Life Lately: April and May

Who knew that life in a slow-paced culture would be so busy?! It's been so crazy around here that I've had no time to sit down and write a blog...until now! Here's a little bit of our life from the past few months.

We hosted a group from the World Race in the month of April. They traveled 11 countries in 11 months.  It's pretty hardcore and so were these girls! We loved hosting them and working alongside them in ministry for a month.  

Meet Esbin. He recently got saved! As I mentioned here, we have been taking food to families and eating dinner with them. Through this ministry, Esbin gave his life to Christ. His family has been coming to our Bible study on Monday night's and we hope to see the rest of his family come to know Christ! 

Working with these ladies is one of my favorite parts of ministry. We get to make jewelry and talk about Jesus together. :) And now our website is up and running! The only thing we lack is getting our online store up. You can still visit the website, learn more about our company and check out the blog.

In May we finished our 10 week soccer tournament for the villages. The village "Amapa" (in yellow and red) won the tournament! Mitch and Esaú had the opportunity to preach before the game and the local TV station came and videoed all of it. We joke around about being "famous" in Cuilapa because not only are we the only gringos in town, but now we've been on tv...

It's the Guatemalan rainy season right now(boo!). I'm going to sound life a broken record year after year, but I really hate the rainy season. Mud, fog, mud...it's everywhere! The other day the current of the river we usually cross over was so strong that we couldn't even enter in the village. This whole rain everyday thing is driving me crazy and makes for some crazy weather too. I was wearing jeans, boots and a jacket the other day. Hey weather, it's June! Where' the sunshine? I'll settle for some light rain showers...let's just stop with the daily torrential downpour already.

We've hosted several teams this summer and we're super thankful for them! It's so much fun to work with teams and it's huge encouragement for our ministry! Thankful for teams from Owasso, Ok, Fayetteville, AR, and West Monroe, LA.

Right now this is #teamGuatemala! But during the next 2 months, we have a total of 10+ people coming to visit and work alongside us in ministry!! Hooray for visitors who love missions!


Pray for our ministry, pray for lives to be changed and as always, #prayforGuatemala.

Florida

Senior photos are some of my favorites and who doesn't love beach photos? I'm so thankful I get to spend some time doing photography while I'm in the states. It's something I kind of miss when I'm in Guatemala.

Mitch and I spent a good bit of time in Pensacola and happened to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary while we were there. We're still a little in shock that it's already been 3 years. Time has flown! But it has been a blast and I wouldn't want to do life with anyone else. 

A lot of celebrating took place during our Florida visit. And this was one of the biggest celebrations of all-my best friend of 20 years got married! Isn't she beautiful? I'm so glad I was a part of such a lovely wedding. Congrats again to Hillary and Jon! 

                       

Introducing----> The Big LAUNCH! This is a video from our organization, Mobilizing Students. One of the main reasons Mitch and I came up to Nashville was to be apart of the launch ceremony held for several friends within our organization. They will be spending 2 years in England, Czech Republic, Guatemala, and Uganda doing the same type of thing Mitch and I are doing in Guatemala. 

Watch and see how you can be a part of sending missionaries to the nations. 

If you need us, we'll be enjoying Music City for the next 2 weeks. 

You're next, Fayetteville, Arkansas! 

7 things about being a Missionary

I recently saw a blog about the myths of expat living. I found myself agreeing with every bit of the article since Mitch and I are technically expats (someone who lives in another country that is not their homeland). However, I thought it would be fun to create my own list, but about missionary living, since we're also missionaries. I figured that a lot of my readers have probably been on a mission trip before, know people who go on mission trips, or know/support missionaries. While this probably isn't general to all missionaries, it's our life and I hope this will help everyone understand our world a little better (and maybe even give you a good laugh).

1. We are semi-homeless.
I prefer to call myself a nomad rather than semi-homeless, but either way, we never seem to have a permanent place. We lived in Nashville for 2 years and our commitment in Guatemala is for 2 years, but we will most likely stay longer. When we are in the states, you can usually find us hopping from one state to another visiting friends and family. We're pros at living out of a suitcase. The life of a missionary isn't completely nomadic, but we sure do a lot of traveling (just look at the life of Paul!). Who knows where we'll be 5 years from now?!

2. Our driving skills have drastically improved. 
Americans think other Americans are bad drivers. But you really haven't experienced bad driving until you have crossed borders. Don't worry if you fail your drivers test in Guatemala. You can always just pay for a license…

3. Our bargaining skills have improved…with the police.
One time Mitch completely got out of getting a parking ticket because he used the whole "I'm not from around here" trick. Except it wasn't a trick and he really didn't know that he wasn't supposed to park in that spot. He also just so happend to "forget Spanish." I don't know if you could really call that bargaining, but it worked. And that one time I got stopped (they do random stops here) and I didn't have my license…I somehow talked my way out of that one!

4. We are grateful for the little things.
Like toilet paper. I totally forgot that flushing toilet paper was a thing. I'm just happy to have some. And I know now to always carry some with me when we're out and about. Good luck finding toilet paper in a village.

5. Our bug and dirt tolerance is through the roof (literally). 
Bugs are still not my friends, but they are more tolerated than ever before. Please don't judge me when you come over to my house and see spiders living on the ceiling and in the corners. Is it weird that I'm kind of thankful for them? I mean, they do eat bugs. There may be more dirt than you're used to seeing too, but my house is made of concrete so just go with it.

6. We speak Spanglish.
Spanglish is a real thing you guys. Sometimes our brain has a hard time switching back and forth between Spanish and English so they both come out in the same sentence. Lo siento in advance.

7. We have the best job.
Ministry can be hard; emotionally, spiritually, and physically hard. But on the hard days and especially on the good days, we remember that we are working for the Kingdom. That makes every second worth it and it makes us thankful that God chose us for this job…the best job!

Lent: Journey to the Cross

 Today in our culture and world we're taught that everything is about our goals, our success, and our happiness. But lately I've been pondering on the opposite: self-denial.

The gospel is very clear that life is not about us. We have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20) and we are to take up our cross and follow Jesus (Matthew 10:38). This message teaches about the death of self in exchange for life if Christ. This paints a picture of what this lenten season is all about.

I used to think Lent wasn't for me, but I'm learning that it is for everyone.

"Lent is a season of preparation and repentance during which we anticipate the death (Good Friday) and resurrection (Easter Sunday) of Jesus. It is this very preparation and repentance - aimed at grasping the intense significance of the crucifixion - that gives us a deep and powerful longing for the resurrection, the joy of Easter."

I stumbled upon this devotional and decided to go through it for lent. It's a 40 day (free) devo that leads us to Easter Sunday. It is causing me to look at lent as something so beautiful. We are encouraged to abstain from something for 40 days, but the true emphasis is adding something. Replacing what we gave up with things of God. All to know Him more. Denying self and leaning on Christ. It's never too late to join in on lent. Take a look at the devotional and pursue Christ this season as we wait eagerly for the joyous resurrection of our Savior. 

Becoming Residents

What's weird about applying for residency is that we already feel like we're residents. We live here, know our way to the airport (ha), and do all the things the locals do. Our stomachs can even handle street food now, which is a big deal.

But, whether we feel like residents or not, we must apply to be one. Mitch and I went back and forth trying to figure out what we should apply for. It came down to a religious visa or permanent residency.

Our decision for permanent residency is simple: adoption.

Because of how difficult it is to adopt from Guatemala as Americans, it seemed like our only option was to become Guatemalan residents. And we're totally okay with that! 

I don't know the origin of this photo, but I saw it on Facebook and it made me cry. This is our hearts desire. We want to be a mommy and daddy to little girl or boy like the one in the photo.

I know we've only been here about 5 months, but we have already decided to stay longer than our 2 year commitment. We kind of, really love it here and we know this long process will be worth the wait.  We're very excited about the future and the opportunity to be residents and Lord willing have a little Guatemalan child.

Please pray for us during this process of obtaining residency. This is the first step for us in reaching our end goal of adoption. Praise God for giving us this opportunity to make his name known in Guatemala and to hopefully one day bring hope to an orphaned child. 

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18 

January photos

Mitch on his 25th birthday!

Our little puppy child, Olive.

January was a good month. 

From left to right:

1. A volcano has erupted about an hour's drive from our house! 2. Mitch and I before giving our testimony at a conference of hundreds of people. 3. Birthday kisses for the birthday boy. 4. Our friend Chase spent the month with us. The kids in Agua Zarca are going to miss him! 5. "Sorpresa!" People at the church surprised Mitch with a little birthday party. 6. The boys playing a game of chamusca (informal soccer game). 7. Coffee break at Starbucks in Guatemala City. 8. Our new puppy child taking a nap. 8. Noemí and I. We met in 2008 in Mexico and now we both live in Guatemala! 

This January was a great start to 2014. I can't believe it's already February now! Mitch and I are excited  about where our ministry is heading and we're looking forward to the rest of the year. Thanks for coming along this adventure with us by keeping up with us and praying for us. It means a lot! 

Christmas, New Year's, and Now

                          

 

 

It was such a blessing to spend Christmas at home. While we were looking forward to experiencing a Guatemalan Christmas and New Year's, there's nothing like being with family for the Holiday's. Our 90 day tourist visa expired so we had to leave the country and it worked out that we could go home for visa renewal.

We spent our Christmas in Pensacola and our New Year's in Houston. This was the first New Year's that I fell asleep before midnight. Oops. But it was so fun being with family. 

So what are we up to now? We've picked up right where we left off. And we're starting a new Bible study in a village called the 46.  Now we have 2 villages that we are actively working in and teaching the Bible. The problem is that no one has a Bible! We want to get Bible's in everyone's hand. 

We will be raising money so that we can buy Bible's for all the villagers…and there's a lot of them! We need your help! If you are interested in helping just click here.

Please pray for our Bible studies in both Agua Zarca and the 46. Also pray that we can get our temporary residency and/or a religious visa in a timely manner so we don't have to leave the country again in 90 days. 

-Amanda