Posts Tagged ‘Katie’

From Katie: Do you do that?

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Saturday, March 17th, 2012

Andrea gave Katie a few tamales one day after a visit

I meet at least twice a week with my language helper, a lady named Andrea.  She teaches me the Nahuatl language and answers a lot of my questions about how things work in this community.  Every time she explains something to me about her culture she asks, “And you guys?  Is it the same for you?  Do you do that?”  Many times I answer yes.  Yes, we have dances in our culture.  Yes, sometimes boys and girls start liking each other in school and then get married.  Yes, babies grow in our bellies, too.  Sometimes, however, the answer is more complicated.

A few weeks ago, Andrea was explaining to me about the local gods of the mountains.  She said that they are “clean” while the people around here are sinners.  Because of that, the spirits can help you if you make them a promise or bring them gifts.  If you bring them corn and fish and peaches after a good harvest, for example, they will make sure you have rain for the next season.  She went on to explain things in more depth and then asked me her standard question: “And you guys…do you do that?”  I told her that some people in my land thought like that, but that I didn’t.  I said that soon I was going to sit down and tell her what I thought in her own language, just like she had told me.  But first I had to study.  A lot.

Andrea, like many of the Nahuatl, do not communicate well in Spanish.  I know that she cannot understand the gospel well in Spanish and so I am trusting God’s timing as I continue to learn.

Please pray that our team will be diligent students while we work at learning how to communicate the Word to the Nahuatl.

Pray that the Nahuatl will begin to have questions and doubts about their beliefs that can only be met by the truth of the Bible.

from Katie’s keyboard…

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Monday, May 31st, 2010

…an excerpt from Katie’s latest update…I’m sharing it with you guys because she describes very well what we’re doing this week…

Permanent Camping

Imagine that you are going on a camping trip for 5 months.  There are five people in your family and you need to pack all the food, supplies, clothes, and toiletries you will need in the back of one pick-up.  There will be no stores for miles, so you must be sure you have enough of everything.   There will also be no running water and no electricity, so plan accordingly.  You will need to take tools and supplies to work on building a house.  Good luck!

If you think you’ve got a handle on planning for such an event, please, please come give me a hand.  For the last week, the Alkires, Rachel, and I have been purging, planning, and packing for just such a trip.  We will be “camping” in our somewhat completed home through the rainy season, which may last until November.  We will be hauling water from the creek, sleeping on cots, and working to build relationships with the Nahuatl.

Homework

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Thursday, May 6th, 2010

My co-workers, the Alkires, are now living in the village full-time.  They have their son, Josiah, with them.  When I was in the village with them, every morning I helped him with his homework that Katie had prepared.  Math, grammar, writing, social studies, Spanish, Bible verses, vocabulary, spelling, penmanship.  I had forgotten how much work there was in school!

Sarah's Las Moras - April 2010 018It took about 2 hours, then we would be off to work at the house sites.  Josiah is getting pretty strong, and before long, he’ll be outworking me!

Meet the Team: Katie

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Katie Moore

Katie Moore

Several of you have asked about my team.  So, I decided to feature them here on my blog so you can get to know them a bit better.  I met my partner, Katie Moore,in the Fall of 08′, just over a year ago and God subsequently directed our paths together.  Katie, who goes by Tater, graciously allowed me to interview her so that you could get to know her more.

So, Tater, that’s an interesting nickname, how did you come by that?

Tater

Tater

When I was young my best friend’s little brother started calling me “Tate,” trying to say “Kate.”  Everyone picked it up, including my family.  I’m so used to it now I sometimes do a double take when people call me Katie.  =)

Where are you from?
I was born in Missouri, but at 4 months old my parents moved to South America, where I lived until I graduated from high school.

You have an interesting connection to one of the other team members.  How do you guys know each other?
Dan Alkire is also an MK (missionary kid) from South America.  While we didn’t exactly hang out together (he’s an oldie) we’ve known each other for a long time.  In fact, my dad taught Dan in elementary school and I’m now teaching Dan’s son, Josiah.

How did you come to be in tribal missions?
I have always had a positive outlook on missions, but when I was in 11th grade I really began to think seriously about it.  I was visiting a friend whose parents worked in a tribal location and listening to them talk about the translation work on the book of Philippians.  It hit me one day that I can read that book in 6 different versions in my house and much of the world has never heard it in one.  I want to be a part of doing something about that.

What is your role on the church-planting team?

The school teacher

The school teacher

I am the Spinster Schoolmarm.  That’s right…you heard me.  I teach the teams’ children in a one-room schoolhouse type class.  I have always had a desire to work with MK’s and a passion for discipleship.  I love to see their minds grow and how God stretches their hearts as well.

What color should we paint our house?
Pink.  Barbie pink.  It suits both of our girly personalities.  Uhhh…  Ummm…  I think we need to talk about this...

Are you going to be okay living with a Cowboys fan who sometimes listens to country?
Well, we won’t have any TV in the tribe, so no worries about the Cowboys.  Plus, I don’t care if you watch basketball, as long as I don’t have to pretend to be excited every time someone scores a goal.  (Snicker, snicker) As far as country music goes…well, that seems like a discussion more well-suited to a different time and place…

Okay, you’ve visited the village where we’ll be living now, what was your impression?  What did you like about the people group and the village?
I loved it there and can’t wait for our team to truly make it our home.  The scenery is beautiful and the people were generous, warm, and approachable.  I know we have a huge task ahead of us, but I can’t wait to get going.

If you could travel and visit one place in the world, where would you go, and why?

the Grand Canyon

the Grand Canyon

For purely touristy reasons, I would probably pick somewhere on the Mediterranean, maybe Italy or Greece.  I don’t know why, but pictures of that part of the world have always fascinated me.  A little closer to home, the Grand Canyon is definitely on my list of things to see, along with some other cool western states spots.  When on furlough my family normally sticks to New York and Michigan.

What is a Scripture that has been encouraging you lately?
In Bible class my students and I have been talking about the Word of God and reading Gutenberg’s biography.  He was a man who believed that people needed to be able to read the Bible for themselves and not just take another person’s word for it.  In the Psalms, King David said that “The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.”  I don’t always live like I believe that, but I long to.  Just as I long for the Nahuatl and other unreached people to have the chance to see it for themselves and love it.

Anything else you want to tell the internet?
Ah, yes…the internet is such a warm, personable place.  I do have one more thing, though.  If you’re reading this, you probably know Rachel.  Thank you to all of you who support and pray for her and in that way, for our team.  She in an example and encouragement to me and an important part of the group God has brought together to do a job.  And because she counts on you, we thank you for being part of that team as well.

The Guys’ Trip

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Sunday, November 15th, 2009

Last week, the guys on our team and a missions pastor from a local church here took off to the village with Katie’s and my house plans, a model of our house, cement for our foundation, and lumber for our lintels.  It was a trip mainly to get the construction started on our house.  They knew it would be a lot of work, and work they did!

PB100033 low res

They showed the people our plans and the model we built.  They showed them which walls corresponded to the drawing, explained the rooms and the windows, doors, …. EVERYTHING.

DSC04765 low resAfter a little bit of answering questions, I think the people understand our plans!  Hopefully!?!!  This is probably the first time they have ever seen drawings for a building on paper.  I think it’ll come out okay.

DSC04758 low resThey treated the lumber for our lintels with chemicals that termite don’t like. :)   Hopefully that way they’ll last a lot longer!

PB100026 low resThey chose the exact location of our house.   We had decided on the general area, but they picked the precise location, measured out our walls, put down stakes and string, squared them up, and then marked out the walls with lime.

House trip to Las Moras 003 low resThen, they made 14 trips to a location about 30 minutes away from the village to haul rock for our foundation!

PB100042 low resIt was back-breaking work.  We owe them.  They said a nice steak dinner should about cover it!  Maybe with a cheesecake thrown in.  You deserve it, we’ll see what we can do!

DSC04775 low resThat wasn’t the end of the heavy work.  They hauled sand from the creek to use to make the cement for our foundation.  The sand was wet, too, so it made it all the more heavy!

DSC04777 low resLots of sand!

DSC04784 low resThen, they consolidated the many piles of bricks around the village into one big pile next to our house-site for easy access.

DSC04787 low res It took 3 days for the guys to get everything together.  The very next morning, the people started working – digging down 50 centimeters to put in a strong foundation.

PB120073 low res

The people said they should have it all done within 3 weeks.  So, next time we go out, we’ll have a house!  Well, a foundation and walls, at least!

Our house is on it’s way!

Our House

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Monday, November 9th, 2009

Two weeks ago, when we came out of the village last time, we sat down together as a team and decided that we would build our house (Katie’s and my house) first!

I was hit with excitement -  that we were finally getting to build our house- and the realization that OUR HOUSE WAS GOING TO BE STARTED WITHIN TWO WEEKS!

Adobe House Model 041 low resSo, I proceeded to lock myself in my room and hunkered over my desk redrawing house plans, tweaking wall lengths, putting in windows, and rearranging doors all the while taking into consideration how the changes would affect the sun warming & cooling our house, Katie’s desires, and the ease of construction.  As I got things figured out and drawn up, I would let myself out of my room and take my plans to my co-workers house where he would kindly let me know that “you can’t have a roof support beam over that door – you’ll have to move the door” and other very useful information.  Katie would give her two-cents about any changes.  And then I’d go back to my desk and hunker down some more and make some more changes.  Repeat several times.

Well, FINALLY, our plans are done.  They are set in stone, almost literally.  The guys left this weekend for the village with our final set of plans that hopefully have all the bugs out of them.  They took cement for our foundation and stakes and string to mark out our walls.

At this moment, they are hauling gravel/rock from a nearby area to make the cement for our foundation.

So, in the next few days, a few of the men in the village will begin to lay our foundation and then to build our walls!

We are looking for some help to finish our house and the other houses in the new year. We are looking for skilled plumbers and electricians, those skilled with cement – for our bond beam and to pour our floor, and people to help us put up our roof.  Let me know if you could and would like to help out.

So, here’s what we’ll have in a few weeks, Lord -willing:  a foundation and our main adobe walls!

these are the adobe walls we hope to have in a few weeks!

A post from my partner, Katie

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Friday, October 30th, 2009

This is a bit of what’s happening in the life of my partner, Katie.  She teaches school to the kids on the team.  She has 4 elementary kids in 4 different grades!  I’m glad I’m not her!  She does a great job.

Last Friday as the team returned from our first field trip, I was in high spirits and showing off a bit for the kids.  =)  They had found an abandoned soda bottle in the street, with the cap still on and some liquid still sloshing around inside.  Being of sound scientific minds, they were attempting to place it in the street precisely so a car would run over it and “explode” it.  Being an encourager of scientific minds, I decided to help them out.  “You wanna watch it blow up?” I asked.  I pointed the neck of the bottle at the yelling kids, ran towards them, and jumped with all I’ve got.  It didn’t spray pop all over as I thought, but instead rolled like a log, launched me in the air, and landed me on my…pride.  As I attempt to clip_image001type this with a cast on my right arm and elbow, you can guess how the story ended.  Funny bone, indeed.

Please pray for me as I recover, ask for lots of help doing dorky things like opening the peanut butter and writing on the board, and in general try to teach school one handed.


We have adobes!

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Monday, October 19th, 2009

Las Moras 121 low resGod answered our prayers.  We weren’t sure what to expect as far as adobes were concerned, because we’d been gone for so long.  We weren’t sure if the people would be motivated to make what we asked when we weren’t coming back for so long.

We had left some money with the village leaders to pay for the adobes we had asked them to make.  So, on their own initiative, they divided up the number and allotted 87 adobes to each household to spread the job/income evenly.  When we got there, the traditional governor came to show his records of who made how many adobes and how much they got paid.  It was all accounted for down to the last peso!  And, so now, we have 2,600 adobes – enough to build the outside walls of 1 house plus some.  We told them how many more we lack, so they are busy making the rest now.

For our house, Katie and I need 2,077 large adobes for the outside walls and 957 medium size ones for our inside walls.

On our next trip into the village, we’ll take cement so they can begin to build our foundation and then lay the adobes to form our house!  Our houses are becoming a reality!

Our adobes!

Our adobes!

Mucho trabajo

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Monday, September 7th, 2009

school-starts-002-low-resWell, today is Labor Day in the good ol’ USofA.  It was definitely Labor Day here, too.  School got off to a great start.

Katie and the kids were working hard all day at teaching/learning.

Alkires were busy fixing sagging kitchen cabinets & Davises were busy moving into their house.

I helped clean the Elkins’ house, (13 people in the house 3 times a day for meals = mucho polvo) finished up a map of Mexico for Katie’s classroom, and then opened up our house-plans for the mountains and began to work on those.

Phew, today was not rest for the weary.  It was mucho trabajo!

Everyone’s here!

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Saturday, September 5th, 2009

moving-to-dgo-002-low-res

On Wednesday, the rest of my team arrived!  Moving two families & two households is quite an endeavor!  But, praise the Lord, some co-workers from up north helped with their large vehicles & trailers.  It was quite a procession of trucks & trailers!

moving-to-dgo-013-low-resWe got everything unloaded rather quickly with so much help.  Now, the Davises & Alkires are busy unpacking & resolving the quirks of their houses – kitchen cupboards that have detached from the wall, shower faucets that don’t work, toilets that move so much they make you feel like you’re on a carnival ride!

Please pray for them that they would get settled and feel settled quickly.  School  for the kids is supposed to start on Monday, so Katie is furiously getting her classroom (extra bedroom in Alkires house) ready.