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!

We haven't forgotten...

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but we haven't forgotten about you blog readers out there! As I write Christine is taking her first Spanish and I'm preparing to take mine tomorrow.

On Thursday we head off with the group to Monterrico for the Thanksgiving weekend. I promise we'll post a nice long blog (with pictures) when we return from a relaxing weekend at the beach.

Hasta Luego!

Blah, blah, blah...

Here's my new favorite Spanish word: hablaba. Seriously, this is a word, and I laugh almost every time I say it because I just think it sounds so much like blahblah. When you conjugate the word hablar (to talk) in the imperfect past tense you come up with hablaba, hablabas, hablabamos and hablaban.

Just humor me and laugh too...

Lava Roasted Marshmallows anyone?

Have you ever felt like you would be blown off the side of a volcano. We have! Last Friday 10 of us loaded up in a van with two guides with the ultimate goal of making s'mores over hot lava.

On our way to the volcano.

The guides mentioned that we might want to spend 5 quetzales (about 65 cents) and buy a walking sticks from the local kids. It sounded like a good enough idea, so we all did. Little did we know that it would later save out lives! We started out on a steep, but paved path with horses following us just in case we couldn't make it. The path soon changed to dirt and roots as we entered the forest. The horses continued behind us, with their owners trying hard to convince us to pay to get to the lava. We hiked for a while through the forest enjoying incredible views off the side of the volcano.Kevin, one of our guides, demonstrated the best (and safest) way to cross that ashen lava dunes. (I was sure he was joking.) We literally ran straight down and back up the "sand dune" like desert. This is where we experienced 70 mph wind. At one point we stopped to count heads and we literally had to jab our sticks into the ground and hold on for dear life, to not blow away and bounce down the side of the volcano. (Mom and Dad, keep in mind that we did live!)

This where the real challenge began. The final ascent was steep, completely unstable, sharp lava rock. Add this to the fact that the wind was still blowing 70-80mph and it was getting dark quickly. We hiked, and hiked, and hiked towards a beautiful orange glow and we knew the end was near.

The glow of the lava.

We made it! Tired, excited, a little cut up from the lava rocks, hungry and ready to roast our marshmallows! We (Mindy and Christine) had been to the supermarket earlier in the week to buy marshmallows for our s'mores and the best we could find were shaped like bunny rabbits. Our guides, Chris and Keven, carried dinner which they cooked at the summit of the volcano. Yes, hot curry was really good on a volcano and we really appreciated the heat from the lava, especially since Christine didn't have a jacket and the wind was still blowing. Have you discovered a trend yet?

Christine, John and Mindy hiking in daylight

After our tummy's were full and our bodies were warmed up, the descent began back down the steep, completely unstable, sharp lava rock only this time it was completely pitch black and we relied on the light from our flashlights and headlamps. Mindy didn't have one...so it's now on her Christmas list. Just a quick FYI.

Mindy and Christine on our first hiking adventure

We made our way back through the lava dunes, the forest and the steep cement path. The van was a welcome sight. The four of us in the back (John, Ryan, Christine and Mindy) took turn giving each other backrubs. We reached Antigua at the end of our nine hour adventure, dirty, tired and ready for bed. Christine discovered when she got in the shower that the water had been turned off for the night. She was not very happy. Mindy was so tired that she pulled out her sleeping bag for extra warmth, and fell asleep before ever making it to the shower. In fact, she doesn't even remember laying down.

Breakfast came bright and early Saturday morning at 7:00am...just like every other day. We both went back to bed as soon as we were done eating. Saturday was tranquilo and exactly what we needed before another week of language school. We ended Saturday with Domino's Pizza, Oreos, Coke and Sprite as a little taste of home.

*Most pictures courtesy of John and Ryan. Thanks guys!

Technology advances

Just a quick note to share how thankful I am for the advances in technology over the last two decades. When my family lived in South Korea in the 80s it was $3.75 a minute for our family in the states to call us. Needless to say we didn't talk all that frequently and it was a huge treat when we did get to. In 2008, I have the wonderful technology of Skype where I can call family and friends for literally pennies a minute keeping me connected to home. I LOVE IT!!! It's been so good to be able to talk to my parents and friends when I have an internet connection. It has definitely helped make the transition easier to life in Latin America.

And while I'm bragging on the advances of technology. I love emails! Wednesday was a rough language day for me, but when I checked my email that afternoon I had so many encouraging emails that totally made my day. Thanks for your love, support, prayers and emails! They can literally change the direction of my day!