July Newsletter

Well here we are, two months in, and loving it more every day! These have been some of the fullest months of our lives. Ron's (our director) son had a relapse of cancer; and coupled with many other health problems he has been very ill. Ron left to go be with him, in the states, for a little over a month, and left us in charge. It has been a very challenging but we've learned so much. We've just jumped in with both feet! There have been so many times that we've felt very ill equip and turned to the Lord, not sure how to handle a situation, (and there have been a few), but He has helped us through every one. Our days are very full and different, I would love to tell you what a normal day looks like but so far we haven't had one. Life stays exciting that way! But to give you a good idea of what we do, our main focus is the staff. We really want to pour into the people who are serving here, we have an awesome group of people working here with us. Also, Andrew oversees some of the projects going on, and helps with the groups. He works closely with Ron and Cristhian, who is Guatemalan and helps with a lot of different things in the ministry. I'm really focusing on learning Spanish, I have a great teacher, and am trying really hard to learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can. One thing that was a highlight for me this last month was getting to spend a week with Dr. Mary. Dr. Mary has been a part of Pray America for awhile now, she does clinics twice a year here and has such a heart to help the people here in Guatemala. She was
here this last month for just a few days to do some fact finding. She is overseeing a new water program that we're starting, and also wanted to discover what other health needs we can be meeting. I had the privilege of going with her around to all
three different feeding programs, meeting with the caretakers andpastors over each program. She asked each of them what they thought the biggest needs are. She was able to collect lots of information and data to know where to start. I'm so excited about all the things she wants to start, including charting child growth, and education of a small group of people from each area, that there's a feeding program, who can then go and train their people in health and nutrition, either through a class at the feeding program or in home training. There's such a need for nutrition and hygiene education and it's so encouraging to get to be a part of something that's meeting those needs. The neat thing about Dr. Mary is that she's very educated and has done many things like this before. She's so full of wisdom and is okay with a these programs taking some time. She's taking everything very slowly, not rushing into anything but making sure what we're starting will really work, and will be long lasting. She also wants to involve the Guatemalan people who are already here. I'm very much excited and looking forward to working on these projects with her. Something neat that happened while we were on one of our little fact finding outings was Dr. Mary had asked to see a finished widow house, and we happened to walk past one near the house where we were visiting, we had our translator ask if it would be okay for us to go in and look around. They were okay with this so we went in. We soon discovered that it was a God appointment when the brother of the widow, Tomas asked us to pray for him. He explained that he had been sick and unable to work and provide for his family for some time now. We of course gathered around him and prayed for his healing and then Dr. Mary was able to briefly examine him and discovered that he was very anemic, probably from worms. We left promising to return the following morning. The next morning we came with several different medicines, several bags of food and excitement to get to be used by the Lord in such a neat way. As soon as we arrived we were greeted with smiling faces and a different Tomas, he explained to us that when we were praying for him on the previous day he immediately felt a difference. He said that God had sent us to him to help him and he was giving God all the glory. We were so blessed by his heart and prayed once more for him, that God would continue to heal him and to help the medicine to work even if it wasn't the right kind. It is so awesome to see God work! We've also gotten to be apart of working with the groups. Right now is the very busy season of groups coming and serving. It's been fun getting to build widow houses and seeing the groups show the love of God and to see the widows and their families respond to that love. It's such a privilege and honor to see hope born in a widow as she's handed the keys to her new house, or in a small child as they're handed a bowl of food. Because in the Mayan culture there is no hope. Their religion teaches them that there's a limited amount of good and everything is subject to the whim of the gods. What an awesome thing to see lives changed, ours as well as theirs. The groups that we've had have been great, it's just been so incredible to see so many people just wanting to serve God and lay their lives down for the people here in Guatemala. We've been so blown away by people's hearts. Including all of your hearts to support and pray for us, it's so wonderful to have you a part of what we're doing here. Thank you for all you generosity we couldn't be here doing what we're doing without your help, you're all just as important of a part of what's going on here as we are, so thank you for serving with us.

We're Here!!!

I can't believe it's happened, we've arrived in Guatemala to stay!!! We've been here for a little more than two weeks now and it still feels surreal but I know that before long it will be feeling like home. It's been so humbling to see God's faithfulness in everything that has gotten us to where we are. From all the tiniest of details that God has taken care of, to the huge life change this is going to be. Every detail that brought us here shouts of God's faithfulness and intimate involvement in our lives. It seemed so impossible to be able to get here in such a short time. It was such a walk of faith for us and at times I hate to admit we doubted if we were being lead by the Lord, but God in all His faithfulness was so gentle with us each time we needed a reminder that it was Him who was directing, and that we just needed to continue to trust. For example just a week before we were supposed to leave we were getting worried because we hadn't sold Andrew's truck yet and we didn't have enough money to leave without selling it so we called Mike and told him we would probably have to change our tickets because we hadn't even had anyone call on it or anything, he told us that if we could, we should wait at least a few more days. The very next day two people called on it and not only were they living in the same town that Andrew was working in but it also sold that day. We felt so faithless for not just trusting but it was such a good lesson to us of having steadfast faith. There were so many things like this that happened, another was on our way here. We were at the airport and the attendant was weighing everyone's bags and carryons before they got to the ticket counter. Now we had brought the very max in our checked bags they were all exactly 50 pounds each but we were worried about our carryons anyways because they were all way over but we couldn't repack them in our suitcases because there was no room, and we didn't have any extra money to pay to check them. As we were waiting in line we were so worried and so we prayed "Lord you can do anything even change a scale or the weight of a bag; and you've gotten us this far we know you'll take care of us." We really just gave it to the Lord. Now people in front of us were getting upset because they were having to pay extra and the attendant seemed very upset and annoyed with everyone. But when it was our turn her whole demeanor changed and she not only didn't weigh our carryons but she helped us carry everything to the ticket counter wishing us a great flight, at this point Andrew and I are both stunned we can't believe what's happened. Then the ticket guy proceeds to tell us they over booked so they have to transfer us to another airline and we not only arrive in Guatemala earlier but it's also a non-stop flight. He then tells us that for our trouble they're going to give us $400 in ticket vouchers. We couldn't believe it!

These things might not seem like very big deals but to us it seemed like God Himself was telling us once again that we were following Him and even though ultimately we were stepping out in faith and we need to be trusting Him regardless of our circumstances, He was making it abundantly clear that He cares about all the little things and that we were hearing Him.

I also want to thank all of you who held us up in prayer and continually confirmed that we were headed in the right direction; as well as allowing God to use you financially to get us here, we couldn't be here without your obedience and we want you to know we are so very grateful to you!! It's so amazing to be here living the dream that God placed in our hearts.

As for what it looks like to be here we've been adjusting and trying to find our niche. Andrew immediately jumped in and fits in so naturally. I'm continually blown away by the man of God he is and also what a good leader he is. So much of what we've been doing since we've gotten here has been working with the staff, helping to develop some order. We've been faced with several situations that have required confrontation and discernment and God has been so faithful to give Andrew wisdom on how to handle each situation with such grace and humility.

A few days ago Ron (the director and founder of Pray America) found out that his son had a relapse of cancer and had to fly back to Michigan to be with him. Then Mike and Karyl (Ron's son and daughter-in-law) who had planned on being here to help run things also had to return to Michigan to be with him as well. So here we are two and a half weeks in and left in charge. It's so reassuring to think that God knew that all this was going to happen, and when we were worrying about getting everything worked out to get here God had it already planned out because He knew we needed to be here for this time. And no matter how scary and nerve racking it is to be faced with such responsibility it's also such a building block in our faith because we can plainly see God going before us putting together the details of what's to come. So, this is just the beginning and we're so excited about how this journey is going to ensue; and we love that all of you are a part of it!

We're going to Guatemala!

We're so humbled and amazed to be sharing our story with you all. God has been working on our hearts for such a long time, and has taken us through so much to bring us to where we are today. We've both been so blessed to experience in such a small way the burden that's on God's heart for those in need. We feel so moved and called to work with those who are crying out for the hand of Jesus, and are amazed that God has opened a door for us to do just that. Through a series of incredible events God has made it beautifully clear to us that we're to work with a ministry called Pray America (http://www.prayamerica.org/) or Manos de Jesus (in Guatemala). The ministry is located in the mayan town of Chichicastenango, and to give you a little background, Pray America was founded by a man named Ron Morin who has been serving in Guatemala for the past 15 years. We immediately connected with his heart and the heart of the ministry, which is to serve widows and orphans in need. When we had the opprotunity to visit we were astonished by what this ministry is accomplishing, every week over 1000 children are fed, and over 300 widow houses have been built. Most recently a large property was bought (wonderfully without debt) with the intentions of building homes for children with a variety of needs, the dreams and visions extend to a haven and refuge for special needs children, healing and restoration for girls who have been victimized by abuse of all kinds, medical clinic, and homes that would encourage the restoration of families in the community. Also to supply clean water to the community through a water filtration process providing clean safe water to Chichicastenango and surrounding communities. The heart behind every existing part of the ministy and every part that's still in progress is to be a light and Jesus' hand extended to the very dark town of Chichicastenango.

What we've been asked to help with immediately is just general oversight. And our first personal project will be to go into the homes of the community and for around three hundred dollars provide a sanitary toilet, a water filtration system, giving them clean, safe water, and a stove that burns about seventy percent less wood then their typical adobe stoves do. We're thrilled about this amazing opprotunity to immediately begin building relationships with those in the community, and to help in a very tangible way.

The long term vision for us, something that has burned on our hearts since before we were even married, is the rescue and restoration of exploited young girls and women (from what we've read over sixty percent of girls in Guatemalal have been sexually mistreated). Believing with God that His plans for their precious lives is beauty where there has been ashes, redemption where there has been bondage, healing where there are deep wounds, and we simply want to get inline with His hand at work. The ministry of Pray America has invited to join with us, uniting with our passion, a passion we believe was placed on our hearts by God and we're believing Him for a powerful ministry of redeeming innocence in Guatemala!!!

Pray America has asked us to believe God with them that we could move to Guatemala and plug in with the minsitry by April or May of this year, we know how daunting this could be, but also know that with God nothing is impossible, nothing, not the financial support, not the transition we will be making from one country to another and not the light we are praying we will be in a dark community that is crying out for the light of Jesus Christ to shine.
Andrew and Hannah Scott