Just How I am Feeling… September 29, 2009

Good morning,
I sure hope everyone is having a good day.
Last night I was just reminded of how many people in my life I have who care for me, pray for me and love me.
I was so thankful that although I am really far away from them I still feel close to them and that is comforting.

We are doing well here. Life is tiring- mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially- it hits on all levels every day and it is tiring.
Mentally we are absorbing so much Spanish in one half of the day then doing a short amount of Home Schooling in the afternoon. Aside from that keeping up with the updates, pictures, blogs takes time. Our belongings are still not here so that weighs on the mind as we have now been here a month and still missing some of the key elements to settle. Being surrounded by another culture each of us have to understand, translate and then speak to go to the store, have to car fixed, anything. So at the end of the day we feel like our brains are fried!!!

Emotionally we are still adjusting and not sure we will ever feel comfortable completely with our living situation. Aside from the fact we have a German Shepherd that sheds 5 lbs of hair a day! the rains flood the hallway and stairs to our bedroom and living room so you are putting your shoes on and off all the time as to not track water throughout the main 2 rooms we use. The house is generally dusty and smelly b/c we are open to the elements of the street. People cook with wood here so 3x a day you can see and smell the smoke and it enters our bedroom, living room ,kitchen if the doors are not shut and of course the other parts of the house that do not have doors to close are always exposed. Emotionally we all just feel like we are not home, not comfortable, not able to just go ahhhhh. we are home. This is okay. We knew the situation coming into Magdalena, Milpas Altas and we are willing to adjust. It is just taking time. We hope in the future to make some changes to our home, but for now we are learning how to be thankful even when our home does not feel like it as we know home is where your heart is, not where you are comfortable. We have electricity,a hot shower, beds with pillows and blankets, couches and tables and chairs we are way ahead of some of the people here and for us to complain that smoke fills our home would be rather rude as our neighbors need to eat and they need to have fire to eat. The noise level here is way elevated as compared to our quiet, private hill in Stroudsburg! Buses with the loudest horns you could imagine, roosters, barking dogs, loud music all at 6:00 or earlier- every day in fact it is louder on the weekends as people are home and not heading off to work as much. That has been draining emotionally, mentally, physically as we really have to work at being rested and getting quiet. I do not have a washer or dryer yet so my laundry is always overflowing. I cook on a camping stove top burner with 1 pot and 2 frying pans for my use. I miss my kitchen and the ease of the tools and machines. I am grateful for friends here who have let me use their machines a few times to cut down on the work, the piles, and brought us dinners. When our shipment arrives I think physically it will relieve some of these burdens.

Our shipment is dragging on costing more and more money everyday. Our 19 year old car is leaking water from the sunroof and the starter and alternator need to be replaced at least that is what we think. The mechanic is outside speaking with Mark about it now. We were stuck 2x yesterday thank God at shopping centers where we were safe. Getting home took us 3 hours as opposed to 1. But while sitting, frustrated, tired and just plum done- we prayed, we asked God to help us not be distracted by the things of this world that in the big scope of why we are here these things are not important. Our house, car, money are not ours- they are all God’s who graciously allows us those comforts. We prayed and felt better, felt more centered and left the situation grateful for the stress of the car not starting again as we were able to unload the garbage and upload focused intentions. We did get the car started and made it home safely close to 6 when we were to return about 3, but all is good as the mechanic is looking at the car now. Vegetables, fruits and things you can buy at the market are very inexpensive and man have we loved, loved running down the road for the freshest eggs, veggies and fruits filling our bellies with goodness. Junk food is cheap here too- just as in the US, but every other thing is just so dang expensive; gasoline, clothing, shoes, meats, cereals, baking things and electronics…whew they are just crazy high! Still thinking if we are going to purchase a small oven as we don;t have one yet, but we also need a dryer for when our washer comes so I think that will trump the oven for now. Here labor is next to nothing and the people are good at what they do. In our town we have bakers with great bread and desserts real cheap, plumbers, mechanics, carpenters, welders, window makers, a bunch of tiendas and sorry attempts at school supply stores, but they work. Living here is not that expensive- rent is low, but electricity is high so it balances out. We need to buy water( can not drink or cook with the local water) so we have 5 gallon buckets we refill every day and a half, but they only cost about $1.80 each. So the money we spend monthly seems to be the same as in the states for some reason although it is not.

Because we are here for more than culture exposure for our family, different education for our children, to see a new part of the world and have a family adventure, we feel the urgency to be a spiritual bridge to the people here. We are here mostly to help others see God’s love for them, the freedom found in knowing you are loved and accepted. The peace that comes to your home, marriage, life when you decide to surrender and say, “I want you, Jesus, to lead me. I can’t be happy without knowing you are close to me.” We are busy with so many of our own needs that the time we want to have to minister to the people here physically is less than we had hoped. We know it is temporary until Spanish School is done, but it weighs on our hearts that there are people who have a corner of their home to stay dry, their bellies are empty, their house is dark, they are being ignored our abused. We feel burdened to help, to encourage, to know, to be friends with our neighbors intimately and that takes time and full brain capacity of which we have very little of both. Spiritually we question our motives for being here- yes it is for others, but are we learning the lessons God has us to learn while here or are we just stressing ourselves out?

To sum up my month here, I am just spinning. The good and the hard, the funny and sad, the challenge, the beauty, the stress, the reliance, the absence of comfort make my mind just spin. The kids are doing good, Mark too. We all feel great about tackling this adventure together and growing closer as we have to have much patience with everyone. Life is not easy. Life is not comfortable. In fact sometimes it is not even enjoyable, but it is our life and we never, ever want to feel unappreciative of the most important parts of life. Being loved, having peace are immeasurable necessities of life. Some strive their entire existence to feel what we have felt these past few months. We know we are where we need to be right now. We have no doubts of our future. We are secure in our love for each other. We have a peace that Jesus is with us suffering when we are, laughing, crying just as we are. We feel we are close to His heart helping those whom others feel are not important enough to help.

Although wore out in all aspects of this human life, we are usually uncomfortable, we are stressed and we are far away from “home”, we are just so incredibly thankful, overwhelmingly loved and cared for, extremely hopeful for enormous blessings to come this way and in sheer awe that we are given this opportunity as family to be here. So, please keep communicating to us your thoughts, your dailys as that helps us feel close to you all. We value your encouragement and as the Lord leads, your prayers. Month 1 has been……whew! and we would love for you to come and share in this journey while we are here in Guatemala.

I love you all.
I am thankful for you.
I pray for you.
I miss you.
I hope to see you soon.

Because of Jesus,
Gina

Cutting the Grass September 29, 2009

Today my family and I went to one of our friends in Magdalena. I helped him build a swing and cut the grass. We built the swing with wood and rope. We dug holes in the ground about three feet deep. Then we took two pieces of wood and stuck them into the ground. Then once we were finished with that we put the crossbar on the top and fastened it with rope. It was a lot of work and we used old fashion tools.

He has planted sections of grass that I noticed were really long. I asked him how he cut it and he said that he cut his grass with a machete. I asked him if I could try to cut it and he said sure. It was really fun but it was much harder than using a lawn mower. It was a really good day to hang out with a Guatemalan family and I am starting to like Guatemala better.

LOCO GRINGO!!! September 26, 2009

Two days ago I got a call from my friend Brock, who was at the time, in Guat City. He had been spending his day taking a young handicapped boy from Buena Vista from Doctor to Doctor in order to have tests done. Brock needed me to quickly go to “Esbins” home and get his mother on the phone so that they could relay some info. Well, as many of you know, I am currently learning Spanish and am very far from being able to communicate clearly. Nevertheless, off I went with my son Eli. The errand for Brock went very smoothly and on that end, mission accomplished. This is where it starts to get interesting…

As I got back in my car and started backing up, I noticed a bump under my tire, but assumed it was the curb. As I continued to back up, 3 of the village boys were running towards me, yelling something in Spanish which I couldn’t understand. I stopped… got out, and that is when they took me over to a huge bag of corn, which apparently a lady had placed next to my car (unnoticed by me) and as I backed up, I had run over it, causing the entire 50 lbs of corn to spill out into the road. As I I stood there, I now had attracted a larger group of children who were all telling me different things, and of course the woman who had just come back to the village with her bag of corn, was now standing there as well, all staring at me waiting for me to speak.

My mind of course was screaming all kinds of things and trying to get something to come out of my mouth in spanish became the next challenge. All I could think of was getting her a new bag and trying to salvage whatever we could. You have to understand that this bag of corn represented many days of food for this womans family. She had just spent a good portion of her day, traveling by bus to get the corn, and had finally gotten home, unloaded the bag, and now this… All I kept saying was “lo siento”, which is sorry… My 7 year old was by my side staring at me the whole time as if he were saying, “can’t wait to see Dad get out of this one…” After standing there cleaning up corn for a good bit of time, I apologized again and simply said, “LOCO GRINGO”, which for those of you who don’t know would be something like, “crazy white guy”, and you should have heard everyone laughing. As I walked to my car to leave, all the children were running after me pointing and repeating, “loco gringo, loco gringo…” Hoping this doesn’t become my nickname in Buena Vista, but for that moment it was.

While there isn’t too deep of a point to this blog other than to relay the things that I often get myself into it here in Guatemala, there was a couple of lessons learned…

1) Always check under your tire for bags of corn, prior to backing up.

2) Go to the village with someone who speaks spanish!

3) Seriously, always remember the value of things. This bag of corn didn’t look like all that much to me, but you could tell that to this woman and to every child there, they knew it meant food for a family, for children, a mom and a dad.

Anabela and her Hijas! September 15, 2009

Anabela, Lucia and Carla.

Spanish school in Antigua is going well. I feel like all of us are adjusting to the culture by learning the language, the ways of Guatemala and the specific culture for our area by submerging ourselves in these classes. They are not easy, but they are enjoyable. When we come home and our heads feel like they are going to explode with information we know weʼve had a good day. Most days after lunch we are then doing a few lessons with the kids in math, writing, reading. We try to take a walk and be out in the streets of Magdalena keeping our presence known and observing the ways of our town. Still feel really strong that Magdalenaʼs people are our neighbors whom we want to help, learn from, and become friends with as we both become more comfortable with each other. One village adjacent to Magdalena is Buena Vista, which is another location that we know we are going to have a presence in daily. DeepStream has already been used to physically connect funds from the states to; build homes, provide food, clothes, shoes, medical assistance, sports programs to the sweet people in this very poor village. The kids ask often to go visit Buena, but our time here these few weeks is focused, at least for the next 2 months in Antigua at CSA- our language school.

Mark and I have the same teacher, Anabela Ponce fuerte who has 2 daughters ages 7 and 4, Carla and Lucia. Even though we have only met the family a week ago, we have known them for about a year now. This connection is nothing short of amazing and just like God to do for us as He knows we are seeking to help people wherever we go. I struggled with being in Antigua so often when I knew we were to be in Magdalena and Buena, but God has made my doubts dissipate by connecting us with Anabela. Brock took classes at CSA last September. His teacher told him of a fellow teacher (maestra), whose daughter has a very large tumor on her arm needing attention but the family has no means, nor was there a doctor who had knowledge of how to handle the case. Brock let the need be known and families from the states helped her financially get to Denver where a doctor performed the first stage of surgery on Carla. That was last January. Now 9 months later we are connected again with Anabela and her daughter Carla who needs to make several more trips back to Denver as her tumor is so large is needs to be shrunk slowly before it can be removed. Carla also has growths of blood vessels bright red moles, which as she grows are growing too. Her sister, Lucia has a cyst of some sort on her eyeball that needs attention. Anabela tells us she is saving her money so she can update their Visas so they can travel back to the states to start improving Carlaʼs quality of life. Although she is 7 she is not in school as her condition is too dangerous and the school says they cannot accept her. After 5 days of conversation with Anabela about her life, meeting her daughters and knowing the unique connection from the past we are burdened to help this family. The pay Anabela receives from CSA is enough for food, clothing and shelter to which she is thankful, but to help her daughter she needs financial help. We feel it is not a coincidence that once again DeepStream has been connected with this family. We plan to use our energies and whatever resources we can raise to help this family.

1. We will continue to go to school at CSA for the 2 months even though it is very expensive as we are enabling Anabela to have steady income by being her students.

2. We plan to buy bread and pastries from Anabela as she is also studying to be a baker to have a second income.

3. We plan to bring her fruits and some meat weekly as she only has enough money to buy beans, eggs, tortillas, herbs and supplies for her cooking classes.

4. We plan to allow her to share her burdens with us during our 4 hour classes and to assure her we are praying for her and her family.

5. We plan to help her get her Visas, to get to Denver, to stick with her until Carlaʼs treatments are complete.

So as we update you on our journey in Guatemala this is heaviness we want to share with you. This family needs our help. They are doing what they can to help themselves, but we all know that sometimes we just need each other. Us being Anabelaʼs students is not a coincidence and is part of a plan we feel God has set in motion for His people to
help. Please consider how your family, your class, your church, your friends can help the Ponce fuerte family. We have only shared with Anabela that we will tell others to pray so even if you commit to pray for her let us know so we can share your names and maybe a picture of you guys with them. We have attached a picture so you can see the
family, the condition of Carla and visualize the situation. For now we close with hearts overflowing with love, appreciation, sadness, excitement, and hope. Thank you very much and please, be in touch.

Because of Jesus, Gina

HABLA ESPANOL??? September 7, 2009

Well, one day down on the Spanish class thing and many more long ones ahead. For those of you who don’t know, we decided to put our entire family in classes for the next two months so that we could fast forward the learning process a bit, while at the same time being able to practice what we are learning while heading in to the villages and interacting with our neighbors. Gina and I are sharing a teacher, Corinne and Isaac have one, and Bryn and Eli are sharing one. As I type the kids are paired up around the house quizzing each other and doing their home assignments together.

Our friend Kerrie Johnson is also going into the classes each day with us. When we arrived today we were so excited to find out that Kerries teacher was the same one who had taught her hubby Brock, and our teacher just happens to be the mother of a little girl who DS helped earlier in the year with a surgical procedure that could only take place in the states. It was special as G and I, were able to relate to our teacher that we had been praying for her daughter and we were excited that God had connected us again. Once again, God has shown how He is before us paving the way in this journey.

We are excited and thanking God for this new opportunity to not just learn a new language, but to also share our life with our teacher, AnnaBella and continue the connection which started months ago.

New Life Awaiting September 2, 2009

When we actually got here last week, it took me a couple of minutes to realize “wow!, I live in Guatemala!” I was nervous and excited at the same time! Guatemala is a really wonderful place but sometimes there are things that just really annoy me. There are flies everywhere, alot of the men have problems getting drunk, and there are dirty wild dogs everywhere.

Speaking of dogs, my family and I picked up a 6 year old female German Shepherd last week. Her name is Katie. Its actually a funny story about how we actually got Katie. When we were in PA our family decided to get a dog when we got here, and all decided on a German Shepherd. We got to guatemala and couldn’t find one, but after 3 days in Guat we got an email from another missionary who was leaving the US with his family and they happened to have a German Shepherd named Katie. Although is isn’t a puppy like we wanted, we got a dog! God basically gave us a miracle.

Anyways, we are all good and getting settled into our room. We all sleep in the same room. It’s unexpected and kindof nice! We all got phones and everything. I am so excited although I miss my friends.

Love you and thanks for supporting our move!
xxxoooxoxoxoxo

August 30, 2009 September 1, 2009

Johnny, Sophia, Stephanie, Christian, and Susanna

Hey! Haven’t blogged in a while. Just wanted to tell you about some amazing things that happened. O.K. first, Sunday the 30th, we went out to Buena Vista. That is the place where we made a playground nad soccer/basketball field. I met some really nice kids. One name is Oscar-Nueva (9 yr.old) and Christian (7). There were three little girls, the youngest, Stephanie has a small tumor that might be cancer and has to have surgery soon. Her two sisters Susanna and Sophia were so very sweet. “How old are you?” I asked them. “CINCO, CINCO, CINCO!” They told me.

Now I just want to talk about Katie. Katie is our dog. She is our six year old German Shepherd. She loves people and loves anyone who scratches her tummy. Here’s the story. OK, this family emails our friend and says they are moving back to Michigan from Guatemala. They have sold everything but their dog, a german shepherd girl. Just what we wanted, FOR FREE!

Divine Appointment September 1, 2009

Yesterday was a full day. We started off the morning by having our first family worship time in Guatemala and in our new home. Most of the time was spent talking about what we’ve seen so far, sang some songs together and just enjoyed some time as a family, ramping up for our day. Later that afternoon we headed out to Buena Vista where we met one of the recent families that DeepStream built a home for. We were very blessed with the time we spent together with them and I am always blown away by the generosity and love that these people show towards all of us. When we showed up and were invited into their home, the wife actually offered us all some home cooked local vegetables, which is this area reminds me of the story of the widows mite in the Bible. This family, in gratitude, was literally given all that they had as a gesture of their friendship to each of us. From there we went out to another part of the village and played with many of the local kids. It was great to see our children hanging out, running, playing ball with the other boys and girls.

Later in the evening is when it got most interesting. We had to go out and do some errands, took our dog for a walk at a local park and were supposed to go watch our friend play in a basketball game and then out to dinner, but for one reason or another we decided to just go home and be together as a family, eat dinner, etc… After dinner our doorbell rings and as we open it, it is one of the local girls and her nephew, sobbing and in spanish telling us that her older brother has come to their house drunk and it beating up her family. Her other sister had told her to go and get Brock, our friend, but since he wasn’t home, they came to our home, figuring we could help. An hour later there was another ring at the door and standing outside was the entire family of 7, kicked out of their home by the drunk brother, wanting to stop by and let us know that they were o.k. and on their way to another relatives house. We invited them in and even though we speak very little spanish, had a great hour or so with them. Isaac made them some coffee, Corinne got them some cinnamon rolls, we poured the kids some juice and then sat and fumble through a beautiful conversation. One of the greatest parts of it all was to know that had we gone to the game and to dinner, no one would have been home to help them or to listen to them. It reminded us that God knows what He is doing. It was also eye-opening for our entire family, especially the kids as they stood by our sides, watching the entire night unfold.

Always be ready!