After driving more than 3000 miles over two weeks, I am back, and what an incredible trip. Over the entirety of my travels I saw the Lord answering the prayer requests I had asked people to be lifting up. I had wonderful travels to and from the States and even as I drove from State to State, I saw God’d protection. Each visit with the churches and small groups that had been lined up went off wonderfully and it was a pleasure to share with them about our ministry and children. Honestly, things couldn’t have gone better. And despite the long trip, the late nights and early mornings, and being away from my beautiful wife for an extended time, I returned from the US refreshed and rested. Thank you all for your prayers and support during this trip. Thank you for helping to set up the numerous meetings and speaking engagements. Thank you to all the host families that allowed me to stay the night in their homes. Finally, thank you to all the churches that gave me time to share about our ministry. God bless you all!

See a recap of my travels, photos, and even an interactive map.

More than a month has gone by since our last update and as you probably guessed, we’ve all been very busy.  The majority of the absence was due to my trip to the States in early November.  The entire trip was geared around sharing Hope For Tomorrow with different churches and ministries, trying to get the word out there about the work we are doing with orphaned children, and share I did!  Over the course of 10 days, I was able to speak 12 different times totaling more than 1500 people that heard testimonies and stories of the Lord’s work in our children and ministry.  And the response was unbelievable!  People shook their heads in disbelief as I shared about our baby Moses being abandoned on the streets.  They applauded as I shared about Carlos’ incredible physical progress.  They cried when they heard about Miguel’s incredible academic achievements despite seemingly overwhelming obstacles.  Hearts were stirred and people were awaken to the problems so many orphans face not only at Hope For Tomorrow but around the world.

On top of the general excitement, churches and people jumped on board to support us through prayer, sending groups to Guatemala, and providing financially for our children.  In fact, we’ve got a pretty full line up in 2011 of churches that want to come serve at our Children’s Home!  It was incredible to able to connect with so many people that have truly passionate hearts for serving God.

Taking advantage of the fact that I was in the States, Brenda, Jennifer, and I got a lot of face to face time in.  We usually communicate through email or Skype, but being able to sit across from someone and talk is so important…and refreshing!  During our numerous meetings, we were able to plan and discuss many important items, including the vision for 2011 and beyond.  One of focus areas for next year that we are really excited about is our individual long term volunteer program.  After Rebecca, our first long term volunteer, came this year and did such an awesome job working with our children, we thought about how wonderful it would be to have long term  volunteers (think 1 month or more)come down on a regular basis.  I’ll be writing about this more at a later date, but basically we are gearing up to begin receiving volunteers that can come and support our ministry here in Guatemala!

Overall, the trip was a complete success and we couldn’t be happier with everything we were able to accomplish.  A lot of that success is due to the participation of so many people.  There is so much thanks to go around but here are some of the big ones:

A special thanks to:

• Donna for donating her frequent flyer miles for my trip there. The entire trip was made possible by this donation.
• Lisa and Randy for picking me up from the airport at 11:30 pm at night…and then driving an hour to their house!!!
• Scott for loaning me his van to get around in and for taking me back to the airport at 3:30 in the morning!
• Jennifer, Paul, and Kendall for opening their home for me.  It was my home away from home.
• Paul for cooking incredible meals.  I think I gained 10 lbs in 10 days!  Totally worth it!
• Brenda for being there through it all.
• Everyone that helped set up my speaking engagements.
• All of the great people I met who donated financially to our home.
• The Alter Church and Hope Community Church for wonderful Christmas gifts they donated to our children.
• All the churches, bible studies, and people who allowed me to share about our ministry.
• My Mom for taking me shopping.
• Everyone that prayed for my travels!  Thank you!  I had no problems at all!
• And finally, my beautiful wife Diana, who sacrificed 12 whole days, but who also stepped up and filled in for me at the Children’s Home.

All of you (and others) made this trip possible and I am eternally grateful.

God bless,

Kenneth

We just spent 5 days at the Children’s Home. Since meeting the children 2 and 1/2 years ago, I am astounded at the progress that has been made to provide them with a better home. All of them have grown developmentally, physically, and emotionally. I was thrilled to see how well Miguel and Amelia are writing and reading! I’m excited to see how much more focused Edwin and Juan Jose are! Lidia continues to be interested in books and Carlos is extremely independent, moving around his environment. One thing that really struck me this trip is that the children interact like brothers and sisters. They help one another and are concerned if another gets hurt. The house seems more like a home than ever before. I’m excited about our plans to fix up the children’s rooms and completely get rid of the “cages” (We have come to call the beds that the children used to sleep in “cages” since they are made of metal and look more like a cage than a bed) ! I know they will enjoy having a place where they can have their own “things”. After visiting another orphanage while there, I am so grateful that “our” children have a real home to live and grow up in.

Jennifer Grisham-Brown

Today was an exciting day in that I spent the majority of it installing a new water filter in the home, and while that normally wouldn’t be all that interesting, it meant I was able to spend some quality time with Miguel doing “man” stuff. We really had a great time shopping for the parts we needed, having lunch, talking about life, and getting a little wet installing this new filter. But probably the most impacting moment for me of the whole experience was on the way home after purchasing the supplies we needed. (more…)

The expression “hitting the ground running” really came to life for me this past week as Diana and I officially began our mission work here at Hope For Tomorrow Children’s Home.  After a little bit of sleep to recover from my 11:00 pm arrival the night before, Josh, the former missionary, and I started the next phase of our transition Wednesday morning with a general meeting about what we needed to accomplish over the few days that he was here.  There was a lot to get done and very little time to do it, and after having spent more than 6 years working in Guatemala and knowing the slower pace at which a lot of Guatemalans work, I had my doubts about being able to accomplish everything.  But off we went. (more…)