Today was all about the armor of God. It was a fun day as we had our good friends Tom & Nicole visiting us from Canada (AND helping us this week) prior to their return to Switzerland in late June.

Before the session we played an [...]]]>

Today was all about the armor of God. It was a fun day as we had our good friends Tom & Nicole visiting us from Canada (AND helping us this week) prior to their return to Switzerland in late June.

Before the session we played an el Yalu favorite: bed sheet water balloon pass. (OK – we don’t have a better name for this hilarious game…sorry!)

The session started with explaining to the kids how to date we have focused on “good news” (God’s unconditional love for everyone). However, evil exists as well as good, and we do not want the kids to stick their heads in the sand about this. Sooo…how best to identify AND combat evil in our lives?

1. Why believe in the existence of the Devil? Because the Bible says so. We then proceeded to read specific verses related to Satan and how cunning he is. We shared newspaper articles with the kids demonstrating evil in the world. Then we looked (HARD!) for “good news” articles.
2. Why is the Devil interested in me/us? To destroy us and the world. He wants to cut us off from God, stop us from seeing Him in all things.
3. Should I/we be worried? We are under the authority of Jesus Christ, who has already won the battle. We never have to bow down to Satan. Ever! With Jesus we have forgiveness instead of sin, freedom instead of slavery, life instead of death, salvation instead of destruction. Our future is secure in a reigning living God.
4. How can we defend ourselves? Strap on the armor!!! We spilt the kids up into six groups and they all created one piece of the armor. Our ‘model’ (6 ft+ plus Tom from Switzerland) looked quite spiffy with his new armor!
5. Can we also attack instead of defend ourselves? You bet! We can pray, as Satan trembles when we pray. When we accomplish what God’s will is or follow Jesus we attack Satan.

We concluded that Satan is real and he is influencing the world as we speak. HOWEVER…he is NO challenge to God. When we belong to God, when we believe in Jesus Christ, we have NOTHING to fear. NADA! And why take interest in Satan anyway? He is a loser, having lost the battle a long time ago.

We had a blast with this week’s lesson and look forward to the next session where we explore how to share our faith with others. Should be fun/interesting!

We started off with a rousing game of beach ball volleyball with a twist - drape bed [...]]]> Today was a special day. Our first youth group in two weeks, continuing the ALPHA material (Making The Most of The Rest of My Life), PLUS the presence of three key leaders from Los Olivos Church.

We started off with a rousing game of beach ball volleyball with a twist - drape bed sheets over the net so the teams cannot see where or when the ball is coming over. Pit the boys against the gals, and throw in TWO beach balls to add to the mayhem. It was a stinking hot day so what the heck - turn on the water hose too for good measure!!! (Welcome back indeed eh?!)

The lesson started with a review of the Holy Spirit - who is He and what does He do? We also touched on the fruits of the spirit.
We continued with how when the Holy Spirit enters our hearts there is an internal change.

But as there are two sides to every story, there are ‘two sides’ to the Holy Spirit.
He is doing a work inside of us, and we are expected to do a work outside.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are transformed, and as a result we should shine like Jesus did. (Matt 5:14-16)  We reminded the youth that when we accept Jesus into our lives, He wipes away our sins (graphic demonstration on whiteboard). We do NOT want to sin any more, we want to honor and glorify Him in ALL that we do, think, say, etc. This may seem impossible, but we have the Bible to help us, offering counsel and guidance every step of the way.

We read Romans 12:1-21 interactively. We had the kids glue spiritual gifts on a cut out life size man representing the body of Christ (us) and Christ as the head (with an actual Jesus head on the body!). We talked about we can be different with the resources we have in order to be a living sacrifice to God.

• How do we use our time - time that God has graciously given us?
• How do we use the gifts/tools that we have been given by God?
• Are we generous/wise with our money/resources?
• What do we listen to? Gossip? Dirty music lyrics? Etc.
• What do we look at? Porn on the internet? Scantily clad women in the newspapers? Questionable movies on TV?
• How do we use our tongue? Do we speak gently and lovingly about others? Do we lie? (Reference to James.)
• Are we engaging in sexual practices that are not pleasing to God? (1 Cor 6:19-20)
• And do we wear a mask, pretending to be someone other than what God wants us to be? ESPECIALLY if we have accepted Jesus into our hearts/lives.

The kids were very attentive today, probably due to the interactiveness of the session.
We closed in prayer, noting that we wanted to Holy Spirit to fill our lives, in order that we can make a difference in the lives of others, and honor our amazing loving God.

To continue on the girls against the guys theme, we brought back the ever popular “Gladiator” game using empty pizza boxes as shields. (See photos below.)

Please continue to pray for the kids as we speak into their lives.
Pray that we are ‘fresh’ and innovative each week, finding new ways to engage the youth, and discern when to come alongside them to encourage them in their walk.
    

The youth were begging for cake in Spanish - we convinced them that they would not get a piece of cake unless they could say [...]]]> The teachers upstairs got together to buy a delicious cake for Barb’s birthday. During the cutting of the cake, we sang Happy Birthday in different languages - Spanish, English, and French.

The youth were begging for cake in Spanish - we convinced them that they would not get a piece of cake unless they could say it in French. People will do anything (within reason!) for cake eh!?

They tried their best and actually were not too bad. But they preferred to stick to Spanish and English por favor muchas gracias.

PS) YES. They are received a piece of cake!

We ended up hitting it off with them [...]]]> On our way back to Guatemala we met a couple of ’semi-lost’ Canadians at the airport. They were not quite sure how to get to Antigua from the airport so we offered to take them in and share some advice on the dos and do nots in Guatemala.

We ended up hitting it off with them and invited them to visit the village and they eagerly accepted.

Upon our arrival the neighbor to the feeding center was making tortillas. She asked us into her home to see how they are made and the Canadian women decided to give it a go.

For those of you who read our posts regularly, you will know that this is not the first time that Barb has tried her hand(s) at tortillaring. To date, the success rate has been…spotty. The overall taste is not too bad, but the presentation is kind of scary.

It is TOUGH getting the tortillas round/uniform. There is a technique to how the are shaped, with a rhythmic slapping of the dough a requisite. THIS rhythm is very difficult to master. The men thought how hard can this be? It’s just slapping some dough into a disc shape then throwing it on the oven.

That is when Elisa invited the men to give it a try.

So how did the men do? You be the judge…

Many people ask us what is the hardest part of being a missionary…the language, the cultural differences, the working conditions…what?

The hardest part of being a missionary is always saying goodbye to family and friends, and being so far away from our loved ones.

We’ve been so blessed to host many visitors since our [...]]]>

Many people ask us what is the hardest part of being a missionary…the language, the cultural differences, the working conditions…what?

The hardest part of being a missionary is always saying goodbye to family and friends, and being so far away from our loved ones.

We’ve been so blessed to host many visitors since our arrival in Guatemala April 25 2011. And we have also been blessed to visit the USA for Ger’s daughter’s wedding and spending time with some of his family members again.

We need to share with you that we get excited thinking about those we will be spending time with again, but the ache in our hearts starts getting more painful at the thought of saying goodbye once again.

No matter how many times we tell each other that it is getting easier OR will get easier with time, it just doesn’t.

This sadness is normal because of how much we love our friends and family and it in no way diminishes our love for our work and the Guatemalan people. Being a missionary is letting God sooth the pain of separation from our loved ones while we follow His will for our lives.

We get lonely at times. We have some great friends here in Guatemala but at times we feel the loneliest we have ever been in our lives.

We miss ‘home’. We miss the comforts of ‘home’. We miss family and friends. We miss being part of life events (birthdays, birth days, funerals, weddings, baby showers, camping, celebrations, etc.). We miss our home church.

We miss hugging loved ones. We miss sharing a good laugh over a cup of coffee. We miss our parents, siblings, children, grand-parents. We miss not seeing our grand-daughter, our nieces and lone nephew. We miss doing life with those we love.

We are blessed by so many incredible people in our lives and it’s hard to be 5,200+ kilometers away from them.

An article we once read asked the question: how do missionaries love deeply yet hold lightly? Since saying goodbye is a normal part of life, especially missionary life, we can take steps to minimize the pain.

• Change your perspective. Rather than concentrating on the negative aspects of anticipating parting, it is better to concentrate on the positive aspects of the current relationship. As the famous poet Lord Alfred Tennyson said, it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

• Communicate while apart. This has always been possible but today it is much easier with e-mail or Skype. The challenge for many is to lessen the busyness of their lives in order to maintain relationships from afar.

Jesus assured us that missionaries will face surrender and suffering. Missionaries leave friends behind, experience culture shock and rejection (Matthew 10:16-31). But instead of falling into self-pity or pride, we need to learn to delight in serving God.

Rather than being a burden, obeying His call brings joy and reward in heaven. Therefore, a missionary serves not out of duty but love (2 Corinthians 5:14-21).

We understand these biblical principles 100%, but it still does not lessen the ache when we say goodbye…again…and again…and again.

Did we mention that we miss ‘home’?

All the guests (29) were picked up in a luxury air-conditioned bus at the entrance [...]]]> What a day! Planning a wedding can be stressful but doing so from afar can be worse. For all the coordination that it took for Gerry’s daughter Dani to get married, it was a HUGE success. Great job Dani & Chris!

All the guests (29) were picked up in a luxury air-conditioned bus at the entrance of the MGM Grand at 9 am. The guests were quite giddy as we were shuttled over to the legendary Graceland Wedding Chapel for the 10 am service.

We had a little time to kill before the service so we took a few pictures of the chapel and grounds. The Chapel has strict rules regarding taking photos during the service so those pics are limited (for now until Dani gets copies!).

Ger’s mom is a MASSIVE Elvis Presley fan and she quite clearly was on the lookout for him this morning. (Didn’t he die in 1977? We digress…)

Finally, the happy couple arrived in a stretch limo with their best man and bridesmaid in tow. This was the first time that Ger had seen Dani since Christmas 2010 so he was pretty excited to give her a hug. Dani looked fantastic, glowing as she and Chris prepared to enter the chapel for the ceremony.

The ceremony itself was quite short - maybe 10-15 minutes max. What was nice is that the minister also spoke in French. (Take THAT Elvis Presley!). In fact, when Dani and Chris shared their wedding vows, they did so in English and French. OK OK let us clarify that. Dani in English, and Chris in French. THAT was pretty interesting and amusing to all the guests! (Chris’ accent was pretty darn good!)

Next? While the wedding couple were having their pics taken by the photographer (Dani’s cousin), everyone explored the Fremont Street Experience.  Then…what else…another buffet!! Into the bus we piled and off to one of the best brunch buffets in Vegas.

We all shared a private room and while everyone ate and mingled classic 60s and 70s tunes were played in the background (Dani and Chris’ faves). Another nice touch was a photo montage of their lives together as well as prior to their meeting.

Ger’s sister and family could not make it today HOWEVER they did make it into the photo montage a couple of times. As proof, check out the video screen in the background of this picture. (Missed ya Gi!)

We are surprised that they nobody had to be wheeled out in barrel…what a food selection! On the way back to the hotel we had to stop at the legendary “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign located at the entrance to the city.

After a short break, off we went to the Aria Hotel where the married couple rented a suite for the evening. It was an awesome suite with plenty of room for people to unwind or just hang out and play board games/cards.

Once again what a great day!!! We are so blessed to have been able to attend this momentous occasion. But we have to admit that it was difficult, as always, to have to say goodbye to loved ones again.

Oh well. We will see them again this fall. In the meantime, we have some great photos to remind us of today!

Love ya Dani & Chris! And congratulations once again!

The NRA (National Rifle Association of America) tries their best to educate on gun safety and probably for the most part are effective. It’s when guns get into the wrong hands [...]]]> According to U.S. federal statistics, there are guns in approximately HALF of all U.S. households. One word: WOW! Or maybe the word should be BANG!

The NRA (National Rifle Association of America) tries their best to educate on gun safety and probably for the most part are effective. It’s when guns get into the wrong hands when things go wrong.

Ger’s brother is an avid hunter and worked in a sporting goods store in Canada. They visited the world famous Las Vegas Gun Store and were greeted by the following mannequin upon entry. Nice eh? Not quite sure what the message was. Other than zombies were running rampant in the parking lot?

There were numerous free pamphlets available for the store’s visitors and Gerry took several to read on the plane ride back to Guatemala. Basically they stressed the importance of gun safety and training. Gerry was a little perturbed. He got the gist that it’s not so much ‘do not handle a gun’ or ‘do not have a gun in the home’ but more along the lines of ‘you’re going to have a gun so learn how to handle it’. (Or maybe he read into it wrong…)

One pamphlet called ‘Parents’ Guide to Gun Safety’ had the cheesiest photo on the front page.

There was a long line-up at the Gun Store as people wanted to fire their weapons of choice. No word of a lie there had to be over 20 people in line…at 2 pm on a Monday afternoon.

Ger has shot a gun twice in his life - when he went rabbit hunting in the winter with his father at a very young age. He did not really take to hunting, but his brother did. Gerry will stick to fishing thank you very much. (Are there laws shooting fish out of the water? Just asking…)

The event was supposed to start at 9 am, however a car accident near San Lucas created havoc with traffic. How much havoc? The meeting started at 11:20 am. OOF!

Ask us how difficult [...]]]> Today was the first orientation/training session with our new partner Soňando con Esperenza (the chicken raising project) and 20 women interested in participating.

The event was supposed to start at 9 am, however a car accident near San Lucas created havoc with traffic. How much havoc? The meeting started at 11:20 am. OOF!

Ask us how difficult it was to encourage the women to stick around and wait, as their children started getting restless (about 40 children and babies came along). With babies crying, toys scattered everywhere and even some poop found in various places in the playground, it was no easy task! But…thankfully all 20 did participate in the 45 minute meeting!! WOOHOO!

We’ll explain more about the project in the following weeks as there will be four consecutive weekly training sessions throughout the month of May.