Luke 12:22-28

We have been very blessed to be ambassadors of Christ in Guatemala. We want to extend our gratitude to each of you who have been a part of our ministry here through prayer and financial participation. We feel that our time here has been a scouting trip, like when the Israelites sent the spies into the Promise Land. While we have been here we have met with many different missions groups and heard their hearts, God's heart, for this country. We have seen many needs while we have travelled around the interior of Guatemala and our vision grows ever stronger.
Many of you know that we did not afford to come here by our own means, but recieved the money by God's provision through our church family and our own families and friends. I want to be fairly candid about how we have used those finances as God has directed us here and I assure you that we have never been so dilligent in our prayer and consideration of how we spend money.
We chose to drive to Guatemala because it was going to be cheaper than flying and we felt that having a vehicle here would be more reasonable for our family than relying on public transportation. On our trip down we bought our food at groceries stores on almost every occasion and we stayed at cheap hotels. In fact, the cheapest hotel we stayed at cost only 10 bucks! Not something I would recomend to anyone, but God provided grace.
We left Canada with enough money to get to Guatemala and then some to get most of the way home again. Our expenses back home were covered by tenants that were renting our house. It seemed like a fairly workable budget, but there wasn't any wiggle room or extra for projects. Steve and I felt that God brought us here for a purpose and any money needed to fulfill that purpose was to come out of our budget wether it made financial sense or not. There were funds that were specifically donated to Joy Filled Homes and we gave that money directly to them. They are struggling financialy and could not afford to spend any money on project material so we bought the materials that Steve need to complete some maintenance jobs and small building projects around the Home. At that point we had just enough money left to live off of until the end of our stay.
When we came to Guatemala, it had never crossed our minds to adopt embryos while we were here. We hadn't even wondered if it was possible. Adopting embryos was something that God had put on our hearts a few years ago, but it was something that we were planning to do when we were back in Canada, maybe this summer or next. Well, we did end up wondering if it was possible and God opened up doors for us with confirmation every step of the way. It was not a deciding factor, but probably worth noting that embryo adoption in Guatemala is a fraction of the price that it is in Canada. This brings me back to finances because I have already told you that we did not have any money to pay for it. It was the last door that was shut at that moment. We put out our fleece to see if this was really God's will that he would provide. Just before our next appointment at the clinic when we would need to make a commitment or back out, we got a phone call from Rebekah that there had been money donated and put in our account. When she told me how much it was, we had our final confirmation. It was not the amount of money we needed to get home again. It was exactly what we needed for the adoption. Exactly.
I feel that the purpose of writing this is so that God can be glorified. It is not in our own strength that we opperate, for we are weak but He is strong.