Sights & Sounds

Neal, they've found him.  Squatch lives
about 46,814 miles from Panajachel. 

Last Saturday, a few of us Kids Alive folks went with a team from New Hope, MN to Panajachel on Lake Atitlán.  It was fun to see a little bit of Guatemala beyond Antigua/San Lucas, and we had a great day with the team!  

Every friday during lent, the catholic churches in Antigua take turns putting on a velación which is best described as a very big, very elaborate nativity, except the story is different every time.  It might be the story of Job, the second coming of Christ, the creation of the world, whatever each church picks for that year.  Whichever church has the velación on Friday has a parade on Saturday that goes all over town and lasts for as many hours as a Green Valley work day in Spring!  

Velación
The story depicted above is "The Second Coming of the Son of Man"

Also in front of the “nativity” is a large alfombra, or carpet made of dyed sawdust, sand, fruit, and/or flowers.  Sawdust alfombras show up all over Antigua on the weekends and are super pretty!  The piles of fruit creep me out a little . . .  maybe it just looks too much like a ritualistic temple offering.  Anyway, after it’s done being used to decorate the church, the family who made the alfombra takes it home to eat or donates it to charity.  I'm trying to suspend judgement on which things are syncretism and not; for now, it's a huge part of catholic culture in Antigua and something worth learning about!  

The alfombra in the Merced church

For those of you who love corny little one-liners (ahem*Dad*hem) there's a great one about the carpenter's phone and the Spanish word for sawdust.  Ask me about it and I'll tell it to you!  


Well, even barring the hour I didn't lose today, it's time to sign off.  An all-too-familiar sound awaits me tomorrow morning!
  
Lorenzo . . .  before 7 . . .  every .  morning .   This bird cracks me up!  Enjoy =)

Glory and Grace

This week has been one of many things learned! I forget just how much changing countries is like starting over as a baby and trying to "grow up" as quickly as possible, but it really is!  You exit your comfy, familiar home and enter another world where you now need to learn what to eat, how to speak, where to walk and how to get around, how to relate to others, and generally what the set of norms is for the people with whom you now live. Learning is both fun and exhausting - I find myself wanting to sleep like a baby too!

This week I learned . . .

One of the new things I could really get used to!
Even socks and undies come back from the
lavadería sorted, folded and tied with bows.

. . . how to eat on a pretty strict 7:00, 1:00, 7:00 meal schedule.
. . . that calidad or “quality” means “cool” in Guatemala and that saber or “to know” really means “I have no idea!”
. . . that walking in the middle of the street and/or right next to moving vehicles is completely normal, expected and often necessary.
. . . how to push my way through a crowd of 200+ people in a comparatively small space and back again.
. . . that market day is Thursday, Saturday, and Monday. Yaay! (But expect to make your purchases elsewhere on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday! :) 

My full-length mirror, the sholders-down half...

... and the shoulders-up half!  

With the amount of energy that it takes at first to do the most basic of activities, it’s challenging to make time for other things that are more important but more easily pushed aside. After 5 hours of one-on-one Spanish school and homework, etc. for a few days in a row, I found myself wanting less to study my Bible or read a deep, thought-provoking devotional or devote serious time to praying and wanting much more to just sleep. The only problem with that is that it totally unplugs me from the only One who has the power to sustain me and keep me going! 

The view from my window - I love this indoor/outdoor house!

So, this week my prayer has been that I would find space in my life to delight in God, to revel in his glory, to bask in his grace, to lose myself in something greater than day-to-day living, to be reminded of my smallness in the presence of someone who sustains the whole world. 

Simply put, to enjoy God for who he is!  Every day. 

And as always, God has been faithful to remind me of his grace and to fill my heart with his love and to provide “all things pertaining to life and godliness” because he’s God and he can. I read this week that discipline is “making room for God to work.”  This is truth.  Nothing I can do on my own will fulfill me like making my time and energy and affections available to the Lord!  

These are just as awesome as they look, and they hang from almost every balcony I've seen... including at school and in the downstairs hallway of our house!  Beautiful!   =)

Live for His glory!

Love every minute of it.

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 =)