I have been inspired, I have been challenged and I have been loved because of one man’s story. I hope that you will be touched just like I was, if not more. Before I begin, take a minute to ponder about what the phrase “love each other well” means for your life.   It was a typical Thursday afternoon here in Guatemala which means heading to the garbage dump to serve lunch and love the people that live there. When I arrived, I began to look around and wasn’t sure where I was supposed to go or what exactly I should do. I began to pray and I asked God to reveal...

Some of the team mates and I came up with this list over the last few weeks:   You know you’re a missionary in Guatemala when.. You can count the number of showers you’ve had in the last month on one hand You’re unrecognizable with makeup on You wear cargo shorts more than should ever be fashionably acceptable Wearing the same shirt four days in a row is normal Face sweat is a daily struggle – starting the second you roll out of bed You always hurry up to get somewhere and then wait for the locals to be “fashionably” an hour late Your mode of...

Friday i went to an orphanage for the first time. Before we left i wasn’t excited. On the way there i wasn’t excited. While we were waiting for the kids to come play i wasn’t excited. i was tired and impatient and not in the mood for cranky kids to crawl all over me. Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t work according to the mood of a tired, nineteen year old missionary (you should all be thankful for that, really). We were sitting outside, waiting, my team talking and laughing and making jokes as always. Questions such as “Why did we just come to wait around?” and...

God is doing crazy and insane things in Guatemala and I am absolutely in awe of how He is moving and working. He is capable of so much more than anything I could have ever imagined and I am watching Him work in mind blowing ways.   I was given the opportunity to visit the sweetest and sassiest woman at the hospital a week or so ago. My team had originally met her at the nursing home the week before, but she had an allergic reaction and became very sick and was taken to the hospital.   I am one of the few people who speak Spanish on our team and was asked to go with three other...

Over the fourth of July weekend, when our family was home cooking hotdogs and having barbeques, we had an adventure all our own. We spent our weekend in Livingston, a little island community about an hour boat ride away. From the moment we set our feet on the dock, it was one surprise after another. We walked in a parade, performed at a church, baptized one of our team members in the ocean, and rode in a speedboat over the caribbean. The Lord blessed us with big beautiful adventures, but the most impactful was when we met Jesus in a little shack.  Her name is Justine, she lives in a...

Here is a quick picture of what a typical day in Guatemala might look like: 1. A torrential downpour that can last for up to an hour and result in being completely drenched. 2. Losing power at random times and then not knowing when it will come back on again. A great time to get out the headlight! 3. Only being able to drink purified water because we are in a third world country and would be super sick if we drank anything else. 4. Drinking out of plastic bags that you bite the end of off and generally end up spilling all over yourself at some point. 5. Freezing cold showers that take your...

  “Before me no God was formed nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am The Lord and apart from me there is no savior” Isaiah 43:11-12   Thinking back to four weeks ago I realized something really unfortunate. As a baby Christian who honestly knew nothing about missionary work, I came into this mission trip with a “Savior’s mentality.” So here we are three weeks into this mission trip, standing ankle deep in rotting garbage and Vicks Vapor Rub under our noses. As we do every week there is worship, prayer, the most excited hand washing I have ever...

The God i serve is a God of hope. He is The One who came to save the lost, set the captives free, and beat death itself. He offers us a life filled with living hope, because He is living hope Himself! 1 Peter 1:3 sums it up pretty nicely, “According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ Himself.” I think I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me explain. Every Thursday we go to the city dump. We serve lunch, we wash the kiddos’ hands, we give out more tortillas than I can count, we laugh, we...

Hello there, I saw a quote by A.W. Tozer that said, “To see the glory of God, there must be self sacrifice involved.” Going farther in God is never something easily attained. It’s uncomfortable, messy, frustrating, scary, a test of trust, and death is involved….a death of me. Death of my fears, worries, plans, desires, SELFISHNESS, comfort, and ease. The path we walk on becomes more narrow and we are more aware of ourselves and where our feet lead us. We realize that the fear and stress surrounding us can’t fit on this path any longer. We realize that we...