One Month Has Already Passed...

 I have begun English classes again at HOREB.  The school has grown from 70 children last year to 104 this year, thanks to adding a Kindergarten with 20 little ones, and with 24 new children in first grade.  There have also been a few children who have transferred from the national schools.  The children were excited to have me back, none more than the first graders oddly who I had never taught before.  I think the children talk about me when I am gone.  They still have not bought land for their own school, still scraping together money and finding the perfect location.  Tabita, the Director, has organized all the teachers in finding 35 people that might help in raising the rest of the money that is needed. The returning students have remembered their English to a satisfying degree.  I am now at a stage with the sixth graders that a class period a lot of times just consists of sitting in a circle and practicing English.

 

I have also spent some time in homes.  I was recently in the home of one family whose father just left for the dangerous journey of crossing illegally into the United States to find work.  The children are sad and are not performing as well at school.  Families here are in hard situations, having little options.  The father who left only has a 2^nd grade education with no available work in the town.  All we can do is pray for his safety and that God would provide for the family’s needs.

 

I have made two trips back to Guatemala City to visit Mariajose and the girls.  Those trips back have felt very short and I am excited to spend more time with them during Holy Week.  We have gotten involved with a church in Guatemala City, called Journey Church, and have begun getting involved with a small group at the Pastor’s home. 

In the month of April, WIND will be bringing down two dental teams from Medical Teams International.  One will go out into villages, assessing the dental needs and preparing for the second team which will provide direct care.  The children at HOREB will also be seen by these teams.  We will also have a meeting with United Way on April 11^th, which will provide regular deliveries of food for the school through a donation made by Kellogg’s.  The majority of the children are malnourished, relying heavily on a corn based diet.

Time has really flown by fast and it is hard to believe that I have only two months left of my three month teaching commitment here.  I have found it hard to stay "present" during my time here as my mind keeps focusing on my upcoming marriage.  Pray that God would use me in my remaining time living in Cotzal in spite of myself and for the dental teams that will be traveling here in this upcoming month.

Grace be with you!  

   

  

Two Men, One Boy and a Mountain (a short fable)

Two men and one boy received strange letters in the mail, telling them that something special lay on top of the breathtaking Mount Gemma, a mysterious message to say the least. 

Albert, a world renowned mathematical genius, on a normal day would have dismissed the letter as nothing more than a gimmick or a letter from a crazy person.  But he happened to have a dream about that particular mountain the night before.  He was standing at the base of the mountain, and a man pointed up, and said “a great reward is at the top.”  Then he woke up.  A little shaken by the letter, he did what any man would do, he googled Mount Gemma.  It would be a 40 mile trek, with 12,000 feet elevation gain.  He calculated that it would take him about 100,000 steps to reach the top.  100,000 steps!  He pictured how difficult it would be to do just 100 steps at that slope and then he thought about doing that 1,000 times and he shuttered.  He laughed, “no way, I’m just going to stay here in my comfy house and do math problems.”

Fabricio had the same dream and got the same letter as Albert.  He knew there was going to be something so amazing at the top.  Without thinking, he hopped on the next flight out of town, toward Mount Gemma.  After a night stay and a long car ride to get to the base, he was ready to tackle the giant mountain.  He knew he could take this mountain on.  He sprinted up as fast as he could go, so excited what might lay at the top.  He grew tired quickly, his muscles tied up, he could no longer breathe.  He wondered how much longer it was to the top.  I mean, he had been sprinting up the thing for one hour now, you’d think he’d be close.  A local strode by, whistling.  Fabricio wheezed back at him: “Sir, how much…longer…to the…top.”  “The top of what?  There’s a good viewpoint of Mount Gemma just a ways further.”  Fabricio struggled to the viewpoint and saw the giant mountain still lay before him, it did not look any closer than when he first started.  Fabricio turned around.  “There is no way any man can get to the top of that,” he thought.

Little David was fourteen, though he looked like he was ten.  He hated being small.  He also had the same dream and got the letter.  His mom, who passed away just a year before, always told him to “follow his dreams.”  He intended to do just that.  He googled Mount Gemma with his curious dad looking over his shoulder.  Some mathematician had posted somewhere that it would take approximately 100,000 steps to reach the top.  David quickly got discouraged.  But his dad asked him “and how many steps does it take to get closer to the top?”  “I suppose just one,” David replied.  “Son, don’t get discouraged about the long journey ahead, for the only step we have control over is the next one.  With that step, we decide which direction to go.”  Two weeks later, father and son, stood on top of the magnificent Mount Gemma.  Through blood, sweat, and tears, he followed his dream to the conclusion.  David did not even bother to look around for the great reward that was supposed to await him there.  He and his dad stood together on top of the world.  What other reward could there be?

God has put dreams in all our hearts, mountains for us to climb.  The journey might be long or seem impossible but we must obey and keep moving forward with faith.  The only step that matters is the next one. Which direction are you going today?

What Now? My third experience living among the Ixil people begins...

The beginning of my third mission experience is Cotzal is upon me.  I write this from my quiet new home at the edge of town, looking out at the rugged green terrain; the cemetery lies just a stone’s throw away.  How did I get here?  I don’t know why the Lord has brought me back here a third time, I only need to walk by faith and trust that I am here for a reason.

 A man’s steps are from the Lord, how then can a man understand his own way? (Proverbs 20:24)

My first mission experience in Cotzal happened only two years ago, but it feels like a lifetime ago.  Nobody in the town knew I was, except that I was a strange, tall Gringo.  I was a very different person then, a little more insecure with a great desire to be liked by the others.  I stayed in Nebaj that year, a town about 30 minutes away, and traveled back and forth every day.  The Lord provided me with good friends in Nebaj and it helped me as I transitioned to the new culture.  I fell in love with Cotzal and with the children at HOREB where I worked.  I was fired up with a tremendous passion and was sad when those three months came to a close.  The children showered me with gifts, I felt so loved and a part of the community.  I cried on my last day there, I had found new friends from a culture so drastically different from my own.

 

In my second mission experience, I had committed to seven months and was excited about the new experience of living in Cotzal.  I, and a friend who was teaching at a school in a nearby village, found a place in the center of town.  I was there only a few weeks before I had to return for my dad’s open heart surgery.  That journey back would change my life forever.  I met my fiancée on the plane.  We talked for three hours like we knew each other for years, sharing about our lives and our faith.  Immediately after returning, she picked me up from the airport.  Throughout my time in Cotzal, we would talk on the phone or Skype every night before bed.  We studied the Bible together and went so deep in our discussions.  If it wasn’t for her, I know that I would have felt so lonely those seven months.

 

The Cotzal of my first experience was a romanticized version, the honeymoon period if you will.  I felt like the man in Avatar, discovering an indigenous civilization as they taught me their ways.  The Cotzal of my second experience was more based on reality.  While I felt like I developed authentic friendships with members of the community, there was no denying it, I was different and the people saw me as different.  There are so many needs in this community and people saw me as their hope for a better life.  I wanted to fit in and be one of them but because of my privileged background, the color of my skin, and my physical stature, developing true peer friendships felt nearly impossible.  Almost everybody wanted something from me.  However, there were some in the community that showed me true Christian love, and I will forever be thankful.  In the end though, I had to grow up.  I had to learn how to say no.  I had to learn that I could not please everybody and that was okay.  I struggled with my faith at times as loneliness set in.

 

The best part of those seven months though, is I went deeper.  I became more of a leader at HOREB.  I got to know the families of the children and shared in some very hard experiences with them.  I went into homes and prayed.  The honeymoon period was over, but in its place true lasting relationships began to form.  Maybe I would never be able to make a best friend here, but I could develop real relationships with solid spiritual ground.

The other difference in my second mission trip were the service teams that came down from WIND.  With my knowledge of the community, I became a guide for those teams, and helped facilitate service projects.  I was able to be the cultural intermediary.  At the very end of my time, I realized that that was the most important role I served.  Because of my time living with the Ixil people, and growing up of course in the U.S., I was beginning to understand both worldviews.  I could translate not only between English and Spanish, but the U.S. worldview to my growing understanding of the Ixil worldview.  I was definitely not one of them, but that was okay.  It made me specially equipped to serve a very unique role in the community.

That all brings me back to here, today.  My time here is beginning and I know it will be very different from my last trip.  I am now a very popular figure in Cotzal and everybody feels like they know me.  I decided to live in this quiet place at the edge of town to remove myself a little from the community.  I want to have more quiet time to reflect and write.  I want to be more purposeful in my interactions in the community without being blown back and forth between others peoples wants.  I want to be sensitive to where I feel led by God.  It is also a time in which God is preparing me to be a husband and a father.   Times are definitely changing.  Was it really only two years ago that God brought me here?  Lord, what now?      

Guatemala Support Letter 2014

I have finally written my support letter for my work in Guatemala this year.  Read the letter here!  :)