I never thought I'd have a blog, never thought I'd have enough to say- so for now, I'm writing this blog to track my adventures in Guatemala, which will be taking place in one week! I'm also hoping that this blog will track many of my other travels that I hope/plan to take. It's kind of like a "If you write it, they (adventures) will come" type deal.
My long time dream has always been to live in another country and both teach at a school and work in an orphanage. One day I would even love to start my own orphanage. I found out that Bridges Outreach, which is an organization started by my brother-in-law, is going to Guatemala to help an orphanage called Casa Bernabe. I am so excited to be able to go on this trip with them and serve the Lord to those in need! Living 5 hours away from the rest of the trip, I had to raise my own funds and prepare on my own, but I am so grateful to all my family and friends who generously provided me with enough money to cover all costs and even leave Casa Bernabe with extra money for repairs and food!
Being only a week away and pumped full of shots and vaccines, you can imagine how excited I am! However, this Sunday a volcano erupted about 10 miles away from the orphanage, covering the campus with black sand. Villages have been evacuated and the volcano is expected to erupt again soon. While that is happening, a tropical storm has moved through Guatemala causing all sorts of damages such as floods, mudslides, huge sinkholes (see the pic on the left), etc. There have been also deaths and some people are still unaccounted for. Right now, the the airport is closed but is scheduled to re-open sometime this week.
There are a lot of prayer needs, especially since Case Bernabe is on a mountain side and is subjectable to mudslides and debris from the volcano. Please keep the country and the team in your prayers over the next couple weeks while we are rebuilding, encouraging, and loving on the children!
