We have a space on our land where we hope to build a second house as the ministry expands, and this year we planted corn in the space. I’m not much of a farmer, so it’s been a challenge to learn about all the different things needed to grow and protect the corn stalks.

They grow huge here! Some stalks are over 8 feet tall, and my neighbor’s corn is over 10 feet. Unfortunately we just had a big storm that knocked a lot of it down. The last picture is my neighbor’s field. He lost the majority of his crop from all the wind.

I’ve enjoyed the new experience, and it’s been a great way to build relationships with our new neighbors.

I’ve had the opportunity to help teach English at a school near us. It’s the Christian school that Yuli taught second grade at last year. Once a week I teach English conversation and pronunciation with the most advanced students. It’s a lot of fun! I make them memorize a lot of Scripture. 🙂

This next month we’re going to start reading “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by C. S. Lewis together.

It has been wonderful this past week to have our pastor, Rick Banda and his son Luke here visiting us. Rick has been hugely instrumental in helping and guiding our ministry. He has a huge heart for reaching the lost, and has for years opened his own house to do it. Their visit has been a very fun and relaxing time for us to be together.

While here, Rick spoke with the parents of many of the children at Casa Shalom during their monthly “Visitor’s Sunday”. He shared about his own past and how God really is his Heavenly Father. He also spent a lot of time with our guys and also with Yuli’s family. The highlight of the trip was that Elias and Yuli’s brother-in-law Mauriel both decided to be baptized! It was amazing!

We also spent some time just relaxing together and enjoying each other’s company. Luke and I took the teen boys on a hike up a volcano one day. It was a lot of fun, but we were up in the clouds so there wasn’t much of a view.

And we went on a relaxing fishing trip another day in the beautiful lake Atitlan.

For me personally, the best times were the times in-between when we were driving back and forth between activities. I enjoyed and learned so much from our conversations. Rick has had years of experience of different kids growing up alongside of his own kids. Now with our own baby, this is so important to me. I want to be used by God to help and minister to these guys that the Lord has given us, but it should never be at the cost of being a bad parent to my own children. Rick’s wisdom has been incredibly helpful to us.

Rick has a very interesting blog about his time with us in Guatemala:

• FIRST 24 HOURS
• WALKING IN GOD’S GOOD WORKS
• MY HEART TOUCHED POWERFULLY
• TIME FOR INTIMACY
• ENEMY STRIKES BACK

Yesterday we had Celia & her family over again to visit. Here’s a cute picture of her and Margaret!. We love having them over and continuing to build a relationship with the family. Her mom’s concerned because she’s now in sixth grade, and there aren’t any schools in their town past elementary school. We’re praying about how we can help them this next year.

This past week was Holy Week, or Semana Santa in Spanish, and schools in Guatemala are closed for the week. We invited the teenage boys from Casa Shalom over to our house under construction for a campout. It was rustic with no electricity and only an outhouse, but we sure had a lot of fun together!

About a month ago some of the guys were baptized, and we spent a long time talking about their decisions and commitment to Christ. It was a really great time, and I love to see them grow in the Lord in love and maturity!