Dedication Day

Wow!  Once again, it is hard to put into words what we experienced today!  After hanging the doors, putting the roofs on and painting the inside of the houses – we asked each family if they had any special pictures or verse they wanted painted on their wall.  Two of the families wanted verses 1-3 of Psalm 23 and three of the families wanted Winnie the Pooh (and friends)!

When painting was all done and our house were all cleaned inside and out – we began dedications.  The team who had built the house went inside the house with their family, presented gifts that we had bought/brought for them,  Dan told a little story to help turn the conversation spiritual,  Hermano Jesus gave a short message and then individually asked each family member if they wanted to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.  The whole family and team members recited the Salvation prayer and then there were hugs all around and many tears of joy as we welcomed them into God’s family!

The remaining team members stayed outside and prayed, sang, read scripture and lifted the family and team members inside up to God.  In the first two houses, most everyone accepted Jesus right away.  There was a single mom who was really struggling so the team focused all their praying on her and layed hands all around the house.  After a few minutes – Dan came outside and told us that she had asked Jesus into her heart!  Praise God!!

The second house, we began praying for the team and family inside and soon one of the team members came out and told us that we needed to pray for the heat to go away because the woman inside was very uncomfortable.  So, we all focused our prayers on asking God to move the sun behind a cloud, send a cool breeze and cool the woman internally.  Within a few minutes – the sun disappeared, a rather strong breeze blew through and the woman stopped sweating immediately!  Amazing God!! 

The third house – we soon learned was going to be the most difficult dedication.  The father in this house – had many issues that he was dealing with.  Outside, the team was faced with many distractions.  It began raining very hard which made it next to impossible for us to hear anything under the tin roof  and the kids around us were being very noisy.  We prayed and prayed and prayed for the young father, fought against all the distractions Satan was sending to us – and in the end, God once again proved that He is GREATER and STRONGER than any other thing!

The family in the fourth house were already believers, however, they had not personally accepted Jesus as their Savior.  But, Hermano Jesus individually asked each one of them if they wanted Jesus in their heart and they all said yes.  The mom wasn’t quite sure at first – but after a few minutes she said ”yes.” Hallelujah!!

Before we left, we all gathered at one of the villagers house, and the children sang some songs for us.  It was so amazing!  Then, one of the ladies got very emotional and said a blessing over us.  She expressed her sincere gratitude for all we had done during our three days there.  She recognized the sacrifices we had made to come there and then her final words were:  “We don’t say goodbye here, we say we will see you later.  And, if we don’t see each other here on earth, we will see each other in heaven!”  What a terribly moving moment for us all!  It was very hard to say goodbye – there were many tears and hugs but what an incredible thing to know that we truly will spend eternity with these “new brothers and sisters!”  OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!!!!!

Leg Picture

Thought you might like to know whose leg was whose in the picture.  Julie is top left, Austin Headley is bottom left, Joe Gruppen is top right and Jake Horstman is bottom right.  Yes, we did have two more minor injuries!

Building Day #2

We woke up to the sun today- yeah!  We were on the road by 6:30 again, ready to go!  Our jobs for the day included:  sanding, second coat mud, making windows, putting on a padio and the teams favorite task – stucco!  We got all the houses stuccoed (sp?) by 10:30am and had 2 padios and 2 windows in by lunch. 

After lunch, we finished the 2 other padios and put a window in the 2 remaining houses.  Then, we had about 45 minutes to walk around the village.  Billy really wanted a coconut and was determined to either find someone to climb up a tree or climb up and get one himself!  After several attempts by several guys – it was decided that we needed to find one of the village kids to do it.  A boy excitedly volunteered and in no time – we had coconuts falling out of the tree left and right! 

On our walk back to the vans we were shown where pineapples grow, given bananas, limes/lemons freshly picked off trees.  We headed back to the base where Dominoes pizza, pop, a chocolate cake (in honor of Billy’s birthday) and much needed showers were waiting.

Devotions tonight were preparing us for the house dedications tomorrow.   Dan challenged us with the question:  Are we working FOR Christ or WITH Chirst? 

Please, be in prayer for us and our Guatemalan families as we dedicate their homes and present Christ!

Building Day #1

We woke up at 5:30 this morning, had breakfast, personal devotions and then all in the vans by 6:30.  It was about an 1.5 hour drive to our building sites.   Dan told us that today would be by far our hardest day – and he doesn’t lie!  We had to make our frames for our walls, put them in place, cut and hang drywall, put cement board up on the outside and then put up drywall mud on the inside.  It rained quite steady the first part of the morning – but we all  kept right on working!  We took a break for lunch which consisted of homemade tortillas, black beans and rice.  It may not have been some of the teams first choice for a meal – but we were so hungry that anything sounded good!  We headed back to our homes and we noticed that it was getting a little brighter and the rain was letting up.  God is good!!!  We were able to finish everything that needed to get done that day and stay on schedule! 

Almost every team member could find some type of cut, scrape or blister on their hands and only two had somewhat major injuries.  Jake Horstman and Julie Cole both cut their leg on a piece of incredibly sharp tin roofing.  Dan cleaned them up right away and applied the necessary first aid to get them home where they were examined more thoroughly.  Jake needed a couple butterfly bandages and Julie needed 6 stiches. 

Please pray specifically for us today that – there are no more injuries and that the rain stays away!

Enjoy the pictures!  They will better show you about our experience!

Med Clinic #2 continued

When the people were starting to come forward, a group of men and highschool boys stayed in the back.  Some of our guys noticed this and asked them if they wanted to go up – and they did!  We had enough Bibles to give one to every person – along with a genuine, “welcome to God’s family” hug!  And, they hugged us right back! 

Then Dan called us all up to the front because they were going to ask if there was anyone in the crowd who wanted to have hands layed on them and prayers for healing.  Almost 10 people came up!  It was truly a night that we will all NEVER forget!

Med Clinic #2

Wow! What a night!  Words cannot express the experience we had in our second village – but we will try.  INCREDIBLE, AMAZING, POWERFUL, AWESOME, JOYFUL!  We ministered to a village of 11 families and a village of 19 families.  Our clinic was held inthe schoolof the larger village.  These people were much more needy but also more hungry for God – as we soon discovered!  After watching the Jesus film, singing, listening to Hermano Jesus – the invitation to say the Salvation prayer was given and everyone in that small school room fell down on their knees!  There were tears from Guatemalans and our team as we witnessed young and old being forever changed for eternity! 

We then did something that Dan doesn’t do very often with teams – but he was so moved by how the Holy Spirit was moving that he had Hermano Jesus invite people up to be prayed over.  That was something we will never forget! 

We will share more about this night tomorrow as well as a report of our first building day – but we need to get to bed.  We will be waking up at 5:30 in the morning! 

*more pictures will be posted also!*

Med Clinic #1

Yesterday afternoon we loaded up the vans and began our 2.5 hour trip to our first village.  The first 1.5 hours we were on paved roads  but then, all drastically changed!!  The road quickly changed to dirt, rocks, sand and VERY bumpy – tight turns all the way up the mountains and tight turns on the ridge a mountain and tight turns down the mountain!  But our van drivers – of which Coach is one of them – manuevered them like a pro!  The views along the way were spectacular and we saw God everywhere we looked! 

We set up our med clinic in the village school and there was a basketball/soccer court where we spent time interacting with the kids.  There were so many people there just sitting on the steps watching us play with the kids!  It took a while for the kids to leave their parents and come down by us – but slowly they did and began coloring with us, drawing with sidewalk chalk, playing frisbee, soccer, basketball and jumping rope.  We tried to teach them how to hopscotch and played a long game of “duck, duck, goose.”

350 people past through the clinic with various needs.  After the clinic was finished, the team had a quick supper and then went out into the crowd while they watched the Jesus film.  When the film was done it started to rain – alot!  We sang a couple songs, a few of us shared testimonies, and then PB’s Guatemalan pastor, Hermono Jesus, gave a sermon and then invitation to join him in saying The Salvation Prayer.  Those that joined Hermano in the prayer, received a Bible.  Before we left, every family received a bag of rice and a bag of beans.  We loaded up the vans with our supplies and team and made the exciting trip back to the base!  We walked into the base about 11:00pm and went  right to bed!