Hey everyone,

We (God) did it! I have officially reached my fundraising goal, my mind is blown, and my trip is now fully funded. And to think that I doubted the Author of Eternity. Thank you all so much for your support. Any additional donations I receive will go toward the rest of the team. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as our departure date slowly but surely draws nearer.

Brian Whippo

Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Praise Him, all creatures here below

Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Hey friends,


I will use this blog to keep you all updated on my mission in Guatemala. We fly out on May 23, and I am counting down the days (and also frantically wishing for more time to prepare). I pray that through this blog, you will behold the miraculous work God is doing though the Achi people of Guatemala as His glory is being spread broader and deeper. 


This is my first post, and since I don't yet have much to say about Guatemala yet (seeing as I won't get there for another month), I figured I'd take this opportunity to give you a glimpse of what my time in Ukraine looked like last summer. The following is a "snapshot" testimony of God's work in a small village outside of Odessa, Ukraine called Petradolina, where we held an english bible camp through an organization called East European Missions Network. Before leaving Ukraine, we were asked to write about an experience we had at the camp. This is what I wrote:


"I led the worship through song during the music rotation at the camp. Before I even left for Ukraine I had the idea to try to learn something to sing in Russian, just to surprise the kids. In my naivety, I had no idea how difficult that would be. My wonderful translator, Tanya, helped me learn to sing the chorus of "Jesus Loves Me" in Russian. We sang the song all week, but I saved the surprise of singing it in Russian until Friday. That Friday, when we started singing the song for the very last time at the camp, I got just about as nervous as I've ever been as I realized that I was about to sing in a language that I had never learned more than a few words of, in front of a crowd of not only kids who spoke that language, but a dozen or so translators who were fluent in both English and Russian. "How stupid am I going to sound?" I thought. My girlfriend Rachel who was singing with me on stage, looked over at me every chorus with a look that screamed "Why aren't you singing the Russian version?!?!" It wasn't until the last chorus that the Holy Spirit provided me the kick-in-the-butt I needed to sing it in Russian, but when I did, you should have seen the smiles that swept across the faces of those children. So worth it. They started singing along louder than I had heard them sing all week. It is quite the experience to hear over 100 children who had perhaps heard the Gospel for the first time that week singing "Yes! Jesus loves me!" in their own language, fully understanding what they were singing, and belting it out as loud as they could. Praise God."


The trip as a whole was a powerful testimony to God's grace. I'm stoked to get down to Guatemala and see what God is doing there too. Please pray for my team and I. I'll try to keep you all updated as much as possible. 
Grace and peace,
Brian Whippo