Last week in Guatemala

I know the last post was "one month" but really it was 3 weeks :)

Girls performing their ballet dance

Semana Santa is close, we got to see a procession

The rainy season is peeking its head around the corner and we are getting rain showers almost every evening. Every morning is bright and sunny in typical Guate form. Our house is "mostly waterproof" with 8 bowls and buckets placed around the house picking up most of the drips. (you can only chuckle when it comes to this house). The rain has changed activities a bit.

Eric has been trying to finish a project of stuccoing the shed at the Zimmerman home.  He ended the day finishing in the rain.  Eric and Eli have started construction on an Incinerator for the home, since burning garbage is essential to the way of life here.  Pray they will be able to finish before we have to leave.

It really rained hard that afternoon

We took a trip with the Zimmerman house (the older girl;s home) to Auto Safari Chapin.  We had four boys in the back seat of the pickup, Eric and I in plus Kiya and Kaiyin in the front seat, it was quite cozy!  Three boys had a sleepover that night and talked literally all night long.  In the morning, the three boys left early to make sure they got their chores done!

Giraffe literally close enough to touch

Movie night at our house

We hosted a Movie Night for the kids who had good behavior and performance in school.  It was fun to see how proud they were to be able to attend. Heather continues to teach in the school and the kids have shown a lot excitement toward learning.  Two kids got 100% on their recent tests and were so proud!

Visiting the school in Membrial

Dinner with our good friends Juan Pablo and Julissa

Griselda and Paty, both girls I used to teach

These girls can't be this grown! 

Dinner with our good friends, Rafa and Evelyn

Our friend's church tithing cans :)

Rafa and Evelyn

We were able to take a trip back to San Lucas for four days and visit dear friends both missionary and local.  We were able to see many of the girls we used to work with all grown up!  It was incredibly humbling to hear their stories of success and have them say that we were a part of their story. It made us realize how important it is to be generous and loving in every encounter because it could be a "moment" for that person without your knowledge.

We've been reading through the gospels with the kids and have read Mark, Luke and John.  The kids are fascinated with the life of Jesus in the gospels and said they like this type of story time the best.

Abi teaching baby ballet

With only 1 week left in our trip we are starting to become much more reflective on our time.  Our kids love it here and have all shed tears about leaving even though it's still a week away.  We are nervous about re-entry to the States.  We know that life moves whether you move with it or not.  We know relationships have gone on to places we weren't a part of.  We know it's difficult to fit back in, we've done it before.  Even though it's only been three months, we've changed, hopefully for the better!  We wonder if we were missed or if we're even worthy to be missed.  Then we feel pretentious for even wondering.  So many emotions, it's difficult to explain.

Guatemala Week 3...

Eric getting love :)

Our Guatemalan House

The Beam in our Room, literally broken!

Even though we've only been in Guatemala since the 11th of February, we're are feeling at home in our situation (with the exception of the water situation).  We're attempting to settle into a routine of sorts.  Mondays Abi teaches two ballet classes, one for littles and one for older girls (with Heather's guidance).  On Fridays Anzo and Eric have been teaching Tae Kwon Do to all the kids for PE.  It's been fun to see them learn to kick and punch.  Eric has been helping out with a few random construction type projects as well as he just started teaching a discipleship class to the older kids at the home on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Heather is teaching school to the 1-3rd graders on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  She also assessed all the students for their levels to see where they stand educationally.  She's also been subbing from time to time in the 4-6th graders class.  In the middle of the week from 2:30-4:00 the kids all have PE on the airstrip where soccer or capture the flag seem to be the games of choice.  Abi and Zoe have taken turns during the week helping take care of the babies while their moms (all 13-15 years old) go to school.  Be praying for them as they are very far behind and need to catch up.  The kids all have made friends quickly and it's amazing how certain kids gravitate toward you.  Kaiyin is enjoying riding bikes and running around outside.  Kiya's been doing school in the mornings with Heather at the school and she also enjoys playing with the kids at the home.  On Saturdays we've spent part of our day in the main town trying to get groceries and errands done.  On Sunday, we went to the local church with the kids and they got up and helped lead worship.  The kids here are precious and have already stolen our hearts!

Eli, Angel and Saul swimming in the freezing water

There are two homes we are working with here.  One is the younger kids home with 27 kids and the other is an older girls home (13-16) where many of the girls have babies.  One of the girls from the older girls home is 14 and is in Heather's 1st grade class.  She is so happy to be learning and she works so hard.  Pray for her as she has goals to continue her education.

Please be praying for all the kids.  All of them have come from horrific situations and are in process of bringing normality back into their lives.  The house parents Dave and Deborah are amazing and do such a great job making sure the kids are loved and hugged daily.  The kids write in journals every night and have devotions multiple times a day. We are humbled to have a small part in their lives and ministry.

Worship Time!

Zoe helping with Babies

Heather helping with school

Abi teaching ballet

Helping Stucco the Workshop

Baby Ballet Class

Birthday Party!!!

Navigating Market Day

Shopping at the market

Guatemala week 2...

Our time has been full of changes and unexpected flexibiity (as we had expected). Things are going well here in Guatemala and we are enjoying the kids at the home and being together. Our kids are spending most of their time outside and playing/ working with the kids at the home. Our family has been able to spend a lot more time in scripture and prayer through which God is revealing some of the sinful habits and attitudes we have in our family dynamic. The kids seem much more spiritually aware and oriented here. I talked with Eli, Abi and Zoe individually yesterday and they spoke of what they could do with their lives to serve God instead of what they wanted to do for a fun/comfortable life as in past conversations. 

Ministry with the kids in the home has gone well. Schooling is progressing and Heather is able to work with the kids and the schooling process and both are seeing new avenues of education. Our kids have enjoyed helping with the babies and hanging out with the older kids. I have been able to help some with projects around the property. Kaiyin is enjoying his time though he can be challenging.

I am hoping to finally get the last kinks worked out in our water system. We have been without piped water for almost a week. That may not sound like a big deal but without being able do dishes, flush a toilet or take a shower it makes life much harder. We do have an pool of clear water in a basin behind the house. We have been using it to take large bowls of water out to flush or wash hands before meals and wash dishes. What happened was our pump would stop working about every three days or so and we determined that it had a bad bearing. We decided to replace the pump with a pump and pressure tank so the house would keep water pressure and we wouldn't have to continue using the light switch to turn on water  each time we wanted to use it. unfortunately, as projects go, We didn't have the right fittings then as things were taken apart we found other "discoveries" after a couple days of running around we finally got the system all together and fired it up to find...the pressure tank had a leak in it and sprayed water! We disconnected the tank but to run the system without the tank...yep, more pieces we didn't have. Once that was patched the system wouldn't pressure up so we searched the yard and found a broken pipe among the foliage.

the pipes from our source water to refill the cistern had all kinds of nastys in it which were washed into our cistern. I had to pump it all out then we needed to find the line and install pieces to disinfect and flush the line. There is always something to stretch your faith here.

Pray for us that we would have a greater knowledge of the worth of God's kingdom and that what we give up for that treasure is insignificant to that end (much like the parable of the treasure in the field)

How is Eric doing...

I noticed that I wrote about everyone but me so I thought I would fill in the gaps.

I am having a blast playing with the kids, ministering to the parents and teaching the older kids some math, Taekwondo and soon a discipleship class. I have lost a good amount of weight. Walking a half mile to the other houses many times each day for everything including clean water and to wash clothes will do that. I have been able to spend a lot more time praying, worshiping and reading scripture with the kids. I, like the rest of the family, am ichy from the scores of bug bites. It was just 2 days ago that we learned the benefits of bug repellent lotion. It "mostly" works :) The boys and I will start construction of some new wooden bunkbeds tomorrow and then creating an incinerator for trash disposal. Life is slower here and community is the lifeblood of each day. Today after TKD class several of the people just sat in our yard and we talked for over an hour. Not much of a hurry here...Enjoying God's goodness.

-Eric

Let there be internet...

We have internet now, just right now! after a month and a half without consistent internet we finally have internet in our house! Well...kind of...if it rains, the internet will go out and it is a 2Mb connection shared among 5 households and the signal is a bit sketchy but it is internet nonetheless. Thank God for his provision!

Never done that or seen that before (so far in Guatemala)...

Milked a goat (Abi, Zoe, Heather),
 turned coffee cherries into coffee beans using a hand crank (Eric), had masked men with guns run through the field where we were playing capture the flag (All), get a phone call saying “stay inside there are men with guns in the woods outside your house” (Heather),

eaten homemade yogurt (All), taught ballet and Tae Kwon Do to kids (Eric, Heather, Anzo, Abi), been awoken by a woodpecker eating termites out of the beams of our house (Eric, Heather), been shocked by 220 volts in the shower (Eric), separated our trash into burnables, goat food, and metal (All), used a machete to cut fire wood in the dark in the jungle (Eli, Eric), put deet on my temples to sleep in my bed (Heather), watched a scorpion crawl over my head while sitting on the toilet (Eric, who elseJ), learned to drive a stick on a jungle airstrip (Eli, not with Heather’s permission), got charged and gored (ok scratched) by a male goat (Heather) become friends with a 13 year old who has a baby (Abi and Zoe). 

Guate, one week in...

Guatemala is much like I had remembered it. The weather is beautiful. It reminds me of the three little bears. Reno was too cold, Nicaragua was too hot, but Guate is just right. It is chilly in the mornings and evenings, just enough that you might want a long sleeve shirt.The days are warm and bright without being too hot.





The surroundings are beautifully green with flowers always in bloom. The kids have made friends and at gatherings our kids are scattered among the others. There are coffee flies here that bite and leave large ichy bites. We are learning how to mitigate those.

Our house is an adventure in and of itself. The house was made from the wrong type of wood and then not sealed. Here decades later, termites have chewed up most of the wood. one of the exposed beams in our room has already collapsed sometime in the past. Luckily that beam is not over my bed but I see it all the time as a reminder. The other members are still holding but riddled with holes and decay. Each morning we are woken up at 6:30 just after sunrise by a stereotypical woodpecker (red head and all). He pecks at the rotten wood members just outside our balcony door right by our bed. I hope to get a picture of him but he flies away right as I get the camera out. Water without a pressure tank can be ggod for your health. My bedroom in on the 3rd floor. Whenever I want to take a shower, brush my teeth or go to the bathroom I have to go downstairs, turn on the pump, return up 2 flights, use the water, return downstairs, turn it off...well you get the picture. The house only has cold water. Luckily there are widow makers in the showers, a 220V electric water heater in the shower head. The unit is activated by water flow. You adjust the temperature by turning the water up or down. The more water that flows= colder the water, the less water = hotter. Of course to have a truly warm shower you have to have the water barely turned on just enough to get the unit to turn on. Unfortunately, if someone else uses water somewhere else, the water pressure drops=widow maker turns off=COLD.  In typical Guatemalan architectural form the house is quite dark and light fixtures are few and far between. The downstairs has only two lights for the living, family, dining, kitchen and stairwell. Despite all this we all find the house to be very charming and we like it very much. The house is mostly stone and has ivy growing all over. The house is large with plenty of space for us all. The property is beautiful and right on the airstrip where most of the outdoor activities happen.

Heather is in the thick of the school. She was able to do assessments on the kids and has already been able to change how they approach education for the better. Last night she had a very productive meeting with Dave and Deborah (the two parents) and they were very appreciative of the advancements. Heather and our kids go over to the school each day. Heather teaches the students and our kids do their homeschooling amongst the kids here.

Eli and Anzo have made good friends here named Saul, Angel and Johstin. The girls are always around Victoria, Jasmine and Blanca. They love milking the goats each evening and swiming in the pool. As I sit writing this Abi and Zoe are in love, holding an playing with the babies of their new friends.



Kiya is a social creature with no apprehensions so she is in the middle of everything. She is ready to go swimming at a moments notice. Kaiyin is being Kaiyin. Boys down here are rough and tumble so Kaiyin fits right in with their play. He has the typical "love him or frustrated by him" response by the volunteers here. There are plenty of sticks and rocks and paths to venture down here. His favorite thing is the rope swing that swings off a steep slope.

We have been able to attend services at the home several times and our family is enjoying family devotions and worship times in our big house. This past week we read the gospel of Mark (we finish it tonight). This is the first time the kids have read through an entire gospel. Hopefully we will having a lot of these kind of firsts on this trip.

Our posts have been few and far between. Internet has been scarce during this trip, much more so than I had expected. Tomorrow we are supposed to get internet at our house so we don't have to walk the 1/4 mi to the home to get internet.

-Eric

An evening outside...

I'm sitting on my front steps watching the fireflies in the shrubs and the clouds spill over the cliffs like fog waterfalls. The stars are coming out as the jungle begins its evening song. I am such a long way from Reno.

I went inside for dinner with the family. Just as dinner was finishing we heard a group calling from outside the house "Haddox's!" Was the call. A group of about 15 came in our gate and up to the house. They came to get us for a game of ultimate frisbee out front of our house on the airstrip with a lighted LED frisbee. It is pitch black out tonight because there is no moon in the sky. I stumbled into the field carrying Zoe on my back (she hurt her leg and can't walk very good) the two of us laid on the grass and looked up into the dark sky speckled with more stars than I have ever seen before. There are so many stars that I can make out the silhouette of the three volcanoes that surround us. We can hear the group of kids calling out to each other like in a soccer game and running right in front of us on the field but I still can't make out a single figure or even movement of any kind, nothing but blackness below the horizon with streaks of color from the lit frisbee in flight. Such an unusual but beautiful sight. I can't help but chuckle a little with happiness.

True Riches...

After being a month in Nicaragua (and spending way too much money), we were anxious to get to Guatemala where we knew our budget would shrink.  Instead of $1500 for the month, our rent here is $300.  However different our house in Nicaragua was to our house in the States, this house in Guatemala is so vastly different than our house in Nicaragua.  For the $1200 difference, we have no washer or dryer.  There is mold growing all over the walls, we have a tiny fridge the size of a hotel fridge (there’s still 8 of us), a camping stove that never really does boil water, water that only runs if you turn on a pump (no pressure tank), beams which are broken, three stories, big metal locks, bars on windows, and widow makers (water that goes through an electrical device that heats the water as it goes through it for showers), we have 7 plates (I broke one after 2 days), 8 forks, 8 knives, 8 bowls, one pan, one wok, one pot and a few serving bowls with two big spoons and three knives.  There are 3 volcanoes that surround us and as we walk the path to the children’s home, women are chopping wood in the forest for their cook fires.  This has really made us reflect on what our true needs are.  Even with so little, we are still rich because we have solid walls and a kitchen and bathroom that are located indoors. We have running water (even though we have to turn on a pump and have to fill a cistern with a hose).  However little material things we presently reside in, we are reminded that our true riches are in Christ. We have hope in Him and are blessed to be children of the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. 

-Heather

Exploring Nicaragua

The ferry, packed in tight

Beach at Ometepe

No he didn't really eat the dead giant cockroach

This past week we took a break from regular missionary life and saw some sights around Nicaragua.  First, we went to the island of Ometepe, which is an amazing island of two volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.  We rented a little 4 passenger car (yes we stuffed all 8 of us in it) and took it on a ferry across the lake to the island.  We found an amazing little hotel right on the beach.  We left all our electronics at home and there was no internet anyway, so we were left to creative devices and fun in the sun for our enjoyment.  We did as much exploring as you can in a 4 passenger non 4 wheel drive vehicle on an island of mostly dirt roads.  We had a flat tire which ended up taking over an hour to fix.  The plus side of the flat tire is they had a pet monkey and all the kids were able to hold and play with the monkey for the hour long wait.  This has been a lifelong (all 12 years lifelong) dream of Zoe so she was thrilled.  We hiked around the island and played in the waves that seemed like ocean wave and Kaiyin hunted fish with a spear.  It was an amazing experience. 

More beach, other island 

Kaiyin didn't really eat the gross fish :)

Petting the monkey, he ended up crawling all over her

Sand Castles

hike to a restaurant, I'm not kidding!

After the island we headed to the Pacific coast where we spent three days hiking and boogie boarding as well as attending the local church.  Eric ended up playing the Djembe at the service for Worship time.  No sting ray stings this trip!  During our trip we saw more than 40 jelly fish, 20 puffer fish (one completely blown up and dried out and of course we brought it with us), two scorpions, more spiders than we can count, lots of monkey in trees, a giant cockroach and a stinkbug!  The kids used their creative juices to create habitats for snails, fashion wooden rafts from sticks and vines, create sand castles with beautiful flowers and invent new games.  We have been praying together every night and reading which is something we had missed with our busy life in the States.

Kaiyin helping with the Djembe

scorpion

Jellyfish!

Boogie Boarding, so much fun

Tonight is our last night in Granada Nicaragua and we head out to Guatemala tomorrow.  Nicaragua is an amazing country full of amazing people.  There is no doubt the need is great here.  Please pray as we reflect on our past month in Nicaragua and the missionaries here who are continuing amazing work in Nicaragua.  We are excited to be headed back to Guatemala as we haven't been back since we left the mission field 7 years ago.  Also pray for Eric's job situation as he is still needing to have work here to help fund our trip.  Pray for the kids that we will be working with at Manos de Compassion ministries.  Thanks for the prayers for Kaiyin, he's had a really great few days.

Life here vs Life there

I've been thinking about the dailyness (yes I made up a word) of living here vs living in the States.  There are so many little things that make living in a third world different on a daily level. Even though we're in an upscale home, daily living is not the same.  Here are a few of them:

Washing dishes by hand with hard soap and cold water
Lighting the stove with a match
Taking a cold shower (and trying not to shower at night or in the morning because the water's even colder)
Walking to an outdoor market to buy fruit (I bought a papaya over 3 ft long for 1 dollar!)
Not eating cheese (it's very expensive and tastes like farm)
Not drinking milk everyday (again, very expensive and it comes in boxes or bags not refrigerated)
Drinking all drinks lukewarm (it's tough to bring ice home without it melting)
Living outside (houses here have an open courtyard, with an open roof)
Turning on individual air conditioning units in the rooms
putting bug spray on everyday (because houses have open roofs)
shooing the ants away out of your food
inability to make a phone call to family
no TV
no video games
no fast food
my 6 kids in one room
chasing mice (my kids have already caught one and are chasing one now as I write this blog)
no can opener
reading in a hammock
church bells at 6:30, 6:45 and 7:00 am every morning
pool!

walking, walking, walking

This may not be everyone's experience, but it's the difference in our lives.  Some things frustrating, some things awesome!

Ministry and birthdays...

Heather and I have had opportunities to contribute and teach in the ministries here. The kids have also found meaningful ways to contribute and love on the kids of Pantanal.

Heather has been able to lead several kids events and use her giftedness. One section of Granada is quite poor and has had a reputation for being dangerous so people have avoided the area. There is a "kids club" there and Heather had a good time singing and dancing with the kids there.

She worked with some of the local kids in another area with a local church Fortin where they have a feeding program. There she taught the kids some fun
songs and a lesson that Jesus is powerful based on the story  of the 5 loaves and 2 fish. She had 5 loaves of bread and then she brought out lots of bread and fed all the kids there. They all had a great time.

All the kids were happy to help pass out the food. Kaiyin was a little unsure, he knew it was serious and didn't want to do it wrong. Heather had good conversations with the local mothers and the kids were able to connect with the local kids there.

I had to return our rented car before the event was over so Heather and the kids had to walk back the 3 miles from Fortin.

We had planned on helping out at a "backyard Bible Study" for kids in Pantanal. We all crammed into a taxi to drive out to pantanal. 9 people in a tiny toyota. The many speed bumps were exciting as the
car creaked and scraped. We arrived and walked down the dirt roads of Pantanal but didn't find anyone. Kaiyin ran around and didn't quite understand that the streams in the roads was sewer water until he got some on his shoes and exclaimed, "my feet smeel like poop!"

We found out that the event had been canceled. Heather already had her lesson on Jesus is Powerful so we gathered local kids, the girls brought out the face paint, a trip to the local store for bread and it all came together.

At each of these ministries Anzo has helped with setting up and organizing things so nothing gets left behind. Eli played soccer and tag with the other kids and helped keep things orderly for the girls while they painted faces and fingernails. Abi even performed a special ballet dance for the kids in Pantanal.

The Sports ministry and soccer league have been moving forward. The soccer league just started last week and league games are in full swing. There are 31 teams and over 300 attendees. before each game the teams are presented with a short gospel message.

There have been a couple birthdays here. The daughter of Jesse, one of the locals who is involved in the ministries here, had a party where we were all invited. one of the "hits" of the party was watching Kaiyin dance blindfolded while smacking the Pinata.

Eli also had his 14th birthday here. For his birthday we went out to breakfast at the local waffle house for chocolate waffles. I rented a car (the one I had to return at Fortin) and we went 20 min away to a volcanic lake called Laguna del Apoyo. We spent the afternoon on kayaks, tubes and jumping off the pier into the warm water. Eli loves cheesecake but it is unheard of here. Heather managed to make cheesecake in glasses with some slices of mandarin on top for his cake. It was a great day.

We have also had fun with the people on the team here. Much of our fun has come in the water. The heat here isn't too bad but the water is a great place to horse around and cool off. We went to the lake beach on a play date with one of the missionary families. The beach has lots of slides and playground equipment (and biting ants). There was one 3 story spiral slide that is held up by two beams on the side. Kaiyin learned that if he stopped after the first turn he could reach out, grab the pole and then slide down it away from the slide.

One afternoon we taught the missionaries some of the songs we were doing for the kids that they enjoyed so much. Even while we were teaching them in the front room of their house, local kids started accumulating at the door so we opened it up, invited them in and had fun singing and dancing.




We have had lots of fun on our own as well.

Lots of pictures and not much text, but, I have to get going. Heather and the older 4 kids are working making hammocks with the deaf today and I am watching Kaiyin and Kiya. Kaiyin has much more interest in escaping than listening to me so...

Blessings to you and thanks for your continued prayers (we need them!)