My Operation Obligation Journal

I want all of my blog readers to know a couple of things... there are a few reasons my son and I are going to Guatemala...

1. To show the people there the love of Christ
2. To check out the organization we are donating to
3. To personally ensure the families we sponsor are getting everything they need - going down personally will allow us to give the families items directly instead of going through anyone as an "in between."

Next, where we sponsor the children...

Mayan Families is the organization that we sponsor our children through. You can directly sponsor a child, however - going in as a group effort will allow us to pool funds together to better help the sponsored children and their families.

Our Plans:

As of right now, we do not plan on sponsoring any more children - except sibblings of those we already sponsor. The reason? Ken and I talked about this, and both agree that it is very important to help a few families really get on their feet. By sponsoring many kids (which we would LOVE to do) - this does not take care of their families directly in the long term. If we can really help families "get on their feet" and have a good education, this is our goal. When we know families of the children we sponsor are not eating for example... it would be hard in our eyes to send another $120 for school supplies etc - when someone we already have in our hearts are going hungry?

I know there are so many people in the world to help - my goal is to help as many families as possible.

Once our sponsored children and their families are on their feet - we will sponsor more children.

The money that our family and friends donate are going directly to help the children - I will say, my son and I are not using any of the funds for our trip. We are paying for our plane tickets, food and lodging while away. Any money that we do raise (via garage sale, or other fundraisers) will go to purchase items once we are in Guatemala for the families there. This way, we are 100% sure that the families ARE getting the things that they need.

Our Future Goals:

I'm really unsure at this point about what our future holds. Only God knows... I am sure that we will be keeping Oscar, Rafael and Marcos close to our hearts and keeping updated on their situations.

By all of us coming together to sponsor these children, we can continue to help them in the future. Say for example, one person can sponsor the children this year... what if their situation changes and they cannot do it again next year? This way, if we pool all of our resourses together - we can make sure that they are taken care of.

If you would like to make donations directly to Mayan Families - please let me know, and I can give you the exact information on Marcos, Rafael and Oscar. What you will need, are their student numbers - click the links for their student numbers etc... :)

Marcos
Rafael
Oscar