Learning and Processing

Some fun facts about Guatemala:

Phone #: Instead of 7 digit phone numbers we have 8 digit phone numbers. As far as contacting me it is best to use e-mail or facebook as the number one option. I also do have international calling and texting on my phone plan so you can use my number if needed (make sure you know your international costs :P). Let me know if you would like my number.

Greetings: Everyone you see or pass while walking or biking it is common courtesy to greet them using the phrases Buenos dias, buenas tardes, or buenas noches. (Good morning, good evening, or good night).

Music: Around town, at stores or tiendas, in the city, or even your neighbors houses are places you can hear music. It is surprising how much pop music you can hear that is in English as well as different techno music. 

Animals: Apparently roosters do not have any consideration for time of day. Our neighbors have a pig. You see dogs roaming the streets everywhere. Cebus (You may not remember what a cebu is until you watch this clip to the left) are as common as cows are.

Tiendas (Small convenience shops): There are 15 or so tiendas on our seven minute bike ride from our house to Shauna’s parents house. These tiendas sell small packaged snacks, chips, certain sodas, teas, Gatorade, other various drinks, Saldo (minutes) to purchase for your phone, candy, veggies, eggs, ice cream novelties, other basic foods, and other various small items.

These are lichis (prounounced lee - chez)

 Fruit: We have an orange tree in our small back yard/garden area. So if anyone wants fresh oranges come and visit us :). Also we eat the sweetest pineapple on the face of the earth, bananas picked off a nearby tree, bright red strawberries, and really sweet lichis.

La Dia de Independencia: September 15 is Guatemala’s Independence Day. It is tradition the day before to form groups from respective schools and do antorche (torch) runs. These runs take place on roads all over Guatemala. People with torches, horns, noise-makers, flags, costumes, and some face-paint run in parade like formations. At the back of the parade there is some sort of vehicle or vehicles (either pickup trucks, vans, or buses) with more people riding. It is also tradition for people to watch from the side of the roads and throw water on the people participating in the antorche runs. You can watch the video for more detail!

Now for some personal stories.

Spanish: Estoy aprendiendo espanol! So the other night I was feeling pretty confident so I decided to go and get my Spanish/English Bible and see if I could start reading the Spanish side. Well let’s just say it didn’t go to well :P I went back to reading some easy Spanish readers. However, overall it is progressing fairly well! I have two nice sized stacks of flash cards and do homework each day I don’t have class. I also usually have a paragraph or two to write and/or translate each day about different topics in Spanish. Pray that I will continue to push and challenge myself to learn!

Sport Ministry: We went on a trip five hours north of where we live a couple weeks ago. Shauna mentioned this in her blog a couple of weeks ago. A group of five of us went and we helped at a medical clinic. The morning we were there I had the opportunity to go kick a soccer ball with two boys out in the courtyard. The one young man was completely deaf and the other had some brain damage due to being in a three month coma earlier in his life. It was challenging, but so rewarding using different ways of communication than I normally would (using hand motions and Spanish). As I was kicking the ball back and forth a sense of God’s presence came over me. This is what God has called me too. I was building relationships with these two boys through kicking a ball back and forth. The joy radiated from their faces through their laughter and smiles. They were so happy that someone would take time to play and interact with them. This is my vision and passion: interacting, playing, and leading children through sports that they can see the love of Jesus Christ. This time only lasted about ½ hour, but God confirmed with me through that time that this is what He has laid on my heart.

House maintenence: So our house has been fantastic so far. However, we have had a few interesting and 'fun' experiences so far. One morning our bathroom sink fell off the wall. However within two hours we had it remounted (more securely this time) and new plumbing hooked up to it. A few days ago the piece that lifts up the rubber flapper in the toilet broke off, but again by the end of the day that was fixed. We've had to shave off the bottoms of a few of our doors because they rubbed when you opened them. We also have a little patch of lawn to weedwack/mow every ten days or so as well. Overall though we have been so blessed. First of all our landlord gave us an amazing price. Secondly he speaks some English. Next he is close by because he owns the hardware store down the street. Finally he let us know that if anything breaks or needs fixed he will come up to fix it!

I also wanted to update you on the prayer requests I had listed on my last blog post.

• That we would be able to find a bike or two for a good price (to make it easier to get around in town) 
• We were able to get two bikes for pretty good deals as we were out shopping and have used them a ton! Here is a picture of Krishauna's! 
• That we would be able to get all the bigger kitchen appliances, bed, and some sort of living room furniture at good prices when we go later in the week.
• We bought all of our furniture and appliances for under $2500!
• As we adjust to more of a Guatemalan style lifestyle when we move into our house. 
• We have adjusted really well. We have loved the location as it is not on a main road, but we are still within a minute and a half walk from quite a few tiendas. (Side note we finally got internet at our house on Wednesday!)

Thank you for your prayers and we can see how God answered all the ones from last month! Continue to pray for us as we process and trust God to open doors for us as we look for our more permanent location to live here in Guatemala. 

Thanks,

Andi and Krishauna

Feeling settled... kinda

It has been just short of a month since we left the U.S. and we are finally starting to feel settled here in Guatemala! :)

So we aren't repeating ourselves too much, here is a link to Andi's last blog post that tells about some of our adventures over the past month of being here: http://andibrubaker.blogspot.com

After multiple trips to Guatemala City, Chimaltenango, and Antigua to get all our furniture and other household items, we got to move into our house on September 7th. Since then, we have been figuring out how to adjust ourselves to this new and different lifestyle.

This is our kitchen (left). Like most Guatemalan houses, we do not have running water in our kitchen. Instead, we came up with our own makeshift kitchen sink (right). One large jug has purified water for drinking, washing fruits and vegetables, and cooking (if needed). The other jug has tap water in it. This is used for washing off hands while working in the kitchen, rinsing dishes that may need it immediately, and for any cooking that doesn't need purified water. You can also see here that we also do not have real cabinets in the kitchen. This means we need to check for bugs and dirt on the dishes and usually wipe them out before using them.

Our pila is outside off of our courtyard. A pila is what is used to wash dishes along with doing laundry. The middle section gets filled with water and is scooped out with a small dish into the sides where the washing is done. The left side has grooves on the bottom to use to scrub the laundry, but that is something I really don't like to do if possible (it takes so long) so my parents are letting us do laundry at their house using their washing machine for now. We will have to eventually decide if we are going to get our own washing machine or if I will get over my stubbornness and start hand washing our clothes.

Here is how we are supposed to get hot water in the shower. It is called a widow maker. It uses electricity to heat up the water right there in the shower head. So far, we haven't had hot water (or even warm water), but it hasn't been really cold water. You can step into the water without shivering, but it doesn't make you want to stay there for long. I got a little shock once when I tried to adjust it... I think I will just leave it alone from now on to keep from making it mad.

We have a tin roof on our house. This is fine because we have quite high ceilings so it doesn't get too hot inside, but we have a couple fans that are on pretty regularly. One morning, I woke up suddenly to something hitting our roof. I ran outside to see what it was. Our next door neighbors were knocking Güisquil (right) off of the vine growing up the tree that hangs over our house so it was falling hard and hitting the tin roof. Not my favorite way to wake up. On the positive side, the rain sounds amazing on the tin roof! It can be difficult to have a conversation when it is raining too hard so maybe we should learn sign language :) 


Open air houses mean that dirt gets everywhere. We're still working on getting used to sweeping and moping more often to try to keep things clean. It also means we can hear everything the neighbors do. Sometimes is sounds like someone is walking through our courtyard, but we realize that they are in the next house over. They also like to blast pop and techno music. Keeping a fan running helps to block out some of this noise. 

Bombas (colorless fireworks) being set off during the night can be quite scary. Especially when it is coming from right next door and in the middle of the night. This was something I had gotten used to when I lived here before, but I am having to readjust to this again. 

Only in Guatemala... do you get asked by your neighbor to turn off the light in their property because the switch for that light is on your property. Now we put tape over that switch so we don't accidentally turn it on again.


These days, we are staying pretty busy.
Andi is taking Spanish classes for 12 hours a week (4 hours each day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and he has homework to do after each class. Please pray that Andi will pick up the language quickly. While he is at class, I am teaching Checha (Cesar) who lives at Hogar de la Esperanza (my parents' home). As far as we know, he has never had any formal education so at almost 18 years old, he is learning to identify and write letters, addition, and other basics. I am very excited for this opportunity to work with him. He is excited to learn and even asks me to give him homework. Please pray that he will continue to be excited to learn and that he will not be discouraged through the time of learning the basics (he understands that he is behind for his age and this can be discouraging especially if he is having trouble with a concept). And pray that I will know when to push him and when to back off and give him a break.

We are also taking trips with my dad. These are ministry trips to different villages where we take wheelchairs, medication, and food to families and get to spend time talking to and praying with them. This gives us an opportunity to see different areas of Guatemala and seek God as to weather or not He wants us to move to those specific areas in the future. I was able to go to Jalapa (Andi couldn't go because he was sick at the time) and then we both got to go to Canillá, Quiché. These are really neat experiences for us. Please pray that we will have open ears and hearts to follow God's call no matter where He leads us!

Thank you for all your prayers!

Krishauna