November 2025: Hitting My Stride

Did you miss me?? I certainly missed you all!! To those of you who continue to support me, thank you. It truly means the world to me. Your prayers and pennies have allowed me to do even more in a few short months than I could have imagined! If you would like to donate to support me, please click on this link, and remember, EVERY LAST CENT IS TAX-DEDUCTIBLE!!!

 

 
A pineapple grows in a pot at Vikingos, 
a favorite local hangout of mine and many other CAG teachers.  
                                                  

Now, on with the show! I guess the biggest update is that I've started with a Model UN club here at school! OK, it's technically a Debate Club with a Model UN focus, but still--a chance to teach the skills I learned in college and grad school to an even younger generation! The idea was floated to me by one of the seniors, and I jumped at the chance. After all, it's not every day you see a teenager show this amount of initiative! (Remember, I was one not that long ago...)

 

At any rate, we've had a couple of recruiting/information sessions, and we had our first real practice on Wednesday!! We had a really fun time debating Pepsi vs. Coke. While Coke did win (naturally), it was a fantastic learning opportunity to have our middle schoolers learn to speak on the fly. I can hardly wait to see where we take that club next! We'll have a lot more practices between now and December--pray for continued passion and involvement!!

 

Anyway, I've been really continuing to connect with the community down here! One week before Halloween, we had our annual Harvest Fair. That same night, my family back in Georgia was celebrating the 60th wedding anniversary of my grandparents. What was a fun occasion for a good many of our students and their non-CAG friends was quite melancholy for me, to put it mildly. 

Even so, I never felt lonely or abandoned. Not only was I able to FaceTime with my family while holding back tears, I was also able to vent my frustrations to several colleagues. And, to my surprise, they listened! They validated me because they had all been through hard times themselves. It really did mean so much to me that they were so willing to listen to me. I've had workplaces and schools where that is not always the case. It makes me feel very good about facing the challenges--and believe me, living in another country on relatively short notice has a lot of them! Anyway, on to prayer requests and praise reports. 

 

 
One fun highlight of Harvest Fair: trying on a student's
papier-mâché Mad Hatter hat!  

 

Prayers: 

  • Servant Days!! These are the annual mission trips CAG does to other parts of Guatemala. We will be traveling next week to Tecpan with the Salvation Army, doing children's church and women's ministry. Pray for effective outreach and safe travels--I'll have more updates for you all next month! 
  • Students are really beginning to stress about grades. Pray for God's peace that passes all understanding to surround them and remind them that they are more than a number on a sheet of paper. 

 Praises: 

  • Some family friends from Savannah came to visit!! I just had dinner with them on Monday, since we had no school that day. It was such a life-giving experience to reminisce on past stories and receive encouragement in this work. 
  • Students are improving in my Spanish course! That course contains the lowest level of students, yet they are steadily improving. Please pray for continued improvements and applications, as they use their language skills to reach people from all walks of life and show them Jesus. 

 

And that's all! Thanks again for all you've done to invest in me. Until next time! 

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