Guatemala Update #5

Hey guys :)
Sorry I've been slacking on this thing lately--we've been busy! The past 3 days we've been doing orphanage work which is my FAVORITE! :) The kids here are so precious and sweet, they just melt my heart! Sadly, I was not allowed to take any pictures of the kids due to keeping their privacy protected so their bio parents cannot find them. Bummer! Today was our last day at the orphanage and it's always so sad to leave, I hope I can see these kids again one day. Before Heaven. That's the thing on all my missions trips that crosses my mind--will I ever see these beautiful little faces again? I just pray I can keep their precious smiles engraved on my heart forever.

Chris & I are both doing well and enjoying our trip. Time is moving very slow which is unusual for most missions trips...we're thankful for that though. You work so hard and spend so much time preparing and it's usually over so fast! Saturday Chris is preaching at their big skateboarding event and I cannot wait to see my hubby in action & watch God use him! :)
While on this trip, we've been praying a lot about another missions opportunity we have been invited to do in June. We just want to be lead by the spirit about it but we're already feeling great peace about it! I can't let the cat out of the bag quite yet but when God gives us a definite "YES" then we will announce it :) It will only be a short trip, 1 week.
We currently have no running water at the house here and it was funny to see Chris with a handful of soap and no water to rinse--oops! :) We've lost electricity about 5 or 6 times..always an adventure!!!

God has been teaching me a lot about desperation on this trip. It's sooo easy to get satisfied with an ordinary life, especially when you live in America. Busyness swoops in and before you know it, life is just passing you by. On this trip God has really opened my eyes to see the desperation these people have--both in the physical and spiritual sense. I want to be so desperate for MORE of him that I don't just let the busyness distract me. I want to have a longer quiet time, I want to spend more time in worship, I want to take time to talk to that one person God nudges my heart to talk to. USE ME, LORD! :) Here I am, desperate for more of you.

Those are some thoughts for now :) Trying to think what else I can tell you---hmm...oh yeah, the drivers and driving here is just downright SCARY!!! Most of you know, I hate driving anyways but this country brings it to a whole new level! lol It is utterly ridiculous the amount of maniac drivers there are here! There are no traffic rules....just GO! I saw a little boy that looked about 9 years old, driving a truck! haha believe it! This is the 7th country I've been to and besides Haiti, this goes down as the worst driving country---I think it may beat Haiti even! wow! haha
Okay, loves--Thank you for your prayers and support--I get to so excited when I hear that you all are truly reading this :)
Love Always,
The Gunns

LOVE.

Today is the day of LOVE.

We were so blessed to be able to go to an orphanage on this beautiful day of love and share Christ's love with some very sweet orphans. I found it so fitting that we were there today, because God is love and God's heart is for the widows and the orphans. Yay! Sadly, almost all of these precious children have been sold into prostitution by their own parents. How heart breaking! But yet they still have the most beautiful and joy-filled smiles on their faces...how is that? I truly believe it is because of the love of Jesus and the grace he has given to each of them. What an amazing gift!



Today, these kids taught me something about love...as I looked into their faces and saw hope and joy, I was inspired. I can only pray that each person in this world feels the love of Abba Father today. Valentine's Day should remind us that God is love and we should love people to life each & every day.

Thank you, Jesus for showing me what real love is and being my first love.

Sincerely,
Your daughter

Guatemala update #4

Hey everyone!! :)

I pray this blog finds you all doing well! I have good news to share---I am FINALLY feeling better, praise the Lord! This has been the first day of our entire trip that I've actually felt okay! Crazy!
Literally the night we got here, I got sick. I hate the devil. My fever is gone and the body aches are almost gone! Please pray for strength, as I am still pretty weak. Also, please pray that my coughing ceases because there is SO much "junk" in my chest. Okay, enough about me :)

Today was the big skate outreach! :) The missionary family does this weekly and it is their main ministry here. It was so cool to see 70 skateboarders all in once place. These kids are FEARLESS! Well at least they act like they are, haha. I did get on a skateboard once but it wasn't pretty. lol
The outreach was from 2-5 and included a message about the Lord and free snacks. Chris and I got to serve where needed and be an extra set of "eyes" as there is a lot to watch out for--fights, robbery, etc. The guys were all so nice though but they didn't speak English..boo! I'm already excited to go back next week! Please pray for the Virags (missionary family) because they really need Guatemalan people to step up and be leaders and help them! We as short term missionaries can only do so much--serve while here, bring much needed supplies, encourage the missionaries, etc. but they truly need more long term help here. Anyone have a heart for teens/and or skateboarding?! THEY NEED YOUR HELP!
I've been hearing them talk about how they need help but today I saw it in action.
In other news--I ventured to my first Guatemalan market today! And I lived to tell about it! lol
I bought the cutest piece of pottery for less than $2 US! woo hoo! It's like non-stop clearance shopping here. Lol! I went with Chantelle (missionary mom) because she needed to buy new dishes...it was so fun!
Okay, I would write more but dinner is ready (mmm Chili)
Love to you all!
ps. anyone reading this?!

~The Gunns~

Guatemala Update #3

Hey everyone,
This is Jessica (in case you haven't realized, I'm always the one who blogs on this, haha)
Just wanted to give another little update. My sickness has both improved and gotten worse.
My horrible fever is now down so that's a praise report, along with my body aches decreasing.
I do however, have what missionaries like to refer to as "the big D" aka: diarrhea. Gross I know, but just being real with you. haha. It's horrible. I can't go out and do anything because I have to be near a toilet at all times...ugh! I'm praying this passes quickly. PLEASE agree with me! I think I accidentally got some of the water in my mouth when I was showering (I like to sing, okay?!). Big bummer. So yeah, Chris is currently gone doing some construction work and I am laying low here at the house. It's hard not to get discouraged but I'm pressing through and just spending time with the Lord. Thankfully, the missionary family has good medicine that I'm taking so that's a blessing!
Last night the power went off while Chris was brushing his teeth and he still needed to take his contacts out....have you ever tried doing that in the dark? Didn't think so. haha it's HARD. Oh the adventures of a missionary! lol We had some good laughs about it though. Thankfully, the power came back on around 10 this morning but it's so unpredictable and can go out for a week at a time.
That's all I have for now, please pray for my COMPLETE healing!!!
Love,
The Gunns

Guatemala Update #2

Hey everyone! :)
Greetings from the land of cold weather and lots of dust! haha
Today has been both a good day of ministry but yet an awful day for me (Jessica). I will first tell you the bad news and then end with the good. I am SO sick! I'm not quite sure what exactly I have or if it's the water or altitude or what. Last night my throat started getting extremely sore and I could feel the congestion hardening in my chest. Like bad. Well this morning I woke up with an awful headache, horrible body aches and a fever. I've been having sharp shooting "flu like" pain all day. I debated whether to go do ministry but I was determined to push through. Please say a prayer for my complete healing because I'm so frustrated that I'm currently not my best.

The Good news is ...We had our first day of ministry here in Guatemala! :) Our missionary host, Shawn and his 2 sons went along with Chris & I and we cleaned up a Guatemalan church. We met the pastor and he was so sweet and appreciative. As we pulled up to the church, my heart sank immediately. It was very old and run down with very very poor building structure, etc. I instantly thought about churches back in the states and how SPOILED we are! As we entered the church, my heart sank even more. He proudly showed us the sanctuary which consisted of dusty floors and only a few plastic chairs for the people. The lighting was almost non-existent and there were no "real windows". This was the fancy part of the church.
He then led us through a door into what he wanted to turn into the children's room. Picture this--about 200 pieces of long metal rods all stacked up, about 150 plastic pipe looking things (I have no idea what, just construction stuff), the floor was so covered in dirt that it was hard not to gag and cough. Small trees and plants had started growing through the badly built walls, etc.
We were able to transform this room completely and clean everything out! :) My heart was still sad knowing there is absolutely NOTHING in that room for the kids. Oh and I forgot to mention there was no roof and no windows!
As we we were working on the church today, I just kept thinking of how many American churches are so concerned with having the next best thing---the new mac computer, new lighting for the stage, new pews, etc! These people have absolutely NOTHING and yet are so thankful for what they do have! What would happen if churches started building real churches for 3rd world countries instead of having the "next best thing" syndrome. Oh how different this world would be. Just some thoughts. Anyways--today was a work day and because I was feeling so sick it was extremely hard to push through. Here in Guatemala because of the lack of oxygen and altitude it is very very hard (especially for visiting Americans) to work physical labor. I was simply sweeping the floors and I was out of breath. Yikes! So yeah, today we were so blessed to get to bless a pastor in need. I wish I could post pictures, I will try later.
Last night I got to go to an American missionary's house for coffee & dessert with 4 other American missionaries. IT WAS SO FUN! :) These women inspired me greatly as I heard them share of their every day struggles and joys of working full time missions.
Tonight we are going to a missionary couple's house for dinner, although I'm still deciding if I feel well enough to go.
That is today's update...hope it all made sense, I'm wacked out on some Guatemalan medicine. haha! Love you all!!!

~The Gunns~

Guatemala Update #1

We are absolutely LOVING it here in Guatemala. We did not know what to expect but it is much more beautiful than we ever imagined. The country is also A LOT more violent than we ever imagined which is scary and very sad. The Guatemalan people have no appreciation for human life and murders happen every day over something so simple as a few dollars. We've been told to never travel with more than we are willing to lose. Our missionaries here have told us that if anyone approaches us, give them what they want because they WILL kill us! Yikes! Please pray for safety and wisdom for us.

Our sweet missionary family is so so precious! They are going out of their way to accommodate us and our needs and they are blessing us tremendously. It is very very cold here, and we are 8,000 feet into the mountains. The house we are staying at has no heat (no Guatemalan home does, really) so this is an adjustment to living in Florida :) I am so thankful I brought fleece pajama pants and I wish I could just stay in them all 2 weeks, haha!

For breakfast we had eggs, refried bean and Plantains which are fried bananas. It was definitely different than our normal breakfast and my poor hubby hates beans, hehe. So funny.

We have a cozy little room with our own bathroom which is SUCH a blessing! We thought we would be sleeping on the floor but the missionary's son, Addison has so gracefully given up his room to us. We're trying to get used to not flushing the toilet paper in the toilet! lol I admit I've failed twice but no worries, I corrected my mistake (eww). It's also an adjustment not being able to use the water , not even to brush your teeth. We have both had these experiences with the toilet paper and water changes but it's difficult to get back in the groove of that again :)
Chris forgot and rinsed the toothpaste off his toothbrush last night, lol
Today is a laid back day, just resting and getting used to the huge altitude difference. Chris is out getting wood for the fire and building some skate boarding stuff! Fun! :)
Tomorrow we are working at 2 churches, helping them with painting and other construction stuff. I'm so excited!!! :) That's all I have time for for now. Please comment so I know this worth keeping up! We love and APPRECIATE all the love and support you all have shown us.
With Love,
The Gunns

Thankful.

This Thanksgiving I have something new to be thankful for.....my sweetheart, Chris who is now my HUSBAND! :) It is so surreal to call myself a WIFE but it's extremely fun. We got back from our honeymoon on Tuesday and now head into this beautiful Holiday season.

As I look back on this past year, my mouth sometimes hangs open in disbelief! Within 10 months, I met the man God had made just for me, we dated 3 months, got engaged, planned our wedding, moved twice and got MARRIED 2 weeks ago! The faithfulness of the Lord never ceases to amaze me. It is only by his beautiful Grace that he allowed Chris & I to meet and gave us strength and grace to plan our wedding so quickly. We are so excited to finally catch our breath these next few months but are also very excited for the future. We are currently pursuing a missions trip (stay tuned for details soon!). So many "firsts" and exciting things are here. We are truly in the fullness of time and it's sooo fun!

This Thanksgiving, I encourage you all to take time to thank God for the little things...it's easy to thank him for the big obvious things--your family, your job, your health, etc. But take time to thank him for the simplest things....a beautiful sunset, a crying baby, a rainy day, a fresh cup of coffee, your bible, etc.

I love you all and wish you the most wonderful Thanksgiving!!! :)