Home at Last

After a year-and-a-half of planning, selling, and packing we are finally home in Guatemala! On January 25th after a long night in Ronald Reagan Airport and a long day of traveling we arrived at our house in San Antonio Aguas Calientes. Our family, along with our dear friends Casey and Carmen Stickley, unpacked and slept soundly that night.

Since our arrival our days have been filled. Our new hometown is a wonderful place, but it can be challenging to figure out. We are outside the typical tourist areas, so it is hard to find anyone who speaks English.

Shopping is an adventure as there is not a Wal-Mart in sight. Instead, our shopping is done in small storefront businesses. We go to one shop for meat, another for vegetables, another for housewares, still another for hardware… We have made fools of ourselves repeatedly with our slaughtering of the Spanish language, but the people are friendly and helpful in spite of our blundering.

Another adventure has been our attempts to purchase a van. We originally intended to purchase a used vehicle, but that has proven to be futile. Vans are in high demand here, and used ones demand a high price. As a result, purchasing one that is 4 years old with over 100,000 miles would only save us about $4,000-6,000. So, after much prayer and counsel from wise believers, we decided to buy new. Unfortunately, finding the right van has proven difficult. We have decided that air conditioning is important as temperatures can top 100 degrees occasionally, but the dealerships are out of vans that are equipped with air. As a result, we are waiting until late February when the next shipment should arrive. In the meantime, we are living without transportation.

God is also teaching us patience as we have learned that life in Guatemala consists of lots of lines. (Sometimes you have to stand in line to get a piece of paper that will allow you to stand in another line!) A simple trip to the bank often involves a line of 20 people and 45 minutes. This is very different from the US where people become impatient if there are more than two people in line in front of them.

In the midst of all this, we have been blessed by some wonderful people who have helped us in very selfless ways. Esdras, our driver, has spent two full days with us helping us shop for vans, get our NIT numbers, and doing banking. In addition, he volunteered his vehicle and time to take our family into Antigua to celebrate Joshua’s birthday on Monday. Mayra, who runs the travel service that provides our van, has waved some of our fees to assist us while we wait for a vehicle. Girardo, a local believer, has arranged other transportation for us at a very low cost on occasion. And our landlord, Salomon, has taken his own time to help us learn our way around and get us connected to the internet. God has helped us through these people and more.

We have also found the time to get into Hermano Pedro to spend time with our kids there. It is so wonderful to have our family there together! Our children are wonderful with the residents and my heart was filled with joy as I watched them holding, playing with, and loving our HP kids. God is truly good to us…better than we could ever deserve.

We begin our language studies on Monday. Please pray that we will comprehend and retain what we study. Also pray that God will help us as we begin the difficult (and often expensive task) of becoming residents.

Thanks for your prayers and support! More to come on a regular basis!

Daryl, Wanda and the Crew

A few more photos: