A Guate Trip. A Nica Intern.

Athentikos film crew. Center of Gautemala City.
On top of the tallest building around.
Matt, Me, Scott, Tyler, Bobby.

It's been a good long time once again!  The past two months have been chocked-full of lots of activities and many new friends.  Guatemala for two weeks and five weeks of overseeing an intern at the NC, and redesigning our website are at the heart of what's been happening.  Now that the 2/3 of those are behind me...I need to focus on all the things that have been getting neglected--including my supporters!

Speaking of my supporters, I want to give you guys a huge THANK YOU for your support through the past year.  My fiscal year with CRWM ended at the end of June.  I was blown away that my year end funds raised were within $6 of my goal!  What a testament to God's provision.  Thank you for joining with me in his work in Nicaragua.  I pray that you will be blessed richly in return.

I should also mention that I celebrated my 31st birthday since the last update.  Can't believe it.  Isn't this the point at which it should start slowing down?

Guatemala.  Guat happened?

Joel, Scott, Me.

This was an awesome trip.  For two very fast and very intense weeks I hung out with Joel VanDyke, CRWM missionary in Gautemala.  For the first week I helped out with the production crew for the upcoming film Becoming Fools (follow link for trailer), for which Joel has been helping out in lots of different ways.  It's the second film that Athentikos is producing, the first one was Reparando.  Visit their facebook for some teaser videos.  Becoming Fools follows the influence of a clown named Italo, and focusses on what happens when you "become a fool" the way that Christ was a fool.  Italo's friends told him he was crazy for investing into street kids--kids who literally live on the streets.  In a tragic event, Italo drowned in Lake Atitlán, but his love for the street kids continues through those whom he touched.  This film follows the story of a group of kids he discipled through their highs and lows and will challenge us all to think more profoundly about what Christ is calling us to.

The cast of Voz de las Calles post-show.
Many went home to the streets afterwards.

I was only there for a week, but it was during a climactic event--the full out theatrical production of a 1.5 hour drama performed by the street kids who were Italo's former students, whom Italo discipled.  I took lots of behind the scenes photos and video, and did a small amount of video that may or may not make it into the final film.  I also made a bunch of new connections with filmmakers and the like that may be useful in the future.

For the second week, I focused primarily on being with a team from Joel's home church near Holland Michigan.  I tagged along with them through their vision trip, learning about the history of Guatemala and how God has been at work there for along time through the thick and the thin.  Many of the people I met and stories I heard impacted me.  Particularly the story of a young girl named Paola, who became the mother to her four younger siblings at the age of 7, dealing with a negligent and abusive mother, an absent father, and extreme poverty.  Now 15, she is still carrying the burden of looking after her brothers and sisters, and balancing their provision with finishing her own education in primary and secondary school.  She shared her story with a group of us during a house visit.  Through her tears she shared the pain of not being loved by her own mother, of longing to hear "I love you" and to be hugged by her mother, of being punished for things that she wasn't doing well enough, and taking the heat for her siblings so they wouldn't have to for something unnecessary.  Her story wasn't without hope, though.  The bright spot for her was how God had blessed her through her neighbor Doña Teresa, a Guatemalan who has made the choice to live in this squatter neighborhood to come alongside the people there and live the Gospel among them.  Paola said Teresa was like a mother to her, the mother she never had.  She was always there to counsel her and tell her she loves her and give her hugs.

This video below shows the kids from that same neighborhood.  I used the front facing camera on my phone, so it takes them a second to notice that they are seeing themselves in real-time on the screen of the phone.  Watch as they react.  Some funny kids at the end.

During my time in Guatemala I was able to visit lots of ministries and hear lots of stories of pain and of healing.  I wish I could share it all.  Please go visit my facebook page if you'd like to see some pictures.  Or visit the Athentikos facebook page and look back to June for lots of photos--a few with me in them.

Scott the Intern.

Working from the gazebo of the Center.

For the past five weeks I had the privilege of hosting Scott, a second year IT student at Covenant College, as an intern with the Nehemiah Center.  It was a great five weeks.  About two years ago Scott heard me speak in Grand Rapids and felt inspired to use his gifts on the mission field.  And that's just what he did this summer.  Instead of finding a paying job, he in fact paid to come and serve with us.  Of the many notable things he did, one stands out as his main project.  He created a database for us  to keep track of all of the people, churches, and schools that the Nehemiah Center has relationships with.  Believe you me, that was no easy task.  It came out to nearly 7000 lines of code.  Built with MySQL Workbench and a Java interface, it's built on Open Source software and completely free.  He's been testing it pretty well all along, so hopefully there won't be many bugs to work out.

Scott at Tesoros de Dios.  Basic training for their staff.

We're eventually wanting to move the database to our website, or somewhere online.  If there is anyone who knows how this works and would like to talk it through with us, please let me know!

Personally, I loved having Scott around, as he not only did things, but he came alongside me in my work, and I felt like I wasn't working at things alone!  It was fun hanging out with you, Scott!  You're welcome back anytime.  Seriously.

New website.  New wineskin.  New wine?

This another project that has also been taking a good bit of time.  But we're trying not to just put a new face on the same old content.  We're trying to build more interaction into the website, and at the same time rethinking about how to utilize "social" media like facebook and Google Plus.  Hopefully you'll see an announcement in the next update about the launch of a new site.  The plan is to finish it enough to get it live and then to continue to tweak it and add to it until it's how we want.  We'll be integrating a blog into the site, as well as stories of lives and businesses and schools that have been touched, and news/announcements.  I'll let you know when it's finally up so you can swing by and explore!

Old on left.  New on right. Still very much a work in progress.

What else? What's next?

I've begun lining up a bunch of video projects, a video training, and am putting into place some better record keeping in the Studio for reporting and financial reasons.  I also ordered a new DSLR camera (Canon T3i) to use both in photography for the website and in video production.  It will definitely give us a more professional look, and I'm excited to start trying it out.  Should arrive here on Sunday night.

RedProCom attendees at a recent meeting.

RedProCom (computer teacher network) has been advancing and organizing.  As you remember, we designated three people to representatives of the group to help organizing meetings and represent us to other organizations.  I'm in the process of walking them through their roles until we establish some routines.  Things like how far ahead to plan a location, who will confirm the location, how to confirm assistance, what topics, who will present, etc. are things we are working through.  We're also in the process of developing a mission and vision statement as a group, after which I think we'll be able to design an appropriate logo, and then we can get shirts! :)  Kind of silly, but everyone wants a shirt.  It's a good thing, I guess.  It means we're proud to be a part of our group!

I haven't spent as much time recently with Mauro and Breyling.  I did hang out with them last weekend--just drove down to their houses and we chilled for a while talking and making jokes.  Breyling has officially lost his scholarship with Hand in Hand to attend a good private school.  He is still not enrolled at another school, and we're about 3-4 weeks into the semester.  Lack of parental support is an ongoing challenge for him, and a fundamental reason he lost his sponsorship.  Mauro, on the other hand has been moved to what is considered to be one of the best (middle class) private schools in Managua, and is maintaining good grades.

After I lost my glasses. Lennin's family.

Earlier this week I went shopping for glasses.  Last weekend my glasses were stolen off a table at a restaurant on the beach in Chinandega.  I went with my roommate Lennin to his hometown to see his family.  After lunch I went for a walk on the beach, leaving my glasses on the table.  By the time I got back they were getting into the van, so I joined them and it wasn't until 15 minutes down the road that I noticed I hadn't gone back for my glasses.  We turned around, but upon arrival, there were no glasses to be found.  I suspect some kids from the beach took them.  What would you do with prescription glasses?  It's the second pair I've had stolen.  The others were stolen when they flew off my face and onto the road after my accident two years ago.  So I'm considering getting contacts instead.  Anyone have experience with laser surgery?  That's also crossed my mind, although it's pretty expensive and quite frankly it scares me.

That about wraps it up for this time.  See you next time!

Prayer Items:

• Pray for Breyling as he makes the switch back to the public school system.
• I still haven't made any decisions on using the educational award--pray for something to come together soon if that's God's plan.
• Praise God for both a great trip to Guatemala and a great time with Scott, the intern.
• Praise to God for his provision financially during the 2011-12.