Christmas Blessing

I want to apologize to my lack of journaling over the last month. Thank you to all of you who are so faithful to read the journal entries, stay up to date, and pray for the kids here at Casa Aleluya.

I want to share with you all an incredible blessing from this Christmas. Please bear with me, while I give you some background and share this story, so that you can grasp the beauty of this 2nd Christmas of mine away from home. (Hang in there til the end...I know it's long, but it's a testimony to what the Lord has done.)


Two years ago on Christmas day, I was working at a residential rehabilitation center for teenage girls, as a residential counselor (live-in) and was, well, miserable. I was living 2,000 miles away from my family and friends, had not been able to go to church for the past 6 weeks (either due to work or being sick,) nor really even able to find a solid church home, even after living there for 5 months. The girls with whom we were working were often very temperamental and abusive in speech and defiant actions, although they did have their moments. On top of all of that, throughout this day of work on Christmas, the parents who were signed up to bring dishes for our Christmas meal together either only brought enough food for their own children or no food at all, and then the kitchen breaker blew it's spring, so I was left to throw together some brown sugar glaze, box mashed potatoes, and heat the ham we had in the refrigerator, all by lamplight (from the one outlet that was connected to a different breaker) on our (thankfully) gas stove. We finished eating just in time to leave the dishes and run to our 12-step meeting for the night. Needless to say, at the end of the day, I was shot--completely done, and inexpressibly ready for my 10-day vacation that was still 2 weeks away.

In retrospect, it's a bit humorous, and the girls who were there that day later told me they thought it was a really cool Christmas all together, and that they'd appreciated me trying to make the best of it. Still, it was an experience I did not care to repeat. With that memory in mind, I was a bit skeptical, more curious, as to how this Christmas, my second away from home, would turn out. It wouldn't do it justice to say I was pleasantly surprised.


A couple of days before Christmas, they girls and I went to the market in Antigua, armed with our lists in hand, and bought all the supplies we'd need to make our Christmas feast. We had agreed that I would make the turkey and they'd take care of the side dishes (all of Guatemalan tradition, of course.) I have never bought that much food at one time before!

So Christmas Eve came, and handed out all the presents from Mike and Dottie, teams and sponsors to the older kids that morning. Let me tell you, that is a sight to be seen! By noon the girls were all busily working away at chopping, slicing, mixing, and such in our kitchen. (We even had a little lesson on how to sharpen a knife to help them out.) A few of the girls spent the better part of the day in front of the TV, but most of them helped with the preparation in one way or another. I worked on preparing my first turkey without my mom (although she did give me some much needed phone support--thanks Mom!) and while it was baking, some of my TV queens helped put together a few desserts to accompany our feast. They're so cute when they're learning a new recipe; I think it's the most attentive I've even seen them! At about 6:30pm, we all headed over to the back property to watch a pretty impressive display of fireworks, put on by Jack, Ashley and Ryan Ciak. There were lots of "ooh!"s and "ahh!"s and cheering.

Finally the hour was drawing near. (The tradition here in Guatemala, as you may have read on others' journals, is to have the big celebration at midnight Christmas Eve-Christmas Day. Everyone sets of fireworks, then they enjoy the big feast, open presents, and finally go to bed around 3 or 4am, only to wake up to have more fireworks and another big meal around noon Christmas Day. Guatemalans know how to celebrate, that's for sure!) Wanting to keep as much national tradition as possible for the girls, we'd planned to have our big celebration at midnight, with our feast and presents, but we had an added bonus when Alex and Kevin set off another display of fireworks out on the soccer field at midnight.

We all rushed outside to see the show, and as I stood there, wrapped up in a blanket, with my girls there by me, staring up at these fireworks in the midnight sky, I couldn't help but reflect on that Christmas 2 years ago. I realized how blessed I was to be standing there in Guatemala on midnight of Christmas morning, taking part in one of this country's valued traditions, and sharing it with my girls, with whom the Lord has given me this gift of ministry. I thought about how hard I'd expected it would be to spend another Christmas away from my family and friends in the States, and how I'd been so worried that it'd be like Christmas of 2005 all over again, and how wrong I had been in all those expectations. Praise God. I kind of teared up reflecting on all that, and even in realizing that although I'd felt it was horrible at the time, the Lord had used even Christmas of 2005 to bless those girls in the middle of their struggle to start new lives clean and sober. He has been so faithful, in everything, even in the things I don't notice at the time.

After the fireworks, the girls and I went back to our dorm and enjoyed our day's labor in a meal well done, while we all celebrated together. I had one of them read the Christmas story from Luke, as a reminder of what this holiday is really all about, and why we celebrate with giving gifts, as we remember the Greatest Gift of All. After our feast, the girls opened their gifts from me, and were all so gracious--that was an added blessing to me. After our festivities, I let them stay up and finish the movie they were watching, and went on into my room for the night. The house was a HUGE mess, but I decided that the incredible job of cleaning up from the day of cooking and gift-opening would have to wait until morning (well, REAL morning anyways.) I went to bed that night exhausted, but totally joyful and blessed. Still, my very unexpected Christmas morning blessing was yet to come.
I walked out of my room at 7:45am to discover the cleanest living room and kitchen I have ever seen! Xiomara, Blanca, and Ada stayed up after everyone had left their messes, and cleaned the whole thing! I was so blessed and impressed by this act of service from them (as I'm sure were the rest of the girls as well) and thanked them for this gift and their hard work.

That afternoon, Mike and Dottie had the singles over to their house for Christmas lunch, which was another delicious blessing, both of food (thanks to Dottie for the meal and Paula for desserts!) and fellowship, as we were all able to sit around the table and just talk for a couple of hours. Very sweet time indeed.


I want to thank all of you who have prayed, worked, helped, and/or given in one way or another to make all of these blessing at Christmas this year possible...to all the sponsors and individuals who've given gifts, funds, time, energy, and heart to purchase gifts for the children, those who've carried down gifts and supplies (including yummy foods we can't get here,) all the staff who've worked so hard to make this a blessed time for the kids this year, Jack and Carolyn and all who worked so diligently to organize the Christmas bodega while Mike ad Dottie were in the States, friends and family of all of us here who have sent word down in one way or another to encourage us while we're away during this Christmas season, my sweet Mom and Dad who went the extra mile to make sure I had presents from them to open on Christmas morning, Mike and Dottie, who labor so compassionately to give these kids the gift of a Christmas they may never have had before, and who continue, day after day, to pour out their heart and soul as they serve the Lord in this ministry He has given them here, to love and care for these kids and impart to them the gift of eternal and abundant life in Him, through His Son, our Savior. To Him, finally, but MOST of all, we give all the thanks and glory for the blessing of this day we call Christmas, in which we celebrate, in memory of Him, this Greatest Gift of All, who was born unto us that day, in the city of David, "a Savior, which is Christ the Lord."

Be blessed in His might, His glory, mercy, and power, as you enter this New Year, and give Him all the praise and glory.

Games, Discovery Studies, and Where is My Toothbrush

Ooo..sorry to not write for so long. The biggest things we've got going on now is that tomorrow, we'll start doing some games with all the kids from Estrellitas and up on the front property, so please pray that all starts off well. I'm really hoping it'll be a great way to give the kids something to do in the mornings while they're still on vacation. We'll see how it goes, but the plan is to do some sort of larger-scale camp/youth group type games every Monday, Wed, Fri through the rest of vacations.

Today I made invitations for the girls and tried to start off the first of the 3 small groups I divided them up into for a "Discovery Study" Bible study. The main idea with this study is to get the girls to really think about the Word they're reading, process and apply it to their lives, without really trying to answer their questions/doubts, but instead to just let the Word speak for itself. We had a little hang up today, and I learned that when you present it as an invitation, that maybe only 1 out the 6 from that group will actually show up. So we put out the word that it's mandatory and we'll try again with the Tuesday group next week. Meanwhile, we'll go ahead with the Wednesday and Friday groups this week, so please pray that it would all go off well and that the study would serve its purpose in that it would drive the girls closer to the Word of God for their answers and force them to acknowledge who He is, who they are, and that they would, by grace, put their faith in the only one way to a relationship with God, Jesus Christ His Son, who paid our debt and in exchange, gave us His righteousness, this pure and free gift of the one true God. Amen.

On a lighter note, the girls have 7 little ones from Los Angelitos here tonight, keeping them very busy. One just came running into my room asking me for a cepillo (toothbrush,) although the ones I have are really supposed to just be for the girls, not their many small guests. I'm not always a sucker, as I've seen the other side of the cuteness coin, but how could I resist little William when he came flying in through my doorway, wiggling his arms around like little lost wings in his oversized shirt and little red beanie (barefoot and with no pants on, of course,) dressed like that? You know you would've given it to him too. ☺


Be blessed,
Ginny

"Gacelas de Dios", Cheap Flights, Praises, and Prayers

Hey there!

Thought you guys might be interested to know these deals are available...just in case :)

Flight Deals from US to Guatemala--see especially LA

Updates...

It's been just over a month since the girls and I moved into our new home. A few of them took it upon themselves to get the downstairs painted a colorful terracotta, orangish-yellow, and sea foam shade of green, making us a very typical looking Guatemalan household. The girls have chosen the name "Rosas de Saron" (Roses of Sharon, with reference to Song of Solomon)--we usually try to pick names with some biblical reference. Funny story: some things get lost in translation...or something like that...

The other night, the girls were looking through the Bible for dorm name ideas; amidst them all shouting out ideas, from the logical to the absurd) here is the conversation surrounding one name that didn't quite make it past the drawing table (translated for your convenience:)

(Girls:) "Las Gacelas de Dios!"
(Me:) "The 'ga-what-as' of God?"
(Girls:) "Gacelas!"
(Me:) "What's a 'gacela?'"
(Girls, confidently assuring me:) "Oh, it's like saying, 'my beloved,'"

I wasn't convinced, but they insisted,

(Girls:) "It's in Song of Solomon 2:7; look and see."

(General murmuring and a few other random ideas being blurted out, while I look up the verse...)

(Me:) (Chuckling as I read to myself, then aloud, in Spanish and English side by side, Song of Solomon 2:7, and realize the true meaning of "gacelas":)

"'Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.'

Girls, a 'gacela' is a gazelle."
(Girls:) (puzzled looks...)
(me:) (how do you explain to a group of teenage girls who've never even heard of a gazelle, much less seen one, that they were attempting to name their dorm "The Gazelles of God?"
"...you know, like a dear...the animal."
(Girls:) (uproar) "OHMYGOSH! No, no, no, no--gacelas, no! Nevermind! Something else!"

...hence, "Rosas de Saron."


In the past 2 1/2 months since I arrived, I have seen the Lord answer some pretty significant prayers:

* friendships and fellowship: Alison--having her around has been a huge blessing to me--someone like-minded, about the same age, to hang out with. I've really been enjoying getting to know her and spend time together, especially as we both have Thursdays off and usually spend the major portion of the day together. I'm also getting to know some other folks on staff better, as well as make a few other new connections outside of Casa Aleluya
* transition into dorm and being at Casa in general: really, it's gone quite smoothly, all things considered--there have been a few bumps so far, but we're all learning...
* communication: although this is still a HUGE prayer request, even the 1st week I was here, I saw some of the issues we as a staff and organization have regarding poor/lack of communication being addressed, at least brought up in a non-gossipy, but rather productive manner, and we have addressed these issues at least once more since then. Now the next step is that we would act on the issues we discussed...
* relationships with the girls, that the Lord would prepare the way for these to happen: before moving in, I was given a list of the girls' names who'd be moving into the new dorm, and since I didn't really have a lot of other things to do, it was easy to find time to pray for each of the girls (almost) every day leading up to the move in. I know this, in addition to helping me learn their names!) prepared a place in my heart for each of the girls beforehand, and I have been really surprised at how easy it has been to get to know most of them, even the shy or more stand-offish ones. We've gotten to have a few good quality conversations with some of them, and spend a good bit of time just hanging out together.
* provision of financial support: as you may have read in my blog, the Lord brought in every last penny, and thensome--thank You Lord.
* my room: I have one! (and a bathroom!!!) I've even been able to corner out a little area to use as my kinda ghetto, but cute kitchen--almost like college, except better :)
* funds for Genesis's kidney transplant surgery (set to take place on December 10th): as of this last week, I believe, all that's needed upfront has been provided--praise God!
* Esmelda, from the last blog entry, was able to move to a better/safer place with (one of?) her sisters a few weeks ago. Angie has been able to take her to church a few weeks as well. Thank you for praying for her and their situation. Please continue to pray.
* and many more details and everyday life provisions!

Some ongoing and current projects and prayer requests:

* Genesis: please keep praying for her health and prep for surgery, as well as for Danisa, her older sister and kidney donor ,especially right now as Genesis has an infection that could delay the surgery if it doesn't clear up. Also, starting Dec 1st, the kids will start a 24-Hour prayer tag-team for Genesis, Danisa and the surgery, until hem come home from the hospital, healthy and healing post-surgery--please pray for the kids praying and praise God for their faith to pray--AND for the one boy who told Mike, "I want to sign up to pray, but I think I need to be saved first," and then accepted Christ as His Savior!
* "Romans Road" and Galatians 3 Memorizing: I've challenged the girls to memorize these verses and passages within a certain time frame, for the prize of getting to go to the water park nearby, and for the whole Gal. 3, to get to go on a special trip to a really cool water park a few hours away. Pray that they'd desire to learn these verses for the joy of knowing the Lord's word, and that the Lord would indeed write His word on their hearts through this. Also, pray Mike lets us go to the waterpark(s)...it was a normal thing to use as a reward of this kind, but it got abused, so that taking kids was becoming a regular occurance, so Mike shut it down with the exception of for good-grade-rewards. I told the girls before all this went down and haven't told them otherwise yet, as I'm hoping Mike might see this as a worthy reward and not just abuse of privilege.
* Morning games: we're planning to start overseeing some large-scale summer camp/youth group-type games for the kids on the main side of the campus in the mornings, maybe a couple of times a week for the rest of vacation (through early January.) The plan is to start it up after the current large team who's here doing a soccer camp with the kids leaves after this week. Please pray for all the details/supplies/etc. to work out, for the kids to have a safe and fun time, and for creativity and self-starter-ness for me (leading this up...doesn't come very naturally to me)
* Discovery Study: a Bible study I want to do with the girls in 3 small groups, geared towards non-believers, 5-weeks of sessions--major hope is to get them really processing what they're learning, thinking about and discussing it, deciding what they really think about it, and deciding (whether they're going) to trust Christ--I've pretty much got it ready to go, but haven't started it or told the girls about it yet.
* Budgets for the girls: praise: I had time yesterday to finally make up a worksheet specifically designed for the girls' expenses to give to each of them, then hope to have time to sit down with each one individually to work out something concrete. Praise: some are interested, at least see the need...no it's not the best use of your money to spend it all on chips--surprising, I know, but true. Biggest complication: most of them don't have a steady income, although they (sort of regularly) get money from their sponsors--I need wisdom in how to help them plan for spending within the constraints of an unpredictable income.

If you're interested in keeping up on a more day-to-day (although not every single day) basis, you can check out my journal entries on the Casa Aleluya website @:

http://casaparaninos.com/newsandevents/staffnewsandupdates/vine/

To get an email notification (contains the latest journal entry text) of each time I update, you can go to http://casaparaninos.com/micasa/ and click the "Sign up for a MiCasa account now!" button in the middle of the page, which will walk you through the steps of setting up your own Casa Aleluya account. This will also allow you to see more detail on each child's background story. Once you have an account, you can log on and click the "E-Updates" link on the left-hand sidebar menu to sign up for email updates to any/every staff journal. Meanwhile, I'll still try to keep my blog updated with general info and pictures as I'm able, but the Casa Aleluya journal is really where all the action's at. :)

All of that said, I'm posting this entire update on the blog as well, just in case you lose this email or something. Thank you all so much for all your faithful prayers, financial support, love, and words of encouragement (which is sometimes just saying hi!) I couldn't do this alone (without you--you are the Lord's provision for me!) I hope you are all well and that you're able to see how the Lord is working in each of your lives and the lives of those around you, and that you are each able to worship Him and glory in His glorious name alone. May His name be praised among all the nations, amen.

love,
Ginny :)
Phil. 1:2-12, 27-28...honestly, just read the whole book--it's awesome (word of God...of course it's awesome)--and it's short--go for it--I dare you.

Pray for Esmelda

She used to live at Casa Aleluya but ran away a couple of months ago. Angie has been able to keep in touch with her and spend much of her off time with her. Esmelda now wants to return to Casa, but has not been allowed to. The other day I got to hang out with her and Angie, and I went with them to drop Esmelda off at home. She is living with 2 sisters, one of them pregnant, and about 7 small children, in a one room space, which consists of concrete walls and floor, with 2 thin mattresses on the floor, a table, some food and dishes and a range-cook top, with a curtain for a door, in a sort of walkway of several other homes like this, which leads out to the street. Please pray for her strength, safety, relationship with her sisters (not the greatest, seems to be lots of manipulation,) and relationship with the Lord (she says she is a believer.)

Please also pray for wisdom for Mike regarding whether or not to let her return in the future, and for the potential effect his decision would have on many of the kids at Casa, for better or for worse. She ran away with another child from Casa Aleluya, which is one thing that really gets to Mike (it's one thing to run away on your own and cheat yourself out of the provision and care given here, but it's another to influence someone else to take them away too.) Pray for Esmelda to have motivation and opportunity to work in an honest job and/or go to school. And please also pray for encouragement for Angie amidst this situation, as she views Esmelda (16) like a daughter and is having a really hard time seeing her in such poor circumstances.

My Casa Aleluya Journal...

...is up and running. Click Here to check it out. (I also put the link at the bottom of this page, so if you're looking for it in the future, you don't have to find this blog entry, but can just go straight there.)

I'll be updating the Casa Aleluya journal more often than this blog from now on, but I'll still send out emails to let you know to check for updates every so often (on both.) You can also sign up to have to any staff's journal entry delivered to your email. Once you sign up for a "Mi Casa" account, just log into your account and click on the "E-updates" link in the left-hand column, and from there you can select whichever updates you wish to receive by email. Just email me if you have any questions. Happy reading!

Getting Settled In, Volcanos, and More!

Hang in there...it's another long one...

Well, it has been quite an eventful past couple of weeks. It’s pretty amazing how the time flies by here—hard to believe that next Wednesday, I will have been here a whole month already! As I write, the electricity is out, although it’s not raining…actually the first electricity outage since I’ve been here.

I’ve been living the past few weeks in one of the vacant apartments on our campus, while waiting and working towards the completion and move-in-ability(?) of the Career dorm, and I’ve learned how to cook many things in the microwave, as there’s no stove in the apartment. I just finished my little dinner of my special mac’n’cheese (add some cheese and spice) and a salad and cherry tomatoes—yay for salad! (I just bought a bag of sanitized lettuce today after not having any for a couple of weeks. Lettuce is one of the only foods I just don’t even trust myself to clean thoroughly enough when bought from the market.)

But the dorm is coming along nicely. Tonight I have to give Tim, who oversees and does the majority of our campus maintenance, the list of what needs to be done just so I can move in. Mike and Dottie will be back from the States in a week, so the goal is to get me moved in this weekend. The girls won’t move in until Oct. 13th, so we have a couple more weeks to finish everything else needed for them to be able to move in. I think they’re ready though. I came into the dorm this afternoon to find 2 of them upstairs (bedroom—one big room) deciding which beds they wanted and trying to glue a piece of paper to the bed frame claiming it as theirs. I said something to them about waiting, but I wasn’t too assertive about it, and then I went back downstairs. A few minutes later, 2 other girls came in, said hi, and asked to go upstairs too. I said that was fine and told them the other girls were up there too. They all left and the 2 latter girls returned with paper and glue to mark their beds too. So I told them to wait until Mike and Dottie return, so we can see if Mike has some sleeping assignment in mind already, and after that, they can all choose together. I relayed the story to Bob Brownlee, who used to work at Casa Aleluya, but has been serving with Mercy Ships and is just here for about a month now helping with carpentry, and he said, “You’re catching on quickly.” I’m just starting to get to know the girls now, and still meeting some of them, so I guess I’m going to have to keep a little bit closer eye on them, at least for a while, until they feel like they’ve tested me out enough to know what to expect from me. Pray for me ☺

A few of the girls did come and help me clean the other day, though. I’ve been meeting a lot of them who come over, out of curiosity, to see the place, whenever I’m in there working on my room, so I asked a few to help out. The girls who came were so great! I basically told them we needed to clean the floor, the fridge, and the stairs, and they just went to town, cleaning the whole building, even going to grab other cleaning supplies we needed! When we finished, we got to chat for a while about what additions have yet to be made (furniture, appliances, etc.) They really wanted to know about a TV—they looked at me like I was crazy when I said I wasn’t planning on buying one. That night, I bought them pizza for helping (we get 2 for 1 with Dominos any time!), so we met back up at the dorm and ate on the kitchen floor, while we chatted some more and the girls thought of ideas for the dorm. The picture is from our little pizza party.

Speaking of additions to the dorm, I would like to share this happy news with you all, and thank you! Because of your generous financial gifts, particularly those given to cover the cost of my bathroom and extra luggage fees, there was a good bit left over, and we were able to buy a new stove for the dorm! The girls were really excited about it—a few of them are jumping at the chance to cook—one, Norma, even wants to be a cook! I was also able to buy some furniture for my bedroom, which is now so close to being ready to go. This was so sweet for me, as it’s the fist time I’ve ever bought my own (non-Salvation Army) furniture, or even been in a place where I’ll planning to stay long enough to make “getting settled in” worthwhile. Thank you all so much for your gifts that have made this possible!

Thank you also so much for your faithful prayers—both manners of support are invaluable! Please continue to pray for us as we work on finishing the dorm. Pray especially for Tim, Adam, Bob, Pastor Dave, and the teams coming in, as they are the ones doing the work. Pray that everything would be finished in time for the girls to move in, and that it would be done with attention to detail and quality work.
Please also pray for me as I get to know the girls and still meet some of them, for the Lord to cultivate those relationships and lay the groundwork for us all to live together in the new dorm. Ask the Lord to give me wisdom, alertness, and discernment, as the girls test me to see where I stand. Pray that it would be the Lord who shines through, in spite of me, that I would be bowed to Him, that they would see Him, and that this would cultivate in them a hunger for Him.
Please also pray for the girls and all the kids at Casa Aleluya as they finish up the school year (October 12th is the last day, then they go back around the 1st week of January,) that they would finish strong.
Pray too, for Mike and Dottie, as they wrap up their last week in the States, return Wednesday, October 3rd. Pray for their kids (all grown): Tony, Chad, and Chrissy, who are planning to return with them. Chad and Tony have already been at Casa Aleluya working here over the past year, but Chrissy is planning to join us now as well. Pray for rest, safe travel, and peace for all of them upon returning to Casa.
And please also pray for our relationships with each other on staff, that we would put each other before ourselves, and the Lord before us all. For me, ask the Lord to give me the courage to confront/speak up when needed, and the very great discernment to know when that is. Thank you guys—I covet your prayers and rejoice to know that you are indeed praying! May the Lord bless you and keep you, in the most breathtaking ways, and may you praise Him with all you soul, mind, and strength!
Off into the oncoming rainstorm (literally, espero que not figuratively!)…

Oh, I almost forgot: a group of us went and hiked Volcan Pacaya last Saturday. Here’s our group shot. The lava is still flowing too, so I posted some pictures of that over on the photo bar on the side. Good times!

Tears of Joy!

The Lord has raised the whole amount of what I need to live on for 2 years! Praise His name. All I can do is cry tears of joy. Thank you all for everything you have so faithfully given and committed to give--I praise God for His provision and for your faithfulness. What a beautiful blessing! Praise the Lord, praise His mighty, faithful name! Ok, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go hug a little kid :) (And paint my kitchen, with the help of some volunteers.) Love and blessings to all!

Mixed Feelings

I'm feeling very full of emotion, a little depressed, but also really excited, thankful, and happy too. A couple of things:

1. Happy and so thankful: one of the girls I knew from the government home in Xela is here at Casa now--thank You Lord for bringing her to a much better place where she can really get the care she needs!

2. Bitter-sweet, Exciting, Thankful, Relieved, Concerned, Disappointed, Discouraged, but still Hopeful and Pressing On: 2 of the girls who came through the group home/rehab while I was working there found me on MySpace. I was so excited to hear from them, especially one I'd kept in touch with until she moved and changed her cell #--she was exhuberantly happy to have finally found me--wow--the way she so openly and strongly expressed that nearly brought me to tears. She is still clean, from what I can tell but she's pregnant. The other seems to be ok overall, but is definitely back into the party scene and all that entails, according to the pasttimes she boasts on her MySpace. After hearing from them, I went looking for another girl who actually graduated from that program and was a believer--really strong it seemed. Well, maybe I should've left well enough alone, because I did find her, only to find that her profile states that she's now decided to make some lifestyle changes, not so much for the better. Hopefully not too much has changed, as she was so determined, it seemed, to stay clean. It just makes me so mad sometimes to think that we poured so much into those girls and saw so much change, but so often they just go right back to what they were doing before.

But then I know also that this is not the end of the story, and that Satan could so easily use this to discourage me in the work here and now to think, "What's the point? It doesn't really make a difference anyway--we're just fooling ourselves." But I also know that is a lie. A big fat lie. And I reject it.

I know the Lord is working here and making all kinds of differences in kids lives, and that He was and is still working in that group home...I know the life-change that happened in those girls' lives, and even that is still evident. 17-year-old girls who've been through that kind of junk that no one should ever have to walk through, don't just say, "This is the first place I've ever really felt loved" haphazardly. Those words were spoken in truth, and she still knows how much we still love her. Praise God for the chance to love her and show Him to her. He is sovereign over all this 100%, amen.

I'm Here!

Praise the Lord! I did finally make it safely to Casa Monday night, after a weekend with much family, due to my great Aunt Mary's funeral (Saturday,) enough time in airports, threats of Hurricane Felix closing airports, and much praying! Thank you all who prayed--your prayers are felt!

Arriving:
I took my printer as my carry-on, box and all, and of course I packed it full of other things as well, as to not waste precious space. I also had my backpack, which weighed about 50lbs, so by the time our plane landed in Guatemala City, I was about ready to never have to carry those two things again. Then came the longest walk I have EVER seen between the gate and the baggage claim...it just went on and on! Anyways, after loading all my bags precariously onto a rolly cart--thank God for rolly carts!--and watching/praying as someone took one of my bags from the carousel and about 3 minutes later returned it, I proceeded towards the outside. There's one more stop to turn in paperwork before exiting, which is usually a breeze--just hand them the paper as you walk by--but this time the lady pulled me over: "Is it just you travelling?" as she eyed my mountain of luggage..."over here please, to the bag-check station." I groaned as I looked at the few people in front of me, whose every bag were being opened and searched, then looked back at my stack, thinking "I really don't want to unstack, let alone open all of those." Just about that time, I looked up to see my welcoming committee! :) Familiar faces from Casa, waving their arms from outside the doors (they don't let anyone come into the baggage claim)--yay! Praise God! After searching only a few of my bags, explaining I was moving (hence the load of stuff,) and explaining that, "no, I don't have a receipt for the printer--it's not new and besides there are a bunch of other things in the box with it"--fwew!--, I finally was free to go on to meet my welcomers. Allison (Doncellas house mom), Ashley (Jack and Carolyn's daughter,) Melvin (one of the older guys,) and 2 of Allison's girls Ana Ruth and Keirsy all came and made it a sweet welcome home. Praise God that on the drive back to Casa from the airport, we were able to stop and buy phone cards, since both Ashley and I were out of minutes (pre-paid cell), and that we didn't hit the HUGE boulder that was just hanging out in the middle of the highway! It had fallen off the cliff-side that lines most the highway around here. I mean, I've heard of rock-slides, but this thing was enormous! I wish I had a picture for you.

Getting Settled In:
I've been staying in one of the vacant apartments while my room/dorm is being finished. I spent the last 3 days getting it painted--have you ever painted concrete? It's not so easy as it looks! Tim (maintenance man and house parent of Vencedores, along with his wife Patty) helped me by sharing that the trick is to mix it with water--works wonders! I'll post pictures once I'm moved in there. And yes, I do have a bathroom! Praise God! It's pretty much finished...just have to decide what to do with the closet space. The room is done, except the time to be added on the inside of the door frame, so hopefully I'll be able to move in early next week, once the hot water is hooked up. Thanks to all of you who prayed and/or paid for my living space!
It looks like I'll be buying a stove for the kitchen, as it turns out there was no plan to put one in--let me explain. The plans have changed so that now the university girls will be living in the house Scott, Tiffany, Bry, and I were helping the build the floor for (behind the Doncellas dorm), and it is just going to be Career (High School) girls in my dorm, hence, not so much of the transitional facility, but hopefully we'll be able to do some of those things--just a bit modified. A huge praise in all these changes is that we are only planning to move about 17 girls into my dorm! Thank God! I was expecting 40!! The move will take place around mid-October, after Mike and Dottie return from the States. They go every year in September, but this time they are also there because one of their sons, Chad, is having surgery on the 25th, so please pray for him and for their time away as well. Things have been pretty stressful for them lately. (Read some of Mike's journals on the Casa website from this last month for more details.)

Well, it appears I'm writing a paper...a few last details/prayer requests/praises...

I'm supposed to meet with Pastor Dave tomorrow afternoon to go over rules/expectations for both me (staff) and the girls, so pray that the meeting would actually happen (stuff comes up) and that all things would be communicated clearly, and that I'd be prepared and ask necessary questions. In the next couple of weeks, I'll be going to look for a stove, an armoire (sp?), and some other household things needed for settling in. Pray that I use good judgment and budgeting on what's best/really needed, and what can wait. Oh, I almost forgot: Thursday, Angie (kitchen/supplies overseer) lent me her car and I drove for the first time in Guatemala! I was really nervous at first, but I just kept telling myself "It's just driving, you're fine, you know what to do," and praying! I didn't go very far--just to the store down the road--but it was really nice to have that freedom and feel capable in that :) Praise God.
Well, overall things are getting along well. Thank God I'm able to use the internet now, although it may be spotty as I move to my new room and get connected there, so be patient if I don't respond to emails quickly...hmm...quickly...that's a word that really doesn't exist down here :)

If you're still reading, then thanks for hanging in there. Hopefully I'll be able to update more often and be a little more concise. Also, Paula (internet expert) is will be working on getting a journal up and running for me to use on the Casa website. Once that's up, I'll try to update that close to daily and update this blog more like once a month or something...I'll let you know. Thank you all for you love and prayers! I miss you guys! Blessings!

Back from Guat

Well, we all got back to the States safely Tuesday night. It was a huge blessing to me to have our whole team down there with me this time! Thank you guys for going and serving--the Lord, Casa Aleluya, and me! Each member of our team was a huge blessing me personally, encouraging me in the Lord and speaking His words to me--very truly indeed, as He spoke to me through Bry as we prayed one night--and even just the simple thing of being familiar, loving faces to me, especially walking through a couple of tough moments.

We did a lot of manual labor--digging out the dirt to lay the concrete floor for a small house on the campus and wheelbarrowing the dirt over to the other side of the campus--no small feat! but everyone worked hard. We also got to spend a lot of time playing with the kids, and also getting to know the other 2 teams who were down at the same time we were. If you check the Casa website, you can find their pics under the "work teams" photo album.

Another blessing of our team was getting to spend the evenings together, sharing some of the stories God is working in our lives and praying together, especially for one another--that was a huge blessing. We also ended each evening with our newly traditional group hug :) It really was the perfect mix of folks that the Lord worked out for this trip...not surprising that He knows so well what He's doing.



I also saw the Lord answer my prayers by working out many details of arrangements of meetings and questions I needed answered. I was able to meet with Mike and Dottie, the founders and directors, and find out more of what will be expected of my role with the girls, what some of the structure I'll be providing them will be, when the dorm will be finished, and what my living space will be. Thankfully, the timing was just right so that I got to make the call to put my bedroom in the 9x12 space with the window instead of the 8x10 space next to the showers. I also was able to talk with Tim, who is in charge of the building on that dorm, and work out a plan to build me a private bath off the outside wall of my room--praise the Lord indeed! This things can seem small, but can also be a huge curse or blessing--I'm thankful they look to be more of a blessing! (and praying all the bathroom and rest of the building plans work out.) I will be paying for the bathroom, as they have already used the budget for the rest of the building, so please let me know if you'd like to help with that expense. I'll let you know when I have a figure.
The rest of the plan for the dorm is that the sleeping will be bunker-style quarters upstairs, with a large study area with privacy desks downstairs, a small community kitchen space, and 3 showers and 3 toilets--oh please pray for this--20-40 girls!!!

I was also able to meet with some other people on staff and hear where they're coming from and get some encouragement and words of wisdom from them as well. It was a blessing, and the Lord has encouraged me through this trip, as I continue in this direction, by faith, knowing that it won't be perfect, but that it is His will. It is also a blessing to be able to anticipate some possible challenges, so I can know how to pray and be better prepares, and also I know it will be a stronghold to have the confirmation that this is indeed His will for me, as I walk through some of those struggles and challenges...anticipating growth--undoubtedly! Praise God.



The dorm is planned to be finished mid-August. I'm planning to go September 1st. Please pray for all the details to be worked out so that this is possible. Also, please pray that the Lord would prepare my mom's heart especially, but also mine and my family's, as I will not be spending Christmas or Thanksgiving with them at all this year.

Back to Guat...

...for just a week this time. We leave tomorrow night. My friends Scott, Bry, and Tiffany will be joining me as we serve wherever we're needed most. Please pray for rest for all 4 of us, as everyone has had really packed and pretty exhausting schedules this past week or 2. Especially pray for our rest tomorrow night, as we'll be flying as we try to sleep (12:35a-4a San Francisco to Houston, 7a-11:24a Houston to Guatemala City (PST)--so we'll be tired, except by the grace and miracle of God--we all know He's able, so let's pray:)! ) Praise God we have rides to/from the airport also provided. Please pray for all the details of transportation in Guatemala to work out, and also for our physical safety.

Thankfully, we made it through this last week at work, although we're losing 2 of our team-members, so pray for us there as well, as everyone else picks up the slack, especially with people also gone for vacation over the next month.

Another answer to prayer is that I was able to meet with another woman from my church's Missions Council--the meeting went very well--she was very gentle, encouraging, and loving. Thank God for that and for her willingness to take the time to get to know me a little, as well as learn some more about the work in Casa Aleuya. Please continue to pray for the Missions Council to have discernment in what is best as they pray over considering making a recommendation for me to the Elders to be recognized as a short-term missionary from our church. I would be so thankful and blessed to have this support and backing from them.

It feels unreal to me that we'll be in Guatemala in less than 36 hours. Praise God for this opportunity. Pray for the folks at Casa too, as they just had another lighting strike on campus that took out their main internet hub--praise God though that again, no one was hurt.

Until Texas (be back just in time for 4th of July!)...que Dios les bendiga (May God bless you all.) Much love, G:)

ps: We plan to have another slide show presentation after returning in late July/early August, so please pray for the details of this and stay tuned for those details once I get back to California in mid-July.

Speaking of mid-July...please also pray for a group of about 30 of my friends from church who will be going to serve in the Yucatan Peninsula July 14-22, in a small Mayan village, helping to build/repair hurricane damage on houses and minister to the community. Thanks!

God's grace

There is nothing like the grace of God, to end the day, after bitty battles all day, with sharing the gospel. God is good, and God is sweet, merciful and loving. He still uses me for His plan and work, and counts me worthy for His kingdom work. Humility. How does His grace so abound? The day started off with a piece of a verse I've read over and over and memorized, yet was filled up with chewing on and digesting it today.

Context: I had 3 dreams last night wherein someone was strangely absorbed with themselves, at my (or someone close to me's) expense, and I woke up pondering the message of how it felt to be on the observing and receiving end of that...After reading this verse and being convicted of my own self-centeredness, I batted with this, along with my common struggle of hearing, discerning, and truly listening to (heeding) God's voice and guidance, through the day.

(from Philippians 2:3)

"...but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves."


And our God, who is able and gracious, will, more than we can imagine, pour out these blessings in abundance on us: grace, humility, freedom, forgiveness, love, care, provision, work, exhaltation, hope, service, fruit, and participation in His kingdom works...oh what a freeing, humbling priviledge!

You know it's a small world...

...when you run into 2 kids who went to the academy where you used to work, and are now working at Google...with you. Talk about worlds colliding.

Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science

Google

TAMS on Google...or is it Google on TAMS...?

What in the world...?

Look at my future home! Remember the picture from the support letter? Look how far they've come in the building process! It's coming along very well (it's the block building in the background.) In the picture below, you can see even more progress has been made on the second story, with all the work teams who've been going down to Casa to serve.

So, the last 2 months have been full! Between working full-time, giving a couple of presentations on Guatemala and Casa, and then enjoying life with my friends and family, there hasn't been a whole lot of down time.

In the beginning of April, our family lost my cousin Ken in a car accident. He was someone very dear to more hearts than we know, I think,
and someone who never did anything half-way, a truly kind and loving person, taken from us quite unexpectedly--he was 54 years old--and he will be missed dearly.

I have been showered with even more material blessings, as one of my supporters recently bought me a Mac Book Pro--something I had actually asked God for a couple of months ago! On top of this, this supporter also bought from me my new HP, which I bought in impatience and self-reliance, right after I asked the Lord for a Mac. The HP will now go on to bless someone else, who doesn't have a computer, as a gift--God amazes me--He covers over our sin. Another blessing of provision has been that my contract was extended at Google, whereas my last day would've been May 11th, it is now on a month-to-month basis--and boy do we need our whole team to stick around! We've definitely got our hands full, but that's a blessing, because if we didn't, some of us might be unemployed :P

Support made a sweet jump in the month of May from 30% at the end of April to about 65% at the end of May! That's over double--you guys are awesome! (Yes of course God is awesome, and He has provided amazingly, but I praise Him for your faithfulness to give! Thank you so much!)

Another answer to prayer: we will also be taking a small team down June 26th-July 3rd to serve for the week at Casa. This will be a great opportunity for the other team members to get to see the work and the field in person, having their our personal experience, which they will hopefully be able to share with others when they get back. It will be a great opportunity for me to see, what often feels like 2 separate worlds, connect and sort of join my different realities; it will also be a great chance to have people who know me outside Guatemala there for accountability to check me for integrity of personality (not that I'd go off the deep end or anything, but just that I am consistent,) as well as to have their very present support as I hopefully have the chance to sit down with some of the staff members to talk through a couple of pressing questions I have before getting down there for the long-haul. Praise God for these opportunities and provision, and also for how He has already worked out travel plans. Please pray for a possible 5th member to our team, as he waits for some determining details to fall into place before deciding on going or not. Please also keep the other 4 of us in prayer as we prepare and go to serve--our heart is to just be available servants wherever they need us the most and to bless them and encourage the kids and staff. The other team members are Scott, Bry, and Tiffany.

And there's more...

The Lord has been blessing me with a wealth of opportunities to share the gospel lately and to reach out into this community that is right here, to share Him. My roommate Jess, who I've lived with since January, and I got a 3rd roommate (3 bdrms) named Sahar, who is Iranian, but has been living in Austin :) the past 2 years with her husband (also from Iran,) and is out here doing a summer internship. Her husband wasn't able to come with her, so he comes to visit every couple of weeks. They are very sweet and really lovely people to be around and get to know. They're Muslim, but not very strictly practicing...Sahar and I have gotten to have a few good conversations about it, and Jess has also talked a lot with her. Please continue to pray for these relationships and opportunities to share through the summer. Please also praise God with me and pray for Tara and Nay, co-workers I've been getting to know and with whom I've recently had the chance to share the gospel. Pray for Tara as she considers the truth at all and Nay, as he is very curious and asking a lot of questions. Praise God for these and other opportunities, as they are answers to my prayers that my contract would be extended, in part, so that I could have more time to build these relationships.

Also, I was blessed with the opportunity to meet with the Missions Council at PBCC, my home church now out here in CA (www.pbcc.org,) and shared with them briefly about my background and how Guatemala and mission work came to be a part of my life, what I did in my previous visits, especially this last fall, Casa Aleluya's background and purpose, and what I'll be doing down there. I also got to share with them a video presentation I put together from this last visit, which gives a lot of good visuals of the work down there. The idea in this presentation was to explain to the Missions Council about the work in Guatemala and what my purpose is in going, so that they could then discuss whether or not to take my case before the church elders to see if they would consider endorsing me as an official PBCC missionary--not an easy feat. So it was a prayer of mine that the Lord would give me this sponsorship before I go down to Guat, as I desire to have my church, which has become my heart community and home, standing behind me in an official way--this is something I truly long for, although I know I already have much support from our 20s Fellowship within the church, which has become my even more intimate community :) It truly has been a home and a blessing to me--certainly a way the Lord has ministered to and provided for me in many ways! So please pray for the next Missions Council meeting at the end of this month, as they hopefully pray and discuss whether or not to even take my case before the elders of the church, and for wisdom for the elders, that they would truly seek what the Lord has and be determined to follow Him, especially as they must vote unanimously, if anything is to be a "go." This is in the Lord's hands.

Please also pray for me as I discern and discover some different passions, desires, and gifts God has given me, and the way He has wired me to serve and follow after Him...living, learning this and praying through it, TRUSTING HIM, and RESTING in His love, grace, and being. I love Him, and He has been blessedly revealing Himself lately as my Father, Husband, Friend, and Lover. Praise Him.

Well, I didn't really mean to write a whole chapter in this book, but I guess that's what happens when you don't update for 2 months. To those of you still reading at this point, cheers and blessings, and may you see the Lord work in your lives and the lives of those around you. To the rest who read any of this, cheers and blessings to you as well, and may you see and enjoy the Lord and have abundant time and rest in Him. Amen.

Thank you all for your continued prayer and love and support--what a blessed team.

My King

http://www.bible-commentaries.com/source/audio/myking.htm

Spiritual Warfare

The closer it gets to my leave date, the more I see a prevalence of this in my day-to-day life. I've especially seen a lot more attacks in the past couple of weeks. Please pray for me in this, to stand firm and strong in the Lord, who is our Victorious Warrior--if He is for me, who can be against me? "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psm 27:1)

Blessings All Mine...

I have been utterly amazed lately at the way God has been pouring out abundance of blessings and grace on me in my life. One of these ways has been where my car is concerned. Long story short, the Lord warned me not to go on a weekend trip which would be the death of the hubs (has to do with the front wheels and 4wd) on my car...I went anyway and my car broke. After confessing, God reminded me He had already forgiven me but there were consequences to my actions WE must now ride out. Then, when my car was no longer safely operable, He blessed me with another car--actually a gift, not just a loaner--and a bike. My old car was soon thereafter broken into, only to find that the locksmith has a friend who's now going to buy the car from me on Sunday. Can you see how He was walking with me--sometimes carrying me--all along? From the very beginning of warning me not to go on the trip in the 1st place, to the end of seeing that, not only do I have the provision for my needs in transportation and thensome!, but then also that my car is sold--and that a month and a half before I was planning! AND now I have another car to sell when I leave, helping to counterbalance the loss in revenue from my broken old car! I did not deserve this--none of us deserves the abundances of goodness God pours out on us--this is God's mighty, awesome grace and love. Stand amazed with me.

Support is coming in--thank God and thank you!!! So amazing is it to watch God provide through a body of His which is on-board with His heart and will. Thank you all for participating in His work! I'm so excited you guys--as the time draws nearer, I get more and more excited, like a little kid = ) I'm praying over where to attend Spanish school--Xela, where I've been studying and has an excellent school--also my favorite city in Guatemala, or Antigua, very touristy, also has many good schools, but mainly is only 20-30 mins from Casa, making it easy to go home on the weekends and start working with the girls and building those relationships right away. As you might've guessed, I'm leaning toward Antigua = ) but please pray for wisdom here, as I absolutely love Xela and would still like to spend some time there (too.)

Work is good--oh yeah--another one of the Lord's crazy provisions--through a friend, God hooked me up with a very amenity-packed job at Google--yes, that's right, the same Google that even runs this little blog site...they're everywhere! It's awesome to work there for this time in my life--a perfect provision in ways I couldn't have imagined nor planned for if I'd tried. Thank you Lord. I even get to practice Spanish (and get corrected) with some of the other employees = )

GuatemalaPhotos link

Here is the link to my photos from this last Guatemala trip...be sure to check out Casa Aleluya (there are some of the kids and some of the campus as well.) The Spanish School album shows where I've been studying (and where I'll be going back to study), and the Adventure Week and Tajumulco albums show some of my adventures with fellow students, also some great opportunities for ministry that the Lord provided. Thanks for taking a look...hope you enjoy! = )http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=282171163811309662/l=224034735/g=27662302/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Sorry, but you do have to sign in to Snapfish...let me know if it's not working.

Welcome to Adventures!

Hey everyone! Welcome to my new blog--yay for no more MySpace (sorry to those of you who are MySpace fans.) I started this site so everyone can check and see what's going on with me and Guatemala progress, so I'll try to update it pretty regularly. It should be a lot easier for everyone to access. If you're interested in viewing my posts from my last visit to Guatemala (Sept 6-Nov 20, 2006), then click here to read them on my MySpace (sorry)http://blog.myspace.com/texacaliginny. I hope you guys are all well. Be sure to check out the pics too, as I hope to be posting some more from Guat on this site. Thanks guys! love, G = )

**01/12/2021 Edit: I was today years old when I learned that in 2014, MySpace migrated selected content from the Classic platform to the new one.  Unfortunately, the blog posts tied to the old link above were not among said content.  Thankfully, my photos were chosen to participate in this great migration, and at least a few photos will actually load ;)  If you're interested in a mystery tour of pics documenting events from 2005-2006, you can check them out here: https://myspace.com/texacaliginny/mixes/classic-my-photos-464516.