A difference or two...

As I write this, the power has gone off a couple of times, and with that, we lose the internet connection. We are getting used to coming home and finding the alarm clock blinking, a sign the power has been off. A time or two, we ate supper by candlelight...romantic if there is just two of you, but twice now, it has been with teams of 20 or so! We adjust to the outages, although I have discovered a need for a battery powered clock - something to reset all the electric ones by!

Sunday, we went to church by boat - 45 minutes across the lake to the CAM church in Santiago. (See the volcano in the background? We went around behind it.) They have a thriving church with many daughter churches and a missions program that supports 8 missionaries! This is unusual. Most of the churches barely support themselves, let alone missions. But the Alpha y Omega church has taken the Great Commission to heart and are thriving because of it!

We found the church services were in the evening, so we attended Sunday School instead. The women and men were split, so Mike Stephenson and Johnny went one way and I went another - alone. Most of the lesson was taught in Tzutujil with a little Spanish thrown in for good measure. I could keep up with the lesson from the Spanish words and the Bible references the teacher gave. But I must have missed something - I heard the teacher say that the "sister didn't understand anything!" (He said this in Spanish) I announced that I did understand...all the Spanish parts! Although most of the people of the church speak and understand Spanish, all of the classes and sermons are done in Tzutujil. It reminded me of when we first arrived in Guatemala and didn't understand anything said in church. We opted to come home and put in a CD from First Bible Church that afternoon. The music and teaching was so comforting!

On our way back across the lake, we met Andrea, a 10 year-old from Santiago. She was curious about us and talked much of the way back, until the rocking of the boat lulled her to sleep. (She's looking at Johnny who is making faces at her to get her to smile!) Pray for the children of Guatemala. Since 70% of the population of Guatemala is under age 28, they are the future of this country.