Well, we are finally home after a whirlwind of holiday travel. We left Waco on December 19th to head up to Dallas
for a couple of days with my parents and Katelyn. We had lot’s of laughs, celebrated a Christmas together (including the traditional reading of the Christmas story), and ate lot’s of good food. This is a picture of us at a phenomenal vegan restaurant in Dallas.
On December 21st we flew to North Carolina to spend Christmas with Heather’s mom, step-dad, and most of her siblings. This was a special year as well because Heather’s brother Nathan and his wife Cate welcomed Vera Isabella into the world in August. It was so much fun to have a baby around the house and we all had a blast spoiling her.
We had a wonderful week together celebrating Christmas, watching Christmas vacation, Parks and Recreation, and Modern Family, taking turns cooking meals (we have some talented cooks in the family!), going on walks on the beach, sharing our life stories, exploring the beautiful nature of North Carolina, and playing the classic back yard game of Corn Hole. We are blessed to have so many wonderful family members. The picture below is missing our sister in law Cate who was taking the picture.
We left North Carolina 
on December 28th and on December 30th we flew to Guatemala to be a part of the mission team from our church FBC Waco. Our church partners with the orphanage Fundacion Salvacion (http://www.fundacionsalvacion.net/index.php/P%C3%A1gina_Principal). This was a very difficult year for this trip because the day before our arrival, the founder, Sandra, was killed in a car accident. This was not only incredibly difficult for Sandra’s family but the entire orphanage including the staff and kids. Sandra was the heart and soul of the orphanage so this was a devastating loss.This was the 10th year FBC Waco has sent a team and many of the team members, including the team leaders were incredibly close to Sandra.
We welcome your prayers for the orphanage and their leadership as they try to figure out how to move forward in the coming year.
Yet, in the midst of heartbreak and brokenness, God was present and I believed used our team to help bring some stability in the midst of difficult circumstances. We spent lot’s of time with the 100+ kids playing games, teaching them bible stories, running a medical clinic, and much more. The picture to the right is of me and my little buddy Nelson Jose.
This trip was a unique experience for us because this was the first time in 6 or 7 years that Heather and I have been on a trip in which we were not the leaders. It was refreshing to just be able to participate and not have to be concerned with all that goes in to leading a team. It was also a unique experience because this trip is part of Heather’s Masters of Social Work research project.
Guatemala is a beautiful country with such wonderful people. The c
hildren of this orphanage were testaments of the amazing woman that Sandra was and her legacy lives on through them. I’ve never witnessed adults and children love each other so selflessly and the kids were the best behaved kids I’ve ever seen. In addition to the wonderful people we saw some absolutely incredible sites as well. This picture is at some Mayan ruins above 15 minutes from the orphanage. We took all the kids there, ordered pizza, flew kites, climbed the ruins, and played games. It was a pretty memorable day to say the least. If you’d like to see all of our pictures from Guatemala, click this link: http://chadmustain.shutterfly.com/
On Monday our spring semester begins. I addition to my seminary classes I will continue my extended unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (the course runs until the end of March) and I will be back on call at Hillcrest Hospital on Sunday nights. Heather will be working 40 hours a week at FBC Waco t0 complete her social work internship and she is excited about graduating with her Masters of Social Work in May.
We welcome your prayers as we embark on another busy semester.
Blessings,
Chad and Heather
