Guatemala Update

So far we have really enjoyed Antigua, Guatemala! Here's a quick overview. We'll post some pictures after the trip for sure. This place is unbelievable.

***Saturday, April 16***

We left home at 3:00am and began our journey to Guatemala. This made for a long day for sure! The flights were bumpy due to weather, but we arrived. The only major hiccup in the process was our delay in Atlanta because they didn't have a pilot for our flight! That was a first for us.

Once we arrived in Guatemala, we were picked up by Obed and Carlos. They are incredible men of God that are serving with Iglesia Del Camino. Obed is native to Guatemala, but spent much of his life in South Florida. He is great for international teams since he understands American culture and the English language so well. Carlos is amazing as well! He is from El Salvador and has been serving in Guatemala for the past few years. It was refreshing to finally get to meet some of the faces that are serving here with the ministry in Antigua.

After some lunch at Pollo Campero, a quick walk around the city, and dinner at the church building, we called it a night and prepared for a great night's sleep!

***Sunday, April 17***

Palm Sunday... so we are in Antigua during Semana Santa (holy week)! This is an amazing week to come. The town is usually about 40,000 people strong. However, this week it has up to 1/2 million people here! They streets are lined with "alfombras" or "carpets" that are made with pine needles, flowers, saw dust, bell peppers, etc. They are beautiful! Then there are huge processions that go through the streets celebrating the story of Easter. It's pretty cool.

After a few hours of getting to know the city some more, we walked across the street to Iglesia Del Camino. It was a bilingual service and we enjoyed the opportunity to worship alongside some of the believers here in Guatemala.

The afternoon was filled with Semana Santa activities. We visited the cathedrals, visited the local markets, and just walked around town with Steve Otto (our host). This was an interesting experience to say the least. After watching a processional, we attempted to make it out of the streets. The only issue is that there were so many people, we were literally stuck. Everyone was stuck. We had to push our way through a sea of people to get to our next destination. I've never been closer to a group of people in my life. After about 10 or 15 minutes of squeezing our way through the mob, we made it to a clear spot in the streets..well, clearer. Jess was the first to notice that her bag has a slash in it. She was pickpocketed! Fortunately, they cut into the section of her bag with medicine and wet wipes, so they weren't too excited about what they found. Haley was next, she realized that the sneaky pick pocketer stole her wallet! This was unfortunate, but she was a good sport. Finally, Lynsie found her bag slashed as well. She, like Jess, didn't have anything taken! Praise the Lord the team was safe.

That evening we went out to dinner to a unique restaurant that had a live band. It was a very cultural experience and a nice way to end our "free day".

***Monday, April 18***

We woke up bright and early, put on our rattiest clothes and set out to move an entire house. The ministry here has these small homes that they build for families. Well, our objective for this day was to move a house from one location to another. The family that was living in this house had to leave it vacant due to landslides that were threatening their safety. When we arrived, we were surprised to find a family squatting in the house. This was an uncomfortable place to be for sure. Our objective was the move this house for a single mom to use, but in the process, we were moving another family out. However, we found out that they had a home next door, they were just using this one since it was a little bigger and a little more stable. After many phone calls, arrangements with the city, and a few hours with the neighborhood kids, we finally were given the green light to move this beast.

It was a long process, but we got it all disassembled and made it to the new location. The new location was full of surprises as well. The government had laid the concrete slab for the new house, but the only problem was that they made it too short. The house wasn't going to fit on top of the slab. We used some creativity and figured it out (as best we could). The house was 90% completed and the local crew just has to put up the final wall (once the foundation is extended a bit). This was a lot of work, but worthwhile to contribute to the work Iglesia Del Camino is doing for the needy families in this community.

We then headed home shower and enjoy a delicious home cooked meal at the church building. After some dinner and a quick stroll around the city streets, we called it a night and enjoyed a good night sleep... or did we...

***Tuesday, April 19***

We both got sick throughout the night and have been sitting in the hotel all day long today. Jess started to feel better around lunch time, while Justin started to fell worse. We missed out on the opportunities for ministry this day, but are grateful that we have gotten to rest and allow our bodies to heal up... It is very frustrating to be on a short term trip like this with limited days already and then end up missing an entire day due to stupid stomach issues! Pray that we get better soon and that whatever is in our systems will work itself out.

The team today got to work with a Catholic Hospital this morning that met the needs of children with sever physical (and sometimes mental) handicaps. They said it was quite an emotional morning, but rewarding to serve these precious kids. After that, the team went to "El Club" in San Lucas. This is a VBS program for the kids in the community. Our group was challenged to teach on the story of the Good Samaritan. The team had the opportunity to share with these kids how to be a good neighbor to everyone!

Now, we're gearing up for dinner (we'll see if the two of us actually get to eat) and then we'll try to sleep again. Is it possible to sleep anymore today? We've literally been in bed all day long! We'll try...

GOING TO GUATEMALA!

That's right! We're heading to Guatemala tomorrow morning! This blog will hopefully be updated once or twice while we are there. Thank you for your prayers as we serve with Iglesia Del Camino.

Celebrating the Life of Myrtle Roesel

The past few months have been full of a lot of joy and a lot of pain. Jess has been dealing with sickness, new job(s), and the ongoing ups and downs of the final days of her grandma. "Myrt" went to the hospital at the end of December and remained in either the hospital, hospice, or rehab until the end. All in all, it has been somewhat of a "dry" season in our lives. Every time we feel like we're about to get out of the drought, something else seems to come up! However, we know that God is faithful and He has been exactly that during every high and every low in our lives. It's easy to trust God in the good times, but we've been learning to trust Him in the lows as well! Great lessons for our lives and marriage.

We were able to see Myrt a few times during that season and were blessed that she, even at the end of her life, still put others before herself, still committed everything (and everyone) to prayer, and was still hilarious and feisty!

Below is the obituary that we put in the local papers.

Myrtle Boykin Cooper Roesel

Myrtle Roesel “changed addresses” on March 28^th and entered Heaven’s gates. Myrtle loved life and lived it to the fullest until Christ called her home. She was born on January 17, 1915 in Brooksville, MS. There are three things that “Myrt” would want you to know: she loved the Lord, she loved her family, and she loved her Florida Gators!

Myrtle was a Christian who loved Jesus with all her heart and soul. Her commitment to tell others about Jesus has touched the lives of many.

Second only to her love for Christ was the love of her family. She was the mother of three daughters - Kathy Bolton, Anne (& Mike) Johnston, and Darla Greer, a grandmother of three – Connie (& Terry) Steger, Jobi (& Jannette) Bolton, Jessica (& Justin) Brock, a great-grandmother of four, and a great-great-grandmother of 2! Myrtle was not a shy woman and never met a stranger! She had so many friends and would quickly make them a part of her family as well.

She wasn’t just a Gator fan; she was a Gator! Even though she was legally blind, she “watched” her gators play every chance she got! Her history with the gators dates all the way back to the 1950’s.

Myrtle was preceded in death by her late husband James “Bill” Cooper (1975) & Frank Roesel (1991).

Building a Solid Foundation...

The past few weeks have been a great time of growth for us as a couple. We're daily learning how to communicate better, how to love and serve one another selflessly, and even how to keep the fun and energy in our marriage!

Two weekends ago, we had the opportunity to go on the Broad River Community Church Marriage Retreat. This was our first year going since we were in India this time last year. We were so glad to be able to spend some quality time with the married couples in our faith family and hear some wisdom and insight on important topics such as finances, spiritual life in the home, and communication. One of the most basic yet challenging things we heard during the weekend was an illustration from the Raisch family of a marriage as a house. When you build a house, you must start off with a solid foundation. Similarly, when you build a healthy marriage, you must start off with a solid foundation in Christ. It seems obvious, but it is so easy to try and tackle the "issues" in marriage without first evaluating your dependence and relationship with the Lord, our firm foundation. When the foundation is strong, then the "building blocks" that make the marriage a marriage will be so much easier to work out. We are so blessed to live in a community where there are so many married couples that are willing to be transparent with us and help us see what a healthy, godly relationship looks like.

This topic of a solid foundation has been on the forefront of our minds even more because we are praying about selling our current home and buying another. We are excited about this possible change in our lives and appreciate your prayers for us as we make this transition! Pray that we'll make wise decisions with this change, but also that we never forget to first focus on our spiritual foundation and spiritual home as we pursue new housing options!

Our Endeavors to be Healthy!

The past few months have proven to be some of the most difficult months in a long time! One of the areas of difficulty has been our health. Jess was sick with C-diff for the entire month of December and the beginning of January. The best way to treat C-diff is with an antibiotic called Flagyl. She was on it for about 15 days. This antibiotic was AWFUL and INTENSE to say the least. The greatest side effect is severe nausea. In order to alleviate some of the nausea, Jess had to take Zofran. This drug was her saving grace! She would take these pretty much every time she had to take the antibiotic. However, a few days into the antibiotic, she ran out of Zofran. This was particularly bad because all of the doctors offices were closed due to the Boiling Springs blizzard! She was devastated to not have more Zofran (not to mention it was her birthday!). So, I called my best doctor friend to save the day. He was able to call in a prescription to our local pharmacy within minutes. When I brought the medicine home to Jess, I wrapped it up and gave it to her as a surprise gift. After she cried a bit, she told me it was the best birthday present that she had received all day!

All that to say, we are healthy now and looking forward to staying healthy! We will begin making daily menus again (after about a 2 month hiatus). We've found making meal menus keep us from eating junk food just because we didn't plan. It also keeps us from spending extra money at the grocery store! If you have any great healthy meals that we should try, we'd love your input! We also found out that Jess' job allows us to use the Gardner-Webb University gym. We plan to exercise regularly again as well. Justin enjoys running outside a lot, but Jess would much rather use a gym to work out. So, this is a huge blessing to have a gym to use for free! Finally, we are going to do a Whole Body Cleanse! We found a good option at the Vitamin Shoppe that includes all kinds of crazy organic detoxifiers and cleansers while also adding good probiotics back into the body. Justin says this seems a little "earthy" or "hippie" to do, but we are both eager to do a good detox and get all this junk out of our bodies! We'll give you an update sometime soon about how we're progressing!

Even though the past few months have been difficult (we'll explain more soon), we have also experienced the immense love and grace of God in so many ways. We praise God for his purpose and timing. We are incredibly blessed to have some answers for Jess' sickness and also blessed that she is cleared from any traces of C-diff in her system! As always, we invite you praise God with us for Jess' health, and we would appreciate your prayers, specifically your prayers for our health.

A man's spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear? Proverbs 18:14

Our First (New) Post

It's almost been a year since we have blogged. The last time we were blogging was in India under three feet of snow, no power, no heat, no water, and PLENTY of monster rats tapping on our ceilings (and running through out kitchen, bathroom, living room, and more!). It honestly isn't our "thing" to blog, but we recognize that it is one of the better ways to let our friends and families know what is going on in our lives. We hope that this will allow us to stay in touch with our family and friends better, but we also consider it a way to keep a record of our life together as old married people.

You can look forward to updates on exciting travels, our jobs, our future together, the greatest meals we are cooking, and even what movies we're enjoying right now! Again, we aren't promising any writings or thoughts that will change your lives. Our hope is that you feel more and more a part of our lives as you read the words and see the images on this blog!

Enjoy!