4 days and counting

We just landed in Rio Dulce, Guatemala. This is our last stop before returning home. This town is on the biggest lake in Guatemala. Near to here, is the ocean, but it cost nearly $50 to take a 20 minute boat ride to get to the ocean, so Michael and Shannon will not be visiting. One really good thing about this town is that it appears to be a big fishing town. So, Michael with his travel fishing rod has already started his prowl. Thus far he has caught a little blue gill type fish, but it had teeth, so its special.
We will be here in Rio Dulce for Friday and Saturday and then take our 6 hour bus ride to the capital on Sunday. Our flight leaves from the capital on Sunday in the afternoon. We are thrilled to be coming home to some comforts that we long for in America. I miss Chinese food and chocolate and hot showers. Michael longs for our space heater and a dry bed (the humidity here makes everything soggy). We are eager to continue learning Spanish but we are excited to be back home in a more comfortable environment. I dont think either of anticipated that amount of culture shock we would endure here. Not that things are so different, but its not home and you feel that after a while.
We have had the fortune to make some life long friends while we have been here. Thank God for facebook so we can keep in touch with all of them! God did some amazing things in our hearts and lives while we are here and I think we will continue to see the implications of this trip for years to come.,
For now, dreaming of chinese food and mountain dew. Four days to go!
Shannon

Monterrico, Guatemala

Last weekend we got to go to the beach in Monterrico! It was so wonderful! Here in Antigua, the weather is very fickle and much of the time rather chilly due to our elevation. So, a warm sunny weekend, was much needed. In Monterrico, the beaches are black sand. We had never seen a black sand beach before.

Beach life was great, but unfortunately, the waves were HUGE! So big, in fact, they were unsafe for swimming. So, we spent only a small amount of time on the beach and most of the time by the pool. There was some beautiful sunsets while we were there.

And we took a 5:00 am tour of the mangroves, where we got to see lots of wild life and a beautiful sunrise.

Monterrico is a landing place for sea turtles to lay their eggs. It just so happens, its egg laying season. We went hunting at night to see turtles laying their eggs but did not have any luck. We did however get to take part in releasing freshly hatched sea turtles into the water. In Guatemala, people think that sea turtle eggs have extra protein that is very healthy for you. so many of the locals will hunt the eggs and then sell them in the market. they estimate that 80% of the eggs are taken by locals before they hatch. Of the eggs that do hatch, many will not make it to the water and then the ones that do, will get eaten very quickly. Sea Turtles have a rough life. So we paid $1.50 and got to hold a baby turtle and set it free into the ocean (where it likely got eaten hours later). But, we did our part. Here is a picture of my little guy.

Michael named his Benichael. Only because I would not let him name mine Ben. Here is all the little turtles that were not eaten by people before they were hatched.

We have some very exciting stuff ahead of us. Tomorrow we are taking the day off and going sail fishing. Yes, Michael is so excited. The boat with a bathroom cost $200 more than the boat without a bathroom, so please pray for my bladder and my privacy as I try to pee in a bucket. On Friday we are having a tortilla making class and visiting some local towns with our teachers. On Monday, Nov 1, its a big Latin holiday, some call it the day of the dead in the states. It is a very big deal here. We are going with our teachers families to celebrate. We will spend the day hanging out in the cementary flying kites that have messages written to the dead. We will have lots of pictures. After that, we are off for travel. We have 10 days and I think we are going to spend of the time carribean side. There is an area here called Rio Dulce. We are going to spend some more time hanging out. Will keep you all updated on our adventures. We will be home very soon, for which we are very excited!

The Moon and Back

On Wednesday, we got the opportunity to visit the biggest and most infamous volcano in the area, Volcano Pacaya. This volcano is very active and actually had a large eruption in May of this year. We had the extreme pleasure of having Nancy, our host sister, accompany us. She is sixteen and has never been to see this volcano that is only an hour from her house.

Pacaya is in a national park. You have to pay to get into this park. Very different from our national parks, people live there. In fact, a lot of people live on the side of this active volcano. I could not figure out why anyone would want to live on the side of an active volcano, but there were neighborhoods everywhere.
When we arrived there were little kids selling us walking sticks for a buck. We obliged and later were very glad we did. Although, as it turned out, we were only renting these sticks, the kids asked for them back after we came down! lol. thats okay, what were we going to do with them? Amongst the other sales ploys, there were taxi's available to fat americans who were not willing to make the hike on foot. Here is a picture of the taxi's.

Well, I thought it was just for fat Americans until I was huffing and puffing up this incredible steep volcano. We hiked up hill for about an hour straight. I was trying to act tough, but I was tired! The hike was a little treacherous too, because you walk on little pebbles/lava rock the whole time. The rocks are really slippery and sharp.
We finally hit a clearing and we could see the top of the volcano.

We finally got to feel some hot rocks. At the end of the day, there was not any rolling lava which was a bit of a disappointment, but we did get to see a hole that was really hot and had some red stuff in the bottom.

We had a lot fun hiking though. Some people were able to roast marshmallows on the rocks and even heat their grilled cheese on the rocks.

All in all it was a really cool experience. We had hoped to see more rolling lava but what we saw was definitely like being on another planet. It was a bit hazardous but wow what an adventure. well gotta go for now, but we will blog soon.

One Way Guatemala

We spent another weekend with the Amslers! We feel such a connection with these guys. They spoke a lot into our lives and we are hoping to have a lasting friendship with them. They are very passionate the youth of Guatemala. They came to Guatemala as missionaries after 16 successful years as District Youth directors in Kentucky. When they got here, they joined with a local AG church and started supporting their youth and childrens programs. Along side of that, they started a childrens program called One Way. One Way goes into the public schools and presents a gospel message to the children. This is really ground breaking because there are not many programs/churches trying to reach the public schools. God has given them favor and has opened doors for One Way to go places that others have not. Through their church and other established programs, they have met some Guatemalans with immense talent and love for the Lord. They are all partnering to help reach the children of GT. On Friday night, we got join with them for a One Way service. A local church has been doing "small groups" for kids who are unchurched or unable to be churched. The church invited One Way to come do their program. Here is a clip of a song we performed at the service. It will help you learn your spanish body parts. Obviously, I didnt know half of them....

We only have two weeks of classes left and I am finding it difficult to finish strong. I am getting tired of learning Spanish and really just want a mountain dew and my space heater. The Lord has not given us clear definition of our next steps but we know our current step is to learn Spanish so we need to stay focused on the task at hand. Please pray for our brains!
Here is a picture of an amazing flower that grows wild here. we would have buy it and store it in a green house , but here, it grows in everyones yard. It is called a pajaro, which means bird. You can understand why.

And finally for some fun words we confused in Spanish:

Michael meant to say: This is my maestra (teacher)
Michael actually said: This is my mujer (woman)

Michael meant to say: I will pagar (pay) for that
Michael actually said: I will pegar (punch) that

Shannon meant to say: I need more ponchos (blankets) in my bed
Shannon actually said: I need more panchos (men) in my bed

Shannon meant to say: I have ten dolares (dollars)
Shannon actually said: I have ten dolores (pains)

On Wednesday, we are hoping to go to Pacaya. Its one of the biggest and most active volcanoes here. It should be really cool. Here is a picture of Volcano Fuego. This one looks down at us every day, threatening to explode and cover us in ash. Its very active but the lava flows out the other side so we cant see it from Antigua.

Beans and Bananas

WELL folks!2 very important things happened this week! The First was, Duh-duh-duhhhhh, the dreaded Beans and bananas! LOL  and Believe it or not it was pretty good. in fact we have had it twice this week and we both enjoyed the meal. The other VERY important thing that happened this week was last sunday at church. You could say that we had a mini Burning Bush experience, but please have patience, and i'll get to that in just a little bit. it starts off with our trip this last weekend.

Guatemala City

      We went to visit the AG missionaries stationed in Guatemala City, David and Debbie Amsler.  They were really great people and they welcomed us with open arms. We enjoyed an entire weekend of speaking English! It was not good for our Spanish progress but it was good for our spirits.  On Friday night they took us to the local mall. It was huge! Probably nicer than Circle Center in Indianapolis. We went to go see a movie. They have a VIP movie theater. It was fabulous. Like a regular theatre on steroids. In this theater, there were leather recliners with little tables and little lights. You want some popcorn, no problem, there is a waiter there to take your order. The only thing missing was a massage and Im sure I could have convinced somebody to do that! The best part of the whole deal…the tickets only costs $8! Watch out Regal, you have some competition. I cant believe we don’t have this in the states. Im thinking of a new business model for when we get home!
On Saturday we visited the center of the capital. There were some cool fountains and old buildings. It was very pretty. We ate at Wendy’s, you know the usual. We also visited the market while we were there. The market in the capital is a little different than ours in Antigua because its more organized and a little cleaner. It was also cheaper. Where we are staying in Angtigua, it is chocked full of tourists, so everything is a little more expensive. We bought a cool instrument while we were at the market too.
Saturday night, We went to the Church where Debbie and David help out with the youth group. They were practicing for an outreach they are going to be doing at the end of the month. It was really amazing to see that these youth were so similar to our kids back home. We couldn’t understand half of what anyone was saying but we recognized their hearts immediately. It was a church filled with Adults, youth , and children who love each other and Love Jesus. We got to practice a little with the youth and quickly made some new friends. that night we talked and talked and talked with David and debbie about the mission feild and how God called them there and WOW, what a cool testimony. They also have missionary assistants staying with them. A young couple about our age that have a set of twin girls that are 1yr old. and again got to learn what thier ministry looks like for them and how God has called and used them. It was an amazing experience to see real missions in action. Here we are 2000 miles from home hanging out with real missionaries. that sounds a little weird to say that, but we it was truely amazing. these people have left their family and friends and are here being the hands and feet of Jesus far from home. and they let us be a small part of their lifes for the weekend. Well, on to the Burning bush experience. Sunday morning we went to church with them. and in a small warehouse there are 3 services totaly full adding up to a total of about 1000 people, we heard God clearly speak new life into us. We felt God say that this is the time where our new life begins, whether that's in Guatamala, china or in downtown indianapolis I have no idea. But I do know that God definitly restored a desire in us to continue in the ministry. How exciting! We went to 2 services that day, the first was the adult service and the second was a TOP notch children's service where we got to help out and minister with probably 50 kids. we got to (in broken spanish) pray over the kids and love on them. it was awesome. our new friends David and Debbie are so kind they are having us back this next weekend and we will get to do an outreach with them, we are sooo excited.

Well, this current blog is a bit long so i'm going to wrap it up. but I want to add that we are about to finish our 4th week of classes tomorrow! isn't that crazy! so we have 2 more weeks left of classes and then we are off to travel GT for a week!and then we'll see how much spanish we have really learned...lol So in just over 3 weeks we will be home! We love and miss you all and thanks for your prayers, we really feel God moving in our lives and showing us some new things. We are definitly looking forward to what God has planned for us in the near future, and we are also looking forward to seeing all of you. We will add more to our blog very soon.
Nos Vemos,

Miguel Y Shannin

Another week has passed! Next Wednesday will mark the half way point of our trip. Its so hard to believe that we are half done. I am sooooo glad we have another whole month. Our spanish progressing very well but we still have a long way to go.

This week we got to go to the homeless shelter ("albergue") for the first time. It was a very small building separated down the middle. It was smaller than most american homes. It was complete with shower facilities, and a place to do laundry. One side was designated for men with addictions and the other side was for families, men, women and children. It was a really incredible experience and probably our favorite project so far. It was interesting that homeless people in Guatemala are EXACTLY the same as homeless people in the states. They all have a story, they all have hurts. Many of them are accustom to living this lifestyle and are not interested in change, while others are working hard to get back on their feet.  We got to serve beans and Atol. Atol is a very common drink here in Guatemala that most everyone drinks. It a warm, milk like drink, sort of like a protein shake but thinner. It is served warmed and considered very healthy. Kids drink it in school every day. They people were very thankful to have a place to sleep. Although the rain has stopped, the temperatures have been very cool in the evenings. It has gotten as low as 50 degrees at night. We are looking forward to volunteering there more in the coming weeks. It was a really cool experience to be face to face with the hurting people of Guatemala. 

Because we are the cheapest people on the earth, even in Guatemala, we learned how to wash our clothes by hand and hang them out on the line, just like our family. Here is a picture of my skivvies hanging up in the back yard.

Its possible to take our laundry to the local laundromat, but you can only have they washed, there is no self service. To wash our clothes for the week costs $10. So, after observing our family wash their clothes and hang them, we thought this was the best way for us too. Our host mom gave us a little lesson in hand washing the clothes and she had a real good laugh watching us. They have a good set up here for hand washing clothes. Its basically two basins, one shallow and the other deep. The shallow side has ridges for scrubbing and the deep side holds water. You wash in the shallow side and then use a bowl to scope clean water onto the clothes to rinse them. There is a little drain on the shallow side. Works really well. So, now we are experts at handwashing clothes. I also learned how to make chucho's this week. Its a typical GT dish. Basically you use mesa, make a tortillia and fill it with a bit of pork chop and salsa. You then wrap it in a corn husk and cook it in a fire. This was another great opportunity for the family to laugh! My chucho skills can use some refining, but its a good start.
This weekend we are going to Guatemala City to spend the weekend with our missionary friends David and Debbie Amsler. We are really excited to help out in their ministry. We will give you an update when we get back.



Notice the missing bridge!!



us and our guide Dera



The Cemetery of Santiago





Mashi-man





Santiago





Alright my friends We had our first venture out of Antigua on our owns this weekend. And well it was an adventure to say the least. We went to a HUGE lake about 2 hours north west of Antigua called lago attitlan. To start off with we left left the house at 7:30 in the morning because many many places advertised that they leave 8:00 in the morning. sounds pretty easy huh, well, it wasn't! lol we soon found out that none of the travel places where open in the mornings, and around 8:30 when we found our first location that was, they told us that we had to have our tickets the night before because there is only one bus in the morning and all the tickets sell out pretty quick. So, long story short we headed out for a town on the lake called panajanchel around 1pm. The ride there was crazy there where land slides on the main roads because of all the rain, so we took a long way around. the unfortunate part about that was 2 parts of the road had been completely washed away because of the rain also.The CRAZY driver ran off the road and went across the river with all of us in the van..lol later that night we reached the town and lucked in to a good hotel to stay in. In that there are normally a lot of tourists, but because of all the rain and time of year there where very few. so the vendors where like a starving pack of wolves. if one person would come over and talk to us then 2 or 3 others might join the attack. honestly it was pretty overwhelming, but at the same time was very sad too. we went out to dinner that night and even sitting in the restaurant people came in to try and sell us stuff. it was very heartbreaking and of course we bought a little from here. the next day we took a boat to the other side of the lake to a town called Santiago. on the way off the boat we met a guy named Dara who we just started talking to and he offered to show us around. We got a full tour of the city including the grand church, The center of town, the cemetery, a view of the whole city and the sad part of the tour, the local "deity" mashi-man. The best way i could describe it/him was equal to idols of other gods in the bible. they come to the mashi-man and bring offerings of money,cigarettes and alcohol. they light different color candles to represent what they want from the mashi-man. and they look to him for blessing in many different areas of their life. It was a open window into the life and beliefs of many of the people here and their need for a real living God in their life's. While we were there we also had some great times to pass out candy to many many children and also to some of the adults. It was such a gift for them and was a gift to us to see their smiling faces. Thank you all for your donations of candy. it has been a great way for us to love on the families and children here! Well to wrap up this blog, our trip home was fairly smooth except for the many landslides, including one that had the road shut down for over an hour and a half. but God brought us through safe and sound through the whole thing! it was an adventure, we learned a lot and learned even more about the real lives of people outside of Antigua. God Bless , Miguel





1 of many landslides on the way home



Interesting sights in Antigua

There are some things that are a little different here. For instince, the doors serve dual purposes, you can open the little door and walk through, or you can open the big door and park your car inside.

Also, there are a lot of stray, hungry dogs here. This one lives down the street. This is a picture of him eating a diaper.

And this is what the taxi cabs look like. They are called took - tooks. They are basically scooters with a covering. I am not even sure how they go up and down the big mountains, but they manage. Only one fat american or two skinny americans can fit in the back seat, but here, a family of four can fit. It costs about $1.25 for these guys to take you across town. Granted, town is small, but in the middle of a downpour, a buck twenty five is a pretty good deal.

And finally, for a beautiful view we get to see every day. This is volcano Agua. It is directly south of the city and very active. Early this week we had a small tremor from it. It is very breathtaking on a clear day. There are two other volcanoes due west of here, Fuego and Acantengo. They sit very close to each other and are also active.

Week 2 - Wet Streets and Wet Diapers



Lorena - 2 months, 4 pounds



It's hard to believe that we are finishing up our second week tomorrow. We have had a busy week and we are still getting more and more comfortable. This week we started our volunteer job at Nuestras Ahijados (refered to as the project). We worked in the Casa Jackson which is a malnutricion center for small children. 50% of the kids in Guatemala are malnutricioned. When kids go the Casa Jackson, they have been referred by a court, brought by their parents or referred by the hospital. Our job is simply to hang out with the babies. We get to feed them and of course there is diaper duty, but mostly, just stimulate them. Kids recover very quickly with more attention.

 

Michael with Aracely

Next week we are not going to work at the Casa Jackson but with another part of the project. The project was founded by an american couple and really reaches out to the entire family. They have a school for children who cannot afford it, they have the Casa Jackson, and a homeless shelter. They give classes to parents on how to get jobs and how to feed their kids. They have classes to empower women and give them confidence in a very male dominated culture. They are all around helpful. Next week, we get to work in the homeless shelter which we are really excited about. We got posted with the babies for the first week because our spanish is limited. At the homeless shelter there are two sections, one for homeless men with addiction problems and the other section is for families. We only work for two hours serving a meal and hanging out. We are looking forward to it. Also next week, we get to go out to the local farms that donate crops to the project. We get to help collect from the farms. We are looking forward to seeing more of Guatemala and what the farms are like. Antigua, where we are at, is very touristy and rich by all standards. Ten minutes out of the city are the shacks and dirt floors --- we want to be there!

Guatemalan Slug in our room

This weekend we are going to try to go to Lake Atitlan. Click here to see more Its pretty close to where we live and cheap to get there and back. Like I mentioned, its been raining non stop for days. It looks like we are going to have a little break in the weather so hopefully we can enjoy some time away. We have been a little overwhelmed by all the rain. In the last four days, there has literally only been 30 minutes of sunshine. I thought there was going to be a landslide yesterday, it rained so much. Because our dwelling is not sealed at all, the moisture just collects and collects. Everything in our room is moist. Every night when we get in bed, the sheets are wet. This is one part we could live without and we had this little visitor on the wall last night when we went to bed. In Guatemala, electricity is extremely expensive, so no one has clothes dryers, which usually is not that big of a deal, because there is usually enough sun to hang clothes on a line. However, these past days, it has been too wet to put clothes out, so when our pant legs got wet, they stayed wet. And the same for our bath towels. I thought of my friend Jeremy yesterday. He refuses to reuse a towl even once. Our family gave us one towel to share and we have used it for about three days straight. In those three days, I dont think it was ever dry. Jeremy - you would not be able to live here....even with all the tequila!


Coffee Trees

 Our teachers have been really great. Each week they have a fun day planned for us. Today we got to go to a coffee plantation. Guatemala is the 3rd largest producer of coffee in the world (Brazil is #1). We got a guided tour by Spanish speakers and I am glad to say that we understood most of it. I learned that coffe has be grown in the shade, so all the coffee is surrounded by taller trees. Its really interesting how the coffee is processed from the tree to the cup. The beans of one tree will produce about 40 cups of coffee and they only produce once a year.  At the plantation, they also had a small museum of mayan culture. It included a mayan music room. It was really neat to see the evolution of the musical instruments of the mayas.
Here is a picture of me with my teacher, Claritza. I bent down so she didnt feel so short. I stand about a foot taller than her.

Me and Claritza

More to come after this weekend. Thanks again to all of you who continue to pray for us on our journey. We feel very much like God is directing our path and creating every next step of our bridge. Our teacher says, poco a poco, little by little. Thats exactly how we feel. Hugs and love from Guatemala. Shannin y Miguel



DONDE ESTA EL DICTIONARY!!

Hola Amigos,
WOW, so here we are we have had a full week of classes and today was our first day of our 2nd week. It is amazing so far how far we have come. and let me tell you I am very motivated to study, for those of you who know me (this is michael by the way)I do NOT study..lol. my attention span is like that of a 5 year old. But I am inspired( and frustrated) by my lack of ability to communicate. The good news is things are starting to make more sense. verbs are a very tricky part of the Spanish language and the process of how they work is becoming a bit easier. It's really funny to get here and only be able to say hola and bueno. and now i actually have some descriptive adjectives i can use. Well, any ways. Today we got to visit a not for profit organization that helps children, homeless families, malnutritioned kids...and many other services. click here to see their web site
we have our first day this Wednesday working with malnutritioned babies. we will be feeding, changing, and loving one these little guys for about 3 hours. we are very excited, and if possible next week we will get to go on a donation run where we will actually go to some of the local farms around Antigua and help gather crops to be donated. what a wonderful chance to help be the hands and feet of God. we also found a english,spanish church for us to go to this next sunday, totaly excited about that cuz sunday we went to our first service here at a HUGE catholic church by the park. the problem was that we are not catholic so we didn't understand much of what was happening and obviously it was all in spanish.lol so it was a pretty interesting experience.

for a weather update, tropical storm matthew has created a whole lot of rain down here. about 3 times more than normal so that's a lot. i think the worst is over for sure and lucky for antigua that's about as bad as it got for us. i know some places to the east got hit pretty hard. there has been some devastation, but luckily not for us. But it does mean that it has rained day and night for about three days straight now. everything is wet. Looking forward to sunshine!

- Miguel

Missing dad

As many of you know, I lost my dad back in February of this year. It has been a year of many changes because of him being gone. Some times I feel like I don’t miss him enough; like I should still be crying every day. Then other times, like now, I am missing him more than ever. This trip has been another stark reminder that dad is not here to share my life with. He is missing out on this adventure in my life. Honestly, I’m a little annoyed about that. I wish I could tell him about the little women with big baskets on their head and about the volcanoes and about how he would love the food here. But I cant. I can only thank God for the times I did have with dad and the stories I did get to share with him for 27 years. Dad would like it here. Its very casual and the people are warm and welcoming. There’s lots of spicy food for him to enjoy. He probably wouldn’t like the cobblestone roads, but he would enjoy cigarettes that are only a nickel a pack! Miss you daddy.

The end of the first week

We have made it through our first week of classes in Guatemala. This week has been full of many experiences and emotions. Its hard to believe its already been a week and I am glad we have another six weeks to continue learning the language. Our teachers have been very patient with us but pretty hard on us too. We are constantly being corrected which is annoying but necessary. At the beginning of the week, Michael needed everything translated for him, but already he is carrying on conversations on his own and understanding a ton. Yesterday, he got a chance to spend a good hour talking to Anebil (the man of the house).


This week we met David and Debbie Amsler. They are Assemblies of God missionaries stationed in Guatemala City. They were very nice. We are hoping to go spend a weekend with them either next weekend or the week after. They have a ministry largely focused on youth. They are going to come down from Guatemala City, about an hour drive, and pick us up and let us serve with them for the weekend. They have been very gracious to help us out. We are excited to see what’s going on in Guatemala City.

We also took a tour of the local hospital here in town. it’s a pretty popular hospital with lots of specialist doctors so people come from all around. It was really crowded when we were there. It was pretty similar to any of our hospitals with the exception of lots of machines. In the states every patient is hooked up to an IV no matter what and there are lots of machines making noise. There were no machines and only a few patients with IV’s. The hospital looked like what I imagine our hospitals looked like in the fifties. The facility was very clean. Actually, everything in Antigua is very clean. Our host family must mop their floors twice a day. The streets of Antigua are clean, the stores are clean. Every where you look, someone is sweeping or dusting or something. Its very nice and something I would not have expected.

Next week we are going to visit some place that is equivalent to a day care. We are going to see if we can maybe volunteer there some. There are kids every where here. And of course, they are all adorable. Many of the kids are trying to sell you stuff. The little girls will sell handmade items like scarves or bracelets. The other day a girl followed us for about a block trying to sell us a scarf. She had some key English phrases memorized like, “good price for you”, “no problem to wash” and my favorite, “business is business”. We busted out laughing when she said that. The little boys work as shoe shiners. They carry around little cases that have all their materials in there and then double as a seat. For the equivalent of a buck, they will shine your shoes.

One of our activities this week was to go to the market and get some local fruits. We got to try the fruits and then we had to do a presentation on the fruits. The markets are really crazy here. Check out this video. In the video, you can see Claritza right in front of me. Ahead of me is Michael with his teacher. The people here in Guatemala are all very short. In this video, you can see Michael towering over other folks. He looks like a giant compared to these people.

Last night I went for a short walk in our neighborhood. There were some boys on the corner playin marbles in the street. I thought I would make friends with them. So, I spent a little time talking to them and trying to understand the game they were playing. When I got ready to leave, the oldest boy, Cristian who is eleven, asked me if I would give him a kiss. It was very flattering, but I had to decline. I told him I had to get home for dinner, which was true.

After dinner last night, we bought several decks of cards and taught the family how to play Nertz. For those who dont know, its like a fast paced, multiplayer solitare. It was interesting trying to teach a game in Spanish. It was good practice for us. I think the family is getting more comfortable with us being there. They are very shy in general and not very sure of us. I told Michael that it feels very much like Dances with Wolves, "the natives are warming up to us", "we still are not communicating well, but they can see our desire to learn their ways". lol

Next week we get to take a tour of the surrounding pueblos. There are several suburbs to Antigua. We will be sure to share some pictures.

We just found out there is a huge tropical storm Mateo. It has caused a lot of rain here. It rained all last night and so far, all day today. There has not been any other storm like conditions. Since it rains every day, its hard to tell a difference.

Shannon

Busy, Busy, Busy

Its amazing, even in Guatemala, the Skyles' are so very busy. We have class in the morning from eight til noon, but breakfast is served at seven, so no sleeping in here. At breakfast, we eat with the family and spend about 45 minutes talking, then off to clase. Class lasts until noon, at which time we walk 15 minutes back home. Lunch is served promptly at 1. Again, we talk with the family for 45 minutes to an hour. So far, we have been taking siesta after lunch. We need it. After siesta, we have to do our homework for the next class. We have also taken this time to go into town and explore and get on the internet. There is a nice cafe here in town that is similar to starbucks, the Guatemalan starbucks.

We can get a carmel latte and unlimited internet for about three bucks. Not a bad deal. The signal leaves something to be desired, but you cant have it all. Dinner is served at 7 pm. All of the family is usually at dinner. So far, the portions have been enormous. At almost every meal, we have had to tell them to give us less. We have two teachers, Claritza (who shannon works with ) and Aracily (who michael works with). We are staying with Claritza and her family. Claritza is married to Anibel. They have been married 22 years. They have five kids. The oldest is Fernando, who is married to Carmen. Carmen is the one who cooks all the meals. They have a two month old baby named Marcos. Next is Daniel, who is 20, then Nancy who is 16 and Diego who is 12. There is another son Pablo, but he works out of town during the week so we have not seen him too much.
There is mucho mas to report, but we must leave for dinner. It's a little bit of a walk and it's important to be on time for dinner. Hasta Luego!

Bienvenedos(welcome) a Guatemala

A beautiful way to start our trip

Our new room on the left and our bano on the right

Our famalias casa

our famalias kitchen

WOW, well here we are. we have arrived in Guatemala. and WOW really is the only word to describe it so far. We had a fairly smooth transition from one airport to the next and even managed to make it through customs without getting arrested, lol.  If you did not get our e-mail from yesterday i will go ahead and fill you in about our casa and our familia. Our host familia picked us up from the airport in Guatemala city and brought us back to Antigua. Antigua is a descent size town with a outstanding mixture of old world and new. The streets are small and made of brick shaped stones, and the houses are very rustic and colorful. we went winding up some streets that a bicycle would be challenged to make it through up to our home. When we arrived our family built a new room and a new bathroom in one week in anticipation of our arrival. apparently they had many late nights working on it. We are amazed, and we feel so welcomed and privilaged. They built our room apart from the rest of the house so we feel more like we have some privacy too. but not too much. the neighbors walls are attached to 2 of ours and also the whole home design is completely open. So unlike america there is very little noise barrier. Here is a picture of our famalias casa with the rooms on the left and completely open on the right. they have 3 rooms, a tiny living room, a small bano (bathroom) and a good sized kitchen. We have had a few meals here now that are typical for Guatamala and i'm happy to announce that none of them are beans and bananas (yet!). lol We have also had a chance to look around the city a bit and it is a big mixture of poor and not so poor. in the central park here you will have a poor famila in old customary myan indian clothes and a familia in holister t-shirts and jeans. but no matter their status they seem to be a very content and easy going, happy people. we feel very safe and very excited to be getting to know the culture and the people. We are very excited to be here, it still feels almost like a dream, but i will tell you that after our first 4 hour class today we might be waking up a bit.lol Thank you all for continuing to pray for us, we know that God is still directing our journey down here and has a great plan for this adventure.We will post again soon so we can keep you up to date with all the exciting and funny things that are happening. Hasta Luego! Miguel y Shanin

What a week!

What a wild ride we have been on for the last couple weeks. Two weeks ago we received an email from Orbitz, the people we booked our flight through. The email said our airline, Mexicana, went bankrupt and our flight had been cancelled! We had no way to get to Guatemala! Michael started making calls immediately. Praise the Lord! He was able to book us on another flight through Delta that left the same day. The flight cost about three hundred dollars more but we were just glad to be able to get a ride! Also, Orbitz said they will refund our money...eventually!
As if that was not heart stopping enough, last Saturday we got an email from our host family. They told us they had overbooked their house and we could not stay with them now. WHAT??? So, we were homeless. We jumped on the Internet and emailed our teacher to ask if she knew any families that might host us. She was so gracious to say we could stay at her home! She has 5 kids and a grandchild that live with her. I am so excited to meet them all. She is also going to pick us up at the airport! What a blessing! God is clearly directing our path very specifically. I'm so excited to be able to trust him to get us where we need to go!
Currently we are still in Chicago with my work. This is where I have been spending all week.

I have been working long days here at the trade show. But, every night I get to go out to delicious dinners in Chicago paid for by the company. REGO-FIX has been kind enough to allow Michael to stay with me for the week. We have been been relaxing in a king sized bed on the 19th floor of the Marriott downtown. Last night we got to talk a walk through Millennium park and see some really cool stuff. Like this giant piece of art with reflective properties.

                                    

We fly out from Chicago on Sunday morning. Its hard to believe that we will be in Guatemala in three days. Wow! We are very excited and very ready to start our new journey. Here at the show, I have met a lot of Spanish speakers and thought to myself, oh, I wish I already knew Spanish so I could communicate better. Very soon!

We will update you all as soon as we land so you know that we made it alive! We cant imagine the journey God has prepared for us!

Thanks to everyone who provided for us on our trip. Many people have provided support for us through finances, gifts for the orphans and gifts of service to us while we are gone. Thank you so much. It means a great deal to us that you are willing to invest in us. God has certainly surrounded us with loving people so that we may follow his call on us.

Getting Ready

Our trip is becoming ever closer now. We will spend one week in Chicago before we fly out for Guatemala. That week we will be working a big tradeshow for my job. My last day of work will September 18 and we will fly out from Chicago on September 19.

We are very busy trying to get last minute things arranged like, oh crap, where are our passports and oh, crap, we did arrange a dog sitter, right? Michael has officially had his last day at Ray's trash so he is spending a lot of his time tying up those loose ends along with a small remodel job he has coming up as well.

While we are in Guatemala, we are going to visit with some missionaries along do some work with the orphanges in Antigua. Many people in Guatemala are very poor. It has been recommended to us to take lots of small trinket type gifts for the kids. We are going to be taking a suitcase full of goodies to these precious kids. We are extending the opportunity to any of you who would like to donate any treats for us to take. Suggestions inlcude, bubbles, balloons, individually wrapped candies, small toys from the dollar store, etc. If you would like to send some treats for the kids, please let us know and we will pick them up from you before we leave. Our last day in Indianapolis will be September 10.

Seek Ye First

Matthew 6:28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

These words pierce through me today. See, last night was a bit of a sleepless night. I was consumed by fear. Fear that our whole plan would leave us flat on our face. Fear that God would not provide in my timing or to my standards. Fear is the opposite of faith and yesterday, my faith was smaller than a mustard seed. As I lay awake last night, with a knot in my stomach, the Lord gently spoke to me and reminded me of these verses that seek to seek him first and that everything else will be added unto us. He reminded me to chase eternal riches and not earthly ones. Things I knew before but I needed a stark reminder of yesterday. Today I am committed to making an eternal difference by loving people instead of selfishly seeking my own earthly prosperity with all my being. It's tough to admit to you that my faith falters even on this romanticized journey where we all out trust God. But, it's truth and moreover, it's human. I would prefer just to share our victories with you and never our times of difficulties, but that is not real. If you intend to be sold out for God and take an unconvential journey with Him, be ready to have moments of fear. The important thing is to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to those fears and replace them with faith.

Fingers crossed

See this little beauty? This is an investment property that we have had for sale since Oct 2009. Four bedrooms, completely remodeled! Priced at only $61K!
Last year as we prayed about our trip to Guatemala, we decided that our timing would be determined by this house selling. We didnt want to leave with this thing still hanging out there. As time passed and passed and the house still did not sell, we started wondering if we should wait for it to sell and take that as a sign it was time to go, or sign up to go and then believe for God to get it sold. It's a tricky thing sometimes trying to figure out if you are suppose to wait on God or if you are suppose to leap out of the boat in faith. Well, as you all know, we decided to leap out of the boat when felt God ushering us to go ahead with our plans. We decided that God will still sell this place in his own timing. We were still REALLY hoping His time was some time before we left. Well, I am happy to report, we got an offer on the house yesterday! It is not official yet and anything can still happen, but we are believing this is it! Finally! My knees were weak listening to the voicemail from the agent saying they had sent an offer! I couldnt believe it! We were just minding our business and Bam! here comes an offer. That's the way God works. When you least expect it, he is going to bless your socks off. Its funny when you wait in faith for God to do something and then when He does, you are still surprised. You shouldnt necessarily be surprised because this is what you were waiting for, but somehow you are still impressed by God coming through. I think that's neat. God knows how to keep the spark alive. Has there been a time when God answered your prayer and you could hardly believe it?

Some pics of GT to look forward to

Thank You Ray!

Psalm 3:12 For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

Indeed, God has shown his favor to us! Michael got a call today from Ray's Trash and will be their newest trasher thrower! Woot, woot! Doesnt sound glorious? Who cares? It's a job! And because Michael has his CDL, he will be easily able to move into driving. The hours are great, 6-3 every day, guaranteed 40! What a blessing. Michael is most excited about the free workout and tan he will be working on daily. I'm excited he will be home every evening. God has been very good to us. Praise you Jesus for your constant provision.

Awaiting Provision

Michael is still hoping to find a pre-trip job. We would like to have a little extra income to help pad the bank account while we are away. It's always fun for me to watch how God will provide. As I pen these words, I know God already has a plan for provision. God has a funny way of providing in just the nick of time. Michael's bathroom remodel ends today, so I am expecting a call sometime this afternoon with a job offer!

Pursuing God

When my boss sent out the "Shannon's leaving" email, he said we were leaving in pursuit of ministry. While that is noble and it's incredibly hard to wrap ones mind around exactly what we are doing; I think I'm more interested in pursuing God than "ministry". Maybe for us, God is resting beneath a mango tree in Guatemala, maybe for you he is under a bridge downtown or living next door to you.