Guatemala Again! (The two years later reunion tour)

Well this is unexpected.  A few weeks ago Jose from Hope for Guatemala contacted me on facebook to ask if we could Skype.  The ministry had purchased 34 goats and half the herd had died.  They bought these goats for milk for the children in the feeding program and were running into problems with production, kidding etc.  He asked me if I would be willing to come down an help diagnose and treat the goats and teach the workers, volunteers and teenagers how to make cheese and soap.  I was thrilled to help out and started my pack list.  In 2013 Isaac and I went with others from our church on a mission trip to work at the ministry.  They feed over 270 kids twice a day and help them with their homework, teach the older ones job skills, and once a week bring produce from the market for the families of the kids.  The ministry is in Zone 18 one of the worst areas for crime, drugs, and gang activity.  I never expected to jump into a mission trip within 30 days of signing on.  Jose is picking up to room and board part of the trip and all I needed to come up with was the airfare on such short notice.  GoFundMe and Jesus have been on my side the whole way!  In just a few short weeks I have had friends come through with donations.  My church is backing me fully and I have raised enough to pay for hoof trimmers for the goats, a stainless steel milking bucket, medicines for worming, and goat health, and now am working on raising money for 'American Chocolate' for the kiddos.  I fear my luggage will weigh more than I do!!!

Because we only had sketchy internet on the last trip and I dropped my computer in the airport and broke it on the way down :0, I couldn't post during our trip from Guatemala.  I'll add some photos at the end today.

If you read this and would like to donate to the goat medicine or chocolate fund, I will add my GoFundMe link:
https://de.gofund.me/agfu45u4&rcid=9bc725808baa43279364fc3bbf5cef4f

Some the kids enjoying breakfast.  A lot of them had to walk several miles to get to eat every morning.

Four of the little girls posing with Hannah (center) one of our team members.

Jose, Hope for Guatemala, right and one of the gang leaders on the left.  The gang works with the ministry
to build playgrounds so there is a safe place for the children to play.  Both men have different agendas for the kids.  Jose is trying
to get them educated and out of the area so they won't join gangs and can have a life.  The gang
needs them to grow up so they can have more members and drug dealers.  It's a strange partnership, but this is what Jesus meant when he said
go and make disciples.  Jose' hope is for gang salvations.

Each of these box shaped rooms is a house.  Many don't have electric, plumbing, or water.  almost all have dirt floors.

Another photo of the houses

Dorie and I with one of the little girls.  You don't need to know Spanish, just Hugs!

Checked in, fed, and waiting...

With pastor Mike as our pilot, we made it up the mountain in hail, wind, rain, and traffic.  Had a great meal at Applebee's and now we are at the Days Inn waiting for tomorrow to get here.  Isaac and I are sharing a room and we have to get up at 4 in the morning to get ready and be at the airport by 5am.  Dreading that!  See you guys on the other side and keep those prayers coming.  Isaac, myself and two others in our group are on antibiotics for sinus infections:(

48 hours and 45 minutes til Asheville

Only two more days til we leave for Asheville.  The plan is to go to Asheville, check into our hotel, have dinner, and spend the night so we don't have to drive up so early for our flight out on Friday.

Meanwhile tensions mount, natives are burning smoke signals outside our house, and chaos triumphs.  Well at least in my mind.  I'm trying not to freak out, but with running my business, packing, having interns here and hoping everyone is doing well, it's been a bit much.  The last two mornings have been spent in two different elementary schools sharing Jesus with little Guatemalan kids that live in Burke County.  Don't fly somewhere to do missions that you aren't doing in your own backyard.  So we have spent the majority of the week working hard and spending time with our mission team's families having dinner and cruising Lake James.  We all agreed at our dinner that until we actually get into the country, it's hard to put ourselves there.  I have so much to finish up her at The Thankful Goat that it's hard to actually do anything:P 

So the final countdown begins.  I have to pick up Isaac and my antibiotic for the sinus infections we got from Dorian, finish packing, and be ready to drive away at 4:30pm on Thursday.  Other than that, I guess we are about done.

I want to say a big thank you to everyone that donated to our trip.  Casey and Nathan brought over bags of chocolate chips, some last minute spending money was given to both Isaac and myself.  And all the beautiful people that let Isaac work for them to raise his last funds and some very special people in our church who wrote a check that "paid in full" our very last bits.  Also everyone that gave birthday and Christmas money to Isaac who has been saving since mid December of last year!!!  Also thanks to three other Journey friends for donating to Isaac's fund. 

God be glorified, Jesus be lifted high, He is our mighty savior and will protect and guide us.  Thank you for your prayers.  We will post daily in Guatemala. 

We Made It!!!

We made our goal!  Isaac and I both had to have all our money in by this past Sunday.  Thanks to a great festival and some wonderful friends we are paid in full!!!  It feels so good to not have that hanging over us.  Now we are ready to start packing:)  I found two amazing suitcases in the last few weeks.  One is a huge red one from Goodwill that was $5.  It looked and smelled brand new, just a few scuffs.  We should call it Godwill:)  The other had a cut on the outside and was brand new.  I got it for $9.99 so another yay!!!  Isaac and I are still collecting chocolate chips, goldfish, and flip flops if anyone wants to help out.  I have to have them collected by the 19th so we can pack our things we are taking to the children. 

As we come into our last 10 days at home, packing up, getting ready to leave, wondering if we have forgotten anything, my thoughts turn to the kids and workers at the orphanage.  I can't wait to meet them all.  I'm taking a Thankful Goat package to each of the workers at the orphanage.  Want them to 'feel the goat love:)'  Continue to pray for us to have a safe trip, do what God asks of us, and be open to every little thing that we will experience there.  Getting sooooo excited.  I will be blogging everyday that we are there as we are suppose to have internet.

Hope for Guatemala

I wanted to tell you a little about where we are going while in Guatemala City.  The orphanage is called Hope for Guatemala.  They feed over 220 kids a day.  We are not certain, but think they may help the families of these kids have education and enough to eat.  When we think of orphanages, we think no parents.  But in third world countries, parents would rather drop their kids off at an orphanage than see them starve to death.  Kids go to live there til the parents can get back on their feet, or  maybe the kids go during the day for a couple of meals and school and then go home at night.  Some stay for the week and go home on the weekends.  Hope for Guatemala also helps the families of the kids have food and electricity and clean water.  They do what they can to make sure these kids lives are rich and full.

The image above is the t shirt design for our trip.  I was privileged to get to design several and the team chose this one.  We went with the color because light blue and white are the Guatemalan flag color.  I love the way it turned out.  The back side will have our Journey church logo.

I want to say a big thank you to Dana and Candie Clark who donated to my trip yesterday.  Every bit helps to make the goal and I pray blessings on you both.  I also sold my last baby goat, Aphrodite.  I didn't get my asking price, but will be putting what I got towards the trip too.  Tomorrow I will be selling 8 chickens.  This is becoming quite comical how all my funding is coming together.  Maybe I can post some of Steve's kettlebells on Craigslist, opps I hope he doesn't see this;)

Isaac is at my mom's house cleaning up her attic to help fund his trip.  He spent the night and will be coming home today.  I miss him terribly but know he is having a great time and am proud he is willing to work hard to make the money for his trip.

Continue to pray for our trip if you don't mind.  I know that a blanket of prayer will help us do what we need to when we get there.  Specifically if you could pray for several people on our trip who will be first timers.  They have never done a mission trip much less gone out of the country.

Mas O Menos "hang loose",
Dawn

Countdown: 26 Days

     Last December we started talking about going on a mission trip in 2013.  Shortly after that, our church in Morganton announced that they would be doing two mission trips this year; Kenya and Guatemala.  The one in Kenya seemed a little out of reach financially so we started praying about going to Guatemala.  The work will be helping out in an orphanage.  Steve couldn't go out of the country because of online work, so I told Isaac I would take him for his 13th birthday/ becoming a man trip. 
     Wow, has this last six  months been a trip in itself!  I have watched Isaac grow into a man faster than I could have realized.  He saved his Christmas, Birthday, and goat baby money.  He squirreled away every $5 and $10 he got.  People donated to his trip in exchange for yard or house work and several very generous people in our church and friends have donated to his cause.  He is now just a little over $300 short of making his $1,600 goal.  Isaac is calm, cool, and collective about the trip.  He has traveled on many mission trips and although this is his first international one, I see how much he is like me, ready for the challenge and not fearful at all.  I am very proud of him.  I am asking God to do a mighty life-changing work in him.
     On my end, Steve and I knew we couldn't pay for this out of our budget, so I decided to make a move with my goat milk soap and bath products business that I said I never would.  We joined the farmer's market, then another, then another... Gulp, we now go to the markets four days a week!  In March, I decided if we were going to do this, I needed a side kick, my Tonto if you will.  I knew just the person for the job.  Marilyn had volunteered at our farm three time and house sat for us once.  She knew the product, the animals, and where we kept our bowls:)  She volunteered to come for the whole summer and I couldn't have done it without her.  I think we could work together with our eyes shut.  We anticipate each others every move and she has been wonderful to bounce ideas off of.  So that's I have funded my trip so far - by selling soaps, lotions, and other body products.  Only yesterday did I make a plea to friends to help me with the last $300.
     God has been there the whole way.  In June, when Steve's work took a dip, the markets made up the difference for bill paying.  He has been faithful this whole journey and we haven't even gotten on the plane yet! It seems like our whole summer has been hard working, getting ready for this one week trip and now it is upon us.
     Only 26 days til we board a plane bound for Guatemala.  I have traveled enough in my life to not speculate what it will be like.  I know it will be beautiful.  I know it will be different.  Other than that, I'm open to what God has for us!  Our group has taken the motto "mas o menos".  It means "more or less".  You have to be up and ready to get on the bus at 5:30 am, but the bus doesn't arrive until 6:30 am.  "Where's the bus?"  "mas o menos" is the answer.  More or less, it's a philosophy that drives the culture.  We Americans are driven by the clock.  Our events are time based, but in other cultures, events are event based.  Church starts when everyone gets there.  Stores open when the owner makes it in.  Breakfast is served when it is ready.  And you get on the bus when it arrives.  Will that bother me?  Normally I would say yes, but right now in my life with every day packed to the brim, I think I will put my watch on Guatemalan time.  Love the people, enjoy the culture, make a difference.  That's what I'm looking forward to.  I am thankful to pastor Mike and our missions book we are going through for the reminder.  We have even given the Hawaiian "hand sign" of "hang loose" to it as we say it.
     I have signed up to bring certain items with me for the people of the orphanage we will be helping.  Chocolate chips, Gold Fish crackers, and flip flops are on my list.  Everyone has a motley list of items we will be taking.  I think mine is funny.  I can see the little Guatemalan children wearing their flip flops eating gold fish and chocolate chip cookies listening to story time. If you or your Sunday School group would like to give my crazy list of goodies please contact me.  We could use your help!  You can donate the items themselves, or the money to purchase them.  I just need to have it in hand by July 20th when we pack our bags up.
    This is my request.  Pray for our group.  That is the cornerstone of this trip.  It is the one thing everyone can do.  Pray that we can make a difference in these children's lives.  If you would like to sponsor us further, email me at thethankfulgoat@gmail.com and I can get you the mailing information.  We have 14 days to finish paying for our trip and any amount you wanted to help us with would be greatly appreciated.