Happy 90th Birthday

Helen Ekstrom, veteran missionary here in Guatemala, turned 90 years young last week.  We enjoyed attending the party and honoring her on her birthday.

Helen (and David) have been here in Guatemala since 1951.  Helen is a missionary kid, having grown up in Bolivia.  She met David as a high schooler in boarding school in the United States.  David and Helen soon married during their college years and moved to Guatemala, where David grew up as a missionary kid.  They have worked on 4 different Mayan language Bible translation projects.  David passed away a few years back.  Helen is still going strong. 

Some of the Camino Global family at the party 

I count it a blessing to call Helen a dear friend.

Typical Week?

So often, we are asked "What does a Typical Day look like for you in Guatemala?

Good question - Tough answer.  It all depends on what our missionary family is going through. We're here to encourage, pray for and be with them.  To do "life together".  Feel free to read more details of our week, or scroll through the photos.  Either way, enjoy!

Monday

We drove to Antigua to visit with Natalie's team from Texas.  This church team had spent the previous week working with the Chivoc church doing various ministries.  We took the team up to the cross for a view over historic Antigua.  Then we headed to the artisan market and had lunch at Pollo Campero.  Since we don't have any postage service here in Guatemala, I handed Joey, the leader of the team, 100+ stamped cards that I had been working on and had written a personal note on each.  I am so thankful he was able to drop them in the US post office to send them on their way.  Thank you, Joey. We also visited with another missionary family.  And finally, we took advantage of the opportunity to make some final arrangements for our upcoming Camino conference. 

Tuesday

After my doctor appointment (I have trouble with neuropathy), we headed to the newly opened Krispy Kreme donut chain.  Sugar anyone? I can't complain.  Then we drove to Zone 1 and visited with nearly 90 year old missionary lady, Helen.  She again told us her story of how she and her husband, David, had met, gotten married and headed to the mission field back in 1950 and 1951!  I love hearing her story and being with her to encourage her these days. While visiting Helen, we received an invitation to attend her 90th Birthday party for Wednesday evening!

Both the Krispy Kreme and Helen, as sweet as could be!

Wednesday

We worked on final plans for our upcoming Conference.  We sent out a mass email with helpful information about the schedule and special speaker as well as some other activities.

Thursday

Glenn and I worked in our home offices and then had lunch with good friends, Bob and Ann.  We talked about their upcoming 50th wedding anniversary.  After a delicious lunch at Tony Romas, we followed Waze to the Sanatorium Majadas Hospital where Linda was having surgery.  We met with Linda's husband in the waiting room.  We laughed, we talked and we prayed for the surgery and healing for Linda.  At the hospital we also visited with another veteran missionary, Paul.

Friday

We headed to Antigua again to connect with Christy and her church group from Arkansas.  We had breakfast/brunch at the famous Santa Domingo Hotel.   It was neat to relate to several of the team members and "debrief" their time at Casa Aleluya.  We parked our van in Paul's front yard, only to find that we had locked our keys in the van.  Glenn checked with Paul and he has a "lock-smith" friend who came over and quickly unlocked the van.  While Glenn was "working" on the van, I spent a good visit with 86 year old Ruth.  We walked through her gorgeous gardens and talked about the different types of flowers she was growing. 

Saturday

Glenn and I woke up at 3:00am, left our house at 3:30am and headed to Puerto Quetzales.  Since there were few cars on the road, we did make it down to the Pacific coast in record time by 4:30am.  By 7am, we were watching the Norwegian Cruise Line ship the Sun pull into port.  We met Darla and Rick at 8am (we were together on the ill-fated cruise we named 'the Boomerang' cruise in 2017) and decided where to take them on their personal excursion for the day - and headed towards Antigua.  We stopped at the La Reunion Golf Course and Country Club and enjoyed the beautiful views of Volcano Fuego and Agua.  We had Pollo Campero for lunch in Esquinta and then returned them to the boat after an ice cream cone at POPS.  It was fun to re-connect with Rick and Darla, learn more of their story and share a little of our Guatemala life with them.

In Summary 

 

Each week is so varied as we connect with people by personal visits, emails, lunch, or even a phone calls. We connect with missionaries and even those traveling through or to Guatemala on a mission trips or a tourist stop via cruise ship - its all about being with folks in what they are doing.

Ride em Cowboys

Besides the 2 kids you can see sitting on the back of the cows, there were several horses also in the back of this truck.

Motorcycle Delivery

 Never know what you may see on the roads here in Guatemala. This is a 100# propane tank delivery on the back of a motorcycle.

Balancing Act

Man, you have to have good balance 

 to ride a bicycle over cobble stones 

 and uneven pavement with one hand,

 all the while carrying a stack of plastic crates

 on your shoulder with the other hand.

Literally, a Chicken Bus in Guatemala

A chicken bus (Spanish: "camioneta de pollos" or "trambilla", the latter a hypercorrection of "tranvía") is a colloquial English name for a colorful, modified and decorated bus that transports goods and people between communities in various Latin American countries, especially Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama.
The base vehicle is usually a retired North American school bus on a light or medium truck chassis.

The word "chicken" may refer to the fact that the buses are often crammed with passengers not unlike a truck load of chickens,^[1] or to the fact that Central Americans occasionally transport live animals on such buses–a practice that visitors from other countries often find remarkable.^[2][3]

Thank You, Billy Graham

Thank you Billy Graham.

I'm thankful for the ministry of Billy Graham.  I'm thankful that we as a family participated with the Franklin Graham Crusade in Santa Cruz, Bolivia in 1999.  Glenn helped with various logistics, I helped with the VIP room, the kids worked by helping to hand out the Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes to Bolivian children and Karen even did the sign-language translations from English to Spanish sign language.  

Then in 2002, I worked at the local BGEA office for the upcoming Dallas MetroplexMission (Crusade) held at the old Texas Stadium in October.  Glenn was the designated driver for many of the guest singers during that weekend Crusade.

Thank you Billy Graham.

{click on the link or photo} 

by Pat Boone, David Pack and Billy Dean

He heard the word, he got the call,
he took the message to us all.
He said it so we all could understand.
Around the world, here at home,
he let us know we're not alone.
Oh, thank you, Billy Graham.

Just as I am

Just as I am

Billy Graham's Bible
John 3:16

Just as I am, without one plea

But that thy blood was shed for me,

and that Thou bidst me come to thee,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot;

To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, though tossed about

With many a conflict, many a doubt;

Fightings within, and fears without,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;

Sight, riches, healing of the mind;

Yes, all I need, in Thee to find,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, Though wilt receive,

Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;

Because Thy promise I believe,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, Thy love unknown

Has broken every barrier down;

Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Brighton Rose 3 1/2 months old

Last weekend Glenn and I spent 4 days in Kansas City with Gary, Madison and 3 1/2 month old Brighton. Wow, she has changed so much since we saw her first in December.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words...

oh, that F.A.C.E.

I see a theme here -

 she likes to put her fingers in her mouth.

Proverbs 17:6 Grandchildren are the crown of the elderly, and the pride of sons is their fathers.

and finally, we were able to Face-time with the 4 grand-kids in Denver.  So, Now I have a photo of all

 5 grand-kids together 

(virtually).

me holding 

Brighton Rose  (3 months) in bottom left square foto

Emily - (nearly 5 years)

Lucy - (3 years)

David - (6 1/2 years)

Elizabeth - (nearly 1 years)