We are excited to say we'll be coming back 'home' (?) for four weeks to visit friends and family in Kansas City and New York. We leave in a week, and we are eager to see everybody! Especially those grand-daughters!
Plus we get to attend the 2016 convention, themed Imitate Jesus! I've heard SO many people rave about how encouraging it is, how touching, how loving. We'll be there August 21-23.
It's in Independence, Missouri, which is on the northeast extreme corner of Kansas City metro area, and we're staying with the kids at the southwest corner. Quite a drive for spread-out Kansas City. But when I think of conventions here in Guatemala, we have to travel to a different country, to El Salvador, in a bus for almost 12 hours! And have expense of hotels and meals. So, no complaints here.
But, as I look around Panajachel, I must say I miss it already. We've been here three years now, and we're used to the rhythms and people here. The women patting their tortillas in roadside tiendas. The man selling cashews, with whom I have a semi-uneasy detente. The man across from Guajimbos who walks with a limp and now (after this long) is friendly and waves. The odd schedules for business here (such as, the bank is closed on Saturday but open on Sunday). The tiny elderly lady who sells things out of a small basket she carries. The tuk-tuk drivers who know us, who know where we go to meetings, and know where to take us home.
Plus, over time, you learn where to get some rare items. Where do they usually have Jif Crunchy Peanut Butter? What about good dried fruit? Can I get rice flour? Herbs and oils? With time, we've figured out how to get just about anything we really want and more.
So we love visiting 'home', but we will be eager to get to our real home, back here in Guatemala.
I will also be missing Pana because the congregation has shrunk quite a bit. I think I've mentioned it before, but a number of couples or individuals have left or are about to leave. Some have gone to help in Spanish, one elder had to go back to Mexico, and some have gone back to work in their home country or have gone on visits (as we're about to). Some completed their expected time here and have gone back home. Bev went back to Atlanta after trying Managua with Andy Burns; Andy has returned to the states to serve as a commuter Bethelite. Lots of changes, and our congregation has diminished.
But, we know Jehovah will provide more help if and when it's needed. How about you? Have you thought about it? Maybe even for just a year? Or six months? You will NEVER forget it. You will be building memories and gathering stories to tell that will be a joy to tell into the paradise to come!
Here's an example that a visitor, Joe, just told me. He was on a bus coming here, and struck up a conversation with an English woman. He mentioned they were witnesses, but the woman didn't comment. As they were parting ways, she asked for his contact information! When Joe and his wife Cassandra arrived where they were staying, with friends here in Pana, the friends (Eisenhauers) said they already had a Bible student! They were shocked... but it turns out the English woman is someone that Julene Eisenhauer knows here on the lake, and she had been one of Jehovah's witnesses and wanted to talk more!
C'mon down and find your own stories! We welcome you!
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