Mitchell Road Christian Academy in Patzún
A group of mainly 14 year olds (and their adult sponsors) from Michell Road Christian Academy in Greenville, South Carolina, came to work at Alfa y Omega this past week. They were a great bunch of young people. On Sunday afternoon, they took a walk up to the Kakchiquel radio station (Ken is on the radio committee.) On the way this is one of the sites they were able to see.
A couple of the girls were able to try their hand at making tortillas. As I've said before, it's a LOT harder than it looks.
The Patzuneras make it look SO easy. However, most of them have been making tortillas since they were between 7 and 12 years old. Practice makes perfect!
The school Bible teacher came and taught some of the Walk Through the Bible curriculum. Ken translated.
They even brought down soccer and basketball uniforms for the Alfa y Omega school.
Since I had a fever of 103.3 on Thursday night before the team got here on Saturday, a fellow missionary offered to come and help me cook for the team. She was a GREAT help. Thanks whole bunches, Maria!!!
A couple of the girls were able to try their hand at making tortillas. As I've said before, it's a LOT harder than it looks.
The Patzuneras make it look SO easy. However, most of them have been making tortillas since they were between 7 and 12 years old. Practice makes perfect!The school Bible teacher came and taught some of the Walk Through the Bible curriculum. Ken translated.
They even brought down soccer and basketball uniforms for the Alfa y Omega school.
Since I had a fever of 103.3 on Thursday night before the team got here on Saturday, a fellow missionary offered to come and help me cook for the team. She was a GREAT help. Thanks whole bunches, Maria!!!
Water - water ..... a not a drop to drink!
On Saturday, March 28, Ken noticed that the water was not coming in very well. He went to investigate and found that the pipes were clogged. Two or three years ago, he put a couple of filters in the line to filter out the large sand that was coming in from the street. So....on Sat. he went to clean out the filter. Not only did that need to be done, but the water coming in was pretty dirty! Here's proof! (And this was taken after some of the junk had settled to the bottom of the bottle. The initial color reminded me of dirty pineapple juice!
He quickly turned off the water from the street so that our tanks would not fill up with dirty water. Fortunately, we had a full cistern, so were able to use that water to pump it up to the tanks. (We use gravity fed water in our house.) Unfortunately, another missionary family did not shut off their water supply, and their cistern was filled with junk. They had to pump all the water out.
On March 30 the water was getting better, and on the 31st, I was able to do a load of laundry. (It doesn't help much to wash your clothes in dirty water.) Ken even checked to make sure the city had added chlorine. They had! However, later, as I was giving my strawberry plants a needed watering, I noticed that the water was getting dirty again --- not as bad as before, but not as clear as it should have been. Ken had to shut the water off again for another couple of days. :( We are thankful that our cistern is large enough to supply us with water for a whole week.
Note: A week later, city workers came by to tell us they had had problems with broken pipes, but that they were finally fixed. Therefore, the water should be fine. That's a great time to tell everyone about the problem - after the fact!
He quickly turned off the water from the street so that our tanks would not fill up with dirty water. Fortunately, we had a full cistern, so were able to use that water to pump it up to the tanks. (We use gravity fed water in our house.) Unfortunately, another missionary family did not shut off their water supply, and their cistern was filled with junk. They had to pump all the water out.On March 30 the water was getting better, and on the 31st, I was able to do a load of laundry. (It doesn't help much to wash your clothes in dirty water.) Ken even checked to make sure the city had added chlorine. They had! However, later, as I was giving my strawberry plants a needed watering, I noticed that the water was getting dirty again --- not as bad as before, but not as clear as it should have been. Ken had to shut the water off again for another couple of days. :( We are thankful that our cistern is large enough to supply us with water for a whole week.
Note: A week later, city workers came by to tell us they had had problems with broken pipes, but that they were finally fixed. Therefore, the water should be fine. That's a great time to tell everyone about the problem - after the fact!
Stolen Coffee
On Feb. 27, a car owned by fellow missionaries was stolen off the street in Antigua. (They had a club on the steering wheel.) In it was $200. worth of Guatemalan coffee that we, personally, had bought to sell to raise money for Patzún. (They were bringing the coffee to us.) We don't know why this happened, but it has been another opportunity to trust God to supply both our needs and the needs of Alfa & Omega Ministries.
Busy, Busy
You are probably wondering what on earth we are doing these days. In January and February we were involved with registration details for the annual Intermissions Conference here. We made name tags for everyone attending, met with the hotel twice to figure out room assignments, chose the menus for the weekend, and were in charge of the registration at the hotel on the first two days of the conference. (Several people registered on site on both Friday and Saturday.) There were some major glitches this year, but thankfully, the Lord worked everything out. The conference was great and the speaker was too.
Two days after the conference, we flew up to Texas (March 3). We were able to borrow a car from a friend (Thank you, Roger!!!) and drive to Oklahoma to visit both sets of our parents. Our visits with them were very short, but we were so glad to be able to see them. Returning to Texas, we went to a week of meetings with CAM in eastern Texas. It's always great to meet with our colleagues who work in other countries.
After the meetings, we were able to spend a couple of days with Cindy's sister and brother-in-law in the Dallas area. Two of their children and families were there, plus visiting friends of theirs from Mexico. They had a full house, but we had fun being together. It was also great to be able to visit with friends while there. Ken and I ate supper with two women whom we hadn't seen in years. Thanks Edith and Dagi.
We returned to Guatemala on March 17, cleaned house and prepared for the arrival of friends from Huntsville, AL. Paul and Betty visited with us for a week. We took them to Panajachel and Patzún besides around town here in the capital.
I (Cindy) have had a headache since Tues. Yesterday I took my temperature and found it was 102.5. No wonder I've been feeling bad. (I'm sure my temp. hasn't been that high since Tues.) We have a group of junior highers coming on Saturday, so I need to feel better SOON! Please pray! There is a LOT to do before they come.
Two days after the conference, we flew up to Texas (March 3). We were able to borrow a car from a friend (Thank you, Roger!!!) and drive to Oklahoma to visit both sets of our parents. Our visits with them were very short, but we were so glad to be able to see them. Returning to Texas, we went to a week of meetings with CAM in eastern Texas. It's always great to meet with our colleagues who work in other countries.
After the meetings, we were able to spend a couple of days with Cindy's sister and brother-in-law in the Dallas area. Two of their children and families were there, plus visiting friends of theirs from Mexico. They had a full house, but we had fun being together. It was also great to be able to visit with friends while there. Ken and I ate supper with two women whom we hadn't seen in years. Thanks Edith and Dagi.
We returned to Guatemala on March 17, cleaned house and prepared for the arrival of friends from Huntsville, AL. Paul and Betty visited with us for a week. We took them to Panajachel and Patzún besides around town here in the capital.
I (Cindy) have had a headache since Tues. Yesterday I took my temperature and found it was 102.5. No wonder I've been feeling bad. (I'm sure my temp. hasn't been that high since Tues.) We have a group of junior highers coming on Saturday, so I need to feel better SOON! Please pray! There is a LOT to do before they come.
Christmas in Pennsylvania
Ken flew to Pennsylvania on Dec. 16. We were both so glad to be together again - after 7 weeks. (Don't want to do that again, if we don't have to!) Here are some pictures of our Christmas there.
Den Momma (Me) showed Isaiah how to paint Christmas cookies (with colored egg yolk)
Concentrating!
He did a great job for the first time - and being 2 yrs. old!
Den Momma (Me) showed Isaiah how to paint Christmas cookies (with colored egg yolk)
Concentrating!He did a great job for the first time - and being 2 yrs. old!
We had a REAL tree - the first in MANY years for the Guatemala Spaughs.
Scott cut it down at a tree farm.
Josiah, ready for church on Christmas Eve
Susan and Lois, friends of ours in Canada, made the hat and booties for him.
Who turned out the lights?
Scott led the Christmas Eve service. Ken sang a solo.
Isaiah, Scott, Josiah, Erin
Precious boys
Jayme, Cindy, Ken
Isaiah was excited about this gift.
He loves to play "bassetball"!
Scott cut it down at a tree farm.
Josiah, ready for church on Christmas EveSusan and Lois, friends of ours in Canada, made the hat and booties for him.
Who turned out the lights?
Scott led the Christmas Eve service. Ken sang a solo.
Isaiah, Scott, Josiah, Erin
Precious boys
Jayme, Cindy, Ken
Isaiah was excited about this gift.He loves to play "bassetball"!
My trip to Huntsville in early Dec. 2008
I went with Erin and Scott and their boys down to Huntsville, so that they could show Josiah to Scott's family. I stayed with Drew and Rachel while there. Had a great time.
Evan - He's not this serious very often!
Helping with the wood floor in the new addition to their house.
I helped too by deciding which different length plank should go where. Drew then stapled them down.
Evan and his mommy
Our 3 grandsonsIsaiah, Josiah and Evan
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