YWAM Antigua October Base Newsletter

Our base has had a very busy summer hosting a DTS and several teams as well as starting a new program:Summer Spanish School and Outreach.  All of the staff have been working hard to take care of all the students and lead them in the ministry experience we offer at the base.  Our last team of the year finished on October 14 and now we have a break until the New Year.  The timing has been great as we will be moving into our new facility within the next month but that depends on if the city gives us permission to connect to the water and electricity.  We have done all we need to do to get the services and are ready to do the final part of the construction once we are approved.  We still have the electricity to install with all the lights and outlets etc. and the bathrooms will need to have sinks, toilets and shower heads.  Our last group helped to paint the bedrooms and a group of men from San Pablo La Laguna have installed all of the tile on the floors on both levels.  It was a big job and we appreciate the work they did for us and for the Lord.

Currently I am attending a Leadership School in Leticia, Colombia.  It has been a great experience and I am learning many things I will put into practice when I return.  The school will end on November 12 and I will return to Guatemala.  Many of our staff will be traveling to the USA during the months of November and December to visit families, supporters and churches.  We are gearing up for hosting teams in January and then our next DTS will begin February 11.

My biggest news that I am thrilled to share is my marriage to Susy Ayala on September 24! We were married in her home church by her pastor who was a missionary to Spain for 17 years.  Susy is joining me at the Leadership School and we are happy to be together to go through this training.

Several of our voluntary missionaries have submitted articles and updates on their ministries they are conducting at the YWAM Antigua Base.  I hope you enjoy reading their stories and will keep everyone in your prayers.  We welcome teams to come and work with us at our new facility as well as YWAMers who are interested in joining our team.  God has blessed our base in many ways and we are excited about the new things that he will do through our team.

Bruce Ahlberg, Director YWAM Antigua

We went to Kansas City to the YWAM Together Conference and I was impressed! It was all about God’s vision, what He wants to do through those who, in prayer, humility and obedience, catch the vision. Loren Cunningham, the founder of YWAM, said God is calling YWAM and other organizations to end Bible poverty, that is, get God’s Word to as many people as possible and translate the gospel into every language so that everyone can hear it in their heart language by the year 2020! Many leaders also shared that God has been calling YWAM to build God’s Kingdom in every sphere of society. Chris-tians should not be content to belong to a religious club on the fringes of society, rather we should bring the Kingdom to every sphere of influence in our culture—family, business, arts, government, education, etc.

I was also impressed be-cause God had given Loren and the other leaders this vision many years ago and they have held on to it, praying and getting ready. Now they believe that God will bring it to fulfillment.

God also reminded me, that He has given us a vision to spread His Word and see people saved and transformed! God has been good and I have seen Him working in the lives of many people here, but I know there is more to come. So I will keep listening to His voice and reaching forward to know how we will continue in the years to come. Pray with us, that God will lead us and that we do His will and build His Kingdom.

We are also thankful that another vision is being ful-filled: Samuel has arrived in Australia and has started his YWAM School of Counseling in Perth. We are proud of him, that he is going with God and wants to serve Him.

What vision has God given to you? Go after it in God‘s grace and power!

Thanks to all of you, who have been partnering in our vision to serve God and love Him more. God bless you all!

Joe and Karin with

Samuel, Sarah and Josh Bedford

I have been reading the “Biblia en Accion” with 10 children this year.  These children are in first grade at “El Pilar” School a few doors up the road from our current facilities.  I am very happy to read with them every Wednesday morning for 30 minutes.  I also include some songs with motions during my class and they seem to really enjoy this time of worshiping God and learning Bible stories.  A few weeks ago, before I left the classroom, I asked them if there was anything I could be praying for them individually.  Most of them asked me to pray for the relationship between their mom and their dad.  They said, “Please pray that my mom and dad will get along and they won’t be mean to each other.”  I told them that I would pray for them. I felt very happy to see how open they were to share their prayer requests.  I did not know if they would know what I was asking for.  They are sweet kids who have a very high capacity to listen to God.  I hope to be able to continue to read the Bible with them next year in the second grade.  They are on their annual vacation now.  We should meet again in January 2017. 

Mat_19:14  but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

Susy Ayala de Ahlberg

We are so excited to share with you all that God is continuing to do in our community of Ciudad Vieja, Antigua. Our moms' ministry - which began with 10 moms in early 2014 - has now grown to 90 women. We've continued installing water filters and stoves in homes around Ciudad Vieja. By the grace of God, about 40 families have received stoves and about 50 families have received water filters! We love the way serving families through this gift that shows them the love of God. We've begun to introduce a time of worship during our Tuesday afternoon meetings - the moms love it.  Bible study continues on Tuesday afternoons, as well as home visits during the week.

Keep us in your prayers,  we know that we cannot do this alone, and we value your prayers for our life and ministry. Here are a few specific points for prayer in this next year: Our health, our finances, guidance and wisdom in decision-making 
and our ministry as it grows.

Renzo and Emma Lopez

Hello! Here at the base my jobs include keeping the base clean and helping with the kid’s ministries! Every Tuesday, I get to hang out with the kids that come with their moms to the Mom’s Club Ministry. We read a Bible story, sing songs, and do a craft. Last week we read the story of John the Baptist and made doves. Every Friday I get to hang out with an awesome group of girls for our Girl’s Bible Study. We are currently finishing up studying the book of Esther. The girls enjoy playing games and baking. We have pancake parties, make cookies, and last week we played pictionary charades. Please keep these girls and I in your prayers as we continue to study God’s word! I would also like to ask for your prayers for an opportunity I have this coming year. This May I will be heading to France to do a Foundations of Counseling Ministry School with YWAM Champagne. I would appreciate prayers for peace of mind, and finances as I pursue this opportunity!

Courtney Bushway

Greetings!  Over the last few weeks, we have had the honor of serving the YWAM bases in Guatemala City and El Salvador by teaching in their Discipleship Training School (DTS) schools that are currently in session. Teaching and training the young people of today is one of our greatest passions, so when an opportunity comes to teach, whether it is here in Antigua, or at another base around Central America, we are very quick to make sure it happens!

The YWAM base in Guatemala City currently has  7 students (6 Guatemalans and 1 Honduran) in their DTS school and David had the privilege of teaching on the topic of Spiritual Warfare! We had the quite the week with these students and learned a great deal about the enemy, his kingdom, his strategies, and how those strategies affect us individually and corporately. We also learned quite a bit about ourselves as the Lord began to reveal areas in all of our lives where we had allowed the enemy a place to rule through us. This group of students were certainly a special group, one that we believe is going to have an immense impact on North Africa on their upcoming outreach phase of the school. We would like to invite everyone to join us in praying for them, for their finances, and for their courage to step out into a Muslim world and bring forth the light of the Kingdom!

The YWAM base in El Salvador currently has 6 students (3 El Salvador, 2 Nicaragua, 1 Columbia) in their DTS school. David got to teach them on the subject of Evangelism with the Holy Spirit. It was a very refreshing week with the students as we got to spend a lot of time sitting in His presence and allowing Him to teach us and challenge us. During one of the final classes where ministry through healing and prophetic words was taught, a nearby pastor came to the base as he was in need of some urgent prayer. He had recently been given a very bad report from a doctor and was suffering from a lot of pain and weakness. As we were praying for him, one of the students received a word from the Lord of some issues in his childhood that was still poisoning him today. At first he could not think of anything, but then another word came from someone else about his childhood and quickly a memory came to his mind of a terrible situation that happened to him as a little boy. We then began to pray with him as he began to forgive not only the person who had hurt him, but himself as well. With that, tears began to flow from his eyes as he began to not just forgive, but also repent of some habitual sins that he had allowed into his life since that day. As we finished praying, you could see a very different look on his face as he not only felt substantially better physically, but emotionally & spiritually as well! We then began to speak words of life to him (prophetic words) and allowed the Holy Spirit to use these words to give him the very “kisses from heaven” that he had been longing for. The next day we received a report from him that he was definitely feeling much better and was at full strength once again! Praise the Lord for what He did through the students of the DTS for this pastor! God is so good!

In closing, we want to announce our next DTS school that will be beginning in February 2017. We are expecting great things from God in this time as He has continuously been showing us that this next school is going to be about “Going deeper with Him”. We are currently accepting applications for the school and would love for you to join us in praying for the students who will be coming, as well as for the teachers who have already committed to helping us in this school! If you would like more information about the school, please get in contact with us at dts.ywamantigua@gmail.com

Many Blessings!

David and Juli Voncannon

Hi everyone. I’m Claire and over the past 2 years I have been working mostly with the DTS here as a one-on-one and outreach leader. Recently, though, I had a change of responsibility and now I am in charge of the kitchen and do a lot of housekeeping at the base. I have spent a lot of time making cakes for birthdays and helping our cook Florecita. Also we are beginning to prepare to move to our new base so I’ve been doing a lot of inventory and deep cleaning to get ready for that. Until last week I was going to a school to read the Bible with the students, but they are on break now until the new year. I also participate in Bible distribution once a week. Right now life is pretty relaxed, but we are all preparing for teams that will be coming and the next DTS in February.
Claire Whitmer