Guatemala Greatness

There is just wayyyy too much to write about when I think of Guatemala, and I have let too much time pass in order to do justice to the memories that I made there…so I give up. I'm just going to post some of my favorite pictures and be done with it. Maybe one day I'll put it all into words.

Casey & I the first day before the trip really got started

Pastor's Appreciation Dinner that we hosted - Casey arm wrestling with his new friend :)

half the group on the van!

cute little Celso - how adorable is this?!

Casey playing with the 4 kiddos at the Children's home in Salama!

My favorite girls in Pacux - Wendy, Jenny, and Vanessa. Sooo sweet.

 Vanessa rocking my sunglasses on top of her head - she is such a pretty little girl.

 I spent one full day entertaining these 2 while the others painted - I was quite attached by the end...

The family living in c|Life's children's home - such a sweeeeeet family

 I love this picture - Casey will make one great daddy ;)

 again with our favs in Pacux - I cried my eyes out on this day when we said goodbye…we couldn't help but get attached to these awesome girls.

The next few pictures are from our "fun day" on the last day/night in Antigua, Guat.

Beautiful hotel sitting area - this hotel was so sweet - it reminded me very much of Paris!

 Seriously wish we could've spent more time here - I would have loved to have sat in this area or the one above it and read a good book!

 Yep, those are volcanoes behind us - pretty cool!

 Awesome timing!!! Right when it spewed ash I snapped a picture ;)

 On the scavenger hunt "the world race" that our team won! It was quite intense!! :)

another scavenger hunt pic

 our whole team of winners ;)

Casey saying goodbye to his new translator friend, Jorgan.

 At dinner the last night!

 

 

The last few videos are footage I took while in Pacux. None of the people speak English (or at least the children don't), and in this area and you will hear us speaking a tiny bit of Spanish so don't laugh because I know I have a horrible accent…Casey's actually pretty good though. :) At the end of the 3rd video Casey almost loses his hand to a dog…it's pretty funny. 

Please try to notice the severe poverty in the videos…that's why I wanted to video on the last day. Pictures just don't do it justice. Please pray for these people and for the missionaries that continue to go each year, as well as the pastors in the area that reach out to them daily. I love these sweet people and cannot wait to go back and see them.

Come Find Me in Heaven!

Our last night at the kid's club was awesome. There was a very somber feeling in the air. Our students knew they were about to get into some important stuff with the kids. Because they allowed God to use them, over 20 children came to know Christ on our last night!!! It was such a fun and celebratory night!!

playing red light, green light!

sharing the Gospel

making "Jesus bracelets"

saying goodbye to our friends - the ones we met in 2003.

The saddest part about mission trip is saying goodbye to the little friends we meet and build relationships with, but it is so neat to be able to tell some of them that we will see them again in Heaven and that they need to come find us when they get there!

Tie-dye Fun!!!

On Wednesday we told the kids the story of Noah's Ark, painted rainbows, and then tie-dyed shirts to remind them of God's promise to never flood the Earth again! The shirts were a hit, and we will be passing them back to the kids tonight (they have been hanging out to dry)! Because Casey & I were at the tie dye station all night, there are not many pictures of day 3, but here are few shots from the end of the night when we got together and sang songs with the kids (always a fun time:)!

Tonight is our last night to minister to these sweet kiddos and I am sure tears will be shed when we say goodbye to them! Please pray hard for our students tonight as they share the story of Jesus and His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. We will follow up by making bracelets with 5 colored beads representing the plan of salvation - black representing the sins that we carry, red representing Jesus' blood sacrifice for our sake, white representing our sins being washed white as snow, green for our growth as Christians, and finally yellow, which represents the gold streets of Heaven where we will meet Jesus and see each other again!

Even More Kiddos Than Before!

On Tuesday morning some of our kids went to a women's shelter to help clean up their donation pantry and clear brush while another group went to a church to begin painting. They did an awesome job and worked without complaining. They have really been serving others and each other all week and it is a very neat thing to watch.

Our 2nd day of kid's clubs was awesome!! We had over 70 kinder-6th grade kids show up as well as the same 15-20 teenagers! Our students did a great job telling them the story of Daniel and the lion's den, playing with them, and showing them Christ's love! Check out some of our pictures from Day 2!

Please continue to pray for our students and the little children that they are reaching out to.