Through our children, for example, we met some young Guatemalans who live down the road. They regularly come to the house to play with the children. This activity provides the Tarwaters additional practice speaking Spanish, but more importantly allows us to invest ourselves in the lives of Guatemalans in hopes of introducing them to Christ. Abigail has faithfully worked to get them to church, and finally they accepted her invitation. Sheila has also been meeting with two neighborhood girls in order to teach them English, which further provides opportunities to expose them to the life-changing message of Christ. Hannah (our four year old) has attempted to participate in these lessons, heartily joining in on songs like “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes!” Please pray that the message of the gospel will take root in their lives.

We have especially enjoyed involving ourselves in the local church. Joshua and Benjamin have participated in special activities with the youth, evidencing that Spanish is less and less an issue with them. In addition, the choir leader asked Abigail (our ten year old) to accompany the adult choir on the piano for a special selection. Sheila worked with Joshua and Benjamin to add a couple of violin lines as well. This past week, the choir sang the song. We posted a clip of the special on Facebook, which you can see here. Moreover, some members from the church visited our house and made a video of our family. We were able to introduce ourselves and invite other members to join with us in an upcoming Christmas special.

In addition to Sheila and the children’s work with the neighborhood girls and the family’s active participation in the local Guatemalan church, John has continued his work of training national leaders. He has been preparing for a new class in ethics that he will be leading at the seminary in January. Most importantly, however, he just returned from his trip to Cuba, which we mentioned last week. This was truly a life-changing experience for him. It is difficult to put words to the poverty and difficulties of life in Cuba. Because of the economic embargo placed upon the country during the Kennedy presidency, very little has changed for the country over the past fifty years. The cars that line the parking lots and cruise their streets are all from the 1940’s and 50’s—the ones that they had before the embargo. And the same is true for furniture and appliances.

John was in the house of one couple who had no furniture, and their refrigerator was made in 1947. The wife was a medical doctor and the husband was a university professor. The poverty at times is so difficult, that one gentleman shared how the people put cardboard between two buns and ate it, just to have a sense of something filling their stomachs. Truly, this is a harsh and real condition.