A Peek Upon the Past- My Latest Hobby!

The other day, my creative streak got the best of me. As some of you already know, I LOVE music of nearly all types and my iPod is literally loaded with songs, videos, and even TV shows released by my favorite artists. I've even written a song or two and would love to get my hands on some music-making computer software.

And then yesterday it hit me- I could start a hobby of burning songs that I select and carefully arrange into albums! Now, of course I won't be selling the albums and all the songs I use will be already paid for, but I thought they would be interesting just to have. Also, if you're intrigued by a particular theme, I plan to post as many of my song arrangements that I can on here so that you may duplicate my work by purchasing the songs for yourself and burning your own CD.

As usual, I already have a thousand ideas running through my head, and I can't wait to share them all with you! But, I have actually begun one of the albums, and have decided to title it A Peek Upon the Past.

A Peek Upon the Past is just that- a backward, reminiscing glance at who we once were. For this selection, I have decided upon four artists whom more or less defined the twenty years that elapsed between 1970-1990; namely, Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond, the Bee Gees, and Chicago. Last night, I went through many CDs and trialed many song combinations until I came up with the following:

Smooth Criminal (Michael Jackson)

Desiree (Neil Diamond)

You're the Inspiration (Chicago)

Stayin' Alive (Bee Gees)

America (Neil Diamond)

Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away (Chicago)

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (Michael Jackson)

Tragedy (Bee Gees)

Hard Habit to Break (Chicago)

Thriller (Michael Jackson)

Jive Talkin' (Bee Gees)

Look Away (Chicago)

September Morn (Neil Diamond)

Day 16, June 21st, 2009

Yum, yum- good eatins'! Seriously it was (and, yes, that's a leaf)


Elina (left) and Carey (right)- two girls who hung out in my and Jodi's hotel room for a while



The clothes-washing station at the San Miguel church. They used something similar to this to wash our dishes as well.

Today, we rose bright and early, dressed and had migrated to the church for breakfast by eight. Ester fixed us up some oatmeal (which actually contains little substantial matter and is of a more liquidy constitution), a bit of wakash (or soup), and a handful of eggs as well as pitchers of coffee. Gobbling it down, we found a full hour on our hands before church commenced. although a cold, dreary fog dictated the sky, we made our way over to the market that forms every Sunday in San Migueal. We found nothing of interst, however, and made our way back to the church.

With a stream of people still steadily trickling in, the worship started. a few items of note here. In this service, there was no real "worship time", it was interspersed between prayers, a speech, and the sermon. Another observation is that the people rarely stand to sing, and are even less likely to clap after a song. Arvid later explained that, for some reason I can't remember, it was not considered the best thing to do.

The brothers and sisters in Christ were very welcoming to us here as well, and honored us many times with their thanks to God that we were here (from what few words I extracted from the K'anjob'al monologues).

Another great opportunity we got was to sing for them. We had prepared three songs last night, and performed them, for which they broke their silent tradition and clapped (Arvid guessed they had figured out it was an okay thing to do in our culture). We did the following songs:

1. Kal Watx' K'ane, Alleluya (a K'anjob'al song to the tune of Battle of the Republic, of which we sang the K'anjob'al chorus, the English verse and chorus, and then the K'anjob'al chorus again).

2. Txojxa swatxil kecab yetoj Dios- this was a chorus we did completely in K'anjob'al, butchering it so badly Arvid told us to do it twice because the people didn't recognize it as K'anjob'al.

3. Lord, Prepare Me- last night, we had a singing festival in Kris-Ann's room led mostly by Kris-Ann. When she and Abby did a harmony on this song, we all fell in love with it because the voices complimented each other so well. So, with Kris-Ann and Abby leading, some of us took melody and others harmony and we sang away.

Another neat custom they have is paying money to God for birthdays. Depending on how old you were, you would give a certain amount. Teh idea appealed to me, however, since God has granted us each year of life and it is only appropriate that we return thanks.

It didn't take long for me to get completely lost and bored during the K'anjob'al/Spanish sermon. The reason I say Spanish is because the pastor would switch into it at critical points in the sermon, most likely to ensure that everyone, including us, got as much out of the sermon as possible. But since I didn't speak very much Spanish either, I just ended up reading my Bible and tryng to pick up a few words or phrases out of the speech.

Then it dawned on me. We hadn't been brought to church that morning just to say we had attended- we had been brought to experience the spiritual stagnation of not having God's

Word in your own tongue. If the pastor's sermon had left me bored and uninterested, is this the same reaction we want for the Word of God amongst those who know nothing of Jesus' saving grace? We are left with two choices- translate the Bible or watch the people perish.

After that, we ate and Arvid went over some things for us to think about.

Oh, and we got to see Marie Sabet, Dorcas, and Ana again. God has truly blessed me!

In Christ,

Brittany N. Goodrich

Praise and Prayer

If you had a whole life to live, what would you do with it? That's the question (in so many words) that I have been asking myself lately. After all, I will be turning seventeen in March- I'm not exactly an adult, but I'm not exactly a child either. However, I am also old enough to know that God has put me here for a reason- and that reason should be as carefully and well planned for as possible.

As a result, my parents and I have begun a search for ministry experiences that will both suit my interests and help me in my career later on. After several investigations, we came upon Bread of Life Ministries, an organization stationed out of Dallas that has an orphanage in Romania. I knew they were looking for a grant writer, but when I finally read their missions statement, I was amazed; their mission was nearly identical to my own idea of what I want to do as a missionary! I clicked volunteer and submitted my application.

Many questions flooded my mind. Would they want a sixteen-year-old? Or did they need someone older? Was this even realistic, since I am in high school?

Well, early this morning, I received an e-mail from a man at Bread of Life ministries. He began by saying that his wife was a pioneer home-schooler back in 1982, when home-schooling was something no one did. He sounded thrilled to have found this common ground with me, since I had touched on my education mode in my application. In retrospect, I thank God for giving me the words to say!

In addition, he guessed by our area code that we lived in the San Antonio region, and said that he made it down there once a month whenever he was not in Romania. Since we are 300 miles away from Dallas, he foresaw the distance as a problem for when we must exchange materials. However, since he is in San Antonio once a month and we are in Dallas at least once a month during the hockey season, I pray that all will turn out all right.

Lastly, he told me that all I had to do was send him my address and he'd send me the Grant Writing Request Packet. He asked me to watch the videos and talk to my family about it, since this would be a family endeavour that I would lead. Then, I would respond to him with my decision.

As you might discern, I was super-excited- he was practically offering me the job! God had not chosen to show him the difficulties that would arise from hiring a sixteen-year-old, but instead the benefits had been placed in his head! I am greatly encouraged by seeing God work in this way!

But if you would also pray for me and my family...that we would seek God's will in this and that God will open and close doors as needed. All of us are a little worried about the time and pressure it might involve, so if you could pray about that, too, that would be great!

Thank you and God bless!

Day 15, June 20th, 2009

Woman models Mayan baby carrier



Me holding the baby


Jodi holding the baby

From left- Xamen, Ester, and Xunic

Editing 1 Samuel

Coya (the village we stayed in).

Another image of Coya

The church we stayed at in Coya

Mountain view from the church

The church courtyard where we were lodged (the second room on the far left is the room where Hannah and I stayed. Sam and Raymond were across the courtyard, which is not pictured)

Today, we rose at 6:35 sharp and prepared ourselves for the day. Ester was already in the kitchen, playing a K'anjob'al worship station while she worked to fix us a scrumptious breakfast assortment of eggs, tomatoes, peas, and tortillas. Accompanied by cups of coffee with a healthy dose of sugar mixed in, it was a unique meal to chow on.

During this time, Sam recalled something- we had forgotten to make our village map as the handbooks told us to do. Having eaten all we wanted, then, the four of us set out to trek up the unpaved path for a bit and identify our surroundings.

Before we got far, however, a man hobbled out from the shadows. In slurred English, he stammered out a few sentences, asking Sam where he lived, and then proceeding to tell us everywhere he's been in the States. Then, he shook our hands, and when he got to Hannah, he said, "I love you, Baby."

My companions were already walking, so I darted up to Hannah and asked, "Did he really just say 'I love you, Baby?"

"I think that's what he said," she replied.

By then, you could say I was a little creeped, but, thanks to God, a lingering walk and breathtaking views stole my attention and cleansed me of my fear.

He did spot us again when we were returning to the church. Having been talking to a fellow Guatemalan, recognition lit his as he called out:

"Pray for me because I love you because of this lady."

My first instinct was let's get out of here, but quite a different thought ran through my mind next. We should pray for this man- that God would open his eyes to the truth of His Word. After all, he is a person created in the image of God, drunk as he was or not, and God loves him. Will you join me in praying for this man and others like him?

At long last, the van came to take us back to San Miguel. Having crammed three groups of villages, we cozied up to one another and hung ten for the long haul.

We met Arvid at the same hotel we had left, and removed our belongings from Sam and Raymond's room, where we had moved it to minimalize the cost. Heading over to the church, we sared our stories of village life and then got to see a very neat scene- real Bible translation in live progress! Arvid had brought his correction of 1 Samuel, Chapter 1 with him, and, together with head translator Xunic, went over it with us looking over their shoulders. Explaining to us a bit aobut how this part of the translation was accomplished, Arvid spoke to us in English and answered our questions.

Next, came time for Xunic, Xamen (pastor in Coya), and Ester to share their testimonies and such (the latter two having traveled from Coya after we had left). They kept repeating how happy they were that we came and that we are one big family in Christ. Xunic even made the comment that it is uncommon for believers from so far away to meet each other, and so he was gald to ahve the chance to meet us. By the end of it all, I was nearly tearing up. We couldn't have asked God for more hospitable hosts- and He gave them to us. I stand both weakened and strengthened. Strengthened by the faith of my fellow believers, but weakened beneath the strength of God Almighty, Who brought us here together.

In Christ,

Brittany