Leaving Guatemala

I will be leaving here tomorrow morning, and have been preparing all of the work to be put on hold for a couple months. I’ve been trying to prepare emotionally to leave; thinking of leaving people behind hurts my heart. I know that it is right for me to be home for the summer, for various reasons, even if it is difficult to pull myself away.

When I look at my life, I am overflowing with thankfulness. Sometimes I cannot believe that God has blessed me so much in the way that He constantly provides ways for me to serve Him and fulfill my heart’s desires. I have the best of everything. I have an unbelievable and friends, who I know are consistently supporting me in all ways. Both at home and here in Latin America I have the opportunity to work in fields that are close to my heart. It is easy for me to get caught up in myself and become extremely selfish, but finding contentment and joy is a matter of choosing it above all else. I know that I will look back at these years in my life as some of the greatest, even though at certain moments I may not feel that way. God always has a plan, and I still pray daily that through my mistakes I can stay on the narrow path to walking with Him and serving Him.

I am looking forward to seeing all of my church family, those who have also been on this journey with me! As always, I thank you for your support financially, and through prayer. See you all soon!

Inspirational Families

I was able to spend the day in Xenacoj and San Juan, places where we have been working both with and without mission teams. It is a blessing to get to know these families and build relationships with them.

A woman who had come down with a team decided to give a donation to two different families. To one woman, who is 23 years old and has juvenile arthritis, she gave money for vitamins and ibuprofen. To the other family, Jose’s family, she gave money for food. We were also able to give him vitamins. 12 years ago, he went blind due to an injection that went wrong. There was the possibility of surgery, but a nurse looked at his case and decided against it. After so many years, the risks would be greater. They were able to use the money that would have been used for transportation to help him fix the wall in his home that was falling apart and allowing rain and dust to get in. He had explained to us that many years ago, all he had dreamed about was giving his wife and children a nice home, and now he feels like it looks much better. This man is truly an inspiration, and has an incredible faith in the Lord. He works some at a local bakery, because the most important thing to him is to provide for his family. I have not ever heard him once say that he prayed that God would give him his sight back, only that he wants to be a good husband and father. The walls of his house turned out well, a friend of his did it for free (which is sometimes unheard of here).

I will be going back for the day with some others from Hope Haven to Hermano Pedro, the large Catholic orphanage and hospital to help work on some wheelchairs. There are many, many children, teenagers, adults, and elderly who are living there, and only one man, Dick, who takes care of their chairs. The needs are endless, and they are hoping to have at least one day per month to go.

This week I am also preparing to leave. My flight is on Sunday. It is always a challenge to leave the life I’ve made, but know that I will be coming back in just a couple short months. I am looking forward to working at the Delrey School for the summer, and sharing some time with my family and friends!

The wall that was repaired in Jose's home.

Jose and his wife, Maria, and children Angelica, Oscar, and Luis.

Torn Between Two Places

I have a ticket for home on July 1, I cannot believe how quickly time goes. I will be home for the summer to work as a substitute at Delrey, and spend time with family and friends, which I am truly looking forward to! I believe God is calling me to come back at the end of the summer.

It is difficult to know that I am leaving and there is still so much work to be done. These past few weeks I've been working in administration for Hope Haven, organizing various projects and helping to organize a distribution in El Salvador. There is also a team from Adventures In Missions (the group I went to Nicaragua with) here for the summer and I have been hosting them and getting them settled in. They have their own transportation and a contact in Xenacoj, where they are living, so they are now pretty much self-sufficient.

The two other volunteers that were here during the beginning of my trip here and I are working on starting a small Non-Profit organization called Small Change 4 Big Change. What we were noticing was that a huge need that could change the dynamic of a family or a person is education. There is a lack of it here; many students drop out around 7th grade because they begin secondary school and the costs inscrease. We were meeting and in contact with various people who were intereted in sponsoring these students, and we wanted to provide a way for them to do so. It is a slow and detailed process, but have been making progress and are taking all of the steps so that when we three return in a couple months, we can begin a sponsorship program for Xenacoj.

I've been struggling lately with trusting in God's plan, especially when it seems as though you cannot see where you're going. It could be because, in all honestly, I haven't been spending as much time with the Lord as I should. Some of that is due to my own spiritual laziness, some because of busyness. But I can feel the difference in my heart when I distance myself from Him, and all of the sudden fear and unrest become a daily struggle. Therefore today, I will be sitting down to spend some time in prayer and meditation with God. Why is it that at times it is difficult to simply let everything go and follow His Holy Spirit? I get distracted, and I end up focusing my heart on other things. But our relationship with Him is not based on our feelings, but rather our choices; in choosing to sit down with Him and share all, in choosing His way above all other ways.

Please continue to pray for me, and the work here, through these next 3 weeks.