Dia de Gracias

Who says you can't celebrate Thanksgiving in Guatemala. We just celebrated our 2nd annual Dia de Gracias with about 15 of our local friends. The food was great and everybody had a good time laughing and eating and eating and eating... We were able to use this opportunity to share with our friends the reason that we give thanks in the first place. Overall, the night was a lot of fun and it was the first time that the RMI guesthouse was used for a different kind of ministry.

The Day Has Come...

We knew this day would come, but we didn't realize it would come so quickly. Marissa learned how to climb out of her pack-n-play last week. She had already started sleeping in her big kid bed during nap times, but didn't want to sleep in her bed at night. Well, last week we were traveling with a Sister Church team and Marissa did not want to nap in a normal bed. So, I put her back in her pack-n-play and within 5 minutes she had climbed out. When Enrique returned to our room, I put her back in and said, "Show daddy what you can do." This time within 10 seconds she was out of her pack-n-play. So, the pack-n-play is finally packed away for good!

Bilingual Baby

Recently, I have noticed that Marissa has really started talking in two languages. She’ll say “Mami no esta,” or “Paty se fue” or “I need a hug.” She even speaks a little spanglish such as “Let’s go arriba.”

The really amazing thing for me is that she has all of a sudden started talking about random things from the past. For example, when we were in the states, Marissa and her cousin Preston watched DVD’s of the Wiggles (a kid’s show). She was enamored with them. It has now been about three weeks since they have been brought up in conversation. Two days ago she was muttering something about “wehhaa”. She kept saying “wehhaa” for almost a week. We listened attentively and tried to figure out what she wanted, yet without any luck. Finally, Chrissie, who understands Marissa’s vocabulary better, said “The Wiggles.” Marissa started jumping up and down and shouting “si” “si.” She was so excited! It was the cutest thing I had seen her do in some time. Too bad we forgot the DVD’s of ‘The Wiggles’ in the states. I guess she will just have to wait until Christmas for Grandma to bring them down.

*Enrique

Halloween Guatemalan Style

As many of you may know, in Guatemala Halloween is not really celebrated in the traditional sense like us Americans with trick or treating, costumes, pumpkins, and harvest festivals. Halloween or as referred to here, ‘The Day of the Dead’ is not something that is celebrated, but rather feared. It is the night of evil before ‘All Saints Day’. Although more and more the commercialized Halloween is making its way to Guatemala; in the small aldeas the traditional views are still held and practiced. This holiday is a mixture of Catholic and Mayan traditions expressed through festivals, processionals, and visits to freshly painted grave sites with food and gifts for the dead. Some even believe that if they don’t repaint the tombstones and leave food for the dead, then their dead family will fight with them or feel as if they are no longer remembered. The days surrounding this holiday the skies are filled with kites. As innocent as this may seem, our friend Flory just told us today that these are used to send messages to the dead. Once again, I am amazed by the fear that is such a part of the culture here. How reassuring for us, as Christians, to know that we won’t spend eternity in a grave, but rather with our Lord in heaven!

On a lighter note, we celebrated the night by coloring pumpkins, eating pan de muerte, and pumpkin pie! Marissa had a good time and is still talking about her 3 little pumpkins.