Christmas Surprise in Guate!

The “Roomies”

Well another semester has ended and we have come forth a little more as gold. We’ve sharpened each other like steel on steel.(as the GVB explains) I truly am grateful that God has allowed me to have very kind and considerate fellow “compañeros de cuarto”!    

 

Finally the Fin (end) of Finals!

Here at GBSC we are thanking the Lord that the end has arrived!  We have taken the last exams and are soon to be on our way home!☺

 

Early morning philosophy studying!

More Pictures on the Ice

  

                                      The Skaters

                              

Who says they’re for kids?             Andrew y Pepe

             

Jonathan y Rodrigo                         The Brothers   

Enjoying the Ice!

This past Saturday we had the priviledge of going Iceskating in Columbus, In.   Most of the skaters we took had never been on the ice prior to this experience.  Needless to say it was rather interesting.   Here are some photos-

      Andrew, Ernesto, y Andrew

        Saying “Cheese” for the camera.

 

Reconnected…

El Guero has just gotten back from an extended vacation and is hoping to be able to blog with a little more regularity.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  El Guero is a little out of the routine so please be patience.  Thanks!    

The 13th of September “A very special day”

Fifty-six years ago today, a young farmer couple in southern Ontario, Canada, were blessed with a beautiful red-headed girl.  And today El Guero would like to wish her a happy birthday and say thank you for such a godly heritage that she has passed on to us. Thank you MOM!

        

Megan shares one last time…

I am so thankful for the presence of the Lord while we were traveling 
through Honduras. I want to thank all of you for your prayers as we traveled 
and for your comments of encouragement that kept us going throughout this 
trip!  I have a quote that I read out of my devotional as I sat in Miami Florida 
airport waiting on my plane to arrive: It sums up my entire trip: 
 
"What oppurtunity lies before you? Although there are big challenges to consider,
sometimes we overlook smaller ones and miss wonderful chances to affect those 
around us. God specializes in turning small, insignificant things into amazing 
demonstrations of His love: A baby born in a manger. A small boy's lunch."

This really came alive to me as I looked back over my internship and 
realized the many peoples lives that were influenced by our group and most 
close to home...ME! I want to be an instrument through which He may use 
everyday! Megan

Maria shares her heart once more…

I have a bitter-sweet feeling as I write this last entry for the blog. I am so happy to be home, but at the same time I feel as if I have left half of my heart behind ( ¼ of it in Guatemala and ¼ of it in Honduras). What a wonderful trip!! I am so thankful for the opportunity to go and for all that God has done for me (and the group) on this trip… protection over the many traveled miles, no major sicknesses, no dangerous or life threatening situations, and many wonderful lessons along the way. He is such a wonderful God!  The following “book” contains some exciting stories and a few highlights of the last two weeks of the trip. Andrew, Megan and I left on the 27^th of July and traveled to Honduras, by bus. I was so excited about visiting Honduras. I love to travel and see new places and meet new people. Thank the Lord for a safe bus ride. It was a long one (5:30 AM – 4:00 PM), but what matters is that we made it there safely. Thank the Lord for drivers that are wise and cautious. Yes, we did have some that didn’t appear to be too wise or cautious.  The excitement began when we arrived in Honduras and had no way of communication whatsoever and no Honduran money. We had a phone, but no service at the time. We sat in the bus station and prayed that the Miranda’s (Honduran family that Andrew and I met last year) were on their way to pick us up. Our prayer was answered and they arrived around 20 minutes later. We arrived at the missionary house that we would be staying at for the first few days. They told us to feel free to use the phone and make ourselves at home. We were excited…communication at last!  What a sad day it was when we realized that the phone would not let us make any calls out. We were stuck at the house with no way of calling anyone and no money. **…Fast forward to the next day…** The Miranda’s came to pick us up the next morning and take us around the town.  Our first stop was to the bank… thanks to Nathan for wiring us some money. We then went to the Christian radio station and spoke on the air (in Spanish, I might add). And finally, we went to buy some minutes for our phone, which was now working. We thought that things were good and life was under control.  WRONG! Due to the fact that we had a Guatemala phone and were in Honduras, the phone was in roam and “gobbled” the minutes down as if it was ChocolateJ. We bought $5.00 worth of minutes and received about 4-5 minutes worth of time to talk. It was enough time for Andrew to reach several voicemails…. We were stuck again. We went home and prayed that the Smiths would call us back. The reason we were so desperate for the phone was because that was our only way to contact the missionaries and some other friends that we were hoping to visit. To make a long story short, the Smiths did call us back that night and Stephanie was then able to get a hold of the missionaries and have them call us. I felt much better knowing that we had definite plans for the next week.  The first highlight of the trip was going to San Luis, Honduras and visiting with the missionaries there – Zach and Sara Roberts and Daniel and Tiffany Melton. Zach and Daniel picked us up Monday morning and took us to San Luis. What a ride! It was about a 3 hour drive…what started out to be a nice, peaceful ride ended in bumps, curves and some more bumps as we made our way through the mountain. As we were traveling through the deserted mountain, I was beginning to think that we were making our way to “no mans land” and was surprised when we actually came upon a small town. While in San Luis, we were able to experience many new things… attending chapel services and sitting in on a few classes at the Bible institute; touring the radio station (Thank the Lord I didn’t have to talk on it again); touring a local bakery; touring the mission clinic and holding a baby that was less than 2 hours old; walking down the runway and viewing the beautiful scene; and simply getting a true glimpse of what mission life is really all about.  We made our way back to Jalapa, Guatemala on Monday, August 6^th. The excitement started around 11:00pm Sunday night as we made our way to the bus station. Considering the fact that we were leaving at 2:00am Monday morning, we decided we would wait a few hours in the bus stop so no one would have to get up at such a “crazy” time in the morning. Bro. Miranda took us to the bus stop. Much to our surprise, we found the bus station to be dark with a few people hanging out here and there. We knew there was no way we could “safely” hang out there for a few hours. We drove around and contemplated what we should do. We finally found a section of the bus station that had a few lights on. They went in and checked things out and found a guard who assured us that we would be safe. We sat in the bus station and patiently waited for our departure time. Yes, we did pass the time in the bus station without any problems – Thank the Lord! We began our journey back to Guatemala. What a ride (she said with a big sigh). Let’s just say that this was one of the drivers that didn’t seem to be too cautious or wise. Gracias a Dios we made it back in one piece and arrived in Jalapa around 5:00pm that night (Yes, it was a very LONG day).  We had a wonderful surprise when we arrived in Jalapa. We were expecting to stay in the dorm at the Bible Institute, which was fine except for the fact that Megan and I were dreading the thought of having to take freezing cold showers. (For those of you wondering… Yes, I did have a missions experience with some cold showers on this trip. I was just hoping to not have to experience any more J). We were more than thrilled when the Rickenbach’s insisted that we would be staying in their house while we were there in Jalapa. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with them over the last couple days of our trip. The highlight of my visit in Jalapa was being able to see and hear about all the new progress and exciting things that are happening with the Christian day school that is being started. We even had the opportunity to help clean out the classroom and prepare it for the first day of school.   The main thing about the last two weeks that was beneficial to my life was being able to spend time with missionaries and get a small glimpse of missionary life in action (it is one thing to hear about it and another thing to actually experience it). We had a wonderful time of fellowship with each family. It was so encouraging to see each of them giving their lives to God and allowing Him to use them there on the mission field.  They influenced my life through the many words of encouragement, the advice that was given, and by simply giving their time and effort as they took us into their homes and made sure we enjoyed our visit. I want to say a great big thank you to each one of them, and to all of you (our faithful readers) for your prayers and support while we were away, and most of all to my Heavenly Father for all of His many blessings throughout the trip and in my life on a daily basis. May God bless all of you abundantly! ~ Maria H.

HOME SWEET HOME!

We are home at last! We thank the Lord for His protection upon us over the thousands of miles that we traveled in the last six weeks! Maria and I arrived safely to Shelbyville Friday ntight about 8 pm and Megan a little later that night in Cincinnati.  Thanks you all very much for all your prayers!