first trip to Guatemala back in 2003, Armondo. He has recently felt led to start a church. The crude benches were arranged in his backyard. There was more Mayan than Spanish spoken (no English whatsoever). The worship was heartfelt, the prayers earnest, the sermon practical and life-giving. Sitting there, looking up at the stars during the service, I had only one thought, "Utz utz". Thankful for the time we could go and serve. Thankful for getting to see our Guatemalan friends. Thankful for the North American friends that were crazy enough to come down with us. Thankful to the Lord for my family and all he has blessed us with.

(From Lori) I also really loved the church service. We were with Duane and Leslie and Rachael Needham. The five of us sat way in the back on the peripheral of the whole gathering. The music had very traditional Guatemalan rhythms and almost everyone was dressed in traditional clothing or "traje". Armondo was teaching in their Mayan language of Quiche (with some Spanish thrown in). The whole scene just warmed my heart. I was also so thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to be a part of the service, for our time in Guatemala, for His hand upon us and for His presence that surrounded us. He is truly a good and faithful God.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us on our trip. Thank you to all of you who gave us support. Thank you for checking out what happened on our blog. It was a great trip.

Housecall

After clinic Saturday, we were asked to make a housecall. The niece of one of the translators was sick and having trouble caring for her one month old baby. Their home was very remote. It took well over an hour to drive there (on some of the worst roads I have ever driven on). Lori and our friend Judi accompanied Leslie, myself and Thomas (the translator/uncle). Here is a picture of us starting our decent from the road on foot.
 
The family was quite poor. Here are pictures of the outside of their home as we walked down.
 

 

The baby was very cute and doing well. The mother had a bad infection of her throat. We gave antibiotics and pain medicine. We then spent time praying for her and her baby.
 
Here is one of the other family members peeking to get a better view of the strange visitors.
 

Getting to go on visits like this one is one of our favorite things to do. On visits like this we are not only helping someone truly in need, we are getting to peek into their lives. The poverty and simplicty of the lives of these people can be overwhelming, but we know that our Savior is able to meet all of their needs.

Medical Outreach

These last few days have flown! We sooo enjoyed our Sabbath on Wednesday. We were all so tired. It was great to have a day for resting and catching up. We did start in right away on Wed. morning with laundry. We had not done any laundry since we arrived in Guatemala so we have been doing a few loads everyday so we can make it until we leave. It takes a little longer when you have to wait on the sun to dry it all! Judi continues to be the "laundry queen" as she was at the Home last week! ;)

Yesterday, several other doctors (and a spouse) arrived to help with a clinic in Cruz Chiche (not exactly sure how to spell that). This is a monthly clinic that the Fickers have been doing for several months now. They took two loads up the mountain for a 45 minute drive to the aldea. Since they were taking two loads, Judi and I got to tag-along. They strongly recommended that we didn't take pictures while we were there. The aldea is pretty much "closed off" to outsiders which makes it even more incredible that they have asked Adonai to come and do these monthly clinics. A friend of ours, Armondo, began the clinic with a "sermon" in their native language of Quiche. The real goal is to tell them about Jesus - the medical clinic is just a doorway that the Lord uses for the gospel. We pray that lives were touched through both Armondo's message and the physical touch of the medical people.

We were able to take some pictures of the beautiful scenery as we travelled.

 

Here is a view of Canilla (where we are living) from the mountain road.

 

Today is clinic in Canilla. Tomorrow is clinic in San Andres. I am supposed to be working on finances so I need to end this here but wanted to give you a quick update! Thanks for reading!

Back up the Mountain!

Don and I took the team to the airport early this morning. They were all checked in and ready to go through security when we left them in search of McDonalds for coffee.

We made a couple stops and then went back to get Judi and the kids. After we finish our breakfast, we will be heading back up the mountain.


We will try to post a few pictures from our time with the team at the Home. The Lord really blessed our time there. It was a great experience for everyone.

Tomorrow will be Sabbath - we are very excited about that! It will be nice to be rested as we begin our next "leg" of the journey.

Thanks for reading. More later . . .

Saturday afternoon

Our chocolate cupcake afternoon snack is almost finished. Yesterday, the outreach at the Aldea went well. Today, the men-folk returned to move dirt at the school. There was a wall built and a large drop off that we helped to fill in. Shovels and wheelbarrows - pass the ibuprofen. This afternoon, we are finishing up crafts with the kids.

The retreat for the workers went well. They very much enjoyed their time away together. We survived the time and are all tired (very, very tired!). We are preparing for our 'good bye' party tonight. We will leave the home Monday morning to drive into Antigua and then Guatemala city. The team's flight leaves early Tuesday morning. It has been a very good time here. It seems too soon to be preparing to leave.

Please pray for this transition over the next several days. Pray for both for our team and for the kids. It will be very hard to leave after getting to spend so much time with these sweet children. Also please continue to pray for health. A stomache bug ran through many of us, but that has resolved (no pun intended). Please pray for Reggan with a sore throat.

Update

OK, we haven't been very good about contact, but everything is going very well. Everyone is healthy (very little "adjustments"). Everyone is getting into the mix with the kids. The workers are on their trip (they were very excited to go). We have been in charge for over 24 hours now with out difficulty (although a fair amount of chaos).

Thank your for your prayers. The longer we are here, the more that all of us know that this was the trip the Lord had planned for us all. - Blessings