when God made contact with Guatemala

“Christianity spreads just like disease — ” the man said. “— through human contact.”

All 50-something of us found ourselves that night listening to the wise words of this missionary inside a beautiful safe haven: La Casa de mi Padre, The House of My Father. There were candles on the dining room walls, and somehow there’d been enough pizza for some of the guys to have eight slices. Children were running through the halls laughing and playing tag. We felt safe and at home.

The place we stood, in fact, is a home. For 22 Guatemalan children who were left as orphans, abandoned or pulled from families and put into the foster care system, La Casa is more than a roof over their heads: it’s a family.

The man who started La Casa, missionary Shane, had invited our entire Squad of World Racers over for a pizza party, and that night he and his 22 children covered us all in unbelievable love.

Shane shared his story with us, and it was a gentle, yet powerful reminder of what a breathtaking, tender, yet powerful God we serve. 49-years-old, never married, Shane seeks to follow Jesus no matter the cost. He is living out the heart of the Father by becoming a father himself to the fatherless in Guatemala. Shane is full of wisdom and I am utterly in awe of the way God spoke to me through his story.

Shane knew his heart was to be a father, so the Lord told him:

“Go do what your heart tells you; I gave you that heart.”

Shane knew he wanted to care for orphans. But how? He reminded us that God doesn’t hand out blueprints of His will for us; He gives us tiny glimpses and asks us to simply take the next step. This, Shane said, is what a life of faith looks like.

Come to me, child. Take one more step. You’re almost there. Trust me. One more step.

Shane didn’t know where to go or how to live out his calling to be father. But through a series of events, God led him. The Lord closed every door that didn’t need to be opened; in one trip to the mailbox Shane opened both an invitation to spend time at an orphanage in India and, separately, a ministry gift for $5,000, which got him to India where the Lord prepared him for his calling; a friend connected him to a pastor in Guatemala; and before you know it someone was slipping him a piece of paper with a scrawled out message saying that they would pay the rent for six months on any building he chose to use for the orphanage. Beautiful furniture showed up to fill the beautiful building he’d found, and one day — Shane’s first child walked through the door.

Shane told us his only desire in life is to inspire other people to love the Lord. And that is exactly what he is doing. My heart cannot even find words to tell how beautiful a sight seeing these 22 children loving on their dad, and loving on Jesus, together as a family.

There was a little eight-year-old named Francisco and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. That boy had a light in his being that I know did not come from him; I don’t know that I’ve ever met another human who so brightly illuminates Christ. Francisco prayed for us all before we ate our pizza and in his little boy Spanish prayer, I heard this 

“Father, please keep our friends safe as they continue on their journey for You. Protect them from the darkness … thank you for giving us everything we have, Father. Help the kids that do not have food on their plate, or shoes on their feet. Thank you, Father. We love you, Father.”

Another kid at the orphanage told us that he is “loco for Jesus,” and he was excited to have us over because he could tell that we are “loco for Jesus, too. 

God wrecked me this night in so many ways: I have seen the other side of the coin.

I’ve spent the month doing ministry in the hospital, and there are kids showing up weekly in the pediatric unit, not because they are sick, but because they have been abandoned and the police have nowhere else to take them. The government hospital turns into holding cell, nurses literally babysitting during the day. Just this week four more showed up: brothers and sisters, one just eight-months-old and in a stroller. They were just left somewhere. They have lice. The little girl is beautiful. But she won’t let me touch her. What has happened to her in her short, little life?

I’ve spent three weeks seeing the brokenness and the wounds, and last night in La Casa de mi Padre God showed me a glimpse of his dream to heal it. The Lord called Shane to put His children in a family, not just an earthly one, but a family for all eternity. Thank you, God for giving a man like Shane such a beautiful heart; for leading him to Quiche, Guatemala because You knew from the beginning of time that these 22 children needed a man to call daddy.

Shane’s words tonight kicked me into gear and reminded me why I’m here — on this trip this year, and why I’m here for the rest of my life.

God is making contact with others through you, Shane said. By stepping into a moment of time that God has led you to, you are looking into the eyes of someone that God is looking into with you.

I picture Taylor and I kneeling at the hospital bed last week and laying our hands on the tumor of a woman named Delia, who told us she’s afraid to die now that her cancer is back.

I picture the 120 people we fed chicken noodle soup to last Saturday night, the people who sit outside the hospital, waiting to get in, who we have passed every day on the street, who we sleep 100 yards away from in our tents at night. Our Squad felt the Lord call us to love on them. So we made dinner. We played music, and soccer. And we prayed.

I picture two of those women we prayed for. I was walking away when I heard someone yell my name, “Katy, come here quickly!” Without even time to think, I was led into the middle of a circle. “Can you ask her if her knees feel any different?” my friend asked, getting me to translate for him in Spanish. The woman started to stand up. “Si,” she told me, but there was still more pain. “Ask her if we can pray again,” my friend said with bold expectancy and hope. We laid our hands on her knees, and with authority only from Jesus’ name, we asked for God to heal her. The woman stood up on her feet again, but this time her face lit up. She started moving her legs and the women around her burst into chatter. “I couldn’t do this before,” the woman said. “The pain is gone.” Moments later, the same thing occurred with a woman who was experiencing pain in her lower back and suffering from an ulcer in her lungs. We asked her to breath in deep after we prayed. “No more pain,” she told us, complete joy in her face.

I think of Carina Marina. The abandoned 13-year-old who’s father passed away that I got to dance with in the hallway. I think of reading the Bible with Caty and her baby boy, who she ended up naming Anderson and seeing her face light up learning about the Holy Spirit. Of Rosa, who is 15 and in the hospital for alcohol rehab, who isn’t all there mentally and once tried to escape with us into the street, chasing after us in her hospital gown and bare feet down the dirt road.

I think of giving Josefa a shoulder massage there on the infant care unit floor; a new mom carrying a lot of weight. I think of Julio Cesar. The hospital janitor of 20 years who loves the Lord, lights up a room with his smile and called us his forever sisters.

And I think of Bonita Anita.

The abandoned, blind, severally handicapped, and malnourished 10-year-old whose laughter we’ll never be able to get out of the ears of our hearts.

 And when I picture all of the times I’ve looked into the eyes of these people, I see Jesus standing there with me, his hand gently on my shoulder. He’s looking right into the eyes of these people too, and he’s radiating the Father’s love.

The truth is, I can’t change the world. I can’t save anyone.

“But the Father’s love dwells in you,” Shane told our Squad, “and if God can use you so that He can make contact with another person, even for just one moment in time — then this, this is all worth it.”

I agree, Shane. I agree.

To check out La Casa de mi Padre, click here! If you are moved to bless Shane and those God is touching through him, I can tell you with my whole heart that you would be giving to a beautiful and wonderful man who is raising a family of bright, loving children that I believe will impact the country of Guatemala for Christ. Please pray blessings over his ministry and those 22 sweet, sweet children.

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 Tonight, at 3:45 a.m. K Squad is boarding a bus for Guatemala City. When we reach there, we’ll transfer and begin a more than 24 hour journey to Nicaragua where we’ll spend a few days debriefing in Granada with World Race staff, our Squad Leaders and our Squad Mentors. After that, all eight teams will disperse across the country to start our ministries for the month. When we get there safely, I’ll let you know where we are and what we’ll be up to for the month of October. For now, I’ll just say I’m excited about it.

Prayer Requests: please join our team and Squad about being intentional in prayers for safety this month. We’ve been fortunate enough to spend September in a more rural area of Guatemala, a smaller city where we have become friends with the shopkeepers, and feel safe walking around the city and taking the public transportation. I think that’s about to change, just in the nature of the beast: we’re heading to a much larger city. We’re going to need to step up our game and reset our frame of mind for safety in Nicaragua. That being said we would love prayer for:

– Divine protection. 

– Peace of mind that all is in God’s hands as we say our goodbyes to the people we’ve come to love here in Guatemala. 

– For Bonita Anita: We got wonderful news today!!! There are high, high hopes that the American missionary orphanage has space for her! We pray the couple falls in love with her, that the judge signs off for Anita to go there, and that her every need would be met and she would be taken into a wonderful family where she will feel the Lord’s love everyday of her life. 

– For the continuing progress with the documentary project. That our camera gear particularly would be covered and protected from theft. That the camera can be a tool of worship that can open doors, and continue to enhance ministry the way I have seen it do this past month. For the head haunchos of the documentary, Grey Media. For this to be the LORD’s project; that He would be guiding our every move in it. 

– For my heart to continually be drawn closer and closer to the Lord’s, to keep learning more about who He is and to seek that out in my day-to-day, to trust Him more every single day, with everything, and to continue desiring to walk in obedience.

My heart is so overjoyed thinking of how much I love all of my family and friends who might be reading this. You are dear to my heart and I’m praying for you. 

You’ll hear from me again in Nica. Adios:)