Greetings and Merry Christmas from Guatemala! We hope that everyone is doing well and that everything is coming together smoothly for everyone to celebrate the birth of our Savior! Despite the many pressures that this season can bring on a family, we still look forward to this season each and every year as it is a great opportunity to remember and celebrate the greatest expression of love that creation has ever seen....Jesus! Our church here in Guatemala has been teaching a series called "The Romance of Christmas" and all we can say is that Christmas is truly an expression of romance! So our hope and prayer is that everyone discovers and enjoys once again the great romance that Christmas brings!
An Unexpected Surprise for The Spark Cafe
A few week ago during "Black Weekend", we received an email from YouCaring.com (the platform we have been using to raise funds for The Spark Cafe) stating that during the month of December that they would choose 4 fundraisers each Tuesday to feature and give a $500 donation too. All we had to do was post "#YouCaringGives" somewhere on social media or our website. I normally do not participate in these things, but this time I did and on the very first Tuesday of December we got a huge surprise in that The Spark Cafe had been one of the first 4 fundraisers chosen to be featured! As many of you know, this entire project has been a leap of faith as not only do we lack the manpower to run it, but we also lack the consistent funding to keep it open! All we have had is a word from the Lord to go for it! Yet, He is always faithful to His word and not only have we been able to make it work with our limited manpower, but we have always had the funds necessary to keep it going and continue developing it! We are always blown away with how faithful He is and are super thankful for everyone who has given into this great project! If you would like to contribute financially, feel free to visit our fundraiser by clicking here.
Thanksgiving at The Spark Cafe
Last month the girls of the World Race team that was with us decided to do something special for our street friends who come in daily to The Spark. Because this was going to be their first Thanksgiving away from home and obviously away from family, they decided to do the next best thing and celebrate it with their new Guatemala street family. For 2 weeks, they did everything they could to save on their food budget so that when the day came, they could afford to buy a ton of fried chicken, lots of pizzas, and make a million delicious deserts! For our street friends (and the children living nearby they visit us all the time), this would be the first time they have ever celebrated Thanksgiving! It was incredible to see the looks on their faces as one of the girls shared the Thanksgiving story and then told them to eat as much food as they wanted (but at the same time, being thankful for what God had done for them). By the time it was all over, we realized that we had fed about 20 of our street friends along with about 15 children! Not to mention that we also got to join them in this great feast! It was probably one of the great moments so far at The Spark Cafe and certainly will never be forgotten. In fact, this might just become a yearly tradition with our street friends! We are so proud of the girls of GEN7 for planning this out and making it happen! Way to go girls!
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