Closing out year one! (December 2011)

experience.

This year has been full of new people, things and learning experiences. I’ve tried everything from raw coffee beans straight off the bush (delicious) all the way to sushi (forced by a kindergartner, also yummy). I’ve pushed my way through crowds of people to get to a cemetery so that I could watch enormous kites take flight. I’ve learned that photographing a groom as he catches the first glimpse of his gorgeous bride gliding down the aisle is one of the sweetest things possible. I’ve learned worshiping together, praising the one who gives us life is an experience one shouldn’t pass up. I’ve learned that language is used as an excuse, not a barrier. 
Never would I trade any of these experiences…All together they made this year, the year of two-thousand and eleven one of the greatest years I’ve ever had. And while this year is coming to a close I know that God has even greater plans in store for the next year, and I can’t wait to see them unfold.

like lava. (august 2011)

"Daddy, can we go to the ZOO?", Claire asked Dad early this morning…after we’d had some thought on whether to hike up Pacaya or not. Dad, thinking she meant the Auto Safari in Chapin, rather distant from our home, politely declined her request. By this point we were thinking no Pacaya, no Zoo….what are we going to do? After a little talk, we decided that a trip to the hot springs (NEAR Pacaya) sounded like a marvelous plan for the day. So a little after eleven, we all loaded into the van and took off.
More than half of the family, plus our guests, had never been to the hot springs before. The place itself, as picturesque as my sister had told me previous to our trip, was surrounded by ruins of some sort which we later explored. The pools, filled with water warmed by the volcano, crystal clear. Plants growing, making their way up the wall feet high. Absolutely gorgeous.
While everyone enjoyed the pools or basking in the sun, I think they all found that filling the water that felt like lava flowing from a volcano to be the highlight of our time at the springs. As the care keeper came to refill the pool, he warned us of the very hot water about to flow from the water fall. Ok, this was not water like…turning your shower all the way hot. No, it was more like pouring a bowl of boiling soup on yourself. That hot. And no, this is not an exaggeration… haha.
The ruins, overrun with greenery and moss was my favorite part. The steps, leading you higher and higher, past rooms whose contents remain unknown to us tourists. Amazing. The view from the almost top was amazing. I didn’t dare venture to the top part…:) It was cool non the less!
Well today did not turn out as expected, it was definitely one of the most fun days we’ve had here. Tomorrow they all head to Las Vistas and I my first day of work!

little adventures (august 2011)

Buildings of remarkable shades. Cars speeding by forcing you to remain on or close by the sidewalk. Marketplaces with people shouting out their ‘special prices for you!’. Nothing quite compares to the life and experience of a day in Antigua. The market, full of color and new things is just…amazing. I never tire of entering the market and just…listening. “Blanket for you Miss?”-“What are you looking for?”- the voices of those calling out to the foreigners…or to the kids giggling because I totally just butchered my Spanish, again. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!
While I’ve journeyed to Antigua multiple times, I’ve never been to Cerro de la Cruz. It’s just a short little hike to the top of a hill in Antigua, and from there you can look out and see the whole town-it’s so cool.
Cerro de la Cruz. one of the most breath-taking views I’ve ever seen in all of Guatemala, found in the quaint historical town of Antigua. There are so many things that I haven’t done in Guatemala yet, and climbing to the cross was one of them. Until today. Climbing, and seeing this huge cross just really struck me. It’s one of those things where, I know Christ died on a cross. I know that the cross picture we all hold in our minds probably aren’t actually like what the cross Jesus died on was like. Seeing that cross was like-wow. Christ died on one of THOSE for me. All because he has this amazing love for me that my mind just can’t comprehend.
While we haven’t done much thus far, tomorrow is Pacaya…promising an eventful post! :)

En Route (August 2011)

"Come on girls- time to wake up. You have 40 minutes before you have to leave". This is what Betsy, Megan and I woke to at 3:15 this morning. Papa up,dressed and ready to go. So we rolled out of bed (off the couches?) and began to go about the normal morning departure routine. You know things like checking the luggage, making sure it all made it to the van, rechecking oh and rechecking once more.
Surely our two months in the Shire had not dwindled down to a measly forty minutes. But it had. And there we were clinging to our cups of coffee and to each other, so thankful for the time we had shared.
As we loaded into the van and began our journey to Logan International Airport, the car was silent. Not silent like it had been on our first journey in December, but rather quiet with the anticipation of arriving home and being with Dad later that day-and with the excitement of having the Scotts with us! Ok, maybe the fact that it was merely 5 a.m. also had part in the reasoning for silence…maybe.
I’ve never flown out of an airport in the ‘mid’ morning, and as we stood in the checking line for two and a half hours, I now see WHY it is that we always try to get to the airport early. Finally, at 7:30 (our flight leaves at 8:10) we get to the counter to check our 22 bags, and rush over to TSA. TSA may not seem all that daunting to some, but today it was just mom and I taking the other five children through…definitely a learning experience! (brief the kids on what to do BEFORE you get to the line…it’ll save you.) Claire starts whipping things out of her backpack and then so does Anna. But we made it! And no one got in trouble:)
We arrived to our gate right as they made the last call for The Wilsons and The Scotts, and quite literally ran right onto the plane. Picture this group of eleven people, half of them over five foot nine, with matching tie-dyed shirts running towards you. We know how to hit the airports in style, and how to make a fashionably late entrance.
Our short layover was in Miami, where we had time to finally catch our breath and get some lunch. We ended up bumping into a group who’s going to Chichitenango this week (Chichi is like 3 hours from Guat. City). Crazy how God brought them into our lives! It was an awesome reminder about how connected the Family really is :)
This flight we made with no trouble, and was one full of excitement. The thought that in three hours we would see my dad was pretty cool-it’s been a long few weeks! The smiles that lit up the faces of my family and our newly made friends when the plane finally hit the tarmac…priceless. The excitement just couldn’t be contained!
Ok now, everyone’s going through immigration and getting papers pulled together just so….ready for this week to begin.
So we go to pick up our twenty-two pieces of luggage and we’re counting them-one,two,three,four,five,six,seven,eight,nine,ten…….Wait.What?Ten? What happened to the other eleven bags?! Well, somewhere in the shuffle of today eleven of our bags were misplaced. Huh.I know it probably doesn’t SEEM like a big deal, but…our company now doesn’t have things like toothbrushes and deodorant. Because four of the missing eleven where theirs. But does this stop us from jumping up and down as we load into the van and begin our trek to San Cristobal? Absolutely not.
While I didn’t ride with the guys and Alex (he was with my dad at the airport), my aunt did ride with us. Oh how I wish I could have videotaped the ride! Let’s just say…Drivings a little different here.
But we made it! And now as we’re all chilling out after our travels today, I begin to see how special our hectic day was. After all, it’s not everyday that you get to bring your cousins home with you…to Guatemala ;)

Missions prior to Guate: Welcome to Portland, ME. Last bit of the week

Portland (last bit of the week)

Mission trips are so impacting. More impacting that most people realize unless they themselves have been on one. The kids who were in the projects for the last part of the week were just amazing. We had a friend of ours lend us a portable microphone, so everyone in the projects could hear us. The kids would start shouting the chorus to Hallelujah at the top of their lungs, trying to beat the other team and if you were to turn around during any point of the song, you could see others gathering along the sidewalk or peeking out of their curtains to see what the commotion was all about.
As the week continued and the group continued to grow, I was amazed at how God was working in these kids lives. They were asking questions, they were paying attention. Some made decisions. Oh if only the whole world had the faith of a child.
And such faith these children had! A lot of our group consisted of muslim kids, who were there against their parents wishes, but they wanted to hear more. One girl, Ikran, was sitting practically on my feet as I was telling them about the God. She was asking questions and understanding! Last year when I was in a park full of Somalians, we were asked not to return, and now they are asking questions! Purely an act of God alone.

Here's the video from the week:

http://animoto.com/play/19A900LizZV2KsDPDMBE0g

Missions prior to Guate: Welcome to Portland, ME. Day 2.

Day Two:

The clubs were spectacular. We had over twenty kids come out from the projects today, and words can’t even describe how captivated they were by all that was going on.
My heart was full of such joy at the sight of how God is working in these inner-city kids lives…it’s simply amazing. It’s only day two and here I am trying to put my thoughts from today into words…and I can’t! These kids are SO excited that we’re coming ALL week to play with them. It breaks your heart when you sit back and think that the reason they are so excited about us coming is purely because they don’t receive that kind of love from the people in their lives. They come up to you and just…steal your heart!
There’s this little girl named Nyaluak. (NYE-AH-LOO-NACK….haha) She’s so sweet, and would totally run the show if you’d let her. She’s become my little buddy for the week. Then there are the little two year olds Alfred (Adanaki is his real name….I’ve been calling this poor kid the wrong name for two days now!) and Henry, who are technically to little to come, but who can turn away kids when we are teaching them about God’s love for us?
Needless to say, both clubs went great again. And if I could put this into better words, I would! But I can’t even get my mind to convey the words to my fingertips as I’m typing this…It’s just simply an act of God.

Missions prior to Guate: Welcome to Portland, ME. Day 1.

day 1.

Day one. Here it goes. In a few short hours, we’re going to start loading up and driving to front street where we’re going to be holding out first club. yikes! can I tell you how UN-prepared I am? Regardless of the fact that I’m not really sure how this is going to go, I DO know that the goal is to teach these little kids from Africa and Asia the love of God, and what he did for us. I know, sounds simple and really easy right? Wrong. So many of the kids that live in the developments that we go to are Muslim, and their parents or grandparents refuse them the right to come and simply play with us. Let’s step back a summer and just listen.
It’s hot, humid, and there’s a group of 5 teenagers sitting on the bark mulch at the park. Sitting, waiting for kids to show up so we can start our clubs up. Slowly, they begin to show up. First, a few little boys who are having fun playing with Sy’s guitar, and the football. Then come the little muslim girls, who see I have my camera and insist on taking pictures. It seems as if we’re making a little bit of progress here, and so we decided why not start singing? A little bit of interaction here on the “na-na-na’s” but that was about it. So why NOT jump right into the story? So that’s just what we did. I, apparently, need to work on studying other cultures to find the best possible way to present the Gospel to them, because this day was clearly one no-no after another. First mistake-Hey guys! I’m going to tell you one of my favorite stories from the Bible! we lose half of the kids. Ok so maybe I’m not going to be able to do this-so Sy takes over and sits down with the three kids we have left and starts to talk to them. Ask them questions and get their minds thinking about God. It was so amazing-all I could do was sit and gape at how smoothly he had done this. I have no doubt that these kids went home with their minds reeling about what is the real truth. That afternoon we were asked not to return to that park. God had clearly done something in those little kids, and even if we only had one shot, I pray they chose Jesus as their savior, and not a false god.
My prayer for this year is similar. I know that we’re going to have some kids who react the same way, we always do. But if we only have this one shot with them, my prayer is that we will be able to present the gospel in a clear manner-so that they may see the Light.
I’ll update later and every day this week to keep y’all posted! Please keep us in prayer this week as we step out of our comfort zones and make the truth known. Thanks!

day 1(later)

Today went really well! Well, despite the rain that is. As we were packing up and heading out, it started to rain. NBD, except for the fact that our clubs are held outside. We went to the houses and stared letting the kids know the clubs were going on despite the rain. It was really cool that so many of the kids came, and on top of that, probably half of the kids were Muslim which is totally amazing. Usually the parents of those kids come and take them away as we begin our lessons as it goes against their religion. First club was a success.
Second club: This one went marvelously as well, except this park was held in a Caucasian neighborhood…so when you go ringing doorbells and asking if the people have kids there, it probably doesn’t go over as well as it does in the projects. Therefore, we didn’t have as many kids join us there. But we did have a very captive group!
What AMAZES me at these clubs is that the kids seem so receptive! The majority of them are SO open to having a personal relationship with Christ. They are so excited about the clubs and learning about God. I’m so excited to see how this week goes-from how today went, I pray that this week goes great!

my thoughts for the day: light.

light.

noun \ˈlīt\

: the form of energy that makes it possible to see things : the brightness produced by the sun, by fire, a lamp, etc.
: a source of light (such as an electric lamp)

: a light on a vehicle

Matthew 5:14 (ESV)

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

 

The LIGHT of the world. 

 

Living in Guatemala, this verse is so often on my mind. It has been a verse that I have held in my heart since I was a little girl and has always been a favorite. I remember growing up with a song (can't remember who sang it...but it pretty much was my favorite)

"Let your light so shine before men, for you are the light of the world."

 

  

If you drive through Guatemala at night, and look, like really look, you can see on the distant mountains the village lights. Me, being a photographer, have tried pretty much every single time that I see those lights to capture them. These breathtaking specs of light, beauty that are the perfect representation of Matthew 5:14. A city on a hill CAN'T be hidden. Even in the fog, rain, storms-those lights are still there. They may not seem as bright because of all the things that are clouding the view, but they are still there, shining, guiding people to their destination.

This is what we are! As followers of Jesus WE are the light on the hill. By Jesus shining through us, and us living for Him-we are the glowing specs that point people in His direction! Be the light you were created to be! 

My favorite picture of the city lights.