January 2002
New Years Greetings from the land of ERUPTING VOLCANOES!!!

As I write this first newsletter of 2002, I am lying in our hammock watching fiery lava flow down the side of "Volcan Fuego". What an incredible sight! We can even hear the eruptions. There is never a dull moment here ...What next?!!!!!

It is hard to believe we have been down here a year and a half....so many new experiences....so much sadness..so much happiness..so much hatred..so much love.

Our family has just experienced the most meaningful Christmas we could ever have imagined. Andrea arrived on the 19th of December and Amanda and Jason were to arrive on December 23rd . As the three original members of the Schmaltz family, excitedly headed down the long dark road towards Guatemala city to meet them, the dreaded sound of Richard's cell phone caused a moment of uneasiness as we suspected it was not good news. The news was not really bad but it was not good. They had missed their connection in Atlanta due to bad weather in Ottawa and would not be arriving until late December 24th. Because we had plans to go and deliver presents to the family we have been sponsoring for five years, on Christmas Eve we were all terribly disappointed.

So the next day Andrea, Richard and I set out to find our family. On previous occasions, we had gone with the staff from "Children International" so we really were not sure how to find the house. We borrowed the project's truck and headed for the pueblo where "Mario" (our sponsored child) lives. As we drove into town it was a very eerie feeling as the locals suspiciously eyed the three "Gringos". Unobtrusively we rolled up our windows and locked our doors. Numerous attempts at finding the house failed. It was evident we were going to have to ask for directions, but we were feeling very hesitant about it.

As we turned onto a side street, there was a sudden loud crash as our truck sank up to the top of the hubcaps into a hole in the street. A look of horror crossed Richard's face as he realized the seriousness of the situation and felt the heavy responsibility of the family's safety fall on his shoulders. He knew that we would never be able to move the truck on our own. A look of utter helplessness passed between us. There was no choice... we had to get out of the car. We had to trust that everything was going to be O.K. It had been our experience so far that when we treated the people with respect, they in turn had treated us accordingly. So as a crowd gathered around the truck, we emerged with friendly smiles.

The men and women stood and watched as we surveyed the damage. It was a disaster! There was no way that truck was going to get out of that hole. The white North Americans were at the mercy of the Indigenous of Guatemala....the same North Americans who watched from afar as thousands of Mayans were slaughtered in the 1980's with guns and support from the U.S.A.

One man stepped forward ....another... and then another...a man riding by on his bicycle stopped, and suggested that they lift the truck out of the hole. We knew that would be impossible. It was a huge truck and these four men were very small. However they absolutely insisted that they could do it. They instructed Richard to get behind the wheel and they lifted this huge truck out of the hole. A spontaneous applause rose from the gathering. The four men looked so proud. In the course of removing it, the tire had been punctured. Immediately they asked for the tools and proceeded to change it.

We never did find the family....but as the three wise men set out to find the family on Christmas eve 2000 years ago, we did find Christ. As the kings returned to their countries to bare witness of the birth, we would like to bare witness that we found Christ in the hearts of the poor people...the people who were able to forgive....the people who were able to reach out to help the strangers...the people who were able to love. As we drove back to Antigua that afternoon, Andrea said " We all learned a good lesson today" ....something very profound had transpired....and there was more to come!

Jason and Amanda arrived safely. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner together followed by a barrage of fire crackers at midnight. It is the most bizarre custom down here...it sounded like world war three. Richard participated fiendishly throwing fire crackers everywhere...he was totally out of control...it was pretty funny!

This year, we decided as a family not to exchange gifts. Instead the three siblings brought down suitcases of gifts from their places of employment for us to distribute to the children of the "Patzun Orphanage" The support we received from Canada was inspiring.

We set out early on Christmas morning arriving at the orphanage about 10:00 a.m. To my amazement we were the only visitors. The children were thrilled to see us.

My children were deeply moved by the sight of these little children spending Christmas day in an orphanage. There was no crying or whining....just a bunch of happy little faces...grateful that someone had come to visit them. It was truly an amazing morning!
We felt like Santa Claus....it is difficult to describe the joy we experienced as we handed out the many small gifts.

The sisters who run the institution were also very appreciative..they asked us to join them for home made fruit punch and soda crackers...there was such a good feeling in that room..the trip was so worthwhile.

As we drove away we could see the joy on the faces of the children excitedly playing with their new toys....what a gift to us!

After the orphanage we headed for the slums of San Felipe where we brought gifts to a family that Richard had built a house for....dirty and living in dire poverty but so happy to see us. Then we went on to a family, whose little girl was in my school last year. As we walked into this tiny house with two double beds for a family of eight, there, lying on a bed and wrapped in swaddling clothes was a newborn infant.new life...a symbol of hope ...a Christ symbol...and I thought about the Child born into poverty 2000 years before....it brought such focus to the meaning of Christmas...yet another gift to our family!

We then decided we would distribute the leftover gifts to the poor children we encountered in the hills. When we saw a couple of children on the side of the road we put down our window and gave them a gift and wished them Merry Christmas. Unfortunately, Word of our presence (presents) spread like wild fire...and within minutes children and parents were running down from the hills for the small trinkets we had left. By this time the quality of the toys was greatly diminished ..but the joy and excitement it brought to these families was not!

As we headed back to Antigua filled with memories of the day..our youngest articulated that it was the best Christmas she had ever had....and so it was for all of us. It was probably the first time in our lives we had experienced, as a family, the true joy and peace that comes from making others happy. That gift stayed with us for the remainder of
the holidays...the experience had affected us deeply!

Richard and I are now back at work. Because we have lost half our staff due to the September 11th disaster our days are even longer..but the nature of the work makes it bearable.

It has been very exciting for me to set up the two new programs and train the teachers for the school. We now have three Early Childhood activity-centered programs, though Kinder and Pre-Kinder have to share classroom space and a teacher because of limited funds. I am so proud of the teachers. They have had only three weeks training in a method of teaching they had never been exposed to before and they are doing an amazing job. One of them is only eighteen years old, teaching a split grade...neither of them have taught children before..they teach in the Early childhood Programs in the morning..an after school tutoring program in the afternoon...have an hour training with me each day..clean the classrooms the school and the bathrooms... and on top of that one of them is going to University. Some of us don't know what hard work is in North America.

Richard is looking forward to the service teams starting up again. He finds the work very satisfying. I think he has forgotten how grueling those long days of hard labor were.but just as a new mother forgets the labor pains when she sees her newborn..the service teams experience such fulfillment when they see the families move into their new homes.
The teams will be working on a special project this year. The Mayor of Antigua's wife wants to build a basic shelter for the homeless in the city and has asked our project if the service teams could build it. Right now there is nothing for the street people so we are very supportive of the idea. It would be a privilege to be involved in such a worthwhile project.