Over the last month of ministry we’ve ministered with teams from the United States in many ways: clinics, construction, evangelism outreaches, school programs, and more! During a home visit a family of nine accepted Christ, at a hospital visit, five people gave their lives to the Lord, and at a feeding program one man …
Brenda’s Silence
Seven-year-old Brenda rarely speaks. When she does, she uses very few words like “mama” and perhaps a couple other words including her name. I met Brenda and her mom at a clinic held by a team of Texans at the ASELSI Father’s Heart Clinic a couple weeks ago. As an interpreter for the pediatrician, I …
Shiny Shoes and Clean Hearts
There are dozens of shoe shiners in Chichicastenango. Starting as young as five years old, these youngsters prowl the streets looking for leather shoes to turn into shiny proof of their work. “Shoe shine?” they ask in earnest. “Son muy sucio.” (They are very dirty.) These poorly dressed youngsters can be seen carrying their little …
Chichi Feeding Program
In Chichi boys as young as 5 years old prowl the streets carrying what look like little black toolboxes. Their hands are filthy and most of their ragged clothes are a close match. These boys are the shoeshine boys looking for anyone with leather shoes to shine for as low as two quetzales (about 26 …
Hope and a Heartrending Home Visit
While hosting the first ASELSI team of 2012, we left the main road and went out to visit a family with a large tub filled with food for them. As we wound down hairpin curves, our little white Toyota van bumped over hardened ruts and finally descended to the smooth sand beside the Motagua River …
A Mayan witch accepts Jesus
In a recent update from one of our fellow ASELSI missionaries, an amazing example of God working in Guatemala was described… Emily Romero described what she saw while translating for a medical team in the village of Xalbaquiej: She said that an older man sat down for a medical checkup. He had three strange large …
Funnies from the Field
Guatemalans are very “helpful” when it comes to babies. With all the advice we get, Chrisi politely listens to their ideas but takes them with a large grain of salt. Here are some of the advice we’ve received: Don’t walk over a water hose while pregnant or the umbilical cord will wrap around your baby. …
A new generation is born!
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 …
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, …
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 …
