beginnings

The past four months have been so long. I've known since December that the Lord has been calling me to Guatemala, but so many times I felt like maybe I had heard wrong--wondering why God seemed to be taking so long. Trusting God when you feel the clock ticking away is so hard! But each day I'm learning that he really does know what he's doing. And his plan is turning out to be so much better than my own.

Today I talked for the first time to Jessica Sagastume, the wonderful woman who is opening her home to me for the next year. Jessica also runs the organization, Maná de Vida where I will be working teaching English. Getting to know her, little by little, through email, phone conversations, and video chat has made me even more excited for everything God has planned for my life in the next year. I'm so humbled by the work being done through Maná de Vida--children are being fed and educated, God is touching their lives and the lives of parents, strong community is being built by the power of the gospel, and I am so thankful to Jesus that I get to be a part of it.

Jessica explained to me today a little bit about what I will be doing in Escuintla, the city in which Maná de Vida is located. The school runs Monday-Saturday from 7 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon and includes breakfast and lunch for the kids, devotionals, classes, time for extra instruction and homework, and work on extracurricular activities. As of now, my main task will be to teach English in the school alongside a Guatemalan professor. Jessica assured me there would always be plenty of work and things for me to do outside of my role as a teacher, from helping to organize meals, to program planning, to helping out on Sundays at Vida Real, the local church.

Now that God has given me a picture of what life will be like in the next year, It's time to start trusting him all over again as I pray for his provision of support on this journey. Time is so short--I leave on June 1st to head to Guatemala, which gives me little more than one month to raise $7,500, which calculates to about $500 per month + airfare. To me, this number seems SO big, but I know that if God has provided for me this far, He is powerful to continue to provide.

If there's anything that I've learned in the past year, it's that His goodness is not controlled by my faithfulness. In moments of doubt, impatience, and even blatant disobedience on my part, God has continued to show me His love. I know He has so much to teach me about Himself through this incredible journey, I only pray that as He blesses me, that I too would be a blessing to those I meet and come to know in Guatemala.