Merry Christmas 2008 y Prospero Año 2009!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
I hope this letter finds you all well and that you are able to spend this Christmas and New Year’s with those closest to your heart. This year has been a full one for me in many ways. I want to share some of the highlights with you.

Ministry with the girls in our dorm at Casa Aleluya (Casa, for short) has been an incredible blessing, as well as challenging in many ways. The girls continue to grow closer to my heart as my little sisters (19 young ladies total, ages 16-22,) and over the past year they have been opening up their hearts more and more, learning more deeply how to give and receive love. We have enjoyed many late night hang out times in my living room, watching movies, sometimes snacking, and sometimes just talking—something that they and I are both good at! I’ve had the privilege of answering their questions from the goofy to the serious heart matters. To give you an idea, here are a few I’ve faced: “How do you know if a guy is a good guy or not?” , “How did you come to know Jesus?” , “Should I continue in my academic study plan, or should I look into vocational training?” , “Will you teach me to play guitar?” , “How do we prepare this lesson for children’s church?” , “How do you cook…(insert tasty food here)?” I can tell you from experience, each answer is only by the grace of God. It’s so awesome to look back and see the steps through which He led me in order to prepare and equip me in just the right way for this role, but it’s also exciting to see that He still has so much more in store.

A few of the girls from our dorm, along with several other teenage kids from Casa have been volunteering to help out with our children’s church program for the 3-6 year-olds. They have grown in their leadership skills to the point where they are now heading up the program in many ways, with my leadership role stepping more into the background. In addition to leading the Sunday program, they also give their time to attend a couple of planning meetings each week, and I am seeing them take increasing ownership in the program as a whole. This is very exciting, as our heart among the staff at Casa is that the teen leaders would grow in ownership and responsibility to the point where they are fully leading and developing the program, with the adults eventually bowing out completely. This would be an awesome area of fruition of the Casa Aleluya Vision Statement, which reflects our heart to equip the children as disciples of Christ, that they may one day take over the reins of Casa and go out into all Guatemala (and all the world) as lights and witnesses of Christ, carrying out the Great Commission by leading and raising up the next generation of His disciples.

I was also blessed this year with some wonderful visitors who came down to Guatemala from the US, some individually and a few as a team in May. It is always so refreshing to see familiar faces and have around you those who know you so well and know where you’re from. Thank you to all who came and to all who made it possible for these visitors to make the trip.

After spending last Christmas with the girls (an incredibly sweet time,) I am able to spend this Christmas with my family. As I write, mid-trip, I have already had the pleasure of meeting and catching up with many friends, new and old, as well as many members of my family. I also had the privilege, with my parents, of seeing my little brother graduate from Texas Tech University—Congrats H.B.!

In addition to all of this, God has blessed me with a church home in Guatemala City, Union Church of Guatemala, where I’ve been able to have a community outside of Casa (helps me stay balanced!) and both be fed and give back. I was also able to buy a car in August, thanks to the generosity of many of you, and this has been a great help in providing transportation to and from church on Sunday nights. In all of this, I am feeling Guatemala more and more as my home now, and thankful for it!

And finally, the most exciting and sweetest blessing of them all…René. I met this wonderful man back in January, when he answered the phone that Sunday afternoon and gave me directions to our church. We hit it off right away, and since then we have been enjoying and growing together in the natural ease of friendship the Lord has given us, as well as growing and stretching in some areas that have not come as naturally. We’ve been enjoying more and more the blessing of working together as a team, as he has come to help out some at Casa, I’ve been able to help out a little with the youth at Union Church (where he is the youth director,) and we’ve had the privilege of helping with music once a month at our Sunday evening worship service. So with all this in mind, and feeling it was time to take the next step, on Thanksgiving, we got engaged!!! We are both so excited and can’t wait to start this new phase of our life together. After careful consideration, we’ve decided that I will be joining him in his mission, Missionary Ventures (MV), with whom he is serving as the recruiting director, building relationships with Guatemalan pastors and their churches, and helping to equip and encourage them as they begin sending people from their own congregations to go out on short-term missions (initially.) René works with the youth at church in addition to his work with MV. We are working with MV to explore other opportunities to serve with the mission as a couple after we get married. Sadly, this does mean I will be leaving Casa once René and I are married. It is a transition I feel the Lord confirming, as we see His hand working out the details and leading us to walk by faith, yet I will be very sad to leave these girls who have found such a special place in my heart. Please pray with us as we prepare for this transition and all that entails, and specifically pray for the girls and someone to come into Casa or rise up from within to take over leadership in our dorm.

Friends, thank you so incredibly much for your love, support, friendship, prayers, giving (in SO many ways!), and faithfulness over the past year. You are all an incredible blessing to me, to the girls, and now to René as well. Please continue to hold us in your hearts, as we hold you all in ours. May our Lord bless you beyond belief and open all your senses so you miss not a morsel of His grandiose blessings and kindness poured out on you. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and May His abundant life be fully yours!

I remain in His hands and yours,
Ginny Vine

1 Year Anniversary!!!

Well, it has been just over a year now since I moved down here to finally live in Guatemala, after seeing the Lord faithfully provide for me to take that step in His timing. Let me say I have already been challenged in many ways and learned much in this first year here. Hey, even in the past few days! I have also been blessed immensely in different ways along this road. Allow me to share with you a few highlights:

With the girls...
We've been able to go through a couple of Bible studies, the most recent one on the book of Ruth. I was blessed with the help of my bilingual boyfriend (more on that subject later) in translating the notes to make sure the message was clearly communicated, and that was followed with the blessing of seeing a few of the girls really grasp onto a couple of the subjects we covered in the study. I love that "ah-ha!" moment of seeing the light go on!
They've had several projects in school, and some of them have worked so hard to make the grade and do quality work. Others need a little more encouragement. One huge challenge for me in this area has been in how to motivate them to study and be diligent in their schoolwork. One huge blessing has been to see those who excel in school voluntarily taking the time and energy to tutor those who struggle more.
Naturally, in a dorm of 18 teen girls, there will be some conflicts of interest. It has been a blessing to see some girls from different cliques integrating with other groups. They have also had to work together on a couple of projects, like their latest school projects for this week preceding Guatemala's Independence Day (September 15th,) in which they've prepared food, costumes, miniature replicas of important sites in Guatemalan History. (The food, by the way, was delicious!)



Within our staff...
We have been blessed to see the addition of the Parker family, who is heading up youth ministry and community outreach (more on that later,) to our Casa community. Please keep them in your prayers as they gear up in this new aspect of ministry here, and also as Carla Parker has just lost her father. They are currently in the States with their family and are expected to return soon.
Staff unity and communication continues to be a struggle for us, although the blessing is that we are struggling at it now. This month we began a training on parenting children with Attachment Disorder (AD,) led by Jan Morrison, our semi-permanent resident psychologist, who has years and truckloads of experience in teaching on the subject, as well as in working with and ministering to children with AD and who've lived through traumatic experiences. We are thankful to have her. The training sessions have proved a valuable time for discussion and problem solving as a staff, so please continue to lift us up in prayer in this area. We also pray that through this training, we can be better equipped to minister to our children here.

In "Baby" Church...

In an effort to minister more intentionally to the youngest crowd at Casa Aleluya, we separated out the preschool children from the older little ones on Sunday mornings, starting up "Pueblo de la Verdad" (Village of Truth,) in accompaniment to the "Cuidad de la Verdad" (City of Truth) for the older young children. The leaders were originally only from our dorm, but have now expanded to include a few of the teenage boys as well. One challenge for me in this area has been organization, as I have seen firsthand how my organizational skills, or lack thereof, set the example for the leaders' attitude. One blessing for me has been seeing the program come together a little more cohesively over the past few weeks, and seeing the leaders step up to take initiative in planning and preparation. One of the goals since starting the program has been that the teen leaders would eventually be able to run the program independently of any adult leader.

Regarding Teen Leadership, Growth in Faith & Church Community, and Outreach to Surrounding Communities (and much answered prayer!)...
As I shared with many of you a few months ago, in March the teens began holding their own voluntary praise and worship services on Monday and Friday nights. Out of this new ministry came an outpouring of new salvations, renewed commitments to the Lord, and much deeper and intimate relationships with the Lord. During this season, we also saw the Lord provide for Genesis, our little 10 year-old Braveheart, to finally have her kidney transplant at just the right time to remove her about-to-rupture appendix. We have now watched Him carry her through her required 90-day isolation period post-operation, and now see her running around so happy and healthy--praise God! The faith of so many staff and children was grown exponentially through this trial we underwent as the Casa Aleluya community. Another blessing through this trial was seeing the kids band together to pray and uphold Genesis, and then each other in prayer for other issues and trials they were struggling through.
In the most recent months, we have seen both the teens continuing to step up into leadership roles, and God continuing to answer prayers that we as a community have lifted up:
• The safe arrival of the Mike and Carla Parker family, as a permanent Casa Aleluya fixture, who have now begun to lead the older kids in youth ministry and several outreach events to our surrounding communities, at which the Casa teens had the opportunity not only to share the gospel, but also to lead several people to trust Christ as their Savior.
• The provision of the property and funds to build a church adjacent to Casa Aleluya, with the purpose of reaching out to our neighboring communities. This church will be led and even designed (to a certain extent) by the teens of Casa. They wanted it; they prayed for it; many gave towards it; and we all had the privilege of seeing God answer and provide! What a testimony to the kids' faith and to God's faithfulness! Mike (Clark) has just purchased the property, so now we'll be preparing the land to start building.
• Several of our older boys and even a couple of girls have said they know the Lord has called them into full time ministry, in one area or another. For the girls, this is often a more challenging step of faith in the more male-dominated culture of Guatemala--please understand this is not my personal political viewpoint, but rather a realistic description of the cultural environment in this country, meant to communicate the extra joy that comes from seeing Guatemalan teenage girls voluntarily step into a position of leadership, especially for the Lord. We have even seen one of these older boys, Esdras, take his first pastorship in a rural community church about 2 hours away from here. Please keep him in your prayers especially.
All of these events, with regards to the older "children" stepping up into leadership are pieces of the larger answer to prayer, as we see the Lord bring about the fruition of the Casa Aleluya vision: " to impart Christ's perfect love to broken innocence and create an equipped follower of Jesus who is transformed into a powerful witness of God's grace and mercy to the world." Our heart is to see these kids' hearts and lives transformed by the power of Christ, that they would then go out as a light and witness to transform the lives of others, both in San Bartolomé Milpas Altas, and in all Guatemala and Central America, and even to the remotest part of the earth. (See Acts 1:8) And so we rejoice.

In my personal/extra-Casa life...
A huge blessing to me was in May, to have a team from the 20s groups at PBCC come down for a week and serve here at Casa, as well as in a few other capacities around our area. We were even blessed with the chance to spend time with my friend Christine, who's serving in the Peace Corps near Lake Atitlan and see what life is like in a small, traditional Maya community.
As I shared with many of you in March, I have been blessed with a church home in Guatemala City, Union Church of Guatemala, which strives to reach out to the English-speaking community of Guatemala. We are truly an international and interdenominational community, coming from many different backgrounds to grow together in the Lord and His word, ministering and fellowshipping together. This has been a sweet "extra-Casa" circle the Lord has provided as a refuge for me.
An added blessing of this Union Church circle has been the sweet man the Lord has brought into my life, René. After meeting the first night I visited Union, we've been dating for a couple of months now, both growing and learning together, and hopefully encouraging and blessing one another towards greater an more fruitful ministry. He is currently serving as the Sending Director for Missionary Ventures Latin America, as they aim to equip the locals of Guatemala to go out as missionaries to other parts of the world. As a part of that goal, he is also serving as the youth pastor at Union Church. He is indeed a sweetness and blessing to me, and even to the girls, for which I am so thankful. We have also been blessed with the opportunity to serve the community of Union by helping out with music one night a month. It has been sweet being able to minister together in that way.

Another answer to prayer, I finally bought a car! Oh it is so sweet to have my own personal transportation! And believe me, the girls did not miss a beat! The moment I announced the happy news, they were already asking about taking it out for its christening! Oh how they love that I now have my own transportation! But seriously, it is a blessing of freedom to be able to take them places, both the necessary and the just-for-fun. Thank you to all who gave towards that purchase!


In closing, let me say that if there's one thing I've learned, it's that this ministry would never be possible without, first and foremost, the Lord Almighty leading the way, but secondly, without the enormous community of believers who support it by prayer, finance, material supplies, time, even input and feedback (and I'm sure there are ways I'm forgetting) throughout all the ups an downs and all that goes on here each day. I am so thankful for the opportunity to get to share in this ministry with you all! You are all a blessing to me in a way you may never even know, and even to kids and other adults you may never even meet. May our Lord God, who is rich in mercy and abounding in love, bless you and keep you always, make His face to shine upon you, and give you peace...

Forever in His beautiful hands, your sister,
Ginny :)

As Jesus Washed the Disciples' Feet...

This morning, I walked out of my apartment at 5:30am to open the door for the girls who work Sundays in the kitchen, and into an interesting (and thankfully rare) situation. Apparently, one of the girls was doing her chore of sweeping the (metal) stairs, making enough noise that I'd heard it in my apartment, and continued to sweep noisily when a couple of the other girls started yelling at her for making too much noise so early. It ended up that one of the girls who was yelling came downstairs, and the 2 of them got into a fight of words and actions. Meanwhile, the other girl threw the mop towel down the stairs. So, I tried to get the facts in order, which is a challenge when it's everyone else's fault, but I think I got the story straight, at least for the most part.

I was praying about what to do for discipline, and trying to think of things that would lead them to serve one another, since the main issue at hand here was a major lack of respect for one another. Then the Lord gave me this idea from His example to us in how He served His disciples and told us to do the same, when He washed their feet.

It really went beautifully, thank God. Right after lunch, I got together the soap and towels and warm water in 3 wash basins (trying to avoid any rude comments about sharing someone else's foot germs here,) then went and called the 3 ladies into my apartment. I had them read John 13:1-17, so they would know where this lesson was coming from. (Good for them to read it to keep them more personally involved and less like me preaching at them, but also because their Spanish reading skills are obviously much further advanced than mine!)

After reading, I told them, so just as Jesus did, so we are going to do. Confirmation that it would be an excellent discipline for them came as I brought out the wash basins for their feet, and they started suggesting that I assign them a task of something to go scrub with the water in the tubs instead of carrying out our foot-washing lesson. It was honestly a good lesson for me too (rarely are we given the responsibility of disciplining another without being personally challenged in the process.) I washed each girl's feet first and then had the other two girls put lotion on each of the other two. Afterwards, I talked to them a little more about the love the Lord showed us and how that is how we treat each other in our home, that we are a family here; although we're unrelated by blood, we are sisters in Christ, and so this is how we treat each other. I told them how I know they are beautiful ladies--that that is who they really are--and how I want to see that come out in their behavior. As I spoke these words to them, I started to get choked up, as I was confronted with the love the Father has given me for the beautiful young ladies, which includes the desire to see them grow, blossom, and live to their fullest potential, as the Lord has created them.

It ended with each of us praying together and with them apologizing to each other and agreeing to treat one another with respect, to not fight, and to come to me with problems when they're in over their heads in the future (and with me leaving them lowered a couple of privilege levels.) So I am thankful for our resolution, for the Lord's wisdom in how to handle this situation, and also for the fact that this is the first incident of this nature since we moved in--pretty good for 10 months together with 17-20 teen girls! (A year at a residential rehabilitation center for teen girls always helps to keep these things in perspective!) Praise God for working all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose! (Rom.8:28)

Heart-Cakes

Random story...for one of the girls' recent birthdays, I wanted to make cupcakes, only in Guatemala, the trick with many familiar US-items, is that sometimes they have them and sometimes they don't. So I learned a new lesson: when you can't find cupcake liners, just use these cute little foil heart tins (one random item they happened to have this time around--and they're disposable too!)...only don't over-fill them!! oops! Oh well, they still tasted yummy, especially with the ice cream...mmm... :)

Back Home!

Yes, home to the States, and now back home in Guatemala. Life starts getting a little more complicated when you start referring to more than one place as "home," but then Jesus did warn us about that as a risk of following Him when He said, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head." (Luke 9:58) Elsewhere, in Philippians 3:20-21, Paul reminds us, "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." So praise God!

It's hard to believe that nearly 8 months have already gone by since the Lord carried me down here! Since I last updated you guys on the blog...

I had the pleasure of hosting a few friendly visitors from CA and Switzerland, as Carol, Helen, and Miriam were all able to be here at the same time--sweet time of fellowship and a blessing to me! Thank you to all of you who sent down notes and donations too--it was a sweet to hear your kind (and some of you funny) words and receive your generous gifts. We will soon have another group from PBCC down here in May, so thank you all who are supporting and praying for them as they prepare to come down. Please keep lifting up them and their trip.

I was also blessed with a wonderful month in the States, both in Texas and California--sweet and restful time spent with family (even a surprise visit with my brother, H.B.! By the way, that was so cool how God worked out the timing to that!), and a packed, but fun and refreshing (in a different way) time with friends and family in CA. Many thanks are due...just to name a few: thank you to the Silverado girls, who opened their home to me while I was out there, (and of course, to my wonderful parents who hosted me for the 2 weeks I was in TX--I love you!) and thank you to Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bob who so generously loaned me their car, so I had transportation while in CA too (thank too, to all those who gave me rides here and there--some far, some near--when I didn't have a vehicle.) You all together have been such a blessing to me and made it a sweet time of a visit--thank you all!

The girls started high school (it's our HS equivalent, with more of a career-track focus) and have now finished their first quarter...some successfully, and most with room to grow. (Ps--We could definitely use your prayers in this.) We've now instituted mandatory study hours 4 days a week, so hopefully that will help.

Through several moves in and/or out, we are now at a total of 17 girls in our dorm, who seem to be getting along well with each other. Our dorm itself is pretty well situated; we are just waiting for the fixing/replacement of the hot water heater for the girls' bathroom, as it's had one issue after another since we moved in. A recent visitor has offered to sew curtains to replace the sheets the girls currently have hung upstairs to help divide their space and give them a bit more privacy. So, we're pretty well moved in and settled.

In January, we closed in the area next to my bedroom, so I now have a living room area. After I returned from the States, I bought a couch and love seat, which is has been a great addition, since now the girls come in and hang out a lot more. A couple of nights ago, they came in after school, and after chatting for a while, one of the girls suddenly asked me, "Ginny, how did you come to trust Christ?" Talk about an open door! Praise God! So I shared and eventually the conversation turned to, "How do you know if a guy is a good guy or not?" and later on to challenging them to start reading the Bible daily. Those are my favorite times...those and the worship nights...

As many of you have read in my recent emails, after about a year-long battle and waiting, the Lord has finally brought about, in His perfect timing, the healing of Genesis, a 10 year-old girl here at Casa Aleluya who was in need a kidney transplant. Her 19 year-old sister, Danisa, was the donor, and the surgery, which was last week, went perfectly. The doctors even found Genesis' appendix about to burst, so they went ahead and removed it during the operation. Both girls are now recovering beautifully, and we have nothing but praises for our Lord, the Great Physician, who has brought this all finally about. "Finally," to us, but to Him, in His perfect timing. He has used this past year of waiting and the trials of one surgery date after another getting canceled (due to sickness or infection,) to bring about great and amazing things here at Casa. One of those things has been the development of Monday and Friday night older kids-led worship sessions. Several of the older kids have stepped up and taken leadership in organizing and initiating these events--they went to Mike with the idea about 2 months ago and have been going strong with it ever since. More and more children are coming to salvation through these nights and the ministry the Holy Spirit is working out in His willing servants, as the kids praise Him. Not only that, but more kids are stepping up into leadership, even transforming the atmosphere on our pre-existing Sunday morning and Wednesday night Bible and worship times, and they are passionate! It's so awesome to see them worship because so many of them go all-out and lay everything they have and are before the Lord! So we see that this whole time of waiting for the Lord to bring about Genesis' surgery and healing, He has been at work in His children to do a much greater thing that what we could have imagined through all of this, transforming the kids' (and ours, as staff) hearts, growing in this whole place a spirit of passion for the Lord--to be sold out for Him--, humility, prayerfulness, gratitude and thankfulness, and faith.

The Lord has also blessed me with the provision of church in Guatemala City, where I've been able to find some fellowship outside of Casa Aleluya. Please keep me in your prayers as I look at becoming more involved there and discern how to balance that with the work the Lord has first called me to at Casa. Please especially pray that it would be an added blessing to the work at Casa, and not take or pull away from it. Please also continue to pray for friends for me and fellowship with like-minded, like-aged believers, especially in my time off, as this has been a struggle for me lately. Praise God though for His gift of my new friend Christine, who's volunteering with the Peace Corps in a town about 2 hours away from me. She has already been a blessing to me in the short time we've known each other. (Thanks Christine Broesamle for connecting us!) Please also pray for her safety, as she's in a lot more rural of an area. A praise is that, while the team who's coming May 10-18th (please lift them up in your prayers as well and praise God they are able to come down!) is here, we'll be able to go visit her and minister to her through fellowship and possibly to her host family too.

Well, I could write a paper--oops, I already did...well, I guess I could write a book, then--on all that the Lord's been up to here, but instead I'll say that if you want more on the day-to-day life details, please check out my Casa Aleluya online journal, which I try to update at least once, if not a couple times weekly. You can find the link at the bottom of this blog site, as well as in the update email I just sent.

Be blessed and enjoy to the utmost our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Thanks for joining in this journey with me, in all your prayers, love, in-person visits, gifts, and faith for the work the Lord is doing here in this place. Blessed be His name!

much love,
Ginny :)