Home is where Jesus is

¡Saludos de Guatemala!

The last few days have been rather a whirlwind of meeting new people and getting to know new places.  I have yet to sleep in the same bed all week!

Wednesday morning, I was wide awake 3:30 with no hope of sleeping for the next few hours.  Excited much?  God sure has a unique way of working himself into my schedule.  =)  It was definitely not so much the magical best-morning-of-my-life that I had anticipated, but it was real, and I'm here, and I'm loving it, and I had a good long laugh at myself for those wee hours of the morning that I was wishing I wasn't awake yet.  

Thursday morning was better.  I woke up well-rested in this beautiful little cuartito, with my nose as cold as ever.  Ahhh, a little taste of home!

Partially moved in to my new apartment!  

Anything that was at the bottom of my checked baggage is definitely still at the bottom of my checked baggage, but I have a cozy little place to come home to after these 4 weeks at language school.  ¡Dios es bueno!  God is good!  

The comfy couch and spare chairs - all are welcome!  The girls are allowed to come visit as a treat, provided they're on good terms with their house moms.  

The view from my windows!  

(There's actually a pretty sweet view of the volcano, but I like this one better.  Still can't believe I'm here.  yyyaaaaay!)

Besides meeting the Oasis crew and getting oriented in my new job, Wednesday's biggest highlight was having dinner with one of the houses.  I don't think it matters what country you're in, family time is family time!   

We went to Zapote on Thursday with the Canada team, and I met all 136 of our littles there at once.  They're precious.  I'm looking forward to getting to know them better!  

Spanish class is going to present it's own set of challenges, but I'm looking forward to working the kinks out of my sentence structures and building my vocab.  (I know, it's nerdy.  The nerd in me wants to know how to say "nerd" in Spanish - there's so much to learn!)   =)  It's a blessing to have this time to re-focus on the language, even when all of me would rather stay put in the Oasis bubble.  

Please pray with us that the girls who live here would see the protection of their authority figures in el Oasis for what it is - a gift of love and a blessing from God!  Sometimes it's hard to transition from calling your own shots and surviving in spite of your "authorities" to submitting to a family system and believing that they have your best interest at heart.  More than ever, these girls need their Daddy!!

Love you all!
Renae  

In the Land of Eternal Spring!

Thank you all so much for your prayers, hugs, and awesome goodbyes.  <3  

¡ya por fín estoy en Guatemala!  
I'm finally here!!

I met a wonderful friend on the second leg of my flight who pretty much adopted me as her daughter and went right through customs and out of the airport with me to make sure I managed.  I had to smile :) it was pretty great.

¡Mañana, al Oasis!  I still have to pinch myself that I'm here.

A pair of ducks at home in the land of lions, foxes, turtles, owls, and … teddy bears?

MTI snippets

... a.k.a. the last little pre-Guatemala nugget :)

One of the really cool things about MTI is that kids go through the same training as their parents, only at their own level.  It’s amazing really, I mean,  have you ever tried to explain the concept of a paradox to 5-9 year-olds?  Well, let's give it a shot!  You see, there are these two ducks, Yaay Duck and Yuck Duck.  During times when everything is changing, there are some “Yaay!” moments that can make us really happy and some “Yuck.” moments that can be really painful.  Funny thing is, the two ducks always swim together; in order to have Yaay Duck, you have to welcome Yuck Duck… 
...hence they are a pair-o’-ducks! 

These two ducks have been quacking away in my life lately, but it has been a rich and rewarding experience.  Leaving hurts and going is wonderfully exciting.  Paradox!

The other animals in this zoo only come out during times of stress or conflict.  You're probably familiar with these guys already, if you think about it!  

The lions usually come out first, since they revel in the opportunity to fix a good problem every now and then.  They're great at telling it like it is and coming up with a solution.  

Next, you might notice the foxes striking a sly deal to make sure that both parties give a little and take a little equally.  We might be in a tight spot, but... "hey! what about this?"  

Hanging back are the teddy bears, making sure that everyone feels loved regardless of the outcome of this troublesome interruption to their relational harmony.  

Up in a tree somewhere sits an owl or two, with a great perspective of everyone’s wants and needs and feelings, ready to put together a perfectly pleasing plan for all involved.  They love sensitively solving problems, but speed isn’t their specialty… sometimes the other animals move along without them when they need a fast solution.  Hence, most owls learn how to speak a second language or two in the animal world  :) 

Oh, the turtles?  Those little critters pulled back into their shell a long time ago!  You won’t see them until after all the facts have been gathered and it has been made abundantly clear that there really, actually, indeed is a problem to solve.  Why dive into an unnecessary conflict?  Some will stay in their shells until the last of the lions sits down and takes a nap, but don’t worry, the teddy bears will keep an eye on them and do their best to coax them out eventually.  

Obviously there's a lot of humor involved explaining conflict styles via animal stereotypes, but I've found it so helpful!  I hope you do too.  


Well, folks... this is it!  I will check in next from closest-internet-cafe, Guatemala!  Thanks for reading!  

all AND nothing

MTI snippets

Here's a little treasure for today:

First of all, let’s take a look at “my world”.  This is where everything seems normal, natural, right, and good.  It is a fantastically comfortable place to be, I know the right script to read at the right time and I fit in well. 

Now let’s peer into “their world”.  This world is different.  I don’t know the script here and I am uncomfortable.  Shoot, these crazies breathe water like it's air!  Everything seems abnormal, unnatural, wrong, and bad. 

Welcome to the definition of cross-cultural missions!  The funny thing is, “their world” can exist pretty close to “my world” before I even leave my country; I don’t know about you, but I live with a couple of “their worlds” right here in Ramsey, MN!  
The key to crossing a cultural difference of any size is taking on an attitude of learning instead of teaching, listening instead of telling, choosing to get into uncomfortable positions, and develop a childlike fascination with the other person’s way of seeing the world, for the sake of more effective communication and understanding.  

It’s totally not easy.  

In fact, sometimes the best I can do is to just sigh, “God, help!”  But when mistake after mistake and stupid question after very obvious stupid question brings about a sense of, “I’m finally starting to get this!” and “their world” becomes my new home, it’s totally worth it. 

The MTI battle cry goes something like this: 

If you’ve got to make a million mistakes before you figure this thing out, then get going!!  
(…but try to make 10-20 point mistakes.  Don’t blow all 1,000,000 at once.)

As Paul encouraged the Corinthians, let's do all things for the sake of the Gospel, and nothing that would hinder it!  

(1 Cor. 9:19-23)

Safe? No one said anything about safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you!

8 has always been my favorite number.  If you have 8 of something, and a friend comes along, you can split it evenly… and if you each have another friend join you, you can split it again… and again!  It’s just a cool number that way.  That’s why today is extra-special, because 8 days from now, the “center of God’s will” for me will cross two international borders and land in Guatemala!  Right now, I’m split in two between what is, what God has for me here, and what’s coming, what God will have for me there. 

            He is so good,

                        He’s so faithful,

                                    He is El Shaddai, God Almighty, 

and in light of that, it really doesn’t matter how little I know for certain or how big the next few weeks seem as they loom in front of me; He will be there just like He is here, every day. 

The last 3 weeks, I’ve been out in Colorado for some training before I go.  The best way to summarize the experience is TOOLBELT!  In lieu of telling you what to do in a million different situations, the folks at MTI set out to give you a whole bunch of new tools and teach you how to use them.  Then, you practice, practice, practice! 

Conflict Styles day: practice on your small group! 

Stress Management day: here’s some stress, practice managing it! 

Grief and Loss day: use those tools and cry together! 

I’m starting to see that when God says, “My strength is made perfect in weakness,” it means me staring those weaknesses in the face and opening the door to a deeper dependence on the One who glorifies himself in them! 

I wish everybody could take missionary training. 

It could really change your life.  

More highlights to come!!  Thanks for reading =)