Thank you for your prayers...

Thank you to all who have been praying for us and our housing situation. God answered your prayers with an apartment here in Panajachel that we can rent month-to-month. It is small (no problem) and comes unfurnished. Unfurnished here in Guatemala also means no stove, refrigerator, cabinets or anything. There is a kitchen sink and fixtures in the bathroom. That's about it! But it is a place we can stay until the Camp house is ready. And, short of a disaster, we won't have to move again until we move to the Camp.

The homesickness continues, but is better with thoughts of not having to move an indefinite number of times. Besides, an upcoming trip home always helps! Thank you for your prayers, emails and calls in this regard. And thanks for allowing me to have a "pity-party" online!

Johnny has worked for the last week and a half at the Camp, almost completing the garage. We still need garage doors and an interior door, along with a few other minor things, but it looks great! I have also started planting bouganvilia along the fence, which will be beautiful, not to mention colorful, as it grows.

I'll post pictures soon!

Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

Prayer needs

Thanks to Arlene Grimm, I now have to keep the blog up-to-date!!! Seriously, there are several folks out there that keep up with our blog faithfully, our daughters included, so that's incentive right there. Thank you for caring enough to want to check on us.

I read the First Bible newsletter online this morning and got homesick again. (It's happening alot lately!) We are looking so forward to our visit home in October. It will be a whirlwind of travel, but we will be having "Christmas in October" with our family. We will be visiting Lindsay and Micah in Nashville, then a brief visit to Decatur (sorry guys, it will be brief), then on to Sylacauga/Birmingham for visits with my mother and family there, and finally to Tallahassee to visit with Jennifer and Andy (first time to see the new couple since the wedding). We can't wait!

Please pray for us. Part of our homesickness is our "nomadic" lifestyle of recent weeks. Having just settled into Las Buenas Nuevas the first of July, we now have to move again. We knew it would be short, but were hoping that we could move to Centennial Camp from here. Unless there is a miracle out there, we will not have an electrical transformer or well finished by the middle of September. Things move slowly here - good in some cases, not good in others. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases that we really could use some speed! So we move again the first of next week for two weeks only. From there...who knows? Pray that the house at Centennial Camp will be completed enough to move into (ideal) or that we find a place for the next 4-6 months.

Thank you for your prayers and support. It helps knowing that there are folks back home that care.

Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

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.

How can anyone be homesick with beauty like this surrounding you? As we went to the Capital on Monday, here is a little of what we saw:


Beautiful flame trees at one of the lookouts on the mountain. If I'm not mistaken, several of the ladies from First Bible did some shopping here. (Oh, was I not supposed to tell?)








A view of the lake (Lake Atitlan) from above Solola. We get to look at this everyday, only from a little lower.

A great view as we climb out of the valley of the lake. No, Mother, I don't get too close to the edge!










Combine all this with some of the best coffee and the friendliest people in the world! A great place to spend your retirement! Come visit us!


Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

A day of music

Yesterday was a busy day for us - we attended the Panajachel church for Sunday morning, then a quick lunch and an hour drive to the Pamezebal church for a "musical event". Getsemeni (Pamezebal) has a worship leader that was trained in music and yesterday was the program for all the groups. There were several groups, but the men's quartet was great! They could not rival Bruce and the guys at First Bible, but they were good! (I want a group to come and sing in this church!) During the children's songs, there were three little boys on the second row acting up and paying no attention whatsoever to the director. Being around 5-6 years old, I figure we will see them at the Camp one day and they will be our mischief-makers! Two other songs of note were "Shout to the Lord" (in Spanish) by a ladies group and "The Hallelujah Chorus" by the church choir. It was an enjoyable afternoon!

Then we were off again, another hour back to Panajachel to the church there for a musical group from the States and Canada. These were late teens and early twenties kids that are part of a ministry named "Carpenter's Tools" and sang in English and Spanish. They were excited to hear us speaking English and we had a nice chat afterward. We finally got home around 10 o'clock and fell into the bed with the rain and thunder pounding outside.

After all the rain, we awoke to quite chilly temperatures this morning. Knowing that Panajachel is warm compared to Solola, I can only imagine what the temperature was at the Camp this morning! I need to collect up sweatpants and sweaters when we are home in October!

Before closing, I want to tell my new son-in-law, Andy, Happy Birthday! We heard from them this morning and they made it to Tallahassee yesterday, after an enjoyable trip cross country, a visit with Lindsay and Micah in Nashville and a lunch at Bib Gibson's in Decatur! Andy really liked the ribs at Bob Gibson's!

Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

A couple of cuties...

Remember when I mentioned taking a group from the church and picking pine needles two weeks ago? Well, this little cutie, Lilliana, joined her family in the outing. As you can tell, she was adorable, even if a little messy eating black beans with her fingers! Mom kept her very neat and clean, though, I have photos of her in three different outfits that day!



This is for Candie - here's your little angel, Jacqueline. We got to see several of the babies again that we first met when we worked at Eagle's Nest with the First Bible team. An amazing 85% of these children are already spoken for - even the ones with disabilities and deformities! The orphanage is run by an American couple with a foundation in the US. The place is one of the cleanest I have seen and it is obvious that the girls who take care of the children love them as if they were their own. It is touching to see a family get to claim their child, but there are as many tears on the side of the workers as there are with the new families. Pray for the orphaned and abandoned children of Guatemala. There are many in less desirable orphanages and many who still roam the streets.


Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

God is good

God was gracious to us yet again. We dropped off the Hastie family yesterday evening for them to fly out today. This morning we got up to car problems. Two praises: 1)no car problems while we were transporting the team around, and 2)an excellent mechanic here in the capital that also speaks English! Some things we just don't have all the vocabulary for yet.

As we traveled around this past week with the Hastie family, my car was the designated "Hill" vehicle. Shelley Hill is the granddaughter of George and Mary Ruth Hastie, and she, her husband and two small children made the trip with the family. My car had seatbelts (with shoulder harnesses) in the back seat for the two kids. Problem was that the shoulder strap hit the kids across the face! What do you do when confronted with this problem? You flip over the buckets bought to wash dishes in and use them as booster seats! We can get creative when we have to!

We made great contacts in the Solola area churches for the Camp ministry and future projects. I made contact with a choir director at one of the churches and he wants to do a "concert" with me! (Bruce, I continue to get in practice but I wonder if he will be as demanding as you?) We are excited to be beginning our work, even though we are not living at the Camp yet. Pray for our preparation of our "casita" there for our final move.

Please pray for Jennifer and Andy as they begin their cross-country move from Seattle, WA, to Tallahassee, FL. They leave today, hoping to arrive in Nashville to visit Lindsay and Micah on Friday night, then on to Birmingham to visit Jennifer's mother, before settling in their new apartment in Tallahassee, close to the FSU campus. Andy will begin law school there on August 16th.

We are always thankful for your prayers on our behalf. God has been gracious and, even when we are tired, gives us a renewed spirit. We have continued affirmation that we are exactly where God wants us to be!

Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

Another work week draws to an end

This week was spent with the Hastie family of Texas. The work we completed included the floor of the garage and the field lines for the sewer. More digging!!! But it all looks great!

















Lunch one day was provided by the La Cienega church. The ladies supplied not only us, but the
extra workers we had for the day. It was a good day.













We had so much rain that the gravel truck had to dump part of his load to be able to get out of there!














Included in the plans for the week was the baptism in Lake Atitlan of one of George and Mary Ruth's granddaughters.

Of course, we visited the Eagle's Nest Orphanage again and worked for the day. Some of the older girls liked to help.

Besides getting fed by the La Cienega church, we had supper at the home of Juan Aju, parents of Ruth and Santos. It was a joyous evening, if not a little tight!


I'm still working on how to get everything to look "professional" on the blog, but haven't worked out all of the bugs. Bear with me as I learn!

Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

Happy 50th Birthday Johnny!

We celebrated Johnny's 50th birthday yesterday - amid a whirlwind day of travel with the Hastie family! We are currently hosting a couple of retired CAM missionaries and their 4 generations for the week. They have played "old home week" for the last two days but we grounded them today and they are working at the Camp for 3 days.

Thank you for the birthday greetings to Johnny! He is trying to forget the day but I won't let him!

Love to all,
Maria

jcoker@email.caminternational.org

Tired...

For the past week, we have been on the go constantly. Most of it has been physical, especially for Johnny. He spent 3 days last week digging a 75' long by 2' deep trench for a field line for the sewer. He will finish up this week, all in preparation for a team that arrives this Friday. Then, after spending two days in the Capital shopping for the food for the arriving team, we returned to Pana to spend Saturday working at the Camp with local youth. It was physical work, and that was after trekking 500' up the mountain! Sunday was spent in church in the morning, where a church-wide work day was announced - for Sunday afternoon! So we spent all afternoon painting and building at the church before a quick shower and returning to the evening services. I had to play the keyboard again, which was no problem since I knew what the songs were in advance this time! (Not that I had time to practice!) Then, at the evening service, the pastor announced that Johnny would be taking a group of voluteers to the Camp on Wednesday to cut pine branches. (He is??) All this as we prepare for the team on Friday. Besides all the physical work, almost everything we do now is in Spanish and we have to concentrate to catch what is being said. The more tired we are, the less we understand. Please keep us in your prayers. We sat for 2 months in Antigua and I couldn't wait to get to this area. Now that I am here, I wish I could just sit for a few minutes! Pray that we would not be discouraged and would be dependent on the One who sent us, not on ourselves and our strength. Thank you.

For an idea of what different missionaries around the world deal with, read Beth Moore's Voices of the Faithful. It is a daily devotional book - we received one for Christmas from dear friends last year and I have been using it. Many of the entrys are so encouraging that I read more than the one day's devotion! It makes me feel petty, after reading how some of the missionaries live, but it also lets me know that I am not the only one to feel discouraged or petty! It is an eye-opening insight to missionaries and how normal they are!

Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

Youth Workday

Yesterday was a youth workday on the top of the mountain, cleaning around the completed cabins. Next week they plan to have a department-wide youth campout. It will be rustic, as there is no electricity yet; some will sleep in cabins, some in tents outside, and there is a "one-hole" latrine up there! But it will be used! Johnny worked with the youth clearing the land while I bought pizzas and drink and hauled it up there for lunch. "Haul" is the right word! Anyone who has walked up the 500 feet to the cabins knows how straight up it is! I had a 5 gallon bottle of water, 6 pizzas, a bag with cups, napkins, etc., and three "haulers" (young men with strong backs and weak minds). The guys swapped out carrying the water and pizzas and I carried very little. Still, I thought I would die before I reached the top! And we took it slow! Coming down was much easier and I will have to work on climbing the hill without having a heart attack!


The kids were great, though, and made a point to introduce themselves and tell which church they came from. The hard part will be remembering all the names - I have a hard enough time in English with names! But we felt very welcome and were glad to be a part of the workday!


Today in church, I had to play again due to the regular organist having a broken collarbone! Thankfully, they had set up a small keyboard for me to play, although I am having to learn to play standing up! I did much better since I had a keyboard with all the keys working and I asked what the songs were ahead of time. The whole morning went much smoother!

Take time today to reflect on the goodness of God.

Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

New "old" house

Several people have asked to see pictures of our "new" house. It is rumored to be a Sears catalogue house, built around 1920. It reminds me of the house my grandmother lived in. Most walls are lap siding, painted white. In most rooms, the floors are painted wood too. Unfortunately, wood doesn't hold up well over time here and the house is held together with paint and the termites holding hands! Here is a picture of the dining room - the cat loves all the open windows! And the Guatemalans love the tablecloth - one I picked up at the First Bible Missions Closet! Whoever donated it - thanks! It is bright and cheery and I love doing my Bible study at the table with my coffee every morning!

Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

Humbled

Today we went, again, to the CAM church in Panajachel. I was asked to play for the hymns and, having a hymnal with notes, I agreed. I was escorted to an old organ, complete with two keyboards and an octave of foot pedals. Now, there is one thing I have never learned to play and that's the organ! A keyboard is a keyboard, right? Uh-huh! Especially one where a third of the keys don't play! After delivering a quick prayer, I sat down and was given a hymn number. OK, so here I was, in a Spanish church, playing an organ I can't play, playing a hymn I don't know with keys that don't play. I made it through the first song and turned the organ over to someone else - out of the six hymns we sang, I actually knew only one of them. After a successful career playing the beautiful grand piano at First Bible Church, I was thoroughly humbled today.

Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

All moved in...sort of

We've been so busy trying to get things organized in our new location that I didn't realize that I haven't written in a week! The house is almost in order and we know where most things are. The cat is happy because the windows are open most of the time and she sits and watches the birds. We have to use our Spanish (except with each other) and it takes alot of concentration. In church on Sunday, the pastor had us come up and introduced us as the new directors of the Centennial Camp. Then he handed the microphone to Johnny to speak. What was worse, he handed it to me afterward! Any Spanish I may have known suddenly flew out the door! But we made it through that service and then had to repeat it again that evening. And he offered to let Johnny preach one Sunday! (Johnny gently declined that offer!) So goes our first week!

Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org

Happy Fourth of July!!

Of course, the 4th of July is not celebrated here - except for the Texas teens staying here in LBN who lit off firecrackers last night about midnight! But we will celebrate today with chicken in Bob Gibson's BBQ sauce (white, of course) and Corn Casserole, made with Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix! All thanks to great friends in the US!

We got moved into Las Buenas Nuevas (LBN) in Panajachel, finally, on Sunday evening. We found they were painting the floors of the house we were to live in, so we have moved all over the compound in search of a place to lay our heads. The cat has adapted surprisingly well. She has moved into three different places in the last week but still purrs when we are around. When we first moved to Guatemala, she stayed under the furniture for 2 weeks, so this is a pleasant change.

Our house here is a Sears catalog house, complete with lap siding, windows with screens that open and ceiling fans. It is all wood and the termites love it! For all the strong rain we had when the rainy season hit, it is hot and dry right now. You can see the volcanos across the lake clearly and sunrise is a gift from God to those who brave the early morning hours! See future postings for pictures of the area. All in all, the move was uneventful and we are pleased to be in the area we are going to be working in, even if we are not in our final resting place.

God bless each of you as you celebrate our nation's independence with your families.

Love in Christ,
Maria

jcoker@email.caminternational.org

Happy Fourth of July!!

Of course, the 4th of July is not celebrated here - except for the Texas teens staying here in LBN who lit off firecrackers last night about midnight! But we will celebrate today with chicken in Bob Gibson's BBQ sauce (white, of course) and Corn Casserole, made with Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix! All thanks to great friends in the US!

We got moved into Las Buenas Nuevas (LBN) in Panajachel, finally, on Sunday evening. We found they were painting the floors of the house we were to live in, so we have moved all over the compound in search of a place to lay our heads. The cat has adapted surprisingly well. She has moved into three different places in the last week but still purrs when we are around. When we first moved to Guatemala, she stayed under the furniture for 2 weeks, so this is a pleasant change.

Our house here is a Sears catalog house, complete with lap siding, windows with screens that open and ceiling fans. It is all wood and the termites love it! For all the strong rain we had when the rainy season hit, it is hot and dry right now. You can see the volcanos across the lake clearly and sunrise is a gift from God to those who brave the early morning hours! See future postings for pictures of the area. All in all, the move was uneventful and we are pleased to be in the area we are going to be working in, even if we are not in our final resting place.

God bless each of you as you celebrate our nation's independence with your families.

Love in Christ,
Maria

jcoker@email.caminternational.org

A week of goodbyes

This past week has been one of goodbyes and next week promises more of the same. After saying goodbye to the First Bible Church team from Decatur, we have been making the rounds, saying goodbye to friends here in Antigua. Next Thursday, we will be relocating to Panajachel. For those of you that don't know it, it is one of the most beautiful places on God's earth! (Just ask Ronne or Candie Harvell, I think they took pictures of every flower on the place!) It was after seeing CAM's property in Pana, in 1995, that I told Johnny "I had found the place for us to retire!!". Johnny said no, but it's funny how God works - that is exactly where we will be living!

We completed our oral language exams (by phone) and passed! And we have done lots of practicing Spanish as we said goodbye to several families that we have gotten close to in our time here.

The Andrade family is on the left and the Carrillo family is on the right.

Next week, we will meet with several more folks and finish packing. You would think that in an apartment as small as ours, we couldn't have collected too much "stuff"! Wrong!! This next week will determine how good a packer I am (getting stuff into boxes) and how good Johnny is (getting all the boxes in the two cars)! I'll keep you posted!

...there they go!

Five fifteen came early this morning but all were up, passports in hand, to return home. We had a great week with lots of work, lots of eating and lots of shopping! Below are just some highlights of our week:



The completed job. With all the rain and the help of a backhoe, the yard is mud now. But the grass will return and will be enclosed in our beautiful new fence!






Benches were put together by Jon Moore and crew to be placed at the home of Eric and Carmen near Antigua. The climb to their house is very steep and Carmen has difficulty walking it. The benches were placed up the trail to give her a place to rest! Thanks Jon!









Candie Harvel taking a well-deserved rest!













A new generation of FBCers met Chepe! He enjoys when First Bible comes and always wants to work with them!

Candie would have taken this one home with her if Ronne would have let her!








Laura Moore was the new "Bud Orr"! Bud always collected the street sellers because of his kind heart and full wallet! Since Bud wasn't here, Laura had to take over.















Hughston worked hard trying to get the entrance-way
built up some so we could turn in easier.















On the "rest day", we went to the relief map of Guatemala in the City, then headed for Antigua. Lots of eating, walking and shopping. Sorry, no pictures of the shopping but no one put down their shopping bags long enough to take pics! Look for the new jade jewelry at church next Sunday!











Thursday evening, we celebrated Johnny's 50th birthday. As you can see, black was the color of the evening! Thanks to all who made the celebration possible!!!

Here they are...

Our first day was gorgeous - at least until about 2 PM! But we got so much work done that we are scrambling for things to keep them busy! Here are a few of the highlights:








There was digging, digging and more digging!



Rachel graduated to using the "big boy" drill!










And, of course, more digging!

Some of the ladies took Tuesday to visit an orphanage and "hold" the babies. Actually we ended up bathing, feeding, rocking and playing with all the "sweeties". Doesn´t Rachel
look natural?

FBC mission team

Everyone arrived well and with all their luggage. It was a wet trip to Panajachel, but we made it safely and started working this morning. They worked so hard that we may keep them! Check tomorrow for pictures and details!

Maria and Johnny
jcoker@email.caminternational.org