Immediately after they leave, I will be heading down to Guatemala with Ashley, Don & Connie Rock, and a couple other people to help with a 10 day setup trip for future teams going to Guatemala through AIM. We will also be helping local doctors and loving on children and the people of Guatemala while there. Being able to go is actually quite a story in itself. The Rocks, who have become very good friends of Ashley and me, told us about this trip to Guatemala in October and asked us to come along. The cost was at $1,300, so it was pretty apparent that we were not going to be able to raise that much more. In December, we were asked again and it felt right that maybe we should try to raise the amount and go. It was clear that God was going to have to do something amazing for us to go, so that is what I prayed. I pretty much told God that if I was supposed to go, he was going to have to supply the money. Over Christmas, I got a phone call telling me that $1000 was put into each of our accounts by an anonymous donor for my trip to Guatemala! God is good!  Please pray for our team as we head to Guatemala.

Just a quick update of Brodie! He is about 24 weeks old and is a huge blessing to have around. He is still adorable and super smart. But he is still a puppy...so he has a lot of energy.

Thank you for your constant prayer and support! It allows me to keep doing what I love!

After last year working at AIM as an intern, I had the feeling that God really wanted me to stay here and work on staff. It was a great opportunity and I would get to work on web development and marketing, two things I have a passion for. After leading a trip to Swaziland, I came back to live with my new roomie Jimmy. He is a World Race alumnus and is now the main setup guy for the World Race. He is an awesome dude and is really a great role model to have around the house. After thinking it was just going to be him and I, one of the new "interns" needed a place to stay and we offered our house for the year. His name is Barton and has turned out to be a great guy as well. We all live really well together and complement each other a lot.

Back to my original point, after last year, living with 3 guys, I really was ready to not share a room and kind of live on my own-as much as I could. So, when hearing that I was going to be doing this again, I was put off a little bit. Every day that I came home after work, the apartment was full of people all hanging out and sometimes I just wanted my time to myself. After praying a lot about it, I realized that this was much more than hanging out, it was community. People that come and just live out life together, whatever way they can.  I get the opportunity to have people over, with two other God loving men, and just love on people. It's was a hard adjustment at times, but once I put my selfishness to the side; it really is a beautiful thing. I think it is so hard because society doesn't really express this community as a good thing. I've always felt that once I get on my own, I don't need community as much. Turns out, I do. They keep me accountable in my walk with the Lord and challenge me daily with new things. Jimmy and I have started the book "The Shack," which if you haven't read this, I strongly recommend it. It is about a grief-stricken father in mid-life about to have an extraordinary experience with God. His great sadness began four years ago on a weekend camping trip, when his 6-year-old daughter, Missy, was murdered. What he couldn't know then, but is about to learn, was God's purpose for Missy's death. I am only 80 pages in, but already it has hit me hard. I am planning to do a little recap of this later on.

 

Swinging around a Swazi kid

Sitting under a tree on a hot day

Sabelo put stickers all over me, so I returned the favor

The guys eating out at a nice restaurant our last night

An awesome zebra walking in front of us

Chris & I with our two boys

All of the guys with Swazi boys on our shoulders

                On Thursday, Ashley, my sister, my mom, and I drove down to Indiana, and then finished our trip to Georgia on Friday. Over the weekend, we put together my apartment that I am staying in and actually made it look like a nice place. My roomie Jimmy will be moving in after the World Race training camp in a week and then we will get another room mate, Joshua, a new intern (what I did last year) who will be here in September. It will be good to be on my own but still have people in the house to build me up and be there for me. All of a sudden it is all real though, life on my own. I went out and bought groceries with my own money and everything...just weird to be totally on my own. Sunday morning we went to church and I got to see all of the boys at the youth group! It was great to get a bunch of hugs and just get to chill with them! I can't wait to continue to pour into them and have them pour into others!

                Today is my "first" on AIM staff day, even though I have been working here for the last 10 months as an intern. Right now they are renovating AIM, so I am sitting at a desk in the middle of now where. I am ready for the office to be completed so I can settle in and know exactly what I will be doing. But I am open to everything and really enjoying life! I feel like this is where God wants me right now, which is why I am here. I am excited to see what God has in store for me here and all the awesome things I am going to be learning. Just a reminder, I am working as the Web Design/IT & Marketing guy around here. I am really excited about getting to redesign the AIM website completely this time, not just pieces here and there, but the entire deal! Plus, I can learn about marketing and continue to grow my strengths in that. Like I said before, I am just really excited about what I am getting into! Also, I quick support update; I have $1,500 in my support account, which means I have 3 months already taken care of. My support goal is $500 a month, the rest of my expenses are subsidized by AIM. If you can find in your budget, please prayerfully consider partnering with me. Thank you!

The last couple days in Africa have been absolutely amazing! Every morning before we start our day, I like to walk by myself down the road to spend time with the Lord. While on my walks, it has become normal that I talk to the security guards that work on our road. At first it was just normal conversation, but now it's real stuff. It has been fun to watch them understand more about our culture, while I learn so much more about theirs. The last couple days, I have walked down to the supermarket and picked up some coca cola for the guys, which they go crazy over. Last night, Gosnati, a 20 year old guard who I have become close with, had to work the night shift. To them, it is very cold at night so I made him some tea and walked it out to him. It was awesome to just talk to him for about his dreams and ambitions and he got to see that I cared a lot about it. Before I left, I prayed for him and gave him a big old bear hug. He thought it was funny.

            Our trip is starting to come to a close now. Today, all the kids are with me in the internet café checking their email and such. Tomorrow, our team is going on a tour of Swaziland, which should be so cool! Friday, the really nice hotel down the street from us in holding a Fourth of July party for all the Americans. It should be a great time because another team that is here is going to be meeting us there! Then next week we do our last days of ministry and then our all day safari as a surprise! I can't wait for that either, I will be taking lots of pictures!

            Thank you so much for praying for us, and please continue to! The team has really come together and it has been fun watching them make the ministry their own, and not just something they are forced to do. I'm dreading the day when I have to say goodbye to Sabelo at the orphanage. I absolutely love that kid and am really going to miss him. It is crazy how attached you can get to people in only 2 weeks!