A Journey closer to Him

“The Bible is not a magic book. It doesn’t reveal its treasures simply because you read a passage. It doesn’t make you holy simply because you hold it in high esteem. Many cults use the Bible. Even Satan quotes Scripture. We desperately need the Bible and all it has to say to us. We also need the Spirit of God to guide us in reading and study. We need God to help us understand his Word. The Bible is meant to be read in fellowship with God. But what do I read? Well what if you ask God? Simply ask, ‘What would you have me read today?’ Letting your Shepherd lead you in your reading allows Him to take you right to a passage that you need for that day, struggle, joy, time in life, dilemma, or challenge.” (Walking With God –John Eldredge 43-44)

For awhile I was stuck in a rut of just reading a book of the Bible at a time and reading a chapter or two a day, but most mornings I couldn’t see application and wasn’t getting any challenge or growth out of what I was reading. After I read the first few chapters of this book “Walking with God,” I was challenged and decided to try what Eldridge challenged his readers. So before I picked up my Bible I would shut my eyes and talk to God about the day and some other things, then I would ask Him, ‘What do you want me to read today?’ So far everyday He has answered in one way or another. It hasn’t been in an audible voice, but a book of the Bible has been put on my mind. In the book Eldridge recommends that if you start to get an impression, thought, or hear God say something, ask it back to Him. For example, the other day I was asking God what He wanted me to read and the book of Joshua came to mind. Then I asked God, ‘what chapter do you want to lead me to today.’ I was waiting and didn’t have a sense for any specific place. After 30 seconds or so a chapter in the 20’s came to mind. I had no idea how many chapters were in Joshua. So I asked God again, ‘Is there a specific chapter in the 20’s?’ The number 22 came into my mind and I asked God, ‘Was that chapter 22?’ I didn’t sense any sort of response so I started flipping to chapter 22 hoping there actually was a chapter 22 in Joshua and hoping that I didn’t just think of that number by myself. Well it turned out there is a 22 and I looked at the title, “Eastern Tribes Return Home,” and I thought, 'wow this looks thrilling, but God led me here today so there must be something He wants me to see.' I started out and nothing really stood out in the first two verses, but the 3rd verse (it’s crazy it was only three verses in) I stopped and underlined the last part of that verse which states: “you have not deserted your brothers, but have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you.” First of all this stood out to me because 1. I have brothers and 2. I know God has called me on this mission to Guatemala. God wanted me to see that because He has me here for a purpose and recently it has been pretty difficult because I came here almost four months ago and I feel like I haven’t done much except spend an excessive time working on Spanish. I’ve missed my friends, my brothers, my family, having a vehicle to go places whenever I/we want, having my dad’s shop down the road to use and borrow tools, and just familiarity with the area. It is difficult, but no one said following God would be easy. To move to a new country, a new language, new people, semi-new food, and new culture is part of the mission that God has given me. Adjusting and learning takes time and often it gets irritating, but if I call myself a follower of Jesus I need to trust Him more than anything else. As the title of Eldridge’s book says, I need to be ‘Walking with God’ more than ever before. The example of Joshua was just one day, I asked God, ‘What do you want me to read today?’ So every day I have asked Him He has always given me a challenge or led me to something I needed that day. It is so awesome to know that God’s Words are in our hands in the form of a book, but that The Holy Spirit can guide and lead us. This process of asking God what to read was a challenge, because doubts started coming into my mind like: What if I don’t hear anything? What if nothing stands out in the chapter? What if….what if? I realized that was Satan putting those thoughts there and I just need to trust God. So I challenge you. Are you asking God what He wants you to see or hear in Scripture? Or are you just reading a certain book of the Bible and not getting anything out of it/reading because it’s the ‘right thing to do?’ (Side note, I’m not saying that following a reading schedule or going through the Bible in order is bad. I just needed a new way to read scripture and God laid this on my heart to try so I decided to give it a shot.) Give it a try, practice, and let God guide you. I would love to pray for you as you try this out or any other things that are going on in your life right now, feel free to let me know.

The past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to practice driving a manual transmission vehicle. Manual transmissions are much more popular here in Guatemala than in the states. So it’s pretty important to know how to drive one. My first experience driving here has been on some amazing roads as you can see in the pictures :). While I am on the vehicle topic. We are starting to keep our eyes open for a vehicle to purchase. There are some specific things that we are looking for: diesel (diesel is cheaper here than regular gasoline), manual transmission, preferably 4WD, and something higher off the ground than a normal car because of the road conditions and terrain. There are many things in this culture that are cheaper than the states, but vehicles are not one of them. The prices are comparable to those in the states. So to fulfill some of the requirements we have, it is not going to be a cheap purchase. We have $4,000 set aside already, but are looking for at least $8,000-$12,000 that to be able to purchase a good quality vehicle. Then we will have insurance and gas prices as well. If you would consider helping us out with this purchase it would be such a blessing and we would be extremely thankful. If you have any questions or want to know how to designate it directly to this expense let us know. 
   

Spanish lessons are still going well and I can see improvement day by day which has been so encouraging. I started meeting with a guy once a week from our church who lives in our town to do a language exchange. He wants to practice English and I want to practice Spanish so we take time to speak in both languages so we can learn and practice and correct each other!

Last Sunday afternoon we were able to spend time after church at our friends, Rob and Laura’s house. We had quite the experience making our own sushi :)

Two weeks ago we also had a Christmas celebration with  the employees of Hope for Home Ministries at a local garden which was a lot of fun, great fellowship, and great practice for talking in Spanish! The pictures below are some fun we had at the end of the celebration!

               

We have also been thinking, talking, and praying about where God wants us in this amazing country. Shauna and I both brought up a name of a place that seemed to be set on our minds and it turned out to be the same city. So continue to pray that God will make it clear if this is a door He is opening. We will hopefully be visiting this place in January or February.

As we have been in this advent season and with Christmas only a few days away. Here are some thoughts to ponder that I’ve been challenged with recently.

• The more prepared I am the less I have to trust God
• God wants to be first- you will never be satisfied until He is first in your life.
• He wants us to constantly run toward Him.
• Expectations impact the quality of any and all of your relationships.
• He wants to be wanted.
• There is nothing more important than the chase for Christ.

May you feel the presence of our Savior Jesus Christ during this Christmas season as you spend time with family and friends. Most of all though remember there is nothing more important than knowing Him and sharing His love to the World. He is Christ The Lord! Have a blessed Christmas and New Year.



With love,
Andi and Krishauna

Christmas, Spanish, Residency, and Tea Parties

We have Christmas decorations up!! This is my absolute favorite time of the year! I love the decorations, lights, music, and almost everything else about it (I just really miss having snow)! Andi survived back to back Christmas Tree days with me. The day after Thanksgiving was Brubaker Christmas Tree Day and then we joined my family for Fulp Christmas Tree Day! It was so much fun... but Andi might feel differently ;) 

I have been working on my Spanish on my own just through talking to friends, books, and online resources. I am feeling pretty good about how I am doing, but I still make plenty of mistakes. I didn't want to pay for more Spanish classes (I took classes after my family moved here in 2011) because I felt that more grammar work wasn't what I needed. I talked to a friend and we are getting together once a week for a language exchange. I am helping her with English and she is helping me with Spanish. We just talk with each other and help or correct when we say things incorrectly. It is a really neat opportunity for me and I am really excited about it! Hopefully this will help me become more comfortable speaking Spanish.

Last month, we began working on residency stuff for Andi and began the work for my name change (I am already a resident). This past Thursday, we went into the city for another appointment with our lawyer. After signing some papers, standing in lines, paying a fine, getting pictures taken, and lots of confusion (Andi and I were confused... not our lawyer), Andi is officially "in process" now and my new passport is off getting the residency stamp! The appointment only took about 1 hour and 45 minutes! This is amazing for the immigration office in Guatemala and for everything we had to get done! YAY! Pray that the rest of the process goes smoothly.

Andi and I have been having different members of my family over to our house a few at a time to hang out and play games. Last week, it was Kimmie's turn. She came over and we had a tea party (well, it ended up being a coffee party) and played some games, but we didn't let Andi join because it was a girly party. It is so much fun being able to spend time with family like this!

We are starting to look for a vehicle now. Because of road conditions all over Guatemala, there are certain things we are looking for in a vehicle. This means we can't just go with a cheap little car. We already have some money put aside for a vehicle, but we will need more than we have at this point. Please be praying with us as we look for the right vehicle for us and pray that God will provide the money. If you would like to help us out, you can give to Hope for Home and designate it to "Brubaker vehicle". Thank you!

Krishauna and Andi 

We are here on assignment from Jesus

      Many of you probably wonder exactly where in Guatemala we live. So these maps should help you with location (You can click the photos to enlarge them). We live in the town of San Antonio Aguas Calientes, about 15 minutes drive from the bigger "city" of Antigua. Antigua is not really a city, but it a very touristy and historic/colonial area and has many restaurants, shops, stores, and other places. Guatemala City (shown on the map as Guatemala) is the capital and where the main airport is located that we fly into.

             

 
 
            

The pin is right on top of our roof
Directly beside the pin to the NE is
a little gray rectangle. That is our
patio/courtyard.

       We are currently working on becoming permanent residents of Guatemala. Before we moved here we had to get our marriage certificate, birth certificates, background checks, and a letter from the organization we are working under all certified and notarized by the state and Guatemala consulate of PA. All those papers are needed in order to bcome a resident here. Two weeks ago we headed into the city to a laywer's office to start the process. We paid a deposit fee, gave all the paperwork, then realized we needed one other thing. We needed to get headshot photos taken for the resident

application for me and name-change application for Krishauna (she is already a resident here, but under the last name Fulp). So a week later we headed back in to sign a few more papers and hand in our photos. On December 8th we have another meeting at the office to head to immigration with someone from the laywer's office to pay VISA fees, then Lord willing we will be 'in process.' This means we will not have to pay anymore VISA fees, and will not have to leave the country every six months (which you have to do if you are not an official resident). We should be official residents within the next 6-8 months if all goes according to plan. So you can be praying that all the processing will go smoothly and there will not be any hiccups.

     We have official dates where Push The Rock will be visiting Guatemala! Two guys are planning on coming down at the end of March to see a little bit of the culture and area of Guatemala, along with meeting some of the people here. They will also be learning and hearing about Hope for Home Ministries. They will be here for aproximately a week and we will spend a good amount of that time praying, talking about vision and plans for the future of what PTR Guatemala would look like, and brainstorming. So excited to see what God has in store!

     Shoreline is the name of a church we found three weeks ago. It is a church of about 100-125 people and it meets in Antigua. It is in English, but they do a translation over in-ear headphone in Spanish for those who do not know English. They are a church plant from Shoreline Dallas, Texas. We have just started to get connected with some people and have enjoyed the church a lot. Last week the lead pastor from the Dallas church came and spoke a powerful message. We lost power in the building and sound at points, but we still had church. A church doesn't need power and lights to be the body of Christ. It needs the people to rise up and be the hands and feet of Jesus. We are here on this earth on assignment from Jesus and the church should be movement not a monument. However, we just received an e-mail on Friday that they are changing the service time from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday's. We currently meet in a nightclub building, and supposedly due to the noise on Sunday mornings the church makes the neighbors were not happy. So we were extremely disappointed to hear that because it cuts into our Sunday afternoon lunch and schedule along with some other reasons. We are going today, and hope to hear some more explanation, but we will probably not be able to continue going if the time stays at 1:30. You can be praying for the church leaders as they have to make decisions about location/timing as well as for us in our decision making.

Blessings on you and your family during this Christmas season. Here's a picture from Christmas tree day (Decoration day) from the Fulp house!

Glory Be To God! 

-Andi and Krishauna

I love my job!

Can I just take some time to brag about my student for a little bit? 

As I shared in a past post, I am teaching a young man in my parents’ home. His name is Cesar (he goes by Checha) and he is 18 years old. As far as we know, before I began working with him in September, he never had any formal schooling. He is smart and very anxious to learn, but he hadn’t been given the chance to learn so he lacks many of the basics. 

Touchpoint addition

I go to Hogar de la Esperanza to work with Checha one on one for 2 1/2 hours three days a week. We have been doing touchpoint counting (dots on the numbers that the student touches and counts to figure out what number it is) to work toward addition. Just this week, we started addition and Checha is doing great! We have spent the majority of our time working on identifying letters, tracing them, and listening to the sounds each letter makes.

Writing name on iPad app

At the beginning of September, I evaluated where Checha was to know where to start. He knew most numbers 0-9 and all basic colors and shapes, but he could only identify four letters of the alphabet. After really working on learning letters for a month, on October 5th, I tested Checha and he knew six letters (only two more than a month before). I felt extremely discouraged because we had been working so hard with so little progress. I was trying everything I could think of to help him, but nothing seemed to be working. Teachers often see students struggling, but it is important to try new things and not give up. We kept working together. Checha worked on his own when I wasn’t at the home. After lots of work, on October 31st, he knew 13 letters! He learned 7 letters in 26 days and since then, he has learned a few more. He also is working to write his name (picture shows his progress). I am so proud of Checha and how hard he is working!

Who says those with disabilities can’t learn?! THIS is why I am in Guatemala.

Leading up to Thanksgiving, my family has a thankful tree that sits on the kitchen table. When someone thinks of something they are thankful for, they write it on a piece of paper and clip it on the tree. Checha asked someone to help him write one. His paper says, “Thanks for school”. How exciting is it that Checha finally gets to have an education and that he realizes how blessed he is to have the opportunity to learn! 

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Krishauna

Chickens, Sunrises, and Spanish

We’ve had a bunch of experiences and stories this month so there are going to be short segments of many of them.

San Pablo: Last week we had the chance to go to San Pablo La Laguna to visit Shauna’s sister Brittney and her husband Joel. They live about 3 hours away and we spent a few days with them. It was great to be able to spend time with another married couple and have fun together. One morning we woke up in time to see the sunrise. Another morning/afternoon we took a boat ride on the lake and hiked 3 ½ hours along the lake. The pictures below feature some of the sights we saw! We were also able to see the area of San Pablo, visit their neighbors, and see some of the kids Brittney and Joel have to their home four days a week.

                   

               

                  

Chickens: So Carlos, my Spanish teacher, and I were having lessons one day at our house and he looks up and says, “You know there’s a chicken in your yard?” Since that time we have had three different types of chickens in our property. Here is the one in our tree :) 

House utilities: I love how cheap electric and water are here. Our electric bill averages around Q120/ month (roughly $16) and our water bill average has been Q10 (around $1.45). Also we were running low on gas for our stove and so we ordered a new gas tank and within five minutes a guy arrived with the tank strapped to the back of his motorcycle. That’s called service! (it is quite rare to get service like this so I was a little surprised)

Spanish: When I have Spanish lessons I usually go to Carlos’ house twice a week and he usually comes to mine once a week. However , sometimes we change things up and go to a different location. Yesterday we went to a macadamia nut tree farm. It was a 30 minute bike ride to get there and back, but the farm was so cool. We had a little tour ( the tour guide talked in Spanish and I understood most of what she said!) then we had lessons at a table in the garden/sitting area. Did you know macadamia nuts can be used in sunscreen, lotion, soaps, and candies? Anyways my Spanish is definitely improving and my flash card piles are becoming bigger and bigger J I have had good practice when we have our neighbor kids over once a week. This past week we played the game memory with them and I learned some animal names I didn’t know so that was a plus: Pulpo is octopus and cabra is goat.

Jalapa: We took a trip early this month to Jalapa, a town four hours away. We visited five or six families to provide some food, formula, diapers, and evaluation of how their doing (health wise). We also visited this place where they do ministry for older adults. Behind this buiding there was a school where I was able to meet a physical education teacher who teaches all kinds of sports to kids there. We exchanged contact information and he said if I ever wanted to volunteer or help out I was welcome to. So that could definitely be a cool learning opportunity as I think about starting sports ministry here.

Anniversary: We celebrated our first anniversary on the 24th – hard to believe it has already been a year! We went to Antigua for the night and spent part of the next day there.

Antigua
Central Park Fountain

The restaurant we went to for dinner
was super busy!

A cool spiderweb on a
door near our hotel

We would love if you would continue praying for:

-Our neighbor kids as we build relationships with them

-Learning Spanish

-People who would be around our own age and stage of life to be able to be friends with

We would also love to know how we can be praying for you. Let us know. We also are encouraged by friends and family who have e-mailed and talked to us just to see how things are going. Gracias

Andi and Shauna

Shopping and cooking in Guatemala

Now that I am back in Guatemala, I can cook the way I like to... with fresh fruits and vegetables! It was hard while we were in the U.S. because these things aren't cheap, but here, it is one of the cheapest way to eat. Here are some average prices of foods we get (the exchange rate is about 7.50  quetzals for every U.S. dollar):

Sweet Bread

Potatoes - Q3/lb

Onions - Q4/lb

Carrots - Q1 for each carrot

Avocados - Q5 for 2

Bananas - Q5 for 6

Strawberries - Q5/lb

Pineapple - Q10 for a large one

Peppers - Q1.50 each

Tomatoes - Q3/lb

Zucchini - Q1 each

Sweet bread - Q1 for 3 pieces 

Tortillas - Q1 for 4

There is a tienda (these are small stores right on the street that are usually the front room of a house) right at the end of our street where we can go to get rice, beans, flour, sugar, ketchup, mustard, snacks (they even have real chocolate candy bars), drinks, fly traps (very much needed), and many other things. There are also at least 5 other tiendas on this one block so if one doesn't have something we need, we go to the next one to check. We can get fresh tortillas three times a day if we want (again, right at the end of our street). There are also small fruit and veggie tiendas everywhere. There are some things that we can't buy in these small tiendas so we have to walk two whole blocks  to the Bodegona (our grocery store). This is a new addition to our town in the past year. It used to be that we had to go a couple towns over for a real grocery store so this is a huge blessing. 

I could leave the house at 12:00, spend Q10 ($1.30), and be back at 12:05 with an avocado, a couple tomatoes, an onion, and 8 tortillas. A few minutes later, I am eating fresh tortillas with guacamole... Mmmmmm!

Here are some of the delicious meals we have made:

Baked oatmeal with fruit

     

Flautas

Grilled cheese and salad

             

Pollo/Piña stir fry

Black Beans and Rice

Chicken Tacos

Eggs, Strawberries, Toast and Coffee

  

Nachos

About three weeks ago, we were talking to some of our neighbor kids and invited them into our house. They played in the courtyard for a little bit, climbed our orange tree, and then asked for some oranges. We shared some with them and now, they ask for more every few days. We don't give it to them every time, but we decided to invite a bunch of kids over one afternoon. So this past Thursday afternoon, 7 kids showed up at our door. We taught them how to play Uno and we gave them juice and oranges. Some of the older ones are helping us with our Spanish and they are having fun practicing the English words they know. We have decided that we want to make it a weekly gathering. 

Andi and I also learned how to drive a motorcycle! We are still practicing, but it's going well.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Chicago Cubs fan. Anyone who knows the Cubs knows that they haven't won a World Series since 1908. And anyone who follows baseball knows that the Cubs not only made it to the playoffs, but they won their Division Series and they are in the National League Championship Series this week. This is extremely exciting news!! So that means we are spending a lot of time over at my parents' house watching the games. Go Cubs Go!!!

We love our town!