Our First Quinceanera!

Yesterday we celebrated Julissa's 15th birthday, which is a very important day for girls in Guatemala and other Latin American countries. A team from Kentucky is here along with Julissa's family, so it was quite a party! Julissa was beautiful in her new dress and I think it was a day that she will never forget.

All of the girls enjoyed getting ready for the party. One of the ladies on the team is a stylist and so each of the girls got a haircut. They are all thrilled with their new looks!

Language School & More

We are almost finished with our fifth week of language school and have six more weeks to go. Our teachers have been excellent and we are learning so much! Each morning we walk seven or eight blocks to our school. We walk through the central park and up Calle del Arco (the famous Arch Street) and pass La Merced which is a beautiful cathedral.

Our language school

Calle del Arco



Today my teacher Iliana and I went shopping in the mercado for all the ingredients for chile relleno. Then we went back to our apartment and she taught me (speaking only espanol) how to make them. My only complaint was buying the meat hanging in the open air (I tried to convince her we could make vegetarian chile relleno, but she said that was not possible) so it's official. I have cooked with street meat!



We received our financial update from Catalyst today and we have only received about 25% of our budget for the month of January. We are checking to make sure that all of the checks that were intended for our family are in our account. Please make sure that in the memo of your check you write "Wheeler family" so that there is no confusion. And remember that we are here in Guatemala only because so many of you value the work that we are doing and are a part of this work through your donations. For your reference, Catalyst's address where donations can be sent is on the right side of the blog. Please email us if you have any questions. Thank you again for all of your support and prayers!!!

Ground-Breaking for Church in El Girrion

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We have internet!!!!

In true Guatemalan fashion, we are just now getting Internet at our apartment. But things are going well here. We are in our third week of language school and really enjoying it. We are feeling more confident speaking Spanish and getting plenty of practice each day! My Spanish teacher is coming over for dinner on Thursday and next week she is going to teach us how to make chile relleno.

On the weekends Edgar has been helping us get our house in the city ready. Last weekend we went to Magdalena where we bought some beautiful paintings from Carlos who is an artist and also runs a Christian art school for underpriviledged kids. We also stopped by Jeremias' house and workshop in Magdalena. He is going to be building most of our furniture. Not only does he have incredibly reasonable prices, he is also a new Christian and we are happy to give him some extra work.

Cohen and Leah are adjusting well to life in Guatemala. They love riding back from the grocery in a tuk tuk. It is a bumpy ride on these cobblestone streets and they laugh most of the way home. Their favorite thing to do here is to visit the girls at Mimi's House. Leah made friends quickly with the girls especially Ruth who enjoys carrying her around. Cohen's best friend at Mimi's House is Jackie, Edgar's golden retriever who just had puppies. I have a feeling one of the puppies will be joining our family when we move to the city.

Thank you for all of your prayers for our family these past few weeks. We have definitely had some frustrations along the way, but your prayers are making such a difference and we appreciate you all!

Our Eight Girls!

There are now eight girls living at Mimi's House! This is such an exciting time knowing how these eight girls' lives will be impacted. We can't wait to get to know the girls better and encourage them to dream big dreams!

Front row: Ale, Julissa, Paola, Lesly, & Clari
Back row: Ruth, Lupita, & Evelia

November Update

The past few weeks have been such an exciting time for us! Now that we have a moving date, we have been working on things like enrolling in language school, applying for our new insurance policies, and finding a place to live in Guatemala. The biggest blessing we wanted to share with you is that we will be living next door to Mimi’s House! The house next door became available for rent in August and thankfully was still available when our friend Edgar (who is the Guatemalan missionary we will be working with) met with the owner of the house. We were even able to negotiate the price of rent so that it won’t be a strain on our budget.

We will start three months of language school in Antigua, Guatemala in January which will give us time to make a few improvements to the house. We are thankful to have this house and know that it will be very convenient once we get started with our work! What are the odds of the house next door to Mimi’s House becoming available at just the right time? We are once again reminded of how God is in control and how He is working out the details for us to move to Guatemala.

The girls at Mimi’s House are doing well. They have finished up their current school year and will be on break until January. We will also be welcoming three new girls to Mimi’s House starting in 2011. Please keep Evelia, Julissa, Lupita, Lesly, and Paola in your prayers. Also pray for the three new girls coming in January. We are excited to see Mimi’s House expanding and look forward to working with the girls once we complete language school.

Several of our partners have asked when they should start sending in their support. Since we will be moving on January 6th we would like everyone to start sending in support now so that we can work out any problems that may come up before we get to Guatemala. There are three options on sending in your support: mail in your check to Catalyst at the address below (don’t forget to put Wheeler Family in the memo of your check), pay online at the Catalyst website included below, or set up automatic bill pay through your bank. Please feel free to e-mail us with any questions.

Catalyst Resources International
P.O. Box 1594
Lake Wales, FL 33859
Memo: Wheeler Family

http://www.catalystresources.net/

Thanks again for your support! Without your support our move and work would not be possible.

October Update

Update from Robby:

This month’s newsletter is a little different because Lori and I decided to each give an update on what has been happening this past month. It has been a little crazy with all the moving around but during this past month I was able to attend Hand Pump Repair Training with Edge Outreach located here in Louisville. Many of you may remember me attending training with Edge back in July on the water purification systems. The Hand Pump Training was an intense three days of hands on training where we were taught how to identify, diagnose, and repair problems on four different types of wells and hand pumps. The hand pumps that we worked with are located around the world. During the training I learned that it is estimated that about 70% of the existing wells are not functioning. These same wells and hand pumps are located throughout Guatemala. I am looking forward to getting started repairing these broken pumps and also being able to teach the people how to repair and maintain the wells and hand pumps themselves. But more importantly I look forward to developing relationships with the people that are in need of clean and safe drinking water.

I thought this summed up what I hope to share with the people of Guatemala:

Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, stream of living water will flow from within him.” By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. John 7:37-39 (NIV)

Update from Lori:

Yesterday as we were leaving the mall, Cohen asked where we were going and Robby answered that we were going home. Cohen’s response: “Which home?” Sounds like a silly question, but as I think back over the past few months I realize this wasn’t such a strange question for him to ask. At the beginning of June we moved from our house to a friend’s house for a few weeks. Then the kids and I stayed for a few weeks at my mom’s house while Robby stayed in Louisville to work. We went back to our friend’s house for a few weeks and then went on vacation. When we returned from vacation we stayed at Robby’s parents’ house for a few weeks. Finally, in September we moved into an apartment where we plan to be until we move to Guatemala.

If it sounds exhausting to you, let me tell you that it was! I must admit that all this moving and uncertainty was not my favorite. There were plenty of days when I should have been thanking God for providing a place for my family to stay that instead I was grumbling about all of the inconveniences I had to deal with. I know God was not punishing me, but instead preparing me – preparing me for a new and crazy life in a third-world country.

Today Psalm 119:71, 75-76 really spoke to me:

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees….I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me. May your unfailing love be my comfort.”

It was good that I went through that disruption because it brought me closer to God. He allowed that craziness because He knew I needed it to prepare me for living in Guatemala. And with His faithfulness and love He brought me through it. I know that He will continue to be faithful.

Financial Update:

We have currently raised 65% of our monthly budget. We were excited to meet with Springdale Community Church again this month and hear that they will be partnering with us. They are currently working on their budget for next year so we do not have any exact amount but their support will begin in January of 2011!

Also, this month we were happy to meet with the pastor of Williamstown Christian Church to make plans for us to return on November 14th. We will be sharing with both morning services as well as a Sunday School Class more about ourselves and the work we will be doing. The goal of this Missions Sunday is to get the congregation excited about missions and invite individuals and families to partner with our ministry.

Randy Gordon, the missions minister from our home church has told us that Northeast will be partnering with us and will have a proposal to us by the end of this week! We are looking forward to meeting with Randy sometime this week.


Prayer Requests:

We ask that you pray for us as we continue our language learning.
We ask you to pray for our funding to come together so that we may move to Guatemala at the beginning of January.
Please continue to keep the girls at Mimi’s House in your prayers.
Pray that our family will have a smooth transition in our move.
Thank God for how He has blessed us as we have made these changes in our lives.
Thank God for Edgar who is the Guatemalan missionary that we will be working with.
Thank God for our friends and family who have continued to give us support and encouragement.