Joy and Contentment

I want to say thank you to my church family for being so supportive and loving to my family through the 15 years that we have been at Catonsville United Methodist Church! I heard it was a beautiful party last week, my parents and siblings were overwhelmed. You all are a blessing to our lives and we are thankful that we’ve been able to spend so many years growing with you all! 

I am in the process (already) of making a list of students for the year 2014. I have been feeling the Lord pressing on my heart to work with University students, and have scholarships for those desiring to study in college. So far there are 3 students in mind, two of them have to pass exams to enter and the other I am going to meet with next week to see if she is a potential candidate. College in Guatemala is relatively expensive and for many teens who graduate, they don’t have the opportunity to go. I am praying that God leads in this direction if it is what He wants, and I know He will certainly provide the students! For those who are interested in sponsoring, we will have the option of half sponsorships, since it will be around double what a monthly sponsorship costs. Ana Garcia, (on left in the photo), is one of my English students and hoping to be in the program. She already has her sponsors lined up, and is in the process of studying for exams! She has been saving for about 4 years working at a local coffee shop to enroll and was going to continue saving money for many years to come. Say a prayer for her.

I will be coming home for 2 weeks in July! My visa expires in August and I was planning on taking a trip somewhere, and after some thought decided it would be very worth to be home and visit with family. My heart has been missing my family so very much; it always does but more recently since here has become my permanent home for the time being. I don’t have to mention again how much I love and appreciate my family; I’ve mentioned it many times before! I’ll admit, there times, especially when I see photos and videos of the younger ones, that I wonder if I am doing the right thing? In missing part of their childhoods, have I been making a mistake? After thought and prayer, I know that this is where God has me, and almost all of the time does He require some kind of sacrifice. He knows what He’s doing when He calls us to something. But He gives us JOY and CONTENTMENT through it all, and a peace in our heart that allows us to continue on, even though it may be painful. There is always reason to be thank HIM!

Obedience and Submission

I have been feeling very convicted lately. I continually find myself trying to take the control and be the one to make the decisions in my life. I know this is human nature, but I also know better; that God has the final say. 

John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me….apart from me, you can do NOTHING.”

Is it a question of obedience or submission? In my life, I think it’s both. Sometimes it takes everything in me to be obedient and submit to the things that the Lord wants, instead of what I think I want. According to this scripture, it is clear. Apart from Christ, we cannot do anything. He is the reason that everything works out according to His will. We must be humble in our journey because we know that it is only the Lord who is directing the steps. I am saying this as a truth I need to remember in my own life.

It is a beautiful thing when a person can hand themselves over to the Lord, and watch Him move; watch Him use that person and allow them to grow. Everything works according to His will, so why do we try so desperately to make things go our way? Whatever He does, it’s because it’s for our good and the good of His people. I commit to letting go this week and striving to give God the ultimate control, and be submissive to what He wants from me.

May Already?

I cannot believe that it is already May. Time goes by so quickly. Smallchangeforbigchange has been going through some changes, all in a positive direction. We have been analyzing which direction some of the projects are going, and really seeking the Lord and His guidance. He is faithful! In April we celebrated our year anniversary, PRAISE GOD! Lisa and I are in awe in how He has been such a part of this project and how He has confirmed His hand in it.  We also feel so unworthy to know such amazing families and be a part of this. Everything that is done here is what God allows to happen. The donations, the families we come in contact with, we truly believe are in God’s plan. Thank you to all of you, who are a part of this with us. To see the support we have on our webpage (the new one is http://smallchangeforbigchangeguatemala.com/) and on facebook blows us away! We constantly think of you all who are connected. Our only wish is that you could meet these incredible people.

I just finished an English class with Luis Pedro, who is also the one who is taking care of the Aquaponic garden. He is 17 years old and works with his father who has a furniture business. He is very dynamic, and loves being the one in charge of this project. As of right now, there are 20 tilapia in the pond part of the garden, and planted (and growing!) are spinach, celery, lettuce, and are going to plant tomatoes. As this is the prototype, we are still learning more and more about what works and doesn’t work. (In the beginning we had used unfiltered water and the fish died). We started with a small amount to see how it would go. The tank can hold up to 200 tilapia! It is an exciting project, and we are interested to see how it continues to grow.

 

 

 

God Is In Control

It has been a very up and down past couple weeks, but mostly up. One of my closest friends, Gabie, came down to visit me; having her here was a piece of home! She brought us some dark chocolate with sea salt, vanilla flavored coffee, and a coffee grinder that my parents sent down for us….my Mom and I have a thing about freshly ground coffee J  I was so thankful to be able to spend time with her to show her the projects and all of the wonderful people and places that make my life so incredibly blessed! It makes me thankful once again also to know that I have such great relationships even still from home.

I have been spending more time teaching English. Since my focus here and with smallchange4bigchange is education, I have also begun a couple more English classes. One is with one of our contact families in Santa Catarina Barahona. Two students are sponsored by members of my home church, Samuel and Joselyn, and the others are part of the family we work with. I was also able to reserve a classroom in the Municipality building in a town called San Antonio where I hope to begin with some of the teens from the families we work with and possibly some workers in Municipality. The idea of providing someone more opportunity through English is exciting!

I also had my first English class with the kids from Paso A Paso project. The boys and girls (ages 10-13) have separate classrooms. I started on Monday and had them at the same time, so I went back and forth between rooms. This Monday I will have the girls first then the boys at different times. This project is special and these kids and teens feel that it is a place to come to where it is safe and they have a good time and are cared for. We also have the resources to help with their lunch program, which was at risk of being discontinued because of lack of funds. We are thankful to the sponsors who are giving money to support them so that they can provide these children lunch each day!

This past week has also been filled with some personal trials, and through it all I am reminded that God has control and I have to let go and allow Him to be the one who moves. If His hand is at work, there is nothing that can stop Him!

First CUMC Mission Team!

I can’t believe how quickly once again time goes. The CUMC mission team was here for 8 days, and just left yesterday morning. It was such a blessing to have people that I know and care about here to learn more about smallchange4bigchange and what projects and work we are involved in. They arrived Sunday afternoon, the 17^th, and since the processions for holy week were starting spent an hour to get from just one end of town to the next! During their time here the sponsored and helped install two stoves, and a chicken coop. We attended a birthday party for a project we have just recently found called Paso A Paso. Paso A Paso (Step by Step) is an after school program for children ages 3 to 12. They come for lunch and stay for 2 hours to play, learn, and have a place to go. They have bible lessons, the girls have cooking lessons and the boys are being taught vocational skills such as carpentry. It is the project of the stove factory that we use (Marco Tulio) and his wife (Ana Luisa). There are only two woman who are in charge, one is a hired teacher and the other, Ana Luisa, who is a volunteer. There are now 74 children who attend. Smallchange4bigchange will be more involved in this project, details to come! The CUMC team did a “healthy” activity with the children, making ants on a log with peanut butter, raisins, and celery and gave them apples and yogurt with sprinkles. We explained to them the importance of eating healthy foods.

They were able to meet two of our sponsored children, those two who have sponsored back at church! One of them had sent a package of hair supplies, nailpolish, markers and other items for her and her sisters. It was very special!

They also spent the day visiting gardens; one in Alotenango, a community garden with 60 women who are learning how to take care of plants and more about agriculture, and the prototype aquaponic garden that one of my English students is taking care of. That garden is a work in progress, and we have just put a set of tilapia to start.

It was hard to see them go, I told them to give my Dad a hug for me! I look forward to having another team from our church possibly in the fall.

Costa Rica and Great News!

Good morning!

It feels good to be home back in Guatemala, and getting back into a routine. The trip to Costa Rica went very well. It was a group of almost 50 people, amazing people, mostly all from Catonsville United Methodist Church. It was really nice to see all of the familiar faces that I hadn’t seen in a year and had such friendships with. There were construction projects at two different peoples’ homes, one to paint their inside walls and make cupboards and the other to mix and pour a cement floor for their home. There were various projects around the camp, as they are always hosting teams and groups for trips and retreats. We had Vacation Bible School in three different locations, but were very thankful to be able to return back to El Mirador! We have been doing projects and VBS there for 12 consecutive years now, and have watched many of the kids grow up. Some of the children are now teenagers, and some of the teenagers are now young adults. It has been an interesting process to watch because some of them have stayed with the church and continued growing in their faith, and others do not want anything to do with God or the local church. Some have found themselves in problems. But it has become a beautiful relationship with the ticos and the group from CUMC in El Mirador.

In other good news: smallchange4bigchange officially has a car! A few people were gracious enough to donate money specifically for a car. We have been looking for a couple weeks and found one that we just felt right about. The owner and his father had taken very good care of it for years, and it is in great condition. It is a 2002 Mazda. Lisa picked it up yesterday. It will be a huge blessing to be able to haul all of our materials to the sites and homes, as well as drive to the places that are either far or difficult to get to instead of taking a bus and tuk-tuks (smaller forms of taxis). God has showered us with blessings and we can’t hardly believe that we now have this pick-up in our possession! Incredible! All praise to God because He is the ONLY one that provides us with these gifts.

The CUMC mission team is official for March 17-25! I was stunned to hear they had bought tickets and a team of 5 came together so quickly. I am looking forward to it! Within the next couple weeks we’ll be making plans for them, making accommodations and working back and forth with the leader to make sure everything will fall into place.

God has blown my mind in the way He has been providing and working in this year of 2013, and I am filled with gratitude when I think on the fact that He lets me be a part of HIS work.

February Update

Hola!

I hope this blog finds you all well. God has been hard at work here, and helping Lisa and I as we continue to find out which direction He wants us to go with smallchange4bigchange. I am in charge of education (student sponsorships and English classes) and Lisa is heading up garden projects, sustainable stoves, and chicken coops. This month, Mateo officially resigned as a board of director. He made this decision because his heart is using his hands to build and work more in that way instead of being part of the administration. It is incredible because each of us is passionate about the areas we are in in charge of; really we believe the Lord put those things on all of our hearts so that we can function this way. Our first chicken coop was built and put in with a team from Iowa and Mateo. They now have 4 chickens that are laying eggs, and the family is extremely excited. We are anticipating success with this program, since the families can either sell the eggs or eat them. When a project is economically beneficial or provides families with more food, it is usually successful.

January was a rush to get them all registered as all classes started classes began then. If the student is not registered and starting by February, they do not have the opportunity to begin until the following year. I am proud of the students that are in the program; all of them are eager to study and are taking the initiative to do their part. A few of the students are older, ages 18, 19, and 23. They never graduated, but understand that in order to have more opportunities in their future they must finish. It is also exciting because they are figuring out what their interests are, and what subjects they are good at. I am so proud of these students, and I'm grateful to all of the groups and families who have chosen to sponsor them.

This Friday I will be leaving for CUMC’s annual trip to Costa Rica! I’m looking forward to visiting with all of the amazing team that is a part of this experience, and of course to see my Dad and sister, Haley, and my cousins. We never know what types of projects will be planned or what God has in store, but He never ceases to amaze. Pray for all of our safety in travels and in work, and that the Lord’s will be done!