Hello from Guatemala! :)

What a wonderful country! :) Everything here is so different and interesting and beautiful. We are blessed to have the most flavorful fruit i have ever tasted, for every single meal. I have really enjoyed being able to have quiet times in the hammock on the rooftop balcony. It's been sunny and warm almost every day. 
We've been working a lot with the homeless and with little kids, which has been really fun, really challenging, and really different. I think that ministering to the homeless is really difficult. We had the opportunity to hand out snacks, sleeping bags, and water to the homeless in Houston, and I just found myself really not knowing what to say. Now we're doing the same thing in a country where we don't speak the language. This is one of the many examples of how God is continually pushing on the boundaries of my comfort zone. :)
Today I gave my testimony for the first time on outreach, at a small church, and i was so nervous. Speaking through a translator takes a lot of the pressure off :)
Anyway, I really like it here a lot! I've had the chance to brush up a lot on my spanish, and learn (what feels like) a little. :) 
I also discovered that i have allergies to the black smoke/smog/exhaust that is all over in the city... my throat got really scratchy and my head is really stuffed now. I was getting headaches, but those have gone away, for now :)

Please be in prayer for:
- Andrea and Andre, a young mom and her son on the team. He has a broken arm and was struggling with a really bad cough for awhile, and it's really wearing on both of them.
- My health... it would be really nice to be able to breathe properly...i want to show off my soccer skills! :)
- direction for after outreach...
     -Come back for School of Evangelism
     -Work, go back to college
- Finances

Thanks everyone! I'll try to update more frequently! :)

 

We had to push our van after it broke down on the highway :)

Stateside Debriefing

Hey everyone! 
I'm back in Lindale on the base for today, then i'll be leaving for Guatemala tomorrow! So excited!

Houston Stateside outreach was awesome! We had the opportunity to minister in several churches and with several ministries reaching out to the homeless. I wish i had time to write about all of the great things that happened, but here are a few awesome things.


 Highlights: 
- I learned that quiet times are *imperative* on outreach. If i went without for a day, it was very obvious in how i acted and in how i felt. and each day, my quiet times were exactly in line with what i needed to hear to get through the day! it was amazing :)
- We were able to put on a vacation bible school after school in two of the poorer neighborhoods, and we were really able to love on the kids and show them God's heart for them.
- I also had the opportunity to pray for a girl (I felt like God was pointing her out to me) and she ended up crying because i prayed exactly what was on her heart without her even telling me about it. Praise God! She ended up bringing her younger sister up to me for prayer later on in the week because we did a chapel service at her school. God really brought a lot of healing through that!


All in all, stateside was really awesome! pray the same for Guatemala! :)
Love you all, and i'll update again as soon as i get a chance!

 

Photo of the Clincher Drama