In Guatemala City, waiting for departure!

Hello Folks!

This has been a whirlwind week!  We were able to connect with the missions trip from our church in Denver, Mission Hills, as they worked in a community very close to Huehuetenango.  So fun to see familiar faces in a very unlikely place!  We spent half a day with a couple from Mission Hills before they headed home, and were able to chat and connect and debrief a bit together.  There is something very comforting about sharing these crazy experiences with others that we can connect with later.

Friday we took a bus to the capital... a trip that of course again was epic... 6 hours instead of 4, but not because of the landslides this time.  There is a bike race in the country that shuts down some roads and slows traffic, so we heard the race, "play-by-play" for three hours on the radio in the bus.  A very haggard looking couple walked into the lobby of our hotel, which we'd found online for $70 a night... hoping against hope that it was worth the money and not super sketchy.

Well, it is AMAZING here.  Bellboys wearing tuxes and gloves, huge fresh floral arrangements, and waiters in the restaurant that uncover your meal with a verbal "voila!"  And a bath... clean, bubbles and all.  It has been a huge blessing to us to finish up our trip in this setting.

Finish the trip?  But what about Costa Rica?  I know, I know, that was the plan.  Last week we made the decision to shorten our time away, and are not going to Costa Rica at all.  Instead, tomorrow we will be flying straight home to Denver.  As we thought and prayed about it, it was very clear that we needed to do this.  We've both had our share of sickness, but during the last two weeks, Anna has been particularly sick and losing some weight.  We've been living in a place that is very uncomfortable, without many or any conveniences, and for health and sanity we decided that it would be better to get home to get checked out and to recover.  Ah, beans and rice and rice and beans.  And chicken and rice and beans.  And black beans and red beans and zucchini.  And tortillas and beans.  I'm not sure that they'll be missed for a very long time.

We still plan to post more pictures and video and our thoughts after returning to the U.S. so we hope that we don't lose you all immediately!  We need a few days/weeks to process this trip, and come to some conclusions.  It has been a grand adventure, perhaps more adventure than we'd expected!  Pray for logistics of travel tomorrow, Sunday.  Oh, I'm so excited to be home...

Wait a minute, Pesos? Where are we...

This past week we decided to get a little R&R up in old Chiapas Mexico. The place where we're staying at we were told is about two and a half to three hours from the border crossing of Mesilla. Our driver did it in less than an hour and a half and that is taking into account a ten minute stop while they were clearing some debris and detritus from the latest landslide. I will say that I only thought we we're going to die twice on the way up. From the border it's about another three or four hours to the town of San Cristobal de las casas. A very beautiful town full of beauty, intrigue, mystery and a lot of tourists. It was nice for Nick to actually be shorter than a few people for a change. He also bought a very poorly made and decorated "gallo" from a kid who came into where we were having breakfast and unloaded his wares on our table before we got our food. I liked his persistence and also the lesson in naming all of the animals in Spanish. He was very good. We were there from Tuesday to Friday and it was a nice break where we got some rest and could eat whatever and whenever we wanted; including some tacos from an Argentinean restaurant and some tasty pastries from a French bakery. We were able to visit a museum dedicated to a local indigenous people group called the Lacandones. We had the privilege of talking with a friend of theirs and also of the people who worked with them for years translating the Bible into their language. For all the years that they were there they didn't have one convert. The Lacandones worship drinks that are more or less made of fermented honey and tree bark and the only  way to commune with the gods. Also the people of the tribe were obligated to follow what their leaders said and both men were hardened to the Gospel. It wasn't until the 90's that a leader of the tribe named Chan Kin accepted the Lord two weeks before he died, he was 104 years old! What a testimony to the power of the Spirit of God! After our long trip we are now back in Huehue, safe and sound. Hope you enjoy some fotos from our trip.

Fundacion Salvacion

It's been a couple weeks since the last update, and we have been quite busy.  We started serving at an orphanage here in Huehue called "Fundacion Salvacion".  We work in the mornings until about 1 with "bebes and ninos", usually the younger children, while the older children are in school.  The orphanage is home to over 100 children and young adults.  What is unique about this orphanage is that it is also home to children who do have a parent, usually a single mom, but the family cannot afford day care, so the children live at the orphanage for the week, and then are picked up by their moms to spend the weekend with family.  So it is a unique mixture, and honestly, I don't know all the stories of the children we are working with.

It has been a huge blessing to play with and hold the little children who are all very much in need of love.  We've heard some heartbreaking stories of how the children came to the orphanage, and I've been all the more challenged to put my love of God into action, however that might look on any given day, whether at the orphanage, in Guatemala, or elsewhere.

On Friday I was playing with some kids on the playground when a girl about 10 years old came up and sat down next to me.  I greeted her and asked her what was up, and that is when I started to see her lip quiver and tears well up in her eyes.  "Uh-oh" was sadly my first thought, as I realized I was not going to be able to communicate too well.  I'm all over the vocab of playing with 2-3 year olds, but this looked like it was going to be more of a challenge.  So, in broken Spanish, I said the equivalent of, "My name is Anna.  My Spanish is not good.  But I talk to you.  How are you?  Are you hungry?  Are you sad?  Talk with my husband?  He speaks Spanish."  Well, she definitely seemed to be nervous to talk to anyone else, so we went on a little walk.  Now that was a challenge, as it is pretty awkward to walk around with a crying girl and not know what is going on or what to say or how to help.

But we walked, and I did what I could.  I would point to an object and ask "How do you say this?  What is this?" and she would give me a word.  A miniature Spanish lesson!  All was going pretty well, until we came to a picture of a butterfly on the wall.  "Como se dice?"  I already knew that in Spanish, the word for butterfly is "mariposa", but why not.  Well, she gave me an entirely different word!  So it was through that exercise that I learned that this girl didn't speak Spanish!  At least not as her first language.  She is from an indigenous area where she grew up speaking one of the Mayan languages.  And here she was, surrounded by Spanish speakers and no friends.  She'd been left at the orphanage a week before, and I don't know the story except that she was really broken up about it.  What a scary time for her.  I was humbled and very blessed to be able to hold her hand and hug her and call her friend when all around her was scary and new.

Another highlight of our time there has been that I have made a Swedish friend!  There is another younger woman volunteering at the orphanage for the next 6 months who lives just a few kilometers from Upsala, Sweden, where many immigrants to East-Central Minnesota came from.  I've also been to the city on choir tour, so we were able to connect a bit IN ENGLISH about our favorite Swedish foods and traditions.  Quite fun!

We're planning to get away for a few days next week to the city of San Cristobal, just inside the border of Mexico, about a 5 hour bus trip from here.  It has been a bit intense living in a place that lacks most of the comforts that we're used to, so we're going to spend a few days as tourists, to recuperate and regain sanity.  Internet service has been super slow, so we've not been able to upload video, but if our situation changes, we'd love to show you all our current digs. :)

Prayer for upcoming travel and health and food issues would be so much appreciated.  Much love from Nick and Anna

Family of one of the recent graduates heading back home

Choir composed of grads, students, and faculty of Berea

Nick's Birthday dinner in Antigua

Recap of the week

Well, we made it. This past week has been a whirlwind. We were able to go out for Nick's birthday our last night in Antigua, and both had some delicious coffee and dessert. The next morning, the taxi man remembered to pick us up and was punctual... we actually got to the bus terminal in Guatemala City before they opened their doors that morning. It rained steadily for the five hour bus ride, but thankfully there were no roads closed due to landslides, which have been very common this year due to the heavy amount of rainfall. A missionary couple who were leaving the next day for the States picked us up at the terminal in Huehuetenango and dropped us off at the Berea Bible Institute, where we are staying for the month.

A fairly major “fly in the ointment” would be that the misisonary couple that we were coming to work with are actually still in Guatemala City, awaiting a fairly major medical procedure. We've been praying for them, as we know that they're wanting to be here to help us, but need to remain in the city. So, we're here, waiting, and honestly feeling a little bit out of it. There is a family here at the Institute that we take meals with, and they have been very generous in helping us out.

While we were here last week we were hooked up with another missionary who works to the North, in rural communities where there is very little Christian presence. Some of the indigenous people do not have the Bible translated into their language, so this man and others are working to provide materials – books, CDs, DVDs, that are in their dialect.

We spent three days with this man and his family, who have made a 10 year commitment to live in the town and work with the people, particularly the youth. They have plans to build a school, though with the translation, I'm not entirely sure if it is for children, youth, or more of a college for young adults.

So here's the fun part of the story... I awoke the morning we were to leave for the rural town very, terribly sick. You can imagine. I took some Imodium and we headed on our merry way. One of the roads was blocked due to landslides, so the trail we took was a six hour trip up to 10,000 feet and back down again. Imagine the type of off-roading path that one would take to get to the base of a 14er. Or your worst nightmare. No, that's too strong of language to use yet. I was pretty sick. I couldn't even knit, and if you know me, you know that is saying a lot. We arrived at the village and found out that we were speaking that evening at a meeting of young people. Yep. We had an hour or so to think of something really motivational (and for Nick, in another language, which is an added challenge!) Well, we survived that engagement, and made it home again to a home that due to the rain and I'm not sure what else, had no running water. And only one bathroom. Seven people. Did I mention that I was terrifically ill? I'll let you put two and two together. Well, an overnight trip turned into three days, and a whole lot of conversations. I hope that our presence there was encouraging to their family. I was able to talk to the kids about being a PK, and some of the joys and challenges that that brings, which PKs everywhere can relate to. We pray for the family of Rene, who are so busy laboring for the Lord in a place with not a whole lot to encourage them. And we pray for the kids, as we recognize that sometimes children of ministry folks are the first ones to be sacrificed, which grieves us.

So we made it back to Berea in time for the graduation of the future pastors and missionaries, and it was a very special time to witness. The families of the graduates traveled long distances to celebrate. I kind of felt like I was in the middle of a National Geographic issue! The indigenous women still dress in traditional clothing and I just wanted to soak it all in! I did manage to get a few pictures, though I wasn't extremely gutsy to take as many as I wanted.

We're not sure what this next week will hold as we are still kind of on our own to find ministry spots, but will hopefully be able to start some work with a nearby orphanage. As this is a pretty public forum, and after all, fairly missionary letter-esque, you can imagine that there is always more to the story. It has been hard, frustrating, lonely.  Please pray for us as we're not sure what to do now, yet desire to learn and grow and encourage those around us. And continued prayers for gastro-intestinal issues would always be appreciated!

Anna and a big, old, cool building

Nick @ Cafe Barista, our afternoon study spot

Friday afternoon... school is done!

Hey gang!

We've been busy here in Antigua, and are now off to the second part of our Guatemala adventures. Let me recap this week a bit:

I continued language study and now have reached the proficiency of a 2 year old, so I'm pretty pumped about that milestone. We met the couple we will be helping out in our next town and spent the day together on Sunday. During our meal we discovered that they are the great aunt and uncle of my former student at Jim Elliot School which was a hilarious development... it is a small world after all. Hey, that's catchy... I should write a song!

Tuesday night we had dinner with Seth and his wife, who work in leadership with Students International in Antigua, Guatemala. Seth and I were in the education program together at Bethel, and grew up about 30 miles apart, so it was great to reminisce about the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and the best college in all of sport. (N8r, that's for you.)

Saturday is Nick's birthday and we'll likely go out this evening for some pasteles y helados (cake and ice cream, I hope). Feel free to flood his email with happy greetings. His actual birthday will be a day in transit, so I'm going to try to see if I can lead the bus in a hearty rendition of “Feliz Cumpleanos a ti”. Early tomorrow morning we'll be leaving for Huehuetenango, so we we would appreciate your prayers.

Specifically, prayer that the kindly taxi man would remember to come at 5am and pick us up to drive us to Guatemala City, where we'll pick up a bus. Then, prayer for the four hour trip to Huehue. The roads are less than desirable, we hear. I believe we're taking a pretty reputable bus line. There are plenty of pieces that need to fall into place, so I'm telling myself to take a chill pill or two, and we're just going to try to relax and trust God to work it out. Hmm... I have the cheesy KLOVE song in my head: “Somebody's praying me through...” :)

We are fairly sure that we have internet access at our next place, so we'll do our best to let you know how things are going! Maybe we'll even include a video clip from our bus ride if it is fun and exciting.

Please... someone drink a cozy warm cup of tangy apple cider in a glass in my stead. I'll pay you back by eating a warm plate of black beans in your honor. Pretty sure I'll be doing that anyways! Bring it on, legumes.

Check out video of our home in Antigua

Anna's study break...

I'm taking this opportunity to have a break from studying. Just when I think that I'm gaining some ground I get slammed with another three/four pages of verbs to memorize. Those of you who have traveled in a country where you do not speak the language can relate to what I am experiencing these days. There is a great isolation from people that occurs. Each meal we eat with our host family I can probably count on my fingers the number of words I say. I've learned a few food words, so I can point to the “sopa” and the “pepino” and the “leche”. I can understand a good amount of what is being talked about if they are speaking more slowly, but can't contribute much yet. I threw that “yet” in there with the highest hopes that my experience will improve.

Most likely the language highlight for me came on Friday night... we were sitting the central park of Antigua and Nick was on the cellphone. We'd met a lady a couple days earlier as she tried to sell us some necklaces. Angelica came up and sat down next to me to chat, apparently, and I was freaked out at first, knowing that my lifeline, Nick, was busy on the phone and couldn't help me. We “talked” for about 10 minutes and Angelica gave me words I needed and corrected my mistakes, and laughed with me, and when Nick got off the phone I rejoiced to be able to fill him in with all I'd learned while speaking Spanish with my new friend. It was the smallest of victories, but I'm hanging on to it.

Antigua is such a beautiful city, but really difficult to capture in photos. Honest-to-goodness cobblestone roads are beautiful to look at and treacherous to walk on. The buildings appear run-down at first glance, but then I am reminded that this city was around and many of the buildings and churches built in the 1600s. I have been amazed time and again to walk in through an unassuming doorway into a restaurant or coffee shop that extends deep into the block and includes outdoor gardens and patios. Our home stay is included in that model, so watch for a video tour of where we're living.  We're trying to get it uploaded, but are not successful yet.

This week we'll continue to enjoy the touristy town of Antigua, and I'll finish up language study. We hope to do a bit of volunteering at a hospital just a couple of blocks from our place which Nick checked out last week. Saturday is Nick's birthday, and we're celebrating by taking an early morning trip to Guatemala City, and then catching a 7am bus to Huehuetenango, a 4 hour journey! We'll be staying at a Bible institute there for the following 5 weeks and will update more as to our activities when we get that ironed out.

Independence Day Parade!

Hey everybody,

Or I guess I should be saying “hola”. We have free WI/FI that we can use during the day here at Anna's school. I think at the internet cafe it's about 25 cents for half and hour so it's pretty much a huge savings. I hope to be able to communicate at least once a week while here in Antigua. We leave for northern Guatemala on the 26^th and I'm not sure what our status will be. Our host family here is a nice couple, Carlos and Patricia who have been taking good care of us and feeding us mucho! We have breakfast around seven and then off to school by eight. I walk Anna to school which is about a ten minute enjoyable walk. I've found a gym that is within a couple of blocks of the school and plan to start working out there in the mornings. It would be considered “old-school” by US standards and I like the vibe; while I was checking it out there were two men kick-boxing in the middle of the gym.(I hope to be covered in blood at the end of every workout!) There's a building about a block away from where we live that is one of the largest free medical institutes in Guatemala. They have 260 permanent residents from ages six months to 200 years old or so. They also have patients that travel up to ten hours one way just to get worked on. I don't know what the deal is with health care for the lower-class. The institute also has different teams that come from all over and visit once a week to perform various surgeries or whatever their specialty may be. Anna and I will be able to volunteer there as much as we like. It will be incredibly stretching.

Anna is getting better and better at Spanish and I'm amazed at some of the things that she's able to understand in conversation with our host-family. She's applying herself mucho. Our bed here is covered with flashcards and tarea ( a word dreaded in every part of the world; homework). The Spanish is coming along fine, poco a poco. One thing that does amaze me is how fast and proficient we've become at killing mosquitos. Down here they have different flight patterns and camouflaging techniques that make them a worthy opponent. Even while typing this Anna killed one with a flashcard that was feasting on my ankle. She's hardcore!

So far we've had no contact with Americans, hard to believe after such a long time! We traveled down from Guatemala city with a guy about our age from Germany and Anna got to practice a little of her German and talk about her travels in Europe while on choir tour. Her German has been playing tricks on her and not staying in it's assigned file in her brain. It has been confusing her and coming out while estudiando with her Spanish teacher. Our neighbor student here at our home stay is from Japan and I was able to practice all of my Japanese with her in one sentence, “Eat-A-Docky-Moss?” good times!

We also found out that Carlos our host-family guy is a retired finquero. His family has owned coffee plantations for decades. We hope to be able to go on a trip for a visit and actually see the process of when the coffee plant turns itself into a Starbucks bag... isn't technology amazing.

Thanks for stopping by...

We're here!

We arrived safely in Guatemala and survived the friendly shuttle service to the colonial city of Antigua de Guatemala.  We'll have more to say soon, but as Anna is writing this, the marching band is warming up for the parade tomorrow and she can hardly think, let alone type.  Hand me a xylophone and I'm pretty sure I could bang out the melody pretty well by now!  Tomorrow is Guatemala Independence Day, and estudiantes all over the city are getting ready.
Ever seen the SNL sketch with Chris Farley on the Japanese game show?  Yeah, that's me.  I seriously walk around all day and people say things to me (friendly folk, all of them) and all I can do is look a wee bit flustered and say, "Uh, I don't speak your language!  I'm not sure what to do right now... uh, me llamo Anna?"  My teacher was laughing because I can't even remember the name of the country I come from.  Lame.
So anywho, we've got to head to la casa a comer.  I'm starving.  I WILL learn the words I need to survive.
Love you all...

Scenes from our first few days in Antigua

Last Trip to the Rockies... Mt. Evans

We're 48 hours away from departure!  Pretty crazy to think about.  Little by little these last weeks have been filled with a lot of activity.  We moved out of our apartment with most of our earthly goods making it into a 10 by 10 storage space, and the remainder into the basement of Nick's parents.  My car has found a temporary home, and the good ole Jeep is hopefully being retired today from active service.  So, doing the math, I now have a key.  A key.  One.  The load is lightening, but I'm not going to pretend that there were no tears of sadness as I packed away my tea cups and cook books and teacher plan books and winter Sorel boots, unsure of exactly when I'll see them again.

I, Anna, have a problem with wanting an adventure, but being so uncomfortable with change at the same time.  I remember when I moved out to Colorado... so many friends remarked about how great an adventure I would have in the Rockies.  Yet I remember that the transition to a new home, environment, and culture was anything but easy.  

All of us mourn losses, great and small, daily.  To some, the thought of three months in Latin America would be nothing but delightful.  And we are excited!  And we will bring you along for the ride as we discover and serve.  But as we say goodbye to our stuff and our culture and homeland and more importantly, our PEOPLE, we mourn those losses.

Thanks for reading.  Thanks for being our buddies, our partners, our encouragers as we take off.  That's all for now... gotta conquer the to-do list!

The best blog in all of sport.

Hey gang, congrats!  You've found us and we're so glad to have you on board.  I'll be honest, I'm just writing this blog because I'm setting up the page and trying to figure out how it works.  I'm pretty excited to see it actually post, but I'll have to be patient.  And yes, I'm trying to make that sound ultra filled with insight.  Sometimes we just have to wait to see the end product...