Hi

Weekends are the hardest. Being away from family and friends a real challenge. Here is a picture of me with Baby Esther who is now an american citizen. She sure is a doll. We have a grandson about the same age and our son says people are always trying to hold him. We will hold him next year having missed a good part of his first 2 years.

I found a 5 piece drum set with cymbals and stands and the whole thing cost less than 1900 q which is less than 300 dollars. Will pick it up on Monday at 11 AM.

Our first bible study was interesting. About 20 people all in the 40 to 60 range. They appear to be at about the same social class as us which is good. Funny how in Canada this would never be an issue but down here there are just places we cannot not go to for safety reasons. For example we were going to attend a smaller local church but found that there was no protected parking so it was out of the question to leave the car out on the street. We need a church with guarded parking so where we attend now is fine.

By for now
Tim

Hi

Here is a nice picture of Sheila helping out with an English class. There was a donation of easymix brownies so the cooking of them became the focus of one english class.

I was assisting with guitar during a music class and heard some heavy drumming. It was a student with sticks who was beating on the case for a trumpet because he had no drum set to use. Well I am now looking for a set for the school. Funny I put out a call for instruments in a previouse newsletter and received one comment but no donations of instruments. There just has to be many instruments sitting in closets that no one is using. Do email me at tsjuhlin@gmail.com if you have an instrument to donate to this budding program.

We will be attending our first bible study with a group in San Christobal. I am finally getting the Spanish so hope that most people in the group do not speak English. Will let you know how this goes.

On a personal level we are doing well. We are basically locked in each night by 6:30 because it is dark. Health wise we are both fine. Sheila is a hot number having lost weight and I am trying to put some back on... just kidding .. but it is true that if we do not find some means of additional exercise the weight may soon return. My Asthma seems to be very tied to my allergies so if I avoid eating out, canola and soy I can breath fine.

I will keep adding to this site as life unfolds.

All the Best
Tim

Hi Again Tim Here

We are having more difficulty now than we had in Antigua with adding to this blog site. It seems that the internet is pushed to the limits from noon on. This means that for us we have no internet in the afternoons or evenings. This is proving to be very frustrating. I should tell the internet company that I will only be paying my bill part time and will choose which month I will pay on time. I guess that would go over like a lead ballon!

Communication is proving slow and a constant challange. My phone ran out of minutes a week ago and finally today it was triple day for Tigo (our provider) so now I have 600 minutes on my phone for 200 Q or 30 dollars. We are not sure what it actually costs to phone home. Sometimes a long distance call is the same as a local and sometimes (I suspect when everything is working) we are charged a higher rate. So I will be making a number of calls to family in the next few days.

Still working on a coffee plan and Trees for Global Renewal but each is requiring input from others before we can move ahead.

I spend plenty of time in our garden trying to nurture the melons and squash. Most everything else did not germinate. Only peas and beans are growing great guns but I see lettuce all over the place. This means to me that I planted the seeds too shallow and the heavy rains and birds have dispersed the seed.

We visited the large Guatemalan family west of Antigua and brought them some food again. Walked up the hill to look at their gardens. I will download some pictures and get them on the site soon.

Tim

I had to add a picture to show you the little pirate girl that we assisted. Her mom and big sister were in the last 2 weeks of the adoption process so they ended up staying with us so they could be closer to the American Embassy for the purpose of completing paper work. Her name is Esther. Then we have a picture of Sheila staying out of the sun with the ocean and a bellybutton in the background. The picture of us together was taken in port at Livingstone. Livingstone is a wretchedly hot port on the coast.

Here are some pictures of our 6 day trip on the ocean. This is not ministry related but everyone needs to take a break sometimes. Well the pictures will not load so I will try again tomorrow.
Good Night

Hi Everyone

Sorry for not writing for so long. We moved from Antigua language training and began life as house-sitters. We started working at the William Cornelius School. I am working on a project called Hope Co.fe -Responsible Coffee sales. This could affect your life in the near future if you thought that you would like to market some coffee as a fund raiser. I have also started modifying the Trees for Global Renewal business plan. Poco a Poco (little by little) as they say down here. Sheila will be involved in teaching some of the staff English three days a week, and helping in the classroom as well.

I planted a garden, however half of the seeds did not germinate. The peas, squash,zucchini, melons and green beans germinated however, the lettuce, onions, corn, and brussel sprouts were a no show.

Sheila and I moved our 30th wedding celebrations to June 22 and enjoyed something we would never have done living in Canada. We lived with 13 others on a catamaran for 6 days. We went snorkeling however realize that this activity was on the edge of our abilities and noted that most of the others were younger, in the 28 to 34 range. It was a good time with a little fishing (I caught a barracuda) swimming and great meals. A highly recommended trip if you are a strong swimmer. I was not sea sick until back on shore. Now the cruise is over but the ground keeps moving. Sheila feels it worse than I do. Pictures of this trip will be posted as soon as we can down load them.

We are preparing for a little Canada Day celebration on Sunday. We will have a small group because some of our team are now in Canada.

OK well I will try downloading the pictures and return!

Tim