Having Fun

Being here is like picking up where we left off last year. The kids are off of school this week so we have had a lot of time to hang out and play with them. Our week has consisted of:
~ Hanging out with awesome missionary kids (Stefan and Andy) playing games like Just Dance and Apples to Apples.
~ Cheereing on the Rojos at a professional soccer game. It was fun but oh so very hot. We both walked away with painful sunburns.
~ Making over 200 rice crispy treats (first time ever for the both of us). From what I heard, the kids loved them.
~ Spending time at the Baby House (thanks Mrs. Becky and Kel for all of the gifts. They LOVED them. Now each baby has a lovie).
~Watching soccer practice. These boys and girls have skills!
~ Playing in the rain. It has rained every day since we got here. After all, it is rainy season here.
~ Celebrating a sweet 16 birthday with a fun group of girls. Taking crazy pictures and laughing a lot.
~ Catching up with all of the wonderful kids here at Casa Bernabe. It is so fun to see how they have grown and changed over the past year.

On Friday, we will be taking all of the kids to the water park! It will be so much fun! For the next three weeks we will be working in the school. Mimi will be teaching English classes and I will be working in the special education class. In the afternoons, we will be spending time with some of the older kids.

Pictures to come!

We are here!

After an entire year of anticipation and preparation, WE ARE HERE! Friends and rain greeted us at the airport. Everything went very smoothly getting here and we are so very thankful.

Our first day back consisted of Pollo Campero, running errands with Toni, saying hello to all of our friends, and setting up camp. Speaking of camp - OMG - we are so very excited about how it worked out for us! Let me just preface this by saying, this isn't normally how it goes, and that we would totally be okay if this wasn't the case...but there was space for us at the staff/missionary house. We have a little "apartment"!!! We are sharing a full size bed and a spacious room.

If there is any confirmation for being here, I would say it was the conversation we had with Toni. Toni is an amazing, hard-working woman. She is not only busting her tail here, but she's also raising a handsome, incredible 10 year old son. As soon as she saw us, she said, "MY CHEERLEADERS ARE HERE!" I kind think it was a big deal- and I'm thankful that God has given us the opportunity to be encouragers to friends here.

Anyway- we are here. Safe. Happy. Encouraged. Excited. Ready to work.

T-minus 2 Days!

Throughout our trip, we will be posting little snippets of life in Guate and ways that you can pray for Casa Bernabe - kids/staff and us. We made a prayer card to give to all of our friends and family, but just in case you didn't get it (our apologies)...this is it:

You can print it and put in on your fridge as a reminder to pray for us while you're pouring yourself a glass of ice cold milk.

These are our prayer requests for now:

• Pray for our families.


• Pray Psalm 37:5-6 over us.
  We want for Him to make us shiny - that we would be attractive especially to the girls we will be working closely with.


• Pray that we rest when it's time to rest, play hard when it's time to play and work hard when it's time to work. That whatever we do we do with a happy heart before the Lord.


• Pray that we would be a blessing to the staff and to the children. They are already a huge blessing to us.


• Pray that the funds/things/prayers you all have given would be multiplied...that we wouldn't hesistate if there's a need we know we can meet.


• Pray for our hearts, both while we are there and when we return.
  (After having love poured on you like syrup on pancakes, coming back is a hard pill to swallow. It's not that we don't like home...it's just different.)


• Pray for direction on future visits.

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New Teammate

We would also like to welcome Jared Ong to the "A-Team." Jared will join us for the last week of our exciting adventure. What's really cool is that he's actually been to CB before and since we couldn't stop talking about it (see first post), he asked about coming along. If CB says yes, then we say absolutely!

Pray for him too. There's lots to do behind the scenes before you actually get on that plane.

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Why in the world did you name this blog "The A-Team Missions"?

Great question: Just so you know, we aren't some sort of elitists. During the summer, there are larger mission teams that go to CB. They all wear t-shirts...or say they're with such and such team.

Well, since Ashley and I were on our own...and a family from California weren't part of a team either, we decided to form a team and name it!! The last movie we had seen before going to Guatemala was the A-Team...and really, that's all I could come up with. And it stuck. And we like it. :o)

Looking Back

Whenever friends go on mission trips, I want to see PICTURES! Of course, we will be taking lots and lots of pictures while we are there this time around. However, it sure doesn't hurt to look at some from last year. It will give you an idea of the people with whom we will be spending our time! Brace yourselves - most of these people are melt your heart CUTE!!

Get To Know Us

Ashley and Mimi are friends! Really good friends! The kind of friends that scratch each others backs and are willing to do pretty silly things to make each other laugh!

Yes, that is us...in a nut shell. Sure.

There's more to us though. We are the kind of friends that share a common passion and that passion is what has made us greater friends - spending our summers serving the people at Casa Bernabe. We are beyond THANKFUL that the Lord would give us the opportunity to return to an orphanage that is full of kids that we absolutely love. More likely than not, you will find us talking about the one time when...and when we go back we will...and how we can't wait to see how much so and so has grown.

This passion is exactly why we created this blog! We want for YOU to journey with US as we head on over to the land of GUATEMALA to be house parents for 5 weeks!!

So please - subcribe to our blog! Tell your friends about us!