Love.

Well, it has been awhile since the last time anyone has blogged. As most of you know, my mom's brother, John Post, tragically passed away on August 6 and went to be with Jesus. Since then, it has been a bumpy and difficult road. From comforting my aunt and cousins, to starting school, and back into the rhythm of our normal life. Yet, while it is normal it also completely different. I used to take the silly emails from him to the entire family for granted, but now I miss his humor and his stories and his videos and pictures. Not a single day goes by when I don't think about him. I do my homework on the dining room table that has pictures of all of the cousins and him and my aunt on our late Fourth of July gathering (I was in Guatemala on the Fourth). It's weird knowing that a few weeks later, me, my dad, and brother would be driving to Grand Rapids, Michigan to see him before he died--yet, we were too late. The last time I talked to him (besides saying goodbye when heading back to Nashville from the lake trip weeks before) was when we were riding in the car to pick blueberries (a tradition). He was talking about teaching me how to drive because I had gotten my permit. It seems like a silly conversation to remember, but I could tell he meant that he wanted to help teach me the ropes of driving. Most of all, I remember the excitement on his face, as if were remembering the days when he learned to drive and wanted to pass it along the line to me. Sadly, that won't be happening, and he won't be able to teach his kids (Simon 12, Samuel 11, and Lucy 7) to drive either. Yet, if I knew then that he would die in the next few weeks, there are so many things I would change. First, I would try to spend as much time as I could with him, and make sure everyone gave him all their love, and listened to all his advice, and so many other things. But I guess that's why God doesn't tell us the future. Because then we would have an easier time living perfect lives because it would be easy to change the future and know the consequences before acting. I can say this one thing: I had no regrets when it came to my uncle. I loved him dearly and still do.
What I'm trying to get at is this: we each have an obligation to love one another. Whether we choose to do so or not is a different story. But, why would you not love someone when Jesus loved you? Ironically, we look down on those we consider lower than ourselves and don't care for the people who need Jesus most. In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about judgement day. He separates those who love and followed him and obeyed his commands and those who chose to disobey. He commands us to care for the sick, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, help the prisoners, clothe the naked, and love the destitute. When was the last time you thought of doing any of these? This summer, in Guatemala I can say I obeyed those commands...I wish I could still be there acting further upon them, but inconveniently there is something called school that I am required to attend. I'm not trying to put myself on a pedestal and say "look at me, see how good I am!" but I am trying to get you to think about where you want to be. If God is with all those people, why not go there and serve him? It takes time, sometimes money, and a willing heart to help. I know a man who volunteers every Sunday night at the Nashville Women's prison. He leads worship and shows the women what a real Christian man should look like. Another person I know runs a after-school tutoring program at Kipp Academy. A teenage girl (18) who is one of my best friends has a passion for Africa and raises money for clean water, schools, churches, mosquito nets, etc.(Ellie's Run for Africa). It doesn't take much to serve. I have been up at 3am preparing breakfast and serving it at the Nashville Rescue Mission on a Saturday and loved it. There are also Boys and Girls clubs I have volunteered in and loved on kids. I have made sack lunches and walked around Downtown, giving them out to homeless men and women on the streets and eating with them. Once, I was even laughed at by a girl my age. To serve, you have to be willing. Willing to be either accepted or rejected, to give love and receive love, to be laughed at and brush it off, to learn from someone you never thought could teach you a lesson, and to find God in the most unusual places. Most of all, be willing to LOVE. The Beatles sang it so well, "ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!" God loves you and I unconditionally, why should we not love others back? I'm glad I loved my uncle, it would be way to hard living with regrets knowing I could never take things back.

                      ~Courtney

Make a difference!!!!!

Dear Friends,  One precious opportunity that we (Mitch, Courtney, Tanner and I) had this summer was to introduce Courtney and Tanner to the family we sponsor in Guatemala!  The oldest girl, Mindy Gabriela Gonon Veliz, is 16 years old and attends Shalom School.  We even are friends on Facebook because the school has computers that the students learn to use!  Anyway, Mindy has had major dental problems resulting from a fall.  She does not smile and show her teeth because she is embarrassed about the gaping hole in the front of her mouth.  While we were in Guatemala, she also told Courtney that she has no friends.  We can tell that her self-esteem is low and while we know that self-esteem is a large issue, we believe that getting her teeth fixed with help her feel more confident.  She has been evaluated by a dentist and the process of getting her an implant or a prosthesis has been started.  The doctor has given estimates on the cost of completing the work on her mouth.  We have told them to move forward with the best option for the health of her mouth knowing that God will provide the money that is needed to cover the costs.  The cost is $1400 for all the dental work.  Will you please pray and ask God if this is something that he wants you to support?  

You can go to the website www.theshalomfoundation.org and make a donation and write Mindy Gonon dental work in the comment section. 

Thanks so much for your support to us during this hard time of grieving my brother's death.  It is hard and very, very sad.  We continue to appreciate your prayers for us, John's family (his wife Audrey, Simon, Sam and Lucy), my sister and her family and my parents.  Please also pray for Mindy as she navigates the waters of being a teenager in Guatemala.  

We love you all!

Caroline

"I miss you!"

Daniel

Gaby making the 'kissing-face'

Mindy and I at Church

It has been awhile since I have blogged. Here's what is on my heart: I miss Guatemala. I miss the culture, the people, the smiling children, the bumpy bus rides, the trip to Antigua, the orphans, building houses, playing futbol (soccer), giving away stuffed animals and barbies, hugging children, speaking Spanish, mixing 'concrete', being dirty, giving out food, receiving smiles for nothing...I can go on and on. Everyday, I am reminded of what I left behind. I keep a picture of a little boy named Daniel on my phone as my background. He is a two year old orphaned boy. He does not like to talk in English or Spanish. He only says no. But he smiles and the world turns up-side-down. When I first went into the Hope 4 Tomorrow Orphanage, I saw him walking towards us. He just stopped and smiled. From then on, I held him almost the rest of the time we stayed there. If I wasn't holding him, we were holding hands, or I was chasing him around. He liked a green dinosaur and loved the cars I gave him. His next favorite things were riding a tricycle and trying to kick a ball. But, the moment I miss the most with him is after I changed his diaper and he sat in my lap and I read him a book while he played with blocks in his hands. I miss the warmth of his body, his little tiny fingers, his look of intensity while he concentrated, and especially i miss him smiling up at me. I will never forget this. Everyday, I am reminded of what I left behind. I looked on iphoto yesterday at our families lake pictures, but instead of leaving the computer I sat for another hour looking back over the pictures of the day we had a picnic in Guatemala. I probably stared at the pictures of me and Gaby for ten minutes. She was so adorable. She knew my name as 'Coco' because she couldn't say 'Courtney'. She just wanted me to hold her for the entire day. She giggled all the time. She loved to make the 'kissing-face' at me and then surprise me with a kiss. She would not stop following me wherever I went, even if she was in a picture she wasn't supposed to be in. She copied everything I did. But, my favorite moment was captured in a picture. I was holding her and I had to leave. She didn't want to let me go. She made the 'kissing-face' and I made it back, then she started to giggle mischievously and she kissed me. I had to walk to her mom who pried her off of me. I didn't want to let go--but I had to. Everyday, I am reminded of what I left behind. In my room, there is a bracelet that matches the one I gave to Mindy on the last day I saw her in Guatemala. Mindy, Brian, Gerber, and Kimberly are the kids we sponsor from Guatemala. They are all in the same family. I got to meet them for the first time, and it won't be the last. When I first hugged Mindy, who is my age, I started to cry, she already had tears running down her face when she sprinted to my dad. I felt like I had just met my sister after years of separation. We sat together in church and Kimberly, who is 7, switched sitting on my lap, my dad's lap, and my mom's lap. Brian and Gerber were just as ecstatic, they just didn't cry. We all worshipped together and then we got to give them what we brought over from the U.S. They LOVED all the gifts. But, my favorite moment was when I gave Mindy the bracelet. It was obvious that she loved it because she had been looking at it. I untied it from my wrist and tied it on hers telling her that I would always remember her. She smiled and tears began to pour down her face. She is still my sister even though we live worlds apart. Everyday, I am reminded of what I left behind. On the last day in Las Conchas, after the picnic, and visiting people's houses, I walked up the big hill to get back to the bus and leave. I stopped and turned around to look at the rolling mountains, the houses that had been built before, the new houses, the school, the little stores everywhere, the children playing soccer in the field, the rows of corn covering the sides of the mountains, the families walking home together, the stray dogs walking around looking for food, the wind blowing the trees, the dirt road with all the trash covering it, the ant hill that i had kicked over previously, the bathroom where the toilet didn't work (and there was no TP), the little girls gathered in a group playing with dolls, the older boys huddled together laughing, the mangled cows eating whatever they could find, and anything else I could take in. It was one of those moments where you stop and think, "Is this really goodbye!?" This year there was a boy in my Geometry class named Michael Daniel. He hit his head after falling off his skateboard. For days, his friends wouldn't come to school, they would cry with each other and visit him in the hospital. He was unresponsive and he ended up dying. His parents have kept his facebook up and  occasionally I will look on my newsfeed and one of them will post on his facebook wall "I miss you." Three simple words. I wish I could tell Daniel and Gaby how much I miss them. I wish I could tell Mindy, Brian, Gerber, and Kimberly how much I miss them. I wish I could yell over the ocean and the hills how much I miss Guatemala and people could hear me. I want to be there right now. Hugging on each kid in sight and telling them how much they are loved by the God who created not only the universe, but made each of them special and unique. Laughing at their Spanish humor. Crying with Mindy all over again. Praying over people's families and houses while holding their hands. Playing futbol with the kids and learning new tricks. But, if I could only say three simple words I would say, "I miss you!"


                         ~Courtney

Hope 4 Tomorrow

Miguel is 13. At age 7, a family who wanted to adopt him, came and took him for a visit for the weekend.  They returned him and did not adopt him.  This happened to him not once, but twice.  Foreign adoptions are no longer allowed in Guatemala and the number of in country adoptions last year was 60.  60 adoptions of orphaned children for the entire year.  The previous year when international adoptions were permitted, 2800 or so children were adopted.  Most likely Miguel will not be adopted.  He will grow up in the orphanage until he is of age.  There are no words to describe the sadness I feel for Miguel, for a boy who has not had parents for his whole life. A boy who needs a male role model, someone to teach him how to be a man.  Fortunately for Miguel,  Kenneth Sese, the Director of the orphanage takes Miguel out to spend some time with him.  Tanner and Miguel hit it off!  They became instant friends.  As they plan for the future, Hope 4 Tomorrow is well aware that the children they have will most likely stay with them until they are grown.  Please pray for these sweet little lives.  God is writing their stories, but this is hard to stomach.

"I know her name!"

Sweet little Gaby, was running around telling me, "Yo conozco ella se llama, Coco!"  "I know her name, Coco".  She was so thrilled that she knew Courtney's name and could say it.  "Courtney" is not easy for the people to say so she went by her nickname, "Coco".  Gaby was attached to Courtney and loved being held.  Courtney put bows in Gaby's hair on the day of the picnic as she was all dressed up for the festivities.  "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Mark 10:14

Las Conchas

It has been a wild and crazy week! Our internet access has been spotty at best AND we have been very busy. More descriptions will come in the future, but here is a taste of the work we have been doing in Las Conchas, a very, very poor neighborhood in the outskirts of Guatemala city. Yesterday, we mixed concrete BY HAND...yes you heard that right, we used shovels and wheelbarrows and buckets to mix and pour concrete for the foundation of a house. It is back breaking work but it can be fun if you know you only have to do it for a few days! Courtney and Tanner are doing well. They really work hard and I am proud of them. They have bonded with the interpreters and the children in the community to form friendships they will always remember. Mitch and I have had the privilege of seeing friends we made years ago and rekindling the friendships. Please continue to pray for health among our team members and for us to get along well. Togetherness can create tensions....need I say more?

A tearful reunion

Check out this picture!  What you cannot see are the many tears that we cried as we met again with our Guatemalan family.  It was an amazingly sweet and holy time. As we waited outside the church building for the family to finish their Sunday School classes, we searched each face walking by to see if we recognized them. (The children have grown so much so we were hoping that we would recognize them).  Mindy came walking up the ramp and when she saw Mitch she ran and bear hugged him weeping.  The tears started to flow.  Mitch introduced Courtney and she also got a tearful bear hug from Mindy. Mindy and Courtney were inseparable from then on.  After church we spent time (with an interpreter) catching up on their lives and praying.  How sad and scary to find out that our family had to leave their home because of the dangerous gang violence that has increased in their neighborhood.  In fact, a person was killed just outside their home and they were given an ultimatum, "Tell us who killed this woman and you can stay in your home, otherwise you have 8 days to leave or else"  They did not know who killed the woman and were afraid for their lives, so they moved.  They are renting a home in another neighborhood and what is sad is that now they have to pay rent when they owned their home outright.  Miriam, the mother, has had to return to work to make ends meet.  Both Edgar and Miriam really want Miriam to be able to stay home with the children but it is not possible right now.  What a sweet time of prayer we had for each member of the family!  Courtney prayed for the girls, Tanner for the boys, me for the mother and Mitch for Edgar.  Then Edgar prayed for our family and our country.  I'm telling you, the Holy Spirit was there!  How amazing to know that our families shared so much even though we live in different countries and speak different languages!  These children are awesome!  It is obvious that the parents really care for them!
You will notice in this picture that Mindy does not show her teeth when she smiles, that is because she fell and knocked out a tooth and has a big gap in her mouth.  She is embarrassed by it and wanted us to pray about it.  Shalom Foundation stepped up and she is being seen this week by a dentist to start the process of getting her a new tooth!
Prayer for our family:
1.  Miriam is having headaches and sore places on her body.  2. Edgar hopes to start his own business in the future, making clothing, but right now he is working for a brother at the church and it is going well.  3.  Mindy's teeth to be fixed  4.  Mindy, Kimberly, Herbert and Bryan to do well in their studies.
Here are the ages of the family members:  Edgar is 37,  Miriam 35, Mindy is 16 years old, Bryan is 14 years old, Herbert is 11 years old and Kimberly is 7 years old. 

water,water everywhere

we're here and it has been a great adventure!  We awoke to a flood in our room and had to change rooms. There have been several thunderstorms so we did lots of walking and hikking in the mud.  We worked a full dday today.  Courtney and tanner are working their tails off and they are havinggg a blast!  Read courtney's blog on the shalom website...link in a previous blog below!

8 hours

8 hours and counting...we are excited and preoccupied.  Carli is having such a hard time with us leaving...she has been crying for days.  Please pray for her to be ok and even have fun while we are gone.  Jack went to the Roper's house tonight with excitement!  I got some good hugs and a few tears as Mitch prayed for him over the phone and then he was off like a shot.  He is so excited to hang out with friends all week.  I think that he was getting bored around here.
Thank you so much for your prayers!
love,
caroline

Our team blog is:
 http://www.theshalomfoundation.org/community-development-mission/jul2011team1/

We are ready! ....almost

Why oh why does it take so long to pack for a 9 day trip?  Can anyone help me with this?  It seems to me that you make a list and pack everything and you are done 3-6 hours tops.  wrong.  3-6 DAYS of packing!  You would think that we are leaving for the entire summer.  I think that we will sleep once we get on the plane from "packing exhaustion".  
For those of you who are pray-ers, here are my prayer requests:  
*SAFETY
*Carli and Jack to do well here - especially Carli who has been telling me for days "I can't do        it mom!  9 days is too long!"
*Our team to gel
*Tanner's diabetes to be under control the entire time
*a good visit with my friend, Eva Duarte, a psychiatrist at the cancer hospital
*God's spirit to move in our lives and the lives of those we will serve
*for the women who work at the orphanage
*for the women who attend the Bible Study
*for the rain to stop (it is a muddy pit in the Las Conchas neighborhood right now which means we hoof it in because buses cannot drive in)


Muchas gracias!

PACKING, packing and more packing!

Today we are packing.  Thanks to your generosity we have so many shoes and uniforms to pack that we are overflowing!  THANK YOU!  Courtney and Carli an I are actively packing and weighing the bags so that we are not over the 50lb weight limit.  Last night we went shopping for healthy snacks to hand out to the neighborhood kids.  We also went shopping for items for the family that we sponsor.  We don't know their sizes so we are flying by the seat of our pants!!!! You should have seen me in Target trying on shirts over top of my clothes so that we could estimate whether they would fit Miriam, the mom!  A funny sight, no doubt!.

Counting Down

   So we are on the home stretch of getting ready for our trip which begins on July 1st. We are very excited about the adventure!  Courtney and Tanner are especially excited as they have wanted to go to Guatemala for years, ever since Mitch went the first time in 2006.  Now we are working on packing and packing and more packing.  One family collected 63 pairs of shoes for us to take!!!!!!  Another friend scoured the trash and found all sorts of uniforms that CPA was throwing out and he took them, washed them and then found out we were asking for them....
Thank you, Ben Ellis!  Items we are still collecting are: nail polish, nail files, healthy snacks, small toys, sugarless gum, silly bands, hair brushes and hair bands/ribbons...anything to give out to the women and children.
    On my last visit, I made a friend, Eva Duarte, a psychiatrist at the cancer hospital in Guatemala City.  She is an amazing woman.  She is double board certified and runs the psychiatric program at that hospital on a shoestring budget.  We are hoping to be able to get together and spend some time over dinner with our families.  She also has teenagers!
   Thank you for your continued prayers.  WE NEED THEM.  Please pray for health, safety, good attitudes, patience and flexibility!

Here's the Line-up!

Last night, we had our final team meeting before heading to Guatemala.  
Here are some updates....
     For the two new children at Hope 4 Tomorrow...they not only needed beds, they need a whole room for the children as they have outgrown their space!  The plans for the new room are in progress and we may possibly help with the remaining construction if it in incomplete when we arrive.  Thanks to generous donations several thousand dollars have already been given for the new room!  
     We will build houses in the Las Conchas neighborhood each day.  One family for whom we are building a home is the Coc Cac Family.  Miguel, the father works in security services.  He makes around $240 per year.  (Yes, that is correct!)  Lucia, the mother, makes tortillas to sell.  They have two children: Selvin who is 8 years old and Michel who is 2 years old.  Please pray for this family as we build a home for them.  Their current home is made out of sheets of tin.

     In the afternoons, Crystal and I will have a Bible Study in Spanish for the women and their children.  The Bible Study topics will be the same for the women and the children so that they can have further discussion about it in their homes.  Crystal and I hope to give the women "goodie bags" at the end of the week.  They will each get a Bible and some practical things like toothbrushes and toothpaste, and we hope to put a nail polish or two in each bag for them as they LOVE NAIL POLISH.  When we start painting nails, even the boys line up!!!!!!  If you want to provide any fun things that we can put in their bags, we welcome them!  Right now we have plenty of toothbrushes and toothpaste and Bibles, we can use "pampering" sorts of things like nail polishes, emery boards, lotions....you know "girly" things.  (We need about 20 of each...at least that is our estimate)
     "Al que puede hacer muchisimo mas que todo lo que podamos imaginarnos o pedir, por el poder que obra eficazmente en nosotros, a el sea la gloria en la eglesia y en Cristo Jesus por todas las generaciones, por los siglos de los siglos: Amen"
     TRANSLATION:  "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen"  Ephesians 3:10
    

New Kids on the Block

Last night two new children were taken into Hope 4 Tomorrow.  Their story is sad!
The following is a message from Kenneth Sese about them:
"This evening we had the privilege of receiving two young children into our Children’s Home.  The oldest is Katy (7) and her brother’s name is Eddie (4).  They have been in an abusive situation with their mother and the father who would protect them from the mother passed away last year.  It’s hard to tell, but Katy has a black eye.  It’s sad to think that situations like this occur, but we are thankful that we were able to help out.  We trust the Lord will help them to adjust quickly and we’ll be able to bless their lives."
Please pray for these sweet little lives to be loved and cherished like never before at Hope 4 Tomorrow!  
Caroline

Encouraging women

I have several opportunities to work with the women of Guatemala during our visit!  Our friend, Kenneth, who runs the Hope 4 Tomorrow, children's home, has asked me to give a talk to the women who work at the orphanage.  We have decided that focusing on the topic of self-esteem would be beneficial.  Along with the talk, I am going to be offering individual counseling (with a translator!) for any of the women who are interested in it.  Will you please pray?  Pray that God will move in the lives of these women and me!  Pray for my words to refresh them with the truth of the gospel. Pray for the women to be open to hearing and sharing from their own stories.  One of my teammates, Crystal, and I will be leading a Bible study for the women in the Las Conchas neighborhood while our team is building homes.  Living Proof Ministries (Beth Moore) is going to send me copies of their new Looking Up devotional in Spanish if they return from the printer in time.  The goal is to send each woman home with a book for her further growth and encouragement!  Please pray that we get these books before we leave!  Please pray for these women to know how dearly loved and cherished they are by God, Himself!

I used to live in a darkened room
Had a face of stone 
And a heart of gloom
Lost my hope, I was so far gone
Cryin all my tears
With the curtains drawn
I didn't know until my soul broke free
I've got these angels watching over me, yeah


Oh watch me go
I'm a happy girl
Everybody knows
That the sweetest thing that you'll ever see
In the whole wide world
Is a happy girl


By Martina McBride "Happy Girl"  

THANK YOU

A huge thank you to all of you who have given soccer jerseys, soccer balls, toothbrushes, toothpaste and money.  Your support means so much to us!  We marvel at each one of you who donates to our trip out of the kindness of your heart.  THANK YOU!
Each day we grow more excited anticipating our trip.  Granted it will be hard work.  I mean HARD work!  We mix our own concrete....rocks, sand, water and something else...then we use shovels to mix it on the ground.  A concrete truck does not show up with ready made concrete so that we can pour the floor for a home.

Anticipating Our Trip to Guatemala

What would you do if you couldn't provide for your family?  no clothes, food, shoes, doctor visits, limited school, if any, no transportation and no house?  That is what is normal for the poor in Guatemala.  "Poor" is a word that doesn't begin to touch the extreme poverty that is present in a large portion of Guatemala City.  This July, we will be going to work in this community to build houses for the homeless.  A return trip for both Mitch and myself to Guatemala, Courtney (age 15) and Tanner (age 14) will be going for the first time.  In 2006, Mitch went to Guatemala and built a home for a family with four kids, two boys and two girls...just like our family.  When he realized that the children did not go to the Shalom School, we immediately started sponsoring them.  In Guatemala the education is sketchy...the teacher may show up and then again maybe not.  For the very poor, there are no options.  Shalom School provides meals, vitamins and education...after all, who can learn if his/her belly is rumbling from hunger?  I am excited for Courtney and Tanner to get to meet our family in person this July!!!!  The top picture is Mitch and I with the three oldest children Mindy, Bryan and Gerber at the Shalom School. The picture below it is of the Gonan-Veliz Family standing next to their new block home.