January was a month of change where we were unsure of where all the sticks would fall, but we have come through on the other side…. And continue to gather confirmation of the path we are on.  Here is what we have been up to….

School news-  Monday we will begin classes for four different schools.  To me that is an explosion of the original idea, but as we walked the path and weighed options, we know that we did not want to just create a dead end for those students who have potential to study further.  And so we are opening two different nursing schools, one for auxiliary nursing and one for professional nursing.  We also are opening a bachillerato de biologia which basically is a pre med  program focusing on biology.  These students will be able to go onto medical or technical school.  The last school is an English school where we will be teaching, children, young adults and adults.  This school will also eqip those in our area for others jobs where knowing English is beneficial.

It is always encouraging when we have a random find in the bodega that greatly benefits someone.  A few months ago, someone donated some hearing aids that greatly have changed lives down here.  See the smiles on these faces.

A week ago we had 41 plates at our table.  Between teams, visiting doctors, and those that have made their home here…. We are becoming a formidable force.  Recently a Guatemalan doctor and his wife were here with a confirmation story for us all.  Both of them had hearts of gold to serve these people and it was seen from early on.  We continue to host people and rotate doctors through, trusting that God makes his way known in the midst of the chaos at times.

This is the dry season and there are so many contrasts to life during the wet season.  The first contrast is obvious- it is dry – and brown – and dusty, all of the time.  I will take this over cold and snow any day, but it gives me appreciation for those people that live within these circumstances as well as a deeper understanding of the difficulty that comes with these circumstances. Dryness can cause a desperation. Many women are desperate for the health of their children.  I see others desperate for food. For their livestock.  For their cracking skin.  Dryness of the land almost seems into the soul and causes a dryness within the person as well.  Many of the men have left to work at the coast where they can have two growing seasons.  There are families as well that have left this area in search of work.  Even children as young as five will work in the sugarcane fields to put food on the table.

We are lucky enough in our valley to have a canal that supplies water to the valley. The small percentage of people that own flat ground can use this canal for irrigation, allowing for another growing season.  The canal runs outside of our house and reminds me that water and life and so connected here. I see it daily. I hear the flow of water at night.  We even benefit from the water running over onto the some days and keeping the dust at bay.  If you have water, your life is that much richer.  You have water to wash I with, cook with, give to your livestock, and use in the fields.  It dries up the desperation and provides hope to continue.   Likewise we are encouraged to drink from a well that never runs dry (  The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in dry places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like watered land, like a spring of water, whose water does not run dry Isaiah 58:11).   As I see the water flowing every day, it is a constant reminder for me to go back to the source.  The source of the canal is a spring/ river at the top of the mountain.  This river constantly flows and the canal branches out from the river.

Likewise, we are promised in scripture that Jesus constantly flows life into us – Living water that refreshes our lives.  When I was younger I sang the tune “I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me. Opens prison doors, sets the captive free.   I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me”. This promise is one that I hope doesn’t come just from the physical water that is here in the valley.  With the expansion of our ministry and the opening of our schools, my HOPE is that we can figuratively pour living water into this valley that lasts, during the dry season, during the wet season, during the times of trial and tribulation seasons, and during the season of searching. Living water can quench even the driest of souls.

As 2014 promised, it is a year of change. A year of differences. A year of patience testing. Starting with the return trip during the polar vortex which delayed just about every plane in the airport, I headed back to embrace the differences.

When one door closes, another is sure to open and we are waiting to step forward right now. With the opening of the school set for this month, the teachers have come and we’ve been further training them in clinics and working with them to know their levels of competency and teach them the side of nursing that they don’t get here, compassion. The school is cleaned up and ready, and we have a class of students eager to begin. The piece missing is cooperation from the Guatemalan government. They have threatened to take back the seal of approval that was given last fall. This is not just happening to us but to others in the country as well. We have learned that it is a byproduct of the corruption here. Thankfully there is a Guatemalan friend that knows the system who has been daily speaking with governmental officials. And so we wait and pray at this time…. Diligently, feverently , knowing that what is happening is illegal but we cannot make enemies with the system yet work within the system.

Because there is no snow or reminder of the Christmas season, Christmas could pass us by without us really even knowing it occurred.  There is no music blaring in every store you enter, cold winter air, or Salvation Army bells ringing.  We have reminders of it ourselves though as we have the advent candles out and snowflakes on the windows, creating the spirit that I know, just a little bit.  It has caused me to reflect though on Christmas itself.   Christmas is a holiday that celebrates Christ’s birth, hence the Christ part of Christmas.  And yet in Guatemala it is not a major Christian holiday.  Because there is such a great divide between those who are Christians and their traditional ways of celebrating holidays, they do all they can to remain separate.  Having a Christmas tree is against the Christian rules here is Guatemala.  Decorating is not accepted.  There is little celebration or even mention of the day.  Then what is Christmas if there is not celebration?  Yes, we have established these traditions and many times we get so caught up in shopping and the hustle and bustle of the season that we forget the root of the holiday.  But our traditions also help to create anticipation for Christmas Day.  We are Christians should remember Jesus year round and although there is debate over what month Jesus was actually born, it is during Christmas that we focus on His birth and celebrate him even further.  Our traditions that we have built in bring us to this celebration.  It brings families together with the reminder of what Jesus means to each of us during this time of year.  I hope that your preparations have been in anticipation of this celebration.

Today we went in search of a Christmas tree…. Here are a few pictures from the excursion.

I feel as if I’ve been experiencing a lot of death lately, both figuratively and literally.  It has amazed me how quickly green can turn to brown.  The rains ceased less than a month ago and everything is not only covered in dust, but has died as well.  There is a haze over the land impeding my view of the mountains as dust is heavy in the land.  I feel this weight over the people as well almost as I see feet shuffling along and few signs of life.  Death.  Dust.  How bitter these can taste.  How heavy these burdens can be.  This week we enter into a greater heaviness as well as the fiesta has come to town.  People come in from the surrounding villages to celebrate, often drinking until they pass out on the streets.  There is a lot of activity that is promiscuous and destructive during this time.  Death.  Death to a different life.

This death has even a greater choke than this.  I have been helping with ultrasounds more frequently and have seen three ladies who lost their babies in one week.  In any culture and for any person this can be a heart wrenching experience.  But I have found it to have multiple emotions here ranging from confusion, to fear, to sadness and numbness.  Having to confirm this truth makes your heart ache.  Last Tuesday was the third, a mother of four who was seven months pregnant.  Flor was doing the ultrasound and came upstairs to confirm what she had seen.  As I walked towards this momma, a blue towel was draped across her abdomen, almost signaling the death that lied beneath.  The woman was listless, not moving, already retreating to a mindful of questions and gripped by fear.  And her face was so downcast and worried, with reason.

She was alone to care for her four children.  Her husband was away working at least till Christmas, she wasn’t sure.  Nor was she sure about how she could get to the hospital or what to do when she did arrive.  She had four children to care for.   Armondo explained to her that this wasn’t her fault and that at times God wants some children with Him even before they are born.  She nodded her head to this, but the blank stare on her face was filled with fear as she realized what she was walking home to.  And so she slid off the table and over to her 18 month old son.  She lifted him onto her back, wrapped him in her rebolsa, and started the journey home…. Only to live out the reality that so many here encounter, giving birth to a child that
is not breathing.  The air and my heart were heavy as I realized how difficult death is, each time.

Yet another woman comes to my mind.  She came last week for medicine for her nerves.  Six months ago she had lost her baby and had to go to the hospital to have it removed.  The experience still made her anxious and she spoke with fear as she was afraid this would happen again.  I have never lost a baby, but I have friends that have.  I know it is one of life’s most difficult moments.  And yet I find the difficulty doubles within this culture.  There is little understanding to what needs to be done or what could happen if nothing is done.  And there is less trust of the hospital and fear over what could happen there, then there is of dying at times.

As I prayed with this first woman and watched the tears well in her eyes, I could see the determination in her face.  The determination that she would be there for her children.  That this too would pass.  Yet I couldn’t help but be filled with hope that one day, in the near future, there would be a place a little closer to home that would welcome her with love and be a place of refuge for her during this time.

O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
Our God is not dead, He’s alive, He’s alive

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

Matt Maher – Christ Has Risen Lyrics

Although death creeps all around us, we have a promise that death is not the end.  That there will be life and that it will come up from the ashes.  And so we continue on, to give home to these mommas and press forward for what is to come.

Since we work all weekend and Saturday and Sunday are our busiest days, we take Wednesday off as our rest day.  This is the day that I like to explore something or go on a day adventure somewhere.  I catch up on emails and try to feel grounded.   Here are a few of the things we have done on our “day off”.

The closest town to us is San Andres.  It’s a 10.9 mile road that is dirt, with plenty of potholes, ridges, rocks, ditches and hills.  I should say hills, hills, and more hills.  It’s one of those challenges that’s sort of been established around here – to ride there and back.  And so I agreed to the ride this month with the crew.  We had a close call with a truck, numerous close calls to wiping out, we rode the last 5 miles in the dark, while downpouring, and the sweat blinding me.  How no one wrecked is still a mystery.  Our bikes were sort of pieced together and we only needed a wrench once on the ride.  Not bad.  David was riding Grace’s oldest bike – kind of like a unicycle.  None the less, about as good as adventures get around here!

We also have visited the Rio Grande….. a good hour drive from our house and then a good 40 minute walk down a STEEP grade.  We found a raging river at the bottom where we had a picnic, found a lizard, and explored.  It is always good to get a break and a change in scenery.  For me the highlight was finding this waterfall…. a clear trickle of water was flowing into this massive river of turbulent water and as I followed it, it led to a beautiful cleft.  So peaceful.  So quiet.  As I climbed higher and higher my eyes feasted on the beauty.

A termite nest in a tree….

The view from the cove.

The Rio Grande itself

The view from midway down our path.

We have referred to the nursing school building as the Redemption Project and this project is all about redemption from the beginning to the end.  This building was a house of beauty years back when a robbery went bad and the woman that lived here was murdered.  Since that time, this house has been used as a house for prostitution, housed many wandering families, and has been an eye sore to this community.  As we prayed over possibilities for the school and a location, I felt a strong pull in my heart that this place would shine in the community. And so we spent 3 months trying to track down the owner of the house (the son of the woman who was murdered – he did not come to town ever because the roads were too bad and the house holds too many memories).  And since that time we have been cleaning and restoring the house to make it like new, or at least to comply with the government standards for a school.  Let’s take a look from beginning to now….

And so we prayed over the place, wrote scripture on the wall to be covered by paint and radiate God’s truth.

In the back of the property there is a large section of land that we hope to use for agricultural projects.

And a few chicken coops that we are changing into houses for the families of our teachers…

And so as I walk the grounds, I see beauty all around and am remind that what others see as dust, can be turned into something used for His good… and so we continue to work with the promise that in January this place will be full of students eager to learn – and to understand the idea of redemption.

Last week I was awoken by a noise that confused me.  It was dark out.  I had no idea what time it was and I could hear a man’s voice outside of my window.  And I heard a whip and something moving against the boards.  And then it was gone.  About four minutes later the same sound was back and I wondered if someone was pacing outside the building.  By the third time I got out of bed trying to figure out where the sound was coming from and if it was important.  No, it was just the neighbor plowing his field with his oxen.  I guess he wanted to get it finished before the fog lifted and there was a hint of sunshine.  As the dry season sets in the ground gets very hard to work and so there is a rush to get the fields planted again.  Here in Canilla, we are blessed to have two growing seasons because of the canal that feeds this area with water from the river a top the mountain.  And so thus begins an early morning, and an early start to another corn harvest.

And so this morning when I heard the same sounds and took a peek out the window to notice a slice of light peeking through, I knew better than to think someone was in distress…. it was just the neighbor finishing the plowing.