Multi-Blogging

I have found that I simply can't maintain 3 blogs at once...I've tried...but I have failed miserably.  Since I really need to be updating the blog consistently on our organization website, I'm going to post links to those blogs on here.  For the more personal postings, I will post directly here.

So to find out what we've been up to lately including our first 1 1/2 weeks in Guatemala, here you go!

http://www.aheart4guatemala.org/p/2012-summer-trip-blog.html

If you'd like to see all the pictures and get more up to date info on what's going on in our lives...send me a friend request on Facebook. I update FB at least once a day :-)

You can find me at:  https://www.facebook.com/bethanydavidsonwidby

I am still keeping up with most of your blogs - sometimes a few days behind  - but it's still great to see what's going on with all of you and for my FS friends, all the excitement of packouts and moving and daily life have been super! 

Love to all!

Bethany

Finding Faith

Noel Eduardo #2153

As you will remember, I wrote in my last post of my heart which was so heavy with my laundry list of requests.  I was really losing faith in what I had set out to do, I wasn't sure if any of it would come to pass and I didn't know what to do.  I prayed hard and questioned if I was doing enough.  Apparently I just needed to have more faith.  He provided a solution to one of the biggest items on my laundry list...finding sponsors for all the kiddos still hoping to go to school this year. 

As of January 17th, 8 children had been sponsored through friends and family.  These are kiddos I will be working with this summer and kiddos that Seth will make friends with when we're living in Guatemala!

The evening of January 17th, I put out the requests to my friends and family via Facebook - the quickest and most efficient way to spread the word these days!  I didn't think I would get much of a response to the stories of the little ones I was writing about.  I figured I'd just drive everyone crazy with my posts and then get no response and then give up.  I couldn't have been more wrong!  I have spent the last 3 nights wiping away tears of joy.

As of tonight, January 20th, 16 more children have been sponsored by you all!  Bringing the current total to 24 children!  24 children whose lives and whose family's lives will be changed forever.   24 children who will be getting an education.  24 children who will be fed and clothed and shod.

24 children who are being given the chance to break the cycle of poverty....

24 children I will be able to put my arms around...

With only 21 children left to find sponsors out of the 60 we had 4 days ago, I have faith we will find them all sponsors.

Kiddos Waiting for Sponsors

Thank you friends and family.  Thank you God.   My laundry list just got shorter!

xoxo

Prayer

Do you ever feel like you pray with a laundry list?  I do.  It's like there's a whole lot of things that I really want to see happen.  Things I really want God to do.  So I come to Him with my laundry list of things, big and small, and can only wonder if on the other end he's thinking I should pare it down a bit.

There are some big things on my laundry list right now...big requests for help.  But I don't know if they will be fulfilled....perhaps I'm a bit lacking in faith.  So I'm going to keep praying in hopes that words will be spoken, hearts will be moved, and prayers will be answered.  Laundry list and all.

...and Juan makes 6

Yes...we are now sponsoring 6 students for school this year.  Here is our newest:

Juan lost his sponsor this year and school starts this week and I couldn't let the little guy not start 2nd grade! 

To meet the other 4 kiddos and Amelia, you can see our post here:  Our Expanding Guatemalan Family


Seth and I are very excited to see Angel and Amelia again whom I met last summer, and to meet our four newest students.  We'll be traveling to their villages, spending time with their families, and hopefully providing a few of the families with beds so they can stop sleeping on the ground. 

It's an exciting time right now as we start making our bigger decisions for our trip. 

Stay tuned!

Help Seth and I Make a Huge Difference!

Last week we kicked off our donation drive for our 6 week volunteer trip to Guatemala this summer.  We are so excited about what we can accomplish in 6 weeks together as opposed to the 10 days last summer when I went alone.  Can you spare $5 or $10 to help us reach our goal?   We've raised $20 so far out of our $1600 goal.  Long way to go but with your help we can reach it! 


International volunteerism...you're never too young!

What do you mean "extreme poverty"??

It's hard to really know what extreme poverty looks like until you've seen it firsthand.  In the following pictures, I hope to give you an idea of life for millions of Guatemalans and why I am being called to return.  

A kitchen for the family living upstairs

The next door neighbors

Stairs to the first level

The "bathroom" aka outhouse

5 people sleep in this bed

Another kitchen - photo credit:  Nuestros Ninos

The outside of a home - photo credit:  Nuestros Ninos

Tuk tuks in Panajachel

One of our Mayan Families elderly in Panajachel - photo credit:  Nuestros Ninos

A preschooler in Panajachel

Families lining up for donations - photo credit: Nuestros Ninos

Inside of a family's home - photo credit:  Nuestros Ninos

Myself with the San Antonio Palapo preschoolers

Building a kitchen for a family - photo credit:  Nuestros Ninos

The village of San Antonio Palapo

San Antonio Palapo

Weighing out corn meal for food baskets - photo credit:  Nuestros Ninos

Happy family just received an ONIL stove - photo credit:  Nuestros Ninos

A family's dishes and pots - photo credit:  Nuestros Ninos

Working outside the home - photo credit:  Nuestros Ninos

Watching her family's stove being built - photo credit: Nuestros Ninos

Juan waiting to finish building an ONIL stove - photo credit:   Nuestros Ninos

This home was destroyed by a landslide - photo credit:  Mayan Families

Elderly Adrian was sleeping on a door until a group of us bought him a bed - photo credit:  Mayan Families

Help us help others

Last year my service trip to Guatemala cost over $1300 for the 10 days I was there. It was worth every penny because of the long hours I was able to put in working with the preschool programs, installing ONIL stoves, handing out food baskets, and doing home visits to families in extreme poverty - which is over 90%.

This year we'll be going for 6 weeks which will allow us to help so much more!

Every $1 you give helps me make a huge difference in the lives of those I work with. This year I will be able to provide teacher training at the preschools, work on kindergarten readiness, interview families to determine their needs and get them matched with programs, work with the orphan care program, and give out food baskets and clothing.

If you'd like to donate $1 or even more, please click the donate button in the upper left hand corner.


Thank you!
Bethany

P.S. For those of you that donated last year, you should expect to see your thank you cards and receipts at your home in the next week.