The funeral was truly a celebration of Jim’s life. Dottie was able to spend time with her two remaining brothers. We had a special time with our nephew Mark and his wife Susan who are pastors and church planters in New England.

Our time in San Cristobal was precious despite having over 20 children and only 3 bedrooms. The three babies we had at that time, Josue, Ricardo and Mario, slept in cribs in our bedroom. It is amazing that Josue and Mario are still both here at Casa. Mario is a dorm parent with his wife, Mariella.

Every day I would put Josue’ in a carrier on my back with Ricardo in the front. I would then carry Mario and walk a couple of miles with them.

The first year I was in Guatemala I worked on building a chicken ranch in Los Chapernos which was more than an hours drive from my home. It was so hot that I would leave very early in the morning and work until 1pm. The ride back to my home was filled with excitement.

One early morning while still dark I was driving down a hill when I drove around a curve only to have large burning smudge pots surrounded by soldiers. There was no way to stop in time so I ran over two pots while the soldiers scattered. As soon as I stopped the soldiers had guns in every window.

They screamed at me and rattled the guns but in the end they let me go. From then on I slowed down on curves coming down the mountain.