Beans, Nachos and United As One!

Altar view from proposed church in Santa Rosa el Rodeo

Our Spanish lessons have been the primary task for us this week, along with vehicle shopping. We both knew how to speak basic words and phrases in Spanish, but this week has been focused on grammar and sentence structure. Jennifer does a better job at listening and pronouncing Spanish than I. Unfortunately; I speak a weird Southern Alabama style of Spanish. People make fun of the way I pronounce words in English, so just imagine how I sound in Spanish! Jennifer is always laughing at my pronunciations. However, our Spanish teacher is very patient with me. Vivian, our teacher, has an amazing testimony and we are blessed that God has united us together. She attends a Seminary here in Antigua. Recently, the school informed her that she had to start paying for classes. It is amazing to us how God has worked all of this together for his glory. We are paying her to teach us to communicate the story of Christ with people of Guatemala. The money that we are paying her is being used for her education so she can learn more about the Bible, and teach others about Christ as well.

A few nights ago, I was on the phone with my mom and dad, Ricki and Edna Robinson. Thankfully, we are able to Skype our parents every night. During that conversation, mom asked me, “Teach us something in Spanish.” I quickly laughed because both of them have a habit of distorting words into funny statements. Then I decided to teach them to say ‘good night’ in Spanish. The phrase is “Buenos Noches!” My parent’s grandest effort was an expression articulated with the words “beans and nachos!”  We all started laughing hysterically at their Spanglish!

Escuintla Watermelons and Cantaloupes 

Talking about beans and nachos, we actually had our first taco night in Guatemala. All of our family and friends know that we have a tradition on Thursday nights to gather and eat tacos. Part of our meal actually consisted of beans, nachos, homemade guacamole and homemade Salsa. By far, the meal was one of majestic proportions and seemed to help us feel more settled into our new home.

We enjoy buying fresh produce and fruits in the market. A friend informed us that the city of Escuintla sells watermelons that are grown by local farmers. Immediately, I thought about Citronelle, the Turner family, and our love for the pink, fleshy fruit. Today, we traveled to Escuintla to look around and find one of these ample watermelons. Thankfully, God worked everything out and we have an Isuzu Rodeo that we have named “Green Hornet.” After a couple of wrong turns and some lunch, we found watermelons everywhere. People were selling them in their stores, in the market, on fruit stands and on the back of a truck. The man selling them on the back of his truck seemed to be more familiar to us so we bought one from him. We are excited to try the watermelon later!

Lindey Family and Cadence

The best part of today was traveling to the village of Santa Rosa el Rodeo. We went to the property where the church will be built. Today was the first time that we have been able to visit the village since we have arrived to Guatemala. We prayed over the property and the people of the village. At one point, I stood approximately where the altar will be and looked upon the Guatemalan landscape. It was overwhelming to imagine people gathered together to worship the Lord and have their lives changed.

When we were leaving, we saw a family that we met last year. A few of us built a house for this family and the little girl was named Lindey. The whole family was overwhelmed and praised God for their home last summer. They were overcome with joy and happiness when they saw us today. I am excited to be a part of this amazing project in order to have a church that can teach these precious children. Their mother told us that she couldn’t wait for the church to be built. She was praising God that a church would be built so close to her home for the children of this village. While she was praising God, she told us that they are currently attending a church that is extremely far from her home. The church that will be built this summer will only be 100 feet from her home.

Since that conversation today, I have been pondering about our communities, towns and cities in the United States. In Citronelle, you can find a church on every other street. In some cases, there are churches across the road from one another. Unfortunately, most of our churches in Citronelle were not formed because of the lack of a place to worship God. Instead, they were formed because of division and turmoil in other places. Even among denominations you will find multiple churches in the same area. We are all called to unite together to worship Christ. This lady in Guatemala, the college students in East Asia, the Wolof man in West Africa and Christians in Citronelle are supposed to be united together in the body of Christ. The world is broken and people need Christ. We must put our differences behind us and learn to LIVE. LOVE. GO. for Christ!

“There are many parts, but one body… Now you are the body of Christ, 

and each one of you is a part of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:20,27