The Month of Decemeber

Starting December 1st, I began working in the Kindergarten age home. The house family, a couple with their 3 children, is from the states. I really thought this would be a wonderful experience to work with kids the age I'm used to teaching but in this setting. The family went to the states for Christmas so another couple and I moved in the house to take over. The wife of the new temporary house parents is 4 months pregnant so anytime they go to a doctor's appointment or she isn't feeling well I am in-charge.
I surely had my struggles while in the baby house but I have been in a battle every day in this house.  The thing about me is that I typically have strong opinions in general, but when you throw taking care of children into the mix I typically have research to back up my professional opinion. I understand this isn't my house, the difficulties of filling in for the parents, working with the culture of the locals, and compromise. That hasn't been my problem.
There are several frustrations going on but I only feel comfortable talking about one. A big problem is with the 2 youth helpers we have each day. They are blatantly defiant and refuse to help me. I talked to one of them early on when I notices she wanted to verbally fight with me about anything I said (come outside and watch the kids, make drinks for the kids). We didn't come to good resolve at the end of our conversation. I have talked to some other adults on campus and she is known for this type of behavior.
This youth loves the temporary house parents so luckily they aren't haven't a battle with her. Unfortunately for her, I am in-charge a lot. My prayer is that the Lord softens her heart. I feel I am just an easy target for her anger not the cause of more frustration for her. I have been very careful to keep my emotions in check when dealing with her. It is easy to get fired up with a defiant teenager. I know the importance of showing love, kindness, correction, and if it comes to it discipline.
To be honest, everyday I have needed to do a bible study and pray before I start my day. During my break, I do it again. This trial for me has been very difficult and frustrating because my relationship with this youth hinders me from working with the kids in the house. They have their own needs and issues. Thanks for your prayers.

Dia de Gracia

The Sunday after the American Thanksgiving Day CB celebrated a day of giving thanks to God. The different houses at CB and the missionaries put on a show for the community to enjoy.

This is the dad of the baby house. He is an amazing man that loves God and loves these kids like God calls us to love children.

I am holding the little girl I work with often. She is 15 months and has been sitting up unassisted for 4 weeks now. This is a huge victory. Read earlier posts about Cat for more details.

The Little Angels performance.

After the show, CB acknowledged the graduates and girls that turned 15.

This teen worked in the baby house with me in November and she attends the dance class as well.

She is being acknowledged for turning 15. I wrote about her quinceanare in an earlier post.

This is a missionary families daughter and 6 year old son. I have really enjoyed spending time with her and her family. I am currently working in her house while her family spends time in the states for Christmas. She is being acknowledge for turning 15.

Thanksgiving Day

Guatemalans obviously don't celebrate America's Thanksgiving Day but all the American missionaries got together to indulge in a feast. It was a super fun day of no work and a lot of eating.

The dessert table.

At home, I typically carve the turkey and it worked out for me to do it today as well. Rosa helped and she is getting the stuffing out of the turkey in the picture. It was delicious.

Stirring the gravy

Excercise Class

 I love this part of my job. We meet and workout 2 hours 3X a week. If that sounds like a lot of exercise, it does to me too. Somehow it has been really easy to do each week. We have really enjoyed working out together.

This teenager is very special to me. I met her 2 years ago working in the baby house. She has been very helpful during class to help translate for me when I get tongue tied. We also hang out on non-dance days to work on new dances.

This girl is my hip-hop princess. She loves to dance and she does a great job learning dances quickly. She always comes to class dressed for the part.

We play a game called Cross the Ocean. 2 people, known as SHARKS, stand in the middle of the room and yell, "cross the ocean". All the other people try to run across the room without getting tagged by the sharks. If you get tagged, you sit where you get tagged and use your arms to tag other people. I love this game and the girls do too.  Suckers are optional for this game.

This is me reminding the girls of the moves in the dance. It seems they don't care about my review session but notice the kid hugging the fan. That makes me feel good about the intensity of the class.

I like to use things in the room to help us workout if possible. This keeps the class interesting. Today, kid size chairs were in the room so we did leg lifts over the chairs.

We stretch at the beginning and end of the class. These girls don't seem to mind stretching which is a miracle.

This stage has many purposes here at CB. It is used by the pastor, graduation, and by me so everyone can see me shimmy in-time with the music. On another topic, the younger girls are invited to join our workout for the first hour but teenagers only for the 2nd hour of exercise.

Guilt Released

Read the last post before you start reading this one.... Since my last post, I have chatted with the houseparents about my understanding of my responsibilities here at CB. As briefly discussed in the previous post, I thought a source of my guilt could have been because their isn't any accountability here. To put this in perspective of my life, working in the public school system for 6 years I always had someone (principal, parents, coworkers)  asking me to prove that my methods of teaching fit each child's personal needs. There is no accountability here and I was struggling with that reality. Therefore I have kind of created my own accountability system in regards to my schedule. This week I haven't allowed there to be any room for confusion of where I am or what I will be doing at anytime of the day by telling the house parents my schedule daily. The house father seems to receive the news well each day and the house mom seems to be trusting in her husbands judgement and leadership of the house.
Side note...I love watching their marriage. They show me how a christian marriage should be lived out everyday. I am really thankful to get to see this everyday and the wife isn't afraid to talk about the struggles of marriage. I have been blessed with this aspect of my experience here.
Secondly, I talked to the director in-charge of the missionaries schedules. She has asked me if I would be willing to teach an additional dance/fitness class on Tuesday and Thursday nights. That gave me a wonderful opportunity to sit down with her and hash out a revised schedule that she will present to the family. My hope is this new schedule will clear the air and clean-up any confusion I had or the house parent had about my responsibilities here at CB. The director and I had a wonderful chat and I was able to openly share ALL of my thoughts and concerns. Praise the Lord!!! I felt the guilt released after this conversation.
The revised plan is for me to work at the baby house in the mornings and teach the dance/fitness classes in the afternoons and evenings. I will still work the night shift at the baby house every 5 days because I feel that is very helpful for the family.
This is another side note but you may be wondering what the night shift entails. I sleep at the baby house on the couch and when a child cries or needs medicine, I am the one to handle the situation. As most of you know that have kids, some nights there isn't a lot of disturbance in your sleep and other nights your awake with the kids all night long. It is the same way here even though we have 13 kids living in the house. The next morning the person that took the night shift gets a break from 9:00-1:00 to sleep in their own beds. Not to shabby.
Thanks for your prayers and I would appreciate you continuing to pray that this family receives the new schedule well. I pray the Lord will use me during this time I have here at CB to change kids lives.

Guilt

The one thing that is taking up a lot of my time and a lot of space in my mind is guilt. I don't know when it started but I am now aware that I don't feel like I'm doing enough. My responsibilities here at CB are split between helping at the baby house and teaching a fitness class. I am still taking Spanish classes on my weekends off so I try to study as much as possible as well.
At this point, it is really tempting to write a list of all the things I am doing here at Casa Bernabe to prove to you that I am not just sitting around taking naps all day. I am not going to make that list because I would be falling into the same trap that occurs several times a day. Trying to prove to myself that I am making a difference and wanting to make sure the people here know I am doing what I am supposed to be doing.
The reality is there is no accountability here. The house parents to my knowledge won't be reporting my help or lack of help to the director. The director won't be reporting to Eternal (my church at home). We aren't collecting data on the children's progress to  determine if my help is affecting their growth and development. It is obvious I teach a dance class because I teach it in the main commons area. There is no data to prove that I work or to prove my work here is beneficial. Therefore I can't prove to myself or others that I am doing anything.
 Ok. I can't prove that I am doing anything so on to my next thought. What is the source of this feeling? Guilt is typically something felt when you sin. In this case, I am not aware of my sin if that is the root of this issue. During this time of feeling guilty, I have been wondering if I am being used in the best ways for how God has prepared me for this adventured. I know from experience that sometimes periods of discomfort, even guilt, helps you move in a different direction. Another idea of the source of my guilt, is that there is an unspoken problem between myself and the house parents of the baby house. They don't like that I am teaching the fitness class because I'm not working/playing with the kids for about 3 hours each day.
When I first arrived, the house parents agreed to have me in their home with the understanding that I would be gone several hours a day to teach the fitness class. I believe living it out this plan is difficult for them because they are used to a missionary working with them all day long (7:30am-7:10pm). That isn't the reality they have with me working with them.
Regardless of the root of my guilt or the problems the houseparents may have with my work schedule, I would appreciate your prayers for God to intervene.

Visitation Day

This is Cat a year ago. I don't have a recent picture of her.

    As the title says, today was the day for relatives of the children here at Casa Bernabe to come visit. Like most things here I didn't know what to expect. I started out my Sunday morning as usual. I arrived at the baby house at 7:30 to pick kids up out of their cribs. I pick all 13 kids out of their cribs and welcome them to a new day. "Good morning _________. It's time for your bath. Let's go." I undress them and, today I handed them over to a teenage girl helping out at the house on the weekends. She gives them a bath and then she hands them over to a staff member to be dressed. Then they are put in a high chair and fed by another teenage girl. I love the teenagers here. They are live at CB for various reasons and they are truly wonderful.
    After the kids eat they are cleaned up and sent outside to play. Today when it was time to go to church, we had some members from a visiting church group from the States playing with the kids. The staff member in charge at the baby house decided to let the members from the American team take the kids that had visiting family members up for church.  The kids that have visitors meet their, grandparents, mother, or dads at church and they can visit until 3:00 in the afternoon. The rest of the kids would stay at the house with the staff member, teenagers, and me.
    The Americans each had a child's hand in theirs or a child on their hip ready to head up the hill to church. If you come visit CB, you will have a clear understanding of "the hill." The hike makes you grasp for air by the time you reach the top. The point of me telling you that is that I want you to understand that we really have to help these kids get to the top. We carry them or hold their hand all the way up. It is a slow journey but great exercise for everyone involved.
    One girl, Cat wouldn't go with the American team. She started to cry and said no when one lady tried to hold her hand. She continued this same behaviour with another lady. Then she looked at me with her pleading eyes and asked for my hand. Of course, that made me feel like a hundred bucks. Oh, by the way she calls me Barbie. "Barbie, mano (hand)."
    I politely asked the staff member in charge if I could walk her up and screaming with hope on the inside.  I was given the ok to walk her up so, off we went. When we arrived at church, Cat's grandmother wasn't insight. I was sad for her but selfishly happy that I would get to be with her during the service. We found a place in the back of the church to sit. She was sitting on my lap and her older sister (3 years old) sat beside us.
    Her grandmother arrived after a few worship songs. I had Cat on my hip and walked to the front of the church to hand her over. As I handed her over, I wanted to burst out into tears. As I turned around to walk back to my seat in the back of the church, I tried to figure out why handing her over made me so upset. What a weird reaction to handing over a child to their grandmother.
    One thought is that it was a realization that Cat has relatives but yet she is living at an orphanage. This is a common story for several of these kids. That is why CB has a visitation day once a month. I don't know Cat's story but in other cases the relative feels CB will provide for their child better then they could.
    My other thought is that the physical act of handing over a child gives you an overwhelming feeling that it is the end of your relationship with a child. Today that wasn't my reality. At the end of the day, Cat was back in the baby house holding my hand, kicking a ball around the backyard, and telling me she needed to go poop in the potty. :)  Ha! That is my reality. Welcome to it!  Seriously, this morning was a reminder that sometimes these kids leave and go home with their relatives.
    Someday a child will go to their yearly court hearing and they won't come back to CB. They will be allowed to go home with their family. Some of these kids will be adopted. After my reaction today of handing a child over for a three hour time span, it is going to be difficult to say goodbye to one of these kids. I don't look forward to those type days.

A year ago, I had no idea she would become my little buddy.

   

My Job in October

    I will be stationed at the baby house which has 12 kids ages birth to 3 years. The original plan was for me to float between the baby house and the preschool house (kids ages 3 to 6) for the month of October. That seems impossible. I have only spent 5 days at the baby house and I am fully aware of the various needs of several of the children.
     My unspoken mission at the house is to help a 14 month old. She was severely malnourished when she arrived at the orphanage but I don't know any other information about her life. I am not sure how long she has been here but I think it has been about 6 months. The physical signs of her malnourishment are interesting to ponder. The tips of some of her hair is a light brown color, she only has 2 teeth, and she is tiny.
    Everyday and typically all day I help her do exercises to gain the strength to hold up her head. She only wants to lay on her back but she is now beginning to grab for objects near her, roll over, and kick her feet. I have really enjoyed helping during "tummy time" and she is enjoying it more and more each day. It is really exciting to hear her make noises now when she is happy and to see her spend more time holding up the weight of her upper body on her arms during "tummy time."
    It is really amazing how fast kids can learn when they are given the opportunity. The mom at the baby house has been doing physical therapy with this little girl each day. When she first arrived, supposedly the little one slept all the time and was unresponsive to objects being placed in front of her. She didn't have the reflexive response to blink when something was going to hit her in the face. The house mom worked with her enough so that now I am able to help her sit-up.
    I am really excited this girl now has a chance. Who would think moving to an orphanage would be a good thing? It seems to be the story of most of these kids. The more I learn the more I wonder why God would allow such terrible things to happen to children. Then I am reminded that he took these children out of their bad situation by them moving to a God centered orphanage.

Quinceaneare

 I was invited to a girls Quinceanera, a party for girls that turn 15, after church. It is a big deal! Your Quinceanera and wedding are the most important days in a girl's life in Guatemala.  The girl's American sponsor, Becky, flew to Guatemala to go shopping for the dress, tiara, shoes, pinata, and cake. Becky rented a room at a nice Mexican restaurant in the area and it was nice. The girls from the house, the house parents, and some of us long term Americans went to the party.
The party began with the young lady dancing with Tony a long term missionary here, people sharing their thoughts of the girl, a video of her life, prayer over her life, and ending with a dance with her house dad. We ate a very tasty meal and ate a piece of cake. After four hours of partying we came back to CB to bust the pinata. That is always dangerous and totally amusing.  It was a fun day and a very special day for this young lady. I really appreciate and respect Becky for taking her commitment to her sponsored child seriously.

I Kid After God's Own Heart

My first full day at Casa Bernabe started out at the church on campus. After a fun time of worship, a little boy (in the picture) that I met in the baby house 2 years ago stood in front of the church and shared things the Lord had laid on his heart. It is interesting to know a little background of this child.
My first trip to CB (Christmas Break) this little boy wouldn't allow any of the Americans to play with him or help him in any way. He would look at you and say "No!" Now I understand why he didn't want our help. He knew he wasn't just another kid at the orphanage. He had hope of having a family.
 When I returned the next July, I was walking with the children from the baby house around campus and this little boy saw I teacher from the school on campus. She yelled a greeting and he yelled back. Both of them began running towards each other. They hugged each other and kissed and shared words of love to each other. During that trip, I learned that the teacher was in the possess of adopting this little boy.
Yesterday I learned that this little boy is now in this teacher's life forever. The adoption is complete! This child shared that he loved his family and that God loved him in front of the church proudly. He is so happy to be with his new family. What a journey for him and he is only 5 years old.

Transition to Casa Bernabe

Today is a big day! I will be traveling to Casa Bernabe. It is really interesting to think about all the conversations, preparations, missions trips, prayers, money, learning, and more that brought me to this point. All week I have struggled with the thought of leaving Antigua. I have really enjoyed my time here learning Spanish, making new friends, and dancing. It has been so wonderful so why would I want to leave? The funny part is that I thought I would be really lonely and miserable during my time at langauge school. Wrong! Today, I am a ball of emotions. The thought of fufilling God's call on my life in his timing and the thought of seeing a little boy I hope to adopt is overwhelming. What I'm filling isn't excitement.... I'm overwhelmed to be going to the one place I have longed to be at for the past year.

New adventure

Mallory, Her Teacher, Me, and My Teacher

Next Saturday, I will begin my adventure at Casa Bernabe. I am ready to be with the kids and I am interested to see which tasks I will do at Casa Beranbe. As always, I have a lot of ideas of what I would like to do and hopes for my stay at the orphanage. It should be interesting to see what The Lord has in store for me. I can't wait. I am ready for a change of pace and not having to memorize around 40 words or phrases each night. A break from cramming sounds wonderful!

I still have a very real desire to continue learning the language but I know it is my time to move on to the next portion of this adventure. To put my Spanish language skills into perspective for you, I am now in the third level of Spanish out of seven. I will finish level three this Friday and travel to the orphanage on Sunday. I now know the basics but I am nowhere close to truly understanding the language and being able to speak with ease.

My two desires are to begin working at Casa Bernabe and to continue learning the language. Here are my thoughts of how to do both things...the ideal situation is to be able to come to Antigua for a day or two during the week to take classes. The biggest problem with my plan is transportation. I have contacted a travel/shuttle agency and I have 2 friends in Antigua that are guides. Hopefully the transportation issue will get cleared up this week.

This weekly trip to Antigua would also give me a break, a time to recharge before diving back into work with the kids. I have met 2 people in the street that worked at the orphanage for sometime. Literally we started chatting through mutual friends and discovered that we both knew Casa Bernabe. Both people mentioned with great enthusiasm that I need to schedule a break within the week so I don't get burned out. It seems burnout is a common problem.

I truly want to be doing what the Lord wants me to do while I am here in Guatemala. At this time, I just don't know the MINOR details of what he wants me to do. I'm so happy I'm not in charge of my life and I don't have to scramble around to figure it out. I'm just waiting on the Lord (acting, listening, and responding) to let me know my next step.

Copan

This weekend Mallory and I traveled to Honduras to visit Mayan ruins. Living in Guatemala for the last few weeks has given me the opportunity to learn a little about the Mayan culture by listening to locals share their knowledge of the ancient society. This weekend Mallory and I had a well-spoken guide at the ruins that taught us a lot about the Mayan way of life.
I am not going to focus on all the interesting facts I learned. I do want to point out why I think the society desired to worship God but fell short of the truth we know as Christians. Think about the tidbits of information you know about the Egyptians, the Roman Empire, the Mayans, and or Incan civilization. You might not have visited the Mayan ruins last weekend but you can apply what you know about these civilizations to help you understand my argument. They were all powerful societies in their own time but at different times in history.
The Mayans had a belief in a good god (god of love) vs. bad god (god of war) religious system. It was important to have a dual god system to create balance in their belief system. They had too much rain so they must have done something to make the rain god mad. Luckily there was a sun god they could worship to solve this problem. It was typical for them to sacrifice animals and humans to sway the gods in their favor.
They had a well-divided hierarchy of power within the civilization. Kings ruled and the people followed orders within their field of work. It is important to know the kings believed they were Gods. They were sent back from the world of the Gods,possible the afterlife, to rule the people. Them being Gods added power to their status and people believed their words to be true. In contrast to the Mayans beliefs of their kings, Christians have a king that came to earth to live as a normal person. He was a carpenter. Jesus wasn't interested in political power. This is a big difference in Mayans beliefs and Christians believes but it is really awesome to serve a king that chose to be ordinary to meet us in our status in life.
This weekend it was striking to me the similarities between Mayan culture and Christianity. In the Old Testament, the Israelite's sacrificed animals as an offering for atonement for sins. There is a detailed description of the ceremony entering the holy of holies and the sacrificial process. In comparison, the Mayans sacrificed animals and made human sacrifices to appease the Gods. At the ruins, we looked at several vase shaped structures where the Mayans burned blood from sacrifices. They believed the smoke would rise up to heaven and please the Gods. The bible speaks of sweet aromas and incense.
It blows my mind how Satan confuses our lives, beliefs, customs from the truth to a similar reflection of the truth. First of all these people weren't worshiping the one true God. There practices were similar to Old Testament practices but they misunderstood to whom they were to be worshiping. Secondly, they were not aware of the gospel. The Mayan civilization was after the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ. They didn’t know this good news. It is amazing and frightening to realize how Satan can trick an entire society into believing something that resembles the truths of Christ.
I can't point fingers at the Mayan culture and laugh at them for missing the truth or not seeing reality. I misunderstand how to best worship God each day. It is easy for me to not treat the people around me as God desires me to treat them because I have my own ambition (idol/god) I am choosing to please.
All weekend I kept thinking about how many similarities the Mayan culture resembled Christianity but they missed the truth. People today are still amazed by the sophistication and intelligence of the Mayan yet they miss the truth. Many people I have talked to here in Guatemala love studying the Mayan culture. These same people are not Christians. I believe some of them are interested in the culture because it meets a need inside of them. They like that the Mayans were devout worshipers but they don't understand they can worship the living God. The Lord is moving and working in Guatemala. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Lord chooses to bring people to himself by using these peoples’ love for the Mayan Culture.
 

School Update

I love my new teacher. She is very friendly and she is correcting somethings the other teacher didn't correct. Both teachers are great but I'm glad I took my Guatemalan family's advice and changed teachers. At lunch today, they said my level of spoken Spanish has improved this week. That was encouraging.
Today I took my first test at school. I made a 90. Let me tell you the test was much harder then I expected so making a 90 was awesome. The test included an oral exam (lessoning to a short story and answering questions about it, answering conversational questions, and telling the director a story about a picture he placed in front of me) and a written exam (matching English to Spanish voc., translating English into Spanish, answering questions, and Conjugating verbs). My Guatemalan family said the tests are really hard and I am happy to move forward in my lessons.
The Spanish lessons are divided into levels,"Grado A-H". Here I come "Grado B"! Moving to the next level is my very exciting news of the day. I am celebrating right now.... by doing my homework from my first lesson in level B.

8/15/11

A continuation from the last post...
The young guy I met in the park is differently a christian. Before I left the park, I noticed a Jesus bracelet on his arm. I asked him if he loved Jesus and he said he did. We are now friends on Facebook and he has posted a lot about his walk with the Lord. He was truly a God Send.

Update on the school situation...
I decided to change teachers this week. It is a normal thing to do to hear a different persons pronunciation. I wanted a change to have a breathe of fresh air. My new teacher is great. The time at school flew by today.

This weekend...
Mallory and I went on a weekend trip to Semuc Champey, Guatemala. It was a beautiful sight but more importantly it was a really neat opportunity to meet people.10 people went on the trip including our guide from el salvador, our driver from Guatemala, a few people from England, one from France, one from Australia, one from New Zealand, and 4 of us from the states. We had a variety of accents flying the whole weekend.
One girl's ears perked up when she found out Mallory and I are missionaries. She is a christian and truly considered being a missionary when she graduated from college. It was interesting to hear her talk about the stipulations she has created in order for her to be a missionary. I told her more than once, "I said those exact words within the last 2 years. Watch what you say." Pray that she will follow the Lord not her fears.

The week 8/14-8/12

Sunday- Mallory and I ventured out in the world of Antigua to find a church. We located a beautiful catholic mass in the back of the most beautiful hotel/ruins I have every seen. We realized we weren't in the contemporary church we were looking for when they started lighting candles. We left and ventured out to find the contemporary church we had heard so much about in the last week.
We walked back across town from the catholic church to found the modern church just a block away from our school. The service and songs are in English and Spanish. Missionaries and students in language school are the typical demographic for this church.

School- I am now learning words and verbs beyond the ones I came to school knowing. This week has been a little frustrating for me at times because of the lack in ability to be able to communicate with my teacher. I obviously don't speak Spanish well but, I'm referring to my teacher having difficulty understanding what I was trying to say. In conversation, the native speaker often guesses what the learner is trying to say and then helps them with the words. Our conversations were a mess because she would think I was saying one thing but I was trying to say another thing. CONFUSING! I was also very frustrated with myself during a good portion of the lessons because I continue to make the same mistakes. I have to recall the words, verbs, conjugate the verb (present, past, or future) and make the words plural or singular correctly. I know everyone makes these mistakes and a lot of them when they are first learning Spanish. That realization hasn't made me any less frustrated.

After class most days this week I have wanted to cry. I don't do that a bunch so I wrote in my journal. Yesterday I sat in the beautiful and busy park to do a little writing. I was really concerned that I was having difficulty comprehending stories my teacher read to me in Spanish during class yet I could understand and respond to people in the street. I have been about to understand most of the conversation with my Guatemalan family and with locals in the streets (random people for directions and conversing with friends).

When I was writing, a guy probably in the 10th grade sat down at the bench with me. He started talking to me in Spanish and we had a conversation in Spanish for the next 2 hours. He lives in one of the villages near Antigua and told me all about the educational system and the transportation system for students. We also chatted about the kite flying festival that takes place in his home town each November. It's a big deal! His family will work on one kite for a year to 3 years before they fly it in the festival. CRAZY!

When I left the park to return home for dinner, I reflected on the experience in the park. I believe the Lord gave me that opportunity to prove to me that I can comprehend and talk. I may be having difficulties in school but I can survive in conversational Spanish after only 2 weeks of lessons. Thank God for that kid being bold enough to sit down beside me. I needed some encouragement.

Funny Thing I said in Spanish:
I meant to say: I am hungry
I said: I have men

There is a proverb in Guatemala that goes something like men are like avocados. Some are good, uncut & firm, and some become guacamole. I then said, "the guacamole is tasty" not realizing that I was referring/saying that some men are tasty. My face turned red after I said it. I figured out the meaning of what I was saying as I was saying it. Learning Spanish can be really silly!

Whitney

I have to tell you another story of how God has shown me that he is in control and that I am doing what he wants me to do. Read the last blog about Mallory before You read further. Yesterday at Eternal, the church that meets at the YMCA in Baxter, it was Mission Sunday. From what I hear, the service was about the mission work the Lord is using the members of Eternal to do around the world. We ,Eternal, have a family serving in the mountains of Guatemala, a family serving in Peru, several missions trips to the mountain area of Guatemala, and I will be working with children in the city of Guatemala. The two missionary families and myself made short videos to update the congregation about our mission.
Yesterday a girl named Whitney visited Eternal. She was in Fort Mill visiting her boyfriend for the weekend. They missed the service at his church so they stopped in at his neighborhood church. During the service, the video of me updating the church came up on the large projected screen. In the video I mention that the Lord has sent me a friend, Mallory, for this portion of the journey.
Let me remind you, Whitney is sitting in a random church in a town she is visiting. Here is the good part of the story. Whitney is Mallory's best friend. The really cool part is that Whitney had been praying for God to send Mallory a friend for language school. Mallory and I have been talking for the last week about God answering that prayer. It seems us chatting about it and praising him for doing this for us wasn't good enough. Our God wanted to prove that he answers prayer to Whitney and to you. Many of you have e-mailed me about Whitney's experience so it is apparent the Lord wants you to see his power.

The language school adventure beginnings

Hola mis amigos! I don't want you to miss any of the adventure I am about to tell you so I'll write in English...The trip to Guatemala was wonderful. I made many friends and met a lot of interesting people on the plane including a fellow Spanish learner traveling to the Lake region and sitting with the priesthood. I'm not kidding the priesthood surrounded me on my flight from Houston to Guatemala. An elderly Guatemalan lady asked in Spanish to have my seat. Therefore, I took her seat which was located in the center of a group of 11 young men in school studying Catholicism. Interesting experience to say the least.
When I arrived in Guatemala, I took a hour long ride in a very nice van to Antigue. I was probably riding in the nicest vehicle on the road which ruined my opportunity to practice "fitting in". Even though, my blue eyes and white skin ruin my possibility to trick the locals into believing I'm Guatemalan.
When I arrived at my Guatemalan families home, I promptly answered inappropriately to a question I was asked in Spanish. I was shown to my very nice living quarters and I was introduced to my new roommate for the next 5 weeks. Her name is Mallory. Here is where the story gets really exciting. This is an example of why us Christians don't have to stress about where the Lord will lead us.
Mallory lives in Raleigh, North Carolina and she knows no Spanish just like me. After language school, she will be working for an organization in the Dominican Republic to serve orphans. Yep, I am living with a girl with my same story! DID I WRITE THAT CLEARLY!!! DID YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE FOR ME!
I put my luggage in the house and we headed to the streets to explore. We sat at a cafe and swopt stories about the lives the Lord has given us and discussed caring for orphans in our prospective areas. Amazing!!!!
Language school is intense but Mallory is a wonderful friend to practice with when we aren't in school. Thanks for your prayers. The Lord is listening.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

The adventure begins today! It has been a year of planning, prayer, fasting, and you talking me into this. Ha! I will meet the family I will be living with for the next 5 weeks around 3:00pm today. Language school is bound to be challenging and the transition to speaking Spanish all the time should be crazy fun. My prayer is that I learn a lot of Spanish in this short time period.

2nd Rainbows of Hope Training

Children at Risk
Today we learned about children at risk. An clear way to think about children at risk is to first think of the attributes of a healthy child. They have vibrant social lives by building relationships, emotional ability, spiritual walk with Christ or at least the opportunity to learn about Christ, physical health, cognitive ability, education, safety, and security.
The Lord has been teaching me about what risk factors orphans have as they live in the world. Orphans are lacking in at least one of the areas of health listed above which leaves them vulnerable to the evil in the world. They are vulnerable to such things as sex trafficking, sexual exploitation (pornography,prostitution, and so forth), and gangs.

Job 24:9-11
9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces[a];
they tread the wine presses, yet suffer thirst.

This is a real danger to children that aren't protected and valued by adults. The Lord speaks against these acts.

Leviticus 19:29 Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.

The next question is how do Christians stops these things from happening? How do we protect the fatherless? Today Wendy from Rainbows of Hope shared an easy way to come up with a plan. When she did mission work in Africa, the church made a map of all the risk factors that could damage a child's health (gangs,drugs, pimps, satanic worship buildings) and resources they had in the community (health clinic, church building, soup kitchen). The church could look at the map and compare it to a list of needs of children in the community. When they saw a whole in their communities resources, they took them before God and asked for his guidance. It was another wonderful day of learning!

1st Rianbows of Hope Training

Tom Harvey with Rainbow's of Hope invited me to sit in on the training they provide for their team working at Casa Bernabe. Today I met these folks going to Casa Bernabe for 6 weeks at a Spanish speaking church service. We enjoyed worship then we spent a few hours practicing Spanish. It was a great experience and just the push I needed to jump start a crash course into learning Spanish. Practicing Spanish today was painful and embarrassing but hey I might have learned a few words. :) I have about 6 weeks before I will be sitting in Antique, Guatemala officially enrolled in a Spanish class. I bought the first 3 levels of Rosetta Stone a few years ago so my plan is to finish all 3 levels before I leave the country. That means I have a level and a half to go in 6 weeks. Woowee. I have a bit of work ahead of me.

My Life was Already Awesome

It's true! Nothing is wrong with my life. Actually my life seems, looks, is great. I have a nice house, nice car, nice family pet, nice roommates, and a nice income. I can honestly say that I enjoy my job. My principals are wonderful caring individuals that want the best for the kids I teach and they care about ME. I have the luxury of openly speaking about Christ with them and they can relate. Unheard of!
Strangely enough I have peace about leaving it all behind. I'm not freaking out because I resigned which means I won't have an income!
Here is the story about the day I resigned: The Lord told me that Thursday, May 26th was the day to leave my job. Well not exactly like that...I woke up with a real peace about the situation. I just knew it was the day to turn in my resignation. I have to say I sat on this knowledge until 3:45 in the afternoon that day. I had to leave the school at 4:00 to get to the gym for coaching on time. At 3:30 I began pacing around the room and packing boxes (yet I hadn't resigned. I decided to check my e-mail before I left for the day. A friend of mine sent me a message on gmail chat which said praying 2 Corinthians 10:5 for you. Here's the verse:"We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." Oh, man the Lord caught me. Yes, I had been speculating about all the terrible things that could happen if I gave up my job and all the terrible things that could go wrong at the orphanage. God knew my avoidance of being obedient. He knew my worries. My thoughts and, he saved me from being disobedient.
I grabbed my resignation letter I printed off that morning and ran it to the office to give it to my principal. Needless to say, it is hard to be obedient even when God tells you which steps to take.

Focusing on God

This week it has truly been difficult to focus on God and to enjoy time with him. I have found myself caught up with preparing to leave to do his work instead of being with him. It is so easy to get caught up in this terrible selfish cycle. Lesson Learned: Enjoy Christ while doing his work!

Roommates

I am looking for 3 girls to rent my house. It is scary to trust anyone to live in my house but it has to be done. Let me know if you have anyone that needs a place to stay and would be kind to my house. It would be amazing if they would watch my adorable cat too. Her name is Piper. Dog lovers have enjoyed having her around. <---True statement.

Sending Agency

This Monday I learned that Eternal will be my sending agency. This is very exciting! My home church will be checking up on me while I'm in Guatemala and all my funds raised for this mission will be sent to Eternal. It is a wonderful feeling to know that the church I attend fully supports this mission and believes that God is using me. It is also awesome to have a friend, Jennifer Holbrook, checking on me from Eternal. I'm relieved to have scheduled communication with the church.