Being Watchful

There are so many little things about my experience here at Casa Bernabe that have made it so incredible, not always stories but just simple habits, or moments, or things that I've observed that are meaningful to me.

I noticed quickly when I arrived that the kids know very well that Casa Bernabe is a safe and joyful place. But as I've been here longer, I have come to know that the safety and joy are not because of the work of man, but because of the work of God. I love the way that they pray; one child (or adult) will pray aloud and the rest of the children repeat each sentence in unison. It might sounds a little strange, but I've seen that it is a beautiful way to thank the Lord together and be involved in really knowing what you are saying Amen to. In every prayer the children thank to Lord for their Mami and Papi and often they pray for los ninos de la calle (street children).
I so admire the way I see my house parents interacting with the children and reminding them to thank God for each blessing. I am so grateful to them for being gracious with me and also with the short-term volunteers who come through Casa Bernabe. I've learned a lot about how they run their house and I've found that it is a challenge and an honor to be able to explain some of the cultural norms and rules of the house to the short term groups.
I like knowing that at least one soccer game happens per day on campus. I like seeing rain at least a little everyday. I like that the kids here are obsessed with Frozen just like my pre-schoolers in Texas. I like the comradery from talking about each of our night shifts at the baby house. I like being able to dive into a culture that doesn't put such a huge emphasis on schedules or time. I've loved getting to know other longer term volunteers and hearing their stories and advice. And Oh there is so much more that I could say.

Sometimes it can be easy to see Casa Bernabe as a sort of camp or boarding school, but it is important for me to remember that it is so much more than that because these children have nowhere else to go, no other place to call home. These past few days have been a reminder of how beautiful of a refuge this is, but it has also been a hard reminder of the great demand for places like this. A child returns to an abusive home because a court case took an unexpected turn, the police bring a newborn that they found abandoned in the dump, two sisters go to court to continue an investigation and maintain their 'adoptable' status, and suddenly I'm shocked into the reality that each of these children has a crazy story of rescue. Although it breaks my heart that there is such a need for homes for children who have been abandoned, orphaned, or abused, at the same time I can not help but to praise God for the fact that this place is full of beautiful lives and that is well known among the police and the court as a place where they can send a child in totally confidence that they will be loved, cared for, and taught, all in the name of the Lord.
I've been taught to not ask about a child's story (and even the ones that I have learned I am not allowed to share specifics on the internet). And my prayer request for my team and I is that we would be observant, remembering the importance of watching to see how each child responds to others and to their house parents so that we can learn how to best love them.

ALABANZA

I can hardly believe my first week in Guatemala has already gone by!

Casa Alabanza is AMAZING. My schedule is kinda subject to change from day to day. But except for the fact that I sleep next door, my life here looks like an adopted older sister for the 11 little ones that live in
Casa Alabanza. I've been so impressed with the house parents Laura y Hector, they are some pretty incredible people. They are full of joy, generous but firm with the children, and so patient with my Spanish. I've been in the house for a few of the daily family devotions that they have and Hector expresses his thoughts with such passion and yet in a way that the kids understand even though they are young. Even when it is not necessarily devo time, he and Laura are always pointing the children to the Lord. One night they were practicing for a Despedida which is a sort of good-bye ceremony to help the kids understand that a short-term group that has been at Casa Bernabe is leaving. Four of the children were learning a short dance to preform in the show. They had practiced it a couple of times in front of the rest of the family, with various children calling various instructions about how to to it better, when Hector stops them and says something to the effect of, 'We aren't doing this dance to make people think good things about us, we don't preform to make people think we are talented or pretty, when we dance, we are dancing for God, we are dancing because He has made us glad! So let's try it one more time.' And they did, full of energy and with lots of smiles.

I've learned so much this week, but it's crazy that the more I learn, the more that I realize that I don't know. I think that goes for most things in life, but Spanish has definitely brought that to the forefront of my mind right now. Another thing I'm learning is patience. I've had lots of practice being patience with little ones so that part isn't usually too hard for me, but learning patience with some of the other short-term teams that are here has definitely been challenging. But I have already seen God's faithfulness both in prompting me to be a patient and encouraging presence and then in showing me the awesome things that can come from following those promptings. God has even helped me see these short term groups as an encouragement to me of the Spanish that I do know. Lots of them don't really know any Spanish so I have been an unofficial, but by the grace of God a sufficiently effective translator all this week in Casa Alabanza. Who would've guessed, but what an awesome experience to feel totally inadequate and then realize that God just used me to help people communicate and be unified!

My prayer requests are still for discernment to know how best to serve Hector and Laura and the children of Alabanza, for continued patience with the other teams here, for confidence to start conversations in Spanish, and to praise my Lord for every single one of the abundant blessings that He pours out on me!!

Nosotros llegamos!

We have arrived!!
The Campus of Casa Bernabe (CB) is BEAUTIFUL. The equatorial climate makes everything so green and it is rainy season so tons of flowers are in bloom. Below is a picture of the beautiful Casa Fortaleza, the dorm the we will call home for the next few months! and then a group picture on the basketball/futbol court!

I realized that I have not explained much about what CB is exactly but I'm gonna direct y'all to http://www.foce.org/?page_id=9 to read what they say about themselves, as well as explaining it a little bit myself.
The houses are all built along one edge of the campus. They are on a hill (which would easily pass for a mountain in Texas), right next to/below each other along the incline. These past couple days have been unscheduled in true Latin American fashion, a time for us to get to know the kids of Casa Bernabe and listen to the Lord's guidance about which house we will be adopted into for the summer!
There are 8 houses total, the baby house and a young kids house (with mixed genders), then 3 houses for the boys (separated into 3 groups according to age) and 3 for the girls (mostly mixed ages). You can see the names of each house and an adorable picture of each child if you go to http://www.foce.org/?page_id=81
Our role in our house will be to assist the house parents and today we determined which team member would be assigned to each house. I am in Casa Alabanza which is girls and boys ages 3-6! I spent one evening playing with those kids already and I can't wait for tomorrow when I will really begin spending my time with them! My Spanish is better than I expected ...but still not awesome, so I'm still working hard at that! Oh and one of the older girls in Casa Alabanza already assigned herself as my Spanish teacher when I told her (my thus far most used phrase) "Hablo un poco de espanol, pero yo estoy aprendiendo"
Today we also learned about the shifts that we will do in the Casa de los Angelitos (the baby house)! We (volunteered) to each take a night of the week so that the house parents and other workers can get full nights of sleep and one of us per night will stay up and get to care for a houseful of 13 babies once a week! Sounds insane but I'm really excited about it!
In church this morning, there was a visiting preacher who spoke about David and Goliath and (from what I understood of it) about about God's strength through us. He also spoke about how David acted based on his conviction, not based on the reactions to which our human nature is prone. I want to take that to heart this week; I want to learn for every day how to follow Christ by loving with the unconditional, unfailing love of the Lord and by working hard out of my conviction of his calling to humility and service, all for the Glory of His name!

Never Once Did We Ever Walk Alone

6/5/14

Tomorrow's the day! We leave at 4:30 am, will meet with the rest of our team in the Atlanta airport, and head to Guatemala from there!!
I wanted to share one of the verses that we have been dwelling on this week.
"Have I not commanded you?
Be STRONG and COURAGEOUS.
Do not be terrified,
Do not be discouraged,
for the LORD your GOD
will be with you WHEREVER you go"
Joshua 1:9
As we talked today about actively surrendering our plans and our cultural mindsets that may hinder us from serving in humility, we talked about the difference between desiring success and desiring to bear fruit. I kept thinking of how Joshua 1:9 related to John 15, specifically verse 4 which says,
"Remain in me, and I will remain in you.
No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.
Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me"
We ind life when we abide in Christ who is our life! He calls us to abide in Him so we will be attentive to His voice and courageous follow wherever he leads. Please pray that we will be listening to His voice and abiding in His love, forever for the glory of His Holy Name!

Rainbows of Hope: Day 1!

We are currently at the Rainbows of Hope Office which is located in a beautiful old farmhouse in South Carolina. We have not yet met the three Westmont interns who are in California at the moment but we are excited to meet them when we arrive in Guatemala on Friday! Right now I have known Kyla, Carol, Sarah, and Sarah Bollinger (our team leader who we call Biz) for just barely 24 hours and I can’t believe how much laughter has filled this house since we all met. This week is dedicated to training which includes everything from learning the rules of Casa Bernabe to a training in the practice of prayer. But the training also is a chance for us as interns to be intentional in getting to know each other better, and this morning we each shared how the Lord lead us to this awesome opportunity. He has brought this team together from so many different places but as we shared some of our stories this morning, I realized how God has taught us each to surrender our plans to Him and  learn every day how to live life in thankful praise in light of the Lord's faithfulness.   

Although I've experienced it before through the amazing communities that I've experienced at places like my church, and Kanakuk, and Joni and Friends, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly people with a shared love for our beautiful Savior can get to know each other deeply. One of my very favorite verses is John 4:11-12 which says, "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love in made complete is us." God doesn't need us to make His love complete, but He has chosen to give us the joyfully duty of loving each other so that they world will know that we are His! What an awesome God we serve!

I can barely contain my excitement for these upcoming months!! I am glad y’all have read this far, I hope y'all will continue to read, and I pray that you might be encouraged by what you read here in the coming weeks!