September 2026: The Storm After the Calm

Welcome, folks, to another month in my life--the most chaotic one yet!! 

No, really, the last month has been SO BUSY. I can barely keep my head straight. And yet, every day I thank God that He placed me in a country where I can speak the language. That was, after all, one of the primary factors behind my choosing this place over a competing offer from Cambodia last year. I feel supported strongly by local friends and expat colleagues alike, and it is truly a blessing that God has surrounded me with such a "great cloud of witnesses" here in Guatemala. 

And so, here is the story of the month that was--the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

Well, right after I published my last update, I went on a retreat with my coworkers at CAG to a retreat center on a parent's property overlooking some volcanoes. One of them, Fuego--the country's most active volcano by far, responsible for a catastrophic eruption in 2018--was belching smoke again that day. While we were many miles away and suffered no ill effects from the (rather benign) eruption, it was still an impressive reminder of God's creation and the power with which He holds all the world together--something I've been trying to remind myself of ever since the school year began in earnest. 

 

Fuego's early August eruption as seen from the retreat center in San Bartolomé Milpas Altas, about 15 miles west of CAG.

 

Anyway, I got to CAG ready for in-service--and immediately found myself behind. Not only was the new Social Studies curriculum even more different than I had anticipated (with a great deal of new material needing to be turned into unit maps and lesson plans for each unit), I also discovered that the book I had been planning to read this quarter for 8th grade English/Language Arts was no longer in stock at the library, so I had to skim a brand-new one on top of my Social Studies rejiggering. 

My workload got so severe that I have had to stop tutoring, informing my clients all my the end of last month that I simply no longer had the time to do their needs justice. Once they heard of my commitments (all those classes plus Debate Club and Student Council), they were all understanding, praise God. 

Even so, the story doesn't end there. Once I finally began to feel ahead of work, my car (which I had been parking on the street in front of my apartment) was broken into while I was sleeping. I spent the following morning at three (!) separate police stations, only for them to throw away the little evidence the robber had left behind (a dead cellphone and a wrench) and go through the motions taking my statement. 

The thief entered through the rear passenger-side door (top) and removed the car's display (bottom), removing not only my sound and my clock, but CarPlay as well. He even took the charger I had plugged in!

All the thief had taken was my radio/display panel. Even so, things were still going to get worse. 

While trying to leave the third police station, I took a turn too soon and scratched the bumper of a car parked in that street. With police gathered behind me, I had no choice but to back up and begin exchanging information with the other driver. Insurance and police typically do not get involved in Guatemalan car accidents if there is no sever damage/injuries, and this was no exception. 

Consequently, I tried to pay him using a remittance platform I often use to pay for services in Guatemala. Of course, that day it happened not to be working (I checked again later to make sure, and indeed it wasn't). At that, I tried to leave, but the driver was not about to let me do so, and then the police made an ultimatum: either I give the other driver something of value, or I face legal action (hearings, judges, lawyers, and a whole bunch of other things I was not about to go through as a defendant in a foreign country). 

So I took a few deep breaths and gave him my laptop--yes, the very one I am using to type this post out!! We messaged each other on WhatsApp, but I knew I was going to have a problem. You see, while all of this was going on, my debit card had mysteriously stopped working. At the time of writing, I am still waiting on my new one. In other words, even if I could come up with enough money in cash (which--hallelujah--I did, and I got the laptop back the next day), I was going to be cleaned out of petty cash until I could get my hands on the new card.

I still am, of course, out of cash, but the silver lining is that I can still cover all my expenses with Apple Pay on the new digital card while I wait for the physical one to arrive this week. And that is far from the only silver lining here. I've been prayed over by so many friends--had so many good conversations with family about how to recover and move forward--that I feel like I could always see a light at the end of this particular tunnel. Anyone who knows me knows that this is not always how I've been. 

Even so, the staff here at school have been so supportive of me these last few weeks that I truly feel like I'm able to grow and look up. 

Anyway, on to praises and prayers!

Praises: 

• Extracurriculars, in contrast to my classes, are going very well lately. Debate Club just started last week with nine students, and our Student Council representatives are as optimistic as ever about their role leading the schol this year!
• I'm getting along very well with the new teachers! We have a new chaplain and a new high school ELA teacher, both of whom are great spiritual leaders (the latter is even a parent of one of my students). 

Prayers: 

• Pray for me to effectively reach the new crop of students this year. I only have six students in common between this year and last year, and I find myself having to tweak lesson plans, delivery methods, classroom pacing, and grading policies on a near-daily basis (in addition to all the "macro-level" work I mentioned earlier). Please pray that something sticks and that these students across all my classes would have the time of their lives. 
• Specifically for this week, please be praying for our revamped Independence Day celebration. Guatemalan Independence day will be on Tuesday the 15th, and so on Friday the 11th, we are having students exhibit places within Guatemala and present activities about each one (en español por supuesto). Pray for an engaging time as parents have fun and celebrate the country which has been such an excellent home for me this past year. 
• Finally, please pray for my friend Paul, whom I go to church with. He is hospitalized with pneumonia/seizures and is presently in the ICU here in Guatemala. Pray for his survival and speedy recovery--that God would renew his body like this nightmare never even happened. 

And that's all. If any of you feel led to share your resources with me in this season, I would appreciate it more than you could know. You can make your donations to support me at this link. Remember, every penny you give is 100% tax-deductible.

Thanks for bearing with me--I know this post was a little longer than usual. Your support really is what keeps me going, and I am so thankful for every prayer said, every penny shared, every kind thought sent my way. If this post is any indication, keep it up!!