First impressions from a new guy

This is my first time here at the Oasis. Here are my first impressions:

- Guatemala, with it's green mountains and volcanos is VERY beautiful.

- The Oasis itself is amazingly beautiful: a huge central playground surrounded by beautifully colored housing: looks like a courtyard of heaven where these girls can live in security and healing.

- Arriving at the Oasis was amazing. As we got out of the van, I saw some of the girls run up and greet some of the men of our team that they have known for years: they gave big hugs and big smiles. It was like watching a daughter greet her daddy who had been away on a long trip. It was also a little awkward that these girls did obviously not know me, but they were willing to begin making friends with us newcomers very soon. When the girls learned that I actually speak real Spanish, they stared teaching me their cool greeting and lingo of the day.

- The staff was also very appreciative for us coming. We had an orientation, and learned about the vision and strategies of the director. They are really working to bring God's transforming power to an entire village of Zapote with a nearby school they have started.

- I feel both blessed, overwhelmed and exhausted from the trip. I look forward to tomorrow. God bless the Oasis, it's staff, and the girls!

Tony

Arrived Safely in Guatemala

We arrived safely at the Oasis at 4pm. All our luggage arrived as well - praise God! The guys are please to be here and the girls are pleased to see us. We are taking it easy for a while, getting orientated and settling in. Stay tuned to this blog for more updates soon....

Team Members

The guy's going to Guatemala this year are:

Dave C, Tim O, Pete, Chris, Kory, Greg, Randy, Mark

Zack, Dave T, Tony, Kyle, Neil, Tim B

Thank you for lifting these guys up to the Lord in prayer.

Ready to leave

The team leaves for Guatemala on Friday morning. Please see the prayer requests on the right side of this page. You can also pray for the van situation in Guatemala - it was involved in an accident and has been impounded by the police and they are not sure when they will get it back and what condition it will be in. Pray that the Lord's will be done in that situation. We are meeting at NHC main campus at 4am on Friday........you are welcome to join us for prayer. Thanks to Pastor Dave who will be driving us to the airport!

Fund Raising

Thank you to everyone that has supported the team financially this year. We reached our fund raising goal today - Praise God!

Guatemala 2012 - First Update

Well, we are almost ready to go again.......

The new team has been in place for a few weeks now - we are glad to welcome Zack, Chris, Dave T and Tony!

We know the Lord has another great trip planned for us and we are excited to see how he will use us. Along with the usual construction work at the Oasis we hope this year to do some work at a second site called "The Lily" to help complete a home for the older girls and also start to build some connections with the local church to see how we can minister along side them.

The fund raising process is well underway, although we are still in need of support - contact Tim Bodkin at 763-536-3222 for details. As always, we value your prayers more than anything.

Google Earth Pictures

Here is the latest picture of "The Oasis" from Google Earth:

Highlight of the trip

Make sure you read the "True Worship" post below for Friday which describes the highlight of our trip!

Back Home

We arrived home safely Saturday night.

It was an amazing week!

Look for more updates and pictures in the next few days.

Saying goodbye is always hard!

After loading all our bags and suitcases up in the truck we had plenty of time to say "adiós niñas" (goodbye girls). It was a true Minnesotan goodbye...long! The girls had a hard time letting go and so did we! Through many hugs, tears, laughter and photo's we let go and loaded the van one more time, each of us processing the week we had. We went to serve, to use the talents that God has blessed us with, to play and love on the girls, we leave being humbled, blessed and loved back ten times more.