In the sky!

We've been traveling all day and are currently flying through the sky somewhere between Denver and Portland. We said goodbye to the team at our connection in Dallas. It's been a good day. We've been able to spend sometime talking and thinking about our trip.

Here are some things I/we have learned this week:

1. Friends don't have to speak your language
2. God is a God of the world and not just Hillsboro, OR
3. Prayer works!
4. A situation may look bleak but if you look hard enough it is actally God's blessing
5. The "least of these" are blessed with joy beyond meaure
6. Children are the hands and feet of God too!
7. Never put boundaries on God. He will use you in ways you never imagined.
8. AND, Emily was made for this!

And so it was...

We ended our ministry time here in Guatemala today. We visited a school at the dump that is serving very poor children. It is a great school but is not as fortunate as the ones run by Mrs. Arzu, the former first lady. We were the only team to visit these children this year and they were wide eyed with excitement as we came in. We taught them about God's love, we worshiped with them and made bracelets together to give us sometime to talk with them. It was a great time and we wished we would have had more time there.

We spent the afternoon in Antigua. We were able to do some market shopping and download with each other about the week. It was a great day. It is sad that our week is over. We have both made some great friends and Emily has grown a love for mission work. :) At the same time we are excited to get home tomorrow - we miss our Caelin, Macie and Daddy SO much.

We have prayed prayers of thanksgiving to all of you who financially supported our trip and have been supporting us through prayer. God's hand is at work here in Guatemala and it was an honor to be a part of it. Thank you for standing alongside us and being our partners. We love you!

I'll close today with our final self portrait taken today at Antigua. Next stop....Oregon!

You just never know

You just never know. Something can look one way and be completly opposite. This morning we walked into a school and saw 200 children that were dressed neatly in school uniforms, clean and had nicely groomed hair. At first glance you would think we were walking into a middle/upperclass private school. But this is far from the truth. We visited another school run by Mrs. Arzu (the former first lady of Guatemala). The children arrive every day and are cleaned and changed into nice clean uniforms. These children ARE the least of these. The pictures do not show this but their stories do. Below are pictures of the children and the school. I love how Mrs. Arzu has spared no expense to give these children that have nothing in this world an amazing education. Their facility is beautiful and full of exceptional learning tools.

Here are our self-portraits for the day. Sometimes you just got be a little silly.

This afternoon we met back up with the children from the orphanage we were at yesterday. The children were surprised with a lunch at Pollo Campero and a day at the Children's Museum. To truly realize what this means you have to remember that these chilren are lucky to receive more than one meal a day, they wear clothing and shoes that are very worn, they do not go on "field trips" at all. Their sweet little lives are full of survival and not fun. Lunch was fried chicken, fries and soda. To us a simple, no big deal meal. To these children it was like going to the finest steak house. Most of them have NEVER been out to eat. Pollo Campero is a very popular restaurant in Guatemala and they were so excited just to see it as they pulled up on their bus. How sweet it was to see their faces when they realized that not only do they get to see it but they also get to eat there. After lunch we went to the Children's Museum. This was built by Mrs. Arzu. The cost to get in is $4.50 per child. For the poverty-stricken of Guatemala this can be a full week's salary. It is an impossibility to any but the wealthy. We spent four hours walking through the musuem and watching the eyes of these precious children as they experienced the amazing museum. It was priceless! The museum was full of school field trips and it was astonishing to see the difference in the private school children there on the field trip and our children bused in from the orphanage. It was a really good day. Emily spent most of her day with a young girl named Dorcus. She is also 11. Between Emily's limited Spanish and Dorcus's limited English they were able to communicate and had a blast together. I've posted a picture of them below. Emily wants to adopt Dorcus as her twin sister, the only problem is she has 4 other sisters and a brother. I'm sure we could have snuck one more girl into the house with out Jamie noticing but I'm sure he'd notice the boy. :)

Every child got a COKE. I was a bit nervous taking 50 kids into the musuem after caffine :)

So excited for the day!

Huge ball room

Every 5 minutes the balls fall onto all the children.

All the 11 and 12 year olds

Outside play area

Emily and Dorcus - sweet friends

Emily looking fabulous after a long day.

Our week has been very fast paced. Emily is doing great handling the pace but is feeling a bit tired. We are getting to bed a little earlier tonight so we can keep going strong tomorrow. God has been so good to us providing us with all our needs, keeping us healthy and blessing us beyond what we could have asked for. This trip has been a dream! I love being on the mission field with Emily and we have had a great time. She wants to see the rest of her family but is not ready to go home in a couple of days. I hope to someday be on the field again with her! Thanks for your support and prayers! Love - Emily and Renae

And another missionary is born!

We were T-I-R-E-D this morning. Both me and Emily were so full of excitement last night that we stayed up WAY too late and were moving a bit slowly this morning. But as we drove through the streets of Guatemala City we were given fresh energy as we new soon we would be with the children. We visited a school located at the dump site this morning. The parents of the children work in the dump digging through the garbage looking for something that could be sold on the streets for money. Before the school was there the children would be at the dump with their parents - it was horribly dangerous. Mrs Arzu (the former first lady of Guatemala) who has a heart for the orphans of her country built the school to provide a place for the children to be safe and have the hope of a different life then their parents. Mrs. Arzu is a Christian woman and the children are taught with a Christian curriculum. We were told today that 10% of the students move on to upper level studies (college). That is amazing considering they are homeless children whose parents scavenge the dump. We spent time ministering to the kids and Emily was able to pass out some of the blankets that her school collected for her to bring.

Our afternoon was spent at a very poor orphanage. Me and Emily ran worship (I know we would have made Jamie proud!). It was fun singing with the kids! Emily was again able to pass out some of her blankets. I am absolutly amazed at the missionary that has blossomed! Emily is doing amazing and has jumped in with her full heart. The kids LOVE her. The best part of my day was watching her and just being in awe of how God has grown her to be a young lady so full of compassion and love.

Thank you for all your prayers! Tomorrow is another full day. We will be back with the children at the oprhanage for a portion of our day. Our hearts are so full of love for them and it will be so hard to say goodbye. I'm off to prepare for the devotion I'm leading tonight so I'm turning the computer over to Emily. Here is a note from her:

Hi Everybody!Today I got to experience how God has really gifted all these children who either have rough lives at home or have no parents. All the kids seem so happy and don't seem to notice all that is happening around them. It was a blessing to meet all those wonderful kids. I got to hand out stickers, bracelets and bubbles.It was an amazing experience.

We are here!

What a wonderful day we had! Most travel days I experience I can't say that but today I can. It has been incredible to watch Emily all day. Everything was so full of excitement for her! There was some concern for our airplane in PDX (some system was rebooting correctly). After about 10 minutes of waiting on the plane I leaned over to Emily and said, "We should pray!". So sweet Emily did and just about when she got to "Amen". The captain came on and said all systems were running correctly and we were leaving PDX. I loved seeing God work through that situation showing Emily how he loves her so much, cares for her, hears her prayers and answers her prayers. What a great lesson as she steps into her first mission trip.

We met up with my great friend Amy Norton that is leading the trip in Dallas. Her daughter Madeliene is Emily's age and is on the trip also. I'm pretty sure Emily and Madeliene have covered every topic imaginable since they met. I'm seeing an amazing friendship building. There are 11 of us total on the team. Two of the girls are acutally teenagers (16 and 17). They are being so sweet the pre-teen girls - I'm looking forward to seeing the two ages serve together and grow together.

Today ended wonderfully for me as I'm laying my head down in a place I haven't been to in 5 years. Guatemala is where my passion for global missions was birthed. Walking through the hotel today was like coming home - what a wonderful gift to be reminded of all the great work I've witnessed in Guatemala over the years.

We start early in the morning so I'll sign off for tonight. Thank you for all your prayers and support - keep them coming! I can't wait to see all the sweet faces tomorrow.

On Your mark, get set....

We leave Monday. It is amazing that the time is here already. Our house is a blurr of action - suitcases are being packed, Spanish worship songs are being practiced, prayer lists are being updated and we are trying to spend time together as a family.

Emily is very excited. She is also nervous for the trip. She is nervous to say goodbye to her family and for the things she will see in Guatmala. I asked her for her prayer requests tonight and what she wanted me to pass on and this is what she said:  I would like prayers for our safety and health. I would also like prayers that God would lead us to those that need to know him and that we would have the right words to say to them.

I have been to Guatemala several times and I have traveled to many other countries so the act of traveling is not a stretch for me. But, I find myself challenged a bit this time in ways I have never been. I am taking my child into a foreign country where the unexpected can happen. I find myself feeling a bit of apprehension. But I'm quickly reminded of who is in control and that He cares for Emily more than I and will wrap His loving arms of protection around her.

This weekend we will finish preparing our supplies but most importantly we will continue to prepare our hearts. We will take moments to stop and remember the reason we go, the call we have and thank God for the honor of serving him in the way AND doing it together - what an amazing gift God has given to me!

Thank you for supporting us in your prayers as we prepare. We will update you as much as we can on our Guatemalan adventures.

8 weeks and counting!

As we are winding down the school year our minds are continuing to think about our upcoming trip to Guatemala. Our first prayers were "God if it is your desire for us to go in your name then please supply the funding for us." God answered our prayer! We are fully-funded! As we step back to praise God for his provision we quickly realize that our prayers must now turn inward and that we need to seek God to prepare us as individuals to do His work in Guatemala.


Emily's teacher heard about our trip and organized a school wide blanket drive. I was amazed as 9 boxes of blankets came home from Emily's public school for a mission trip to Guatemala. Again we were amazed at God's provision.


One of the first stresses for Emily was the immunization updates needed in order to travel to Guatemala. We updated her immunizations in April and tonight she took her first of four typhoid pills. Although she was very nervous (as any 10 year old would be) she has taken it all like a trooper and put the trip above her own fears.


It has been wonderful to watch Emily prepare for this trip and share her journey with others. She has already been a light in places of darkness and she hasn't even gone yet. I feel as though I am seeing a part of her open up like a bloom on a warm Spring day. I am thankful that I am here to watch it and that God has opened my eyes allowing me to see it as it is happening.


I want to thank each of you in supporting us on this trip through prayer and some financially. It is humbling to me and Emily that so many of you have reached out to support us through this journey.