Quiet Hours Turning to Years

Sometimes life throws you crazy circumstances that require prayer and a heavy dosage of faith to get through. Other times, God throws you a crazy vision of the future, and you need only wait for the circumstances to match. This past year, Becca and I have experienced primarily the first side of that coin. This week, we experienced the opposite: an opportunity that was an answer to prayer, the fruition of a desire we have had since we began life together almost three years ago.

Next week, we will be taking on the responsibility and joy of fostering eight little girls. When the MTC leadership approached us about this last Saturday, our first and immediate response was total excitement. For the last couple of years, we have known that we are called to “parenthood” beyond the beginning of our own biological family. Until this week, we didn’t know if that meant adoption, foster care in the US, or something else entirely. Now we know. It means living as “house mom and dad” for Alicia, Cristel, Galilea, Luz, Virginia, Mileni, Joanna, and Regina. In the beginning of February, we will move into a room at the children’s home to be close to the girls. It’s in this space that we will be doing our best to create a home environment with them – waking them up and putting them to sleep, reading them stories, putting them in time out (it’s bound to happen), baking, crying, and laughing together.

Beyond our excitement for taking on the joys, struggles, and daily needs of these girls, we are encouraged about what it means for the future of the children’s home and MTC. The idea is that the next 6-12 months with these girls will be a sort of “trial”, to see what transitioning the entire children’s home into family-style housing would look like. We are still quite a ways from that, but we are confident that this will be the start of something great.

While we are bolstered by our excitement and the fact that it’s actually an answer to prayer, this new role will certainly have its own set of challenges and questions. Please join us in prayer as we jump into this with both feet – and if you have any parenting advice, feel free to share. :)

We'll try to share updates, joys, and prayer requests as we step into this new role together. 

Love,

Brooklin & Becca

Mission: 2016

Dear Friends and Family,

Over the past year, Becca and I have devoted our time, energy, and resources to serving those God has sent us to here in Guatemala. We have seen God move in big ways during our time here; we have seen healing, laughter, learning, and more progress than we thought possible. Now we are excited to continue in this work, and we ask you to partner with us.

What have we been doing for the past year?

During our first few months in Guatemala, we spent most of our time learning Spanish. In January we moved to Huehuetenango, where we met the rest of the teaching community and the kids at the Fundacion, and jumped in with both feet. Becca has been teaching the Kinders and Parvulos (Preschoolers and Kindergartners) for the majority of the year, enjoying every minute of it. Brooklin has worked on the development side of the ministry here, helping with everything from hosting mission teams to writing letters with the kids. Outside of these roles, the best part has been to simply get to know the kids and young women here in Huehue and experience Christ’s love together with them. After a year of service, we are ready to jump in for another year!

Life in Guatemala

Guatemala is really like no other place on earth. Nicknamed “The Land of Eternal Spring”, the country is home to beautiful mountain ranges, jungles, volcanoes, peoples and colors. It is also a country in great need. The chronic undernutrition rate for children under five is nearly 50 percent, the highest in the region and fourth highest in the world. While the country has been making strides in its education, many schools still lack supplies to give children, and bilingual education for primary school is nonexistent. Many of the young women and children we work with have experienced physical abuse from their families in the recent past. All of this is to say we are glad to be here on the ground, working alongside Guatemalans to break this cycle and pray towards freedom.

We are uniquely called and qualified to reach this community

Ever since we first met the kids here in Huehue, we have felt called back to Guatemala. Over the past year, this calling has been reconfirmed as we increased our Spanish, taught English in school, and came alongside the lives of these beautiful children and young women. Starting in January 2016, Becca will continue teaching at the bilingual school and will also lead children’s church at the Fundacion. Brooklin will take on more of a full-time role with More Than Compassion’s programs, focusing on the development of new partnerships and existing programs.

Would you give financially to our commitment in Guatemala?

We have appreciated all of the support we have received for this first year in Guatemala, and we ask you to join with us in committing to serve the vulnerable in Guatemala. Our goal is to raise $10,500 by December 12^th, 2015. The funds will be used throughout 2016 for the following:

-       $1,400 for flights to and from Guatemala

-       $3,000 for housing in Huehuetenango for the entire year

-       $3,000 for groceries and utilities for the entire year

-       $1,600 for six weeks of additional Spanish school

-       $1,000 for three required Visa renewal trips to Mexico

Individual, one-time donation

This is an individual breakdown of what we need to reach our goal. Would you take one of these slots?

            1 person at $1,000

            2 people at $750

            5 people at $500

            10 people at $200

            20 people at $100

            25 people at $50

            50 people at $5

You can give either by check to the address above or on our online campaign. If you prefer to give online, visit: http://youcaring.com/BrookAndBeccaInGuatemala. Your gift will go directly towards the expenses shown above.

You are giving to a lasting work. Our goal is not just to be present in Guatemala for an additional year, but to work toward a sustainable future for the organization and the children we are working with, whether we are here for another year or another ten. Help us stay in Guatemala and accomplish the work we have been called to.

Sincerely,

Brooklin & Becca Nash

P.S. If you have any questions at all about the work we are doing in Huehutenango, about More Than Compassion, or about how to become more involved, do not hesitate to contact us at brooklin.nash@gmail.com

Eight Months and Counting!

“I will always thank the Lord; I will never stop praising him. I will praise him for what he has done; may all who are oppressed listen and be glad! Proclaim with me the Lord's greatness; let us praise his name together”!    Psalm 34:1-3

Hello friends and family!

                  It’s been a wild summer down here in Huehue, full of miracles, scary fair rides, photo shoots, and laughter!  God has been so good to us and our community.  Summer is prime time for mission teams to come visit, encourage, and experience the joy of these kids.  Because of the nature of Brook’s role, that has meant a lot of 12 hour bus rides, translating between English and Spanish, and even more bonfires, fireworks, and activities.  A highlight of this summer was the realization of one of Brook’s main projects, starting an internship program for MTC.  We had four interns join us for two months, who absolutely reenergized our team, served the women and children, and brought insurmountable joy.  Brook had a ton of fun starting this program from scratch and it seems to have had a promising beginning!

                  Becca has been loving teaching English with the little ones in preschool and kindergarten. It has been so encouraging to see the kids grow in their English and learning in the last seven months. Becca has also taken over a primary role as a special education teacher.  We have one student, Steven, who has cerebral palsy and who needs individual attention 100% of the time.  It has been a challenging experience to work in a culture that does not include people with disabilities in their school system - patience, respect and great love are needed working in Huehue. Steven has been a joyful addition to the school, with many of the kids going out of their way to include him in class and play time.

                  More than anything, we want to testify of God’s goodness.  We have seen miraculous healings here and all of our children are coming closer to the Lord.  One of our psychologists  was healed of cancerous-looking bumps on her chest, and came to know Jesus! Also, God healed Becca of her insomnia.  She had been struggling with sleep issues for five years, especially the last two, sleeping an average of 2-3 hours a night. This made for a very emotionally drained wife and teacher.  Praise the Lord, He completely healed her after a group of women visiting from Georgia prayed for her! She has now slept every night for more than two months in a row. She’s now returned to her normal self, able to exercise, laugh, and spend time with our community of teachers, women and kids, without feeling completely drained. He is good and faithful all the time!

As we jump into the last couple months of the school year here in Guatemala, we have another piece of exciting news: after talking it through with MTC’s leaders and praying together, we have decided to stay in Huehue for an additional year. While this year may have had its challenges, it has had way more moments of joy and of learning. While the details of what this upcoming year will look like are still being worked out, we wanted to share this news in the mean time. Please join us in prayer as we finish this school year – we are confident in the Lord’s presence here with the kids, and we only want to continue to see increase in His healing power and joyful Spirit in the kids and our volunteer community.

We are so grateful for our group of family and friends who care for us and support us being down here! We miss you all so much.  Thank you for everything you do for us.  We can’t wait to keep telling you of all the good plans God has for these kids and women!

                                                                       

Much love from Guatemala,

                                Brook and Becca

P.S. More Than Compassion is now recruiting volunteer English teachers for the 2016 school year! If you are interested in joining MTC as a teacher, you can find the application here: http://morethancompassion.org/ourschool/becomeateacher/

Coming & Going

9 hours. 540 minutes. 32,400 seconds.

In the last six weeks (42 days) we have visited four states, six cities, and slept in eight different beds. But the last 3,628,800,000 milliseconds cannot be defined by the numbers. It has been an amazing (and sometimes difficult) experience to be back in the States for this short time. Since returning from Israel on August 5th, we've been able to enjoy the food we've missed, see family members that we haven't seen in a very long time, go through the inevitable process of reverse culture shock, and prepare ourselves to again leave the United States, this time for a very different destination.

We now only have 9 hours until we board a plane bound for Guatemala City (well, Ft. Lauderdale, really - a second plane will be taking us to La Aurora). Our bags have been packed, unpacked, and repacked countless times since the beginning of August, and now we are more than ready to be in one place for more than a week at a time.

We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us in the last three months, since we first announced that we would be moving to Guatemala for most of 2014-2015. We have been absolutely blown away by the support and generosity we found in friends and family, and no words in the English language can express our gratitude. We could not be moving to Huehuetenango without your support, thoughts, and prayers. We are so excited to begin work with More Than Compassion at the School of Hope in January. Before we move up to Huehue, we will be living in Panajachel on Lake Atitlan for the three months before Christmas. The primary goals there will be to learn conversational Spanish for the upcoming year and to adjust to the culture before immersing ourselves in the orphanage. Additionally, Becca will be studying for the GRE and I will be starting research for his Master's thesis. We don't really know what to expect in the next three months (I'm hoping for a lot of mango) but we are eager to set up a second home in Guatemala and start learning about the country and culture we will be devoted to. Hopefully we will update here with what we are learning, who we are meeting, and where we are going. For now, thank you so very much for your support, and God bless you in this week!

Best,

Brooklin & Becca

Enemies washing each other's feet.

This past weekend, we had the honor of attending the Elav conference, where Jews, Arabs, and people from all over the world worship Yeshua together.  In light of recent events happening between Israel and Gaza, I have to share the most beautiful moment of the Kingdom coming to Earth.

Yeshua taught us to pray “Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

My eyes have truly witnessed this in the midst of a balagan (chaos).  Even though there have been kidnappings of teenagers, retaliation and riots, hundreds of rockets launched into Israel, escalation and despite several rushes to shelter, I have seen true love between Jews and Arabs.  For this, I rejoice. 

What do I mean by this true love? Yes, I saw them worshipping, singing and dancing together.  I saw them praying together, hugging each other, and above all, I witnessed Jews and Arabs washing each other’s feet.  Yes, literally.

In the times where Arabs feared to leave there Jerusalem homes and Israelis were in shelter, I saw Jews and Arabs washing each other’s feet. Beautiful.  What can compel enemies to do this? Only love that is not our own.

Only through Yeshua can hatred be overthrown and love grown. 

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  If some strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.”  Luke 6:27-29

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”  John 13:14

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me.” John 14:1

Abba, please bless Israel and surrounding neighbors.  We pray for spirits of fear, control, and hatred to flee.  We replace them with love, humility, peace, understanding, forgiveness and joy.  We ask for de-escalation and reconciliation.  We ask for more of your kingdom to come to this land.  Thank you, Abba.