Thursday, 25 December 2008
Greetings from Sherwood and Areli.
I am finally getting to the writing of our Christmas/New Year's letter. It's been a good year, praise God! Time has flown by. I guess it's true what they say: the older you get the faster time flies.
Areli has graduated! She is now a Licenciada en Relaciones Internacionales. That means she has a professional degree in International Affairs. It also means that we are now ready to go to Guatemala as missionaries. On August 9th we accepted a position as missionaries through a group based in Houston, TX called Agape In Action. We delayed our start date until January 12 allowing Areli to finish her program. We will be living in a town called Santa Cruz del Quiché about a four-hour drive from Guatemala City. The main goal of the group is to share Christ with the people as we conduct various rural medical clinics in the mountains of Guatemala. I am chomping at the bit to get started as I've not worked since October.
Throughout the year, I traveled back and forth between Mexico City where I spent time with Areli and Kalamazoo, Michigan where I worked at a clinic. It was a reasonable arrangement but I struggled with both: "I wish I were working to earn some money and to feel more useful" and "I miss Areli. Why can't she be here in Michigan with me?" It is over! We are now going TOGETHER to Guatemala. Thank you Jesus!
Immigration has been another central theme of the year. We visited Ciudad Juarez again in September and Areli now has a visa that allows her to come in and out of the U.S. as much as she wants while the green card is pending. Unfortunately, this wasn't in time for her to be with me in Michigan during her summer break. But she did get a chance to visit me for a few days in October and we went to a University of Michigan football game. They lost L. But it was fun.
Well, that is some of the big news. There are a million other details that I could include but I know that I never make it through a letter that is more than one page. For those who would like more details, pictures, and videos check our websites listed below. We will be updating these regularly with our adventures in Guatemala.
We hope you have a wonderful year. We pray for God's blessings for you and your families.
Sherwood and Areli Pope
As we are about to start in Guatemala, I will be posting updates here frequently. For those who would like to receive these updates as an email, you may subscribe here or you may subscribe to the updates as newsfeed (you may easily unsubscribe from either of these at any time). Or you can continue to check this page for new updates.