Today will be a BIG final team day at Casa Bernabe, the orphanage that we've been taking most of this years team to. Salem Hellers church from Leola Pa, has been here this week working on the wall at the orphanage and taking care of the children for the house parents while they attended a 2 day conference. It was like when grandma comes to the house for a few days so mom and dad can get away...the rules disappear. I'm sure the team and house parents will return to normal soon! This afternoon we'll be doing chicken BBQ for almost 300 at the home and spending time playing with the kids, that should be fun!
It's been a roller coaster ride this week emotionally. The house we put an offer on in State College was not accepted so we continue to wait for God to show us the right home that we'll live in for the next phase of our lives. Today our daughter looks at 2 more that we think are possibilities. I guess the highest point of the coaster ride was when we accepted a cash sale of our home that we purchased when we came to Guatemala almost 3 year ago. The buyer is willing to let us stay in the house untill we leave just before Thanksgiving. It's a good thing that we decided to send 15 bags of things that we wanted to keep along back with the last 2 Pa teams. The purchase was made with everything included....EVERYTHING! When we find a place in State College we'll have to start house keeping all over again, what fun! In spite of all the ups and downs over the last 1/2 year with our work here it is obvious that God is in control and what He has planned for us, is our desire totally. When we return to the States, Nate and Angie living in State College will be having their 4th child, which will be our 8th grandchild. We give thanksgiving and praise for each of them and anticipate what God has for each of them.
Just yesterday I picked up our passports from the embassy with the final residency stamp giving us permanent residency status in Guatemala. That hardly makes sense when we'll be leaving in 3 month! Maybe God has something in the future that would require it. We'll see.
I just heard some noise outside and see that the guards are going through our trash....when Americans begin to clean out, there's often things that the Guatemalans can use. They took the wooden sticks that I used to hold the for sale sign up. What is one mans junk is another's treasure! I'm sure till we're done there will be many small items that they'll treasure. A few days ago Sheryl was reaffirming that Alejandro had some small children and then went inside and came out with maybe 15-20 small stuffed animals for his children...big smiles! Then Alex was dissapointed so she gave him a large teddy to remember us with. There are also boxes sitting around with items for some of the homes where we've made the closest connections and friendships. We will surely have a difficult time saying goodbye to all our special friends.
Continue praying for us as we make decisions and continue searching for a house.
Gods Blessing to all our faithful supporters and prayer warriors,
Jim and Sheryl Leaman
