We visited the community that makes it's home in the city garbage dump for the second time this past week.    As our team stood around, conversing with the folks we'd met, I watched as several young men picked through the smoking, steaming piles of garbage, looking for recyclable materials. One young man with a huge bundle of plastic bottles has stopped foraging. He was so young compared to the others around him, maybe 22 years old. His eyes were hollow. He stared out past the garbage heaps, looking at the distant forest that was slowly being taken over by refuse. There...

    Through out my whole month here, God has spoken to me in so many ways. One thing that I can't get away from is the fact that I'm supposed to be His disciple. Last night we attended Pastor Rony's church, and when I say we attended, I mean we were the church in some sort of fashion. Sometimes I feel as if we're on tour here in Guatemala, we've visited so many churches, and at almost every one we perform a drama, spanish songs, which Belle plays on her guitar, and two of us share our testimonies. Then we get asked to take pictures with them and...

Forgive me if this blog post isn't as organized or as timely (it's a week late) as my others. I don't know why, but I have just struggled with finding the motivation to right this blog. It's not that God isn't good, or I'm not excited, I would just rather be doing ministry than writing this week. Which is why it has taken me so long to write this. Anywhos, over this last week God has REALLY opened my eyes to intercession, and how we are all called to intercession.  So what is intercession? According to dictionary.com, intercession is "an...

*Boom-chick, boom-chick, boom-chick, boom-chick* There it was again, that song we had sung every Sunday and Wednesday night for the past few weeks. Sitting strategically in one of the back rows of what our teams has come to lovingly call "Loud Church," I could easily see the entire room change before my eyes. The shoes were coming off. The song was starting. This wasn't just some worship chorus that you could passively participate in if you felt so inclined, this was an anthem, and an epic in every sense. It seemed to be a hybrid between a polka and the soundtrack from...

"Into the darkness you shine out of the ashes we rise there's no one like you none like You! Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other. Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God! Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other. Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!" Our God- Chris Tomlin   Sunday mornings here are always interesting. By Interesting I mean extremely confusing and slightly frustrating. My time at church is spent bouncing around the bible or trying to...

If you have ever spent time in Central America, you know what it's like to truly live in the moment. Unlike in the U.S., where some people make a conscious decision to focus on the present, in Central America you have no choice. At first it was alarming to not have each second of the day laid out on a schedule, handed to you a week in advance. I couldn't quite wrap my mind around the idea that when I asked what we would be doing during the day, the response was more often than not "I dunno, we'll see!" But as we've spent the last week in ministry, going...

"Desayuno, mi hija". Confused looks. Dramas. God has gifted us as humans, and especially this Guatemala team, with so many ways to communicate, and he is teaching me some powerful things through the resulting relationships.   "Desayuno, mi hija"      I don't know why (do we ever really know God's reasoning?), but God has really given me a heart and a love for Naomi. Naomi is the woman who bicycles twenty or so minutes each way to Casa Verde to cook our three meals every day (except Saturday) and help with cleaning around the...

One hazy afternoon, we walked into one of the most serene places I’ve ever been. The courtyard of the elderly home we had come to visit was filled with cacao trees and flowers in full bloom. It was incredibly quiet in contrast with the chaotic streets outside. Clothes lines were strung at random across the paths. The faded shirts and dresses appeared to be flags upon first look, moving gently in the cool breeze. Upon entering, we were directed to a pagoda where several of the residents were sitting quietly in the shade. Many of them struggled to rise and greet us. We tried to assure...

     It seems the resonating theme of this week, pertinent to Guatemala’s independence day being today, Saturday September 15th, is freedom.      Freedom was the overarching refrain that graced Sunday sermons these past few days. It was the underlying axiom that appeared in testimonies and freedom was the profound blessing that needed recognition in my life this week.      I tend to conceptualize freedom as a mandated, apportioned right, like everything the Constitution enumerates. But in fact, true freedom is not the right...

Today marks the 2 week anniversary of us being in Guatemala. When I try to think back on what all has happened I have a hard time remembering it all..   In two weeks God has brought 7 girls together and has forced them to be friends. We are all so close to each other and feel like we've known each other for centuries. We already have many inside jokes and continue to make more. It is absolutely amazing how we can share our struggles and triumphs and be there for each other through litteraly everything. For example, last Saturday I was having a hard day, and to make it...