Wow, it is my last day here in Guatemala. Time has flown by. It's hard to find words to describe it all because I have had so many amazing, powerful experiences here. Yesterday was a really beautiful day both in weather and what I experienced, I visited a women's shelter called El Refugio which was a wonderful, peaceful experience for me. I took some pictures for their ministry and then Kim and I were going to do a Bible study time with them which instead turned into a time of sharing about our lives with each other and sharing our prayer requests. It was such a peaceful time where I felt like I could really feel God's presence there among us but it was also heartbreaking to hear some of the women's stories. One girl named Michelle made a big impact on me. She is my age, only 19 years old but pregnant  and with a two year old son who had been sexually abused by his father. My life as a 19 year old is so drastically different and seemingly easy and trivial. It's very humbling when someone opens up their life to you, a stranger, and reveals their heart and their scars to you. My prayer request that I shared with them and with you reading this as well is to pray for that I will not lose the vision of God and Christianity and living that I have gained during my time here and that I will know how to talk about my time here with people back home, especially with my friends who aren't Christians or those who have a much different view of what it means to be a Christian than I do. After sharing about our lives, we had a time of "cloud prayer" where we all softly prayed out loud at once. As a photographer for the past two months, my first instinct was get up and walk to the back to take some pictures of this experience as I've often done during my time here. However, I always find that when I do this, I somehow distance myself from the moment and the people I am with as I'm behind the camera. I was about to get up when I just felt God pulling on my heart to stay in the moment myself and to simply be with him and to be in this community of women. I began praying in Spanish with them (well broken Spanish and a little bit of Spanglish but that's ok because God understands right?) and began to connect with God in a way that I had been missing in my attempts to capture him at work with my camera in the places that I've been here. It was such a beautiful way to wrap up my time here- just simply being with God.

This is one of the projects that I have completed. This video is a story of humble Guatemalan market vendors with a commitment to helping other Guatemalans. One of the messages I hope comes across in this video is that there is generosity within Guatemala of people helping their own people, not just generosity coming into Guatemala from foreign aid. I had the privilege of going to the market with Hope for Guatemala twice where they gather the food and going back to their ministry where they distribute the food. This is truly a beautiful story of giving that has made an impact in Guatemala and we hope that will be able to make an even bigger impact in this country through this video. If you have any questions about this ministry or comments or feedback, I'd love to hear them!

Hey everyone, within the last two days, I have finished two video projects! I have to wait to post one of them which is about a story of Guatemalan generosity, until Joel Van Dyke writes up an article about it to share with the Estrategia de Transformacion network and supporting churches. And the other one is a compilation of interviews with all four interns of EDT this summer which I will post when I have faster internet access. Thanks for your patience and I can't wait for you to see them! Also, I have been working a lot on making CDs for each ministry in the network that I have visited and taken pictures of so they can have these pictures for their own personal benefit and to use in any way to benefit their ministry. Today, I visited a place called Centro de Alcanse where I worked on putting together a thank you video to send to a school that supports them called Valley Christian in Pennsylvania showing them how they have used their offering to buy a water purifier, craft supplies, books, and much more. I also got to be a part of a huge celebration they put on to celebrate the mayor's wife's birthday (complete with cake and a mariachi band!) and to say goodbye to Chris- one of our interns who leaves tomorrow.

this little boy is a walking miracle. he recently survived a really high 2 story fall where he hit his head pretty hard and after spending a lot of time in the hospital, he is now back playing with his friends and celebrating with us today :)

filming a thankyou video with some of the kids at the center.

the staff and children from the center praying for chris as he returns back to philadelphia tomorrow. really awesome.

Since I don't have any other finished products to show you at the moment, I figured I would show you a little bit of the process. I spent most of today translating this video and putting in subtitles. Can't wait to show you the final product! It's a great story :)

You can check out photos from the Immanuel Vision Trip here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151080345767059.496468.756947058&type=3&l=f2525f3179

Let me know if you have any trouble seeing them.

"God seems to be gifting me with a heart, a terrifying thing, since hearts only grow as they break."
James Alison

I do not have access to internet that is fast enough to upload an HD movie that is 8 minutes long so unfortunately the video is on Youtube at a lower quality than it actually is which is really disappointing!

Also just to be clear, this is not the vision trip project that I am working on- it contains excerpts from interviews for that project but this is something that I threw together for the Immanuel CRC vision trip team's presentation this Sunday in church.

Hey everyone, so sorry again about the lack of updates! It's definitely not for a lack of experiences to write about- these past three weeks have been so amazing! I have been incredibly blessed to join in on two vision trips- one with Maranatha CRC which Joel VanDyke led and the other with Immanuel CRC which Kim Hekman de Moran led. I spent the past few weeks with these teams because I am currently working on a video that shows what exactly a vision trip is- I hope to use video and pictures to make it clear to those back home who support these trips what amazing experiences and transformations that these trips are. Many of the people on the vision trip teams that I have worked with have said repeatedly that vision  trips are "less about doing, and more about seeing." This doesn't mean that it's just a big vacation of sightseeing. This means we come in with a humble attitude to the areas we visit and work in, and focus our attention less about what we as a team are accomplishing there but rather on how God is already working there in the local leaders and communities. And we in turn take time to reflect together on how God is working through us while we're there. Vision trips aren't concerned with our human abilities or strength, they rely totally on God's strength. For example, very few people who come on vision trips actually have a firm grasp of the Spanish language which leads to huge language barrier when working with local leaders, visiting homes in the communities we visit, or in trying to run a day camp for huge groups of Guatemalan children. Yet in this weakness, we see God working so clearly in building deep bonds between us and the Guatemalan people, and as one team member put it we can see "the Holy Spirit filling in the gaps" to connect us in such beautiful ways. In these past weeks, I have spent time getting footage of these teams sharing and working alongside several Guatemalan community leaders growing in faith together and I have interviewed many of those who are involved in vision trips. The video will not be done before I leave, because I feel that I cannot accurately show what a vision trip is without showing how people from vision trip teams carry the vision that they gain in Guatemala back home with them to their own communities back in the states. Because a huge part of what makes a vision trip unique to me is that it's not just about what happens in Guatemala, it's about how you grow and learn in Guatemala and take what you've learned back home with you and apply the vision to your own community- both seeing and doing things in a different way than you did before. I can't wait for you all to see this project! Thanks for your continued prayers and support, it means so much!

the vision trip with Maranatha CRC from Holland, Michigan

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151063615137059.494578.756947058&type=3&l=3ff9c9e8f2

Sorry for the lack of updates! I have been with a vision trip team from Maranatha CRC in Holland for the past week and I have had very limited internet access or time to update. I didn't know this until five minutes before we picked the group up from the airport, but Scott Wesseldyke, a Spanish teacher from Unity, is here with the group too as a translator- small world! We have seen so much beauty and so much of God's goodness in the past week, please pray that the rest of this trip goes well and that God would work in the hearts of all those on this trip to open their eyes to His vision for Guatemala.

Voz de las Calles is this Saturday! I had the opportunity to go to the rehearsal for this event last night and meet the street youth who are performing in the show- what an a amazing story of hope for Guate

http://vimeo.com/29274157

Voz de las Calles (Voice of the Streets) rehearsal

The theater where this will be performed is much larger.

the performers are youth who live on the streets.

visited a maximum security prison today, sat among the male gang members as friends, and somehow ended up singing for them.

interesting that just yesterday i was reflecting on Psalm 137:4 "But how can we sing your songs in foreign land?"

Yesterday was amazing. I spent the entire day working with Hope for Guatemala taking pictures and videos for an upcoming mini-documentary on Guatemalan Generosity. We talked to vendors and collected food for about 6 hours at the market then went back to the ministry along with the truck and trailer brimming with fresh food for the families and children of the neighborhood. It was really cool to see the entire process from collecting the food from each vendor to seeing the children carrying bags of produce home for their families. Hope for Guatemala has been going to the market to collect food every single Tuesday for the past seven years- and they have not missed a single week! It was so remarkable to see their commitment to their community.

Also, I was so excited to recognized and hang out with two kids that I met two years ago when I was in Guatemala with Immanuel visiting Hope for Guatemala.

So Many Beautiful Faces

Guatemala is good. God is good.

I visited a few ministries connected to EdT this past week with Kim and took lots of pictures. One of these places is called Precious Moments, it's a school and daycare and a shelter for those who have no place else to go at night. Martha, the woman who leads Precious Moments, won the Avon Woman of the Year award last year and after seeing how much this ministry does with such limited resources, I'd say she definitely deserves it. This is a place that Immanuel's team will be visiting in a few weeks when they come. I also visited a place called Iglesia de Refugio (Church of Refuge) which runs a feeding program for children in two different neighborhoods. I visited this place two summers ago on a vision trip and it was great to be able to return. Working with these pictures of all the little faces peering over the counter eagerly waiting to get their meal has melted my heart. Still working on my Spanish and settling into the Guatemalan culture. Your prayers mean so much to me. It really helps me to know that I have so much prayer support. 

Iglesia de Refugio, kids waiting to go inside for program and meal

making their way in one at a time

the tupperware they have been provided with to take with them for each feeding

Pastor Abuelino's message

kids listening

in line for food

lots of older siblings looking out for younger siblings

love this picture and the extended open hand

peeking over

excited for the meal!

lots of excited faces

Precious Moments

Hola!

Precious Moments director Martha with the trophy their band just won this past weekend at a competition- very cool

One of the teachers at Precious Moments

Precious Moments

Showing off his stamps

Showing off his smile

Woody!

So much goes on inside this small building

I had my first guatemalan style motorcycle ride weaving between all the traffic through the city to CENMA market today! I am so amazed by the generosity of so many guatemalan vendors there who give not only when they have plenty but also in the times where they have very little. I am also amazed by the commitment of Esparanza para Guatemala to their feeding program for kids and families in their neighborhood. I am very excited to tell this story through video.

Hope for Guatemala

Zone 18 where Hope for Guatemala is located

Computer lab at Hope for Guatemala for students to learn how to use computers

Making tortillas for the feeding program at Hope for Guat

Hope for Guat

Kids lining up for lunch

I met the other interns Sara and Chris yesterday. They are from Philadelphia and will be working within healthcare and education areas here. We had orientation at the office and then we went to Zone 1 which is the Capitol with Kim. We walked around the area and explored the market a little bit. I am trying lots of new Guatemalan food with my host family too which is a lot of fun :)

some pictures from the quinceanara :)