Noche Buena (Christmas Eve)

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa,

Not a creature was stirring ¡Caramba! ¿Qué pasa?

Los niños were tucked away in their camas,

Some in long underwear, some in pijamas,

While hanging the stockings with mucho cuidado,

In hopes that old Santa would feel obligado,

To bring all children, both buenos and malos,

A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.

Outside in the yard there arose un gran grito,

and I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.

I ran to the window and looked out afuera,

And who in the world do you think that it era?

Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero,

Came dashing along like a loco bombero.

And pulling his sleigh instead of venados,

Were eight little burros approaching volando.

I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre,

Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:

"Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Cuco, at Beto,

Ay Chato, ay Chopo, Maruco, y Nieto!"

Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho,

He flew to the top of our very own techo,

With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,

He struggled to squeeze down our old chimenea.

Then huffing and puffing at last in our sala,

With soot smeared all over his red suit de gala,

He filled all the stockings with lively regalos,

None for the niños that had been malos.

Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,

He turned like a flash and was gone como el viento,

And I heard him exclaim, y ¡esto es verdad!

Merry Christmas to all, ¡y Feliz Navidad!

I do not know the author of this Spanglish version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas but I enjoy it and I hope you do too. FELIZ NAVIDAD!

-Katey :)

Guest Writer: Rachel Austin

Rachel Austin wrote an awesome article about my family and I. I loved it and wanted to share it with you. Hope you enjoy it and pass it on to your friends and family.

Local Teen’s New Life in Guatemala
By Rachel Austin
LEESBURG- Not many people know too much about Guatemala, so here are a few facts to keep you up to speed. Guatemala- population: 14.36 million, mostly a rural environment, located in Central America, 70.6% literacy rate, mostly populated with descendants of the Mayan people, and now the new home of Katey Erickson.

In August the Erickson family from Leesburg moved down to Antigua, a city in Guatemala, to work with an organization known as Servants 4 Him. Although she knew the change would be hard, Katey was actually thrilled when she learned she was moving to Guatemala saying, “I was really excited [to move to Guatemala] because I had taken a mission trip to Guatemala last summer and loved it! And I knew God was calling me to go so I was excited.” The entire Erickson family shares Katey’s same genuine passion for sharing their faith with the Guatemalan people which is why they joined the Servants 4 Him group.

Servants 4 Him is a non-profit mission organization that was started by another couple from Leesburg, Forrest and Carol Kendall. The missionaries teach the Guatemalan people about Jesus while improving the people’s standard of living with bio-sand water filters, improved wood burning stoves, dry composting latrines, and sanitation education. The Ericksons have only been living in Guatemala for about four months but they have already been able to do some mission work with the Servants 4 Him team. “Well right now our main focus is learning the language so that we can communicate with the people in the villages but I have had the opportunity to visit villages and meet and help people, do VBS [vacation bible school] type things with kids, help Carol (one of the missionaries in our organization) with anything she needs help with, and much more. And in the future when we have teams come down I will help them in the village with either building a house, building and delivering water filters or stoves, doing VBS things with the kids, or whatever else is needed in the villages. We always have something to do to help the people down here,” answered Katey when asked what mission work she has been involved in so far.

Learning Spanish has been quite a challenge for all of the Ericksons so far. When asked about learning the language Katey remarked, “My parents have been going to language school everyday for 4 hours. And my siblings and I have tutors that come to our house 3 days a week for 3 hours each day. It’s hard but I am learning a lot and I really like being able to communicate with people”. Although learning the language has been difficult for all of the Erickson family, Spanish is coming fairly naturally for Clay, Katey’s 14 year old brother, saying, “Yeah it’s [Spanish] pretty hard for my family but it’s coming pretty easy for me”. Even though the Erickson’s language skills aren’t quite top notch yet they don’t let the language barrier overcome their passion for the mission work they are doing in Guatemala. After going to a visit a church in TodoNicapan, Emily, Katey’s nine year old sister, said “We got there [TodoNicapan] early to visit a family and the mom was sick and we got to pray for her. It was really cool how even though she didn't understand what we were praying in English she still knew what we meant while we were praying. During the church service I didn't know what they were saying but I knew what they were saying. This might not make sense but if you had my brain you would understand”.

While learning Spanish is consuming a lot of the Erickson’s time they still find time to experience their new home and adapt to the culture. When asked what her favorite experience has been so far Katey replied, “I have had so many amazing experiences that its hard to pick just one. I have gotten the opportunities to hike an active volcano, go to a kite festival, go to a Macedamia nut farm, see ruins, help in poor villages, and much more. But I think my favorite experience so far was going to and helping with a kids camp in complete Spanish. It was an amazing experience. I got to meet some amazing people, practice my Spanish, and just all in all have an amazing time!”

The Erickson family is embracing their new life in Guatemala even with all the cultural differences between Leesburg and Antigua. Clay recalls his strangest experience so far as being an incident with a taxi-cab, “The taxis here are like 3 wheeled motorcycles with a roof that can fit 4 people including the driver. I was riding in one up a hill when we ran out of gas and started rolling backwards and the driver called the other guy I was with and asked him to hold brake while he filled up the gas tank because he didn't have emergency brakes”. Katey has had some strange experiences too, especially in the Mayan villiages. “I think the strangest thing that has happened to me is being asked if I am married in some of the villages. Because in some villages some girls get married as young as 13 so when I tell them that I am 17 then they assume that I am married because to them at that age its just normal to be married. They are kind of surprised when I say I am not” Katey said.

Katey is greatly enjoying her new life in Guatemala and is looking forward to the impact she will make in the lives of the local Guatemalans. Even though Katey misses all her family and friends still living in Leesburg she loves living in Guatemala even more and keeps all of Leesburg updated on her adventures in Guatemala through her pictures that she posts on facebook and her blog-http://theteenmissionary.blogspot.com/.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Thank you Rachel for the awesome article!

-Katey :)

Monterrico.

This weekend the whole Servants4Him team went on a retreat to Monterrico! It was an amazing trip :) We hung out, swam in the pool and the ocean, ate, relaxed in hammocks, and most importantly worshiped and had devotions together!! Here are some pictures from the trip...

This is the view of the pool and from the pool you had a view of the beach, it was so amazingly beautiful! It was my first time to ever see a black sand beach and it was so pretty :) We also got to see the sunset over the ocean, it was my first time to see that too...Gods creation is SO BEAUTIFUL!

We got some amazing silhouette pictures :)

We also got to rescue baby turtles! We got to release them into the ocean. And the cool thing was that we had to set them down about 8 feet in front of the ocean so that they could see where they were released so that when they grow up (if they survive) then they come back to the same place to lay their eggs. Isn't that so cool!

It was an amazing trip!! I am so grateful that God brought me and my whole family down to Guatemala to join the awesome Servants4Him team, and I am so grateful for the Servants4Him team, everyone on the team is amazing!

Hope you have had an amazing weekend too! And what are you grateful for?

-Katey :)

Todonicapan.

On Sunday I got to go to Todonicapan. We were invited to visit a friends church for the day because they were having their annual celebration for their church with the community. It was a great day, here are some pictures...

These are the two daughters of our friend. Their names are Jesus Estella and Petrona.

This is the ladies making fried chicken for lunch, it was delicious!

We got to eat lunch with some of the elders in the community.

We met and played with a lot of kids!

Then we went to the special church service and even though it was in a mix of Spanish and their indigenous language and I didn't understand a lot I still knew that they were praising God. It was really cool to see. And there were so many people there. The church was overflowing during the service, they even had to have people sit outside on benches.

And then on the way home we stopped and looked down on Quetzaltenango while Esturado told us the legend of the Quetzal. The view was beautiful!

It was a great trip!!

-Katey :)

Their Rims Were High and Awesome!

I love to listen to podcasts of sermons and just the other day I was listening to Rob Bell speak about Ezekial and it was amazing. I strongly encourage you to listen to the whole talk (link below) but I want to share one thing that really stuck out to me...

"Their rims were high and awesome" -Ezekial 1:18a

Yes, this is a real verse in the Bible. Its part of an amazing story in the Bible of God reaching Ezekial by bypassing his brain and connecting straight with his heart. God gave Ezekial an experience that blew his mind but spoke to his heart. That is just amazing to me! I want God to talk to my heart because I know most of the time the things God wants to tell me or show me cant be comprehended by my brain. I want to be so connected with my God, my God who's rims are high and awesome, that he talks to my heart! And I don't want to try to comprehend with my brain because I know sometimes that is just not possible.

So with that said, go and listen to the sermon: Rob Bell's Sermon.

And once you do that come back and tell me what you think or what stuck out to you.

-Katey :)

Kids Camp and Thanksgiving!

Within the past week I went to a kids camp in all Spanish and had Thanksgiving in English. haha Here is a quick reveiw of those two events...

Last weekend I was at a kids camp. It was awesome! Here are some pictures...

We split up into teams. There were the Super Campiones (Super Champions), Los Increibles (The Incredibles), X Team, and the best team was THUNDER KIDS! I was on Thunder Kids by the way. Oh and we won :)

We played games like the one in the photo above where the kids had to throw water balloons into the basket that their counselor was holding on their head. And whatever team won the game would get points.

We also sang worship songs around the fire on Saturday night and prayed for each other. It was so cool to see kids praying for each other. I got the chance to pray for a few kids in Spanish and though my prayer was short and probably had some grammar mistakes I know God understood what I was trying to say.

On Sunday we had a big obstacle course things where we had to go around and do activities involving water and mud. It was so much fun. The picture above is my team (Thunder Kids) after.

It was an awesome camp! I got to practice my spanish, I met some awesome people, and I had an amazing time!

And then on Thursday I had an awesome Thanksgiving almorcena! (linner in Spanish. And linner means lunch and dinner) We had 17 people in our house and everyone brought some of their favorite Thanksgiving foods to make on amazing meal! Here are some pictures...

Everybody getting food :)

Turkey!

Delicious Apple Crisp!

It was a great Thanksgiving with friends. And then later that night we got to skype with both sides of our family. So it was a great day :)

So those were my two favorite parts of this week. What were your two favorite parts?

-Katey :)

Cats, Waiters, and Monks.

So here is an update on some things that have happened or things that I have seen...

First...

We got a cat! Well right now she is actually a kitten. Her name is Casper. She is so small and so cute :)

Second..

Clay, Emily, and I went with our tutors to a waiter/waitress race today. It was a very random but very cool event. The waitresses were the first heat and the waiters were the second heat. They had to race around a 6 block (long blocks) course while carrying a tray of drinks. The first one to make it to the finish line with all their drinks still standing up won. It was so cool to watch.

And Third...

I saw a monk walking down the street today.

Well thats all for today. What exciting things have happened to you lately?

-Katey :)

God's Creation:Volcano Pacaya

Take a good look at God's work. Who could simplify and reduce creation's curves and angles To a plain straight line?

-Ecclesiastes 7:13 (Message)

I LOVE this verse and how it describes what I saw this weekend while hiking the volcano Pacaya so perfectly. I saw some of God's amazing creation and there is no way that you could simplify it. There is no way I could even describe it all the way. Even the pictures I took cant describe how amazing and beautiful it was. You just have to see it for yourself. But I will still share some of my pictures with you :)

Our guide took us up on a route that he said most tourists dont take but that it has a great veiw. So we followed him and boy was he right. We could see the top of Pacaya when we looked one way. And when we looked the other way we could see Agua, Fuego, and Acatanaga (3 other volcanos, the ones I can see from my house) and we could see valleys, mountains, cities, lakes, and more. (The pictures above just show some of what we could see).

After stopping to take some pictures of the amazing views we kept walking and made it to the end. It was very warm and we had a chance to go down into a cave where it was like a sona. It was so cool. (The picture above is of my dad and Clay in the cave. You can kind of see the steam from how hot it was.)

Also the rocks were so hot that you could roast marshmallows in the crevasses. It cooked them PERFECTLY!

Then we would put them between two Chicky cookies and they made the PERFECT s'mores. And of course we shared our marshmallows and cookies with everyone else :) Then after eating and enjoying God's creation we began back down (it was easier then going up).

And through out the whole trip we made new friends. We made friends with Pete from England, a girl from Canada, and our guide. I talked to our guide (in the picture above) in Spanish for a good amount of the walk up. He was really cool. We told him next time we come to hike Pacaya we are going to bring him his picture :)

It was an AMAZING trip and I spent every second loving and admiring God's creation. My pictures did it no justice! You cant reduce all the curves and angles to a straight line. You just have to see it for yourself.

-Katey :)

Busy Weekend.

Last Saturday I went to a Chochy concert. Chochy works for Servants 4 Him and does kids concerts. This one was at Oasis (a girls orphanage in San Lucas). It was awesome! Chochy and her group are so talented. I had a great time watching them, taking pictures, and meeting some of the girls. I prayed for 2 girls in Spanish and I talked to this one girl Marie for a while. I wish I could have spent the whole day at Oasis.

Chochy and her group performing.

Jose, Rossana, Marie, and I (top).
Marie and I on the trampoline (bottom).

Then Saturday afternoon I made kites with our friends Andy, Amy, and Mallory. I drew Count Dracula on my kite and my friend Mallory drew Frankenstein on hers.

Amy and Clay working on their kites (top 2).
Amy and Emily with their kite (2nd one in the middle).
Mallory and I with Dracula and Frankenstein (last one).

On Sunday, after church, I went to Wendy's house in Santiago Zamora for her birthday party. Her family was so hospitable and I had a great time!

Emily, Wendy, and I (left).
Wendy and her parents (right).

Then on Monday I went to Santiago Sacatepequez with a lot of our friends. They had a huge kite festival. It was amazing to see all the kites! The ginormous ones didn't fly but the giant ones did (they were taller then I was). They have the festival in a cemetery.

One of the giant kites flying (top).
The flowers for the dead (middle).
Me and one of the ginormous kites that just goes up for display (bottom).

I had an amazing weekend/beginning of the week. God showed and taught me so many things, I made a lot of great new relationships, I experienced many new things, and I spent time with great friends all in 4 days.
Hope you had a great weekend/beginning of the week.
-Katey :)