With Love, Tienda Marlita

I know what you’re thinking: “What is a ‘tienda’?” Tiendas are a dime-a-dozen around Guatemala (Our joke is that there is a tienda every three doors). They are little convenience stores that sell sodas, chips, laundry soap, and other odds-and-ends.

Now, you are probably asking: “Who is Marlita?” Yeah…We still have no idea either.

Specifically, Tienda Marlita is the tienda that is directly across the street from our house. We have become regulars there and have become friends with the Guzman Morales family whom owns it (none of which are named Marlita). They are all very kind; Sandra (the current manager/owner/mom of the family) always calls us “mi amor” (my love), she is very sweet.
Well, last night my team was out at our bar/prostitute ministry when Pastor Roni got a call from our contact saying that we could come home now. When I heard that, I thought, “Wow…Did we really just get permission to go home? That’s weird.”

As our van pulled up in front of our house, we hear firecrackers be set off very close to the van. The sound of firecrackers is a daily occurrence in Guatemala, so we didn’t think anything of it except their proximity. I wish I could have seen our faces as we jumped out of the van as we see our good ol’ Tienda Marlita transformed from this:

(My friend and teammate Emily Richardson sitting outside our favorite hangout.)


To this:




Our Tienda Family contacted out hosts and said they wanted to bless us and make us all dinner to say thank you and to give us a nice send off since we are leaving Puerto Barrios next week. Wow! Feeding all 22 of us is NOT an easy task and we were told that this family does not have a lot of money so this was a very beautiful gesture. (Not to mention, there was hot chocolate. It’s actually been cold here the last couple of days and so spirits were high just on that gift alone.)

Today we got a better view as so just how special that dinner was. Paul, our contact, told us that that family has never done anything like this for any other missionary team. He said that the closest thing they have ever come to doing anything like this was cooking a previous team a meal and selling it to them for very cheap. AND we are the largest team they have ever had here so it was definitely a sacrifice for this family.

Somewhere along the line, through our patronage and exchange of pleasantries and miscommunications, apparently we have made an impression on the Guzman Morales family. Through this God has shown me that you affect people even when you don’t realize you are and that every opportunity you are given is an opportunity to minister and to shine Christ’s light.

Once Upon A Dream

My team has been plagued with “Only-One-Month-Left” syndrome. Home has been a huge topic of discussion as well as the countdown until we’re home again. I try to not take part in these conversations because I’m trying to stay present while I’m here, but it is incredibly tough when I miss home so much.

This brings me to the dream that I had the other night. I dreamt that I was on an airplane on my way from Guatemala to home and my mom is in the seat next to me (why she is there, I have no idea). It felt completely normal to be heading home. We leave the airplane and we go straight to her work so I can say hi to everyone there. They welcomed me home and then we went to my old workplace. I was surrounded by “Hi! How are you?! How was Guatemala?? When are you coming back to work??” This dream felt completely real. I literally felt like I was home seeing all of these familiar faces again.

I suddenly realized something. How did I get here? I don’t remember saying goodbye to everyone…I don’t remember crying when I left…Surely I’m going to cry. I don’t remember leaving Guatemala. I look at my mom and I say, “I’m sorry, mom…But I think this is a dream.”

A while later I woke up and I was pumped that I was still in Guatemala. All I could do was thank the Lord for that dream and that I was still here and I hadn’t just let this time slip through my fingers. That dream granted me a new outlook on this last month. I’m going to try my hardest to be present here and to enjoy each day and ministry while I still have the opportunity.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers! Please continue to pray for my team and I and that we will finish out our trip strong. Please pray that the countdown will disappear and that we will live for the moment and not what is down the road.

This weekend we took a four day trip to Honduras! This trip served two purposes: to experience ministry in Honduras and to renew our visas. While there we visited elementary schools, about four different churches, and visited house-to-house praying, evangelizing, and inviting families to church. While we were there, we were told a lot of information that was incorrect; plans were constantly changing and we never knew what was going on.

One day we were broken into three groups and were sent to three different schools. I was told that each group would be hanging out with a different age group and that our group would be with really young kids. Since I was deemed the leader of my group, I put together a list of songs and skits that we could perform for the kids. Right before leaving to go to the school, I was told that we didn’t need to perform for the kids unless we wanted to; our time with them could look however we wanted.

When we arrived, there were a lot of kids of various age groups running around, but I didn’t think anything of it. I thought they would just walk us through the school to where the young kids were. As Julian and I were walking through the hallways we were praying that our time there would be successful and fruitful. As soon as Julian finished praying, he turns to me and says, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we were performing for the whole school?” ......Famous last words. As we round the corner, we see ALL the kids waiting for us in their quad area. This is what we see.




I freaked out. This is not what I expected. This is not what I was told. What are we even supposed to do?! Julian prayed again that God would go before us and He most certainly did. The kids loved our songs and skits and were eager to participate when we offered to let them recreate the skits. What a great testament that there is nothing unexpected with God. He knew that we would be thrown a curveball and He prepared the kids’ hearts to receive us and our hearts to be flexible. He is always faithful.

So Many Churches, So Little Time

Before this trip, when I would ask what kind of church someone attends, I only thought of answers such as Methodist, Catholic, Mormon, Presbyterian and other answers of the sort. Little did I know that varieties of churches expand far beyond denomination. So I have decided to dedicate this blog to tell you about all of the different kinds of churches I have attended here in Guatemala (and in the last 4 days in Honduras).

We attend El Calvario on a fairly regular basis. For the most part, this church is like a lot of churches back at home (However, not air conditioned…) except for their worship. I feel as if this church plays the same three songs every week, but those songs are powerful (even though I don’t understand the words, I still love them too). This church has a stage where the band plays but then there is a shorter stage where at least half of the congregation runs up to just dance for the Lord during worship.

We once attended a Pentecostal church. What was really cool about that church was that it congregated in an old boat house on a dock. Many of the members even ride in canoes to attend the church. They were very conservative (The women had their heads covered the entire time) and the pastor was very welcoming.

Just last week we were a part of two services that took place on a soccer field (in the rain, mind you). I really enjoyed those because we made a lot of noise and that caused people to stop and listen.

A couple of Sundays we have visited the church in the MarBrissa Hotel. Wow. Air conditioning. Coffee. Worship music by Hillsong. Podcast sermons on a projector screen. It is the nicest looking church we have been to in Guatemala (but we all know that looks aren’t everything; this is merely an observation).

On the other side of the fence, we have also attended many churches that meet on house porches, in yards, and under shelters made of rusting metal.

My favorite church that we have been to was the Iglesia de Dios Adulam in Honduras. This church meets in a ‘panderia’…A bread shop. The pastor of this church, Pastor Marcial is so kind, caring, and hilarious. His family has a hand in all of the different ministries: His son David plays the piano and leads the worship band, his daughters Maryli and Sara are on their dance team (A wonderful group of dancers that dance as a part of worship), and his wife who is just simply wonderful and a mother to all. We only worked with this church for four days, but they really took us under their wing and we became very attached.

Over the past two months I have experienced a crazy amount of church styles and locations. What is awesome about these different churches is that they are all wonderful. They are all focused on Jesus. They are all working toward a common goal. They are all our family in Christ. I’m excited to see what other churches are out there.

Free Day Adventure

(Here I am with Sindy, our friend who works at Pollo Campero, Walker, Jeffrey our "Taxi Driver", and Joel.)

There have been a lot of crazy stories from this trip to Guatemala, but the one from today’s free day was definitely up there in the rankings. This morning some of my teammates and I decided to have our clothes washed at a laundry mat (Or ‘lavandaria’ as they are called here) for a mid-trip deep cleaning. The way the lavandarias work is that you drop your laundry off, they wash, dry, and fold them, and then you pick them up later. So some of my teammates went to drop the clothes off and then others went to pick them up; I was with the latter group. So Walker, Joel, and I walked down to the main road to try to catch a taxi. Taxis are usually a dime-a-dozen around here, but tonight they were hard to come by. After several minutes, we saw an empty taxi and Joel asked if he would take us where we needed to go. The driver seemed a bit hesitant, but graciously accepted.

About a minute into our journey, our driver asks Joel, “Where are you from?” Whoa...Once you live in Guatemala, you never expect to hear English. So it turns out that our driver is this goofy, awesome guy named Jeffrey, who lived in Rhode Island for a while and knows some English. Then he drops this bomb on us: “You know…this isn’t my car. I’m borrowing this from my friend. I’m not working. I’m not a taxi driver.” Umm…What do you do with that information?!

So we make it to the lavandaria and the boys get out of the car without paying Jeffrey. I say, “Guys…we need to pay him.” But then Joel tells me that he’s going to wait for us and then take us back to the house. Our clothes weren’t quite ready, so we just sit there with Jeffrey chatting. We tell him how we are working with Shofar Ministries and he tells us about working in Rhode Island and how his family works in radio.

After we pick up our laundry and pack it in his car, we start to head toward the main street when Jeffrey turns around and says he’s going to take us to the beach (granted most of the “beaches” here don’t have sand…They are just rocks or concrete right up against the water). I got kind of concerned at this point; where is he really taking us? But Joel and Walker didn’t seem to be concerned so I just tried to enjoy the adventure. We went to a part of the beach that we have never been to and it was sunset and it was absolutely beautiful.

So, once again, we get back in the car and start to head back toward our house. On the way there, Jeffrey says, “I want coffee. You guys want coffee? Let’s get coffee.” Oh man, where is this guy taking us? Our next stop is a gas station. There we don’t buy gas or coffee, but instead we pick up Jeffrey’s friend Ronny.

Then all of us head to Pollo Campero (Kind of like a KFC…but not) where we all order stuff to eat and we end up talking for another hour. We ended up spending about 4 hours with Jeffrey. I have experienced a lot of crazy things here in Guatemala, but tonight takes the cake.

Though I Walk Through The Valley of The Shadow of A Volcano...

Yesterday (I wrote this on October 21, 2011) I went on the biggest adventure of my life thus far (You know…except for the whole moving to Guatemala for 3.5 months thing…). We were in Antigua, Guatemala for our mid-trip debrief and so a few of the girls and I decided to go on a hiking tour of the Pacaya Volcano. I almost didn’t go, but I knew I would regret it if I didn’t. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

We arrived at the start of the tour and there are a ton of boys around the age of 10 all trying to get us to rent their walking sticks. They were relentless, as were the men trying to rent horses to ride up and down the volcano. I refused both options and started the hike up the hill. I didn’t make it very far before my asthma kicked in and my lungs began to burn. I didn’t want to give in and get a horse, but one of my teammates haggled with them and got the price of the horses down to a quarter of the price so 4 of us ended up riding horses up and down the volcano (which was really cool because I’ve never ridden a horse before!)

We made it to the top of the volcano and it was the coolest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. It was so cold and really foggy (I’m pretty sure we were in the middle of a cloud), but every once in a while the sun would peak through the cloud and all we could do was marvel at God’s beauty. While up there we got to crawl through this little cave that was SO warm inside and then we got to roast marshmallows on the volcano!

Well, this is when our adventure took an interesting turn. We realized that the sun was setting while we were at the top and we knew it wasn’t long before we wouldn’t have any light at all to get back down the volcano. We kept trying to tell our tour guide that we needed to go and that it was getting dark, but all he kept saying was that the horses have better eyesight than we do (that wasn’t very comforting to me let alone the people who didn’t have horses).

By the time we made it back to where our horses were, it was pitch dark. We were at the mercy of our guides and horses. I could barely make out the silhouette of the man guiding my horse and so I definitely couldn’t see the rest of the group.

As I clutched the saddle with all of my might as we descended the steep volcano, all I could do was pray: “Dear Jesus, keep us safe. Give us steady feet. Give our horses steady hooves. Make the horses and the guides see as if it were daylight.” I was so scared I almost began to cry but I continued to lean on my Jesus for comfort, security, and safety.
Crazy enough, God showed me that even though I can’t see ahead of me, He can. Although I was really scared, I knew that He was going to take care of us. I’m going to make more of an effort to rely on the fact that even though I can’t see my next step in life, Jesus can and will guide my feet.

Obviously, we made it down safe and sound and even though it was the scariest day of my life, I got to experience something not everyone gets to. Not only that, but I did so with some awesome Godly women and I got to experience a reliance on God that I never have before.

Debrief: De-Funk

Warning: My team is not the same team we used to be.

I fully believe that God is moving and that the second half of our trip will look competely different from the first half.

The last few weeks have looked pretty dark around our house. We have fallen into this funk of more complaining and ministry has become more of what we have to do rather than what we get to do.

We are at mid way debrief in Antigua, Guatemala right now and this is exactly what we needed. When we arrived we found out that a couple World Race teams are staying at our same hostel! They have only been on the race for about 2 weeks and so their fresh look on ministry and this journey is definitely what we needed. I got the opportunity to talk to a guy named Ryan and he was telling me how this is his home now. He doesn't have an apartment, a job, or any stuff back in the states, so this is his life and his home now and that he gets to minister and work for the Lord rather than having to. That really spoke to me and the Lord pressed on my heart that I needed to talk to my team about this.

The next night we had a night of worship and afterward Joel was prompted by the Lord to ask if anyone had anything on their hearts and I knew that that was my que. I told everyone that we needed to, as a team, realize that our words are powerful and that speaking with such negativity will only continue to bring us down and that when we go back to Puerto Barrios it doesn't have to look the same way as the first half.

As the evening went on, I heard a lot of people say that they felt the same way and I feel a concensus that we are all going to be more intentional with ministry, our attitudes, and pouring into each other. Please be praying for us as we start this second leg and that God will make Himself known.

Mi Amigo Nacho

Back home, all of my friends know that I have a deep desire to adopt children once I am married and settled. That decision came about around five years ago. My friend and I were talking about how many kids we wanted to have and surprisingly he said none. I was so confused because I want to have 10. He then said some of the wisest words I have ever heard: “Why would I bring more kids into the world when there are so many out there that I could give a good home to.” Those words went straight to the core of my heart.
Now, let me tell you about my little friend Nacho. Nacho is a little boy that I met at the Special Needs School that we go and visit every week. He is an adorable 6 year old boy (but is the size of a 3 year old) who likes to cause trouble (I don’t know how many times I have had to wrestle my glasses away from him), has a contagious laugh, and who has stolen a piece of my heart. I look forward to seeing him every time we go to the school.
Well, a couple weeks later we visited my favorite ministry site, the orphanage, for the first time. Going to the orphanage already makes my heart sad, but when I saw my little amigo Nacho running around there, my heart broke. I know I don’t know the circumstance as to why he is at the orphanage, but to think that this little boy whom I care about very much doesn’t have a family to love him, to tell him how special he is, and to cultivate the potential he possesses makes me ache to be a part of a family who will do that for God’s children someday.
Through that ministry, God confirmed what was stirred up in my heart so many years ago; I am supposed to adopt, love, and care for children that are not mine. Clearly, this is not going to happen any time soon, but I do believe that this is a part of His plan for me and I cannot wait.

Skyscraper

Here are two of my awesome teammates, Joel and Amanda, singing Demi Lovato's "Skyscraper." They are too awesome!

Lo siento. No entiendo.

This is a phrase I have become very familiar with here in Guatemala. “Lo siento. No entiendo.” Translates to “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.” I haven’t had one conversation with a local that does not include me saying this at least once. The communication barrier has been a huge struggle for me. Like I said in my last blog, how am I supposed to share Jesus with the Guatemalans if I can’t communicate with them? I just keep thinking to myself, “If only I could ask this question, then I would know how I could pray for them specifically” or “If only I knew their background, then I could show them love better.” I attributed my inability to share the gospel with the fact that I don’t understand the language.

Now…Get ready for this next revelation. As I was having this conversation with myself, the next question that popped into my mind was, “If the language barrier is why I feel incapable of sharing the gospel here, what is my excuse for when I’m back home?” Ooh…Ouch. Thank you, God, for that reality check.

Before leaving home, I had a conversation with a friend about missions and sharing God’s word. She was saying how she didn’t think she could be in missions because she gets too scared sharing God in her own town. I told her that it seems to be easier to share Jesus when you’re out of your comfort zone because you don’t have anyone to impress. Lately, however, God has been teaching me that I don’t have to impress anyone and all I need to worry about is loving and following Him. Yes, I may step on some toes. Yeah, I might be labeled around town as the crazy, Christian girl. But, really, what does that matter if I am following the King of Kings.

When I get back home, I am going to make a conscious effort to share Jesus when the opportunity presents itself. If someone needs prayer, I’m not just going to tell them that I’ll pray for them; I’ll stop what I’m doing and pray for them right then and there. It may not be acceptable by the world’s standards, but my God created the world and wants me to live apart from the world.

Dios es Fuerte!!

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Here are my awesome teammates Walker and Joel performing a skit at the Special Needs School. We LOVE visiting there! I think we all agree that it is our favorite place to visit. The whole team loves this skit as well...I can't help but laugh every time I see it!

Hey guys! Here is a video of my awesome leaders Julian and Glenalyn and my rad teammate Alex. Apparently there is just somethign about Alex that causes Julian to randomly break out in song about him. And, no, it wasn't really Alex's birthday.

A Brand New Day

Warning: I am not the same person I was last week. This week has been full of growth. Last week I broke down. I was feeling inadequate and on the outside of my team. I pulled my leader Julian to the side and asked him to pray for me, but before that happened two of my friends, Joel and Walker, walked over and I poured my heart out to them and told them how I was feeling. They all prayed for me and spoke truth over me. After that I talked to my other leader, Glenalyn, and while talking to her I realized that I have built my view of myself entirely on lies. All 22 years of my life I have told myself that I’m not pretty enough, not talented enough, not worthy of love. I’ve always known that I was self-conscious, but this was a harder reality.
Confession time: When I got to Guatemala, the realization that I have no way of communicating with the people here hit me hard and made me question my role on this trip. How in the world am I supposed to me a missionary and share Jesus when all I can say is “Hello! How are you? What is your name? How old are you?” This only added to my insecurities.
Two nights ago during feedback, one of my teammates expressed how she didn’t feel like herself. She talked about how her energy level was really low and how unusual that was and how the language barrier was really getting to her. That was exactly how I was feeling as well.
Last night we had a night of worship, just the team at the house. That was when I really went to the Lord and told Him how I was feeling. He revealed to me that *I* was getting in the way. He showed me that He is most important and that I shouldn’t worry about what others think or say or do. I felt Him telling me that the language barrier shouldn’t keep me from learning what He has to teach me and that I can still work to further His kingdom even if that isn’t through words. He also showed me other things that were standing in the way of my relationship with Him, which was very humbling, but it was also beautiful to finally understand and to know what I need to work on specifically.
After that, God pointed me toward Ecclesiastes. Unfortunately I don’t have a specific verse to share with you that really stuck out to me; it is just the theme of the book. Everything is meaningless. I have heard so many people refer to Ecclesiastes as being a depressing book because it sounds like it’s pointless to do anything but, being a perfectionist, I find freedom in it. I work so hard to please everyone and to do my best in everything, but ultimately it is not about the world and accomplishing things here, but it is about pleasing God, every day, all the time.

Say Queso!

Hey everyone! Here's the link to the pictures I posted on Facebook of my trip! Enjoy!!!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150326078579800.354792.502809799&l=e5707f0ca9&type=1

A Happy Guatemalan Birthday

Yesterday was my 22nd birthday and God blessed me with the opportunity to celebrate it with my amazing team in Guatemala. Little did I know the celebration would start at 5AM. I heard rustling outside of my bedroom door and then a round of firecrackers exploded as my whole team flooded into my room and began singing Happy Birthday. I have become accustomed to hearing those firecrackers around Guatemala and so my roommates were more scared of the firecrackers than I was. =P I quickly figured out what was going on, but I was so confused as to why they would decide to do that at 5AM, but Kevin told me it was Guatemalan tradition.
We all went back to bed and then when we woke back up, we went out into a neighborhood in Santo Tomas and asked families if we could pray for them. I was walking around with Joel, Emily N., Amanda, and Jordan, and while we were roaming around we came across this little tienda (a little snack shop) and decided to stop and talk to the family who runs it. They were so kind and hospitable. They brought out chairs for us to sit on and they gave us each a small Coke. We talked for about an hour and prayed for them. Joel told them it was my birthday and as we were leaving one of the ladies gave me a small watermelon as a gift. I have to say, that is one of the coolest gifts I have ever received. On our way back to the van, we met a lady who owned a little tortilla stand. Joel heard her singing, stopped, and we ended up singing with her and then praying for her.
That afternoon, we broke into different groups and went into a bar district to pray for more families living in that area. This time I was with Alex, Jordan, Kathy, and Derek. We only made it to one house because the first lady we came to was so kind and welcoming and talked our ears off. She welcomed us into her house, made us coffee, gave us sweet bread, and introduced us to her kids. She talked really fast and we could barely understand what she said, but she was so nice that it was just nice to be around her. Her daughter even asked for all of our email addresses so she could find us on facebook. If that was all I did for my birthday, that would have been a heck of a birthday, I was so blessed by meeting all those amazing people, but God continued to bless me.
That night, after feedback (Feedback is when we all gather together and have time to call out what you saw in your fellow teammates during the day. This includes encouragement as well as constructive comments.), Katie and Tracey walked out of the kitchen with cake and ice cream (the best cake ever, I might add!). According to the candles on my cake, I turned 43 years old. They said that they were the only candles they had at the store. =P Then they presented me with my gift, which was a giant card (it was originally a Valentine’s Day card which they modified to fit the occasion) that they had all signed. We then had a dance party and then played charades. It was the best birthday ever. During feedback, my friend Walker said that it was a pleasure getting to spend my birthday with me…But really, it was the greatest pleasure to spend my birthday with all of them.

TIG: This is Guatemala

When I heard we were going to visit the garbage dump to talk to the people who lived there, I was excited. Since this is my second time in Central America and having seen how much trash just lies around in the streets, I imagined houses being built from scrap metal right by the mounds of trash. What I saw was exactly what I imagined, but I was still surprised by the reality of it. Our friend Kevin (he is a 19 year old missionary from Guatemala who is living with us) told me that people live there because they don’t have the money to live everywhere else and that they search through the garbage for any plastic, aluminum, or glass that could possibly be recycled for money. I was so overwhelmed that I almost couldn’t move. All I could do was pray for these people and that they would know how much God loves them and that He has bigger plans for them. I started thinking that this situation is the epitome of “rock bottom.” If I were in that situation, I would think to myself that I was not worthy or able to overcome it. So I just prayed that God would reveal to them that He created them for something much bigger than what the world has handed them. After that, all I could do was ask God, “Now that I have seen this with my own eyes, what do you want me to do with this information?” I’m still not sure of the answer, but I know that God is working on me.


That night God reminded me of Ecclesiates 3:1-11 :


1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.


I felt God telling me that THIS is that time. It is the time for all of those things. To build relationships. To break down walls. To love. To give up expectations and things that hold us back. To search for who God wants me to be. THIS is that time.

(P.S. The guys in the picture at the top of this post are two of my teammates, Walker (standing) and Alex. They are amazing men of God.)

If God is with us, who could be against us?

Written on September 11, 2011
Oh my goodness, guys. This has been quite the adventure and I haven’t even been here quite a week yet. The first few days in Guatemala were incredibly difficult. It is so hard waking up and realizing you’re not home and won’t be home for months yet. Each day is getting better and better though. Each day we meet more and more people and are doing more and more, so it takes my mind off of home. It’s also encouraging to know that I am not the only one feeling this way. Many of my teammates have expressed the same feelings.

God has definitely been watching over us. We have already had one hospital visit and the guys’ “apartment” flooded, but all is well! Just a couple days into being in Guatemala, we started rehearsing some plays and songs that we are going to perform for some local churches. Well, there is a part where a couple people toss the character of Jesus back and forth and then he falls to the ground. Well, Joel was playing Jesus and he said to the other guys, “Really throw me guys; I know how to fall.” Famous last words. The third time he hit the ground, he was out for the count. We all heard his shoulder pop and he was taken to the hospital right then and there. Well, the power was out on that day, so he wasn’t able to get an x-ray, but went back the next day and found out that his shoulder was just compressed and bruised and will be fine after two weeks in a sling. Praise God! I would have cried if Joel would have been sent home. He is such a light and an encourager. I’m so blessed to have him on this trip.

A couple days later I was washing some clothes in the pila (Pronounced “pee-la” – it is this concrete sink with 3 basins that is outside. The right side is for washing dishes, the center is clean water, and the left side is has ridges for washing clothes. I feel very accomplished by washing my laundry in that thing!) and I saw people running back and forth from the boys’ little apartment to our big house (Okay, you have to understand our housing situation before I continue. We have the main house where the leaders and all of the girls are sleeping and then there is a little house off to the side where the most of the boys are living…But that little house consists of one room and one bathroom, so five boys are sleeping on mattresses on the floor in this one room.). So I see them running around, but I don’t pay much attention until I hear our leader Julian say to Alex, “Alex…Alex! You have to go, man, your room is flooding! All your stuff is wet!” So obviously, it wasn’t just Alex’s stuff…It was everyone’s…All of their mattresses, their bags, everything. As the story goes, Joe was in the bathroom and the sink just fell off of the wall! He wasn’t using it or anything! The amazing thing was that the guys were all super cool and calm about it. They cleaned up their room, laid their mattresses out to dry, and came and slept on the flood in the hallway of our main house.

Yesterday was a great day. We went out in the morning and walked through the market and asked lots of the vendors if we could pray for them. A few said no, but many said yes. We met one lady who stood about 4 feet tall and she was so sweet. She told us she is a Christian and she said she was praying for us! How cool is that?!

Last night we drove down to the park and played basketball and soccer with the locals. While we were there, a legit women’s soccer team showed up and wanted to play against a team of our girls! Our girls were super pumped but knew they were going to be demolished! =P (I didn’t play, just watched. I also took some videos and “interviewed” some of our players)There were lots of people watching and everyone could tell that the Guatemalan ladies weren’t even playing with half of their effort. It was so funny to watch, but very entertaining….But that’s not even the craziest part…After the game ended, we found out that three of the players on their team are on the NATIONAL TEAM OF GUATEMALA! What an experience!!!

I love you all and I miss you sooo terribly much!
Love,
Jennifer

September 5, 2011
Hey everyone!
Training camp has been quite the experience. We have done and learned so much. My teammates are wonderful. I cannot say enough good things about them. Every time someone asks for some guys to do something, the guys from the Guatemala team are the first to stand up and help. The girls are so caring and genuine. We make an amazing team. I love that we are from all over the states and all have different accents (Joel – who is also from Washington - said he could tell I was from up north because I had a more Canadian sound to my voice. =P ). We are all very anxious to fly out tomorrow (September 6th) morning for Guatemala! As much as I am not looking forward to fly, I am more at ease about it because I will be with this family (Please pray that I can actually sit next to one of them!).
Yesterday we learned a lot about hearing from God. We were given the “assignment” (if you will) to, as a team, paint a canvas of what our vision for Guatemala is. So we all sat in a circle and asked God for His vision. We then came together and painted the painting you see at the top of this post. (the first picture has a lot of my teammates in it, but not all.)

My relationship with the Lord is strengthening and I am very excited to see who I become through this process. I have found one person in particular that I have been able to confide in and I am so encouraged and blessed to have her with me on this team.
I’m excited to get to Guatemala and bust out my guitar! =D
Next time you hear from me, I’ll be in another country. =) We have been told that we will have internet access once a week, so I’ll try to keep you all posted. It may be vague, because the details are hard to articulate, but I will let you know what’s going on.
I love you all and miss you so much!
Jennifer

September 3, 2011
Hey Y’all, (in the words of my teammate Jordan, saying “Y’all” makes life so much easier. I never thought I would agree….And then I went Southern.)
Today is only day two with my teammates (Technically, I haven’t even been with them 24 hours yet), but we are already becoming a family. I arrived at the airport around 2 pm yesterday (September 2) and I was only the 4th person to arrive from my team. As more and more trickled in (there are 21 Guatemala team members and 2 leaders), you could immediately tell how well we already mesh. They are huggers; how beautiful. =D Once we all got together, our team leaders presented us with “Fun Envelope #1”! This contained enough money for us to ride the subway straight to downtown Atlanta, walk our packs through downtown (Yeah, we were quite the sight to see walking through the city just as if we were hiking in the mountains.), to where we were going to stay the first night. We assumed we were going straight to the AIM headquarters…Nope. We arrived at a homeless shelter called the “Safe House.” There we had dinner (PB&J, an apple, and chips. One of my teammates had never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before and another one has a legitimate fear of fruit and was unable to eat anything other than her chips.)
After dinner, we were told about stories of previous missionaries, from AIM and not from AIM, and we were told that our stories and invaluable. They are precious and unique. So, shortly after that, we opened Super Fun Envelope #2. This gave us directions to go out (between the hours of 9pm and 1am) to downtown Atlanta and hear stories. We were given the challenge to hear a story, tell a story, and to see how they connect with God’s story.
Well, this was no ordinary evening in Atlanta. This weekend Atlanta is hosting DragonCon. What is DragonCon? Yeah, I had no idea what it was either. Apparently it is this huge convention that celebrates comic books, movies, books. Most everyone was dressed up and when in doubt, dress as a zombie. I have a terrible time with going out and purposefully trying to talk to people and share Christ with them. So at first, I was just praying for my other teammates and my team leader Glenalyn introduced me to “prayer chatting.” This is where Glenalyn prayed out loud, but to everyone else it just looked as if she was talking with me.
Just being there intimidated me, but Glenalyn was telling me that those kind of events are sometimes the only places these people feel safe and like they belong. That hit me. I can make friends just about anywhere and the thought of only having ONE safe place astounded me.
This morning we packed back up, walked back through town, and got on our busses to come to the official training camp in Gainesville, Georgia. And it is HOT. I’m so stoked for my shower from a hose tonight!
I love you all and I can’t wait to tell you more about everything!
Love,
Jennifer

Family

September 2, 2011.
Before heading to Guatemala, I met up with my family in Georgia. I met two of my dad’s brothers, their wives, and lots of cousins. I was excited, but nervous as well. They were amazing. We looked through photo albums and I heard stories. They are going to get me copies of pictures of my dad. One moment that stands out above the rest was when I met my cousin Ben. The first thing I heard out of his mouth was, “She looks like a McLain.” I never thought I would ever hear that in my entire life. Later, he and I were talking and he said that he had always wondered about the other McLain’s that he knew were out there. I was in disbelief. I told him that I thought I had just been forgotten and he understood why I would feel that way and reassured me that they all wondered about me.
That night we all went out to dinner (Might I add…We went to a steakhouse that has peanuts on all of the tables and you throw the peanut shells on the ground! No lie, I’ve always wanted to go to one of those places!) and we talked and laughed and told stories and were family. I am so glad I took advantage of that opportunity.

How it all began...

In 10 days, I will be boarding a plane and starting on this crazy adventure God has in store for me. I will be living in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala for the next three and a half months. So for all of you who don’t know my story, here’s how this all began.

Last summer I went on my very first mission trip. I spent ten days in Honduras and it changed my life forever. When I came home, I knew that was not the end of mission work for me. I loved the people I met and they still have a very special place in my heart. The culture was immensely different from ours and I loved learning all the differences, living with them, and worshiping God alongside them. I knew I wanted to go back, but I didn't know how to. After talking to my best friend about my heart to return to missions, she reminded me of the trip her sister went on. She went on a trip called the World Race with an organization called Adventures in Mission. I was really intrigued by this idea, so I started looking into all the trips that AIM offers. I looked at it for months and prayed and prayed about what God wanted me to do. Eventually, I decided that I needed to open some doors to see which ones God wanted to close.

So in January I applied (I had my application prepared for months…I just didn’t have the courage to hit “Submit” until then.) to what AIM calls a “Real Life” trip to Guatemala. Real Life trips are for young adults ages 18 to 22 and are quarter long trips. Two days later I had my phone interview and five days later I got a call saying that I had been accepted. I was beyond excited!....For the first day. Then the fear set in. How in the world would I pay for this? And there are TONS of extra expenses….And I won’t know anyone! And I’ll have to leave my mom and friends. And I don’t know the language….And I have to quit my job. No, I can’t do this. After you are accepted on a trip with AIM, they give you two weeks to “accept their acceptance.” I prayed and prayed….I was so confused. Thank God I have some amazing friends. I told my best friend Dan and as soon as I started to tell him that I wasn’t sure if I should go, he said, “NO…Jenn, you are going and you are going to work for the Lord.” I continued to pray and I felt God giving me more and more reassurance as the two weeks passed. I talked to my mom and what I thought she would be concerned about, she wasn’t at all. And the things she was worried about, I wasn’t worried about at all. That made me feel more comfortable about this situation. And I remembered that I will be turning 22 in September, so this is the last year I could possibly go on this trip. But the biggest confirmation came straight from God. While I was praying one day, He reminded me of how I ended up going on my trip to Honduras and how I was searching for something to do and then a friend directed me to that trip (Mind you, I’m terrified of flying), and then another friend directed me to this trip…I felt God tell me, “I’ve been working on this for a while. Remember; Stairsteps.” I couldn’t believe it. God was telling me that those were steps to this step….And this step is going to lead to an even bigger step. On the 14th day of my two weeks, I submitted my acceptance.

After this, everything fell into place. I sent out my support letter and within two weeks, I started getting support money. Let me tell you, this is an exciting and humbling process. I am humbled that God would choose me to do His work and humbled that all my friends and family have the faith in me as well that they would give their hard earned money to support me. I am so grateful and I still cannot believe I’m going. God also blessed me by having all of the money raised for my trip two full months early. I am fully funded and all I had to do was send out support letters. Wow! God is great.

I am enjoying every part of this process. From going backpack shopping with my bestie Hannah to writing my support letter and telling everyone about this grand journey to sharing my work for Jesus with my coworkers and customers at work…It has all been great. One of my favorite parts, though, is getting to know my teammates! Although we haven’t met in person yet, we have talked a lot on Facebook and are helping one another out with packing, planning, and praying for each other. We are from all over the states and I cannot wait to learn from them and work with them.

Not everything is a piece of cake though. I could definitely use some prayer as I am VERY scared about not having a job when I get back. I have to keep reminding myself that God wants me to go on this trip and He has provided the way, so He isn’t going to just say, “Thanks for the work. Later!” when I come home. He will continue to take care of me, but sometimes I have a hard time remembering that. I am also terrified about flying. And this will be the first time I fly alone. I leave here on August 31st, fly to Denver, change planes, and then fly to Georgia. Once I arrive in Georgia, I am going to spend 2 nights with some of my family whom I’ve never met (I’m very excited!), and then meet up with my team on September 2nd. We will stay in Georgia for four days of training camp and we are off to beautiful Guatemala! That’s a lot of air time. Please keep me in your prayers.

That’s my story. =D I plan on keeping you updated over the next four months, but I’m also not sure how much internet time we will have. I’m going to try to type up my blogs and then post them when I have the opportunity. So please keep checking back!
Thank you for all your prayer and support!

Love,
Jennifer

Here is a link to a video about Real Life. Please check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9zYSfs8A1A