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.