All posts by Brent

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is celebrated very differently here.  The major day is Christmas Eve where they wake up early to start making tamales.  I tried to help out with the whole process to learn how they do it, and I’ll post a few pictures later.
Towards evening people make small fires on the curb in front of their house and everyone hangs out around it and says hi to neighbors. At midnight the whole country goes crazy with fireworks.  It’s an amazing sight! Everyone then eats tamales and drinks a hot fruit punch drink. After that they open presents and then play games and talk until everyone’s too tired to stay awake. We were up until 4!  On Christmas day everyone sleeps late and just relaxes.
We hope that you have a merry Christmas!  It is a great time of the year to reflect on how wonderful God is to us and how incredible His love and blessings are for us.
Coco with sparkler Edwin & I with fireworks Heidi & Manuel with fireworks Midnight Tamal Veronica & Edwin Coco opening present Yuli & me Coci & Cristi Heidi & Masga Veronica with present Mama Serbelia with Shawl Looking at photo book

The drive to Guatemala

We made it! Driving through Mexico was an experience we’ll never forget! We left Austin, TX on Thursday morning and on Monday, five days later, we arrived in Chimaltenango, Guatemala.  Our poor little car was packed completely full with everything we needed and wanted to bring to start our new life here in Guatemala.  It was so full that we couldn’t see out the back, and it drove sluggish.  But we were blessed to make the journey without any real problems and the car made the trip just fine.
This is how full our car was, and we also had the space for Yuli’s feet filled up too.
Driving across the Rio Grande from Laredo to Nuevo Laredo.
View across the river to the USA from the place where we got our passports stamped and our car permit.
The first two days we drove through north Mexico.  There were very impressive mountains and LOTS of cacti.
As we left the city of Puebla, we saw this snow covered volcano. I think that it’s called Citlaltépetl.
The third day definitely had the greatest views as we entered a mountain range surrounded by clouds.  It was this little winding road along the sides with bridges to span the gaps.  It was about impossible to get a picture that captured how high up we were, but this one looks back on a bridge that we had gone across.
And the road had three tunnels cutting through the mountains.
At least we got to enjoy the fine cuisine of Mexico.  Here Yuli’s enjoying the enchiladas and I’m trying out the local mole.
One hotel we stayed at had the sink in the shower!
On the fourth day we came down from the mountains to the pacific coast where there were hundreds of windmills.
Boy, this sign got us excited. we were almost there!
Finally, we’re leaving Mexico…
…and we’ve made it to Guatemala!
We still had 5 more hours to go, but they were all roads we’ve been on before.  What an amazing trip! But we were really, really exhausted and happy to make it to Yuli’s family’s house.  Now we get to rest and relax for the next few days and enjoy celebrating Christmas with the family.

Our car is packed, we’re ready to go…

We are starting our drive down to Guatemala tomorrow morning bright and early! We’re planning on the trip taking 4 days, so we should in Guate on Sunday.
We would really appreciate your prayers for us during this trip! Mexico is a BIG country, and our car is packed completely full.
God has brought us miraculously here to the US for this year, He has blessed our time here this past year, and we’re going in confidence that He’ll be with us as we return.

Route through Mexico

Driving through MexicoDriving through Mexico is about 1,350 miles long and takes about 24 hours to do.  We’re mapping out the course and planning to make the whole drive from Austin to Guatemala in four days.

It seems like there’s so many details to prepare for with crossing different boarders and figuring out the best routes to take, that it feels a little overwhelming at times. But it will certainly be a trip that we’ll never forget!

Back from our trip

We made it back safely on Thursday from our 5,00 mile trip around the USA.  We ended up staying at 11 different places and had a fantastic time visiting everyone.  Even with all the traveling and visiting, our thought at each place was, “If only we could stay here just a little longer…”  It was just wonderful spending time with our families!

Here we are at Times Square in New York City.  We got so many great photos of everyone we visited, and I hope to put them up soon.

Road Trip USA

We are about to leave on a month long trip around the eastern USA to visit our families. We’re planning on visiting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.  It’s going to be around 5,000 miles long, but it will be great to see many relatives that I haven’t seen in a long time, and the first time for Yuli to meet many of them.

Visiting Guatemala

We’re leaving for Guatemala today!

Today marks 6 months since Yuliza and I were married, and God has been so good to us. We weren’t even sure if we would be able to enter the US at all, but He enabled everything.

So today we’re returning to Guatemala to visit Yuli’s family and the kids at Casa Shalom. Yuli’s really excited to see her family as this has been the first time she’s been away from all of them. We’re also looking forward to the time with the kids that we miss so much. Could you pray for us and our trip? Our plans are to return to Guatemala to live at the end of the year, but we’re still not exactly sure what God wants us to do! We need your prayers for God’s guidance and direction for our future.

One of my favorite Bible verses through all these trips to Guatemala has been Jeremiah 29:11-13
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

We’re seeking God’s will for our future, and we would appreciate your prayers during the journey. We leave today and will return on Monday, July 5th.

Thanks and God bless!
Brent and Yuliza

We’re married and we’re back!

The wedding was fantastic! Everything went perfect with all our family flying down and spending Christmas together in Guatemala.  The weather was wonderful, the wedding service was great, and the reception was fun.  Finally, our entrance to the United States after the honeymoon was easy.  The visa issues turned out to not be a problem at all, and we were allowed in without a hitch.

We both feel so blessed to be married now. God has been so good to us, and we are so grateful to Him for all the protection and provision through everything!

There are more pictures of our wedding here.