Travels, Travels...

Hey yáll!
Lesson of the day(s)...patience and flexibility.
I left the States early Wednesday morning, and watched a nice sunrise as I took off from Louisville. A stop in Atlanta, and then, in a matter of hours I was in Guatemala again. The weather was the same, warm and humid, but the classic developing world smell of diesel exhaust hung in the air as I left the aeropuerto. Actually, Guatemala City Airport has been remodelled extensively this last 1/2 year, and is quite modern and comfy these days.
Out of the Airport I caught a taxi to get to the bus station. I always have a fun time in the taxis, because usually I´ll have a good conversation with the driver, them speaking english and I speaking Spanish. I´m surprised to find that after not practicing spanish for a month that I can still do ok.
Got on the bus, and relaxed for a couple of hours. Guatemala looks different this time around- everything is nice and green from the rains. Eventually I ended up in Zacapa, and stayed the night in a cheap hotel...probably a 1/2 star rating if not less. But, it was only for one night as Melanie was coming to pick me up on Thursday, and then we´d head up the mountain.
Or so I thought. On Thursday I met up with Melanie, who had bravely descended the mountain, only to hear that unfortunately, there were some funeral arrangements to make. Very sadly, one of the students from Matasano had been hit by a car the day before, and had died later that night, likely from head injuries. After making all the arrangements, with the help of Carlolina (the pastors wife) and Charlie (one of our good friends in Zacapa) it was no longer sensible to drive back up the mountain...it was evening and it had been raining hard that afternoon. In the end it was better that we were in Zacapa Thursday, we were able to help the greiving familiy and hopefully give them some sense of consolation.
So we stayed an extra night in Zacapa, in a much better hotel (I think the hotel from the night before is a ónce only´deal...) and today we´ll head up.
All in all it hasn´t been too bad. In Guatemala nothing is 100% cerain, so I´m always ready for a slight delay or change thrown in. As I like to say, that´s part of the game.
Patience and flexibilty...great ´talents´to possess. I think of people in the Bible who had these- Christ, with his disciples, needed a lot of patience. They never ´got it´when he told them important things. Paul, he was certainly a flexible fellow, continueing his ministries whether he was in prison, or kept from visiting the various churches. There are tons of other examples I could bring up, but that could take a while. For now...I´m glad to be back in Guatemala. Not everything goes as planned, but that keeps things interesting.
OK, up the mountain we go!
Koos

Quick Update...

So I said I'm going back, and some of you know that I've been real eager to go back, and it took me a bit longer than I first expected. But...I've got the ticket, and am headed back on July 25th. Excellent. Time to get back to my 'normal' life.
Thanks to all for your continued support, prayers, and love- both for me and the people of Pinalito.
Koos

Leaving & Going Back… (and the time in-between)…

Time for an update? Yep.

Getting ready to leave Pinalito was a bit of a blur, I was surprised at how quickly my stay in Pinalito had passed by, and I was not really ready to leave. There was a lot still to be done and programs were starting to take off. We had just gotten a new pastor in Matasano. The garden was looking terrific and the worm beds were churning out worm tea. You could just feel that things were picking up speed, and over these last four months we as Faith in Action (FIA) had really become a close team. We’d had our rough spots for sure, but in the end these brought us closer together. I’d gotten used to the way of the mission life- which at its simplest means waking up, filling your day with some activity that is useful, and going to bed satisfied. Our days were good, and I was feeling that “I could keep this up for quite a bit…”.

But, the plane ticket was bought, my older sister was getting married (couldn’t miss that for anything…), and there were people at home waiting to hear my stories. And so I left. Actually, a large portion of the Faith in Action team left for the states, to visit family, share their stories, and for other reasons. In Pinalito remained the two mountain missionettes, Sarah Ruzic and Melanie Golden, toughing it out and holding down the fort.

I came home, enjoyed a Sunday at church- the service (there’s definitely a difference in worship styles…), and Sunday School, where I got to share some of my experiences, and the it was off to the wedding, which was in Canada. It’s a good thing I enjoy traveling, because I’ve done quite a bit in these last few weeks. The wedding was perfect, and it was also a chance to spend time with family and share my experiences with them.

We returned home, and had the pleasure of having a small scale FIA reunion- the Ortiz family (Jamie & Cindy, and the 4 kids- Reina, Jasmine, Jamison & Olivia), an integral part of the FIA team (Ortiz Blog) visited Louisville for several days while traveling to Michigan. They stayed for a couple of days with Sarah’s parents, and then with me and my family. We had a fantastic time, the kids are always fun, and the people we shared with got to hear another side of the stories from Guatemala. The best thing was that the Ortiz’s got to attend church with us, to enjoy the service as well as have an opportunity to share with the church through a Sunday school presentation. It was great. As I share more and more with people about my experiences, I’m always amazed at how much there is to talk about. I always end up just scratching the surface, and I’m realizing how hard it is to paint a picture for people of what life is like in Guatemala. It’s an ongoing work, and I’ll continue painting the picture with this blog and other things.

Now…I’m ready to get back. Some of you have read from Sarah’s Blog that the first week wasn’t that easy. Things went wrong, stuff broke, people got sick, and the mission was taken advantage of. Tough times. But for me, it showed me how tight of a team FIA has formed. The gut reaction I got when reading all of the bad news was along the lines of “Man, I wish I was there so that I could be of help, be part of the action.” – I’d rather be there in the midst of all the troubles than sitting on the sidelines. We really are a team, and we’re in this fight together. And we take comfort that these trials in the end strengthen us…Romans 5:2-5 “²…We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

The only help I could offer from the sidelines was that of prayer…and it did help, things are looking better these days in Pinalito, running a little smoother. Allison Colby, from Christ Church United Methodist, visited Pinalito for a week and came back enthused and inspired. The pictures she brought back showed a Pinalito still standing, a really cool classroom, and a rather successful garden. Once again, we see that prayer is powerful, and prayer is key.

Ok, I’m going back into the game. It’s time to get back into the action. The game plan? My fight strategy? First, we kill ‘em with love…of course. I’ve learned over the last few months that education is one of our most important focuses, and so I want to work on projects that foster educations, brains. Currently we have an extra curricular class for the older kids who are approaching the end of their elementary education. Eventually a class for younger kids may be added, and possibly a class solely for computer education.

I want to add one more dimension to our education program- that is, a Trade School. We’ll start out with carpentry, and in the future possibly teach welding, electrical, and mechanical skills. The hope is to empower the locals, especially the young men of the area, to use the talents that God has given them (even if they are not aware of them yet…). I want to give them potential. Unleash it. And as we empower them with skills, we’ll also open doors to empower them with Christ, discipling them along the way.

For all of you on the sidelines- keep praying for the team, and thanks for the prayers and support already offered. To finish off, a verse or two usually does the trick. Today, I couldn’t find one verse that ‘fit’. Instead, I’d like you to read Psalm 146. It fits.