These last two days I had to return to Guatemala’s border with Mexico in order to visit the customs office to submit the paperwork to import our car.  There always seems to be weird complications here whenever we have to apply for things like this, and I sometimes get confused with the Spanish technical terms that I don’t understand.  So I was a little nervous about the whole trip.  But fortunately we were able to finish everything and the application was accepted.  Now we just have to visit an office in Guatemala City to pick up the new license plates next week.

Benjamin joined me for the trip, and we had a great time talking all along the 5 hour drive to the border.  He’s been spending more and more time with us lately, and this was another chance to have some great conversations with him. We talked about past memories and adventures, the faithfulness of God through everything, and our hopes for the future. He’s quickly becoming one of my best friends (although I’ve already known him for 7 years) and I look forward to each chance that we get to spend together.

My first introduction to being a missionary in Guatemala was working with Tom and Elizabeth Allan at their ministry called Hearts for the Children.  I learned so much as I lived with them and worked beside them.  I think that the most important thing that I learned from them was a truly God-given love for the people of Guatemala and a desire to help the Guatemalans in whatever way necessary in order to share the love of Christ with them.  This summer will be 10 years since I first came here and started working with the Allans, and it was great to be at their new church dedication on Sunday.  Ever since I started working with them they’ve had their church services under a tent, but they’ve been praying for many years for a permanent church building.  So it was a great blessing to praise God for the building and asking Him to bless their ministry through it.

About a month has pasted since our last visit to see Celia, Ana Lidia and Marcelino, and so we returned to see how they were doing.  We spent Saturday talking to the family, looking at all that they’re learning in school, eating a lunch that Yuli had prepared for everyone, and giving them some clothes.  Yuli’s family gathered together a bunch of old shirts and dresses that her niece use to wear but has outgrown.  The girls, including their older sister Estela, were very excited to get them!

We’re praying a lot that God guide us about how to best help them. We enjoy spending time with the kids a lot, and time always flies by when we’re with them.  They live in a remote area, and so their school is very small.  Each teacher teaches two grades, and so Celia in fourth is in the same room as her brother Marcelino who’s in first grade.  Celia loves math, and she’s frustrated that all that she’s learned this year is how to write the ordinal numbers (first, second, third…).  So we’re going to look for a good math book to give her so she can continue to learn on her own. The other difficulty is that the standard of living was much nicer at Casa Shalom than it is there with her family.  The block house behind us in the pictures is a two-room house that her family is building, and they currently live in a bamboo house.  It’s hard for kids to get use to using outhouses again!  We’re praying about what’s best for the whole family and how we can help.

Ana Lidia’s excited about her new shirt

Celia & Ana looking at a dress

Hanging out with Brent

Hanging out with Yuli