Most Memorable Moment

Buenas tardes!
Before leaving the Hogar, Madre Ivonne requested that we write down our most memorable moment for her. Below you can read my account of the moment that touched me most.

It seems that in any relationship two people can be with each other for years when all of a sudden they see each other in a different light. All the past seems stale in comparison with this one brilliant moment of love in which they see each other in all their inner beauty. Sometimes people can go years before they see each other in this light, but at the Hogar it has been my blessing to have so many moments of this love. I have seen how inexpressibly beautiful these children are. The most touching of all was when I was being mobbed by five or six of the cutest youngsters, each one of them beaming and begging for attention. Then, with all of them heaping on me as I sat in the grass, one hand popped in front of my face. I looked and saw Kevin. He has a healed cleft lip, some silver false teeth, and a hard time speaking. You might not guess how special he is. All the other kids desperately wanted me to devote my attention only to them, but Kevin just wanted to give me something. I looked in his hand and saw that he had found a little bug which he wanted to share with me. I held it for a little and gave it back. That was enough to make Kevin smile so big that I could see his little silver teeth. He just wanted to share with me a treasure he had found, and the simplicity of his love melted my heart.

Snapshots from Guatemala

Finally I have had the time to pick out some of my best photos and put them together in an online photo album. Here is the first part of my mission photo album, which covers my time at the Hogar Rafael Ayau Orphanage; here is the second part, which shows my time spent outside the Hogar.
View 'em, comment 'em, and enjoy 'em! :)

Coming Home

"Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen."
~Benjamin Disraeli

After two weeks spent in a completely new kind of journey, I am back in the familiar surroundings of New Hampshire. Coming home has been the occasion for just as much learning as when I was in Guatemala. The whole, confused experience is now starting to be sorted into the various pockets of my understanding. I am undoubtedly forgetting some things and starting to remember others in a new light. As I begin to get some kind of grasp of my journey I hope to try to communicate to you all what it was like. I do hope that people will be interested in sharing this with me, for it was an experience so full of hope and grace!

I am going to begin looking through my pictures and will soon put many of them online. I also will begin posting journal entries that I wrote throughout my mission trip. Whatever I write now will bear the mark of a continuing reflection, but these older journal entries were written on-site and have the freshness of immediate recollection. Please keep checking my blog for updates! I would love, love, love to hear your reactions, questions and random thoughts. Thank you once again for your prayers; I am not exaggerating when I say that I could feel their presence in Guatemala. I have never been as convinced of God's grace in my life.

From Guatemala City

Buenas noches!

I have just received the unexpected opportunity to log on to the internet for a few minutes. I want to say hello to all and thank you for your prayers! I am praying for you as well.

It is impossible to put into words how my experience has been so far. Que maravilloso! El amor! Imagine sixty children who want, above all else, to be loved, held, and touched. They want to be a special to someone. More than a friend, they need someone who can tell them though eye contact, hugs and laughter that they are unique and beautiful people who will never be forgotten. Isn't this what we all want?

I am surrounded by walls, and around them march armed guards. There are prostitutes and gangs that walk the streets around the orphanage. This Hogar is a little garden and only by the grace of God and the protection of winged angels is it still a refuge for abused children. Make no mistake: as Mother Ivonne told us, we are at war. It is very dark in the world, but by God's grace there are still lights. Please pray for this orphanage.

God bless.

Que hora es? Time to go!

I'm shoving off for Guatemala! There's nothing like welcoming the new day after an all-nighter of packing. Dios mio!
Hasta luego, amigos!

There is a Light

As so often happens, I sit down at the computer to pursue very worthwhile tasks, but end up listening to some of my favorite music videos instead. At least this evening I have succeeded in getting a bit done, gathering more plans together for the arts and crafts projects and emailing other team members about the projects. We have lots of plans, including origami, paper mache (messy = FUN! lol we'll see how that goes), bracelets, and I also picked up a bunch of white cloth hand bags and fabric markers. I thought it would be fun for the kids to decorate them, and perhaps the Hogar (that's the orphanage) could sell them in their gift shop to raise funds. Things are coming together!

Just for fun, here's one of my current favorite songs, which I think does connect with mission work, since all mission work is ultimately about love and seeing the light! It's called "There is a Light," by The Great Lake Swimmers. Hope you enjoy it! It's beautiful. (Don't pay attention to the silly graphics that someone put with the song though...)

Less than a week!

Hello all! Welcome to my mission blog! When I decided to make a blog for my trip to Guatemala, I thought I would just create a personal blog that I can continue using after all my efforts connected with my mission trip are finished. So if you'd like you can keep visiting this blog for a while!

As the time to leave for Guatemala nears I am scrambling to get everything together. I wonder if other missionaries like the apostle Paul were also great procrastinators? If so, I'm in good company! I'm still trying to put together arts and crafts projects for the children to do, I'm brushing up my Spanish, going shopping (I love to buy bug spray. It's like buying a machine gun to take on the insect world!), and I'm also continuing to pray. Please keep me in your prayers as well. I need focus and courage! And also, as always, humility.

And what do you think about Luke 24:32? Isn't it an awesome verse! In everything we do we ALL are walkers on the same path of life, and there is a third beside us, even if we cannot call Him by name. We feel the Truth burning within our hearts. The Fire that causes our hearts to burn is what draws us all together in love and hope. We are together on this path! And because of that we must all be missionaries, which is to say, active witnesses to this Fire and Light.