One.

Not everyone. Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.

Hold on, we will come back to that. So last Sunday, I was sitting in my sweet little church, Iglesia del Camino, writing in my journal that I wanted to start memorizing more scripture. It is so important in my opinion (2 Tim. 3:16) and I will be honest and say I haven't memorized a scripture since I graduated from ELCA in 2009. We had to memorize a verse every single week of the 10 years that I was there. I so took if for granted. Iglesia del Camino does this cool memory moment before each sermon where they ask anyone that wants to to stand up and quote the church-wide memory verse from the previous week. To see people stand up and do this from all over the globe, of all ages, english and spanish, boy and girl, man and woman, is absolutely precious. I immediately decided to take up the church challenge to memorize Galatians 6:9-10 for this week.

Monday, Katy and I went to Guatemala City for a doctors appointment but mainly for the purpose of hopefully hunting down some candy corn, or something close to that. (Y'all wouldn't believe the Walmart here.) Successful day as you can see. 

I spent all of Tuesday in the village doing some nutrition work and observing some of the families for an exciting project that I will share soon. Mid-morning I grew silent (not normal for me). The more I looked around, the more questions I asked, the more I learned from the families, the more overwhelmed and little I felt. I wanted to just close my eyes and ears and just cry. Obviously, I knew that the needs here were going to be overwhelming but I was slowly losing sight of a lesson learned in South Africa, "Do for one, what you wish you could do for everyone.". I went to help this family with nutrition needs because they don't have food. They don't have food because they don't have money. They don't have money because dad uses the money for alcohol or takes it for himself. Did I mention that they have 9 kids and 1 on the way? Dad claims that he cannot work because he has a hernia. I offer to take him to the hospital where I work to get him checked out but he says they probably won't find anything, it just hurts. Reality is, dad can't work because he has an alcohol problem. Dad is choosing alcohol over a starving pregnant wife and 9 children. Ok, so I think I have gotten to the root of the problem with dad's alcohol problem. Wrong. I started talking to dad in my broken spanish to find that he is simply overwhelmed and in too deep. He does not know a way out. He is stressed for more reasons than we can count or understand. The families living situation alone would be enough for someone to cling to whatever they knew, alcohol in his situation. Giving money is never a good idea, especially in this situation. Let's give them blankets and food. Oh wait, they have mud floors and really no where to cook food. They have a 3-room house the size of 1 room in America. They have 3 mattresses for a family of 11. Maybe we should place cement floors in their barely-standing, boarded home? After that, we can re-build their home to keep the day heat and night cold out. Ok, think we are finally at the root. Oh wait, they don't own the land. Spending money on a house would be no help because it could be taken from them at any second. They owe 55,000 Quetzals so that they can own the land, which is about $6,790 US dollars. This is quite impossible even for the average way of life here. My mind starts churning with ideas of somehow paying off their land and building them a house which is possible with $3,000 more dollars. But wait, then I go meet the family next door to realize that they have a similar situation. And the next, and the next and the next and it never ends. It is in the village next door. It is throughout Guatemala and the countries surrounding. It is in America. It is all over the globe. That is where my mind was on my bus ride home. So I think, ok I really shouldn't help the first family because I do not even have enough to help them, much less the family next door and next to them and the rest of the world in need. 

Are you overwhelmed yet? That actually was not my purpose for telling you all this. The point is, I took the number 6,790 and ran with it in every direction BUT the right one. To Jesus. Reality is, that number is NOTHING compared to what He is capable of. However, my mind was still going 90-to-nothin' so I decided to call Mama and Daddy to overwhelm them. It hit me. The only person that can understand this is the one that knows the purpose for all this, the Creator. This doesn't overwhelm Him one single bit. Now if that doesn't give you joy, I don't know what will. So I got ready for bed and decided that I should look at Galatians 6:9-10 considering I had to memorize it for this Sunday and hadn't looked at it once. Just take a second to look it up. I want to you to see if for yourself. How BIG can He be y'all? How perfect. How fitting. How divine. How sweet. I could go on. As if that wasn't enough, I came across THIS. Don't have a clue who these people are but thank you. Amen. Matthew 25 says "When you have done it unto the least of these my brothers and sisters, you have done it unto me." So I just kept seeing things like go, least of these, go and do likewise, be His hands and feet but it still wasn't 100% clear of who to help and where among this multitude of needs. I am clearly not the smartest crayon in the box because it took THIS to make me jump out of my bed (literally) at 11 p.m. and scream "I GET IT, GOD, I GET IT!" Thank you, Andy Stanley. Again, I say AMEN. I can only hope that you click both links. I know both will rock your world and it will make this a whole lot more clear than I can make it.

So who is my ONE? You guessed it. The family of 11, soon-to-be 12 next month. It is so evident that the Lord is point to this one for me. But I want to change that 'my' to 'our' because YES, I need y'alls help whether it is financially or prayerfully. The story Andy tells about Jane is where I lost it because if I think too much about what we are about to do, an overwhelming comes back. Why? Because I know that everything is not going to go perfectly smooth. While I continue to share Jesus with the family, I know they do not fully get it. I know they will get greedy at times. I am sure the father is going to choose alcohol multiple times through this process. I am sure we will find other needs within these needs but we cannot grow weary in doing good. Through y'all is how the Lord is going to make this happen. I just know it and I cannot wait to watch it happen. While I wish I could do this for everyone, I find JOY in doing for ONE and I hope you can to. Let's buy this land and build this house, friends. Come with me and let's be Jesus' hands and feet. Let's do it unto the least of these. Help me do it for this one. 

Pictures of their current home are in a separate blog below.

How to donate: So that y'all can get your tax refunds please make checks payable to FBC McDonough and 'Shelby Ausband's mission' for the memo. You can either mail them or drop them off at the address below or even drop them off at my house and my parents will get it to the church:

First Baptist Church of McDonough

101 Macon Street

McDonough, Georgia 30253

I cannot thank y'all who have already given, those praying and those praying about giving. Your generosity and encouragement blows my mind daily. To say it means the world to me is an understatement.

Joy in this one,

SA