We Made it to Guatemala!

Last Monday we woke up in our house in Spokane Washington and flew to Guatemala. Kadi's parents drove the seven of us to the airport with twenty-four bags and bins, and three cats. Our travel went really well, but it was a long day as we were up very early with a long drive through busy traffic from Guatemala City to Antigua once we finally arrived in the country. We are so thankful to our friends Melanie and Alex of Tree Ministries, who picked us up at the airport, unpacked and set up things we had purchased on our last trip down one month ago, and fed us dinner. 

Seth Studying his Bible

Since waking up for the first time in Antigua, our days have mostly been filled with unpacking, long shopping trips to other towns with larger stores, and a lot of assembling furniture and storage. Driving here is pretty crazy and has led to a few stressful moments together on the road, but we are getting the hang of it! After a week, I'd say we're still a few days away from getting everything in its place, but our house is finally looking and feeling like a home. We are doing really well overall, though the first several days there were many sad moments and thoughts of "what have we done?" Seth has had some great times talking at length in Spanish with some Guatemalans, and that has encouraged him. He's also been journaling and reading through chapters of Matthew and taking notes on about three chapters a day. We are eager to become fluent in Spanish so we can minister to people as we have already encountered several people we wish we could have communicated with better. 

Seth & Jack in a Prayer Group

On our first Wednesday, we went to our friend Alex's coffee shop for an English service with worship music and a short, encouraging message. After the message, we broke out into groups and prayed for each other. It was a great time of worship and fellowship. Alex is an excellent worship leader. This was the first social event we attended that got us out of the house and it was a huge blessing. We almost didn't make it because of a leak in our pila and a clogged drain in our sink, causing flooding. Thankfully our guards came and fixed it and this has led to some basic conversations with them, and us being able to give one a much-needed day bed/futon that was left for us. We are excited to continue developing these relationships.  After the service, we hung out for a while talking with people. It was awesome for not only us but our kids to get to talk with other Christian missionaries. They were asking them about learning Spanish and all sorts of things.

McKenzie Enjoying Her Favorite Pastime

Seth and Jasmine had fun attending the youth group at Calvary Antigua on Thursday. Kadi spent most of the day driving to Guatemala City with Melanie and Maggie to shop for many much-needed things for our house. On Friday we made waffles, and we went shopping at a decent size grocery store fifteen minutes away. For dinner, Melanie and Alex had us over and we had homemade pizza. It was so good! Jasmine enjoyed helping Melanie and Kadi make it. Our kids all played games together around the house. It was a really nice night with our friends, and a great evening out of the house. They are so hospitable.

Worshiping at El Faro

On Sunday we attended church at El Faro which is also the school for 170 sponsored kids who attend. The worship time was great! While it was all in Spanish, we knew all of the songs except one. They had great musicians playing an electric guitar, bass, keyboard, and a cajon drum. This is the church we will attend, be members at, and serve in. Dan is excited to spend more time with Juan Carlos, the pastor, and find ways to serve him and serve alongside him. The church service is usually all in Spanish, but since they had a missionary team there the sermon was translated into English. This was a blessing for our first week here. 

Seth & Jack playing fútbol.

We began Spanish lessons this week and everyone is enjoying learning new words and practicing using them. Some wonderful Christain Spanish teachers, Carlos and Nancy, come to our house and teach us. This will equip us to serve the people of Guatemala with the good news of Jesus Christ! Melanie also took Seth, Jack, and Dan to see the work of a ministry team she is hosting from Florida. They are constructing a building with three Sunday school classrooms for a church in a nearby town. A woman named Sonia, who serves in that church and community, spoke to Seth in Spanish for a long time. Seth really enjoyed learning more Spanish in this way. It was cool to see him bravely fumbling through the little Spanish he knows to talk with her for such a long time. He gave her a hug before we left. The people of Guatemala are so kind and relational. They laugh and smile a lot. Sonia's young daughter made Jack a bracelet out of pipe cleaners and put it on his wrist. Seth and Jack also had a fun time playing soccer with some kids in that community.

Jasmine & Kaylee Playing w/ Their Friends

In general, we are doing really well! We are so thankful because the Lord has made it clear to us that this is where we are supposed to be. This has made it easier to adjust. There are a lot of practical/weird things to get used to like: musty cupboards, handwashing dishes, motorcycles that pass you on the left, and 10 that pile in right in front of you, large chicken buses (old US school buses painted to reflect the culture here), cobblestone roads and all the one ways that motos don't follow but cars are supposed to!  We spent an hour buying phone cards and ended up buying the wrong ones that cost twice as much for only 15 days of service :) Things like that are fun to figure out and we are learning, but we would love prayer that we would learn Spanish quickly and that we would be able to get settled and feel like we are home. Please pray for the kids as they adjust to the culture and living here in Guatemala. It is difficult when everything is so different. We are having dinner with some friends this week and have invited our neighbors for dinner next week and they accepted! We were invited to a quinceanera for a young girl, we haven't yet met, by her missionary parents who are adopting her and needing friends to attend. Jasmine is very excited to attend and get dressed up! We still have the same phone numbers, so feel free to reach out. Thank you to those who have. You can also fill out the Contact Us form, below this post, to send us a message. Feel free to ask to be added to the update list so you get an email every time we post an update. God is so amazing. He has blessed us in many ways getting us down here safely with a great car and a house that fits us all. To him be the glory!

Keep scrolling for more photos. Many were taken by Seth.