January News

Christmas was very quiet around here with only Irvin, Kyle and I celebrating together. Irvin and I both were not feeling well Christmas Eve and Christmas day, and we did not have a traditional Christmas Dinner. Instead, we ate soup.  For supper on Christmas Day, the Church had a barbeque. Back in October, a cow was donated for the Bible Institute and this was meat that was still left from that cow.

There was nothing about Christmas here in El Chal that reminded us of Christmas back home. Instead of Turkey Dinner, we ate soup. Instead of hearing Christmas Carols being played in malls and streets, we were awakened and kept up in the evening by firecrackers. (For those of you who don’t know what the difference between firecrackers and fireworks is, firecrackers only make noise and fireworks look pretty as well) Instead of being greeted by a soft blanket of glittery snow, we were greeted by 32 degree weather. Instead of being surrounded by family, friends and acquaintances, we were alone in the mission house for most of the day. Needless to say, we had very little that reminded us of Christmas. But we rejoiced that the Christmas message is the same here in Guatemala as it is in Ontario.

The week between Christmas and New Years was filled with LOTS of firecrackers. Most days they started before 6:00 a.m. and did not stop until after midnight. It was a fairly quiet week except for the firecrackers. During that week, we had a farewell supper for Conrad and Naomi Gingerich who served at La Anchura (Jungle Breezes Ranch) for one year. They and their 5 children flew out of Guatemala City on January 1.

January 2nd, Irvin, Kyle and I went to Belize to spend the evening and part of Sunday with his parents and other family that came down to Belize from Ontario and Mexico to spend time with Irvin’s grandma before she passed away. We came back on Sunday afternoon. Irvin’s grandma passed away on Monday, January 4. Since we had just been there and we also had Jared Kropf, a VS boy, and his family here, we did not go to the funeral.

January has been a fairly busy month. We had 4 boys come on January 2 to help at the school. They have their own rented house, but I cook their lunches and most of their suppers. Also, Joey and Melissa Shantz came on the 9th of January as part of internship program through Faith Builders. They have been eating most of their lunches and some suppers here as well.

Last weekend we had a group of visitors come through that were such a blessing to have around. That does not mean that the others aren’t a blessing, but these people were amazing! There were 8 of them. They were a group of Amish that were from Iowa. They drove through Mexico and Belize and were headed down to Panama and then back home. They had been on the road for 2 weeks already and planned to be gone for a total of 6 weeks. Thank you for stopping in!!

We had a work group from La Anchura come through yesterday and today and from now until the end of February we have a quite full schedule. We have at least 4 other work groups coming from now until then.

Last Sunday, the ladies from church had a housewarming for Judy Lehman. She moved into her own rented house here in El Chal the first week of January.

Judy at her housewarming!

 

The dogs taking a siesta!