all His wondrous works: betesda

This post has been a while in coming! I intended to do a video tour, but I'm having a really hard time getting video to upload to the blog. So I went around and snapped some pictures last night... hopefully you'll be able to get an idea of where we live! I took a LOT of pictures, and some of them are just to show the lay-out of the house and where things are in relation to one another.

The guest house is called Betesda, meaning "House of Mercy".

This is how the guest house ("Betesda") looks from the street. It's the tall building with the chimney. Where the gate is opening there is one of two entrances into the little "campus" that consists of Betesda, the school (Colegio de las Americas), Marshall and Jan's house, and the church. The two other missionary families down here do not live on campus. Matt and Ruth live a few blocks away, and Regg and Bev live in a small town just next to Ixtlan.

Coming in through the gate. That second-story porch/balcony is where I hang out my laundry. Straight ahead beyond the house is the church.

The building on the far left of this picture is the church. That's the carport where we park all the vans (obviously).

If you stand in front of the church and turn around, this is what you see. On the far left is the carport, middle is Betesda, dead center is a really tall tree, and right is Colegio de las Americas. The gate we "came in through" is between Betesda and the school.

Colegio de las Americas

To the right of the school in this picture is just a driveway area (another gate leads out to that road, which runs perpendicular to the other one), and then that other building is Marshall and Jan's house.

This is the church. To the left of it (you can't really see) is Marshall and Jan's house.

Marshall has worked very hard on the grounds, and this pergola-type area is one of his many projects. It makes a beautiful place to visit with others before and after church because there's not really a large fellowship area inside.

A little better picture of the area between Marshall and Jan's house and the church.

A view looking out to the road from the church - looking between the school and Marshall and Jan's house.

Sorry this picture is sideways. Right behind the carport is the neighbor's backyard. They have goats. ;)

... like this one here. Also, there are very large rats, which are never around when I have my camera.

Now that you've seen the grounds, this is a tour of just our house. Sometime, I'll also show you the school.

Our front door

When you walk in the front door, you come in to this entryway area. It's all open space, and it extends to the left and right of this picture. A lot of it is storage. If you walk through the open door...

... you come to this area. To your right are two bathrooms and then a door that goes outside that leads directly to the driveway between the house and the school. Straight ahead is the kitchen, to the left is the sala, which is used for Bible studies and Jovenes (Young Group), and to the direct left of this picture is the stairway leading upstairs to our bedroom and living quarters, as well as the other bedrooms where guests can stay.

The bathrooms

The kitchen. To the left of this picture is a bar/counter type area where we eat all our meals. You can see it in the picture below.

Our "kitchen table". The hallway off to the left is the one we just walked into the kitchen in.

If you use the water jug as a 'landmark', you can tell from this picture that this is just the other side of the kitchen.

The view from my kitchen window! The street is pretty much right there... a little different than our house in Speer! :) Grant always says that washing dishes at our sink is basically like being on the street.

Some pictures of the sala...

... taken through the little opening from the counter where we eat our meals. By the way, notice that black and white cookbook on the counter? That's Renee's cookbook - the only one that made it down here with me. There are a couple others here, but that one has been a lifesaver.

Ok, so now we're back in that area between the sala, kitchen, and bathrooms and we're going to head up the stairs.

Coming up the stairs, this is what's right in front of you. That door at the end of the hall leads out to the balcony/patio area where I hang up laundry. You can see that my washing machine and ironing board (which I DO use! - sometimes) are right there. Just before you get to that door, you can turn left into our bathroom. There's a picture of that further down.

But first, on your first right as you come up the stairs, is this bedroom.

Your next right is this bedroom, which I have temporarily taken over as my sewing room (in case you can't tell). That door to the right leads out to another balcony off the front of the house.

Lots of storage and a little desk area makes a great place for my sewing machine!

Closer-up of the laundry room area. There's one bathroom, but ours is on the other side of that shelving unit.

This is our bathroom.

A view looking down off the balcony toward the street...

... and toward the school and church.

Here you can see where the stairs come up. So if you're walking away from that door that goes out to the balcony, you'll see this - which is our living quarters. The bedroom is the open door. The shelves are just storage, and the door to the right leads to our living room/office area. There is also a door inside our bedroom leading to the living room/office. To the far right of this picture (you can't see it) is the last bedroom.