4 Years in Guatemala...

On June 20th we will have been here in Guatemala for 4 years!  I can't believe how fast these years have gone by.  Even more so I can't believe all God has done in 4 years! A big thanks to all of you who have supported us and prayed for us and allowed us to be here serving for 4 years and God willing for many more! Here are lots of pictures of the last 4 years:

 Airport pictures the day we left.

 I can't believe how much the boys have grown in 2 years!

The boys haven't been back since we left. We are excited to make a trip back this fall for the first time as a family! They will have 5 new cousins to meet!

 The trip down.

 Our first guests: Jerry & Ben from Piedmont Church.

 Our little house we lived in for 3 months in San Lucas.

 Our "new" house under construction.

 Our first team from our home church, Indy Metro Church.

 Caleb's 3rd birthday

 Carpentry School

 Annual Christmas Lunch with kid's who would other wise not get any sort of Christmas.

 Carlos with his white elephant Christmas gift - Eyebrow Trimmer.

 Our first Christmas here.

The land we purchase in November of 2013 that is now under construction. (See pics of below)

Lukes 13th Birthday

Our friend Cesar.

Florida team in July 2013

Piedmont team in July 2013

Our 15th anniversary, August 1st, 2013.

Love Guatemala Teachers.

2013 Love Guatemala Graduation.

Cooking School ladies that graduated.

Jacob's 8th birthday.

Love Guatemala Race Fundraiser.

Family pics in December 2013

Virginia team in January 2014

First day of classes for Love Guatemala, January 2014

 Visit from our friend Bruce in March 2014.

 Ben & Jennifer's Trip Home in March 2014

 Indy Metro Team in March 2014.

Holy Week Celebrations, March 2014.

 Mother's day celebration!

 Luke's 14th Birthday!  I can't believe I have a 14 year old kid!

 Our friends Max and Angela visited.

 A 15 year old birthday party with Nancy who graduated last year from art school.

 The boys with their Mom on Mother's day!

 A few days away at the beach with friends!

Here is the construction of the Love Guatemala Vocational Training Center back in June of 2014.

Building after it was finished but not yet painted.

Below is after we painted it in July of 2015.

Our apartment inside of facilities.

 Family Picture Easter of 2015

Staff picture in 2015.

 Opening of Feeding Center July 2015.

Ben's Moms Visit in Sept 2015

Graduation 2015

Family Picture Christmas 2015

Love Guatemala Staff 2016.

Our last family picture in April of this year.

  God has done some amazing things in 4 years!  We are so excited to see what is in store as we continue to serve Him here.

Many have asked how much longer will you be in Guatemala.  The answer is we don't know but definitely will be here at least for 2-3 years more.  In some ways it feels like we are just getting started.  We want to stay as long as needed. So please continue to pray, give and support our family and Love Guatemala!

Thank you for your prayers and support and helping us give hope!

Mother's Day Celebration 2014

Mother's Day here in Guatemala is really big.  It is a major holiday and celebrated as such.  Which the United States should adopt in my opinion as Moms have a big impact on our lives!  I know my Mom has been the single greatest influence in many ways on my life!  Every school celebrates with parties, it is a national holiday here and many places are closed as everyone celebrates with their Moms.

It was not different for us at Love Guatemala.  We had a couple of celebrations with the Moms of our students.  One of the things we did was have every student make a gift for their Moms and present it to them.  Several of them got up to courage to honor and speak words of thanks to their Moms.  One of the big things we emphasize and teach in the school is respect for other people especially your parents.  Many of them have difficult relationships with their parents, especially their dads.  It was great to see them show respect and love to their Moms.  Slowly with time we are seeing God change the hearts and lives of our students and that is why we are here!  Thank you for continuing to pray for our students and staff that God would continue to change lives!  Enjoy a few pictures below of our celebration.

 The gifts the carpentry school students made for their moms.

 Of course, we had lots of good food made by the Cooking School!

 So cute!

We of course played some fun and embarrassing games with the Moms!

It was a great day!  We need to celebrate Moms more often and the 24/7 work they do for us!  Thank You Moms everywhere!  

I don't deserve this!

I sometimes sit and think about how good God has been to me.  About how much I have and how rich I am.  Not physically necessarily although I have much in perspective to all my neighbors, but more relationally.  Life when we boil it down to the basics is all about relationships and people.  We can not take much with us after this life, but we can take people with us.

I was reading this prayer of thanksgiving with the kids tonight after dinner from King David in 2 Samuel 7:18-19.  He kind of had this same feeling after the Lord revealed to him that his kingdom would be established forever. Check it out:

"Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:“Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human!"

King David is overwhelmed by God's goodness in his life and recognizes that we are yet mere humans and deserve nothing and yet God in his goodness, kindness and mercy gives us so much!  David recognizes God as the Sovereign Lord, the one who is control of it all, the one above it all and yet he desires to have a relationship with us and bless us as he does.

I can think of many things that God has given me that are gifts that I don't deserve.  Most of all is the gift of salvation God has given me through his son Jesus.  I don't deserve the wife and kids he has given me.  He has blessed us our family.  He has blessed the ministry we are blessed to be a part of.  I could go on and on.

But what about when we go through trials and difficulties?  So is God still good when we go through difficult times.  What about when we lose a loved one or lose our job?  What about....?  He is good and he is faithful even through the tragedy.  Often times we cannot see it and we forget it during these difficult times and the truth is we don't know why some of these things happen, but God doesn't cease to be good.  He is faithful and desires to help use through these difficult time as well.  He walks with us and never leaves us to go it alone.

I don't deserve it but He is so good to me!