Safe Arrival to USA

I am in NY City and was able to spend a little time with my brother's family before they went to LA. My brother was ending a week long VBS at his church. It was a crazy time with lots of dancing and fun. I totally enjoyed the kids and thought it was a blast. My brother of course was Farmer Troy and the kids loved him. I was quite a favor in the audience because they all love Troy and Troy loves me. I recieved orange blankets from his youth group and then my brother had the kids hit two pinatas. Okay this is where the story get interesting. So instead of two strings and pulling the pinatas around Troy tied one of the pinatas on the end of a broom type stick. Which because the kids were so anxious to hit the pinata many of them did not stand back and few got hurt. So he decided to run with the second one and have them just tear into it. My thoughts were at the time... I am so glad God called me to Guatemala instead of my brother because of course after having been to seventeen birthday parties in Gaut I can see that putting up pinatas is an aquired skill. I think the kids would have done the same thing with Troy in Guat and this might have been just as insane. Lots of tears but also lots of laughter. My brother has such a great heart for kids. I loved watching him teach the kids about Jesus. I didn't cry because I was hit by a pinata stick but I did tear up after hearing the story of a little boy wanting to do sweet things for his mother after attending VBS and knowing Jesus wants him to be a helper. I know it meant a lot to my brother because he puts so much energy into everything he does. It's nice to hear of the fruit of his service. I love you Troy!
Also, being here I was able to spend the entire day with my nephew and he is amazing. He has such a large vocabulary and he loves some of the same things I do. He loves the number 2, apples (which I have realized I love yellow and red ones in Guat), and he loves talking on the phone. My poor sweet nephew had to visit the doctor to get his shots and it was not a happy site. He looked at me and cried mama..... I tried to hide so I wasn't left in his mind of the person who was with him at the doctors office but later that evening Jonny sat beside me with him and he burst into tears. (I told her it was probably a reminder of his shots). Oh well. we made up prettyy quickly. I love Huck so much.... bye

Me Papa!

Well, it was Father's Day and I was busy preparing for my trip to the States and then just got preoccupied with meetings. The next thing I know, it was nine in the evening and we were at a missionary families house. We were wishing him a happy Father's Day and then it hit me. Oh no! I haven't called my father. Because I am an early morning caller on special events dad had gotten a little nervous. When I called he seemed so relieved. He was so sweet and we talked for an hour and a half. WOW! I couldn't believe it. It was as if he didn't want to get off the phone with me. I had to tell him I was heading to the states but not to Wichita. It about broke my heart. He was quite for a moment and then said but you are coming in Oct. right? It was all my little heart could do to not cry on the phone. I got a chance to go to NY because we have to travel outside of the country to renew our visas. I was planning on going to Hondorus and check out the sights. But the trip got canceled so then I was hoping to go to Wichita. After looking at prices it was twice as expensive to go to Wichita then NY. Then after talking with my brother about the possiblity to go to NY. It was exciting to know his church was going to present blankets to a village we sponsor here. Because he is wanting to have me accept them, it's a great opportunity to talk with his church and share the ministry I am involved in with them. Plus it's our mom's birthday that weekend and it's been exciting to know I will still get to see her on her special day. Please pray for my dad as he is really enjoying his life right now and be able to help others. He is not yet a believer! My heart prays for our eyes to join in Oct. God Bless. I miss you daddy!

Some Come and Some Go

My roommate has decided to go to language school and pursue her dream of writing. She will be missed and I thought I would contribute a small blog in her honor. I thought about some of the things she has taught me. Jello rolls (which, I think at night she was putting in my stomache because it's looking like I had too many), maps and locations of cities in Guat, how strong toes and fingers can be when you have been in gymanastics your whole life, cereal can be eating late at night in bed, photos can go for a lot of money if put in the right frame, you can change colors of pants without spilling something on them and late night talks have a way of bring about lots of laughter. God Bless you Amie as you travel and find where God has placed you for His purpose.
Two additional missionaries have joined the team recently, Josh and Ryan. They have been great to get to know and God continues to bless this ministry with addtional help. So far Josh (a RN) has witnessed a kid at recess bust his nose into a bar and a little girl break her arm just running out to recess. He has been great in working with our secretaries and teaching first aid to our kids. Ryan has been working extremely hard grading papers and much needed maintance work. He has been a great addition. Please continue to pray as our ministry continues to change and grow. God Bless!

Shockwave!

There are a few things my old roommate wanted me to share with you all on my blog. I would like to share with you right now things that have surprised me or even shocked me since I have been here. One thing that is a little shocking is the size of bugs. They have a bug here called the rhino bettle. It's about three inches long and one inch thick. It flys to the groud and craws slowly towards anything it can crawl up. One night during a volleyball match one crawled up my leg it was extremely scary.
Another surprising thing was seeing people carrying water on their heads in jars but talking on cell phones. But it shouldn't be that surprising. I thought the jugs were clay and when I went to a store here they were plastic. I just thought that was a little smarter then clay.
Feet- people here walk everywhere and some walk barefoot. It simply is not unusual to see women walking with flat sandles and her children not wearing shoes. The weather is not bad for this because it usually rains and going bearfoot is the best way to not have to clean your shoes, I guess.
Most everyone here wears white socks with black shoes and color of clothes doesn't really matter nor the pattern. So basically anything goes here so you don't have to worry about matching. Although, most of the shops here sell name brand clothes or at least put the name brand on their clothes. It's interesting to see top brand clothes names being wore by most of the city people. They dress very stylish and look very Americanized.
Did you know they have a bug here that goes into your skin and it doesn't stop iching until it dies. So some bug bites will stay iching for about ten days. Right now I have about fifteen on my feet. I woke up about 3 am because they were bothering me so bad. But it caused me to read my bible so that's a good thing, right?
I will have a picture of the rhino bettle soon for those who want to see it. Just a few things I haven't shared much on my blog... I hope you enjoyed the insight.

School Trip with Junior High and High School

This year we took the kids to Guatamala City and to Antigua. It was a great time of visiting museums, the national theater and the zoo. I was very impressed with their zoo but forgot my camera on the bus. We stayed the evening under a eight car garage in tents because it was raining. It was still a lot of fun. We played "Chubby Bunny" and "Honey if you love me smile". It was great to listen to them speak in English and we laughed until we couldn't laugh anymore. I won the chubby bunny contest and one of the kids said to me "I am impressed Miss Tina you really have a big mouth." After fourteen marshmellows stuffed in my mouth, I have to say they got some good pictures of me. Alittle embarrassing. Two of the kids who went with us, father was murdered and therefore they had a body guard with us the entire time. The two boys changed out the peace rose in one on the museums and it was a very touching moment for me. Those two boys are so loved by this school and I am thankful they have their friends here to love on them. They smiled a lot this trip it was very good to laugh.

Youth Group teaching kids!

I volunteered to help with the youth group here and it has been a lot of fun. They minister to a village called Acamal. It's about fifteen minutes away from our town. They use car batteries to have lights in their homes. That day we used a battery to work the keyboard. There is a nice new church on the top of the hill where they worship. Inn Ministries helped pay for the construction. The pastor of their church works through Inn Ministries and provides them with a full time pastor. We were able to visit them this past Sunday and it was a ton of fun. Our youth did a great job and it reminded me of being back at my old church working with kids. The interesting thing about this VBS is the kids didn't speak spanish. There are several languages in different villages and these kids speak a lanugage which has recently been translated for them to have bibles. They were very interested in having fun and loved it when I got on the piano and taught one of the guys a song. Well, it wasn't a christian song but it was fun "Hey, hey baby!" Anyway we played games and then fed them a snack. It was only about two hours but it was so beautiful at the top of the hill. God truly cares about everyone.

Sports: A Success 4 Him!

This is Marianna and she is such a sweetheart. We had them fill out sheets on what they liked about sports club and what they didn't like. Marianna gave a great responds to this question and I wanted to share it with you. "I like sports club because it teaches you how to do sports better and also biblical applications along with it." I am very excited to hear there have been positive results because of sports here at the school. Joshua wrote, "I like sports club because the kids don't get mad when they mess up and it's a lot more fun that way." They are not used to having to be places on time and to start things as scheduled. It's been great to see them coming to practice early and gaining responisibility. Sports club has been good with teaching them to balance school work and sports. A few had to quit because of grades while others perservered through. Sports Club has taught me it's important they learn how to have fun with something and still gain an understanding of responsibility. I was very proud of these girls and boys. They are all sad these sports have ended but they are pumped about basketball getting ready to start up. We had fifteen girls at our first basketball practice and it was exciting to see them play through the rain and make a good transition in sports.