February 28, 2005

Dear Praying Family,

God is good! What a privilege to know Him and represent Him.

Angela is progressing very well in learning Spanish. She tested into level B when we arrived and will take her test to finish level C at the end of the week. She has never spent this much time in a Spanish-speaking country before.

I began teaching a men’s Sunday school class last Sunday. It’s been great to get back into teaching in Spanish! I was able to communicate better than I expected, but still got stuck on several words. I will begin writing papers for my seminary classes this week (in Spanish of course). It is such a privilege to learn from Latin American scholars. My missions prof, Emilio Nuñez, translated the Scofield reference Bible notes in the Bible I have used for over 10 years. I hadn’t noticed his name on the title page! He has also written prolifically on theology and missions in Latin America.

Angela recently wrote a newsy email to our family about life here in Guatemala. We thought you might enjoy it, so we included it below.

We appreciate your prayers. May God bless and use you!

Love,
Jon & Angela Stone
jastone@abweperu.org
www.abweperu.org/jastone

Angela’s Letter:

Greetings to all of our family,

	How are you all doing? We are both doing well here. We are sure keeping busy with everything. I have been going to Spanish classes every day from 8AM-1PM. On Thursday I will be going to a coffee farm for a tour with my Spanish teacher. She is very nice. She
has been helping me a lot with my Spanish. I have been helping her a little with medical questions since she is pregnant....and she is due in April!

On Sunday we went to the church where we have been attending. There was a missionary from Spain there preaching. The church supports him. It was a pretty good message, from what I could understand. I am finally starting to understand the messages in Spanish. I guess that it is about time. We've been here for over a month now, and usually I have to leave just when I start to pick up the Spanish...but I guess that this time I can't just up and go back home. I'm here for the long haul. I have already finished the second book at the Spanish school. I tested into the second book and it took me about 3 weeks to finish it. (I got a 92% on my test) It is full of verbs and vocabulary. I have my Spanish and English all mixed up in my head, so I never know what I'm saying....sometimes I will be thinking in English, but something in Spanish will come out...and vice versa. It gets kind of frustrating sometimes.

The weather here is beautiful. You all probably would like it because there really isn't much cold weather. For about the first 2 weeks it got pretty chilly in the evening & throughout the night where we would want to wear our jackets....but now, we walk around in short sleeves, and even sometimes wear shorts....on a really hot day. They say that it is supposed to be getting even warmer. It will be the hottest during the month of May, just before the rainy season. They say that it rains

almost every day during the rainy season, but it is a lot warmer, so it isn't that bad. But they also say that sometimes it rains so hard that the streets fill up with water. All the streets here in Antigua are made of cobblestones. They are lower in the middle than on the sides where the sidewalks are, so it will be like crossing a river during the rainy season. I walk about 7 or 8 blocks to school, so I will have to cross many "rivers". But we shall see because it hasn't rained a bit since we've been here.

They say Guatemala is a land of eternal spring because there are always flowers in bloom and they always have fruits and vegetables. Every Saturday I go to the food market. It is quite the experience. When you first go in it doesn't seem that bad. Then you go deeper and deeper in and about every time I go in, I get a little lost. I’m getting better! The missionaries that we rent from have helped us so much. The wife, Ruth, has gone with me to the market and helped me buy things, but now, I feel comfortable going out on my own and finding good deals on things. Mom, you would like it because you can get lots of great fresh fruits and vegetables for really cheap. I have been getting
2 pineapples for about 64 cents
1 lb. of snow peas for 25 cents
1 lb. string beans for 45 cents
1 head of broccoli for 25 cents
1 lb. spinach for 39 cents
1 lb. potatoes for 25 cents
Cucumbers & Carrots for 13 cents each
1 cantaloupe for 67 cents
1 large watermelon for about $1

It is all so excellent to eat. I have been making fresh juice. And Jon loves it.

We have been going to a local orphanage here in Antigua. We help with the little kiddos. There are 2 sections to the orphanage. The younger side is where they have the babies and toddlers, from "birth" to about 13 years of age. They have both boys and girls. In the other section they have all girls up to 18 years old. We have been helping with the babies and toddlers. We change diapers, feed them, and just play with them. They are so hungry for attention. Some of them just like you to be near by and they don't want

you to leave them. And if you do, they just start crying. I have wanted to take them all home with me. I wish that I could do so much more to help them. The children that are there cannot be adopted out, even though the only life that they have is at the orphanage. Their birth parents will not give up their rights and allow the children to be adopted even though they do not want to care for the children. It is really sad because all the children need is a family to love them and care for them. The other section has about 70 older girls. I really would like to help out in that area – just being with them and talking with them. In a few months I should know enough Spanish to be able to do that.

Well, I guess that I need to get going now...I have some Spanish homework to do. Take care and we miss you all.

Love always,
Angela for the both of us