Dear Friends and Family,
On May 1st we completed 2 years of living and serving full time at Home of Life and Nutrition in Guatemala. Living and serving at a children’s home is a lot like parenting, it is hard to see the fruit of your efforts from day to day but you hope and pray that you are making a difference and an impact on the lives of the children you interact with daily. We try to live out our faith and demonstrate the love of Jesus in everything we do.
Though we both have jobs or projects to do, we find that the most important thing is how we interact with the people God puts in our path from day to day. In addition to ministering to the staff and children at the home, we have the privilege to host teams who come to serve throughout the year. We enjoy meeting all kinds of new people and seeing God work in their lives as they experience a new part of this world God created. Now that we are feeling more established and comfortable in our surroundings, we are also hoping to reach out more to the people in the community we have met, have them over for dinner, just get to know them on a more personal level.
Now to get into some details of what we have been doing since our last letter in December. We started off the 2012 year with a “family” vacation. We loaded all the kids age 3 and up, about 25 in total, along with 10 adults onto a school bus and headed to the beach. In addition to the beach we visited a zoo and an awesome water park. It was such a blessing to be able to give these kids, who have barely been out of San Andres, a chance to experience another part of their country and to enjoy some great “family” fun.
A few days after we got back, all the kids started back to school for their new school year and we received a few visitors. Our visitors included a family who adopted a boy from the home 13 years ago. They came back to visit on his 21st birthday. It was a blessing to see God’s hand on this young man’s life. After that Norman’s brother and 3 men from his church came to help with some mechanical repairs and to start building cupboards for our kitchen. It was such a blessing to have them. Then came a team from Lifegate Church in Omaha. This team was unique in that the team leaders have spent a lot of time here at the home and know it well. Because of this, the team was able to take over the daily running of the home and send all the Staff away for a 2 day retreat. What a blessing! We all came back rested and refreshed! Shortly after the Omaha team left, we celebrated Vickie’s 50th birthday. With 30 kids around it isn’t possible to let your birthday just pass by without much notice! The week before Easter we hosted a team from Grove City College. They come every year and never cease to be a huge blessing while here. Currently our Supervisor, Dena Stromstad, is here for a visit and we are anticipating the visit of Vickie’s sister and niece in one week. After that, bring on the teams. We are hosting 4 different teams throughout the summer months and squeezing in a short visit from our very busy daughter.
We would greatly appreciate your prayers. Please pray for Heather as she finishes up her 3rd year of med school and looks forward to graduating in one year. Also please pray for our son, Ryan, who will be returning from his internship in India in July and will also have one year left before he graduates with an Architecture degree. Please pray for wisdom in our lives as we daily minister to those around us and for our health and safety.
We cannot tell you how blessed we are by all of you, our faithful financial and prayer supporters. You are the best! Our monthly financial support continues to stay right around 95% of our need. And once again the difference has been provided through one time donations. It is such a blessing to be able to serve in Guatemala knowing that you all have our “backs”. If you are not already supporting us financially and are feeling led to become a part of this ministry through being a monthly financial partner or through a one time donation, you may do so by sending donations to the address on the right. We pray that the blessings you have poured on us will be returned to you!
Blessings,
Norman & Vickie
