It is mango season here!!! We are doing our best to eat our fill and enjoying every single bite!
We also continue to buy and try other produce that is new to us — this one (that none of us can remember the name for) is not one we need to try again. It had to be opened with a machete and had a very strong odor and chalky taste, but it was super cool looking on the outside.
We’ve had a very full past month and it is hard to believe that we have less than four weeks left to our time in Guatemala.
A HUGE highlight for March was a visit from my long-time friend, Christy. This was the first time someone other than our parents has made a trip to visit us overseas and it was so much fun to share our Guatemala-life with her!
Immediately after Christy’s visit, we were able to join a work team from the Porch de Salomon and assist with the construction of a house. It was great to work hard together as a family!
The following Sunday, we were invited to participate in a monthly home-church service held at the Opal House chapel. It felt like a ‘mountaintop experience’ in every sense. The moment our van stopped at the 80-acre ministry compound, tears were flowing from my eyes. The amazing work that is being done there is overwhelming — a Montessori school for the local children, a working farm (avocado, citrus, guava, animals & more!), plus a medical clinic and all of it creating jobs and food for locals. It was incredible to see the extent of the ministry and such an honor to get the opportunity to praise the Lord in such a place.
Meanwhile, Jason started applying and interviewing for jobs for our six months in the States. This process is always full of excitement and adventure, but also thoroughly emotionally exhausting.
Then … Luke turned nine! We were blessed to be able to have his friends & also several of our neighbors join us for a time of swimming, cake, piñata and wonderful fellowship.
And now we lean into this season of Christ’s death and resurrection. Semana Santa (holy week), is the most important holiday time in Guatemala. There are many cultural demonstrations that we don’t entirely understand, but I love that everywhere we look right now we are reminded of this special time. Buildings are draped in purple, dried fish is being sold everywhere and special alfombras (carpets) made of colorful sawdust, pine needles and other natural materials cover roads and courtyards.
“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”
I Peter 1:18-19