Hello! My name is Shelley. My husband Jimmy and I moved to Guatemala in 2006. We live in the northern rural department of Petén. God put missions in our hearts when we were little kids. I’m so thankful for the life He has given us here. I’m thankful for our purpose and for the family, He has blessed us with since making it home! 

This is our front gate. Yellow is my favorite color! We planted these vines 8 years ago as soon as we finished our wall. We lived in 4 apartment/houses before ultimately building our home in the town where we wanted to lay down roots. 9 years ago, there wasn’t anything available here to rent or buy. I have to say, the house before this one was an $83 a month rat hole, with mold all over the ceilings and tiny little windows you couldn’t open all the way. We lived there for 5 years while we bought supplies to start building this house. We have built our house little by little over the last 9 years. We have a big advantage of living permanently since we both truly believe this is where God wants us to live out our days, however many of those there are. 

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There are thousands of Kekchi villages here that have never heard about Jesus and the message of freedom He offers them. My husband started a Bible institute to train Kekchi men called by God to be pastors. The institute is on a farm, it’s set up like a village. They live there (with their families if they’re married) for 3 years. It is a time of intense discipleship where we all grow together.

I explained all this because there is nothing that bonds us with these families faster than having them inside our home! 

Building our house, we knew we wanted to be able to have all the students over at one time, so we made a big great room with the living room, dining room and kitchen combined. 

Our couches were wedding presents that came over in a container. That sounds so crazy. We don’t ship or order anything now, it’s $9.00 a pound. The couches were a highly optimistic cream color. We recovered them recently due to mildew and all the times they were moved on a cattle truck!

Almost everything in my house is either bought from missionaries in the capital (8 hours from here) leaving the field, from traveling vendors I just happen to find on the side of the road, or the Mega Paca (a store that sells thrift stuff from the States). The planter stump I saw laying in front of someone’s house and asked if I could buy it. The stumps are actually branches of a tree that were going to be firewood. (There were sap trails from those things for 3 years.) The spool table I bought from a radio station. The light fixtures are from a market in the capital. The cobwebs in them get vacuumed out once a year, before my mother-in-law visits. 

I have no natural cooking ability but since there isn’t much take out around here, over the years it has become a way for me to love on my family. I am in this room a lot so I appreciate that it is open to the rest of the house. My husband poured the concrete counters. They are great for rolling out dough. All the ladies at the institute come over to cook with me all the time. The counter space is perfect for that. 

My floors are always dirty no matter how hard I try. So much mud… we live in a tropical rain forest! I had a rug in the kitchen but it always felt dirty to me, so I used oil based paint and painted one that is much easier to clean! If I remember to wax it once a week with my mop, it stays really well. 

My husband built the bench all around our dining room. Again, it makes it possible to have lots of people over at a time! We are constantly battling termites in these benches and in every other piece of furniture or book in my house… they are demon termites that don’t want anyone to have books. The verse is made out of wood used for forms when building our house. The wicker planter was found at the Mega Paca. Why would anyone get rid of that? Haha!  

I’m scared of dryers, they destroy your clothes, so unless it is so wet here that everything is souring, I line dry. Inside though, because… we live in a rain forest! My husband welded the laundry sorter for me. It is one of my favorite things! Doing laundry is relaxing for me. I’m not a weirdo though, I don’t like any other cleaning activities.

My husband and I share the office and I use my half for my sewing stuff. My husband built the ribbon storage shelf after my mother-in-law brought SO MUCH ribbon for me to make hair bows for her first granddaughter when she was born. 

My 3 boys share a room. We just moved the youngest in with them so I haven’t made a comforter for him yet. There is a set of bunk beds on the opposite wall. We store their toys in market crates. The lego men display is an old cassette tape holder. It gets rearranged a lot!

My daughter loves pink. The armoire is second hand and I painted it. Never finished though because I got pregnant and was afraid of the fumes. One day I will. My husband built the dollhouse and the white kitchen. The fridge and the vintage syroco frames are from the Mega Paca… love that place! 

They make beautiful embroidery here. It is very delicate though. The frames are embroidery my mom made for her mom when she was younger. I cherish them. I made the checkered quilt for my daughter when she was born. 

My bathroom has a secret garden, with a little metal wall around it so it’s private. Hardly any of the windows in our house have glass. The direction the storms blow in determining them. I can’t stand washing windows, so one day we may not be able to see out anymore. The hanging planter was thrifted and brown and I dyed it pink. My mom made the shower curtain for me during her last visit!  

We knew we were going to have to homeschool when we built our house, so we devoted a good space to it. I was a secondary ed major. That poor bookshelf has been treated so many times for termites. My kids should wear gloves when they touch the books, they’re probably toxic. 

We don’t have false ceilings in our house yet. I doubt we ever will, because who cares. The fabric map on the wall was a Mega Paca find for $10. We make velcro labels for stuff we are studying. This side of our house was unfinished for several years except for the room behind these doors which were made out of metal since they were open to the outside. It wasn’t planned but they are perfect for homeschool for that reason. We call the letter section our magnet station. 

Last pic finally. My mom helped me print, color, and laminate (for lizard poo sake) this timeline of the Bible. It’s super helpful and we enjoy it every day. 

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