As our team traveled to Guatemala, we were full of gratitude. Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support to make this trip happen. I am grateful for YOU.
I may have shared before that this team is a first. We have family members making up our team, and our youngest team member is 6 and the oldest 68!
Meet “Team Guatemala” - three team members to met us later at the airport.
The children’s home (aka “orphanage,”) Manos De Compasion, is home to approximately 50 vulnerable and orphaned children. Many of these children have been orphaned either through abandonment or the death of a parent(s). Some have been placed due to extreme trauma or abuse, and most deal with the abandonment effects of orphanhood. Research now shows these effects can slowly be reversed through resiliency. Resiliency is best learned relationally and through the expression of love. That is our goal: to express love; this motivates us to continue returning to the same children’s homes we work with. We now use the term “children’s home” instead of “orphanage” due to the negative association of the term “orphanage.”
Our Saving Susan Ministry Team (Nancy, Emily, Tara, Adam and Allyson), along with Andrea and Mary from Sanctuary Church, have recruited, prepared and trained this team for 5 months. There are many “behind-the-scenes” tasks that go into getting a team off the ground. The logistics for a team of 18, traveling to a developing country and making cross-cultural connections, takes great intentionality and a bit of grit.
I am grateful to God that He has pulled this team, the finances and our hearts together to serve “the least of these.” The children may be poor, by western definition, but I am always amazed at what they have to teach us about love, faith and joy.
If you are on social media we appreciate your following us over the next week (and beyond), and maybe one day you may be called to join us on a Saving Susan Field Trip. Please like/follow Saving Susan Ministry on Facebook and Instagram or visit us at www.savingsusanministry.org.
Tracy Arntzen - SSM Co-Founder and June trip leader
“Stretch out your hands to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” -Acts 4:30
