Guatemala in the Rear View Mirror

What a difference 25 years makes!  When we returned to Guatemala early this year, we were thankful to find our former coworkers still following the Lord and faithful to His Word.  It took a bit of effort to locate the homes of our dear friends, since everything in the villages had changed so much. 

We realize that they have seen many missionaries come and go, and wondered if they would remember us.  It was a joyous reunion as they greeted us with obvious recognition, even though we have all grown a bit older. 

Their homes are much more modern now, and the streets are paved.  Running water and electricity are the norm, and in fact, we found a cell phone tower right down the street from our old house in the Mam village where we lived.  What an amazing transformation.

 Jim with Emiterio, our main language tutor and the voice on the Jesus film and the audio New Testament in Mam of San Juan Ostuncalco, and his family

Emiterio with his family about 24 years ago

Jim and Santiago, who is the son behind Emiterio in the photo above

 Norberto, pictured here with Jim this past January, was our neighbor across the street, and a vital member of our team as a native missionary among his own people.  Notice the phone tower in the background and the paved street.

 This was the front of our house back in 1987.  Today the road is paved and the house is replaced with a big 2-story building.

Emiterio and Norberto promoting scriptures in the local market