Unexpected Joys

As we moved to our new apartment last week I was looking forward to many things.  I was excited to have my own kitchen and more space.  I wanted to get settled and was happy for my kids to have room to just be kids.  However after we had moved I also discovered some unexpected joys. 

Because we are still working in the mission house and also need to use the refrigerator in the main house as we are waiting for the electric hook up, each day involves a lot of walking up and down the hill.  I’ve lived at the mission house for 3 years but most of our work has been walking out of our room to the kitchen and back.  Basically we spent a lot of time indoors.  We live on a beautiful mountain, covered in trees and plants and with an array of different birds and animals.  Now, each morning and several times during the day we make the 50 meter trek up the tree covered driveway to the main house.  Usually I am carrying the 22 lb 10 month old with the 3 year old in tow.  However we’ve discovered that this is one of our most enjoyable times of the day.   The smell and sounds of walking up the hill is just beautiful.  We see squirrels and birds and lizards and I love Benji's amazed "duhs!" as he points at things.  Its a short walk but such a reminder of the beauty of God's creation. 

And then there was garbage . . .

At Casa Mana we have a lot of garbage.  When you are hosting 20-40 people each week it really starts to pile up.  This has been an issue for awhile because the garbage men would only take one bucket of garbage each time they came and only if it was carried down to the road.  On top of that sometimes they came and sometimes they didn’t come.  So we ended up with a lot of garbage and garbage stinks.In order to solve this problem, Edgar would go wait by the gate and when he saw the truck chase the guys down the road begging them to take our garbage.  After doing this for three years, he has gotten to know our garbage men very well.  So well that for the last few months instead of him chasing them down the road anymore, the head garbage guy calls him a few mornings a week and asks if we would like them to drive their truck up for a pick up.
This past week as the guys were collecting, they starting asking questions about what we do here and why we have so much garbage.  They had seen the gringos working down below.  Edgar explained that they were building an orphanage and that the upper house was a guest house for them to stay out while they were here.  “Why do they come?” asked one of the guys.  Edgar explained a bit about the groups coming to see the work being done here and also to help out.  After thinking a bit the guy replied “you mean they come to bless and pray for this place?   That is good, very good”Yeah I think they got it right.  Leave it to God to give us encouragement though the most unlikely sources: the garbage men.

Look After

If you have been to stay with us as Casa Mana, then you know Karla and Estella our two ladies who make our wonderful meals and clean up our messes and pretty much anything else that we ask them to do.  These ladies work hard to make your stay here comfortable and enjoyable.  They enjoy giving the "gringos" a taste of Guatemala and also learning about the groups who come here.

These ladies have not led easy lives and unfortunately things continue to be difficult for them and their children.  The latest tragedy happened just a few months ago when Karla's younger brother was hit by a car and killed. 

As we wait for the orphans we will be caring for in our new home we have been meditating on the verse James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  There may not be any orphans in our home as of yet but there are still people in need of love all around us every day.  We pray that God will continue to make our hearts sensitive to those needs.

Here are some pictures of our new apartment where will be living as we take on our new role in the Manna Worldwide orphanage.  Many thanks to the group from Shiloh Baptist for all their hard work and for painting our apartment!!!

Kitchen area

Our bedroom

 

Nathan and Benjamin's room

View out the kitchen window

Top view of orphanage building

Front view

Beauty in the Imperfections - Lessons from a 3 year old

So many times I wonder how God can love someone who continuously messes up.  I see all the things that I do or create and it never seems to come out perfect enough.  My best well made plans for how I’m going to help someone or do something new in ministry or my greatest lesson plan ever never turn out the way I would like.  I know I have had so many missed opportunities.  I look back at the things I have accomplished and I see their imperfections and hang my head and get frustrated. 

And then last Sunday I was in Sunday school class with Nathan.  Because I was holding Benjamin at the time, Nathan had to do his craft on his own.  He began coloring the people on the paper.  Some of them were colored with purple skin, many of the colors of their clothes did not coordinate, and while he did his best the colors didn’t always stay inside the lines.  He then began cutting them out, a difficult task for a three year old.  He worked diligently cutting around each person.  The lines were not cut straight and several people lost their arms during his work.  He continued working happily and glued the people to the paper in the wrong order.  Then he held up the paper and said, “Look mommy, I’m done! I did it!.”  And my eyes teared up . . .  because it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

My mother’s heart had swelled with pride and I watch Nathan work.  I loved seeing the advances he has made and I loved seeing his joy when he realized that he had completed it.  It didn’t matter to me that it was imperfect, not one bit.  At that moment, God spoke to my heart and said, “See Laura, that’s what I see when I look at what you do.” 

As we go though our lives, we will work hard at many things.  God will be there to guide us but many times our coloring will be out of place, things will be out of order, and someone might even lose some arms in our enthusiasm.  But as a proud parent, our Father is going to be looking down at our work and he is going to see something beautiful.  It might be something only a Father could love, but his is the only opinion that really matters anyhow, right?

Last week in USA

Hi everyone on our last day in the U.S.!  Tomorrow we will be flying back to Guatemala.  The time has gone so fast but as we look back we have been able to do so much during this time.  We are heading back refreshed and ready to get back to our work there.

Last week we traveled to Waukesha, Wisconsin and spent a week with Edgar's brother, Paco.  We enjoyed meeting our niece and Nathan had a fun time playing with his cousin Jeremiah.  Edgar also enjoyed going fishing for the first time!  On Sunday, Edgar was able to help his brother with the worship at the Spanish community group at their church.  It was hard to say goodbye! 

When we arrived back in PA, Edgar's sister and her family drove up from Virgina to spend the 4th of July holiday with us here and we enjoyed our time with them and our niece and nephews.  

Please pray for safe and uneventful travels for us today and tomorrow as we begin our journey back to Guatemala.

Second and Third Weeks in the US!

Our time here in the U.S. has been going so quickly and we have been having such a wonderful time. 
This past week we were able to visit Concord Presbyterian Church, who have supported us since 2007! It was wonderful to give an update on what we are doing and to see and visit with old friends.  The church always makes us feel like we are coming home.  We are excited to go back on Monday to help with their vacation Bible school!

Please be praying for us this weekend as we go to New Bedford Presbyterian Church on Sunday to share a Guatemala update (looking forward to seeing all our friends from there!)
We will also be leaving on Tuesday to drive 9 hours to Wisconsin!  We will be visiting with Edgar's brother, Paco, and his family!  Pray for safe and easy travels!
Thank you to all who have supported us and our ministry!  We are so blessed to have you as part of our team!

Many Blessings
Laura, Edgar and Nathan Cojon

For support info go to:

www.cten.org/laurascott 

 Having some fun at Idewild Park with the family this week!

First week in PA

We have really enjoyed our first week here in Pennsylvania!  We have spent some wonderful time visiting with our immediate family and Nathan has enjoyed having his aunts and grandparents around to play with! (and mom and dad have enjoyed that also!)

Last Sunday we were able to visit our friends at Ignite Church in Rochester, PA.  It was wonderful seeing them again and getting to worship together.  We are excited for them to come to Guatemala in August.   

This week we were also able to meet some new people at the missions committee meeting for Mt. Carmel Presbyterian Church.  It was great to share with them about our work in Guatemala and we hope that we can form a partnership with them in the future!

We have a new prayer card with an updated picture, because Nathan is growing up way to fast!  If you would like us to mail you a copy send me an email!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we look for new partners to support our ministry.  We are excited about what God is going to do during this time!

Thank you for all of you who have joined our team and are helping advance the Good News in Guatemala!

New Ministries, New Partners

It is hard for me to believe that I have been living in Guatemala for eight years now.  The time has passed so quickly and yet I also feel like Guatemala has always been a part of my life.  When I came here in 2004, little did I know what this adventure would become.  I planned on staying just one year to work as a teacher at the Christian Academy of Guatemala.  It was so hard leaving friends and family.  I knew that this is where God wanted me to be but I counted the days until my return to the United States.  But then, one year turned into two and two to three and before I knew it Guatemala had become as much my home as the United States.   I got married and began a family.  Now as a family our missionary work is continuing and expanding.

Many of you have received our update letters this year talking about our new ministries.  Edgar graduated from SETECA in October with a degree in Theology and emphasis in music.  We have teamed with Manna Worldwide where we are blessed to live at and run their guest house and have hosted many teams this year.  Edgar is the assistant pastor at a church plant in Ciudad Quetzal that began services in January 2011.  I am continuing to teach high school math and science at the Christian Academy of Guatemala.

 

As we began working on these new ministries we have realized that the time has come to raise more support.  Now as a family of three and embarking on new and very needy ministries, our support need has increased.  We are looking to find new monthly partners who would like to support our ministry and work here. 

If you are interested in becoming one of our monthly partners and become involved in the work that is being done here in Guatemala please go to www.cten.org/laurascott to make a donation or mail to the address below.  Also if you know of someone who would be interested in joining our team, please pass our information along. 

We will be making a trip to the U.S. the month of June with the purpose of meeting with some of you or your churches to talk about our ministry.  Currently we hope to visit different areas of Virginia and Pennsylvania but will be able to travel to different locations to meet with some of you.  If you think there might be a possibility for us to share at your church, Sunday school class or home group, we would be delighted to come.  Please send me an email at laurascott@cten.org or a facebook message!

Laura, Edgar and Nathan Cojon

Serving in Guatemala

  Commission To Every Nation
  P.O. Box 29130 
  Kerrville, TX 78029-1307

The sights of Guatemala!

Every once and awhile while I am carrying my camera around with me, we come across some unique Guatemalan sights.  I realized that I have aquired quite a collection of pictures and thought I would share these "sights of Guatemala" with you:

The Dog Pile - street dogs keeping each other warm on a cold night

Transporting cows

The back of the cow truck . . . . yeah yuck!

These are from the "puppy corner" - every weekend they sell all kinds of different puppies on this corner.

Missed the bus? No problem just grab a ride home on the back of the water truck!

And how about these women riding down a major highway in the back of the truck?  They are not even holding on!

 

And finally, how do you dry sheets during rainy season?????

 You hang them on the wall, of course.

Or you can hang them over your chairs!  

Just make sure you don't need to use that room!

So that is part of my collection of weird Guatemala photos.  More to come at a later date . . . .