Puerto San Jose Trip

Last weekend we went to visit Puerto San Jose.  We woke up Saturday and I asked Mario what he wanted to do that day and out of the blue he said, "I want to go visit my church in Puerto."  That was that and off we went!  I am ALWAYS ready for a trip to Puerto.  Besides being the special place where we got married, there are many reasons I love Puerto.  We got there and the first thing I did was get my hair cut from my friend who did my hair for the wedding.  I don't have before and after pictures, but I am pretty sure that my hair was its longest ever before I cut it.  I love it now, though, and you can't beat a great haircut for a little over $3. 

After that we went to watch the sunset at the beach- something I love to do!!!  This sunset did not disappoint, either.  Here are some pictures of the beautiful art God put in the sky that day.

Then we went to Mario's church that evening.  It was great for him to be back "home" and they even gave us a public welcome from the stage.  We had a good time worshiping with them.  On Sunday morning we got up and got ready to head back to the city but not without stopping off at Mario's sisters house first. 

Mario's nephew, Yandel, pretty much thinks Mario is the best thing since sliced bread.  Any time we go visit he is always showing Mario his tricks and toys and when it is time for us to leave he begs to be able to come home with us.  Our visit this time was the same as many as Mario and Yandel had a blast playing together.

While they played, I talked to Mario's sister and hung out with this beautiful little thing (AKA Mario's niece Rachel)

We had a great time in Puerto San Jose and can't wait until next time we get to visit!!!

Craft Time with Susan Martinez

Hello and welcome to Craft Time with Susan Martinez, a place where you can go as far as your imagination will let you. Today we are going to take a look at the most recent projects to come out of our wonderful craft workshop here with the Martinez family.  First, we have a cardboard "M" that has rolled up pieces of magazine paper and is glued together with a simple white glue.  It took a while to achieve the final look, but I think that it is well worth it for a close to free decoration.  Mario also jumped on the craft bandwagon and made his own version of this cheap and fun craft.  His rolled log cabin is definitely an original piece of art and has been included on this post by his request.  Enjoy...

Highlight of the Week

I have decided (more like resolved, as in one of my resolutions for this year) that I am going to make more of an effort to keep my blog up-to-date. I think that there ARE people besides my mom who actually read it, so I figured that I will get back on top of it and keep you all more informed on what is happening in our lives.  This blog I would like to talk about some of the highlights of our week. 

We had a week of vacation, which meant no waking up to go to the base everyday. 
Sleeping in as long as we want to= highlight numero 1

We also had some freakishly warm weather and on both Christmas and New Years I was in a tank top and shorts reading on the grass in the front of our house. 
Tan in late December/early January= highlight numero 2

Since we had vacation and no real plans, Mario and I got to spend lots of time hanging out, talking, and praying together.
Quality time with my man= highlight numero 3

We don't really have too many decorations on our walls and I knew as soon as I took down the few Christmas things we had up that our walls would look really bare.  I recently saw a craft idea in a store that I knew I could do myself.  I ended up cutting and rolling numerous pages of a magazine and gluing them onto a cut out letter M (pictures to come).
Being crafty and having it actually turn out like it looked in my mind= highlight numero 4

For the last highlight I actually have to go back to Christmas day.  My family was gathered at my sister's house for our traditional Christmas breakfast and I got to skype with them!  I haven't seen or talked to most of them for quite a while so it was definitely a treat!
Skype+Mom, Becky, Zach, Leann, Tim, Sara, Jay, Ricky, Willie, Nathan, Elisabeth, Aunt Lynnie, and Grandma Irene= highlight numero 5

 

Not Yet

Oh man, I thought that the push for Christmas was bad in the States, but I think I might venture to say that it is even worse here in Guatemala.  First of all, there is no Thanksgiving here so that means that there is no "official" start date for the Christmas season.  I kid you not, I heard Christmas music in SEPTEMBER in a shopping mall.  This is just ridiculous.  I am a HUGE fan of the Christmas season- the songs, the decorations, the cooking and everything else- but please Guatemala, not yet!  Wait just a little bit longer and then we can all enjoy this season together.

On another note, Mario and I continue to wake up each day amazed at what God has given us.  I mean, we have a house (that we can't actually call our own because it is rented, but still, it is a place that is for us), we have a car (we recently got a wonderful offering from a friend and were able to buy our base director's old car at a very good price. Such an answer to prayer!), the ministry (which is definitely in a season of change, but we are glad to be a part of it as long as God has us here), and each other (which is still sometimes surprising to me when I wake up in the morning and have such a handsome man by my side).  I think you can gather that we are blessed!  We are so thankful for each lesson God has taught us and the lessons that He is teaching us and will teach us.  We never cease to be amazed at His faithfulness in our lives, either.  We are definitely one happy couple!

A Day at the Zoo

We finally borrowed a computer that works, thanks to the YWAM base so I can update a lot easier and put pictures!!! 

Last Saturday we took a trip to the zoo with some of our friends.  They are actually a 7 year old named Jacobo and an 11 year old named Josue who we met during our street ministry on Wednesday nights.  They don't actually live on the street, but they help their mom sell gum, candy and other things around Guatemala City.  They live in a very small room where the two of them, their mom, and their 1 month old baby brother all share a single bed.  With all their life circumstances considered, they are really well behaved boys and we felt that it would be good for them to be able to have a day of fun so we decided to take them to the zoo here in Guatemala City. 

They were both so excited to see all the animals and Jacobo's favorite question was "does that animal eat people?"- such a little boy!  We had a great time seeing all the animals and afterward we took them to eat pizza since they said they had only tried it a few times in their lives.  I am not sure who had more fun, us watching their excitement with everything or them.  We also had the chance to talk to them about stuff from the Bible and all the amazing things God has for their lives.  I think it is so important that they can experience attention from a male in a positive way, and I am glad that Mario is in agreement and willing to spend time investing in their lives.  It was a great day overall and we hope to have more days to be able to spend with them and show them the love of God in their lives.  Here are some pictures from our day...

Petting the pig

Standing like the flamingos

In front of the zoo

The boys with the hippo (behind Jacobo's head)

Moving Forward

Well, we have made a decision since the last update.  We are going to stay in our house.  It was a very VERY hard and emotional decision and probably the first of many times that I had to trust fully in God and Mario instead of following my own wants and emotions.  Here is how it all happened...

We found an apartment that we really liked and the owner gave us a week to think about it.  We looked at it on a Saturday and by Tuesday after hours of praying and discussion, we decided we were going to stay in the house we are in now.  Then wouldn't you know that the owner of the other apartment called us and told us that since we were missionaries he would lower the price for us.  Ahhhh, just when we thought we had a decision made!  So we talked and prayed more and we were actually not in agreement.  The emotional side of me said that there is no way that I wanted to stay in a place that I did not feel secure in.  Mario, however, being the strong solid person that he is reminded me that we had worked hard to get into the house and that he felt that God wanted to challenge us to a new level of faith in Him.  That was not really want my emotions wanted to hear, but after giving up my emotions to the only one who can really handle them (God) and having a really good cry feast, I was in agreement with my husband.  What a learning experience! 

On the next Saturday we found out that it was probably our neighbors who actually broke into our house.  They have been under watch by the neighborhood security for some time now since they have two teenage sons who do drugs and have been known to do some other shady things in the neighborhood.  Once again my initial reaction was to become an avid prayer warrior and start praying that they move.  Mario, being who he is, asked me why I don't start praying that they would come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Ugggh! So now I am praying that they both accept Christ AND move away!

We have been able to see God's faithfulness working through all of this in a huge way, though.  We haven't had a TV or computer to distract us so we have been able to pray a lot and spend good times together.  We thought about getting at least a TV to replace the one we had, but we both really felt that we needed to wait to see what God was going to do.  On Wednesday (yesterday) a friend from our small group at church called us and said their family had something for us.  I tried not to let my mind run wild with possibilities as we drove over to their house.  After some juice and cookies, they brought out a TV and said that they wanted to give it to us!  We were so thankful both for the TV and for God's faithfulness!  Then last night we went to the streets to do ministry with the homeless.  We were dropping off one of our friends from church who came with us and she said "I think my parents have something for you" so we got out and said hello.  Would you believe they came out with a TV in their hands?!?  How good is God!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

We are so thankful to be in this place where we can see Him moving and working in such a real way in our lives.  Thank you all, as well, for covering us with your blanket of prayers-they have definitely been felt in a huge way!!   

An Update...

First of all, let me say sorry that there are no pictures in this post.  Really I just wanted to update you all about what has been happening in our lives really quickly since I am using a borrowed comupter, so as fast as I can here I go...

First, we went to Livingston last week, where Mario´s family is, to visit his dad and his grandma who are both very sick.  While we were there someone broke into our house and stole our computer, television, and a few other things.  While we don´t know who did it, we suspect the security guards who are in charge of our neighborhood had something to do with it.  A shady, suspiscious situation althogether.  The fact that it happened a Wednesday morning between 8am and 10am doesn´t take our suspiscion away from them. 

Anyway, we don´t feel safe where we are and we definitely don´t trust the guards- both very ironic things because we moved into this house because we felt it was a safe neighborhood where I would be able to stay home alone if needed without any worry, and because the guards are paid to watch our neighborhood.  So now we are praying about what to do.  We have found, with some help from friends from our church, an apartment that is the same price we are paying now, closer to the base, and in a safe neighborhood (the owner of the apartment lives downstairs so he would be there to watch over it when we aren´t home) but we have to see if the owner of the house we are in will free us from our contract and give us back the extra month´s rent that we have paid him.  We are going to meet with him tonight to see, so I will keep you updated on the process.

In the meantime we ask you to be praying for us.  We have spent LOTS of quality time together since we don´t have any electronic devises to distract us, but we would like to replace the items that were stolen at some point.  We also ask that you would pray for our peace.  We are thankful that we weren´t home when it happened, but anyone who has ever been through anything similar knows the feeling of having a stranger enter into your home.  It just doesn´t feel good.  Okay, that is all for now but I will try my best to update again soon. Thank you!