Semana Santa

Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Guatemala is the largest celebrated holiday here in this country. Throughout the week celebrations take place in the form of processions, alfombras (decorative carpets), gatherings, dramas, and church services. As the week goes on certain towns shut down, roads close (due to processions and alfombras), business close all leading up to Good Friday and Saturday, the day before Easter. Guatemala is a mainly Catholic country and so their largest day of  recognition is Friday - the Death of Jesus. All throughout the night on Thursday into Friday morning the roads in the city of Antigua are shut down so that people can create and design these amazing alfombras. Then in the wee hours of the morning processions come through carrying floats depicting the virgin Mary, the crucifixion of Jesus, and other traditional images. They walk over these alfombras (which is kind of sad after seeing all the work put into them) and usually end up at a Catholic church or central park area where many people can gather. We spent all night last night (Thu) from 10 p.m. - 5:30a.m. walking around Antigua seeing the beautiful alfombras and eating some traditional Guatemala 'street' food. Vendors come and set up booths simliar to a fair or festival so that people can buy food while they walk around. 

The first section below are some photos from alfombras and the procession in San Andres where Hogar de Ezperanza is located (about a mile or so from our house). This happened on Tuesday morning.

As you can see the alfombras have a wide variety and are made from a range of materials and objects. The majority use colored sawdust (depending on the style depends how fine/how small the pieces of sawdust are), but many also use vegetables, fruits, flowers and flower pedals, grasses, and small wooden objects,

 

                 

                      

The rest of the pictures show alfombras in Antigua as well as people creating and making them using stencils and shaking the sawdust using strainers, spoons, and their hands.                  

                           

                
                
                    

                                   
               
               

Another interesting tradition here is that once the big processions are over on Friday and Saturday, the majority of people take a vacation (many go to the beach) on Easter Sunday. It seems strange because we as Evangelical Christians celebrate the resurrection on Sunday which is the monumental day of our faith. In some ways it is hard to think about the meaning of Easter here because of all the other activities and processions that take place. The whole week is a time that tests your patience because of roads that are closed, change of schedule, traffic, parking issues, and just overall the amount of people increases. It's a different way of celebrating Easter then I have every experienced, but through it all Sunday is coming. The true meaning of Life, the Giver of Life, and Love Himself rose again to give us life. I hope we all take time this weekend to think about that. We hope you have a wonderful Easter.

Another quick note if anybody is interested in purchasing coffee, chocolate-covered coffee beans, or any other Guatemalan product you can think of let us know and we will gladly bring it with us on our visit to PA in June.

From 80 degree Guatemala,

Andi and Shauna

The past 14 days.

Whew the past fourteen days have been a blur. There have been blessings, attacks from Satan, unexpected tragedies, God’s provisions, time in the hospital, time to be still, and through it all God is doing great things (even though at points it has been hard to see).

Two weeks ago on Wednesday evening we received a call from Wanda (Krishauna’s mom) saying that she had bad news. She told us that Manuel (the operations manager of Hope for Home here in Guatemala) was shot and killed. Both of us sat in shock and silence for about five minutes not really sure what to do. As schedule changes for the rest of the week were made and we attended the viewing and others went to the funeral, we knew we had to spend time looking toward God. So that weekend on Sunday evening we had a time of worship/devotion/fellowship with all the employees and families of the ministry to spend time focusing on our Heavenly Father. It was an amazing time of worship, tears, passion, words of encouragement, and love between the body of Christ.

             

                           

Thursday, the day following Manuel’s death news started circulating of an orphanage in Guatemala City that had been set on fire in the middle of rioting and 700 kids were in need of a home. 40 children had died and others were sent to hospitals to be treated for burns. So along with the crisis of Manuel’s death, this news caused more grief and feeling the need to help in some way.

You can check out Daryl’s blog post to read a more detailed post about these two situations. http://hopeforhome.blogspot.com/2017/03/murder-fires-and-hope.html

Just this past week the government contacted Hope for Home and asked if they could take in 10 more kids, and through help of other ministries, Hope for Home is now in the process of opening up another group home for ten more kids with disabilities from this orphanage that was destroyed. They found a home to rent just a block down the street (God’s provision is amazing) and have received many donations and help in order to get this home up and running. Pray with us that these 10 kids that come may feel at peace and the love of Christ through all who are involved in helping in this new home.

Through all of this we had a doctor’s appointment this past Saturday because to our knowledge Krishauna was eight weeks pregnant. At the appointment the doctor told us she was indeed pregnant, but not with a baby. She was experiencing what we now know is a molar pregnancy. This is when the egg and sperm join, but there is no genetic material present. The baby is not able to develop because of a chromosomal imbalance. It often shows itself just like a normal pregnancy with normal pregnancy symptoms because it is a pregnancy, but instead of a live baby growing, there is a mass of grape like clusters growing at a much faster rate. The doctor felt positive about the timing of finding this problem, but recommended having surgery to remove the mass as soon as possible. We scheduled the surgery and spent most of the day Tuesday at the hospital. The surgery went well and the doctor was able to remove the whole mass without any complications which was a huge answer to prayer as well. Treatment will involve multiple blood tests and doctor appointments in the coming weeks to monitor hormone levels. It also includes other tests and appointments for at least 6 months (maybe more) before she is cleared. We ask for your continued prayers as we walk through this emotional time of loss and look forward to the day where we can have kids.

We are continuing to process the more permanent location of where God wants us to be in Guatemala so we ask that you be praying for Him to continue open or close doors and that we would be able to follow His guidance.

We also continue to keep our eyes open for a vehicle and if you feel led to help us as we continue to raise funds for that purchase, we would be extremely grateful.

Thank you to all who have reached out to us during this time via e-mail or facebook with encouraging notes and for all your prayers. We are so thankful to know that there are people constantly in prayer for us! As I was in the hospital on Tuesday while Krishauna was in surgery I was able to spend a good portion of time in God’s word. For about five minutes of that time I flipped through the pages of my Bible and read notes I wrote or parts I underlined and wrote phrases or words from these thoughts or verses in my journal. Here is what it turned out to be.

 

“He has died for me. He is faithful. Faith is growing. Stand firm. Pray. There is one God. Lift up holy hands in prayer. He is the pillar of truth. Put what you believe into practice. To Him be the honor. Flee evil desires. Preach the Word. All scripture is God-breathed. Lord gives me strength. Be active in sharing your faith. Fix your thoughts on Jesus. He will appear a second time. Persevere.”

God is good and He is doing greater things!

-Andi and Krishauna

Intermissions conference and our trip to Xela

Last weekend we had the opportunity to spend a weekend with other missionaries from all around Guatemala at a conference right beside Lake Atlitlan. The conference rented out the entire hotel and we used the facility to meet for seminars, general sessions, meals, and relaxation. The event was such a great experience in making connections and meeting other missionaries, hearing sermons based on Psalm 23, seeing the beautiful views, listening to the Johnson Strings (if you want to hear a super talented family playing string instruments visit thejohnsonstrings.com or find them on youtube – it will be worth your time), and worshiping our Creator.

The theme for the conference was “He Restores.” A pastor from Texas came and spoke four sermons throughout the weekend all based in Psalm 23. It was such an encouragement and challenge to dig deeply into this one chapter. Here are a few of our notes from the sessions that hopefully have an impact on you as well.

1 The Lord is my Shepherd.
          He Provides, He protects, He Directs (to point/to show), He guides
               (to go with).
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet
     waters
          -God makes us lie down – sometimes He needs to use forcible
               action.
          -Our hearts are prone to wander – prone to leave the God I love so
               He forces us to Rest
          -We need God to make us lie down because we are exhausted –
               physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally.
          -He will set the pace – Keep in step with the Spirit – perhaps we
               need to slow down or maybe we are lagging behind His pace.
3 He Restores my soul
          God restores us from:
               -Our Guilt – it weighs us down. God doesn’t remind us of our
                    sins that is Satan. Jesus triumphed overall all sin by
                    carrying all of our guilt on Him on the cross.
               -Our sorrow- Will yourself to worship God. Focus on what is to
                    come not on what was lost. I encourage you to read 2
                    Samuel 12:18-23 about the story of David and how he
                    dealt with sorrow. It teaches us a lot about how to deal
                    with sorrow.
               -Our Bitterness – Bitterness is a root and we need God to
                    SHUB us. SHUB is the Hebrew word for restore and
                    it means to turn over or to turn around. God restores us
                    like a Shepherd toward his sheep.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear
     no evil for you are with me.
          -Valleys symbolize darkness, difficulty and struggle, but they are
               passable.
          -In valleys we tend to hear God the clearest and sense Him the
               closest.
          -When you are in the valley refuse to fear because God is with
               you.
          -Shadows can’t hurt you, and they aren’t possible without light,
               which shows yet again that THE LIGHT is with you.

We also were able two seminars about “Leading Change” and “Storm Season.” The leader of “Storm Season” is a certified professional counselor and talked about the biology of what happens inside your brain as you go through storms and struggles in life. He referenced Acts 27 and the struggles and storms Paul went through as a missionary and follower of Christ. You have to be able to find what your anchors are in the midst of a ‘storm’ as well as staying on the ‘ship’ of faith – “Don’t abandon ship.” The other seminar about “Leading Change” the leader talked about how to find the root of the problem to change. We need to look for measurable and specific goals. He talked about how many missionaries come to a country looking to teach the value of education when the source of the problem may be malnutrition. For example: Kids are not learning in school because they their body cannot function without nutrients and food so in response their parents pull them out of school because the kids say they didn’t learn anything. Parents decide if their kids aren’t learning anything what’s the point of sending them to school when they can work and earn money for the family. So the root of the problem is not valuing education but instead is malnutrition. So the key to leading change is finding the crucial moment and root of the problem.

The entire conference was a blessing and encouragement to both of us. We also made quite a few connections with other missionaries here in Guatemala.

You have probably heard that we are living close to Antigua for right now while Andi takes Spanish lessons, but we are planning to move to a different area of Guatemala later on. We have taken some trips with Hope for Home Ministries to see some different places and to see if and how our ministries would fit in those areas, but other places weren't standing out to us and we were both feeling drawn to the city of Quetzaltenango, also known as Xela (pronounced shayla) even though we had never visited. We contacted a missionary family who lives up in that area and asked if it would be possible for us to visit them to see their ministry (Foundations of Hope) and the area. So after the intermissions conference ended, we picked up a shuttle to Xela to stay for a few days.

Quetzaltenango means "the place of the quetzal bird" (the Guatemala national bird) and the Maya name for the city is Xela so either name is acceptable. It is the second largest city in Guatemala although it doesn't feel like a large city like you would expect to see in the United States. The city is at about 7,700 feet altitude.

The first day we were in Xela, we got to go out and explore. We walked all over the city. We saw central park, a couple different market areas, many small parks, banks, tiendas, restaurants, coffee shops, schools, and more. It was a really good way for us to get a feel of what was available and what it could be like to live there, but we forgot to take into account the elevation difference from where we live (about 2,700 feet difference) so we both got some sunburn after a few hours of walking around. In the afternoon, we went to a soccer ministry that Foundations of Hope is involved with three days a week. Andi was able to get a lot of advice about sports ministry and see how this specific soccer ministry works. At the beginning of each practice, a Bible lesson is presented along with some discussion and prayer because this is the main point of the soccer ministry. They use soccer to draw kids in which gives an opportunity to share about Jesus.

The second day, we got to join Foundations of Hope at their after school program that they do two days a week. There are 12 kids that regularly attend the program. They feed the kids lunch, give them homework help and re-teach things that the kids didn't understand in school, help them to practice reading, music time, Bible lessons and activity, English lesson, and some fun at the end doing games or soccer. It is a great opportunity to show the kids in the community that they care about them and pour into their 

lives. That evening, we drove around so we could see some communities outside the city, but close enough to still do ministry there.

At intermissions, we met another family who has a ministry in Xela so on our last day, we got to visit their ministry in the morning. Ensenanza de Agua Viva (Living Water Teaching) has a Bible university, a school for children K-12, an orphanage, a church, and a lot of space for hosting teams and other christian groups. Then, in the afternoon, we went with Foundations of Hope to the soccer program again and got to see some more communities right outside the city.

The whole trip was a great opportunity for us! While we still don't have an answer as to if we are going to move to Xela or not, it is giving us a lot to think and pray about. Please pray with us that God will show us if Xela is where He wants us to settle long-term.

Andi and Krishauna

Greater

        Yo espero que todos quienes lean esta publicación estén bien. Mi español está mejorando. En las últimas dos semanas mi maestro ha tenido más estudiantes empiezan clases entonces su esposa tuvo que ayudarlo. Entonces algunos de mis clases su esposa me ha ensenado. (I’ll stop here and translate J) I hope that everybody who reads this post is well! My Spanish is improving. In the last two weeks my teacher has had more students start classes so his wife had to help him. So a few of my classes his wife has taught me.

        

         We are coming back to Pennsylvania in June for two weddings, and we would love to bring you some different items. If you are interested in purchasing Guatemalan coffee, chocolate covered coffee beans, Guatemalan style bracelets, belts, scarves, or wallets let us know. We can send photos of some options or examples. We would love to sell enough items to pay for our plane tickets!

Recently a couple of my Spanish classes I have had to cancel because of our busy schedule. Yesterday we went into Guatemala City to pick up Krishauna’s passport with her new official residency stamp inside. She was already a resident, but needed to get her name changed. We also were able to use some of our Christmas money as I was able to purchase a few tools. This coming Friday we are headed to a place called Panajachel (prounced Pawn-a-hachel) for a weekend conference for Guatemalan missionaries. Please pray that the time will be an encouragement for us as well as a great time to interact and get to know others here serving in Guatemala. 

From the conference we are headed directly to Quetzaltenango (nickname is Xela – pronounced Shayla). We will be spending four days with a family there who has a soccer ministry as well as an after-school program. We look forward to getting to know them as well as seeing how their ministry operates. One of our other goals while there is to see a little bit of the area and be asking God if that city is where He wants us to settle permanently. Please be praying with us that God will make it clear and evident if this is where He wants us.

I wrote in an update a couple months ago that Push The Rock would be sending down a couple of guys near the end of March. I received an e-mail this past week saying that due to schedule changes and other things they couldn’t control they would have to visit in the fall now. In a way this is a blessing, because, Lord willing, by then we will be in a more permanent location in Guatemala, we will have a vehicle, and when they visit they can see the area we are living. In the meantime, I will be starting the application process for full-time status under Push The Rock. We will also be able to start to make more connections and begin to explore what ‘type’ of ministry would work best in the area where we live. (Ex. After-school programming, during school physical education programs, sports training, community events, tournaments, and tutoring.) I will also be keeping my eyes open for good deals on sports equipment to start building up some inventory. Please pray that details would begin to fall into place and that we would make decisions with God’s guidance and trust Him that His timing is always right.

Sometimes God’s timing is annoying or frustrating, but I am learning that He will do greater things than I ever could imagine. It’s also pretty cool here in Guatemala our church’s theme for this year is “Greater.” The church of Jesus Christ needs to be greater. Our love needs to be greater. Our trust needs to be greater. God is going to do greater things. John 3:30 says, “He must become greater and I must become less.” Through Him we can do greater things!

May God be greater in your lives!

Andi and Krishauna