Short-Term Mission Trip 2011 *Guatemala*

Gateway Community Church

Casa Para Ninos Website

And we're off!  This summer we will head to Casa Aleluya Children's Home in San Bartolome Milpas Altas (outside of Guatemala City).  My church hosts this mission trip every year and is a great opportunity to sacrifice for others and experience a world outside of our comfort zones.  This year will be my 5th overseas mission trip with Gateway, and what an experience it has been!  This trip challenges your values and bring into focus things that seem to be blurred in life.  It's a time of hard work, fun and fellowship.

Every year we participate in different activities, it's always a surprise but we are up for the challenge!  Stay tuned for details and pictures from our trip. I will post them as soon as we return.  Pray for our team, there will be about 30 of us representing Gateway Community Church :)

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this trip ~

Our Guatemala 2011 Group :)

One of the Villages we visited at Lake Atitlan

Antigua

Streets of Antigua 

Lake Atitlan

Mountain View near Casa

Lake Atitlan

Antigua - View from our Rooftop

Here are some links to photo's our group has sent out:


Jonathan Miller's Photos (Our Professional Photographer)


Maria's Slideshow


Jocelyn's Pictures 


Charlie's Pictures

"May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouagement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."

~Thessalonians 2:16-17

Brittenford Philanthropy ~ Homeless Shelter Landscaping

My company, Brittenford Systems Inc., was recently involved in a landscaping project through Reston Interfaith at the Embry Rucker Homeless Shelter. I was looking for community projects for us to be involved in, so I contacted Susan Alger at Reston Interfaith which whom we work with to pack brown bag lunches for the homeless shelter once a month.  She came up with some great ideas for us, and and thought landscaping at the homeless shelter would be the best fit for our company.

To contact Susan call 571-323-1383 or check out their WEBSITE.

We were able to donate $250 as an organization to the shelter which bought them a dogwood tree, 8 perennials, mulch, a hose, gardening gloves and tools. We were able to plant all of these, weed, mulch and clean up the front entrance so you can see the sign from the street again.  All it takes are a few calls to reach out and start something like this with your company, organization, church, etc.  Susan was great to work with and really helpful in coordinating everything.

Below are pictures from our event :) and we were also mentioned in their Newsletter!! Click HERE to view!

Brittenford Systems Landscaping Crew 2011

Something was really interesting towards our left.....

Alicia & Linda cleanup crew :)

you want me to do what?!?

Kamlesh, Matt & Luis ~ Our expert tree planters

Kamlesh: "Luis hold on" hahaha

Whoa! Don't mess with Matt!

Planting the Memorial Tree 

After they were done planing....great job!

Stacy & Me planting flowers on the side of the shelter

Jeanne & Tracey de-weeding the front of the shelter!

Great job guys!

Master mulcher! 

Debi de-weeding and sprucing up the shelter's entrance sign

So pretty!

Linda & Alicia workin hard!

Shereen cleaning up our mess!

Ken doing the same! 

Not bad for a hard day's work!

I have no idea what this was for....but it was easy!

Debi telling me not to quit my day job haha

Kamlesh, Luis & Matt

Stacy planting flowers :)

Warren hard at work!

Sooooo much better thanks everyone!!

Stop Hunger Now ~ Hosted by Brittenford Systems & First VA Community Bank

Brittenford Systems, First Virginia Community Bank & Reston Association have joined forces to host their first Stop Hunger Now Food Packaging event!! 

Below is a flyer I made for the event with all of the details....feel free to distribute, and click HERE to sign up via Facebook!

To donate online visit our Online Webpage

What is Stop Hunger Now?

Stop Hunger Now is an international hunger relief organization that coordinates the distribution of food and other life-saving aid around the world. The organization is driven by a mission to end hunger in our lifetime by providing food and life-saving aid to the world's most vulnerable and by creating a global commitment to mobilize the necessary resources. 

What will we be doing?

Stop Hunger Now’s meal packaging program provides volunteers the opportunity to package dehydrated, high protein, and highly nutritious meals that are used in crisis situations and in school feeding programs for schools and orphanages in developing countries around the world. We'll be packaging food to be distributed to hungry people in third world countries.

Click *HERE* to watch a video explaining what we will be doing at this event.

What does each meal contain?

Stop Hunger Now meals pack a big punch. Each meal contains 6 servings! Every dehydrated rice/soy meal is fortified with 21 essential vitamins and nutrients. Research has shown that one in three people in developing countries are adversely affected by vitamin and mineral deficiencies. 

Meal Preparation Instructions (We will not be doing this but it's nice to know how the meals will be prepared)

For more information about Stop Hunger Now visit their website www.stophungernow.org