8 days and counting!

Wow, only two more days and we will be home. I have to admit I am ready! It has been a great trip but also long and tiring. God is awesome and we have been blessed. Pastors Charlie and Marissa leave tomorrow. As we speak they are climbing one of Guatemala’s active Volcanoes, Volcan Pacaya. That should be a wonderful adventure! It has been hard to keep the blog updated due to limited internet access. Now so much has gone on I am not sure where to start and what to say… Pastors Charlie and Marissa have been a blessing to everyone they have come across. There have been many one on one ministry sessions and God has healed, blessed and encouraged. Last night we went through breaking Generational Curses with a group of 4 couples who are leaders at the church we were working with. It went very well and also empowered them to do the same with others. A lot of what we have been doing is training at the church. They taught two Tuesday nights at the Leadership Institute at church, there were around 50 people each night. Thursday and Friday morning this past week they taught a group of 6 pastors in training. Marissa shared on God’s Love at the women’s meeting Saturday and all 60 women came forward for prayer! It took awhile but God ministered to each of them and many left freed! I have translated a lot and it is tiring but fun! On Friday morning while we were with the group teaching the Director of the school at the church brought a boy in that has Factor 8 disease, where his blood doesn’t clot and when he starts bleeding it just pours out and is very hard to stop. We prayed for him for about 30 minutes and it stopped bleeding completely! We believe he is healed, praise God! As I said before a lot has happened! Thank you all for your prayers, we have truly felt them! I will add some more pictures a little later. Blessings!

More Carolingia Pictures

More Mayan Ruin and Lake Pictures

Hola

Wow, I am sorry it has taken so long to update but we have been busy! God is wonderful and everything is going great! Pastor Charlie and Marissa have been such a blessing to us and the people here. They got here Monday night and we put them right to work teaching at the church institute on Tuesday. The teaching was incredible! I wish we had recorded it because it was something that really got us deep in our hearts. We spent several hours ministering to the people that were there, it was awesome! We had our women’s Bible study Wednesday and Marissa was a blessing. She came just in time since our subject that week was healing the wounds. We had a great time of refreshing! Thursday and Friday we went to Panajachel and Lake Atitlan. It is a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains and three volcanoes. We stopped at some Mayan ruins on our way. As we walked back a long the path we came unto a ceremony at one of the alters. It was creepy. We could “smell” it and feel it before we even got there. As we turned the corner we saw that they were burning sacrifices (chickens) and praying. There were about five older people kneeling praying and one woman who was the “priest” She was anointing a young man who was kneeling in front of the fire. We stood there and prayed for a minute and all of the sudden one of the men turned around and looked and his eyes were burning with anger. We leftJ I knew that there was an active alter there but in all the years we have gone we have never encountered a ceremony. I am glad God is alive and with us! Josiah asked what they were doing and we said they were praying to their gods and he said that was bad because there is only one true God! Amen. The drive to Panajachel is a stressful one. The roads are narrow and the sides drop off the mountains. It is scary but as you approach the lake and see how beautiful it is, the trip is worth it! We stayed at a very nice hotel which is a switch for us. It was relaxing! We went on a boat ride across the lake and visited the hot springs. Everyone got to swim except me. But it was fun to watch. We shopped til we dropped and ate well. It was great! We went to Carolingia Saturday to minister to the kids. It was neat. We had time to minister to those that work with the kids every week. Pastor Charlie preached a little and then we prayed. It was great. Yesterday we took part of the day off and slept in, it was wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went to minister to a missionary lady who had broke her back and a few ribs about 4 months ago. It was a sweet time with God. Today everyone but me went to the coffee farm and museum. I stayed and rested a little, I needed it desperately! All in all we are well, having a great time serving our loving Father! Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We are blessed to have so many wonderful friends. Blessings! Enjoy the pictures!

Sunday Service

Mayan Ruins and Lake 2

Mayan Ruins and the Lake

I know it has been a while and I am sorry. We have been so busy! God is awesome and so much is going on. Last week my sister's brother-in-law and my 6 year old nephew accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. It was awesome! We had such a great time celebrating. Moises has lived with them for a few years and goes to church with them sometimes but whenever he was asked about asking Jesus into his heart he said he felt weird and wasn't sure. I got to talk to him a few days before he made the desicion and I walked him through the scriptures and answered his questions. Then on Friday night he asked me if we could pray during dinner when everyone was there. After he prayed my nephew Ezekiel said he wanted Jesus in his heart too. It was great!!!! Praise God! Pastors Charlie and Marissa came in yesterday from Jacksonville. Today we start two very busy weeks of ministry. Please keep us in your prayers! We are very excited about what God has told us and what He is doing. We love and miss you all! I will send picutures soon. Blessings!

Goats,pigs and kids. What a day!

This morning as we were going into town we saw a man walking with three goats. He was selling very fresh goat milk! People would stop him and he would milk one of the goats right into a cup, it was cool! We didn’t have the camera or we would have taken a picture. `Then we were driving along and in front of us was a pickup and all of a sudden a piglet came flying over the edge and was hanging from a rope. They stopped to put him back in but he was squealing so much. It was quiet a sight. Becca wanted to rescue him but we decided not to. Then we went to the market to teach at the Kids Club for Christ. There were about 20 kids in the 10am class. Becca told the story of Noah and the Ark and then the kids drew their own arks and then we gave them animal stickers to put on them. There were 25 kids in the 11am class. It was fun. We then loaded up the car and drove 45minutes to Guatemala city where Becca, the boys and I were meeting Luis to go to Carolingia to work with the kids there. There were 98 kids! It was fun, loud and lots of work but worth it! Many of the kids asked about Ux and Novella who came with us two years ago. It is fun to see how much they have grown both physically and spiritually. We are excited to be a part of that ministry and look forward to helping them start the feeding program. Now we are at my mother-in-laws house. We will return to Antigua tomorrow. Thank you all for your prayers and support! God is moving awesomely and He has revealed himself to us in wonderful ways! Enjoy the pictures!

seatbelts, wet roads and mud slides

I find it very interesting that we are so comfortable here not wearing seatbelts. It is not a law, most cars don't have them and therefore we don't use them. The streets are full of huge pot holes, high speed bumps, crazy drivers and now with rainy season, fast flowing "rivers" and mud slides. Danger is around every corner and some two lane roads are only wide enough for one car (yes, it is fun). Added to the mix are all of the bike riders, walkers, motorcycles and tuk-tuks (little vehicles that are used for taxies, they look like a motorcycle with a cover). The streets are very busy, very alive with people and vehicles. It is fun to watch what goes on. It amazes me (and reminds me to be grateful for my car), when I see so many people walking miles, and miles in the rain to work or church. Cars fly by splashing them without any remorse. Fathers with three children and their wife on old motorcycles, what a sight! We saw one family on their way to church Sunday, it was a husband and wife with four kids, the youngest a tiny baby wrapped around the mother all on a tiny motorcycle. Not only did this look completely unsafe but I know they didn't get to church dry. These are all things I have noticed this trip. Why, I have no idea. But I do know that I am blessed. I am grateful for what God has given me and I repent for ever taking anything for granted. I thank Him for all that He has blessed us with, especially friends like you and your prayers!!!!

Faith

I am learning a lot about faith. I was given a bookmark that says "Faith is knowing God can even when He doesn't". Wow, that is so true. So many times we get discouraged because our prayers aren't answered the way we want them to be, or because we pray for people and don't see what we want to see happen. This tugs on our faith. Do we still believe He can even when He doesn't? I know at times it is harder than others but He is faithful and only He knows why He does things the way He does.

Things here are good. It is cold and rainy, we are a little homesick, but we are having fun and everyone is healthy! Thank you for your continued prayers! We appreciated you all! Blessings!