reflecting on the year... and read on for results!

It’s time to sit still and write for an hour-- how difficult these days! I have had a hard time pausing for reflection this spring it seems… there is so much going on! What wonderful friends I have for badgering and requesting updates; thank you for you interest. I do in fact, have a lot to say.

Today is May 5th, Derby Day. This time last year, I had just returned home from my initial three-month stint in Guatemala. On Derby Day, though still emaciated from a travel bug, I celebrated at Churchill Downs with old friends. I remember chatting on the bleachers between races and announcing my decision to become a missionary. The first taste of Guatemala had whetted my taste buds, I had found a place to serve the poor, and I couldn’t shake Pinalito out of my head.

I spent the next two months working in Louisville. I approached Christ Church United Methodist about my ideas, then researched education, poverty and rural development, wrote Power Points and letters and generally, tried to plan for an experience that has proven impossible to prepare for.

You all have read the chain of events that followed, slightly chaotic, from there. Education had been the plan, but survival became the reality. Feed the hungry. Heal the sick. Clothe the naked. And hike like you have never hiked before!

I have woken in the morning to rasps at my metal door, “Neccesito un doctor!“ I need a doctor for my daughter… her baby will not come.
I have spent the day in my kitchen, caring for the malnourished. Melanie and I take turns at the stove to provide food for what seemed to be unquenchable hunger.

I have fallen asleep to the shouts of men as they fight a spreading crop fire down the hill from my apartment.

Throughout the fall, I learned to put my big plans on the back burner. That was a season for learning- building relationships, making mistakes, and persevering with God. It's easy to tread ahead on your power for a while, but whew... the workings of one tiny village is too much for one blind-sided idealist to direct.

Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ ‘Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15


I write this wordy preface today, not to bore you all, dear friends, but to assure you that any success has not been my own. The season has changed in Pinalito. The missionary number has tripled. Short term teams have come to paint and plan for me. Koos Hagg, from Christ Church, has built bookshelves and bulletin boards, rewired the electricity as well as old computer systems. Money has come; I have bought a generator (see the yellow machine in Koos's hands below!) notebooks, pencils, and paid Max, a wonderful teacher and co-dreamer from Pinalito.

On April 11th, Max and I gave out invitations to fourteen 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. “Extra Class!” The invitation announced… “Computer classes, English, extended math and language sessions… in the new Pinalito Library!” The students were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding their career goals and their views of Pinalito life. The next Wednesday, we held interviews for interested invitees invitees to expound on their answers to the questionnaire. Eleven students showed up for interviews. They were dressed in their finest, and very nervous. Eight want to be teachers-- this is one of the only professional roles they know. Tono wants to be a radio host. Jesus wants to be a veterinarian. Balodomero an electrician.

We started classes the following Tuesday, April 24th. Only four showed up, but I wasn’t discouraged. This is Guatemala, you see. The next day, I didn’t have enough desks to go around for the fourteen that came. I laid down the law, and Max explained my Spanish mistakes. You must come on time. You must come every day. I expect respect and responsibility. You are allowed three strikes, then you’re out.

This Tuesday, we will begin our third week of classes. There are a twelve consistent students. Nine young men, ranging from age 9 to 20, and three young women, ages 14, 15 and 16. This is a picture of the computer class. (Joe, note you Dell CPU on the computer cart!) We are starting at the basics-- how to turn on the CPU, and how to use the mouse. They are both fascinated and frustrated with the arrow, and the patience it takes to land on the “Start” button. Today I have written next week’s lesson plans-- a review of basic math concepts, games with chalk and magnets, and English verbs and introduction words.

The road for their education will be long and challenging. I couldn’t be happier with the work. If there was a routine to be had in this mission field, I think I have found a perfect one. It is not an academic mind or computer know-how that will save these kids, but the time I spend getting to know their names and sitting beside them while they learn to carry their sums. I truly love these people-- there’s my profound reflection of the month! I am only mist, I gather, and my ambition is nothing. But to demonstrate my love inside this classroom--with books and computers and school supplies that came only as God could plan-- this is success in servitude.