It's been How Long?

I couldn't believe when I looked on here that it had been since June the last time I wrote something!  Time flies when you're having fun!

So what has our family been up to?  Well here's a little run down:

Alicia:  She spent the summer at Chico YWAM doing their summer program.  It was a great experience for her and she has decided to go back in the fall to do her DTS before she heads off to college to pursue a degree in nursing.  She is currently enjoying Guatemala and finishing her senior year.  She is also working hard on translating a Spanish book on values used in the school system here from Spanish to English to be used in African schools.

Bailey:  She is working hard on her sophomore year of high school and enjoying music and art.  She wants to go to Chico YWAM next summer to do the same program Alicia did this past summer.  She just turned 15 and is already talking about the time when Mark will teach her driving!!

Christopher:  He is now in 8th grade and attending youth group and having fun with his friends.  He is still really gifted at all things technical and I am constantly amazed at what he knows how to do.  It blows my mind!  He has been teaching at our church's kids classes on Sunday mornings helping to translate.

Soup Run

We have been working with the homeless doing soup run for almost 2 years now.  This year it has really grown and we have also been blessed with a few teams who have gone out with us.  Previously we paid for the soup and food that we brought to people and recently we have been blessed with a LOT of dried soup mixes with veggies and beans.  It's been such a blessing since we are regularly feeding about 50 people!  We are looking forward to working with more churches in another city nearby to start doing some soup runs there as well.

Evangelism/Street Ministry

We've been busy getting the bus ready to use and have even used it a few times to show movies and do outreaches.  The most recent one was in September with our Discipleship Training School students in Chimaltenango.  We were there all day doing children's ministry and evangelism near the central square.  We were able to partner with a church there and pray with many people.  We are hoping to take the bus out more once rainy season ends!

Mark still does street ministry every Saturday night and has had great talks and times of prayer with people in Central Park in Antigua.  He is continuing to go out and bring others with him to share the gospel.

Discipleship Training School

On July 24th of this year we began our DTS with 12 students from Canada the US and Curacao.  It has been a busy time!!!  Mark is working with the 3 guys and I am working with 3 of the girls.  We've been doing one-on-ones and small groups as well as coordinating activities for the weekends.  It's been a lot of fun!  They leave for 5 weeks in Haiti and then return to Guatemala towards the middle of November to do their last 3 weeks in different locations here.  Mark may be joining them for the last 3 weeks of outreach but he will remain at home to work on outreach here and a team that will be arriving in November.

Prayer Requests

--Please pray for the 6 people that are in their rehab programs that God will work in them.
--Pray for our family to be able to have some time off for a little relaxation in the next few months.  It's been
   2 years since our trip to the US and even though we can't return there we would like to take some time off
   here in Guatemala.
--Please continue to pray for our street people that God would continue to move in their lives.
--Pray for continued financial support for us to do the work we have here in Guatemala.

--Dayle

How's the kids?

We get this question a lot because, they grow so fast!

Alicia

She is now 16 and finishing up her junior year of high school.  She speaks pretty fluent Spanish and does a lot of translating for teams.  She is participating on the drama team that Mark put together that participates in school ministry as well as street ministry.  Alicia will be spending the summer in Chico, CA participating in the 24-7 program at YWAM Chico.  This program is like a mini-dts that teaches leadership and service.  She's excited to venture out on her own for 8 weeks!  We aren't as excited for her to be gone, but, really happy that this opportunity has presented itself for her.  Her future plans include some college online next year and then in 2013 she plans on moving in with her grandparents and attend nursing school in Brainerd.  After school, she wants to return to Guatemala to work with villages that don't have a lot of medical care.  She is also trying to coordinate a mission trip for our youth group here in Antigua to go to San Andres Quiche to minister to needs there.

Bailey

Bailey is 14 and finishing her freshman year of high school.  She speaks really good Spanish and also participates in the drama team ministering in schools and on the street.  She loves music and art and is very gifted in drawing.  She has been taking piano and excelling at it!  She hopes to participate in the youth worship team later this summer after a few more weeks of lessons.  She will be spending the summer working with the different teams that will be arriving to work with YWAM Antigua this summer as well as helping to get ready for the DTS students who arrive in July. 


Christopher

Christopher has just turned 13 and is finishing up 7th grade.  He is taller than I am and he is still growing--too fast in my opinion!  He speaks excellent Spanish and also has been helping with translating with teams and also for Mark in the park.  He is busy with computers and friends and we are so thankful that he has a gift for computer technology and has fixed things here many times!  He LOVES spending time with his friends and playing computer games and just hanging out.  He just started attending our church's youth group and it's been fun to see him be part of what God is doing in our youth.  He will be helping with sound and video editing for our ministry this summer and with the teams that are coming.

So that's it!  They are growing fast and it's fun to see God work in their lives.  Thanks so much for all the support and prayer we receive for our family--it's such a blessing!

--Dayle

Updates on all our Stuff!

It has been one crazy time in Casa de Annand!  We have enjoyed the DTS (discipleship training school) students being here since the end of July.  4 of those students were from the Lake Atitlan area of Guatemala.  Spanish was actually their second language since their families are indigenous.  They were awesome!  We also had 3 students from the USA who were a blessing to us and our kids--our kids miss them now that they are all in Haiti on outreach!  It was a lot of fun to have them over for dinners, game nights, movies, whatever.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to work with people like that.  Truly a blessing for our family.

There have also been some changes as far as our home schooling journey goes.  As many of you know, it's been a lot of years of praying for friends for our kids.  We had some friends, many who lived far enough away that we couldn't get there on a regular basis for one reason or another.  It's been a lonely time sometimes!  But, this past spring several new families moved into our area with kids our kids' ages!  So awesome!  Since they are all homeschoolers as well, we decided to start a learning co-op.  So now, on Thursdays, we do art, music, and science at our co-op in our church building here in Antigua.  We have 12 families and about 23 kids!  It's just a huge amount of fun and a great ministry to missionary kids and their families. 

Since then, we've had movie nights, dinners, parties for the kids in the co-op to get together outside of Thursdays.  Also, our church now has a youth group and we are so thankful!  So many opportunities opened up in the past few months for our kids to have friends and activities that are so important!

We are so thankful to be living in Antigua doing what we do.  Even though there are a lot of daily challenges, we wouldn't want to be anywhere else!

New things that are coming up is Mark's potential trip to Haiti to meet up with our students while they are on outreach.  We are hoping to raise another $1300 to help pay for the trip.  Please pray!  We need to have the money raised in the next few weeks as he is hoping to be gone by Thanksgiving for 2 weeks of ministry and outreach into Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  It's not a cheap trip!

We also are still plugging away at raising money for our car.  We want to get it completely paid off by the end of December.  We don't know what we'd do without our vehicle, it's become really important because of soup run, and so many other ministries that we do.  It's also going to hopefully allow Mark and a team of other guys to do more outreaches into outlying communities coming up next year.  More on that later!

Soup run is going well.  We continue to go out once a week and hand out food to between 30-40 people on the streets of Antigua.  During that time, we can also pray with them and minister to them.  Through this ministry we met Jason, a 16-year-old boy who lives on the street and is addicted to glue.  We have found a place that is willing to take him despite is addiction and help to rehabilitate him--Teen Challenge in Guatemala City.  Jason and Mark visited last week and after filling out all the paper work and touring the facility, Jason got scared and decided not to go in.  Mark had to bring him back to Antigua and drop him off on the streets again.  Please pray that Jason stays safe until he gets the help he needs.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.  We couldn't continue to do what we do in Guatemala if it wasn't for the faithfulness of all who believe in what we are doing and support us!  You are a blessing to us!

Family Stuff!

Here we are in September and all I can say is, "Where did the summer go?"  All those wonderful plans we had--what happened to those!

Here are some things that happened this summer:

Hurricane Agatha














We have a lot of things on here about our ministry after the hurricane.  This has been a bad rainy season!  The worst in years.  The result has been mudslides, washed out roads and bridges, injuries, and even death.  Please pray for Guatemala as they dig out of it all.


Alicia turned 16!  We had an '80s birthday party for her and it was so much fun!

Alicia's party













I just doesn't seem possible!  But, she's 16 and in about a year and a half, she'll be graduating from high school and heading out on her own.  Pray for her parents!!!!!  Pray for God's direction for Alicia and that she would clearly hear His voice.


Then there was the usual--Alicia had surgery, Christopher broke his arm, immigration stuff--God was faithful in every situation and we are so blessed!

Now, something new!  Anyone who knows me, knows how passionate I am about our kids!  I love our kids!  I love teaching them and watching them grow and learn.  They have been blessed recently with great missionary friends who are the same ages as them and are also being homeschooled.  So great and a huge answer to prayer for us!  In response to this, we've started a learning co-op at our church here in Antigua where they learn science, music, art, and mayan weaving.  They also get to hang out with friends and build relationships.  So important!  Here are some pictures of our first day of ministry to missionary kids and moms!

Such a great opportunity!  Our kids are blessed and so is our family! 

Disaster

There aren't words to describe the amount of destruction that is in Guatemala right now. Many bridges linking remote areas to the rest of Guatemala have been washed out and destroyed making it difficult to get help to people. Many roads have been washed out. There is a giant sinkhole in Guatemala City that swallowed a 3-story building and you can even see the building anywhere in the picture of that hole. There is mud in the village nearby where our base is from the top of the village and covering the highway below--maybe 1/2 mile or so?

Our village is in a lot of need. Boulders, trees, and mud washed through it like a river taking out houses and businesses in it's path. It's an incredible sight. Reports are that there are over 170 people dead, 175,000 people homeless, and many still missing in Guatemala (average numbers since the papers all differ a little).

Mark and I have been busy since Sunday helping where we can. The first big need was water so our base was able to provide 55 gallons of water. There was a need for food for the church that has been made into a shelter for those who have been affected by the storm and our church here provided pounds of rice and beans for them to cook. Mark dug for 2 mornings trying to help get mud out of some of the houses. Mark and I were able to buy food for some families who are in need of it and get it to them. We saw a need for something for the kids to do who are in the shelter, so we've been doing a kid's club in the afternoons for about 70 kids. Then there's just networking other ministries here who can meet the needs with the people in San Miguel who have the needs.

It's been a big week. A few people have asked, "What can we do to help?" I know the first thing people want to do is send stuff down, that's not a good idea! Really, it might not get to us and if it does, we have to pay to get it from the post office--counter productive. What is needed right now is money to buy the things that are needed and to start helping with the rebuilding that is going to be happening.

Please continue to pray for us and for those affected by the storm. We will update as we are able.

Whirlwind Weeks!

It's been a crazy whirlwind in our house lately. I don't know how else to describe it! Not only have we been wrapping up the school year, but, we have had teams and ministry commitments that have kept us hopping. Sometimes it amazes me how hard it is to keep things from spinning out of control! But, it's been a good time in our house lately for many reasons: 1) Looking forward to a little break from the school routine, which we all need. 2) The ministry is really stepping up and doing well. 3) The kids are growing and we're trying to keep the social calendar to a dull roar!

But, one of the biggest changes we had during these 2 weeks was a temporary addition to our family in the form of a little boy named Clinton who was placed with us from the emergency courts here in Antigua from the streets. We met Clinton through our soup ministry around Easter time here. He was living with a group of homeless people in an area of Antigua called "La Polvera" (basically the vacant lot). He did have parents or anyone with him, he was by himself, working when he could in the market selling toothbrushes and toothpaste.

We were concerned about him, understandably, and spent a few weeks trying to find out his story. What concerned us the most was when we found him starting to sniff glue. Glue is a huge issue here in Guatemala (it's a cheap drug), and few people understand the danger. It really is more dangerous than a lot of street drugs. Mark and I knew we had to act quickly. We had a lawyer who attends our church find out about the system for getting a child off the street and started that process.

After sitting with Clinton at the courthouse for 4 hours, we were told by the judge that they had made at least 15-20 phone calls to orphanages in the area and none of them would take him. The choice at that point was to return him to the street until they could find something or taking him home with us. It was a clear choice. At about 1:30 am, we were sitting in the back of a police truck driving back to our house with Clinton.

Now began 2 weeks of total change for a little guy who had been on the street for a while. Taking a hot shower was something fun for him and we couldn't get him out! He just loved the clean feeling. Brushing his teeth regularly was also something he liked. Waking up and knowing he'll have 3 meals and play time with kids was new. Watching kids do school work was interesting to him--he'd never been to school. Just family life in general was a lot of fun for him to experience.

We had just watched the movie "The Blind Side" and I remember the scene where they are having Thanksgiving dinner and they all take their plates into the family room to watch TV and Michael Oher takes his into the dining room and sits there and starts to eat. That happened with us! I remember all of us dishing up our dinner and heading into the living room (we were used to this since we hadn't had a dining room table for a while) and Clinton sat at the dining room table and started eating. We all gathered up our stuff and sat with him and enjoyed sitting around a table together.

So many things we take for granted.

Clinton is now in Casa Shalom, happily living with 5 other boys in a house with his house dad. He's in school, attending church and chapel, getting 3 meals a day, sleeping out of the rain, playing soccer and basketball, working with chickens and having fun. He's happy! We're so blessed to see him be able to make something of himself and have opportunities to grow and learn. God is good!

Odds and Ends

It's been a while since I felt like I had much to say that would require an actual blog. I say a lot, but, it isn't always life-changing, earth-rattling, or even important! But, I have a few things on my mind and heart that I would love to share!

When we first moved to Antigua, I had a lot of difficulties with a few different things. I missed my family and friends, I missed cleanliness (you can't imagine), I missed the orderly way that things are usually done back home, I missed being completely understood when I talked, I missed so much! I wondered if I would ever feel like this was home. God is so good, because He has made this feel as though I'm home. We have a wonderful life here. I love my family, my church, my friends, my home, our ministry, my routine, and learning Spanish and laughing at the mistakes I make. I still miss some things, but, I don't LONG for them as I used to.

I enjoy the market. When I go to the US, it's fun to shop in a big superstore with everything clearly marked (so everyone pays the same!) and organized. It's fun to get around with my big shopping cart in spacious aisles that are free from debris and stacks of boxes. It's fun to find bargains and marvel at how cheap butter, milk, cheese, bread, and meat is compared to Guatemala. It's fun to find ice cream in our favorite flavors and candy we can't get here. But, after a week or two, I find myself longing to bite into a piece of fruit that is actually ripe and ready to eat when I buy it, or buy the freshest of fresh veggies to prepare for my family. I miss the taste of the beef and chicken here (it is different!). I long for "home".

This past week, our family lost someone irrepalceable in our lives, my Unlce Rod. He was someone who poured out his life for others, including us. He mentored my husband and worked with us as we were just starting out into ministry. He performed our wedding. He was there when Alicia was born and didn't at all mind when she threw up in his hair just before he had to do Bible Study on a Wednesday night! He was a wonderful man of God and an example to so many. I'm so grateful that I had him in my life.

It was tough being here when I wanted to be home with my family and comfort my dad and see everyone and celebrate his life. But, then I realized, the best way I could celebrate his life is by staying here and doing what he did. Pouring my life into others. So, in honor of him, that's what I will vow to do. I think about how he's looking down on Guatemala and seeing us right now and I wonder what he thinks? I hope he's blessed to see the fruit of what he poured into us. I hope we are worthy of not only his time, but, the time of so many others who have given so much for us to do what God has called us to do.

You all are special to us. We couldn't do what we do unless you were faithful to pray and give so that we could be here. It's a wonderful thing to be so blessed with so many incredible people. I hope we are always mindful of that and strive to make it count.

Time of Refreshing!

We just returned from a wonderful time of refreshing in Minnesota visiting our friends and family! It was such an amazing time, thanks to all who made it possible for us to really just unwind. You are so special to us, you'll just never know.

We were able to meet 2 new nephews! And, can I just say that the Annands make incredibly beautiful babies?! Really!!!! Congratulations to Mark's sister Robyn and her husband Patrick on their beautiful son, Joshua. We're also so glad to have been there for the birth of Matt and Katie's son, Max. What a blessing for us to be able to connect with new family members!

God is so good! I want to encourage you all to do what we've made a point of doing for our family--take a day to just rest, enjoy your family, and reflect on God's goodness. It's so important, especially now as things become so crazy in our world. We need to stay grounded in the things that are important. Spend some time of refreshing yourself!

What God has done!

It's so good to sit from time to time and look back on all that has happened. I try to do that in June so I can see the first part of the year and evaluate where we are. Did we get as far as we needed to in school? How are the kids doing? Are we meeting our goals as a family and, if not, what can we do to make room for new goals or to make our goals happen? Are we spending our time and resources wisely?

These are things I think about. Here's a 6-month evaluation:

Ministry since January 1, 2009

We have hosted and planned for several teams.
We have completed our new theme for Kid's Club on the Armor of God and the Fruits of the Spirit.
The girls have been helping teams at a malnutrition center.
We have continued to be active in our church.
Mark has been active in street ministry here in Antigua.
We've taken part in training sessions here in Antigua and Mark has taught at a conference at the Lake.
We've started building relationships with some young men here in hopes of beginning a youth minsitry in Antigua.
We've survived our 4th Semana Santa (Holy Week)! No small feat, I can tell you!

Family stuff

We have more than half completed our school year already! (we school year-round)
The kids have had a lot of opportunities to translate and use their Spanish.
We have been able to spend the beginning of the year seeking God for His direction for our family.
God has provided miraculously for our family and our visa situation.
Our family has been able to bless a couple of Guatemalan families and meet some needs they had.

Goals for the rest of the year.

We are needing a new car. Our car has just died--it was bound to happen! Mark has opportunities to go to rural churches and train the people, but, until we get a new, reliable vehicle, it can't happen. Hopefully we'll have a new one by the end of the year.

We need to finish our school year. Alicia will be in 10th grade! I can't believe it.

We need to take some time off. We need at least a month off to refresh.

We would like to do some more training sessions in evangelism and outreach and do more work with the youth in Antigua.


God is so good! We are feeling like we are right where we need to be and things are happening. We'll keep updating what's been going on as it happens!

Dayle

Full of Surprises!

On the 23rd of this month we had a surprise breakfast at the café for Dayle’s 40th birthday. I decorated with white balloons instead of black because I wanted to symbolically represent life instead of death. This "over-the hill" business is a lie- Moses didn’t even begin his ministry until he was about 80! Abraham was 100 and Sarah was about 90 when they had Isaac, right? Also this holiday season our Pastor’s family had a surprise- their daughter Amber flew here from the states without telling her parents. Someone else we know also had a surprise visit from her sister a few days ago. On Christmas morning Dayle and I were surprised by the 3 alarms that our kids set in our room- all of which went off at 6AM.! They were up and ready to open presents. One of the cool things about kids is that they help us adults to see things from a fresh child-like perspective again. And speaking of kids and surprises, on Christmas night my twin brother Matt told me that he’s now a dad too! What kinds of surprises are in store for 2009? Whatever they are, they’ll obviously be what we least expect. But it keeps life interesting, doesn’t it? And even if some of the surprises are bad, we’ll be surprised by the comfort of God’s presence in the middle of it all, and someday we’ll be surprised by how God worked it for our good. So brace yourself...

I've been Busy!!!

It's been a busy few weeks! I cooked Thanksgiving for a LOT of people at the cafe, cooked Thanksgiving for our family (we like the leftovers and there isn't any with the cafe meal!), started school back up with the kids again, had a party for our lit class where we studied Pride and Prejudice, did a party for the Kid's Club at the base, made and decorated a wedding cake for a customer at the cafe, and still found time to decorate, shop, and start our Christmas baking. Whew! I feel like super mom!!!!! (not quite)

Here's some pictures of our recent happenings:

The first is the party for the Kid's Club. The second is the group of girls we had for our "Pride and Prejudice" class we did. This was the party we had. They had to dress up if they could and bring a food made from a recipe of the Regency Period in England (about 1810-1830).

And the third picture is of our kids and the neighbor kids posing in front of the gingerbread house we made. How long do you think that actually lasted? I can tell you that it was less than a week!

Family Happenings

We are coming up on our 3rd anniversary of moving to Antigua, Guatemala and we are amazed at what's happened in such a short time! Not only have we been busy with ministry (see the post below), but, our kids have grown up a lot! They've been busy with all that we do here as well. Here's some highlights!

Alicia

Alicia is now 14 and is really getting involved in what we are doing here in Guatemala. She helps teach a Sunday School class at our church on Sundays, she's working with groups of kids at our Kids Club on Saturday mornings, and she's going to be helping out a team from Minnesota with translation and children's ministry in November (without us, I might add!). She's doing so well at Spanish and is really studying hard so she can translate effectively while she's with the team next month.

Bailey

Bailey is now 12 and very busy with her horseback riding, her school work, and helping out in the ministry. She has a job working at the stables where she rides to earn lessons. Here's some pictures of her!

Christopher

Christopher is now 10 and also busy with school, friends, and ministry help. He helps out in his Sunday School class when they need someone to translate at times, and he also helps us with Kids Club.

Update of Happenings!!!

New Stuff!!!!

Well, it's been super busy!! Not a surprise, but, a little overwhelming! We've been trying to get all our ducks in a row for our big outreaches planned for the last 2 weekends of this month. It's going to be good, but, it will be super busy. Pray for us as we get it all together.

Evangelism Seminar

Our first big event is the bi-lingual evangelism seminar that Mark will be running on October 25th. We will be holding it at the YWAM cafe here in Antigua for pastors, missionaries, Guatemalans, gringos, and anyone who wants to learn how to be effective in sharing their faith with others. It will be a good training. They will walk away with resources, encouragement, and, hopefully, a fire to share God with the lost. We still have a lot of things to prepare: handouts, teachings, translation of the materials, gift bags, food, and still some advertising. Right now we have about 18 people pre-registered, we are thankful!

Please pray for us as we finish up the details and pray for Mark and his translators, Abner and Alejandra, as they teach for that day.

You are invited to your own funeral!

October 31st is the Day of the Dead here in Guatemala. It is celebrated by going to the cemetary and decorating the graves of family members with flowers, food, music, and flying kites supposedly to "capture" the spirits of your ancestors. We will be doing an outreach that night in Antigua where we are inviting people to come to a funeral for themselves.

It will begin with a parade of a coffin from Central Park through the streets to the cafe. Once in the cafe there will be a presentation of the gospel about how we need to be dead to sin in order to be alive in Christ. We are praying that this will be a tremendous outreach into the lives of the Guatemalans who at this time of the year are already thinking about eternity, death, and what that all means for them.

Please pray that we can pull it all together and that the Holy Spirit draws people to Him. We need wisdom on how to approach this and how to make it happen. Mark will be preaching that night, so please pray for an annointing on him while he does so.

New Family Member

I mentioned earlier how we will be getting a new puppy for Bailey from a friend who has to move back to the US. Well, we got her on Wednesday and here's a picutre! Her name is Lola. She is one year old and very sweet. She is just the right kind of puppy for Bailey because she loves to be cuddled, held, and babied! We already love her!

What else has been happening?

We had a movie night at the base recently and showed the movie "The Cross and the Switchblade" in Spanish (El Cruz y el Punal). There was about 100 people that showed up and enjoyed the movie, popcorn, and juice. Many responded to the altar call afterward! Here are some pictures of that event!

What do the kids do?

What do they do? Well, pretty much what they did in America only not as easily!


We homeschool. They get up by 7 am, do chores, and then start school by 8:30. We do school all morning and eat lunch together at about noon or so (depending on our morning!). Sometimes in the afternoon we have some school work to finish. We also will go to Higher Grounds, our YWAM cafe in Antigua, to do some work or just hang out with people, or, on Wednesdays, we have classes at our house for other missionary kids who are homeschooled. Mark teaches the boys a Bible class and I am teaching a literature class on Pride and Prejudice.


Alicia babysits a lot! She loves that because she's earning her own money. She also will be starting back to Spanish school 4 hours a week soon. She finished 2 years of high school Spanish in one year last year. She translates for people and teaches a Sunday School class in our church on Sundays for girls ages 6-12. She teaches in English and Spanish. She will be doing a missions trip coming up in November with a group from MN where she will translate for them and help head up their children's ministry in a village about 3 hours from our house.







Bailey rides horses! That's what she does. She loves it!!!! We have been blessed with a supporter who has paid for her lessons once a week for about 2 years now. Her instructor came to us and asked if she could come a second day a week to learn dressage and more jumping. She offered Bailey a job at the stables one hour a week to groom horses and clean tack in exchange for one more hour of lessons. Bailey was so excited! Not only can she ride more, but, she's earning it herself. She loves that. She jumps these horses over really incredible jumps. She's learning show jumping and will be starting competitions soon here in Guatemala and eventually in other Central American countries.







Christopher is a typical boy. He's probably the best of all of us at Spanish and uses it all the time. He loves to help out with his class in church and also will translate for the teacher for the boys who don't understand Spanish or if the teacher is English, for those who don't undertand English. He likes to help us out at Kid's Club and at home. He has a lot of friends here, which is nothing new since he's so social!







That's about it, except the sleepovers, parties, summer camp, play dates, school field trips, etc. So, it's really not much different as life in the US!

New stuff Happenin'

Since there isn't going to be a DTS this fall because we didn't have enough students, we are going to be doing some new things! We're excited because a lot of these things are things we've done in the past, but, because we've been so busy with teams, students, cafe, etc., there just wasn't time.

Here's some new stuff we will be doing:

Kid's Club: We will be starting up Kid's Club again on Saturday mornings starting this Saturday. We are so excited about it because it's a great chance to build relationships with the families around the base. It's going to be a lot of work, but, we are going to be doing it as a family so it will be fun as well!

Saturday Training Seminars: Mark will be teaching an Evangelism seminar again in October. We hope to do about 4 of these seminars a year for Guatemalans and missionaries here in Guatemala. We are hoping to provide an outreach for those who want to come that evening to put into practice what they've learned.

Halloween Outreach: We will be doing a funeral! We love this outreach! We already have a coffin we can use and the staff is excited about using the opportunity to reach out to those who will be on the streets. We will do a program and have a concert. This is Day of the Dead here, so it's fitting!

Christmas Party for the families at the base: We want to do a Christmas party for those families around the base. We are hoping to provide them with gifts and have a party at the base for them to attend with food, games, and a pinata!

Team outreaches: We will also be hosting teams from all over to come and help us with construction, outreach, and ministry.

Homeschool outreach: We are having a homeschool class on Wednesday afternoons at our house for missionary kids and our kids. Mark is teaching a Bible class and I am teaching literature class for girls on Pride and Prejudice. It's an opportunity to provide a service for missionary families.

Higher Grounds: We will be starting a Friday night thing at Higher Grounds for young people to come and enjoy music, food, and fun. Mark will still be doing Soul Patrol outreach at the Parque Central, but, this is another opportunity for evangelism.

These are just a few things that will be happening here in Antigua! Sounds like we'll be busy!!!!! Please pray for us as we begin to really pour into these ministries that will be happening here.

--Dayle

How they have grown!

Look at them! They've grown so fast I can't believe it. Alicia just had her 14th birthday yesterday. Bailey has her 12th at the end of this month, and Christopher will be 11 next May. Where has the time gone?

They are doing well here. They will be busy with us helping out with Kids Club at the base coming up in September and every Saturday after. They are learning Spanish and trying really hard to get their schoolwork done early enough every day to be able to play outside.

We are so proud!

This is our dog and cat. The dog is Shadow and the cat is Mish. We will be getting another dog, a little terrier at the end of the month named Lola.

We are getting another animal because, basically, Shadow belongs to Christopher (or Mark, depending on who you're talking to) and Mish belongs to Alicia. So, as you can see, there's a child not matched with a pet. Hence, Lola will be joining our family to give Bailey a little friend!

Shadow came to us because he was being abused and we bought him from the family who was abusing him. We were going to find him a home, but, he fit so well with us, he became part of our family. Mish was given to the kids when we were in El Salvador renewing our visas. The family we stayed with loved the kids and gave them Mish when we left their home. Lola belongs to a friend who will be leaving to go to the States and needs a home for her.

Mish and Shadow have very distinct personalities. Shadow is all dog, very playful, happy, affectionate, loyal, and sweet. Mish is all cat, proud, used to his own way, cuddly when he wants to be, and, believe it or not, sweet! We don't know about Lola, but, we'll let you know as soon as we figure her out!

The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done

Have you ever done anything so difficult that while you were doing it your heart was pounding, your head was spinning, and you had to remind yourself to breathe on a regular basis? I've been there. Regularly! Leaving everything that I love--family, friends, home, familiar culture, language, church--to bring ourselves to the mission field of Guatemala has felt like that. Right now, it feels like that. Trusting God so completely that you've left yourself no other choice, feels like that sometimes.

But, God is good. He knows what we need. He knows what character He wants to build in us. He understands our hearts. He knows our innermost thoughts. He sees our fear. Nothing is new to Him. Nothing surprises Him. Never does He say, "Whoa! I didn't see that coming? How will I handle that?" Or, "Well, I've never seen this before. What do I do now?" No. He is able. He is sufficient. He is completely perfect in all His ways.

This is what I have to know. This is what I need to move from my head, where I can spout all the beautiful platitudes of Christianity with the best of them, to my heart, where the rubber meets the road so to speak. The only way this happens is through circumstances where I find myself in no other place but to trust Him. I don't have a choice. This is where I am. This is where I've been on a regular basis lately.

So, here it is. Today, I'm trusting God with my family, my life, my heart, and to provide in so many ways just like He's promised. That's how it has to be. I trust him for today, this time, this hour, this minute whatever I have to do to get to that point that I don't worry so much.

To quote Beth Moore:

God is who He says He is.
God can do what He says He can do.
I am who God says I am.
I can do all things through Christ.
God's word is alive and active in me.

Let's see how this works.

--Dayle

Here we go Again!

Well, we've tried a lot of other sites for this type of thing, but, for one reason or another, they don't work for us. We are just too computer illiterate I guess! Sad, but, too true. So, since we've figured this site out without very little pain and suffering, we will be keeping this up as our official blog. Now, if I can just figure out how to change that on our homepage, we'd be good to go! Our homepage will still be Annand Adventures, this is our blog.

What's been Happening?
I'm glad you asked! We've been really busy doing a TON of stuff. Here's a short re-cap!

1. Mark has been really busy teaching abstinence using the Bible in the schools here in Antigua and one school in Guatemala City. It's been such a blessing and an open door we've been praying for for so long. It's been a great opportunity. At one point, he lost his voice and I stepped in and subbed for him. It was interesting! I'm glad he's the one doing it.

2. Higher Grounds Coffee House has been super busy! That's a blessing to our base. We've been running to keep up with it all! It's been an opportunity to minister to people who are here to study Spanish or to volunteer, or to minister here in Guatemala. It's a haven for them. A chance for them to network and find support. The services have been going really well. This past Saturday, we hosted "The Call" prayer event for America. It was a 12-hour event in which we teamed with Janet Moutray (a missionary with an emphasis on prayer) and the World Race team that is serving for a month here in Antigua. It was well attended throughout the day and well organized. We even had the live feed from Washington DC for the whole day.

3. We've had a lot of teams come through the base. Mark was busy preparing their outreach opportunities and taking them to their various activities. It's a blessing to have them come because it's such a cool thing to see how God uses them while they are here as well as helping us out at the base. They were such good teams with servant's hearts. They worked in orphanages, schools, churches, base VBS, cleaning Higher Grounds, doing street ministry, prayer ministry, Thursday night services, construction, feeding program, youth ministry, market ministry, and I'm sure other ministries I'm not remembering. Busy!!!!!!!

4. Street ministry has been going well. Mark still goes out almost every Friday night for Soul Patrol. He goes into the park and talks with people and prays with them if they would like him to. He's had some great talks and his Spanish is coming along so that now he can share the gospel in Spanish and English.

5. Mark has taken a short break from Spanish classes and will be starting up again in the Fall. He only has a couple more levels to go before he has completed the entire course at the school he's been attending. He will be starting up again, hopefully, 3 days a week.

6. The kids have been busy with school and various activities. It's been fun to see them start to fit into their different abilities and talents and start using them for God. Alicia has a gift for picking up languages and has been using it to teach a bi-lingual class for girls ages 6-12 in our church, Iglesia del Camino. She also has helped to translate for a team recently and will also be traveling in November with a team from Minnesota to translate for them and help head up their children's ministry. Bailey is doing great at the piano and horseback riding. She has been working at the stables one afternoon a week to earn another day of riding lessons. She is also doing great at playing the piano and learning so much by ear. She's reading music well, and is working toward playing for worship someday. Christopher went with us to the prayer day for America at the coffee house. After prayer, he was moved to continue praying for our country and has been asking a lot of questions about the upcoming presidential races for the purpose of prayer.

7. I've been just trying to keep it all together. It's been busy trying to keep up with it all and then also homeschooling all 3. Can you say, Challenge? But, I've been also taking time to attend a Friday morning women's Bible Study at our church with women from all different types of ministries and backgrounds. Right now we are doing the Beth Moore study "Believing God" which has been a super study and very challenging to my faith. I need this time each week, it's a chance to get to know other women and have a little adult conversation!!!!

I hope you got a little glimpse of what we've been doing the last several months. It's been busy, but, God is so good! He's faithful to provide all we need.