Big trucks are barreling down the road pouring out a river of black exhaust and motorcycles buzz around them on the four lane highway to Antigua. This is my view from the first row of the van we are currently riding in. Although we are leaving Guatemala I'm still thinking about our work in the landfill and the mystery man who is now in the van with us. The day started off like any other with breakfast at Seteca then heading over to the lot for material gathering. We head off to the landfill to finish the house from yesterday but team # 1 soon finds out that there was an incident the night before at the house they were reroofing. The policia were there and sorting out a situation between the homes owner and neighbor who was unhappy she wasn't having her home improved. So we had to move on to install stoves at other locations. My team begins work today with the help of the mystery man. The mystery person just appeared yesterday at the opposite end of a load a aluminum siding I was carrying. Upon questioning why he was here helping I became extremely confused from his answers. I inquired if he worked for pastor Saul's church to which he answered "no". I asked if he knew the family and he said "no". So the mystery man saw the dumbfound look on my face and simply said "I do this for the same reason you do it, because I love Jesus". I was stunned. This mystery man was working to help the people of the landfill for no other reason except he loved Jesus with all his heart and that he wanted to serve his neighbor. However the story doesn't end there. The mystery man stopped carrying aluminum for a minute to tell me more. His name is Jóse. He is 22 years old and spent most of his life in an orphanage. His mother left him and his father beat him. One day he ran away from his fathers beating so the next time his father tied him up by his foot and beat him severely. The neighbor called the cops when they heard the beating and they came and took Jóse to the orphanage. He never saw his parents again. He now lives with his girlfriends parents in the landfill. This is a man who wasn't raised by a good family nor has hardly any worldly possessions. Yet in his on words, has overcome everything through his relationship with Jesus. Jóse told me that it was through meeting and helping American missionaries that he meet Jesus and stay on the narrow path that God requires. Jose is a perfect example of how God loves things that are lost. God loves us all if we will just seek him first. Jóse being inspired and mentored by missionaries is an example of why Going to All the Nations as Jesus commanded is not optional. I've been blessed by Jóse and everybody in Guatemala this week. I look forward to what tomorrow holds.
Matthew 9:37&38
Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few;38 Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
"God values things that are lost"
David Waldrip
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Interceding
Lynn began our day by sharing with us about
Moses. The scripture was from Exodus
33:11, and it says that Moses would go into the Tent of Meeting where the Lord
would share with Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend. Lynn went on to share how Moses interceded on
behalf of the Israelites after they had angered God. Moses asked God to continue to go with them
on their journey as they could not proceed without God. God heard Moses and answered. Today, Jesus is always with us and we all (as
believers) can talk with Him and know that He hears and answers. That is so powerful to know and believe that
God hears our every prayer as we intercede for others. As I was praying for a lady this week, God
heavily impressed upon my heart that He was changing lives. He told me that He has not brought us this
far with all the prayer and preparations poured into this ministry for Him not
to change lives miraculously. We see Him
working and bringing ladies in for prayer to hear from the Lord, have an
encounter with him, and hear truth.
Through sickness, there are women coming to know the Lord and/or change
their lives for His glory. God uses what some see as bad to bring about good. It is so very
humbling to be here experiencing and witnessing the work of our Lord and
Savior. Today, we had a woman and her
mother come into the clinic who know of Jesus, but are not ready to commit
their lives to Him. The daughter was late
for work and her boss would not let her stay there so she came to our clinic
instead. Lynn told her boldly that she was right where
God wanted her today, and that the reason she could not work was because she
had an appointment with Jesus! Her
husband has been praying for her to accept Christ and sharing with her. Please join us in prayer that she and her
mother will choose Jesus. This is just
one of many stories where we see that God has been working and where He is
using us as one of the links in chain to bring people to the fullness of
Christ. Our bible study with the women
this afternoon focused on how we are to live for Christ from Ephesians 4. God tells us to grow up in Him and not remain
as children who can be tossed to and fro.
We must study and learn His word so that our light can shine brightly
for Him. Thank you for faithfully
praying and following along on this journey.
Janet Roland
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Construction Trip Day Three
Man, it gets bright here early in Guatemala. A little correction from yesterday's sunrise time. The sun is actually in full at 500am, not 600am. I could probably become a morning person pretty easy in Guatemala. We have had breakfast and will head out to the school "Rayitos de Esperanza" here in a minute to visit the children. After that we will spend our day in the landfill helping with peoples housing and sharing the message of God's redemption. The children here are so precious. Last night at the coffee and bean service at the landfill, I saw a mom named Sandra and her son. I have known this family for years. And they are always so gracious to go out of their way to greet our teams. The little boy is five and wanted me carry him the whole night at the service. I found myself so broken wondering about the future care of this child who lives in a landfill. I wonder what will become of his life. My hope and prayer is for him and his families' salvation. And if he so chooses, will have other options with his life. Possibly finishing school, maybe college, maybe a ministry pursuit as a Christ follower. The Lord knows! Our job is to pray for his spiritual and physical well being.
Once we got into the landfill our work was finishing the projects we started the day before. One of our teams went back to finish the work at Ingrid's house. Their basic plan was to finish a front door for her home. She was so grateful for the repairs and her new door. As the door was finished we shared with her again, picking up conversation from the previous day. We asked her if she wanted to hear a story about a door in the Bible...she responded curiously, yes! One of the team members shared a verse from Revelation 3:20. She was asked if she wanted to let Jesus into her life...she responded yes. We were so blown away, and so grateful for her response. This is the same Ingrid that we prayed for yesterday to be saved...thank you so much for your prayers for this family.
We are seeing such an opening to share the Gospel this year with all the families we are working with...please continue your prayers. Pray specifically for Velma and a worker at the school named Salvador. Salvador actually went to church with us tonight and he has so many questions.
In closing we are so grateful to be here in Guatemala, and the teams are working so hard through different types of ministry efforts, but the same goal in mind, to bring Glory to God. Thank you for your prayers and support.
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3:22-24 ESV)
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20 ESV)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Once we got into the landfill our work was finishing the projects we started the day before. One of our teams went back to finish the work at Ingrid's house. Their basic plan was to finish a front door for her home. She was so grateful for the repairs and her new door. As the door was finished we shared with her again, picking up conversation from the previous day. We asked her if she wanted to hear a story about a door in the Bible...she responded curiously, yes! One of the team members shared a verse from Revelation 3:20. She was asked if she wanted to let Jesus into her life...she responded yes. We were so blown away, and so grateful for her response. This is the same Ingrid that we prayed for yesterday to be saved...thank you so much for your prayers for this family.
We are seeing such an opening to share the Gospel this year with all the families we are working with...please continue your prayers. Pray specifically for Velma and a worker at the school named Salvador. Salvador actually went to church with us tonight and he has so many questions.
In closing we are so grateful to be here in Guatemala, and the teams are working so hard through different types of ministry efforts, but the same goal in mind, to bring Glory to God. Thank you for your prayers and support.
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3:22-24 ESV)
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20 ESV)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Adopted by The King
In today's small group session at the women's Bible study, God showed up again (imagine that). Our study had been from Ephesians 1 & 2, focusing on how God prechose us and adopted us as His very own children. In closing prayer, we had asked everyone to confess to God anything that was holding us back from being fully secure in Him, from fully trusting Him. After the session was over, one of our young ladies asked if I would stay and talk with her. She told me she had been living with a man who was not her husband for many years, and had two children with him. This February he left her, and actually did marry another woman. She is hurt by this, of course, and was ashamed to pray in front of the others. She felt she could never be of any use to God because of what she had done. My heart breaks for her, but at the same time I'm joyful that she is now free to truly KNOW her Lord and Savior.
Amazingly, our team members have been especially alerted to this very situation in this community. In Guatemala, many people will refer to someone as their husband or wife, even though they aren't married. They've even come up with a term for it, to make themselves feel better. They say they are "united" but it's nothing more than what we call "living together" in the U.S. No matter what you call it, it's not marriage, and it's choosing to live outside of God's will. It will be a constant stumbling block in their relationship with Jesus, as long as they continue to make excuses for it. They won't be able to experience the fullness of life in Christ with that wall between them.
So the fact that this sweet young woman came forward today for that very confession was a confirmation that indeed these women and this community are capable of change. Our goal this week is to help them learn to trust in Jesus instead of clinging to an undevoted, abusive, man who is typically addicted to something or other. Even though that man is spending everything he makes on glue to sniff or alcohol to drink, then coming home and abusing both her and their children, and has never committed to marry her, she thinks so little of herself that she will beg him to stay. She must feel very unlovable to put up with that.
Please pray that the women in this study will come to truly believe that they are "God's workmanship" (Eph. 2:10) and are "adopted as his children in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 1:5). Daughters of The King are not worthless tokens to be thrown away, nor would such a King leave his own precious daughters to fend for themselves. Just as I sometimes do in my own life, these women would do better to take God at His word, to trust in Him more, rather than trying to fix things their own way. Their way is very broken; it only makes things worse. This entire community could be brought to another level if the women will just stand on the truth of God's Word.
Humbled and joyful,
Dawn
Amazingly, our team members have been especially alerted to this very situation in this community. In Guatemala, many people will refer to someone as their husband or wife, even though they aren't married. They've even come up with a term for it, to make themselves feel better. They say they are "united" but it's nothing more than what we call "living together" in the U.S. No matter what you call it, it's not marriage, and it's choosing to live outside of God's will. It will be a constant stumbling block in their relationship with Jesus, as long as they continue to make excuses for it. They won't be able to experience the fullness of life in Christ with that wall between them.
So the fact that this sweet young woman came forward today for that very confession was a confirmation that indeed these women and this community are capable of change. Our goal this week is to help them learn to trust in Jesus instead of clinging to an undevoted, abusive, man who is typically addicted to something or other. Even though that man is spending everything he makes on glue to sniff or alcohol to drink, then coming home and abusing both her and their children, and has never committed to marry her, she thinks so little of herself that she will beg him to stay. She must feel very unlovable to put up with that.
Please pray that the women in this study will come to truly believe that they are "God's workmanship" (Eph. 2:10) and are "adopted as his children in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 1:5). Daughters of The King are not worthless tokens to be thrown away, nor would such a King leave his own precious daughters to fend for themselves. Just as I sometimes do in my own life, these women would do better to take God at His word, to trust in Him more, rather than trying to fix things their own way. Their way is very broken; it only makes things worse. This entire community could be brought to another level if the women will just stand on the truth of God's Word.
Humbled and joyful,
Dawn
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
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