Diana Sroka

Or maybe instead of “to” in this title I should put “and”. So it is… “Snow and Easter”…they go hand-in-hand, right? Much is a matter of perspective - or is it location? If you’re from the mid-west you might have said “yes”…grumbling.

I had the blessing of returning home for Christmas to be with my family as well as to work on a few Mission Impact Stateside projects, and so I took the opportunity to shoot some photos of snow scenes. Little did I know that the very snowy days would not be few and far between. In fact, I think I heard there was snow around Easter in Illinois? Ok - I wont rub it in…
…Here’s what Easter looked like for me in Guatemala…

Hundreds of families come into the streets all night long to strategically sprinkle colored sawdust onto the Antigua cobble stone streets to create these alfumbras (carpets). Tradition…offering…fun…the meanings behind their Easter traditions are many…

Catholicism is the dominant religion especially in this region - It’s not uncommon to find a mix of Catholicism and Mayan beliefs. Here you see some of my friends performing skits of Jesus’ saving grace and transforming power in our lives. These skits were performed until 4 am.

And as processions are happening…alfumbras being made…skits being performed….there’s always food! Exciting events are always a time to make things like a ‘carnival’ — popcorn/cotton candy/donuts/and all kinds of Guatemalan traditional foods that I cannot remember the names for… but here’s a complex snow cone (and they are good!)

And then the Roman Soldiers come out, I think it was at 3 am, and go to each corner of the city and read a proclamation. At 5 am comes a huge procession out of La Merced church- I ran out of steam and went to sleep at 4:45 am.

And no Easter / Spring Break in Guatemala would be complete without a personal visit from home right? Three of my girlfriends (Amy, Jaimee and Erinne) came for a week long visit! Thanks for coming girls!

…Now we are in the month of April - already! Where does all the time go? I’ve returned to IL to finish up the projects that I began early this year and will be returning to Guatemala soon! Thank you for your faithful support and prayers!

And…now Christmas, New Years, Hiding from the snow, Easter and much of the hustle and bustle might be over for you…won’t you send me an update on how you are and how I can be in prayer for you?

Here’s how you can pray for me:

- Clarity and final touches on decisions for the projects I’m working on

- For my personal health as well as the health of those in my family and close family friends

- Logistics of my living situation when I return and continued growth in a healthy support system/friends/church/bible study
- For the people of Guatemala…to have open hearts and receive the message of Love

I THANK GOD FOR YOU!

PROXIMOS PASOS BUILDING DEDICATION

Mid-November we had a building dedication for our girls school Proximos Pasos (next steps). The girls put on a beautiful program of singing sharing their thankfulness. A message was shared and we fellowshipped over a traditional meal called pepian (chicken type stew with numerous spices, rice and tortias). This was a ‘dream come true’ - but nothing is impossible for God!

PROCESSIONALS

This is a common sight in Antigua. Upon walking home, I heard a band playing loudly and could smell incense. It wasn’t hard to notice hundreds upon hundreds of people gathered onto 6th ave. It was another procession. Guatemala is not a quiet place, by any stretch of the imagination. It’s common to hear bands playing, loud speaker announcements being made, fireworks going off ~ nearly every evening and morning (as early as 5 am) in celebration of anything and everything - you name it. Catholic processionals are quite common in the streets of Antigua - not something we normally see in North America, so I snapped a few photos to show you. You will notice women carrying a HEAVY statue of Jesus as a sort of penance, walking over an alfumbra (carpet) made of flowers strategically placed on the cobble stone streets in a beautiful pattern as a sort of sacrifice, men carrying incense, followed by a band and many, many people. It was difficult to squeeze through the crowd, so I took out my camera and snapped photos along the way.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

This is my host-mom ~ a true blessing she is! We have developed a close relationship and talk about our thoughts of scriptures and relationships with the Lord on a regular basis! We celebrated her birthday by buying a variety of flowers which you can see in the photo. Do you know I bought a dozen roses for less than 6 dollars?

THANKSGIVING DAY

I had Thanksgiving dinner at a local restaurant with two lady friends who were in town for a little while studying Spanish. It was far from a home cooked meal at home (of course!), but the company was a blessing.

WASHING MACHINE

And…a little of ‘normal life’ for me. This is how I wash my clothes, here in this ‘pila’ - It’s less expensive than the laundromat down the street, where I bring my clothing about once a month to shrink them back to normal size.

Blessings!

Not all ‘ministry’ is working with teams and digging holes…

I traveled to a village about 25 minutes from where I live, called San Miguel Duenas, to………..look at flowers. Time to get into the Christmas Spirit! What are you doing back home preparing for Christmas? Decorating maybe? Buying gifts? Or are you still wondering how checking out flowers is ministry and going to put your tree up later?

It’s a joy to learn little bits and pieces of culture here as time passes and seasons come and go…an essential (learning culture) to understanding the people here and building relationships! And, “ministry happens in the context of relationships”.
Guess how many poinsettias were in this nursery….

Have a number in mind?

Me neither….but, I can say that what you see is not even 1/3rd of the total… so rather than hurting my brain…I decided to just have some fun taking photos!!

How you can be in prayer:

*Always pray for the people of Guatemala…that their hearts are open to receive the Word of God and His love.

*For wisdom on buying a car and housing. It’s not as easy to figure this out as it is in the states.

*For the 2008 teams. For all the work and details coordinating them and for my relationships with each team member.

*For me to continually seek the face of God

-Refurbished tombs-

Back home you pulled out your warmer sweaters, the stores, restaurants and many homes changed their decor and many purchased massive bags of candy gearing up for Halloween and trick-or-treating. It’s what you can anticipate October 31^st and it’s a sort-of normalcy. But, that’s not the focus in Guatemala….

In Guatemala….especially Santiago Sacatepequez, there’s a powerful tension in the air…people explain to me that it’s getting colder and windier because El Dia de los Difuntos (The Day of the Dead) is nearing us. November 1^st marked that day.

The markets were decked out with beautiful flowers of sempa (orange marigolds), chrysanthemums, wild daisies; the smell of incense made of pine resin (copal); and wreathes of cold meat and veggies. What really caught my eye was the number of kites flying in the air. But, first a word about the cemetery traditions…

Cute old man painting his family members cross purple…

A few tombs decorated in rose peddles…

Families celebrate the day of the dead by cleaning the tombs of deceased family members. They begin as early as 4 am. It appears to carry characteristics of a carnival…ice-cream men are ringing their bells…cotton candy is being sold…and hundreds of people interact at the cemetery sharing stories of the deceased while renovating the tombs, sharing paint and brushes and eating and praying together

Back to the kites….these are not ordinary kites. The frame is made of bamboo and the kites measure up to 15 meters in diameter. Numerous young men come together as many as 40 days before Nov 1^st to create their kite out of tissue paper. The design is intricate carrying a variety of themes be it political, religious or cultural. The kites are raised to communicate with the spirits until 4 and then the people return home to wait for the arrival of the souls.

The tradition ends Nov 2^nd where everyone goes to the cemetery with candles, inviting the spirits to return to their (the spirits) home and they raise their kites again so the spirits can return to heaven.

That’s all for the history lesson of Guatemala for today…

Thanks for tuning in…and please remember to pray for the people of Guatemala - and for me!

Meetings, Conferences, Training & Retreats = necessities.
This is why we do it: to demonstrate Gods love to His children…

praise God for the opportunity to love His beautiful children! He doesn’t NEED to use us, but he chooses to use us…

Now, for a peek into some background happenings besides Servant Teams and hands on ministry.

It was a joy to have Julie Ross (one of our board members) with us here for nearly 2 weeks.

*It was a good time of meetings intent on reviewing our vision/mission of Mission Impact as a whole and in each specific ministry. A time of wrapping up year-end details, reviewing the past years pro’s and con’s and setting goals and vision as we look forward to the new year.

*We, as a mission, enjoyed a conference of CHE (Community Health Evangelism), giving us materials and vision on how to integrate our ministries & Servant Teams to holistically consider how we do ministry in the villages intent on demonstate the love of Christ.

*I also had the opportunity to attend a two day “Cuidado Integral” conference in the city. A conference heavy in material on how to care for our missionaries and teams focusing in on care for women, men, children and conflict resolution.

*As a Mission Impact Family - we will take a one day retreat of relaxation and reflection ~ another ‘tool’ essential to keeping a healthy balance between ministry and personal care.

October 20th - 28th we hosted a team from many edges of the states. It was a joy to watch God work in their lives as they served the people of El Rejon and Santa Maria.

The room we built for a family of 9 children - one in the oven.

Playing games with the children while building the room.

Grandma proud of her self-portrait. Her sister was there as well - but didn’t want her photo taken. She said she was too ugly and her hair was too grey. Through the paper-plate-self-portrait-art-project I was able to tell her about her creator who created her beautifully; to wake up each morning remembering her creator who sees her as beautiful. I told her it’s more important to remember this than for us to have her photo. She went away beaming like the sun!!

The stove we built in both El Rejon & Santa Maria

Hanging out with the family of the stove - building relationships. Afterwards, I talked with the ladies of the community, reiterating the idea of the ladies coming together to teach one another skills together - perhaps a ‘cooking class’ idea - something some of the women in Santa Maria have done..

Making new friends…

What’s it like here? All smiles and good times of course!

OK - so that’s not the whole truth. Being in language school - I meet numbers of people and we bond quickly. Pictured here is my old house-mate Suzannah and current study-mate Jessica who will soon be gone as well.

This is why whenever you ask, or see in my newsletter (Coming soon! It’s currently in print) I ask that you pray for relationships. The number one expression through my university education was, “Ministry happens in the context of relationships”. That’s not just with the Guatemalans here…but with everybody.

So, let’s be honest. It’s not always smiles and good times here. It’s QUITE the transitional environment because just about everyone in my path now is here for a short time only. So there are sad moments.

But, Praise God with me in this chapter of my life. For although there are very low times…I have the opportunity to put all of my trust, purpose, focus and hope in the Lord and only Him. I want to be a woman grounded only in our Father God…

~ I invite you to pray with me to that end…

(What am I up to now? Taking a break from language study, working on putting together some Mission Impact documents and planning for upcoming teams)

PORA: The incorrect way to use “por” & “para”, even though you might hear people saying it anyway. Why? It’s just confusing right up front to know when to use what.

So I’ve been back to Spanish studies for the past two weeks and enjoying it as always. I’m continually reminded that it takes a long time to learn a new language…and often times when I learn a new concept, I get afraid that I might have lost what I already learned.

So, It’s necessary to have a little fun in between to rest the mind. So one Saturday morning I took a hike up to Volcano Pacaya…an active volcano. I hiked it once before 4 years ago…but a lot has changed since then after many eruptions. I’ve posted some photos for your personal enjoyment.

My old house mate and great friend Sara and Me

Just a bit of flowing lava….HOT flowing lava…

And then of course….playing in the lava…check out my stick - it’s catching on fire! This for sure would be roped off in the States!

How you can pray:

~ Building Solid Friendships with people

~ Safety

~ For The People of Guatemala

So I realize it’s been a long time since I posted, so here is my attempt to update you from the time of my last post to the time of my visit to Illinois.

Ixcan was a week of lots of sun, heat and humidity interacting with loads of people with beautiful hearts. I worked along side the team that came from Oregon and got aquainted with what happens in Ixcan. We worked on digging a well, building latrines and providing medication for those in need. The kids are precious! I look forward to returning when the Lord allows.

After arriving back to Antigua I had a good week of being ill and then it was quick back to spanish study. I moved in with a Guatemalan family for a week, then in with a friend for a week, and now I reside with a new Guatemalan family. My family is the greatest! I love my host mom, who is just like my mom in the states. OK - just kidding…they are worlds apart but they are both short and both feed me soup when I’m sick and love me to pieces.

I’ve managed to take a day trip to the ocean to relax for a day and catch some sun, and also visit an indigenous village and play dress-up and make tortillas while learning about old and current customs………but most of my time goes to studying, working on some documents for MI, and working alongside the teams when time allows.

Me making tortillas…

My brother got married last Saturday which brought me home to Illinois for 14 days. It’s been a great time to catch up with family, friends and supporters. After returning back to Guatemala I will return to language study….and I’ll keep you posted!

Congrats to my brother Vince and Kristie on their marriage!

The Ohio team leaves today after a wonderful week of building the girls school…working among the girls…and evangelizing in the local public schools. The next journey from here is to Ixcan. I’m leaving tomorrow and will return June 26. Ixcan is about 12 hours from where I live. 5 of us will drive together and meet up with a team coming from Oregon. That will make about 35 of us - a huge team to work in Ixcan. Dan and Gerber will be working on well digging and outhouses are going to be constructed. I’ll probably do a little of everything including cooking in the kitchen with Gerber’s mom.

Please pray for safety as we travel…and for health. This is a very remote area of Guatemala and it will be hard to avoid situations where we have to consume drinks and food that may not be safe. Please also pray for Ixcan and the people to come to know and love God and His people.

Until I return with photos from Ixcan, a few photos from the past week…..Thank You for your prayers!!

A visit at the Zoo with some of the girls of Proximos Pasos!

Oooo…look at the two hippos!!!

This is a shot from a soccer game I played..my feet and the beautiful view!

Thanks for your prayers - we’ll be in touch!