Prayer Requests

It's just almost time! We leave in less than two weeks for Peru! We are so excited to join the REAP North team, settle into the apartment and dive into ministry!Please pray:

• For smooth travel and as Ryan, Brittne, John, Christine and I go to Peru, Aaron and Stacie go to Argentina and Jessica goes to Ecuador.
• For continued language learning as I have by no means mastered Spanish, but have made good progress.
• For relationships with my new REAP North teammates and for Peruvian friends.
• For overall adjustments into life in Peru.

We will update the blog with pictures as we settle into our apartment and life in Lima! Love to you all!

Firsts...

With my 26th birthday on the horizon and this being my first Christmas away from home (ever), I was definitely a little nervous about what the homesickness would be like this holiday season. I got up early on my birthday so I could talk to my family first thing in the morning before school. As good as it was to talk to my family, I cried a little while talking to them, and then again when recounting it to my friends before school. I had a normal day of classes and then enjoyed a great Christmas lunch provided by the school. My afternoon was spent talking with family and friends, and doing a little bit of homework. Northing extremely exciting. I returned home to have dinner with my Guatemalan family, and knew that I was going out with some of the girls after dinner for dessert. Little did I know what was planned. Just after dinner, I was on the phone with Shelley when I heard tons of voices behind me singing, “We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Birthday too!” I absolutely love Christmas caroling. I love caroling, I love when carolers come to my house, and I love being surprised! We went to another house for a birthday celebration on the roof complete with ice cream and cheesecake! Christine’s parents arrived from Colorado the night before and brought birthday and Christmas presents from my family. What a treat! I am so thankful for my missionary family in Guatemala. They made me feel so special on a day that I didn’t want to a huge deal out of because I was afraid of being homesick.

My great friends at my birthday celebration!

We spent Christmas day with a fellow missionary family in Antigua. The Stamps’ were so great to have us over for Thanksgiving dinner and still invited us back for Christmas day too! It was a great laid back day grazing over the food, hanging out together and taking turns calling home to talk with our families. I don’t think I took my camera Christmas day, so I don’t have any pictures to share. If I find some…I’ll post them later.

Stacie and I at Lake Atitlan.

My Christmas treat this year was a 2.5 day getaway to Lake Atitlan. Talk about beautiful! A bunch of us headed to the lake for the weekend, but stayed in different hotels because they were so fun. Aaron, Stacie and I took our time exploring some of the pueblos around the Lake Atitlan on Saturday, enjoyed some touristy shopping and complete relaxation. These were some of the most relaxing and restful days that I’ve had since arriving in Guatemala. If you should ever get a chance to come to Guatemala, don’t miss Lake Atitlan…especially at sunset!

This has gotten quite long, but I wanted to leave you with one of my favorite images from Lake Atitlan.

“I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; you faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heaves; let your glory be over all the earth.”
Psalm 57:911

Playing catch up

My Dad politely pointed out to me the other day, that Christine and I haven't blogged at all in the month of December. Oops! I think where we last left you was at Thanksgiving a month ago and we were about to head out of town to the beach. All 13 of us who are studying in Antigua left Thanksgiving afternoon for Monterrico beach for 3 days of R&R.
We had such a great time cooking and eating American food, playing at the beach and in the pool, and speaking English for 3 full days. It was a much needed break from the first 6 weeks of language school. We stayed in this great house (above) that the Lord provided. The top floor is an open air, covered patio with a view of the ocean. It was so peaceful and tranquilo. For some, this was their first Thanksgiving away from home, and while we didn't cook the traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the beach, a sweet MAC region couple invited us all over for Thanksgiving dinner and prepared a feast! I always like Thanksgiving, but I don't remember the last time I was so excited to see cranberry sauce and a honey roasted ham! It was absolutely delicious! The Stamps have been kind enough to invite us over again on Christmas day.

Speaking of Christmas, we had the opportunity to hear Handle's The Messiah in Antigua about 3 weeks ago. I wish you could have all been there to experience it with us. We went into a gorgeous 5 star hotel that had lit candles and white christmas lights everywhere and walked to the back portion of the hotel where there are ruins of a cathedral. This was the most professional group I have ever heard sing and play The Messiah and I don't really have adequet words to describe how good there were. It was an awesome way to get into the Christmas spirit, and be reminded of the real reason for Christmas.

Not everyday is like the events I've just described. I promise! I thought some of the special events would be more fun to share about than the normal day to day routine.

Spanish is coming along for Christine and I. We have started learning the Subjunctive Mood which is the last major part of Spanish and is also really complicated. We don't have a similar tense or mood in English, I don't think, so it's kind of hard to wrap my head around. With time and practice it will come.

We have just under 3 weeks left in Antigua, which is a little intimidating. I only have 10 days of class left, and there is no way I can possibly learn all that I want too. Please pray for continued focus for us as our time here comes to a close. It's becoming more difficult to focus on studying with my birthday, Christmas and New Year's being so close. Also please pray for our group here as we are far from our families during the holidays. This is a first for most of us, and while we have a great place to go, and people that we love around, it's not the same as being at home.

Merry Christmas to you and your family! I hope you have wonderful day off from work, being together with your families, and celebrating Christ!