The Hastings Family

Market Day at AMG Guatemala

Hello Everyone,

OK, I promise to post some pictures this time...we are having Market Day today, one of my favorite events of the year! So read through and I'll post more pictures and an explanation down below.

But first, I just wanted to thank you all for praying for us and for our upcoming furlough details. To tell you the truth, it was getting a little difficult for us as we still had several things pending, but lately the Lord has answered several requests and provided many things. The biggest is that we now have a young couple from our church who will be staying in our condo during the time of our furlough. They are newlyweds and needed very affordable living. We needed someone to stay and cover our basic home expenses. Great match!

Melody has arrived safely in New Hampshire (yesterday) and is getting settled in. It is just starting to hit us that she has moved...this doesn't get easier.

Next week Robin and I will be traveling to western Guatemala for 3 days to visit AMG's childcare centers in that part of the country. Please pray for a safe and productive trip. Bethany will be staying with our Pastor's family while we are away.

So thanks for praying for our transition. God is faithful and in His perfect timing He is answering our prayers.

OK, now on to Market Day. This event happens once each year to help teach the little ones about money, buying things in the market, etc. All the children bring things to "sell" and everyone takes turns buying and selling with play money.

Learning can be so much fun!

Here's some pictures of the activities:

Have a great day!

1 comments

Hastings Furlough

Good morning everyone,

Some of you already know about this news but we wanted to write today to make this more public and to explain our decision regarding our upcoming furlough. As many of you know, next month will mark our 5th year here in Guatemala...how is that possible? As we look back on these years we are amazed at all that has taken place, at how God has taken care of us, and at how much we have learned from serving here with AMG International. We have been reminiscing with our girls lately about our time here and each time we do this we understand more and more what a privilege it is to be here and how much God has used our time here to change us, teach us and bless us.

OK, now about our furlough. We have decided to take a furlough in the states for the next school year - from the end of August to June 2010. We began thinking and praying about this during the second half of 2008, and also began seeking counsel from our mission, family and close friends during that time. Since then we have seen the doors open and even though it has been a difficult decision, we have peace that this is how the Lord is leading us right now.

There are several reasons for this and we will list them in no particular order:

To be very honest, we simply feel it is time to spend some time back in the states. We have been away from family and friends for 5 years and feel that we all need the time and opportunity to reconnect. We have been apart from Adam for a few years now as well and it will be great to be able to have time with him. When we first came to Guatemala we thought we would never be interested in a "traditional" fulough, as we thought it would be too complicated and life-changing, but during these past few years we have come to see the wisdom in why mission agencies suggest (and sometimes require) furloughs for their missionaries. It is something that is not easily explained, but after experiencing our time here we are ready.

Melody graduated from high school in 2008 and has now completed one year of musical studies here in Guatemala. As she would like to continue her studies in the US, she has been applying to several colleges and hopes to attend college full-time beginning in January 2010. Her desire at this point is to study music and missions. Having been here since she was 14, this will be a big transition for her. She will be leaving on the 16th of this month and will start pursuing some things that she would like to do before going off to college, like getting her drivers license and maybe having the opportunity to have a part time job. She will have about 5 months to spend in New Hampshire and most likely will start with some correspondence courses during that time. We would like to be there to help Melody during this time of transition. It is a big step for MK´s (Missionary Kids) to leave the field and it can be a very complicated time, hopefully our time on furlough will be a help in this area. This will also allow us time to be able to bring Melody to college when the time comes.

Having only spent short periods of time in the US since moving here, we have been able to visit some of our supporting churches but not all. We have a unique situation of having only a handful of supporting churches but many personal supporters. The churches we do have are quite spread out. We have supporting churches in New York, Ohio, Georgia and New Hampshire. This extended time will give us the opportunity to visit all of them.

There are, of course, other reasons but I think we have shared the major ones.
We would ask for your continued prayers as we continue to plan for this time away. Here are some requests...thank you so much for praying!

- We will be homeschooling Bethany during our furlough...her freshman year of high school. This will allow flexibility for time and travel. Please pray that this will all go well.
- Please pray for Melody as she continues her college search.
- Please pray for Adam as he gets used to the idea of having his parents around again! :)
- We are hoping to have someone stay in our condo for our time away. We have a good possibility, a young couple from our church. Please pray that the Lord would work out the details for this.
- We are traveling in stages: Melody leaves on July 16th, Robin and Bethany on August 7th and Bob on August 20th. Please pray for our travel and safe reunion in NH.
- With the economic crisis, this is a difficult time of financial support for many missionaries. We have lost some support and are aware of other supporters who will not be able to support us after 2008. Please pray that the Lord would continue to provide the support we need for our time of furlough and beyond.
- The Dennett family, our co-workers, will be here during our time of furlough. Please pray for Brian as he assumes the Director´s role here at the mission and for the entire family as they complete their first year here in Guatemala. They are currently spending some time in New England following the birth of their 6th child and will return to Guatemala in a few weeks.

There is one more piece of news we'd like to share. Many of you know the Hodges family, our co-workers who have been here for the same period of 5 years that we have. Recently they decided to leave the field and are flying out this morning to return to Arkansas, their home state. Please pray for them as they re-adjust to living in the states. This was a difficult decision for them but after prayer and consideration they felt that it was time for them to return. The Hodges have primarily hosted short-term teams for AMG for the past 5 years and we, like many of you, have so many wonderful memories of working together with them. Please pray for Steve, Kelli, Korri and Jake. If you'd like to send them a note of encouragement or to let them know you are praying for them, you can email them at skhodges@gmail.com

OK, that is enough for today! Thank you for listening, for praying and for being such a wonderful support network for our family. We never take for granted how God has used you all in this entire process.

See you stateside!

Love from us all,

The Hastings Family

0 comments

Renovated Medical Clinic...and much more

Dear Friends,

Last week we had a team here from Canada. The team was led by Mark and Joy Moores who have come to Guatemala as part of medical teams for several years. This year they came with a group of 14, not to travel to our hospital in Cubulco but to help us renovate a medical clinic that is part of our central office and Verbena school property but has not been in use for many years. We have a working dental clinic on the same property that was renovated in 2005(the team also added a much needed ´waiting room´to the dental clinic) and we have been talking about doing the same with the medical clinic for several years but it has been on a long list of projects and never made it to the top...until now! So the team came, along with a lot of experience and expertise in remodeling...as well as a team to help out in our English classes...and they accomplished an unbelievable amount of work in just 5 days!

Here's some pictures of the work, and extra-curricular activities!, that was done throughout the week:

Medical Clinic Area "Before":

Medical Clinic Area "After"...(they even painted the outside wall!):

Main area of Medical Clinic:

This is a new waiting area in the Medical Clinic:

Dental Clinic before the "waiting room":

Same view with "waiting room" constructed:

Erica(right) and Kaitlin(middle) helping Gabbie, one of our English teachers, to teach songs:

Some of the teens outside the English department waiting for the next classes:

"Boys" playing airplane....kind of universal, don't you think?:

Joy playing "follow the leader" with the kids....hey, who's following who??:

Looking out over the neighborhood where the kids live:

Boys will be boys:

Phil with a new "buddy":

Our girls got to help out because their school year is over:

Abby and Korri

Bethany and Korri

And just in case you forgot about the kids...

We want to thank our old and new friends for all the work they did. Renovating the Medical Clinic, adding a waiting area to the Dental Clinic, helping out in our English classes, giving so much love to the kids, and being such a great encouragement to the missionaries and staff at AMG Guatemala! God bless you all!

Have a great day!

Love from all the Hastings.

4 comments

Mothers Day - AMG Guatemala

Happy Mothers Day!

Dear Friends,

Here at AMG Guatemala we celebrate holidays throughout the year. Mothers Day is a perfect opportunity to be able to invite all of our sponsored children's mothers to enjoy a time of celebration. Some of the children/students participate in the assemblies as do the teachers and staff members.

This year our daughter Melody and her friend David led in a time of praise and worship to open the Mothers Day celebration at one of our schools here in Guatemala City. We had a great time with about 300 moms. One of our Bible teachers, Nehemias, shared an encouraging Bible message to finish the program. Here are some photos of our time with the Moms.

Starting out with a fun song with motions!