Family Pictures December 2013

We had some recent family pictures taken.  A big thanks to our friend Chris Steed who took them for us!  It is always a challenge to get all 7 people smiling and looking at the camera at the same time but we got a few decent ones.  Merry Christmas to everyone!  We love and miss you all!

What are you getting for Christmas?

Each year we have a Christmas Lunch for a bunch of needy kids who would otherwise not get anything for Christmas.  Nothing, not a gift, not a special lunch, nothing.  It is hard for us to fathom not even having our favorite food or anything for Christmas.  More than anything these kids need love, attention and hope.  And for just a few hours we are able to give them a little of these.  It is a ton of fun to love on these kids and provide them some gifts and food.  Here are some pictures from our time together:

 Decorating the rooms...

 We had a little competition for the best decorated room and the one above one! They both did a great job!

 After lunch we had a time of sharing and showed Charlie Brown Christmas.

 This was after lunch but they had saved some and were eating during the movie!

 This boy kept coming to me for hugs and was hanging on me.  He obviously hungry for love and attention!

 Sweet Girls!

 Some more cuties!

 We of course had a pinata!

 Here we were passing out little gifts and apples, grapes and marshmallows (which is typical Christmas fruits here) for everyone at the end of our time together.

This is the team that helped us.  They were here with our friends Chris and Holly.

Vacation Schools 2014

Each year after our regular schools are done at the end of October we take 2 weeks and invite nearly 100 students between all 3 schools to take part in a 2 week program in which the learn just the basics of their school.  This is a lot of fun to see these students learn and grow.  It is an opportunity for them to not only learn a little accomplish a task  We take the time each day to pray and share Christ's love with them.  

We had 70 art school students.

Our friend, Brayan who lives right next door to us was there.

It is a great privilege we have to not only help these young men and women learn a trade but also  about the love and hope found in Jesus!

This was the project the carpentry school completed.

We closed today with some time sharing and giving out little diplomas and of course having a snack. 

Check out a quick video of these two weeks here. Thanks for your support in making things like this possible!

Fun Day at the Park

Each year as the school come to end we try and do something fun with all the students.  So this year we decided to go to a local park and have fun playing games, eating pizza and of course playing soccer!  We had almost all the students come so we had a great time together.

 We started the day off with a little singing and a devotional.  I encouraged the kids to use their time wisely during their vacation time to draw closer to God and do things that help them grow and stay out of trouble :)

 We separated into teams and came up with team names and cheers!

 Their are some serious dancers in the schools!

Then we played some crazy games that included mud, slip and slides, dancing and all kinds of crazy stuff!

We had some pizza for lunch too!

A fun time was had by all!  It is great to hang out with the students outside of the schools and outside of their homes.  

Please Pray With Me for Carlos Mom!

Many of you know Carlos our friend who works along side us in the leadership of Love Guatemala.  He is a great friend and a great leader for Love Guatemala.  His mom has been sick for the last few days and it has gotten very serious.  Last night they thought they were going to lose her.

They took her to the national hospital not to far from here, but they don't have the greatest service because it is the public hospital and there are a lot of patients.  After spending all day at the hospital and not getting any answers Carlos decided to go to a private hospital with much better care.  By this time his mom was not doing well at all and the National Hospital wanted to just send her home.

After several tests at the private hospital, they finally found out that her gall bladder was not functioning well and they need to remove it.  She will be having the surgery tomorrow.  So please pray with us that this surgery will go well and she will recover quickly.  

Another challenge they are facing is the financial one as this private hospital costs about $300 per day and the surgery is going to cost $2,000.  Please pray that God will provide for these needs and if you want to give towards this you can do so here.  Just mark for "Carlos' Mom" please.

Thank you for praying!

Julio - A Life Changed!

This is Julio our Spanish teacher.  We have been working with Julio ever since we moved here.  It has been awesome to be a part of his journey and see how God has changed his life!  God has had his hand all over Julio's life for years.  He has been working with missionaries here in Magdalena for years.  Each of them sharing about Jesus with him in their own way.  He had no chance! :)

As we have worked with him he has become more than just our teacher but our friend!  He loves our kids, especially Luke :)  We have had his family over for dinner and they have had us over for dinner.  We have been doing life with Julio and watching God change his life right in front of us.  We have had many conversations with him about faith, Jesus, the Bible and tried to answer his questions, sometimes crazy questions :). Every once and a while we get a Spanish lesson in!

It was so awesome to be able to go to his Baptism this past Sunday and see him publicly declare the change God has made in his life!  We are proud of you Julio and we love you!

83 And Going Strong!

We had the privilege of having Gordon (pictured about with my wife) in our home for a week last month.  Gordon was with a ministry called EMI or Engineer Ministries International.  He was here to help us with the design of our new facility for Love Guatemala.  I have never been able to spend a week with a man like him.  A man with his experiences, age and wisdom.  It was a lot of fun!

I think sometimes we can have the tendency to cross off those who are older as if they have nothing to offer or as if they can not accomplish anything anymore.  Gordon had traveled the world, worked as an Architect almost twice as long as I have been alive, been married for 52 years, led organizations of hundreds of people, walked with Jesus for many years etc. etc.  He had a lot to offer and at 83 is still traveling the world using his gifts to serve Jesus!

It was very cool how we connected with EMI and with Gordon.  We were at a missions conference here in Guatemala last year and there was a representative from EMI there.  Jennifer walked up to this gentleman whom she thought was representing a kids camp where we wanted to send Levi for summer camp.  So she began to talk with this man and got his business card.  Fast forward months later we contacted them and they came and checked out what we were doing here for a day.  Then last month sent Gordon and another man from the ministry Zack.

Zack is on staff with EMI and Gordon is a volunteer with EMI.  God was involved in bringing Gordon here.  He had worked on Trade Schools in the past in the US and had worked on large jobs in Central America.  I almost teared up as he shared his background as I sat in awe of how God had Gordon in mind for this role years ago.

God brought Gordon here for more than just designing a facility but to teach me a few things.  As the week wore on I asked Gordon as many questions as I could.  Questions like what was the secret to being so healthy at his age, how did he balance a large company, family and faith, what was the hardest thing he ever had to do as a leader of a large organization etc.  I learned so much, but what inspired me the most was his desire to serve and give of his time and energy and money at an age when most people are doing nothing.

I was reminded of Jesus words in John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." Gordon is living out a full and satisfying life which does not include a self-serving life!  Jesus help me to live out all my days to the full!