To all you dear people,

Thank you so much for your support and prayers for the 4 of us while we’ve been in Guatemala for the past 9 weeks… We arrived back home safely on Saturday morning around 2am, and are still trying to recover from the lack of sleep.  Yeah okay, it is more than just the flight than I’m trying to recover from, I’ll admit.  I have just had one of the most wonderful weekends of my entire life, and it’s actually one of those things that I don’t think I’ll ever completely “recover” from.  God has been wowing me so much in the past several weeks, and this weekend was another amazing glimpse into the ocean of God’s love…   Questions?? I’ll be most happy to answer!!!

My heart has really been missing Guatemala this morning… especially Gaby and her family. We met with her for lunch the day before we left, and glory to Jesus, she had led two of her friends to the Lord as well!! She is so full of the love of God that it just overflows and she can’t help but talk about it! The last week in Guatemala was really special with Dawn and Julie visiting us… It flew by so fast, and we spent a lot of special time with each other and with God… Such a gift…

Dancing with God!

clarita <><

Gaby’s dad has become a Christian too!!! Gaby went home, led both of her parents to the Lord, and is sooo excited about her precious Jesus in her heart!!!  God is absolutely amazing me beyond words!!!

May we stand in awe of Him and worship….

clarita <><

I think I am living in some of the most exciting and thrilling days that my life has ever known!!  God is absolutely blowing me away, and I am so privileged to be His child….

Tomorrow, Jan and my friends, Julie and Dawn, are flying in to spend the last week here with us!!! I am sooo excited and sooo honored that they’re coming, I just cannot wait to see them!! We’ll be in Antigua for a few days, then go to the volcanic Lake Atitlan for a few, then back to Antigua for the last two before we fly back to the USA on the 23d!!!! Wow, I can hardly believe that our 2 months down here are actually almost up… God has been so faithful, and He has been winning my heart more then ever before!!

Thanks so much to all of you that have been praying for us while we’re down here!! The joy of Gaby and her mother receiving Jesus as their Savior is a shared joy with ya’ll, and those of you that have prayed are as much a part of this as we are!! I’m so honored to be part of the family of God, and even those of you I don’t know that read this site, thanks so much for praying… I’m looking forward to seeing each of you in heaven someday!!

God is real, He is faithful, and He is so beautiful!!!

clarita <><

GOD IS WORKING!!!!!

GABY’S MOTHER BECAME A CHRISTIAN TOO!!!!!!

Gaby went home last night after our Spanish “class” yesterday, told her mom what has happened, explained the way of Jesus Christ, and her mother believed too!!!

This life is all about GOD!!!

clarita <><

GUYS!!!!!!!! I am excited, thrilled, and moved beyond words!!!! God has answered our prayers, and GABY BECAME A CHRISTIAN this morning!!!! This is our last week here, and my prayer has been that it would be a God-sized week in all of our lives. I prayed about our day of classes as usual, but I must admit I never dreamt that today would be the day when Gaby’s heart truly understands!!

We didn’t get to any Spanish grammer this morning, but spent it talking and conversing, and then the last few hours were spent explaining the way to heaven. Somehow we got started talking about heaven, which wasn’t a new topic for us to talk about, but we asked Gaby how she personally believes that she can get to heaven. That opened up the door for us to explain that Jesus is the only Way to the Father, that He is the Door into eternal life. The things we do are only things, and it’s only through Jesus Christ that we have assurance of life with God in heaven!!

The three of us were all crying at different points this morning, and Gaby is the happiest woman alive today!! She truly understands and believes with all of her heart that Jesus is the Savior and the Messiah and the Lord, and it’s personal and real in her own heart now!! She told us, “I am your teacher in Spanish, but you are my teachers of the Bible.” She told us that this is such a special day in her life, because now she knows and understands that Jesus is the only way to heaven!!

Thank you soo soo much for all of you that have prayed for Gaby… You are the power behind all this, and are as much a part of  revealing Jesus to her as Jan and I have been in talking with her. Your rewards are eternal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS LIFE IS ALL ABOUT JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

clarita <><

Hey-ya personas!!

Just wanted to, ahem, write about our morning. Jan and I CLIMBED A VOLCANO!!!!!   Okay, I’ll try to calm down.   But it really does feel like quite an accomplishment!! The altitude was several thousand feet, so it wasn’t extremely high, but it was still several hours worth of hiking. But it wasn’t just any old ancient volcano – this baby is still active!!  In the past it erupted big-time and formed big gullies around it, but right now all it does is smoke sulferic smoke. “ALL” it does.   It was pretty wierd to climb up the side of the mountain, which was amazing in itself, because of the deep volcanic ash. We’d go forward two steps and fall back almost the same distance because of the loose ash, it was exhausting to climb it. But get this – even the side of the mountain, the rocks we’d lean on for support, were so warm because of the volcano inside!! GUH, I’m so glad we did it, but I think that will probably be the last time in my life that I attempt to hike a volcano!! Oh yuh, did I mention it was above the cloud layer??

Volcanos seem rather normal here though – there’s a big one that smokes on one side of the city of Antigua, and if we leave our windows open the ash from it gets on our stuff inside the room.  That’s a little too close for my liking!!

Time for me to sleep, I’m sooo tired!! Ciao!

clarita <><

Hola Chicos y Chicas!!

Jan and I are here at Lago de Atitlan for the weekend, and it’s been such a beautiful couple of days!! We wanted some sis-time together too, and this weekend worked out perfectly… This lake is so enchanting, and I don’t think I could ever get tired of it… This is my 2nd time here since we arrived in Gua. and we’ll back once more before we leave.

This week will go by fast – it’s Semana Santa here in Guatemala, which is their Catholic Holy Week, and the biggest event of the year. The festivities here are second in the world, Spain coming in 1st.  There will be processions every day, and on Friday there will be a procession that will last over 12 hours long, no kidding.  This is a really serious event to the Guatemalan people, but it’s so sad for me to see too… They mourn the death of Jesus, but don’t truly know the power of the Spirit living within them…

Please pray that with the last few weeks here, we would finish strong and not become lazy in our walks with God or the relationships with the Guatemalans here… Please also continue to pray for Gaby (my teacher)…

Ciao,

clarita <><

‘Without solitude we remain acolytes of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self.’

-Henri Noewen