Vanessa in Guate

Today, Proximos Pasos was blessed by God's Eyes International .  God's Eyes is a ministry that travels to remote locations in 3rd world countries to host eye clinics where an eye doctor would not be available otherwise. Today they came to Santa Maria de Jesus, and we are so grateful! I was a volunteer at the eye clinic, and my role was to translate what the doctor was saying to the patients. I had to tell the patients what to do during the eye exams and explain their prescriptions to them. There were quite a few students and parents who received glasses today (Praise God!), and a few students who found out that they have an astigmatism. Although it’s not good news to find out that your eyes aren’t working the way that they should be, it was good for them to know the seriousness of their condition. The students with more serious eye conditions received eye glasses that would help, but were strongly advised to see a specialist....

Just to show you a little bit of the uniqueness of Guatemala! These are probably not all completely unique to Guatemala, but they're different from the States!

Hey all! Monday was the Guatemalan Labor Day, so today was my first day at Proximos Pasos. For teachers, the school day begins with a meeting at 6:45am. After the meeting, I joined Adwina (a friend and fellow missionary at Prox) as she taught the 5th and 6th grade English classes. I observed how she teaches the classes, then we went to our office so Adwina could teach me the logistics of the Guatemalan grading system. There is a Tuesday devotional at around 10am where all of the girls go to the assembly room, so that the girls themselves can share Scripture, pray, and lead worship together. Towards the end of the devotional, a teacher will share a Biblical teaching for the week and all of the girls join together to read the Bible verse that coincides with the theme. The theme for today's devotional was "patience" and the verse they learned together was Ephesians 4:2.  To...

"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." Ephesians 5:21 NIV We are called to be selfless and to serve (submit to) one another because Christ is our Lord. I truly believe that relationships can find healing when grace is offered and when love is extended sacrificially; where it is not necessarily deserved or earned. I am thankful that grace is offered and received, because we all are in need of it! I'm writing this today because I am so so thankful for everyone that God has placed in my life. One thing that I really love is beginning and growing in relationship with others. Today, I am specifically praising God for allowing me to love and be loved by so many! I miss friends and family in the U.S., but it is a huge blessing to even have people to miss! I am so grateful for every one of you who has chosen to partner with me as I serve with Mission Impact; whether that be prayer partnership or with financial partnership. Thank you ...

Hello! Just here to let you know about how things have been going. Spanish class is going really well! I'm just about halfway done, then I will be able to focus on serving at Proximos Pasos with  Mission Impact . I got to meet and fellowship with 12 out of the 15 missionaries/staff members of Proximos Pasos. The staff is very much loving and they told me that they understand the difficulties of leaving your country and your family while they continued to assure me that they are here for me and that they will be my family in Guate. We joined together to thank God for calling and encouraging all of us to serve and make disciples of the young girls at Proximos Pasos. I have been going to a church called Iglesia del Camino for the last three weeks, and it is becoming my home church in Guatemala. Iglesia del Camino has a great community that shares God's love while they seek Him together and spread the Go...

Church was great today and I enjoyed it even more because of a technical mishap! haha. While we were singing the last song of the opening music set the electricity went out, but everyone kept worshipping and it was just really nice to hear everyone's voices praising God in English and Spanish. We sang "mi corazón te ca ntará Jesús, Jesús//my heart will sing no other name Jesus, Jesus." The sermon was great, it was on perfect love casting out fear. (1 John 4:7-21) I loved the sermon because I can sometimes be described as timid, but I definitely step out of comfort a lot because of God's call. My sister in law always reminds me that in jr high I wouldn't even spend the night at a friend's house, and it's true! I wouldn't do anything and I was really quiet - I'm still quiet when I first meet people but eventually you can't get me to shut up! haha, but now here I am living in a country that is not my own and I'm living in a house with a ...

Today Facebook reminded me that 5 years ago on Valentine’s Day, I received the news that I was accepted to attend college at Azusa Pacific University. Praise God for all of His providence! As I’ve said in previo us messages, God has offered a hope that transcends my elementary school goal of simply surviving. 5 years ago I was a senior at Anaheim High School, and I got into the only school that I applied to - APU. The professors and faculty of this university taught me so much (and I still don’t know much, haha). I was able to attend a school that has professors who fear and love God. Professors that pray for the semester on the first day of class, and for the lesson during the class hours. Professors that ask you if you need prayer for anything, or invite you into their homes to meet and fellowship with their families. I am forever grateful for a Christian education, and the preparations that God was ingraining in my life throughout my 4 years at APU. I’m grateful that God ...