Hi, I'm Miss Mashburn...a High School Science Teacher in Guatemala

Two weeks from now, I'll be in Guatemala.

This is not a one week mission trip, and it even exceeds the 2 month trips I have taken. I will be living in Guatemala.

Where:  I will be residing in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. It's about a three to four hour ride from the airport in Guatemala City.  It is also called Xela (pronounced Shay-la... I encourage you to call it this because it is easier). The weather there is pretty nice!  Highs are in the 70s, and lows can be in the 40s-50s--all year long.  Seasons don't exist there like here--there is a rainy season and a dry season.  (Though, I feel like North Carolina had a rainy season this year!!!!)

Job:  I will be teaching at Inter-American School in Xela. It is a Christian school that goes from pre-K to 12th grade.  Next year there will be 170 students enrolled in the school.  The school was originally founded to serve missionary families, providing their children with an American-style education.  Over the years, more and more Guatemalans began attending the school. Today the vast majority of the students are Guatemalan.  Because it is an American-style school, all reading, writing, and speaking are done in English! Even the teaching!  The calendar is similar to the States, meaning school starts in August and finishes at the very beginning of June. 

I will be the official high school science teacher. The McInnis of Guatemala for all you NRCA people! (Shout out to Mrs. McInnis for putting up with my shenanigans for 3 years in high school and helping me prepare for this position!)  I will be teaching Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Science. One class of each.  I'm really excited to get the chance to teach high schoolers, and to continue studying a subject that I have always had a knack for ;)

I would love to have this poster for my classroom.  It was always hanging in my high school lab.

                                                      
I will also be teaching an elective class on Women of the Bible.   I will be using Francine River's Book A Lineage of Grace.   This book is actually 5 mini books.  Each about a different woman of the Bible, and all are in the lineage of Christ.  Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheeba, and Mary. I'm assuming it will be an all-girls class :)  Even though I do love science, I am probably most excited about this class!!!  I feel as though it will be like a small group for high school girls disguised as a class. I'm excited for the opportunity to get to know some of these high school girls more and to encourage them in their walk with Christ through our study. (Special shout out to those who donated money for buying these books and Bibles for this class!  I have 10 books, & 10 Bibles!  Thank you so much!)


It's a really good book!



***Important Disclaimer***

It is false to assume that all students attending a Christian school are true followers of Christ.

It is false to assume that all parents sending their students to a Christian school are followers of Christ.

 

This is very much true at IAS, as well as Christian schools in America..  yes even those in North Carolina. This is even true of Liberty University, and I'm sure they would not be offended for me to say that.   And I don't mean for the previous statements to offend anyone else, but to make us aware of the desperate need of Christ in the lives surrounding us.
There are students at IAS who need to accept Christ as their Savior. There are others who have already done so and need to  be challenged, encouraged, and discipled---they need to grow in their relationship with Christ, as we all do.  All of these things can happen through  the sharing of the Gospel and the Word of God. I am thankful, that once again, I can do that openly in my classroom.    Any class. Any period. Any lesson.  I can begin every single class with prayer. When discussing science things, I can reference the Creator of the Universe...The Designer of all these things we will be studying.

What a true blessing that is... one that no Christian school teacher, including myself, should take for granted.

Romans 1:16a For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,

 

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 

Church:  Remember Toto? Totonicapán. It's a small city about 40 minutes away from where I will be living and teaching.  This is the area where I was just at on a missions trip with Devin's church.  I also was here last summer for about 3 weeks.  I plan on going there on Sundays to attend church and visit with familiar faces. I'm really excited to continue friendships that have already been formed there! It will be so cool to see these people on a more regular basis. I'm also really excited to visit Lucia (the lady who just got saved) and see how her and her family are doing.

Living Arrangements:  Upon arrival on July 31st I will be staying with a family arranged by the school. The day after I should be moving into an apartment!  I will be living with Jessica, the official 3rd grade teacher.  This will be her second year at IAS.  We will have a stove, microwave, and refrigerator.  2 bedrooms, 1 living room/kitchen/dining room, and a bathroom.  There's no heat or AC.  (Remember the temps in Xela? Not really needed anyway)  The apartments are fully furnished too.



Here's the view from where I will be living!

Food:  There is a grocery store within about a 10 minute walk of where we will be living. Cooking will happen often.  (Small group girls... I'll let ya know if I come across recipes to add to the infamous "cookbook")  Eggs, beans, and tortillas will be common menu items as they are popular & inexpensive in Guatemala.. not to mention good!  I will have to pack my lunch for school everyday...so everyday I will miss Jennifer Downey & Anna Sexton :( Xela also has a McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and Wendys.  (McDonalds delivers there!)  There are also many restaurants in the city that would be fun to try too :)

This is a breakfast I had in Xela last summer, overlooking the central park :) 

 Also... as of now.. .I plan on going Crystal Light Peach Mango free.  I don't want have to have to pack enough to last until December...I'll keep you updated on how that's going.


Closing Comments:

Well... That's all I got for now! I will have orientation August 1-12th, and school starts on the 13th!

Prayer Requests: 

• traveling on July 31st
• getting prepared for the school year (especially the change I will experience going from teaching elementary students to high school)
•  the hearts of my students (especially the young ladies that will sign up for my elective class)

Next update will be from Quetzaltenango, Guatemala!
Thanks for reading! Dios le bendiga!


Mission Trip With Okies & Kentuckians... and a girl from Tennesse

I think I had some people worried and maybe even confused, because I was in Guatemala a little over a week ago.  But don’t worry, I’m back in ‘Merica now.  I went for a 10 day mission trip with Devin’s church in Oklahoma and a group from a church in Kentucky.  For lack of my vocabulary, it was an amazing trip. I think it is really cool that Devin’s church has been going to serve the same area for 4 years now.  Relationships have been formed and continued.  It was so great to see familiar faces in Guatemala, especially because I got to tell the “nos vemos pronto/We’ll see ya soon” and mean it… not just like a year… but a month!  I also loved the gringos I went with.  It’s amazing how mission trips make people bond in lightning speed.  I especially loved (this is serious not sarcastic) sharing a room with 3 girls for the majority of the trip, as it made me feel like that is what having sisters would have been like. 

The Roomies: Whittles, Jamica, Me, & Steph



Our team of 29  worked alongside a church in Totonicapan. (This city is about 40 minutes from where I’ll be teaching in August.)  We went to different communities in the area and held Vacation Bible Schools.  There was a group of people who held a sports ministry, where their  goal was to form relationships with the youth and point them to Christ or encourage them in their walk.  We also had a stellar group of men who constructed a roof for a pastor’s home.  We also delivered bags of food and household items to people in need.  We would visit and talk with them as well, in hopes of sharing Christ, praying for them, and encouraging them.  The food and items we deliver will run out, but Christ will not.  We wanted to encourage these people to seek the Bread of Life and the Living Water.

The whole team singing "Victory In Jesus"

This is probably the coolest thing I saw that happened on the trip:

Last summer Devin introduced me to a family that he had met and always spent time with on his travels to Toto.  I had heard so much about them before even meeting them. Lucia, Luis, Brian, Vilma, Sonrida (Please know I probably butchered the spelling of their names).  Lucia, is a single mom as her husband was killed a few years ago. She is very poor and in a nutshell, life has just been very difficult for her and her family.  She also was unsaved. 

 I loved spending time with her and her family last summer.  She was always so generous to me & Devin when we visited.  The best coffee I had in Guatemala came from her house, because it had real cow milk.. I mean straight up from the cow warm milk… we think?  But anyway she was always very thankful for us coming to visit and play with her kids and anything given to her. The only catch is that she didn’t really get why we and the church were loving on her.  It was much, much, much more than just doing a good deed or feeling good about ourselves---it was to point her to Christ.  And she at the time did not know Him. 

Hangin' out with Lucia's family last summer

Short-term mission trips are hard because the people are blessed by your presence, but as missionaries we want them to blessed by the presence of God—not our presence.  The food, the gifts, the VBS, the visits from gringos… those that can’t go on forever, but the love of Christ can.  We can not be everything they need, but Christ can.   All those other things are just done to point to the One—the Only One—who will never fail us and who can be our Everything.

(Step off soap box).
Back to my story, one day our team of 29 was divided into different groups to deliver bags of food and household items to homes in need. During our visits we would be sharing Christ and praying with them.  I was in a group with Pastor Efrain and we went to Lucia’s house first. 





Brian & Lucia

I was SOOOOOO excited.  I didn’t know until we literally were at her front door that we were going there.  It was so great to see her and the kids.  All of us gringos were quickly welcomed into her small, one-room home and treated like royal guests.  Everyone had to have a seat and she had to make sure everyone was comfortable.  It didn’t take me long to get comfortable because Vilma was on my lap and Sonrida cuddled up to my side. 

Pastor Efrain started speaking to Lucia, telling her why we were there (though she already knew because she has heard this so many times).  He mentioned that he knew her life was difficult but that she needed to seek Christ and teach her children to do the same thing. 

While Efrain was saying all this I quickly noticed the change in Lucia’s face because it’s one I had seen before on her face and many others (both Guatemala and America).  She zoned out.  Looked to the ground.  She was hearing the words with her ears but not her heart.  It was a look and mood I remembered seeing from her last summer.  She wasn’t being rude, she actually kept saying “si, hermano” and “es cierto”… but I think that’s just something people do there to be polite.

I started praying for her.  For her heart to finally open up to Christ. 

Lucia started talking and sharing about her life and the latest difficulties she had faced.  And they were grand.   After explaining all these things for a while, I remember her saying something along the lines of “I have no one, but God is with me.”

Yes, my jaw dropped.  And I re-played her words in Spanish in my head to make sure I had translated correctly. 

She started crying, so I figured I had heard her right.  And by the look on Efrain’s face I was sure of it.  I kept looking at him trying to read his Spanish mind for even more confidence that I heard correctly.

I had. And was ECSTATIC!  Poor Vilma.  I took out my joy on her by squeeeeezzzzzziiiinnnggg her as the Spanish conversations continued. 

Next thing I know Lucia and her older daughter, Rosa, got down on their knees and accepted Christ as their Savior.  Lucia, even in the midst of all her trials & pain, had realized that God was there and will be there for her.  She realized all that Christ had done for her, and how she needed to give her life to Him.

Praise God for not only sending Jesus to be Our Savior, but for seeking us when we were lost.  For wanting us, even when we wanted to run away.  For loving us, when we wanted nothing to do with Him.  For accepting us as sinners, and loving us as His Children.

Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

I’m really excited to return to Toto (in less than a month) to visit Lucia and see how she is doing.  Pray for her as she is new in her faith.  Pray that she would be a spiritual leader in her home and community.  Pray that she would continue to lean on Christ, through her difficulties. Pray for her kids to follow in her footsteps and accept Christ as their Savior. Praise God for his great works!

Praising God in Guatemala!  Had so much fun worshipping with new friends!  Special shout out to "my band!"  (Girl in the red beside is playing a ukulele!  How cool is that?!! That's Jessica... the girl from Tennessee ;) 

The Re-Cap

About 3 years ago I was falling in love.

Let me do a short re-cap:

I first went to Guatemala during the summer of 2010 with a program from Liberty University. I absolutely loved it.  Go back and read my blog if you don't believe me (Well, I loved everything but the crema and queso seco).  I remember being in the airport on the way back to the States and being sad, not knowing when I would get to go back.  Don't get me wrong, I was so excited to see my family and friends...but I was uneasy because it was unknown if Guatemala was what God had for me.

I did begin to pray about returning.  I desperately wanted to go back.  I didn't care if I just went back to bag bread in the pananderia in Zacapa.  I just had a hunger to be there.  I ran out of patience, and thought I was running out of time to be able to go back.  (I think I had made the assumption that after a certain age it wouldn't be possible?) I began to once again take my plans into my own hands and I tried every way possible I knew to get back there.  Then I broadened my expectations.. anywhere in Guatemala...then again.. any Spanish speaking country.  I had a hunger to live abroad. 

My hunger was never satisfied.

(Here comes a shout out to my small group)  A good thing can become a bad thing if it takes the place of God.  It's called an idol. My small group was doing a study on idols when I had a HUGE one.  Guatemala was an idol in my life.  I at one point was doing everything I could to get there.   In my mind it was the only thing that could make me happy..  I realized that once again, I had picked the plans up from God's feet that I had many times laid down saying, "Do what you will."  I took back my word because I doubted God and His sovereignty. I didn't think He knew what He was doing.  I picked up the plans and was trying to figure out how to make them work for me and my definition of happiness.



Be Jealous of My Small Group

After laying those plans back down at His feet and feeding my hunger with time with Him, I "settled down" in Durham, NC....I quickly saw God and how it was clear and evident that His plan was for me to be here. 

My First Class Ever!
Fifth Grade
BCA

In 2012, a chance to go back to Guatemala hit me smack dab in the face.  Part of the trip would be on a completely different area of Guatemala that I had been exposed to...but it was still hitting me.  I'll be honest and tell you that I had hesitations and fears.  I didn't want to mess up on the "taking God's plans into my own hands again."  After prayer, I knew that God was telling me to go, but to keep Him first.

I fell in love again, with a different side of the country and the people there.  This is when I first "met" IAS and on this trip I also got to back and visit my "Zacapa Guatemalan family." All the while being in Guatemala, I knew I had another year in Durham.  I had already signed my contract at BCA before I left...not just to secure a job, but because after praying if I was suppose to stay at BCA I felt God confirm. I would be lying if I told you "not once did I consider seeing if I could get a job that year." Oh yeahhhh, you better believe those thoughts danced around in my head. But in my heart I knew that was not God's plan...yet.

 The Guatemalan lady's name is Lucia! And she just got saved!  (I'll write more about that next time!)

Leaving Guatemala that time was a lot different than the first.  I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was more mature in my faith than I had been in 2010.  I was desperately seeking God for strength, peace, and understanding---I wasn't just seeking to go back.  I was very careful to not let myself believe the lies that being there would instantly and forever make me happy. I was aware of my need for God. Not Guatemala or a plane ticket to go back.

Now to speed things up a bit... as many of you know, I will be teaching in Guatemala starting in August. (I'll write again soon explaining more details about what I'll be teaching, the school, living arrangements, prayer requests and all those juicy details--I promise!!!!). 


God had to get me to the point where I could say, "I will serve you anywhere--not just in Guatemala, not just in Durham.  I will serve you wherever you call me to go or stay."

I am no way claiming that I have all this following God's plan thing down to a pat, or that I am perfect as I am clearly not.  I'm actually claiming that I have struggled with it greatly, but by the grace of God and His steadfast love---I have seen more of God.  I have messed up, but God has picked me up.  I have turned away from God because I was mad that He wasn't letting me go, but He never stopped pursuing me.  I was just tired of trying to live for God when I wasn't getting what I wanted, but not once to God get tired of accepting me back from my childish temper-tantrums with His love.

Sometimes in life we are at place where we can stop, turn around, and understand some of the answers to our why questions.  I'm at that place now.  Some of my why questions are making sense. Why God didn't send me to Guatemala sooner. Why He had me serve Him here first.  I still had some things to learn... and still do :)

In closing (finally, right?)  I am so thankful for all the people who have been in my life in Durham these past 2 years especially: family, childhood friends, Summit friends & church family, FIT team, my small group, my little soccer teams, summer camp, and of course my BCA fam.  Thank you for putting up with me these past 2 years. Thank you for encouraging me. Thank you for allowing me to serve with you.  Thank you for loving me when I at times was very unlovely.

And to close, I encourage you all to take time and ask yourself if you are open to whatever God has for you.  Age, marital status, occupation, and talents are no limitation to living life for God.  Also, living your life for God does not just mean that you have to go overseas. Mission fields are all around us.  Wherever you find yourself reading this, you are in one.

Are you willing to serve Christ wherever He calls you to stay or wherever He calls you to go?