A Story from Guatemala

One question we often get when we talk to potential supporters is: "Does Hungry for Life only feed people?"

Honestly, it's a perfectly understandable question. We usually chuckle and proceed to explain in depth the enormous capacity in which Hungry for Life Partners with ministries across the world to reach those in need - not just with physical needs being met, but in telling them about the Gospel: That Christ died for them in their darkest hour so that they might have life eternally with him, based on nothing they did for him, but only out of his grace.

I was trying to think of a way to adequately write about what Hungry for Life does without being boring, so I decided that the best way was to simply tell you the stories that I know and have experienced from working with this organization.

I am going to start with one from Guatemala.

Hungry for Life has a partnership with a church in Guatemala called Iglesia Galilea. This church has, for over a decade, been building houses, new cook stoves, churches and schools for their community in Guatemala. Hungry for Life has partnered with them to get them more resources and teams to travel down there to make more of this possible.

Zak's first trip with HFL in 2012 was with this field partner. When he got back, we immediately discussed what it would look like for me to join him the next time it was possible. In 2013, we had that opportunity.

We worked on a lot of projects while we were there, but there is one that always sticks out in my mind. It is of a family in a village called Zapote. You wouldn't know there were over 4,000 residents in this village because of the overgrowth of jungle and the 10 mile dirt road leading up to the village that is more primitive than even the seasonal roads in northern Michigan where I grew up.

For two days, we drove down that dirt road piled into a van, crossing rivers and praying the rain would hold off long enough for us to do the work we had come to do.

The work we were doing was rebuilding a house for a family - A grandmother, a mother and two children. There was no husband or father that we met - which meant he was most likely gone for good or he worked in town most days of the week and didn't have time or money to travel back and forth each day down the ten mile road to see his family until the weekend.

Our job was to tear down this family's original dilapidated structure of a house and in it's place, build one that was more structurally sound. Their original house had holes everywhere. Inside there was a corner full of dirt and bug-covered clutter that represented all of their possessions. There was a mattress set in the middle of the dirt floor with a couple ratty blankets on it.

The women watched in silence as we began to clear all their belongings out of their house and take apart the roof and then the walls. While one of the workers was taking boards down, a snake fell from the roof and brushed his shoulder as it slithered to the ground. They killed it and then later when they told the mother about it, she cried with joy. The snake was a Jumping Viper and had crawled into their house over a year ago. They turned their house upside down trying to find it without success, which meant that they just lived in fear and didn't sleep when it rained for fear that the snake would climb into bed with them.

The children of the village came to us for "dulces" (candy) and to take pictures with our phones and teach us words in Spanish. The neighbors watched the "gringos" as we worked and often asked questions about what we were doing. I always thought it was the greatest thing was when the pastor of the church in Zapote could answer them by telling them it was a gift, just like salvation. They hadn't done anything to earn it and there was nothing that was required to pay back for the gift. It was simply a gift.

When we finished the house, Zak and I were asked to give the women the key to their new house. It was so much less than what we wanted to give them - just a glorified shack with two by four's holding it up and sheets of laminate metal for siding. There was no fancy welcome sign, no white picket fence, no security system. Just a padlock with a chain around a plywood door. But even that small thing - something that only costs a couple hundred U.S. dollars - was more than they could have ever hoped for in this life. And we were granted the opportunity to hand them the key to their new house.

Zak was choking back tears as they gave us each a hug. Afterwards, he told me that he was so overwhelmed with their gratitude and their poverty. Without Christ, this family had absolutely nothing to live for. No reward in this life or the next. No weekends. No vacations. Just the prayer that illness wouldn't fall upon them and take their lives or the lives of their children.

So maybe I wish I could have given them something more material...but the hope of Christ, as immaterial as it may be, is so much more valuable to them than anything we could ever build.

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This is just one of many stories I hope to share about what God is doing through Hungry for Life. If you are interested in partnering with us prayerfully or financially, please contact Zak at zak.harris@hlfusa.org or go to our Support Website: zakharris.org. Thank you all and be blessed!

Our Hungry for Life Anniversary

September marks the One Year Anniversary of Zak working with Hungry for Life. It's hard to believe that it has already been a year since Zak was able to start working with HFL.
It's amazing how time flies...especially when there is so much joy in the work that you are doing.

When Zak and I got married almost 4 years ago, he was working for a company called Backcountry.com. Most of you probably have heard of it, and if not, you have probably saved a lot of money - heaven knows we would have! HA! Zak never intended for Backcountry to be the end of the career road for himself, but it's hard to imagine doing what you're passionate about if you don't know how to get there....especially when that passion doesn't come with a large paycheck.

Most people can do a job, work everyday, not necessarily enjoy what they do and just get on with life. My dad is like that. He will tell you, his passion is not embroidery - but embroidery is what pays the bills.

Unfortunately (or fortunately? I haven't quite decided yet...) my husband is not that way. If he is not passionate about something, he has a hard time motivating himself to do it. On the flip side, if he is passionate, you will have a hard time motivating him not to do it.

Since Zak started working part time with Hungry for Life a year ago this month, I have seen a light in him that I wasn't sure existed. After so many years of seeing him discouraged at Backcountry, I just didn't know if he was just an unenthusiastic kind of guy....but I have found quite the opposite is true!

This first time he went on a trip with HFL, it was to Guatemala. He came home and his first words were, "I can't wait to take you there with me. I have to take you there with me." The following year, when he was asked to lead the trip as the HFL representative, he jumped on it without a second thought. He managed every detail with more care and attention than I even knew was possible. And every moment with Hungry for Life since then has been more of the same.

I went with him a couple of weeks ago to a Team Meeting - he will be leading a trip down to Haiti in January with Alpine Church - and I sat in awe as he strategically and confidently moved through the material with the team.

I watch him diligently at his computer every week, hour after hour, mapping out projects, emailing field partners and faculty, getting his questions answered and learning to do his job to the absolute best of his ability. I see him calling people and trying to make appointments so that we can raise our support and do more with Hungry for Life.

But the thing I love the most, is that I see joy and passion and hope in what he is doing. I see that his diligence does not come from duty, but from a belief that every word he types, every project he organizes, is not only meeting the needs of people around the world, but it is spreading the light of Christ to the nations.

I am so blessed to be married to a man so passionate about Christ. I am blessed to be able to see the amazing things Hungry for Life does around the world. And I have the priveledge to be a part of it.

Happy One Year Anniversary, HFL. Here is to, God-willing, many many more!

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If you are interested in hearing more about Hungry for Life or how to support us prayerfully or financially, please email me at tracylynnharris86@gmail.com or Zak at zak.harris@hflusa.org or visit our website: www.zakharris.org

"...for we walk by faith, not by sight."

Today, I felt compelled to start a new blog. One that allows me to write about the journey Zak and I are on with Hungry for Life, raising support, growing our family and how God is working on us and in us. Most of the time it isn't easy, but God has been faithful and as we look back, we can see his provision in our lives. Hopefully it will be encouraging to you, because I know now, as I write this first post, it will be encouraging to me.

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Right now, I feel as blind as a bat. I can see the future, I can see - potentially - what is going to happen, but there is nothing I can do about it and there is nothing that I can do to get myself where we need to be by then.

My theme verse for the last couple of weeks has been,

"We make our plans, but the Lord establishes our steps." 

Proverbs 16:9 

A little over a year and a half ago, Zak and I committed to raise support and go on staff with an organization called Hungry for Life, which we felt God clearly calling us to. Raising support has been a huge, exhausting, and beautifully humbling undertaking in which we are forced to talk with our closest friends and family - and also complete strangers - about what we are doing...and ask for the generosity of their own finances to support us in our calling. 

At the time, I was 3 months pregnant with our daughter, Noel, and we were both working other jobs. I told Zak that we should start praying that we could have at least part time support by the time our daughter was born. So we started praying and working.

My plan: We would work our tails off, raise support, have our baby, and my husband could start working with this organization doing something he is deeply passionate about. 

Fast forward to Noel's birth: Our support is barely over 30% for our part-time goal, in spite of every effort being made from both of us. My question was "This wasn't our plan. So how on earth is it going to work now?" 

God's answer: Faith. 

I have this little placard above our sink that I got at the dollar store a long time ago. It says, "Faith is seeing light with your heart when your eyes see only darkness." 

2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "...for we walk by faith and not by sight." The ESV Study Bible commentary says this about that verse: "This is not a reference to believing the unbelievable, but to living all one's life based on confident trust in God's promises for the future, even when one cannot yet see the fullness of the coming glory."

Having faith isn't always believing that the unbelievable is going to happen. It wasn't that when we only had 30% of our support raised that faith meant I had to believe that in two days God would raise the other 70%. (Although, I fully believe that God can do that if it is His will). Rather, faith is about confidently believing and trusting in the promises of God. It is about believing that God knows our needs and will provide for them because He is Jehovah-Jireh, The Lord Who Provides.

God doesn't promise that he will give us exactly what we ask for. But He does promise that we will have what we need. He does promise that what he does give us is for our good. It doesn't always happen in the exact way that we pray or plan, but we know we will be able to look back and say that He provided.

When I look back on the last year and a half, honestly, I see a lot of moments of disappointment, fear, discouragement. But I also see that I was never in need. I see that Satan was attacking me on all fronts, and I let him win and drive me to not trust in the promises of God. I allowed myself to doubt God's faithfulness - and yet he was faithful. 

I look at my single life - life before my husband, my daughter, my life in Salt Lake City. I had thousands of dollars in the bank. I could buy whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. But I acted like a pauper. I was so fearful of losing all that I had, that I rarely let any of it go.

I look at my life now - just over $100 in our savings account. Both working part time hours with part time incomes. Raising a baby - paying for a baby - we can't buy whatever we want and we rely on the generosity of others for our income...which I look at who I was 5 years ago, and I am ever more grateful for the generosity of those who support us. I am thankful that they don't think like I did and withhold from us, but rather give out of what they have so that we can do the work God has called us to.

Where I am standing right now, in this moment, a year and a half into this ministry and the lessons God has taught me, the moments of fear and doubt and chaos...they are far less than when I was single. I have far more confidence in God's promises now than I ever did then. I am much more confident in where I stand with $100 in my savings account than with $10,000. 

I think sometimes God's plan is less about getting us the material things we need, and more about getting us the faith we need to make it through this life. 

I am so thankful for Hungry for Life and the work that they do - and I am far more grateful that we get to be a part of it.