The Beginning of Something Beautiful

Well everyone, first I want to apologize for the lack of updates. I´ve been extremely busy and haven't had the chance to really update this. I'm now relaxing at home after a long day on the beach and am finally able to sit down and take my time and present you all with a real update. I´m going to have two parts to this message. This first section will be an update on the what I've been doing. Yes this section is extremely important but I also want to add another section. My second section is going to be a spiritual update. I've been down here for nearly a month and have really started to notice some changes in myself. This second section is extremely important. I can be doing all the good things I want down here but if I'm not growing spiritually and connected to God, am I really doing missions work? Well lets go ahead and get this started!

SECTION 1

Well it's no lie that I have had an extremely busy week. My first week in Guatemala city was full of work and fun. I was suprised to find that our house is a large, complex like, set up where teams of missionaries usually stay for a home base. Most of the teams that go are only there for a week do I feel pretty special being there for 2 months. The owners of the house also run a missions organization called Impacto. They have churches in the Lake Atitalan area and also run a school. We are there for all 3 meals a day and they do our laundry! It is truly a blessing to be staying in a home such as this. This has been our home base for the first week and will be for the next two months. In the neighborhood where we are living there is a Public School that has hundreds of poor students. The school is in very rough shape and part of my ministry in Guatemala will be fixing up this school. Twice a week, at least, we will be at the school teaching engllish to 6th graders. The school doesn't have the funding to hire a good english teacher so we get the job. We will also be repainting the rooms, fixing a broken down wall, and cleaning the grounds where garbage and old desks have piled up. The weird thing about this school is that it is in the center of a really nice neighrborhood but it is in horrible condition. Do people not care about their community? Other than the work in the school we will also be doing many other projects. We will be working in La Limonada twice a week in the two different schools that are located there. For those of you who have no idea what La Limonada is I recommend you take a look at Lemonade International (Link at the bottom of this page). La Limonada is the largest slum community in Central America and is an extremely dangerous place. The community is filled with gang violence and drug trafficking. Many of the children are abused daily and are rarely fed. The schools that we are working in provide a way for the children to leave the home, get an education, and eat meals. The school provides Breakfast and Lunch everyday for the children. They also teach proper hygeine and provide toothbrushes and vitamins to the children. I've visited the schools twice already. Once to Mandarina and once to the original school Limon.  The kids were amazingly hopeful in light of a horrible situation. I'm going to add a little bit extra on Limonada at the end of this post. Other than those two ministries I'll be working with Awana in the church, known as Oansa here. Mainly that is the set schddule in our ministry. We have a lot of things that just come up and we do. It's been a great first week.

SECTION 2

I have been here for nearly a month now and have really started to become a part of the culture. I understand more why things are done the way they are and understand a little better the mind of a Guatemalteca. Now that I'm a bit more comfortabel with the culture, for now at least, I find myself with the time to really reflect on what God's been doing in me this past month. In my first few weeks I was presented with a huge amount of time to read. I read all of C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity" and have relaly found a lot to build my Faith on. I'm still a relatively new Christian and having a book that describes Christianity in its most basic terms is great. It´s really given me a strong guide to base my actions off of. I have also been delving into the Word daily which is something I have never done before. I've read through Matthew and am now almodt finished with Acts. It's the first time I've really taken the time to read and to study the Word daily. Through this I have found many things that I have really been able to apply to my life here in Guatemala. One issue that I have is Pride. Jesus talks about many times how horrible an attribute this is to have. I have been praying much on this and I think I am starting to see a change. Working in Guatemala I'm unable to raise myself to a level above anyone. If I did I would lose all the impact I would have on these people. I have been able to find myself in a much more humble postition recently. I've been able to submit to authority more than ever and really have had a heart for putting other people before myself. I look forward to looking back and seeing what else God has done in me and I will definitely keep you updated as I relaize these changes.

Thank you all so much for supporting me in this mission. I believe we have already had a huge impact on many of the children and adults that we have been working with. I feel so blessed to have a team of strong supporters behind me and I can't wait to continue sharing the work God has been doing through me.

La Limonada
I have had the pleasure at working at the two schools in La Limonada and will be working in them twice a week for the rest of my trip. While at the school this week I was told that funds are running low and they may have to stop feeding the children. This absolutely breaks my heart. God has given me a real burden for this place and it kills me to hear that minsitry is being halted by a lack of funds. I'm attaching the link at the bottom of this post and I hope that if you have any interest you would take a look at the place. the site has information on different ministries in La Limonada. Please if you have extra time in your prayers I urge you to add this. God Bless

http://www.lemonadeinternational.org/

The Life of a Student in Antigua

Well I guess I can officially say I'm kind of getting into the routine of living in Antigua. It's definitely different. I had the extremely enjoyable experience of riding a Chicken bus today. It was pretty crazy. You kind of just get up when you want to get off. There are no safety standards whatsoever. It was pretty awesome. Food here is amazing. Even the fast food is a billion times better than food that I've had in the US. Todat I visited a macadamia(?) nut farm and that was quite the experience. It was a crazy hippie american who ran it. Very interesting thoughts. Oh! Mel Gibson was in Antigua yesterday. My host family met him in the Central Park. I was a little jealous. Dinner that night prompted some conversation about some of his best movies. The whole family agreed that the Passion of the Christ was his best. The two Danish kids who live with me have never seen it and it was pretty cool to hear that they were at least interested. I believe God can work in crazy ways, even movies sometimes. I'm definitely praying for them. I have 4 hours of school in the morning and 2 in the afternoon and it's pretty darn exhausting. Next week I start 4 hours a day which should be much easier on my brain. I'm picking up the language pretty quickly which is definitely good. I can prety much understand anything said to me, I'm just not too good at speaking it yet. It should get better sa time goes on I hope. I think thats really all I have for now. I'll throw some prayer requests on the bottom of this.

Prayer Requests
Pray for conitnued patience. It's extremely stressful sometimes.
Pray again for the people living with me
Pray for my family and people that are missing me back home
Pray for continued health
Pray for a Godly mindset for me so that I can stay focused on why I'm here
Pray for Centro Biblico El Camino, the church I will be working in
and anything else you might want to pray for!

Thank you all so much for your continued support on this trip! Feel free to contact me at Guatechris22@gmail.com!

Starting to settle in...

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. School has been exhausting, but I made it. 4 days, 6 hours a day (7 today). I'm feeling pretty exhausted. I found out a little bit more about my host family last night. Theyre a wealthy family and have been to the states multiple times. Colorado even! Where I'm living is an older colonial house in Antigua Guatemala. The town is absolutely beautiful, for those of you that haven't seen it, google it and you'll understand what I'm talking about. My house is an old walled in Spanish colonial house just a 5 min walk away from the edge of Antigua. My host family has 3 daughters and the family is extremely nice to me. I also visited a jade processing factory today with my Muestra (Teacher). It's pretty crazy how expensive it all is. There were necklaces there worth over 1000 US Dollars and a chess set worth at least 2000. It's crazy to see the contrast of wealth and extreme poverty in the same place. Well on to ministry stuff.

I found out today that my friend and I have the opportunity to work with gang youth in "La Limonada" in Guatemala City twice a week. We will be working with an organization so we will have escort and there shouldnt be too much risk (that was for Mom) but it is the most dangerous part of GC. I don't think God would present me with an opportunity like this unless he wanted me to take it. It is a little scary but I take comfort in that it's all in Gods hands. I have my first Sunday at the Church in GC and I'm pretty excited to see where I'll be working for the majority of my trip!

I hope all is well with everyone and I appreciate your prayers! Feel free to email me anytime at guatechris22@gmail.com!

Ve a Dios!