Team Report

On Saturday, we sent home the team from Central Church in Collerville, TN led by Todd and Amy Andrews. The team was composed of 17 hard working people. If we had to pick one word to describe this team it would be “sweet.” Their hearts were evident in all that they did. The team was young and old, experienced and new. Instead of the traditional trip to Antigua on Wednesday, they opted to take a trip to Lake Atitlan in Panajachel. The weather was wonderful and we had a great time with them on the boat ride. Here at the home they continued work on Evy’s house, painted Winnie the Pooh and Dora murals in the baby house, and some of the women devoted their entire week to a complete overhaul of the Bodega (Storage room). Their nightly activities were a mix of games, slideshows, and testimonies from the team. Everything went so easily and smoothly all week that we were bound to have a problem! On the way to their hotel on Saturday, the bus broke down and required a 2 hour repair on the side of the Pan American Highway! Luckily, they were not flying out until Sunday, so we didn’t have to get them to a plane! If they had been, we don’t know what we would have done. We however had a team coming in so we left Joseph behind with the team while we flagged down a taxi and raced to the airport to catch the team when they landed. We had a great time with this team and hope they come back again next year! They left us with many invitations to stop by and visit whenever we are in the Memphis area.

In the Kitchen

On Thursday, we were organizing the small store we have here and there is a chocolate drink that we sell. It comes in small discs that you cook in the water, but we wanted to get directions from the cooks on how to actually make it. With chocolate in hand, we headed to the kitchen to ask the cooks the measurements. Marta, a woman who has worked with Agua Viva for 12 years, got out the utensils and started whipping up the drink. We only expected them to tell us the amounts, but they were more than pleased to actually make a pitcher of it. We headed out with the pitcher and began serving cups to all the home employees. Not one declined the offer. After we served it to Evy, she told us to make another batch and serve it to the team. We headed back to the kitchen to make another batch. We didn't know that after this trip, we would leave with something much sweeter than a pitcher of chocolate.
While the second batch was brewing, Marta (who kicked Sophie's dad out of the kitchen from an earlier blog!) stopped her cooking and sat down with us. We began to talk about her experiences, cooking, children, and life. It was such a moment to treasure. It was one of those moments that we would not have been possible if we weren't living here. A sweet moment of encouragement, with a sister in Christ, that we would have missed if we hadn't obeyed the Lord's call to come to Guatemala. We walked out of that kitchen with a full pitcher and full hearts.

Saturday Report

Hey everyone. Hope you have enjoyed the recent blogs!
Today we'll be taking the team that's been here all week to their hotel. They are leaving tomorrow actually, but they cannot overlap with the new team coming in. We'll then pick up that team and bring them back to the home. Sad news is that we'll miss lunch and it is going to be a treat. We are supposed to have slaughtered one of the pigs and be having Chicharonnes (pork rinds) and all the trimmings. Not that we love that, but we're always up to trying new food here.
Then tonight will be the welcome service for the team and the kids will watch their movies.
We'll keep you updated!

Happy Independence Day!

Hey everyone...
We're thinking of you all there in the states enjoying your 4th of July BBQ's and fireworks! Hard to believe we'll be home in less than a month.
Today, we're celebrating our own Independence Day Baby (SOPHIE!). No big plans today. Sophie is anxious to open the presents from Meme and her Mom that she's been staring at all summer! Funny, we thought it would be forever before we got to do that when they frist brought them to her, but the time has flown by! Tonight is the farewell service for the team. We just realized that we have only 3 teams left before coming home...a bittersweet realization.
We love you all!

Scott and Sophie

Reality Check!

Tuesday morning, after breakfast, we got a call on our cell phone from Evy (the director of the home) asking us if we would be willing to go over to the baby house to watch the kids while she had a meeting with the house parents. Of course, we said it wasn’t a problem. With a cup of coffee in hand, we headed over to quietly play with the children.
During our time with the kids, there were a few incidents…
• Edras came walking up with Sophie’s once full coffee cup, that had been hidden from children’s sight, asking for more coffee.
• Since he couldn’t have coffee to drink, he and his friends starting filling toys with water to drink.
• With a full bladder, Alex felt the need to relieve himself in his pants.
• Offering their assistance, the children followed Sophie to the bathroom to help change Alex’s pants.
• Being in the bathroom prompted Edras to have a “big job” attack in which Sophie had to help wipe. Luckily, Saida was there to flush every five seconds!
Finally, the bathroom incidents were over, so we headed to play…or so we thought…
• Lily, crawling out from under the bed, knocked her head on the metal corner and began wailing.
• Picking Lily up to comfort her, Sophie received a spray of snot as Lily sneezed on her shirt.
• Scott, caring for the boys, reached to tickle Alex, and he fell backwards off his trike, hitting his head on the floor, resulting in another wailing baby.
• Saida, decided this would be a perfect time to throw a fit when Scott reprimanded her for being too wild.
By the time the house mothers arrived, everyone was smiling and in a good mood. Little did they know we left them with Lily working on a dirty diaper. The amazing part is that we only had 4 kids for two hours, the other 13 were in school. These house moms have huge crowns awaiting them in heaven!

PICTURES ARE HERE

Hey all, just a quick note that we’ve posted 5 folders of pictures. These date all the way back to our first team, so there are quite a few. We also have a whole folder of our trip to the rainforest for our anniversary.

A reminder, you can access our photo site from the home page www.scottandsophie.com

We hope you’ve been enjoying the daily blogs. We’ve been posting them in advance and having them publish every morning. We can’t promise this to continue everyday, but we’ll do our best!
Love you all!
Scott and Sophie

The Language of Heaven

It is often joked about here in Agua Viva that Spanish prayers don’t need translated because Spanish is the language of heaven. As much as we joke about this, it led us to some beautiful thoughts.

Sitting in church with John Salisbury’s group, Eduardo was leading us in a sermon in Spanish, Claire Salisbury was translating into English, and a mother from the team was translating into Sign Language for her two deaf sons (one who is adopted from Agua Viva). It dawned on us at this moment, that the Lord was hearing all three equally, and the offering was a sweet aroma to him.

It made us feel such a longing to be in our Father’s presence, worshiping Him in heaven, side by side with believers of all tongues, all praising the same Lord, who hears all.

As we heard and saw the mixture of words and motions, we thought of all the believers across the globe who that day were offering praises to the Lord in their own languages…and that is the language of heaven.