...but we all knew him as a "jerk" (not really)

I am writing this tonight, because just about this time (8:30 pm) on this date 19 years ago we got an unexpected phone call. A call that would change our entire family's life. We had just driven back from a Wycliffe interview in Holmes County, about an hour and a half from Mount Vernon. We had left in the morning on a bright sunny, but cold day. We came home that afternoon in a blinding blizzard, having to pass a stalled semi truck on a hill, with no visibility. We were interviewing with Wycliffe Bible Translators to see if we would be a good match. They were wanting to send us to Papua New Guinea. We really wanted to go to Germany.
Let me backtrack a moment. The young man on the right of the picture was a friend from Ashland College, who was involved with the Christian fellowship there. He played guitar and sang, quite well in fact. He and Terri had gone on a date or 2, but not much else. His name is Wes Collins.
Later on he met a young lady that really caught his fancy, and her name was Nancy. (How's that for poetry). They got married in June of 1975. We were fortunate to attend their wedding

Years had gone by and we had looked into going into the mission field over the years, but no one was interested in my skills as a special education teacher and they weren't willing to risk me, due to my having MS.

But time passed and we eventually tried again to check into mission service about the time my mother passed away in 1989.

So back to the phone call. We just arrived home, fairly tired from a difficult trip when the phone rang. It was Wes. They had been doing translation work in a village called Comitancillo in the remote mountains of Guatemala. The children were in a education program called the Field Education Service (FES) and 2 of the teachers were leaving. If they couldn't get replacements, Wes and Nancy would have to return to Guatemala City and work on the translation project there so the kids could get a decent education. So he was just wondering if we would be interested in filling those slots. Let's see? Interview today? Call from Wes in dire need of teachers that evening? Guatemala.... Germany... They both started with "G". Why not? Terri had studied Spanish in high school and college. I knew no Spanish. (BTW- we had actually bought end of the season winter jackets for the kids and I had gotten German language tapes out of the library) because we were going to Germany, or so we thought.
So after a whirlwind support raising trip that spring, we had arrived in Guatemala August 1, the same day Sadam Hussein invaded Kuwait. I'm not sure if Guatemala felt like they got the bad end of the stick with me coming down there!

So here they are: Wes, Isaac, Molly, Nancy and Elisa

Here we are as we prepared to go.
The experiences of Guatemala were life changers for our family. It has only struck Terri and I the last few years in that we took the only grandchildren that her parents had to a 3rd world country that was still dealing with remnants of the cold war guerilla warfare.
There are many stories of Jugo Mam (Hugo Mom is how it is pronounced; meaning "juice of the Mam" the language group they were working with) apple cider, eating chicken necks, getting little sleep in the "not so quiet" villages, carrying 500 lb. sacks of corn (or so it felt when you also have amoebic dysentary), and meeting many, many, many wonderful people, whom we now call friends and many more wonderful memories.
Who would have ever guessed that a friendship with a guitar playing "greaser" would affect us in a deep and profound manner. It was a blessing and continues to be so.
Wes and Nancy now "commute" to Peru, where he is teaching nationals from all over South America translation skills. Their translation is finished and unforturnately we have never been to any of the dedication ceremonies for any translation. Someday we will.
Our prayers and thanks go out to this wonderful couple and family, because our family is all the richer because of them.
Sooo Isaac, have any good chicken necks lately?