This summer, I'll be traveling to Guatemala on my first overseas mission trip with my church Grace Church San Diego. I'm eagerly waiting to see how God might move in my life and others' lives during this time.

This will be my second time in this beautiful country. Our church recently sent one of our pastors and his family as long term missionaries for the next 2-3 years. They are serving with our ministry partner in Guatemala, Hope of Life. The goal of our trip is to come alongside our pastor’s family in serving with this incredible organization.

Hope of Life is a faith based organization with programs developed to meet the needs of marginalized people in Guatemala. They have a hospital that helps impoverished children from the mountain communities. Among other things, they also have an orphanage and foster home, a senior home and two programs for children with disabilities. This is their theory of change philosophy on how they approach their communities.

Hope of Life’s mission and vision statements are listed below so you can get a better understanding of what they do.

MISSION: We believe that the way in which we work with marginalized communities through the individualization of our programming, our training and communication, and the relationships we build, is just as important as the services we provide.

VISION: A Guatemala where all children and families live with dignity and are free from economic poverty and inequity. Our program seeks to transform generations from dependence to lasting independence, creating strong leaders for the world and for the Kingdom of God.

WEBSITE: https://www.hopeoflifeintl.org/our-mission/

How You Can Help:

In order to make this mission trip a success, I am reaching out to my community for support through prayer and/or a financial donation. The total cost of this mission trip is $2,000. This includes travel expenses, supplies, and all other necessary costs. Your contribution will go directly toward my travel expenses, supplies and materials for projects we will be helping with and support for Hope of Life. No gift is too small, and every donation will have a lasting impact. I will be updating this GoFundMe page for transparency between donations through the church vs GoFundMe. Please check out the link below to see the impact your donation can have. https://www.hopeoflifeintl.org/impact/

There are two ways to donate:

RECOMMENDED: Grace SD church website (No Fees, especially if you want to use it as a tax write off): https://pushpay.com/g/missionsgivinggrace

-Select “Summer Guatemala Team ” under Fund

-Write my FULL name LIZ CHU under “Notes” and please let me know if you have donated

Through my Go Fund me page (fees apply): https://gofund.me/34e3b907

I am so excited for this opportunity of a lifetime - to be a small part of the work God is doing through Hope of Life in Guatemala! Please prayerfully consider supporting me financially or commit to praying for the team and our time there to be used for the glory of God.

Liz C