My heart aches for the for the families living in Guatemala. I would love nothing more than to pick up our lives and move there today to begin serving the communities near the Antigua area, but I know I must be patient.
We have a game plan. Each day we are working toward making our dream of moving to Guatemala a reality, but while we are living in this gap, this time between deciding to move to Guatemala and physically making the move, we have serving opportunities in our own backyard.
Every community in the world as people who are poor and in need of assistance. Some need help paying their bills, others need clothes, and a many need a simply meal. Guatemala is not the only place where we can serve, so while we wait, we will serve our neighbors right where we are.
We have given money to churches, missions, and families in need for many years, but we wanted a chance to meet people face to face. We wanted to provide a service for those in need along with offering a warm smile and a "good morning!", or "how are you today?".
The Samaritan Center in our community turned out to be just what we were looking for, and to my absolute delight, my 9 year old son could serve right along with me!
We talked with the volunteer coordinator, and committed to coming in 1 day each week to serve breakfast. I was told Tuesday mornings had the greatest need for volunteers, so I said, "Sign us up!".
With just two weeks under our belt, my only complaint is that we didn't begin volunteering at the Samaritan Center sooner. It has been as much of a blessing to me and my son as it is to the folks that come in to eat a hot meal.. The center is welcoming to anyone looking for a meal. They do not require anyone to prove they are unable to provide for themselves...everyone looking for a hot meal is welcome. In the midst of poverty, it is a beautiful place to be.
A book I recently read, The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne, focuses on serving the poor in your local community. We all have the ability to write a check, but we also all have the ability to provide services to those less financially fortunate than ourselves. He talks often about finding beauty in the most unlikely places....specifically places of poverty.
Hopefully this is just the beginning for us. My eyes are open, and I'm looking to serve wherever God chooses to place us.
It's no secret that the best way to learn a foreign language is through immersion. While I am a fan of apps such as Mango Languages and DuoLingo for vocabulary practice, (not to mention, I love the $0 price tag, and I get Mango free through my local library) they just don't prepare you for speaking with natives in a foreign country.
While my husband, Scott, was volunteering in Guatemala, a representative from Homeschool Spanish Academy visited his team. Through this program, you can set up private lessons via Skype with a native Guatemalan!
The Homeschool Spanish Academy (HSA for short), offers a no-strings attached free trial class. And by no strings, I mean you don't even provide a credit card number. With nothing to lose, we quickly scheduled the free trial class for my son, Lucas (age 9).
We had no idea what to expect from this free class, but we waited anxiously for the class day and time to arrive. I think we logged into Skype a full 30 minutes early and just stared at the computer :)
Soon the call came in, and we were greeted by a lovely Guatemalan woman name Cecelia. She began the class speaking 100% Spanish, which I had warned Lucas might happen, but the look on his face was priceless. Fortunately, my son already knew some basic greetings in Spanish and managed to fumble his way through the first 30 seconds.
Cecelia spent the first 5 minutes of the class carrying on a normal get-to-know-you conversation, asking Lucas various questions about his likes and dislikes, translating to English whenever he did not understand what she said in Spanish. We learned many new words just through that little conversation (I was listening intently off to the side, and taking notes), before going into the scripted lesson plan.
I was immediately impressed with the entire set up, and before the free trial class was half way over, I texted Scott to let him know that all three of us needed to sign up for classes through HSA.
We bought 60 sessions for each of us because the more sessions you by, the lower the cost per class. The price worked out to $5.67/class for Lucas (who's classes were 30 minutes long), and $9.33/class for me and Scott (the adult classes last 60 minutes). If you pair up or share a class (2 adults or 2 kids), the price per student and class is even lower. I chose individual classes, because that would allow us to listen to more Spanish if we listened to each others lessons :)
Today we start week 2 of classes (I've schedule 2 classes a week for each person, but you can schedule them more or less depending on what works for your schedule), and I am confident that by the end of this year, we will have a good grasp of the Spanish language. It helps that all three of us are taking the classes so we can practice with each other everyday.
It's strange to be a student again, especially since I am my son's teacher, but I'm glad my he gets to see that side of me too. Lucas finds it quite amusing to watch me make flash cards and study for myself. Perhaps watching me will inspire him to be more self motivated when it comes to studying on his own? We shall see...
Adios y Que tenga un buen día!
My husband and I have tossed around the idea living abroad for many years. We've talked about Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and our favorite place to talk about, retirement in Belize. However recently our hearts began tugging us towards Guatemala.
Antigua, Guatemala....the land of eternal spring.
The decision to move to Guatemala was born out of a desire to simplify our lives, immerse ourselves in a culture that did not speak English, and thanks to a recent mission trip to Antigua, a longing to help a community deep in poverty.
Our dream of living abroad transitioned from a mere fantasy to a firm decision nearly overnight, but implementing that decision would take a bit longer.
One thing we knew for sure though, is that merely talking about such a grand adventure would never get us there. If we were serious, it was time to come up with a game plan.
Over the course of a week, we mapped a working game plan which included everything from learning Spanish to brainstorming ways to finance an expat life. We included ways to simplify our current lifestyle here in America by limiting some of our current options, since certain goods and luxuries would not be available in Guatemala (at least not without spending a great deal of money).
Since part of our passion to move to Guatemala included serving the poverty stricken families, we decided to begin serving the poor in our current community in America, and we knew there was no good reason to wait until we move to Guatemala to help the less fortunate. (It's always easy to write a check for charity, but we wanted to work directly with the people...see the faces and get to know them on a personal level).
The game plan is a work in progress, and I know it will evolve over time. Our hope is to move to Guatemala within two years. In the meantime, we will do what we can to prepare, research and learn everything we can about the culture and language, and spend much time in prayer to God.
Galatians 2:10 “Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
