The mountain on the right behind me is Mt. Murran it is more difficult because of the multiple "pitches" climbers have to setup. Don't worry- I didn't do it! :-)
It's true... I saw a real live moose. He was soooo big! :-)
Hey supporters! I'm headed to Jackson, WY to meet up with some friends for some awesome hiking, relaxing, and hanging out! I'm super excited and appreciate your prayers for safety while flying out there, while seeking out new things and enjoying God's creation!
A picture my friend took of Jackson while he was hiking! I can't wait! :-)
Hey all! If you caught wind that I´m out of the country it´s true. I´m right now in San Pedro, Guatemala finalizing the ministry schedule with the other leader and my old roommate Lindsay! We got here late last night after a 3 hour flight and a 4 hour drive which was rough.
However, we´ve made it safe and sound and I wanted you all my dear supporters to know so you know how to continually pray for my ministry. I apopolgize for not letting you know sooner. Things have been very busy in the office I haven´t had much time to breathe. I wasn't sure if I'd beable to even go to Guatemala with all the work to be done. But here I am praise the Lord.
This place is beautiful, we´re in the Pastors house that we will be serving with all week right now which overlooks Lake Atitlan- you should google "images" to see it it's amazing!
I will do my best to keep you all posted with vital information of praises and prayer requests. I will be returning back to the states Aug. 4th.
I want to let all of you know that my christin.barnard@gmail.com had some complications- basically it was hacked and it emailed everyone 400+ in my address book a link... Do not open that email- I don't even know what it says but please forgive me- not that I had too much control on that. I have canceled that email account to prevent future problems.
My new email is: christybarnard7@gmail.com if you'd like to email me! I'd LOVE to hear from you!
I had the wonderful opportunity of serving beside the New Orleans project facilitators during their first week of project. It was great and a blessing! Even though it was difficult to do office work since the location has no wireless.
If you follow me on facebook- you probably noticed about 4pm every day I was at McDonald's catching up quick on emails and then on Wednesday I was at McDonald's for over 10 hours! What a crazy day that was- catching up on a lot of office work. Furthermore, I found it a challenge at times when I needed to go to the restroom but didn't want to have to break down all my stuff... I also had the opportunity to minister to two ladies in McDonald's- just being Christ hands and feet!
My role this week was to help the other leaders learn how to do an AIM trip- how to teach certain principles we emphasize on project like "listening prayer activities." It was nice being out on the field for a while even if I got behind in work.
Hoping to get a newsletter out soon- I know it's been forever!
Joey, Lauren and I (two of the three leaders in New Orleans)!
These are some of the youth from this last project. Hannah, Hannah, Caleb and Caleb, Christy and Christy... now you know why they wanted it-it made them smile! :-) This was a picture in one of the neighborhoods we ministered too: we were having "church" under a tree!
This is the facility we sleep, eat and worship in! This was the first night during orientation- a time of worship! :-)
The season for leaders to be found even though I've been working all year- this is the time when I lose some or I don't have as many as I thought.
The season for youth pastors and group leaders to be asking leadership development about the status of their leaders.
The season for youth pastors and group leaders to wonder where their participant t-shirts and journals are (rightly so).
The season where I still don't have enough interns in some of my locations.
The season where a lot of money is being sent out to leaders and we're trying to track it all and help out accounting.
The season where I am training/ recertifying our 66+ lifeguards at the pool.
The season where college students are graduating and you're trying to go to their ceremonies and parties.
The season where your friends are graduating college and you want to see them succeed and be happy so you're really keeping an eye out for job opportunities close so they're not far! :-)
The season where I've been working non-stop, 3 weeks in a row and I start to wonder if I'll ever see the inside of an actual church building again.
The season where I'm drawn to my knees in prayer for all the craziness of the season. Excited to see how He provides!
I was in New Mexico and saw God work around me through:
The Lown family that played basketball with the camp staff kids and helped create encouraging Easter Cards for the youth that were to come later.
The youth pastor that came in joyously at 2am on the first night as I was half fell asleep on the couch of the lobby in the M-lodge waiting and praying for a safe arrival.
As we covered Broken Arrow in prayer. Never going to forget when we were in a ravine and the wind was blowing, a student was praying and another student said "God's saying thank you!"
As the students jumped right in to serve the Ranch in: scooping poo at the horses stable, re-doing the rifle range, placing a foundation for the archery range, vamping up a part of their team building low ropes course, moving lots of tires, moving lots of 8 ft. rail-road ties, painting the horses fences and barrels, brushed the horses, assisting an elderly Navajo family castrate their sheep, and leading a children program for a boarding school.
As students prayed over each other daily.
As the students and group leaders encouraged me through notes and cards daily.
I want you all to know that this project week was probably one of the smoothest weeks of projects I've led. What a blessing it was to receive encouragement from the group daily. If you've been following my blog I asked that you would be praying for me and if any of you feel led to call me while on project. Well, when I got to the location I found out there was no reception. However daily I was encouraged by the community of the Broken Arrow Ranch, the students of San Ramon church, and the Lown family.
Many have been asking about the day we were castrating sheep. There was an elderly Christian Navajo family that needed help with castrating their sheep. We physically did NOT castrate the sheep. What we did was herd the sheep and then hold the sheep while they were castrated. Was this messy? Sometimes it was very messy! There was the grandma and grandpa with face masks just hacking away- they had 5 pens of lambs. It took about 2 hours with 30 people. Of course not everyone participated in holding the sheep- they castrated and cut off tails. I am going to confess I just herded the sheep and did take some videos of it- (it was such a cultural experience). We had probably 6 participants that stayed in the vans or went to the vans after seeing the first few. After, the Navajo family invited our large group to their small home to make homemade Navajo fried flat bread- it was great! We took a small hike to some American Indian ruins as well.
The best part of the whole trip though was Sunday when the groups weren't there yet and the Worship leader and I went to a very small Navajo church with about 12 attendee's. We arrived at the church and weren't sure it was the one- asked someone in the area and they said it was the church we were looking for. We then asked them when service is they said 10am and it was 10:15am, he said, "no one's here yet though" this is normal in the area. Church started about 11am we met the pastor he asked us to introduce ourselves and then told us it's custom newcomers do the sermon- we thought he was joking. After singing some beautiful hymns accompanied by a young girl in her early teens singing in the Navajo language the pastor said that the church had a "treat." He announced us and said that Joey, the worship leader would be preaching. I felt so bad- the worship leader came up with something out of the whim about Easter and what the Lord had been teaching him- he did a great 7min sermon. Haha. The pastor preached we had a very interactive sermon and then we had fellowship time after. We had mutten stew which is well known in those parts, it has no taste- brown broth, with chili, and sheep. Navajo's use all parts of the sheep and we were eating "puff balls of fat" I'm not going to lie it was kind of gross. I don't think I ever ate anything like that overseas that weird- haha.
