In Chiquimula, Guatemala

Chiquimula (chee-kee-moo-lah) is the city in which we are spending our first week and a half in Guatemala. As I mentioned in the previous post, we are working with Otto Bonilla, a local pastor, and his family.

When we got here last Thurs., Otto gave Julie and me our biggest assignment right away – teaching English.

The Bonilla’s run a sponsorship program for the school children in their church. One of the things their U.S. contact wanted for the sponsored kids is the opportunity to learn the English language. Erick (the youngest son) is the one normally in charge of teaching; he helped us out on Fri. with both the forenoon and the afternoon classes and on Sat. with the forenoon class, but since then we’ve been on our own! 

Teaching is one of my bigger weaknesses (especially classroom teaching). In this specific area, I have been stretched several times on this trip, each time more than the previous one. I’ve done some Sun. school and VBS classes in the states before and I figured out that I like teaching Bible lessons if the class is small and consists of older kids/ppl, like pre-teens and teenagers. The first stretch came in Belize, when Julie, Lewis, and I were asked to lead morning devotions for the kids at TCA. Julie opted for the little kids so it worked out great that I got the older ones (5-8 gr.), but it was a large group of kids – around 40! Lots and lots of prayers later, with God’s strength, I managed to talk for a whole 12 minutes on how man looks on the outside but God looks at the heart!

When Otto told us that we’ll be in charge of the English classes while we’re here in Chiquimula, I knew that I would be the one in charge cuz of being able to speak Spanish better than Julie. On Sat. Erick was only there part of the time so that we could get used to teaching on our own, then right in the middle of trying to get my mind wrapped around being in charge of teaching 5 more times he asked if I wanna do a short lesson for his Sun. school class the next day. When I told him I would think about it I knew that I should say yes, but I wanted to see if I could convince God otherwise – I mean, my Spanish is far from perfect! So, after coming up with all kinds of excuses – I told both God and Eric that I’d do it if it didn’t have to be anything long.

I was praying that God would miraculously give me the language fluently, which didn’t happen cuz for some reason He enjoys our weaknesses! But a God-thing that did happen right before I started talking to the kids on Sun. was that all my nervousness disappeared as soon as I opened my mouth. I still had to grope for phrasing and word but they said they understood it, despite my very in-need-of-improvement Spanish :/.    

We’re only doing one English class a day, this week, instead of two so that Julie and I can help with other projects in the afternoon, AND it helps not drain my creativity level! The following pictures show some of the projects our family has been able to help with, and some of the stuff we’ve been doing for fun!         

Playing sports with the kids on Sat.

Lewis, Billy, and Dad dug a trench for a drainage system (around here, picks come first, then you shovel out what what's loose). 

hard at work! 

the drainage system 

after a hard day of work they get to cover it up again :D (complete with very sore muscles!)

Sat. eve, Erick and Marleeny, the neighbor girl across the street, took Julie and I to the park to see the lights

eating 'gringas', a kind of taco called by the slang word for American girls (they were delicious ;) 

on Sun, everyone went along to the park
Ansy, Billy, Lewis, Julie, Me 

Otto, Lisbeth, Mom, Dad 

Erick, Billy, Julie, Ansy, Me, Marleeny, Lewis, Jenifer, Otto Jr. 

on Tue, Lewis, DadnMom, and I painted a house for a the widow pictured here with her son and daughter

halfway thru 

the walls are a tile color and the doors a dark brown 

we celebrated Julie's 17th birthday on the 10th

We’re planning on leaving here to go to Chijoj (the village we call ‘home’, where we’ve been involved since ’98) to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s with our ‘family’ and friends there; we’ll probably pull out of here the first part of next week.

As always, thank you, all, for your prayers. Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season!  

                                                                     

     

2 Corinthians 12:9 - And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."