Last night we were blessed with the birth of our firstborn son, Hudson Michael Shead. He was born at 11:39 p.m., in a clinic in Zona 13 of Guatemala City, Guatemala. He weighed in at 6 pounds 9 ounces and he’s 19 inches long. Chrisi and Hudson are both doing fantastic! After about 12 hours …
Masks, Parades, and Guatemalan College Students
In Guatemala students from the public San Carlos University have a parade tradition that includes wearing masks, shouting and ranting about social and political issues.While they raise awareness about these issues, we pray for an increase in awareness of the spiritual need for real relationship with Christ here in Guatemala. We attended part of this …
Entering a new culture
Entering a new culture is…well…different. For years, we learned, replicated, and lived out the culture into which we were born. Now, we’re not just learning a new language, we are learning a new culture. To do this takes work. As new missionaries, we are studying Spanish and learning to adapt to our new Guatemalan culture, …
Spanish fun!
Chrisi and I decided to have a little fun with our Spanish practice with a game of Scrabble…in Spanish.
How to say “hola” in Guatemala.
We’re learning a lot here in Guatemala and it’s not just how to speak Spanish. We’re also learning how to interact in our new culture! Guatemala has a very friendly culture and, similar to many Latin cultures, greetings are handled differently here than we were use to in the States. We discovered this pretty quickly …
Finding the right directions
Michael and I are doing great here in Guatemala! We love the people and are so excited about the doors God is opening for us to share the Gospel! Today, when walking around looking for a bookstore, a Guatemalan man heard us speaking English and saw the map in Michael’s hand and probably the confused …
On the ground in Guatemala!
Our 737 jet swept over mountain slopes and ducked into the clouds over Guatemala City as we caught glimpses of volcanoes and green ridges through spots in the white clouds that raced eastward on the wind. Seven hours ago we left the snowy fields of Michigan and were now landing in the warm 66-degree sunshine …
Preparations found in stress
We’ve got so much to do! We are sorting, selling, packing and trying to get everything in order for our move to Guatemala. After a Skype chat with some of the missionary leaders we’re going to be working with, we realized there are several things we need to get done that we just hadn’t got …
Christmas in Guatemala
We’re celebrating Jesus’ birth here in the States, but I wondered about how things are celebrated in Guatemala. I found a blogger who wrote about Christmas in the town where we’ll be in language school starting in February. Here are some of the descriptions she gave of Guatemalan Christmases: For the weeks leading up to …
Sir Francis Drake’s Inspiring Prayer
For a number of years I have found this prayer to be inspiring and had it displayed at my desk for several years. Now that we are moving to Guatemala and stepping into new challenges and changes, we are delighted at the reliance on God and trust in Him that this is developing. Prayer of …
