I can’t explain how much I LOVE the beautiful city of Puerto Barrios. Everything is green and the streets are full of life. Coming from my small little farm town and seeing so many people is raddling my mind. So as many of you readers out there know I ‘am a TALL white female. When I say tall, I mean 6 foot tall and EXTREMLY white. All I can think when I step out onto the streets is that I ‘am a tourist attraction here. Men on the streets stare, point, whistle, and practice their best English trying to impress us American ladies. Today showed me how much women are treated...

      Like I was informed yesterday, often times, people don’t realize they have kept these expectations locked in their subconscious until one becomes disappointed when those expectations come unmet.      All this to say, as I get ready to leave Training Camp, I have no disappointments whatsoever. Maybe that means I arrived anticipating nothing, but I learned a lot.      Before coming here, I truly felt suffocated when confronted with Christians that used words like, “rapture,” and “Believer,” and phrases...

Today is the last day of training camp before we leave for Puerto Barrios. We have been requested to blog our journey through Guatemala this summer. I am not a writer or a blogger but I'll do my best! Monday my team arrived at Toccoa Falls College for a week a training camp before we head out of the country. There have been many team bonding activities and a lot of focus has been placed on getting all of us out of our spiritual comfort zones. For me, it as been a week of spiritual stretching and constantly being placed out of my comfort zone. God has opened my eyes to so many different...

  Dear Maria Clara, In a few weeks you probably won't remember me anymore, but I'll never forget you. I still remember the first time I saw you. Pastor Rony said they had babies in a nursery and I snuck off quickly to find me one. From the first time I laid eyes on you, I knew you were "My One." The one person I wanted to love on each week, to pour into and pray for, to cuddle with and snuggle and let you know you are loved. Granted, you were six months old when I met you, and now you're eight months. You still don't really walk or talk, but...

This Sunday is my mom’s birthday, and I want to share a story for her. A few weeks into the trip, our team went to an elderly lady’s house and talked and prayed with her. I told my mom about her and every couple of weeks, my mom for some reason asked about her. I didn’t really know what to tell her because since that day, I hadn’t seen or talked to the lady. A few weeks ago during ATL (ask the Lord what He wants you to do), Joel, Taylor, Emily and I went to the elderly lady’s house to visit her. She was very happy to see us and welcomed us into her house. She...

I know what you’re thinking: “What is a ‘tienda’?” Tiendas are a dime-a-dozen around Guatemala (Our joke is that there is a tienda every three doors). They are little convenience stores that sell sodas, chips, laundry soap, and other odds-and-ends. Now, you are probably asking: “Who is Marlita?” Yeah…We still have no idea either. Specifically, Tienda Marlita is the tienda that is directly across the street from our house. We have become regulars there and have become friends with the Guzman Morales family whom owns it (none of which are named...