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