WHY Guatemala?
We’ve been going to Hope of Life Ministry in Guatemala for the past three years and have felt in our hearts that we wanted to move there since December 2012. Sometimes when God wants us to do something, he will show us subtle signs… but as my best friend Jazmyn says, our Guatemala journey has had “Highlighter Yellow Jesus” written all over it. For us, it started as a vision.. and when we doubted the vision, God came to us in dreams. When we doubted the dreams, God gave us trials.. and through those trials we learned to trust in Him. Our trust in God led to radical provision through the community of generous people that we have surrounded ourselves with, and that has led us here. Guatemala is our calling. God has prepared each of us separately and together for such a time as this.
Our Story
If you’re wanting the FULL story… Here it goes: This all started in December 2012 when we took our first mission trip to Guatemala with Lifepoint Church. Our first trip was a bit of a whirlwind as it was exhausting – both physically and emotionally. However, after returning on December 8, 2012, I decided that I was called to go down to Guatemala for an extended period of time… but at that time, I really had no idea what that meant. I was working at Women’s Health and Surgery Center as a nurse, but often wondered how my skills would be applicable in a third world country.
June 2013 I took my second trip to Guatemala, this time Bryan was unable to go. After returning from this trip, I started having very vivid dreams of working as a nurse in their hospital, helping malnourished children, and living there full time. I felt a very strong calling from God for us to BE there. When I was in Virginia, I felt homesick for Guatemala… this was probably one of the strangest feelings I’ve ever felt. Bryan was also beginning to feel the call to go to Guatemala as well, but wasn’t quite sure how they would use a chef. When we realized that this was something that we were both serious about, we became committed to paying off student loans and doing whatever possible to eventually get us there… although we were both still uncertain exactly what our purpose was going to be once we actually got to Guatemala.
After months of planning and saving, we started to pray more boldly – we prayed for God to remove any obstacles holding us back from Guatemala. Shortly after, the transmission gave out in our vehicle. Frustrated, I began to pray “Really?! Lord, if you’re calling us to go to Guatemala, THIS is not the way to provide us the way to go.” Thankfully, we were able to temporarily borrow a vehicle from some great friends (Thanks Jordan and Jazmyn!) We learned through this, that although this curveball wasn’t exactly what we wanted nor expected, we still had to trust God through the process. So a bunch of money, frustration, and one transmission later, we finally got the thing repaired. That following weekend, we met up with Patti Monk and Jessica Holt and discussed their future plans to move to Guatemala to begin family style orphan care. Our conversation with them showed that Hope of Life would benefit greatly from a nurse, and, while it wouldn’t necessarily be a full time serving position, that Bryan’s talent’s leading kids ministry and worship would also be very beneficial to the ministry. We were so thankful to hear that we would have an actual purpose in the roles we were being called in to! …but it gets so much better from here! 🙂
Fast forward several trips later – and this has been the pattern, go on Guatemala trip, come home, receive some sort of trial, pray and give the situation over to God, and receive a blessing on the other end of it. In December 2014, Bryan and I were both really beginning to struggle with whether or not we were actually going to commit to Guatemala one day. I remember Bryan saying to me “Whitney, when you go to Guatemala, it’s obvious what you’re going to do. But I’m not sure how they can use a chef.” At this time, I was growing very tired of my long commute to my job in Stafford and beginning to search for a new place to work. 2 days after praying for some clarity, we received a phone call from Patti Monk about a local couple in Fredericksburg, Pete and Judy Dechat, who were wanting to pay for a commercial kitchen at Hope of Life and were hoping she knew of a chef who was willing to move down there to oversee the equipment. Prayer. Answered. 🙂 The following week, I received a job offer at UVA Culpeper Hospital, which was much closer to home, and would allow us to pay off our debt sooner. We viewed this as a clear sign from God that we were indeed supposed to go to Guatemala.
There are SO many other examples I have of radical generosity and provision that has been given to us in time of need and when we have doubted our calling to go to Guatemala. Every single time we have doubted, we have been given a very clear sign that Guatemala is our purpose. Just to briefly name examples – Bryan was in a car accident and a car was totaled in spring of 2015, we were given a car from a very generous couple who prefers to remain anonymous. We have been given money by people that we hardly knew to help get us to Guatemala. A family once bought my ticket to go to Guatemala for only a few days so I could be present for the launch of Safe Haven Village. We felt like we were supposed to give money last year to our church, so we gave that money… the following Monday, a friend from my Lifegroup paid that exact amount that we had just given to church toward an upcoming trip I had. (she did not know what I had recently given.) Some of the things that we have had happen to us feel crazy. And most of it feels unreal. But what I do know is that we have spent a lot of time waiting for this… and what we have learned is that waiting is not wasting when you are waiting on The Lord. We know that this timing is right because it’s been made clear to us and it has been confirmed to us. I know that may seem strange to a lot of people, but when it just seems right in your head, in your heart, in the pit of your stomach and the depths of your soul… you just gotta go with it. So we are. And we’re so excited. And nervous! And honored that you want to be a part of this journey with us.
Tell people about our blog, keep up with our updates, support us financially if you’re able (any little bit counts!), and support us with your prayers! It’s an exciting journey that we’re about to embark on, but it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be hot, exhausting, we’re likely to get sick the first couple of months, and we’ll miss our family, church and friends terribly.
We love you all and look forward to sharing more with you!
–Whitney
