Melanie Darter

The first time that our team touched down in Guatemala was 12 1/2 years ago. In 2008, our team consisted of only 4 people who joined another mission team that frequented Casa. Since our first trip we haven’t missed a year and have brought others with us to serve at Casa! Our largest team was 17 people.

Our group has evolved over the years to taking on more ‘responsibility’ as we have built relationships with the Casa team. One of our favorite memories is starting activities, which we called VBS, about 4 years ago. We created skits, lessons, sang songs, played silly games, and other activities to entertain but also make it fun and relevant for the children!

Each year our activities with the VBS grew, but each time returned to the states we knew we wanted to do more with the kids. We wanted to push the children deeper in their relationship with Christ.

This past year we had the honor of having a mother and daughter duo that were fluent in Spanish. Together they were able to reach the kids in a way nobody else on our team had been able to as they lead the lessons in Spanish. It was truly a blessing to watch them build relationships and see the children of Casa reach out to them.

Each visit we have witnessed God moving in our team and seen how he continues to move in the lives of the children at Casa. It is a greatest honor as a team to say Casa and the work they do to help children in Guatemala is a part of our story too.