Sebastian and Oralia

Sebastian and Oralia are the directors of the Home of Life in Guatemala. They are indigenous Guatemalans. They have 4 wonderful boys. God has taken this wonderful couple, who are from a very reserved, unassuming culture, and has transformed them into confident, capable leaders of a home of nearly 30 children. They are mighty children of God who trust in God to work through them to complete His purposes.

We met Sebastian and Oralia on one of our first trips to Guatemala. They were working at the home during the day. Over the years their role at the home increased and our bond with them grew. Little did we know that God had a plan for this bond. At that time we had no idea that one day we would be working together with them full time. We felt a bond and closeness with them and we could barely communicate. We can only imagine what this bond will be like once we can speak the same language! We feel very privileged to work along side them in the ministry and are excited to see what God has planned for all of us.

Cultural Experiences

Even though we have been living in Costa Rica for nearly 6 months now, we continue to have "cultural" experiences weekly. Last Sunday was Presidential election day. Weeks leading up to the big day you would see cars driving by with flags hanging out their window, honking their horn. Each candidate had specific colors and banners to display those colors. As cars drove by honking, those in support of the same candidate would respond back with a honk. On election day itself it was like a city wide celebration. As we were walking to a fellow student's house to watch the superbowl (a very north american thing to do by the way) we came across several groups gathered on the sidewalks with their lawn chairs and their banners. The number of cars honking and waving flags had increased exponentially and there were now people on the sidewalk to respond back. It was like a big parade! The results: Costa Ricans voted in their first woman President!

By the way, we watched the superbowl in the back yard of our friends house with the game projected onto a sheet they hung onto their house. Having an outdoor picnic and watching the superbowl, that's a combination we haven't done before!

Sunday February 7th was also our host mom's birthday, but since election day is a big deal and all encompassing, we celebrated on Saturday night with pizza and cake. It turned out well that we wanted to treat for pizza because there hadn't been water all day long so she wasn't able to cook supper anyway. Another common occurance, no water for a period of time due to various reasons.

Her gift from us was also a new cultural discovery. Did you know they make covers for your clothes washer and dryer? Kind of like a toaster cover only bigger. She told us several months ago that she had been looking for covers for her washer and dryer to keep them dust free and clean because they are very valuable to her. They don't take those kind of things for granted here. So I had been keeping an eye out for them, and happened to see some in an Avon catalog, of all places, that an employee at the school had. She was thrilled and later took us into the basement to show them off!


Another cultural thing for the week. Norman has been out and about the neighborhood practicing his spanish and has met lots of neighbors. He has been visiting with an older gentleman who lives on our route to school a couple blocks from our house. His grown son was there one day and they invited us to dinner for this past Monday night. I was a little nervous about this adventure. What do we bring? And most importantly when do we go? It is cultural to show up at least 15 minutes later than the time you are invited. We may have done that in the states when visiting friends but not usually on purpose. So after talking to Norman's tutor we decided to get there just a little after the appointed 7:00 and we brought along pop and an appetizer. We knocked on the door and the dad answered. We could see his wife sleeping in a chair behind him. They didn't look like they were expecting company at all, especially not for supper! He informed us that his son had to work late and wanted us to come the next week instead. Okay, no problem. So here we are all dressed up and no where to go! :-) We returned home and found some supper still left on the stove, so we had spaghetti and appetizers for supper. Take 2 is this monday. We will see how the 2nd try goes. Now we have to figure out what to take again. Hmmmmm, we'll see what we come up with! :-)

So there are our cultural experiences for the week. I'll save the ant stories for another day. They are unbelievable here in Costa Rica!

Gathering Pine Cones

The first 4 days we were in Guatemala over New Year's Tim and Dena, our missionary supervisors and founders of the home; Barb, missionary to the Home of Life Children's home in Costa Rica; and Joan, supporter from England, were all there as well. On their last day Norman drove Barb, Joan, Oralia (her and her husband are the directors of the home) and me up the mountain to see the view.

San Andres from up the mountain:


While we were up there we came across a bunch of pine cones. Oralia informed us that they are great to add to their fires used for cooking. We quickly learned a useful purpose for long skirts, why pine cone collecting of course. We all got to work and accumulated quite a pile in the back of the pick-up truck to take back to the home with us. Norman collected too but since he didn't have a skirt, he used a floor mat instead.

Oralia, Barb, Me, and Joan collecting pine cones.

Blessings in the little things

Since Norman is learning through a one on one tutor this trimester, I am walking the mile to (and from) school by myself these days. On Friday of the first week of school, a car pulled up next to me as I was walking to school. I thought it was waiting for traffic but the traffic cleared and it was still there moving slowly. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see if it was red, meaning it was a taxi looking for business and saw that it was a black car. I just kept walking looking straight ahead, praying. Then the car pulled up a little ahead of me where I could see in the window and I saw it was a teacher from school that I recognized and she was asking if I wanted a ride. I was so relieved and excited to have a ride! Her two children were in the back seat, a boy and a girl. She had interrupted her praying with them to pick me up. She finished her prayer as we rode to school. It reminded me of the many trips to school with Heather and Ryan. We too prayed every morning in the car on the way to school.

This is what a Costa Rican taxi looks like:

I learned that she lives near by. She didn't offer to pick me up every day but I knew if she saw me she would pick me up. Our paths are only the same for about the first 5 minutes of my 15 to 20 minute walk. I know walking is good for me and it gets me moving in the morning, but a break every once in awhile sure is nice. So I prayed that God would have our paths cross whenever I needed a break. The following week, the morning after my mom's surgery, I was really late because Norman and I had spent some time praying for my mom before I left. I prayed that Ana, the teacher, would be late that morning too. I was less than a block from my turn off the main road and my chance for her to pick me up, when a car pulls up next to me with a honk. It was her. I just smiled to myself and prayed a prayer of thanks. She told me she was VERY late as I quickly climbed into the car. I apologized to her and told her it was my fault because God was answering my prayer. We made it to school on time!

She has picked me up 2 times this week. I have learned that if I leave just a few minutes later I have a better chance of crossing paths with her. :) My rides with her and her 9ish some year old daughter and 6ish some year old son have consisted of prayer and then loudly listening to their favorite song about Bartemaus in the bible, sang in spanish with a very latino beat, accompanied by their young voices and a spanish trill interjected here and there by her cute son! It is great and makes me smile! What a great way to start the day! It makes me think of the cars that we would drive by every once in awhile in Omaha with latino music blaring. Now I am one of the people in that car. However, it isn't as rare here. :)

Praise the Lord for smiles and pleasures in the little things such as a ride to school and little spanish voices singing along to latino music!