Canyon Loop

Canyon Loop

Blogged with Flock

What's up? and what's next...

I know many of you are anxious to hear from us to know what the next step is for us. The best I can say is that God is continuing to prove himself faithful in guiding our path. There still are a few viable options and hopefully we will have a confirmed choice in the next week or so. Our goal has been to have a decision by the end of September. A goal I think we will meet.

Please continue praying for us during this time of uncertainty. Just as Abraham was led to the "land God would show him" so we find ourselves in a similar boat. Pray the the Lord would limit the options to one and make it clear just as He did with Jordan.

Returning to the states has been both difficult and a blessing. It has been wonderful to see family and visit with some of you. It also has been hard adjusting to U.S. wealth. In Guatemala we would be considered wealthy but here we would not. For example... we have been looking to get low fat powdered milk because you can get it cheap in Guatemala and (just like with juice) dilute the mixture with 2x the water so your milk goes twice as far because milk is expensive. In Guatemala this was normal for us. Here it sounds sad to water down your milk with half water yet we still have so much! I hope this inner struggle will always stay with us for some part.

The house in Lake Almanor has been such a blessing for us. It works for our family very well. The boys have a bedroom, the girls a little loft and we have a bedroom upstairs. There is a big deck in front that we enjoy every day. The lake is two houses down, across the street and down a path through a neighbors yard. The weather has been good (though colder than Guatemala). The kids have enjoyed the woods and bike rides. We even went fishing last Saturday (but caught nothing). They have done well with all the traveling but don't like it so much.

Heather has started homeschooling again. The kids enjoy having half the subjects taught in Spanish. I am studying with Pastor Greg at Sierra Bible in Pastoral Practicum and will be preaching the next two Sundays in a small church in south Reno called Pathway.

We will keep you all up-to-date with the process and will surely let you know when the Lord has given us a specific direction. We are pursuing a particular option but, for now our direction is to seek him while we pursue this particular path and trust him that if it is the right path, the pieces will come together, and if not, He will close the door and move us on to the next option.

Thank you for your prayers...

Back in the USA...

Yes we are back. We arrived in Reno Wednesday evening and are getting settled in a cabin at Lake Almanor. We still don't have internet but hope to have that remedied by the end of the week. This post is short but we just wanted to let you all know that we are here and we'll give more info when we actually have internet at home :)

Also I am building a homepage at ericheatherh.googlepages.com which will have links to our calendar and give a little blurb of the latest info so you can check just one place.

The next step...

As the office for EMI moves to Costa Rica in the next month or so, our time in Guatemala is coming to a close. Words cannot even begin to describe the incredible things we have lived and seen (more details in our official newsletter coming next month). Which brings us to the next phase of our ministry. We are going on our first furlough (which means a time to reconnect with all your supporters, churches, and ministry partners). We will be arriving in Reno , Nevada on August 29th and have a tentative furlough time of 3-4 months. Most missionaries will spend 3-5 years on the mission field and then back Stateside for 6 months to 1 year. We have lots to pray about and decide about our future ministry. We hope to meet with each one of you to thank you for your support and spend time in each of our supporting churches during our stay. The Lord has graciously provided a home to stay in (for free, we just have to pay the utilities) for the time back home. We will be officially stationed in Lake Almanor , California but we will be traveling a lot to visit all of you! Please continue giving your regular support amount during our furlough time. We will be sure to keep you up to date on all the latest happenings with us as the Lord reveals them to us in His time.

Jordan is no longer a possibility with Habitat, the director said that he has too much on his hand with his current staff to take on any new staff. We are thankful to know that that door has been shut by God and not by us.

A couple of things to pray about

• Our future ministry: EMI has continued to express their interest in our going with the office to Costa Rica , please pray as we consider this possibility
• Our time on furlough: Transition to Stateside living (especially for the kids), homeschooling, great reconnection with supporters and supporting churches
• Our moving: Pray as we prepare, pack, say our goodbyes, sell the rest of our stuff (by the way, there's only a bed, a kids pool, and a dishwasher left to sell, Yeah!!!)
• A car: We have to buy or find a car while we're back.

-Heather

Circuit of Guatemala...

Another Haddox Venture (buckle up, this one's also unbelievable)
We took our first Family vacation in 5 years (there's been weekend outings, but nothing longer than 2 nights).

First we went to Rio Dulce (the opening to te eastern seaboard) and stayed in a jungle lodge where we had to walk across wooden suspension bridges just to get to our bungalow. We took an amazing boat ride from there to the mouth leading to the Caribbean sea . It was amazing and very relaxing. On our next trek we went north to Tikal (where Survivor took place) and were able to walk the Mayan park and see the amazing Mayan pyramids build around the same time as Christ's birth. It's was incredible to see the technology that the Mayans had, as well as the kids enjoyed the monkeys in the trees and the crocodiles in the lake.

Our final stop was at Semuc Champe, an amazing underground river that surfaces and leaves behind amazingly clear pools of water full of peace and tranquility. This is where the trip turned from peaceful to stressful. We stayed the night in a tiny little tarantula infested hostel and it rained all night and hard. When we woke up, we found that the river had risen 9 feet and was continuing to rise. We went to see the peaceful pools of Semuc, and there was nothing but a raging flooded brown river. We decided, we'd better get out of there. By the time we left the water had risen 12 feet and we slid out of there on the muddy, hilly, rocky roads that even the 4 x 4's had stopped traveling on. We made it to the nearest village (the only way back to our home was through this village) only to find that it was completely flooded and there was no way across the bridge. We had to hike through the knee deep bridge through town with one kid on our shoulders and the other on our back while the towns people gawked and pointed. We made in on the other side and had to rent a hotel room in order to spend the night. At 1:00, Eric went to check the water level, only to find it had risen to about 3 feet deep now. While watching the river, a lady came running out crying that her house had just fallen in the river and disappeared. It was looking really desperate.

By 5:00 the river had risen to about 8 feet deep and was at the top of doorways, 5 people had died in the town next door, and our car which was parked 200 feet away from the flood waters was now 1 foot in the water. Eric took a wooden canoe across the bridge and was able to move our car to higher ground. We spend the night (6 people in 3 twin beds) and awoke to find that the rain had finally stopped, but the flood waters had risen even higher over the night. By 10 a.m. Eric was able to weave his way through a muddy side road and across a higher wooden bridge to finally bring our car to the other side of town. We had to take several other detours through muddy side roads due to the bridges all being under water. We were able to finally make it home to safety, but please pray for the people who lost their homes or businesses to the flood (many we saw first hand) in the towns of San Pedro Carcha, and Coban.

Another adoptive victory!

Heather has been helping the Pittman family, some people having trouble with their adoption, with their difficult situation for the past several months. This past week she was able to help them through the final embassy process where they finally obtained the visas they needed to bring their two adopted children home to the US.

Several months ago we were contacted by some people who were asking for some help in a difficult situation. They had finished the adoption process but due to some bureaucratic red tape they couldn't get visas for their children to come home with them. Heather knew that some other friends (Juan Pablo and Julissa)of ours here in Guatemala could use some financial assistance and were great candidates for caring for the two babies until the process could be resolved. Since then and over the past 5 months or so, Heather has been involved each step of the way. With the difficulties and knowledge of the adoption process we went through to adopt Anzo, Heather was able to bring a very real and tangible comfort and assistance to the Pittman family. She was also able to be a source of encouragement for Juan Pablo and family as they were in a difficult time of transition also.

Heather has been able to bless many different people and families here. I may work full time with eMi while Heather spends most of her time schooling the kids but she is also daily touching the lives of those around her through church, story time, as Principal of the English Academy, counselor... the list goes on and on.

Megan comes Eric goes...

Eric left to attend the eMi 25th Ann World Conference in Jackson Hole WY. (read here) While he was gone Megan, the daughter of some friends of ours in MN, came down for a week to help Heather with the kids and experience Guatemala on a much more personal level living with a missionary family. Heather and Megan did a 2 day VBS for children at a new feeding center in Chimaltenango run by our friends Rafael and Evelin. Their week was packed with VBS, going to the beach, embassy visits and much more.