Thinking of our absence from the Achí, I can empathize with Paul’s feelings when he wrote to the church in Rome: “I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you . . . . I long to see you . . . that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.  I do not want you to be unaware that I planned many times to come to you but have been prevented from doing so until now.” (from Romans 1:10-13)  We still do not have clearance to travel to Guatemala, but there have been two encouraging signs.  First, our file has at long last been moved from its original location to the immigration office in Denver.  I asked an official in Denver how long until we are called for our interview. We were told, “Now that your file is here, it won’t be months and months and months.”  Second, we wrote to one of our senators, and his representative called us saying she planned to call the Denver office on our behalf this month, asking that Rodrigo be granted permanent residency so that he has the freedom to travel.

May and June Mission trips
We have heard nothing but glowing reports from the medical, water, soccer and pastoral training outreaches to Achí land, which we followed closely by email and prayer.  Some of the team members stayed in our house in San Miguel, and said it just wasn’t the same without us.  Our partnership with the church in Albuquerque has been so satisfying over the years. They have developed deep relationships with our Achí friends in a way that isn’t hit and miss and doesn’t foster unhealthy dependency.  They work alongside and with the Achí and other Guatemalans, utilizing the strengths in each culture for mutual benefit.  They take the long look. For instance, several years ago a man we didn’t know came to us asking for help for his small community which had been unsuccessful in obtaining water for their needs.  We told him we would pass on the their request to the church in New Mexico, but didn’t hold out hope that the church would swoop in, dig them a well, set up a pump and provide water to all the homes, paying for everything.  As it turned out, it took several trips for the situation to be evaluated, planning done, agreements made as to what the church could do and what the families there would do.  This year the project came to fruition, and people who previously were in a dire state regarding water, now have it.  The whole endeavor was a good witness of Christ’s love to that community.

Achí Old Testament Project
I have continued to review the OT drafts, send suggestions and questions both to the international consultant for the project and to the Achí team of translators. The sort of things I look for are naturalness (reads well), consistency in key terms, punctuation, spelling, nothing left out from or added to the original text.  I correspond with Eder when I need the input of a mother tongue speaker to either confirm my comments, contradict them or suggest a different wording.  He is faithful to do just that!

This August the Achí translation of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther will be checked by an international consultant. I just wish I could be with them for the checking sessions!  Maybe for the October checking session?

Our July travels
Tomorrow we leave on a road trip to New Mexico to help out with the missions emphasis at the VBS being held next week at the church in Albuquerque that restored our home in 2013 and that sends the teams to Guatemala.  After that we plan to drive all the way to Laredo to see Rodrigo’s elderly mother and other family members whom we have not seen since January of 2014.  Please pray for meaningful interactions with those we visit along the way, for traveling mercies and for my back to hold up during so many hours in the car. We hope to be back by the end of this month.

Until then, receive our love and gratitude,
Carol, for Rodrigo, too