The Power of Children

It is amazing during this time of building support for our mission this coming fall who surprisingly steps up to the plate to help out.  Over this past month we have had children from grade 6 and under in our community show up to our house with donations to help the girls we so love in Casa Hogar.  In total between 8 children they have raised close to $600.  I know when I was that age the idea of helping someone off in a distant land didn't cross my mind.  It simply amazes me that these kids have forgone birthday presents, spending time playing, and/or buying something of their own interest to ensure that a just act can be done for those they don't even know.
Two of these children held a birthday party and through their own decisions came to the conclusion that another gift is meaningless compared to the value of investing in others, so donations from the partygoers to our mission was what they opted for instead.
Another of these kids took it on himself to go door to door in his neighbourhood with our brochure and talked to these people about our mission to raise support.  Pretty brave act in my book since I am not the type to be overly comfortable in a "sales" situation.
Often I am humbled by the noble and faithful acts of children.  As an adult, I often do risk analysis to many situations in my life and sometimes fail to act on things because of the unknown.  How many of us are skeptical of how our donations are being spent?  It is within good reason and prudent to find out what is being done with the money God provided for you.  We all have heard how some organizations fail to exercise effective use of monies.  However is this true for most?
After meeting a series of people in missions work I have witnessed more often than not the dedication and (as some may call it) sacrifice these people endure to ensure the betterment of others.  An example of this is my former gym teacher in high school.  He has travelled to Zambia for the last few years to develop communities over there that are in need of aid through basic housing, infrastructure and education.  His devotion to the cause and development of the mission caused him to set the goal of raising $30 000 per year for aid services for the next five years.  It has now ballooned to $500 000 in total donations received within the same time period.  The staff is completely volunteer and no cost is ever directed to covering the expenses of these volunteers when they do the short term missions.  This and many other stories exist out there of people's dedication making it possible for those donating to see God's money being used to the greatest extent.
As Mandy and I continue down this faith journey we often need to pause and have that child like faith that this too will work out.  It is not to say that planning and strategizing how we are doing this is being thrown out, but to believe that God has people in mind for us to give us support and that He will be abundant in providing for us is what we lie heavily on now.  Our prayers are that people see us as effective stewards of what God has entrusted with so far in our lives.
In the meantime, work must carry on and trust that this will work for the glory of God.

Matt

Getting connected

It is funny how a few months ago when we were applying to CTEN (Commission to Every Nation), that we had no idea how much work it would be just to make contact with the people we have made friends with over our lives to rally support for our mission.  We are beginning to get ready for our first big mail out this week and of course Canada post still remains on strike.  However we have faith that this will not hinder us in getting our message out (thank you Blogger, Facebook, and email!).

Part of what CTEN taught us is that our mission in Guatemala is really only half of our job.  As we forge partnerships with people in Canada to make the work at Casa Hogar possible we are using this opportunity to develop community that wasn't there before.  This shift in thinking extends our ministry much further than we intended.  Sure the vision is to see these girls succeed in Guatemala to become self sustaining women in Christ, but the unwritten vision is to involve our partners in Canada to shape their hearts in helping these girls in need.

I always thought missionaries were lucky people being able to go off to far off places and doing amazing work for God.   This made me underplay the importance of the supporter who stays at home, "not taking the risk".  My view has changed significantly with this and it inspires me to have those who are involved with supporting us to be an active part of the decision making.

My encouragement to our blog followers and supporters is to post comments.  As our family goes through this year of big changes you may give us ways to look at a problem differently or connect us with resources and people that can help.

So follow along with us and keep us in your prayers as we journey together.