Recent Changes

Just a few pictures to show what we are doing at Centennial Camp!

Yes, that is a bulldozer - we hired it for the day to dig the trenches for the drainage pipes and level off some ground. He also cut out the area for the bathrooms along the wall of the soccer field.

This is the continuation of the wall that begins in our yard. It will eventually include the bathrooms, a small store, steps and encompass the soccer field.

For those of you that know LBN (the place we usually house our teams), here are more pictures of the continuing construction. This was once the front door.

This was the host home and its back yard. The windows are in the dining room, so all of the kitchen area is gone.

And this is the other side, where the store and laundry is. I will be posting more photos as we go there and I can document it. Can't wait to see the finished product!!

Maria

Two days in a row!

For those of ya'll that have complained that I don't blog enough...look at this - two days in a row! Don't get excited, we head back to the Camp today and I'm not sure when I will have internet again!

During the last of February, while we were still in the States, the large pile of dirt in front of the house was finally moved. We have guys out there now extending the wall down toward the highway. This will border the papifut court and will include bathrooms and showers in the corner. This will really be nice since the only bathrooms are now in our house or are latrines!

In the last couple of days, we also got signs put up to indicate the Camp! We now have signs on both sides of the road!!

We have spent the last week with our daughter and her husband, Jennifer and Andy. We've done a lot of sightseeing and Andy and Johnny went fishing yesterday. It has been a great week!


This was a 150 lb. sailfish that was released back into the water after the picture (Guatemalan law). But Andy had a great time catching it!!

Maria

New look of LBN

For those of ya'll who have seen Las Buenas Nuevas (LBN) in Panajachel, I thought you might like to see the changes. They are in the process of tearing down the front building (the termites had a feast) and will rebuild. Part of the host home has been taken off also. I will post changes as they occur.

We returned to Guatemala on the 4th of March to an intact house! (Twice before we returned to parts of our roof missing). But we have been busy. Tomorrow morning, I hope to blog on the changes at Centennial Camp and our recent visit with Jennifer and Andy (daughter and son-in-law). Until tomorrow...

Maria

Happy Valentine's Day!

We arrived in the US on Thursday, the 7th, and have been running ever since! Arriving minus one suitcase, we flew into Nashville and spent the first night with Lindsay and Micah. We arrived late and left early the next morning, as soon as the truant suitcase showed up. Johnny was to attend a men's retreat close to Decatur the next day, so we rushed to get him there on time. He had a great time with "his guys" - many of them his good friends while we lived in Decatur. After Sunday morning at First Bible Church, we took off for Sylacauga to pick up clothes at my mom's house - we have things spread all over Alabama! While there, we were able to visit a couple of my uncles which are battling cancer, one of whom just entered hospice. On Sunday night we attended my mother's church, Odena Baptist, where Johnny was asked to speak - 5 minutes before the service. It seems the pastor and his family were all ill and no one else was prepared! Johnny did an excellent job and I was very proud! (So was my mom, even though she told him that if she had known he was going to have to preach, she wouldn't have come!)

As you can tell, it has been hectic, even in this short time. We will speak at another church tonight - "scheduled" this time and prepared for! Thank you for your prayers as we move from event to event! We have had safety in travel, even though it has been stormy. Decatur had snow flurries this morning as the temperature dropped - I may have to buy a coat!!!

Love in Christ,
Maria

Deja vu

Those of you that are my age (or close) may remember teaching your children to drive. In our family, that was my job - Johnny got too nervous trying to teach the girls and would get them all nervous. So the task fell to me. What a surprise when our 22 year-old guard stated he wanted to learn to drive! Immediately, Johnny told him he wasn't a teacher and relayed the stories of teaching the girls. So, in a moment of weakness, I said I would teach him to drive. Tuesday was spent going up and down our "driveway", learning how to press the gas, use the brake, and lots of three-point turns! Since he had never been behind the wheel before and had only watched others drive, we had to start with the basics. He was in the Rodeo, which is an automatic. I will insist he learn to drive a manual shift also - my father insisted I learn and it served me well. So, the first lesson completed, we progress on to more complicated things - like the highway. Yikes!

The day before Thanksgiving last year, we had a "changing of the guard", literally! Antonio and Isabella moved on to other work and Salvadore and his wife Julia were hired. Their daughter is Elda and is 2 1/2 years old. They speak Quiche and Spanish, so Elda is learning to speak both languages. But she is also a great mimic and is learning English from us. She has started walking thru our house calling, "Kitty-kitty-kitty". With Salvadore and Julia being younger than our girls, it's almost like having a grandchild!

Of course, Xiba loves them! (She also likes to have her picture taken!)

Love to all,

Maria

Guatemala doesn't have tornados!

After spending the Christmas holidays in the States with family and friends, we returned to Guatemala on the 2nd of January. Flying in, we had quite a bit of turbulence, which even elicited a response from the pilot. The electricity in Guatemala City had been off that day and had just come back on minutes before we landed. We stayed in the capital that night, due to the lateness of our flight. On Thursday morning, we received a call from Samuel Can, our Camp administrator, who said we had some damage to the house from winds the night before. Of course, we jumped in the car and returned to the Camp as quickly as we could. Here's what we found!During the day, several pine trees fell on the guard's house, tearing off the front porch and damaging the metal roof. One of the trees was over a foot in diameter and apparently looked so bad that the police stopped to see "if there were any dead bodies inside". Because of this damage, the guard and his family took up residence in our house.

At different times during the evening and night, the wind managed to tear off both porches on our house, pieces even penetrating the glass in the window of the kitchen. This is the side porch over the door we use most often.

This and below show what is left of the front porch and the damage to the roof over our bedroom.

This is the view from the back of the house. This is over the guest bedroom, which was, by our return, the dirtiest room in the house. The poor guard and his wife huddled in our hallway all night long, scared to death!

Besides the missing panels, there was damage to about a third of the roof. Thankfully, friends from a local church came and helped replace the roof over the house. The porches, unfortunately, will have to wait until later. But our house and the guard's is fixed!

We didn't have electricity until Friday evening, about 7:00 P. Without electricity, we couldn't run the pump for the water, so that meant no showers, no toilets, no water for cleaning except what we could draw out of the cistern. But after hearing about friends in Indonesia that returned after Christmas to find an arsonist had burned down their house, we felt grateful that all we had was a little dirt. Yes, it was discouraging, but God's people pitched in and helped us get back on our feet!

My God is faithful, He is mighty, He is able...

and He never sleeps, He never slumbers,

He never tires of hearing our prayers.

When we are weak, He becomes stronger,

So rest in His love and cast all of our cares on Him.

This is just a bit of a song by Don Moen that a friend gave me. It is encouraging to know that our God is faithful and mighty and that He loves us and takes care of us. Thank you Beth for your gift, you understand how music uplifts me!

Thank you for your prayers on our behalf during our "trials".

On another note, as of January 31st, our jcoker@email.caminternational.org email is no longer good. Please make sure you have changed our email to simply jcoker@caminternational.org in your Address Books.

Maria

Family time at home!

Hello from frigid/balmy Alabama! Choose your own description because we change daily! Today it is in the 60's but two days ago, it was 30! At least it feels like Christmas. We have been busy with visits to each of the girls and our annual "Coker Christmas" in Chattanooga. To the left is Johnny with all of his sisters! We also had a great visit with First Bible Church in Decatur last weekend. I will post more pictures, but until then, Johnny and I wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a joyous celebration of our Saviour's birth!

Maria

jcoker@caminternational.org

Team from Visalia, CA

After a quick trip to Visalia, California, we returned to Guatemala in time to receive a team from First Presbyterian Church in Visalia. We had a great time reconnecting with old friends and meeting some new ones! Here's just a little taste of what went on and what got accomplished last week!

Some of the ladies ministered to me particularly by working in my yard. They cut grass and weeded my garden until it looked pristine! They even found a few "strange" insects and spiders!


Meanwhile, in the garage, the guys started on the filter system. Thankfully, Johnny was involved because it all looks complicated to me!

A tricky part!

It's measure twice and cut once...or is it measure once and cut twice?

And then there are always power tools!




Break time!!!!

Xiba loved all of the attention. She sat next to the gate and watched all of the activity...and hoped someone would drop some food!

Everyone helped.



Does it go this way?



Some jobs took the tall folks!



After three days of work, here's our new filtration system, shown by the lovely Vanna (Mark).



And the playground crew!


On Thursday, we had a dedication service for both projects and a demonstration of the filter system. Many of our area pastors and elders attended. Here, they meet the team.


Always go to the bathroom before you leave the house! If you don't, you are in danger of using the same bush someone else used!

Hope you enjoyed the overview of our week! This was the last team of the year and, as we look back, we realize how blessed we are with all of our friends from all over the U. S. We hope to see some of you back down here next year!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Maria

Busy Fall

Blogging has been sporadic this fall, our internet access has been hit or miss. But just because we haven't blogged doesn't mean that we haven't been busy! We have been working with the youth of some of our area churches, showing movies, doing skits and singing songs. We continue to visit different churches each Sunday and Johnny attended the large yearly consejo meeting in September, a two day affair.

Good friends had two of their children "graduate" from their grades to higher levels - Patti (above) from kindergarten to first grade and Erendia from sixth grade to seventh. During these ceremonies, we were confronted by something we hadn't had to deal with before - do you join everyone else when they salute the Guatemalan flag or just stand there in respect? We just stood and showed respect since we weren't Guatemalan citizens, but it was something to think about!

All during the month of October, each of the local CAM churches were assigned a day to work at the Camp. We were moving a large area of dirt and didn't have the money to hire a backhoe. Unfortunately, we had more rain than usual in October and they ended up moving mud more than dirt! But we had great fun, even if it was a little wet!

We even had help from the ladies!

While Johnny and the workers moved mud during the last week we were there, I was inside teaching Carmen, a woman who comes to help, how to bake. The Mayan women don't bake because most of them don't have ovens. They cook over an open fire with a piece of metal placed over it. So Carmen was intrigued to learn how to use a mixer and the oven! She helped me as I prepared for the team that arrives next Saturday. It was odd to see her cooking at my stove with her baby wrapped on her back taking a nap! She will return on Thursday to help finish my preparations for the upcoming team - and learn to bake cookies!!

We spent the last week and a half in Dallas, TX, in training. In the evenings, Johnny and I learned to play bocce ball! We did great at first, but I think it was beginner's luck. But we did have a great time. From Dallas, we traveled to Visalia, CA, to visit First Presbyterian Church, who has sent two teams a year for the last 3 years to work at Centennial Camp. Even though we had never visited there before, we knew so many folks, it was easy to feel very welcome and comfortable! They are the ones we are expecting next Saturday, for a week of work at the Camp!

As I said, it has been a busy fall, but we have had a great time. I am sitting in the Dallas airport as I write this, hoping that the rain will be gone when we get back! We are anxious to see what all was completed while we were gone and just get back to normal. I will write later next week with news of our new filter system and playground equipment!

Maria

Driving can be hazardous to your health

As Johnny and I were driving to Guatemala City today, we came across what has become a usual occurance - a construction cola. These colas or lines of traffic have been a common occurance since the government started widening the Pan American Highway. Today's cola was typical, although it lasted longer than usual. Let me see if I can help you see it thru my eyes:

It started as a typical stop in traffic when there is construction ahead. We are sitting in our lane, about 7 or 8 cars from the front of the line.

Also, as usual, the vendors collect and go from car to car, or bus in this case, selling whatever they have to sell. This young lady is selling tamales, which are wrapped in corn husks. The bus was full of hungry folks because she shucked corn husks out the door as she put the tamales in plastic baggies as she sold them. There were a pile of corn husks!

There is almost a carnival type feeling today. We are at an intersection that has a couple of vendors on a regular day. Today seemed extra-special! Note the kid on the homemade stilts.

When it was our turn to travel the construction area, all of the buses, vans and delivery trucks started going around the line of traffic, headed for the front of the line! In doing this, they blocked the last few vehicles coming the other way. We ended up with three lanes of traffic across the road. Where we are sitting is the actual lane.

Farther down into the construction area there was a detour. Apparently the guys stopping the traffic coming toward us went on break because we met a mess of trucks and cars at the detour. Here we are actually crossing the line of traffic coming toward us to take the detour!

The detour was a muddy mess! There is an orange truck in front of the red one that gets stuck in the mud. People have to get out and push him through the last of it. We had to go into 4 wheel drive to get through it ourselves!

Here we are crossing back through the line of traffic, back on pavement. It was the strangest driving experience I think we have had! And remember - this is the Pan American highway that goes from Canada to South America! One of the major thoroughfares in Guatemala!

Well, we made it to Guatemala City in 4 1/2 hours, usually a 2-3 hour drive! I am not looking forward to returning to the Camp through all of this, but then...that's Guatemala!

Maria

This would get you a ticket in Alabama!

Just a few of the driving "techniques" seen here in Guatemala. All I missed was the chicken bus with the "helper" climbing out the back door, up and across the roof and sliding in the side window, all going 60 miles an hour down the highway! By the way, the flat baskets in the top picture contains chickens!

Your smile for the day!

Maria

Finally, the sun!

Many of you got an email requesting prayer for us. As the rainy season closes, it tends to rain a lot, but we have had solid rain for 5 days. We were coming down with colds and, frankly, felt pretty miserable. It is hard to feel useful when you just want to go home. God is good, though, and answered your prayers. Today, we had the first sun we have seen in at least a week and are both feeling better, even though the colds have not gone away completely. Thank you for your faithfulness to our Lord, and to us, in your prayers. We are still a little homesick, but since this is not our "home", we probably always will.

Maria