Walking and Running

Walking and Running: Two large themes in our lives right now. (If you receive this update via e-mail and the formatting is messed up, feel free to click the blog title which will take you directly to our webpage. You can also click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Walking

• With God: Andi just finished a book discussion on the book Walking With God by John Eldredge with a group of men from Shoreline City Antigua, our church here.

• Slower: Shauna is definitely walking slower due to getting closer to the due date of July 5th. The baby continues to look healthy and is growing at a good rate! The photo of Shauna is from the baby shower last week. We would love for continued prayer for Shauna and the baby's health.

• In step with the Spirit: "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Galatians 5:25 This is such a challenge and growing experience to keep in step with the Spirit. Not to lag behind or go ahead, to to keep in step as we listen to His voice as we grow in relationship with our Father every day. This idea and concept has been on my (Andi)'s mind for a couple of weeks now. We need encouragement, accountability, and need to be challenged every day in this. 

• To the pool: We have our official pool day planned as a fun time for the kids and their families of the after-school program. Saturday June, 2nd we rented the pool down the street which also includes a field for playing soccer, a kiddie pool, and a grassy area with shade. We are super excited for that day and to get to know some of the kids' families better! You can be praying, along with us, for that time of building relationships! We will post plenty of pictures next update from the pool day!

Running

• Water: We have had two types of running water. First the kind that is important for a functioning bathroom (the addition to the house which is so close to being complete!). The last couple things that need done are to install the sink, run wiring for lights, and put a door on! The other type of running water has been rain. Rainy season has started and we've had some down pours recently which have caused a few leaks in our house.

        

• The After-School Program

 

 

It's been awesome seeing the improvement in some of the kids in English. A few weeks ago, Jose, during educational time (the first 30 minutes of the program), was able to say by himself in English, 'Going to play soccer in the court today?' Without any help he formed that whole sentence because we've gone over the terms 'play', 'soccer', 'today', and 'court' in different lessons of English. It's so cool to see they are starting to grasp some sentence formation!
We have been working on family terms the past couple of weeks and we were drawing different family members in this photo.

Saying adios to Julia who helped us out at least once a week for the past few months

We had a great time acting out 'Daniel in the Lions Den' 

or 'Daniel en el foso de los leones'.

Please be praying with us for short-term or long-term interns or other staff to join us as we look forward to what the Lord is leading us in growing the after-school program and doing other sport team and training activities. Check out a description of an internship here. PTR Guatemala Internship

We are so thankful for those of you who have started supporting us financially the past few months. However, as we have our son and expenses for the after-school program continue to increase, due to special events like the pool day, snacks each day, and stocking our 'school supply store', we are still looking for supporters to come alongside and partner with us. It is our goal and prayer that we reach our full support budget by the end of 2018. We still have $900/month to raise in order to reach that goal. If you are interested in partnering with us as we share the love of Jesus and build relationships with the kids in our after-school program and their families we would love to talk with you more. Send us a message at abrubaker@pushtherock.org or krishauna@hopeforhome.org

We also just put in a new order for Push The Rock Guatemala T-shirts and will have them available in Dillsburg area and here with us in Guatemala. Send us a message if you are interested.

Also if you would like to see more photos or updates of our daily activities check out our Facebook page Brubakers in Guatemala or follow us in Instagram @brubakers_in_guate

Running to Jesus,

Andi and Krishauna 

If you feel God is calling you to support us financially you can go to hopeforhome.org/donate and designate your gift to Andi and Krishauna or pushtherock.org/donate and find Andi Brubaker on the drop down menu.

Stories

We are going to start sharing stories each update about things that happen in our after-school program! These are just a few of ways that God is using us to pour into these kids. It is such a blessing to be the hands and feet of Jesus! If you receive this update via e-mail and the formatting is messed up, feel free to click the blog title which will take you directly to our webpage. You can also click on any photo to enlarge it.  

Keyler and Andi

A new girl, Joselyn, started attending our program this past Monday. This was her first day of learning about how the program worked and how to earn points. We were explaining how our ‘store’ works and that by the end of the week she would have enough points to purchase something. Keyler, one of the other boys, overheard the conversation and came up to Krishauna and asked if he could give away some of his points. Krishauna said, “Yes, they are your points, so you can spend or save them as you want.” He looked at Joselyn and told her, “You can use some of my points to buy something at the store.” He didn’t give a point limit but let her choose what she wanted. This was such an unselfish and amazing act! It is so exciting to see these kids grow in maturity and learning to love as Jesus loves.

Anderson

We were down at the court participating in relay races. Anderson, a 11-year-old boy, started to get a bad attitude and was annoyed at some of his teammates, because they were losing. He started complaining and so one of our helpers reminded him about a verse we were memorizing at the time (Do to others what you would have them do to you). Once the helper started quoting it Anderson finished the verse from his memory. Suddenly, his attitude changed, and he began to cheer and encourage his teammates. It is so cool to see how God’s word and memorizing verses can change attitudes and lives!

Kenet

Each day we give an opportunity for different kids to pray for the snack. As soon as I ask, “who wants to pray?”, four or five hands shoot up in the air! Recently, Kenet, an 8-year-old, in our younger group was chosen to pray. He started to pray and all the adults there that day were so impressed and blessed by his prayer. He was able to use a lot of his own words and prayed for a variety of items. It is such an honor to hear kids praying to our Heavenly Father!

We asked for prayer last update for a boy in our program who was causing trouble and not listening well. Thank you for your prayers and we are excited to say we have seen improvement in his behavior! He recently went two full days without having any issues. Please continue to pray for our patience for him and continued maturity and growth in his life.

Diá Especial

Here are some photos of our 'Dia Especial' with the kids! We played minute-to-win-it games, had different competitions, received special snack (depending on their point levels), and had a ton of fun!

                                

                                        

                      

 

The Christian character and sportsmanship award winners
from our older group, Melany and Keyler!

The Christian character and sportsmanship award winners
from our younger group, Fatima and Kenedi

 And who doesn't love this picture!!

 We are so thankful for all your prayers and support!

Andi and Krishauna

If you have any questions or want to know more about our ministry and what we are doing in Guatemala send us an email at abrubaker@pushtherock.org or 
krishauna@hopeforhome.org.

If you feel God is calling you to support us financially you can go to hopeforhome.org/donate and designate your gift to Andi and Krishauna or pushtherock.org/donate and find Andi Brubaker on the drop down menu.

Snippets of our life

Greetings from the land of Eternal Spring! For those who are unaware Guatemala has this nickname because of the climate. Many of you are looking out your windows at a large amount of snow on the ground, while we enjoy the 80 degree weather here. It's amazing how God created this world with so many different types of weather and climate - what a Creator! If you recieve this update via e-mail and the formatting is messed up, feel free to click the blog title which will take you directly to our webpage. You can also click on any photo to enlarge it. 

This update contains a lot of pictures which are always fun :) They are great way to show snippets into our life here! 

As part of our rental contract, it was agreed that we would add a bathroom to the back of our house. It's been a little challenging finding time to work on it due to having the after-school program four days a week, but poco a poco (little by little)! It's a totally new experience using block and re-bar to build along with learning what tools to use and the different processes they use here. The hope is to have the walls complete by the time rainy season comes, which is usually around early - mid April.

With some of the profit that we made from the Push The Rock Guatemala shirt sales we were able to purchase these awesome storage cabinets and tub! They hold all of our games, books, supplies, sports equipment, and our 'mini-libreria' (store) that the kids use the points to purchase school supplies. We found out very quickly that pens of all colors, erasers, and sticky-notes are the most popular items.

The after-school program is going really well! The kids are getting excited for "Dia Especial" during the 2nd week of April. That day will mark the end of the first trimester of the school year and we will be playing minute to win it games, other games and activities, and the kids will be redeeming their points for their special snack (depending on what level they have achieved depends of how special the snack is). The past few days we have been going through the Easter story. We started with Jesus' arrival into Jerusalem, washing feet, the last supper, Jesus' arrest and crucifixion, and tomorrow we will be talking about His resurrection. Please be praying that as we share the story tomorrow (Thu) and Friday of Jesus' resurrection that we will be able to explain it in a way that the kids can understand. Pray that the kids will have questions and want to have discussion about why Jesus died for us and rose again. Pray that Spanish wouldn't be a hindrance to communicating and understanding.  You can also be praying that we will have wisdom to know how not to offend the kids who come from Catholic families, but still share the truth of the gospel.

 

During our English time we have been working on parts of the body (eyes as pictured below), simple action verbs, and days of the week.

We recently received some pinnies sent down by Push The Rock and have been using them a lot. We've enjoyed playing (to-ti-to) human tic-tac-toe, pony express, naden peces naden (swim fishy swim), robar el tocino (steal the bacon), kickball, mission impossible, and futbol! It was also really encouraging to hear one of the kids using a Bible verse he was learning and applying it during one of the games. The idea of doing to others what you would have them do to you. It's so cool to see them putting that into practice! 

                  

Some other ways you can be praying for the after-school program:
 - A boy who attends the program keeps causing trouble. He never wants to admit being wrong and constantly is telling on others. Please pray for wisdom for us to know the correct way to discipline and what consequences to give while loving him in the best way possible.
- We are learning more about some of the kids home situations. Pray for wisdom to know how and if we should get involved, and also how to love all these kids in the best way possible.
- Pray for interns, part-time or full-time staff, and volunteers. We are currently limited in how much we can do now regarding expansion and amount of kids we can accept due to staff.

Plans for the near future:

We are excited as we look ahead to planning a swimming pool day for all of the kids in our program along with their families sometime in May or June.

A team from Mechanicsburg BIC church will be coming to serve with us for a day in July. We will be having a kids community day where we play games and do activities down at the court for the afternoon they are here.

Other Life updates:

Shauna is doing well and the baby is healthy and continuing to grow. Praise the Lord! We would love for you to continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy and our son as he continues to grow!

Last week we started up a new season of connect groups within our church. We are a part of a group with 6 other couples. We meet every Tuesday evening and it has been a awesome time of encouragement, fellowship, community, vulnerability, and growth in friendship. 

This is just an awesome picture of all my Push The Rock shirts

 (for those of you who did not see it on facebook)

                                  

We are so blessed and honored to be doing the work God has called us to do here in Guatemala. We are so thankful for your prayers and support.

Much love,
Andi and Krishauna

If you have any questions or want to know more about our ministry and what we are doing in Guatemala send us an email at abrubaker@pushtherock.org or 
krishauna@hopeforhome.org.

If you feel God is calling you to support us financially you can go to hopeforhome.org/donate and designate your gift to Andi and Krishauna or pushtherock.org/donate and find Andi Brubaker on the drop down menu.