Hi

The other day Sheila and I agreed that our homesickness is as much about not doing activities that we are used to as it is about missing people. There is something about doing the activities associated with the seasons, such as... shoveling a spring snow dump until your back is sore or fishing in the first open water on the lake. Smelling that spring thaw "doggy do" and watching the first pussy willow buds or the lilic bushes starting to form flowers. This loneliness shows up mostly when weekends are upon us and we do not have to study. Anyway, it is not every day and on the plus side 2007 has been for us the longest summer of our life.

Just the month of May left of language school and then we will be working at the vocational school and should be able to maintain a little more consistency on this site. We do wish that we could place folders of pictures rather than one at a time. Anyone have a better site or suggestion?

What is this picture of? ha ha

Thanks


Tim

The thin forest of pine near Jalapa looks similiar to some warm places in the interior of B.C.

Here we have pictures of 2 different families, Tex with unique guitar pants and below a very poor mom and child with house in background.

Note that corn and pine are planted on the same slope grades.

Hello everyone it has been most of a week since my last short communication. As you may or may not know, Blog stands for weblog and blogs are set up for many reasons. This blog has been set up to give our family and friends opportunity to experience some of what we experience and feel. This is accomplished through writings and pictures. The blog is somewhat different. Although we are missionaries in Guatemala, we have a broad range of readers based on our support base which includes a number of forest practitioners. We do hope, however, that we are able to provide you with enough variety of information that you will make it a “must read” site and save the location in your favorites file.

In my devotions I have been systematically reading through the New Testament and have been doing this for 3 years. Over the last few weeks, many interesting points have required contemplation and today was no exception. We hear people talk about the great battle of Armageddon as mentioned in Revelation chapter 9. Well by the time I finished The Book of Revelation I was thinking that the entire book is amazing (I have never seen a movie on Revelation) and it would have been near impossible for John, the author, inspired and afforded a look into the future by God, himself to have thought up such an account. The Judgments described will be absolutely terrifying and although we cannot be sure of the order or timing of events it seems likely that many judgments will have been upon the earth before the great battle. So whatever we think or suppose about that battle during these times will be greatly overshadowed or molded by the events of the preceding judgments. Life will not be like ‘all is normal’ and poof… the great battle.

I am now proceeding back into Matthew where I find the amazing documentation of the lineage of Christ in 3 groups of 14 generations. In our society we are hardly able to identify our great grandfather and here in Matthew Ch 1 we have 42 generations tracked. What a marvel.

For those of you interested, we feel the following: primarily at this time loneliness is our companion. This loneliness is for friends and the familiar and is followed closely with feelings of being unsettled. This is probably because we are living in a hotel while at language school and are not able to establish a secure nest. These 2 feelings are followed by an excitement about what God is about to do once we move into assisting at the William Cornelius Technical Training School. Note the change in name from vocational to technical, this has occurred to satisfy government officials.

I promised a few pictures of the highlands of Guatemala to the east of the City. We traveled back from Jalapa (pronounce halapa) on some wild roads during Easter so here are a few pictures.

Yours In Christ

Tim

Well we have been back to school for a week and much to my surprise I was able to string sentences together. I guess the break helped.

Adjusting to the culture is still a big challange with many little things getting under our skin. I have noted though an inner change towards accepting things as they are. The wages paid to individuals is bothersome, however we benefit daily because of the low wages. Contradictions! It is like those complaining about logging and then using toilet paper and reams of paper towel.

Only Converts not Disciples? A great omission in the great commission?

All the best

Tim & Sheila

The entry today will be on the use of wood products. The pictures will show pine needles used for the carpets, Palm pods ( not sure what to call them), Sawdust. etc. I took a drive up into the mountains with a friend and we found a small community. Oh my the homes were little more than what we would use for pig sheds in Canada. The streets were awful with no drainage and it appears obvious that during the rainy season this must be a terrible place to walk. I think 3 hours with a backhoe could make a world of difference to this community. I will post pictures of the place the next time we download the camera.

Tim

The carpets are extra-ordinary and we have been having a good time with close ups. We now have about 200 great pictures of the Easter Season here in Guatemala.

I have completed my book review on the book How Now Shall We Live by Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey. It is too long to post although I would like to post it here. Email me if you would like a copy.

Tim

While walking the parade route we entered a hotel to see how the rich live and I took this picture of Sheila.

one carrot one radish and the nut in the middle is not a cabbage.

one carpet of many

a close up of one flower display

The actual procession is a huge organizational challange. Some run for 24 hours. Many people are mobilized and assigned street corners and a slot on the displays to carry the load. They each pay 50Q(7.50 CAN) to carry the display 4 times for one block each time. Literally thousands of people are required. Near the end of the block when the exchange is to happen, some individuals are literally grimacing in pain from the weight. Pain for the forgiveness of sin! hmmmm I wonder if suffering is part of following Christ?

It takes more than 70 people to lift the big structure holding Christ carrying the cross.

Sometimes the local volcano gives off a smoke and ash display. Based on current knowledge of volcanoes a distance of 20 km is not too far away in the event of an eruption. One volcano is within a few KM of downtown. Mt St Helens created a wind with temperatures to 300 degrees some 20 km from the blast so I hope we are out of town if this ever happens in Antigua!