Our Last Day in Guatemala

I arose early this morning to pray and go over my notes for Sunday School.  The early morning sky was filled with low-hanging clouds that nestled into the nooks and crannies of the nearby hills.  The previous late night and early morning made it hard to feel alert, so a cup of instant coffee helped to wake up the brain.

I taught the ladies’ Sunday School class while Charlie taught the men’s.  During the morning worship service, Charlie preached while Giovanni interpreted.  About sixty people were in attendance.  Almost all of them had no idea of what it meant to be saved nine years ago when the church began.
 

Giovanni’s parents live in a nearby town and attend his church.  They invited us for lunch.  When we arrived, we women all disappeared into the outdoor kitchen while the men sat outside and talked.  The wood stove blazed, and the Indian woman, their maid, stood by the fire making tortillas.  Using only her hands to pat them into shape, she turned out a stack of uniform-sized tortillas in minutes.  I was amazed at her quickness and ability.  Laura re-washed the bowls and serving dishes, a necessity when insects wander over your dishes after they’ve been put away.  We gathered around a large table to enjoy the fellowship, hot tortillas, and steaming bowls of beef stew.

After lunch we headed over to the mission church for the afternoon service, only this service was different from usual.  Both churches were joining together for a baptismal service at the grounds of a Guatemalan resort, a block or so from the mission’s rented building.  When the people had arrived, Pastor Avendano gave instructions to the baptismal candidates and they donned their baptismal robes.  Photos were taken, and then the service began.



We sang hymns together, and Pastor Avendano taught on the meaning of baptism.  He explained the testimony of being baptized in front of others and the symbolism behind immersion.  He encouraged the candidates to hold true to their commitment to follow Jesus, and then the baptisms began. 

Roberto Avendano, Pastor Avendano’s father, was among the candidates.  What an answer to prayer that was!  Giovanni has prayed for his father to trust in Christ as his personal Savior for many years!  Then, to be the one who got to baptize him was an extra blessing.  Nine other candidates joined him – one young man, several women, and three teenage girls.  Charlie assisted in those baptisms.

When the baptismal service was over, it was time for a picnic, Guatemalan style.  Tamales, bread, and Pepsi were served, and people scattered across the lawns to eat and enjoy each others’ company and the good food.  Teenage boys clambered up the side of a hill to the tire swing that swung out into a wide expanse.

Eventually, even good things like baptisms must come to an end, and people packed up their things and headed for home. 

Dad introducing his daughter to a table of guests.

However, the day was far from over for us.
We headed back to the house where we were staying.  I found some ibuprophen to deal with the headache that was pounding at my forehead and lay down for a while.  Forty-five minutes later we headed out again, this time to the home of a young lady celebrating her Quinceanera, or 15th birthday, a big event for young ladies in Latin America.  We arrived just after the pinata had been broken open and were invited to sit down at one of the expansive tables that had been set up on the patio.  Once again, bread and tamales?? appeared, though a different flavor from the ones that afternoon.  Jamaica, a hibiscus tea, was served as well, or sweet black coffee, if you preferred.

Leaving there around 9:00, we headed home to pack.  Fortunately, that did not take too long and we sank into bed at about 10:00.  Charlie set his alarm clock for 2:45 a.m. and we quickly drifted off to sleep - a good thing too, since tomorrow will be another long day.

Children’s Club

How many normal-sized vehicles do you need to pick up a bunch of children to come to Bible club?  Well, if you live in Guatemala, it takes about three.  One SUV arrived with 17 people inside.  Another, a small pick-up truck, came with people loaded in the back of the truck.  Our small 4-door sedan only had eight, so we still had plenty of room!

Earlier in the week, Barbara Avendano asked me if I would teach the children.  Silly me, I did not come equipped with material for teaching children, and it had been 30 years since I had actually taught a whole Bible lesson in Spanish to children.  So it took me lots of time.  I needed to completely write out my lesson in Spanish so that it would go smoothly.  An outline would just not be enough this time.

This morning I arose early to plead the Lord’s blessing on my day and to ask Him to teach the children something of the truths in His holy word.  I spent another hour or so looking over the material I had written. 

Forty-one children came to the club today, ranging in age from three to eleven.  How I pray that the seeds of truth that were planted would result in fruit that will last. There were also four adult women present to observe the teaching techniques.


Next time we make a trip, I better come prepared with more materials, especially any that I have in Spanish!

Another Signpost?

 For the first time since we have started making visits to Latin America with IPM, I arrived eager to talk in Spanish.  First of all, I was back in a country where I lived about thirty years ago, and I wanted to know how things had changed.  I knew I would only find out by talking to the Guatemalans. 

Secondly, it was the first time when I arrived feeling as though I had a fairly good handle on what was going on around me.  I could understand what people were saying around me, and I didn’t feel as though I was constantly trying to dig the right words out of the recesses of my brain.  I have been so blessed by God to be have more freedom in teaching in Spanish this time. I still have a long way to go, but I see progress, and that’s good.

Still, my Spanish is far inferior to what it once was.  I know that there is work ahead of me if I want to be effective teaching in Spanish, and since IPM has a number of national missionaries working in Latino countries, we will likely continue to be travelling to Spanish-speaking countries. 

During our conference, Sharon Herrera asked me if I would be willing to come to Cuernavaca, Mexico to work with their children’s workers and help them improve their program.  I would love to do that!

Last night Charlie asked brother Giovanni this question, “If we were to come back to work with you again, what can we do to be more effective the next time we come?”  He had a couple suggestions, but the main one was, “Learn Spanish.”  Giovanni’s main concern where Charlie is concerned is that people may want to be able to get counsel from him without the help of an interpreter.

Charlie is very intelligent and could easily learn conversational Spanish given the right conditions. Does this mean we should add a signpost to the three we already have?  We can see the advantages of settling somewhere where we would have more interaction in Spanish – perhaps a church where they have a Spanish ministry.  Or does this mean that we should take some time to actually live in a Spanish-speaking nation for a while until our Spanish improves?  It does, however, seem to indicate that we need to take our command of the Spanish language seriously.

So maybe this is our fourth signpost:  Live somewhere where our Spanish will improve through constant interaction. 

Thoughts on our Fourteenth Anniversary

Who would have thought when I married him that we would celebrate our 14th anniversary in Guatemala?


Who would have thought that our ministry would allow a day away on this day?





Who would have thought that we would be admiring volcanoes, a lake and terraced gardens today?




Who would have thought that we would share our day with a committed Guatemalan missionary and his family?








Who would have thought, fourteen years ago, that we would appreciate and love each other even more today?


Who would have thought we would end our day praying with Guatemalan believers high in the hills of Sacatepéquez?








Who would have thought, we would fall asleep in a beautiful house high on a hill with an amazing view of the surrounding countryside?


And who would have thought we would be so blessed?


Lord, You did, and I’m so glad You did!

Sunday in Guatemala

I love Sundays.  There is something special about going to church, listening to the teaching and preaching of God’s Word, singing hymns and songs together, and being encouraged by brothers and sisters in Christ.

This Sunday was no different.  It was such a joy to be in a room together with people I’d never met before and yet know that we are brothers and sisters in Christ.  We come from different countries, speak different languages and have different customs, yet our shared love for our God unites us in particular ways.

Here are just a few pictures to give you a feel for our morning in Cerro Alto, Sacatepequez, Guatemala.         

People gathering for church on Sunday morning in Cerro Alto.

Coming to church

Marticruz teaching Sunday School

IPM's president, Kevin Callahan, preaching in the morning service.

Lunch and part of the afternoon at the Avendano's home.

Matt Barfield playing with Avendano's children at their home.

Afternoon service in Socoyo.

Graciela Avendano singing a special music number.

Some of the people who came

Matt Barfield, VP for Field Ministries,
preaching through interpretation

    
    

One mother with her daughter

Central America/Caribbean Conference

What a glorious time we’ve had.  For the past several days, we have been involved in a bilingual conference with our missionaries   Some of us did not speak Spanish.  Others did not speak English, though most of the group was bilingual.  We sang and prayed together in both languages.  We listened to translated teaching from God’s word.  We laughed and talked over meals.  We travelled together to church, singing and quoting Scripture verses to each other.  I got to give a brief presentation on children’s ministry.

Sergio and his daughter, Sharon

Sergio Herrera, a Chilean national, is planting a church in Cuernavaca, Mexico, the fourth of his missionary career.  He sees his time there nearing an end as the church is ready to be fully self-supporting.  When God makes it clear, he will move on to another work.  He doesn’t know yet where that will be, so he plans to take a year to return to Chile to report to churches and find out from the Lord where his next assignment should be.  At 61 years of age, his youthful energy surpasses most people his age and even younger.

Salvador and his wife, Maricruz, also came from Mexico.  A number of years ago, they went to California looking for a better life.  They found that “better life” when they both found Jesus Christ and trusted Him to be their Savior.  Instead of staying in the US, they decided to become church planters.  For the past three years, they have been working in Apatzingan, Mexico.  At first, only one man came to their services.  Their church is growing.  Now they have enough people that they need a building.

Giovani Avendano, a Guatemalan, also went to California looking for a better life. He too found a better life, in both a Mexican wife and the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is now working in a remote town in Guatemala. 

When we went to their church on Wednesday night, it was packed with people.  Of course, our group added twenty people to the crowd, and they knew visitors were coming, so almost everyone was there.  What a great group.  What a testimony the church is to the grace of God.


Enrique Mejia, is planting a church in El Seibo, Dominican Republic.  He is also the director of a Bible institute in the middle of the country.  Recently they have had remarkable answers to prayer.  A young lady who had left the church because she was interested in having an affair repented and returned.  Another man who had been arguing for years with Enrique suddenly believed and is part of the church.  For the last couple months, however, Enrique has been very ill and needed to take a rest, so a couple young men in the church are preaching while he is gone.  This is giving them some much needed experience.

Laura is from Colombia and is interning this summer with the Avendano family.  Four years ago, she was engaged to be married when her fiancé was encouraged to go to Puerto Rico to study the Bible.  Believing that this opportunity was from the Lord, they put off their marriage for the five years it would take him to complete his studies.  A year later, her pastor encouraged her to consider joining her fiancé in Puerto Rico to study.  Only a year and a half remain until she will graduate and they will marry.  They plan to return to Colombia to work as church planters.

Laura with Avendano's daughter

Missing from the group this time were our missionaries from Haiti:  The Lucien Saul and Royden Saul families.

In some ways, this conference was more helpful to me than anything I’ve attended so far with IPM.  It gave me a picture of what God is doing in Central America, which is a small part of what IPM is doing in the world.  How I would love to join the missionaries from Nepal and Myanmar to hear in person what they are doing.  Somehow prayer letters aren’t quite the same. 

In future years, we may end up going to other conferences. If we do, it will be a joy to be able to spend some time with these godly men and women that God has called to be in His service.

Travel Day Log

5:30 a.m. (Central Time)  Piano music drifts through the room as Charlie’s cell phone alarm sounds.  He reaches out and turns it off.  Two minutes later, the raucous digital tune from my cell phone  forces me out of bed, and we jump into the day.

Except for the things we needed during the night or this morning, everything is packed.  We perform our morning ablutions and dress quickly.  Pajamas, cell phones, (AKA alarm clocks), toiletries and other last minute items join their travel mates in our carry-ons. 

6:05 a.m.  I punch the address for the Blue Sky Parking Lot into the Tom-Tom, and we head out through the quiet tree-lined streets of Wheaton toward one of the busiest airports in the world.

6:40 a.m.  We pull into the Blue Sky Parking Lot where the Hispanic attendant efficiently checked our car for pre-existing dents and asked if we wanted a car wash.  We declined, even though it needed it.  He graciously carried our bags to their shuttle and asked for our departing airline information.

6:50 a.m.  We leave the parking lot and head through busy traffic to the departing gates.  The first stop is for the United passengers.  It takes longer for us to get to our terminal from the previous one than it did to get to the airport in the first place.

7:00 a.m.  We join the line of departing passengers.  We get our boarding passes and check our bags.  No gate has been assigned to us yet, though the airline tells us it is still listed as “on time”.

7:20 a.m.  The security line stretches longer than the cords that have been erected.  Only two people are checking identification, so this could take a while.  Everyone expects the line and the wait, so people are pleasant as we slowly snake our way through the cords to the front.

7:45 a.m.  The blue-uniformed TSA agent checks our identification and asks us how long we have been standing in line.  He grabs a chair to sit for the next while and passes us through.  We remove our shoes, empty our pockets, pull out the liquids, and remove our computers from their cases.  Our bags join our shoes on the conveyer belt to be screened, and we stand in line for a body scan.  (I hate those. Talk about an invasion of privacy!)  After the scan, Charlie is pulled aside because his shirt had multi-layer pockets and they weren’t sure if he was hiding something. (After all, he might have been hiding a prayer card!  That’s what he usually carries in his pockets.)

8:00 a.m.  We put our shoes back on and check the list of departing flights.  Still no gate assignment.  Oh look!  A Dunkin’ Donuts!  That’s probably the last one we’ll see in a while, so we joined the line there.  With coffee, juice, and pastries in hand, we find a table.  No free wi-fi here, so we’ll have to wait until some other time to check email.

8:20 a.m.  We receive information that our flight is delayed an hour.  Joan calls her parents to let them know what is going on and sends texts to friends.  One of her friends calls her and they talk for a few minutes.  Finally, we have a gate.  We walk around for a while to see what our terminal has to offer:  two food courts, several small stores, and many flights heading all over the world, including Heathrow, Beijing, Narita, Las Vegas, Shanghai, and Boston.  At our gate, s an earlier plane is headed to San Diego, so we found another place to sit and wait.

9:30 a.m.  I dig out my computer and start the log for our travel day.  Our flight was supposed to leave at 9:25.  Now it’s scheduled for 10:45.

10:00 a.m.  Our flight has been delayed again to 11:20.  I think I have plenty of time to do some reading.  I close down the blog and open “Online Bible” and begin to read.  Did you know that the story of the rich man asking Jesus what he needed to be saved is preceded in all three accounts by Jesus blessing the children?  It made me stop to think about those two stories together.  First, what would a child do if he were presented by the same request from Jesus – give away all you have and come and follow me.  What would I have done when I was a child?  Second, if we had the dependence of a child on our Heavenly Father, would a request like that from Jesus sound scary or freeing?

10:55 a.m.  Our flight begins to board.  More standing in line and waiting our turn to board.

11:30 a.m.The plane finally pulls away from the gate to sit on the tarmac for a while.  A few minutes later, we join the line of planes waiting to take off, and soon we’re in the air.

12:00 noon:  The pilot announces that we are flying at 37,000 feet, and that we’ll fly over Georgia on our way down to Florida.  If I wave really hard, will my sister in Atlanta see me?  We read, doze and talk the rest of the way.

3:25 p.m. (Eastern time)  As we fly over the everglades, a lightning strike lights up the sky in the distance.  Dark clouds hover in front of us, and we land in Miami in a full-blown rain storm.  After an agent is finally located, the skyway is attached and the door opens.  Once again we stand in line, waiting for our turn to disembark.  We are seated four rows from the back of a full 757 aircraft, so it will be a while before we can get off.  Fortunately, we have lots of time here.

4:00 p.m.  We walk the airport looking for free wi-fi, but this airport is just as stingy with wi-fi as O’Hare was.  We remembered that in Lima we used wi-fi at Starbucks, so we look for the nearest Starbucks cafe.  It’s located at gate six, probably half a mile from where we are; but we have nothing but time right now and we need a good walk.

4:30 p.m.  Our stomachs are growling.  It’s been hours since we’ve had anything to eat.  Wendy’s chili sounds good right now, so we stop.  

6:45 p.m.  The airplane is scheduled to take off at 7:10.  Since the boarding has only just begun, it will not likely be on time.

7:30 p.m.  We’re in the air again, on our way to Guatemala.

7:55 p.m. (Mountain time)  After a non-eventful two hour flight, we land in Guatemala.  We proceed to immigration and choose one of the three lines for foreigners.  We chose the wrong line.  We started in the middle of a long line.  When it was apparent how slowly our line was moving, people behind us began moving to other lines.  Another plan debarked and more people joined our line.  Soon they too realized how slowly our line was moving compared to others, so they too left our line for others.  We were the last ones in our line and certainly the last ones on our plane to leave immigration.

9:15 p.m.  The luggage carousel stopped a long time ago, and the baggage handlers are wondering what to do about our bags when we arrive.  We gather our bags and head for customs.  Customs waves us through and we head outside to a cold, rainy evening in Guatemala.  At first we don’t see the blue sign for IPM in the midst of all the white signs for other people, but we eventually locate our people.  They go get the car while we wave off the vendors who gather around us.  Eventually an SUV shows up and we load our baggage.

10:20 p.m.  We arrive at the retreat center where the conference is being held and greet some of the people who are there.  Most of them have already retired to their rooms for the night.

10:30 p.m.  We’re shown to a dining room with plates piled high with food.  Charlie and I decide then that we’ll need to share a plate of food in the future, or we’ll both go home ten pounds heavier than when we arrived.  I eat some of it, but I know that I won’t sleep well if I eat it all.

11:30 p.m.  We crawl into bed after a very long day, thank God for His provision and safety along the way, and promptly fall asleep.