Back to your regularly scheduled life…

After a week in Guatemala, I’m now back to my regularly scheduled life. :)  I was supposed to arrive yesterday to Guatemala to spend a few days with the Messicks before heading on to Mexico City.  So, here I am!  We will be heading to the city Wednesday to stop by Antigua and then get me to my flight on time on Thursday morning.

This week has been stretching in so many ways.  I’m a control freak (no surprise if you know me at all!) and I always have a plan.  This past week totally threw off my groove.  And then I got bronchitis… awesome.  And the Messicks just found out that they are moving back to Colorado in 2 WEEKS!  So we’ve had garage sales and times for them to say goodbye and lots of stress and tears all around.

All that to say… the Lord has had a lot to teach me.  I’ve been constantly reminded of His goodness and grace and provision.  But also reminded that I am selfish and consumed with my life and my schedule.  Basically I need Jesus.  Sometimes I just really need that reminder.

From Guatemala City I will be heading on to Mexico City to visit MTW’s street children’s centers in Acapulco and attend the week long training for the “Pavement Project”.  I am so excited and so nervous about this coming week of training.  I’m worried my Spanish isn’t good enough, that I won’t have the right clothes (dumb I know, but I’m still packed for cold Peru), that I won’t be able to pay attention for 8 straight hours in Spanish, that no one will be able to understand me in our practice counseling sessions, etc.  So please pray.  Pray that the Lord will give me peace and speak through me.  This is so important and really lays the foundation for one of the main ways I’ll be sharing the Gospel with the girls in Puerta de Esperanza.  I feel the weight of that as I so desperately want them to know Jesus.  But I also know that it isn’t anything that I will say or do that will win them to Jesus, only His grace can do that.  Praise the Lord!

A Bend in the Road

My most recent unexpected bend in the road has me sitting here in Guatemala doing lots of administration stuff that I can do via internet and making some progress on boring stuff that I have to get done for Puerta de Esperanza.  So, maybe it’s a blessing in disguise?

I still miss my bed, my kitchen, my life, my normal.

But I’m excited to spend some time playing Monopoly with the boys, dress-up with Taylah, taking pictures, reading with Micah, playing in the hose, doing haircuts, swinging on the hammock, and just really enjoying one of my favorite families.  I’ve missed them. 

So here are some pictures for you of our time…

And as I walk with this family through a hard time of transition in their lives, it is a constant reminder to me that the Lord is a provider.  He is reminding us of that over and over again as He shows us how He is going to meet each one of their needs.

Newsletter - October 2011

October 2011

Just zoom

Elijah (3yrs) : You have black pajama pants with spots.  Do you have more pajama pants?
Me: Yep… but they are in Honduras, not here in Guatemala
Elijah: Oh, well you can get them when daddy takes you to get your bathing suit.
Me:  Elijah, that would be really nice, but my house is so far away from here.
Elijah:  Its okay… you can just zoom.

Wouldn’t that be nice? 

Downfall of being a laid-back traveler

I have been in Cusco for the past few days visiting the Josephine house and getting to see some really sweet friends!

This morning I told Kristen that I was a laid-back traveler these days.  That is what comes from being on a plane all the time.  You stop thinking you have to be at the airport quite so early, you don’t stand up the first time they call boarding for your flight, you forget to clarify if you need a visa so that you nearly have a heart attack at the airport.

Well… I think my laid back traveling days are over because tonight, instead of being back in Honduras, I’m stuck in Guatemala City.  And I won’t be home until November the 12th.  What in the world?!?  I did not pack or prepare to be gone for almost a month.

Apparently Honduras is the only country in central or north america where you have to have the yellow fever shot coming back from Peru… 10 days before you can come back in!  I found this out at the check-in counter on my way home.  Awesome.  And totally my fault for not researching it.

I’ll admit there was freaking out, and a few (okay a lot of) tears.  10 days from today I’m supposed to be at a training in Mexico City for the pavement project, which complicated things even more. 

So here I am, in a hotel, in Guatemala City.  I’m so thankful for the kindness of the Messicks who are going to house me and hang out with me so I don’t go crazy with loneliness over the next week.  And ultimately, my time in Lima gave me tons to think through and process and there are so many things I can start on from here.  So it should even be productive.

And it just shouldn’t matter that much that I’m not sleeping in my own bed or that I have to wear the same clothes all month… I think I will believe that in the morning :)

Starbucks makes me homesick

This morning I sat in a Starbucks for the first time in a long time.  I had a jacket on, which is rare these days, and a hot chocolate in my hand.  There was American music playing in English and the people at the table next to me were speaking English.  I had my Bible and journal in front of me and I felt like I was home. 

It didn’t make me sad, I think it just felt peaceful and familiar and I loved that. :) 

Worth it

This afternoon a baby fell asleep on my lap.  There are few things in the world that I love more than having a little one trust me so completely to just sleep while I cuddle with him.

I have loved my time here visiting and learning about the House of Glory.  I have been picking Amanda’s brain non-stop and she has been so patient.  There are a thousand questions running through my mind non-stop… “What things did you do that you wish you hadn’t done when you started?”  “What didn’t you do that you should have?”  “How do you discipline?” “What kind of skills do you teach?” “Are the babies on a schedule?”… the list goes on and on and on.  I have questions about staff and girls and social services.  I just realize how little I know.

And paperwork… they have tons of it.  I’ve maybe typed up 5 things total pertaining to Puerta de Esperanza.  I’m nowhere near having a manual!

So… I’m overwhelmed.  There is so much to be done.

But there is so much redemption.  This is the theme of what I have seen in this place.  The Lord has done amazing things!  Right now there are 3 girls living in the home.  I was talking to one of them today and she told me that none of them came into the home knowing God, but all have accepted Him as their Savior.  They are passionate about the Lord and excited to share the Gospel.  They go to an evangelism class at church and really love it.  They share the Gospel with teachers and their families.  They pray that their abusers would come to know Christ.  Wow.  Redemption.  There is no other word for it.  Only the grace of God can change hearts in such a radical way. 

These girls come in angry and fearful, scared and hardened and then the love of Christ enters their hearts.  And they are changed.  Its amazing.

They were excited to hear that there will be a home like this in Honduras.  One of the girls told me that she would tell any girl who had the opportunity to live there to go… she said, “I would tell her that it would change her life.  She will be loved and supported and learn about Christ.  And coming to know God is the most important thing.”

Its worth it.  All the feelings of being overwhelmed, all the paperwork and the decisions.  All the anxiety and fear.  Its worth it.

Please please pray.  I’m overwhelmed.  Pray for personnel who love Jesus and will love these girls.  Pray for a Social worker who loves the Lord and a physiologist as well who can work with them.  Pray for a house abuela who can love them without getting burnt out.  Pray for so much wisdom and discernment for me as I seek to form a team to do this ministry.  Pray for all our paperwork to go through by the first of December.  And pray that the Lord would bring girls!