September 2018 Update

YWAM Antigua Ministry Updates: September 2018

Many good things have been happening at YWAM Antigua the past months.  During the months of  June, July and August we hosted 6 teams and conducted a week long medical and dental clinic and constructed a home.  On June 3 the Volcano Fuego which is located about 8 miles from the YWAM base erupted and sent ash, sand  over a large area including our base.  But the worst part of the eruption was the massive amount of ash and lava that destroyed several communities at the base of the volcano.  Over 3,000 people were affected and many lost their homes and business because of the destruction.  The areas at the base of the volcano have now been declared uninhabitable so the families will not be able to return to their homes.  Many are living in refugee camps until new homes can be built for them.  It is a very tragic situation as many have lost family members who were buried in the ash and lava.  It will take several months and probably years for people to recover from the losses they have experienced.  Our base has been helping in several ways to bring food and supplies to the people along with praying for them.

We finally have been able to purchase the piece of property adjacent to the base and have submitted our building plans to the city government for approval.  As soon as they are approved we will be able to begin construction of the 3 story addition.  We are excited to finally begin to build after waiting for 2 years to get all the paperwork completed.

Recently we applied for a grant from a Christian foundation and were awarded monies that we will be using to purchase another van and build a home for a family in need in our community.  God has been so good to us by providing for our needs and having funds to help families in need.

If you would like to come to help with the construction please let us know.  We will need a lot of help and the more volunteers we have the faster the construction can be completed. 

Bruce Ahlberg

During the last couple of weeks, we have hosted missionaries from the States. We have visited families. It's been good to hear testimonies about how families who were seriously affected by the volcano eruption in June are overcoming that situation.

I had the blessing of meeting a local Guatemalan woman who has been working with some of the families who lost everything including family members as a result of the volcano.  She is supporting them with housing programs, sewing classes, clothes distribution, and more.

God is good! God is sovereign!

Susy de Ahlberg

Hello from warm and sometimes rainy Antigua!

We are so excited for this season that just ended in the Kid's Ministry. We had the pleasure to have different teams come through the summer and share to the kids in unique ways the love of Jesus. We are so grateful for their work and the amazing connections some of the team members had or even have had with the kids for years.

Now, we are starting a new series focusing in Super Heroes. We are talking about 2 women superheroes from the bible (Esther and Ruth), and 2 male superheroes (Jesus and Paul). We want to teach the children that they can also be superheroes by doing different actions each week. We started with gentleness, and they need to tell us a story of how they practiced that this week. We are also introducing rules and more structure to teach them different important aspects in life, like being on time, taking care of what's given to us, etc. Also we are providing them with a healthy meal every week, to help their development, because we have seen many of our children are malnourished. We invite you to pray with us for these children and also their moms, that we can be an impact not only for them in an integral way, and for the generations to come.

Julia de Voncannon

Since we joined in April we have been getting to know the base, the staff, the ministries, and the area, beyond the initial experiences we had back when we did our DTS in 2014. Although much is the same, a lot has changed since then as well, and we have been enjoying getting to know everyone as staff and becoming familiar with how things run here.

The base ministry that everyone is involved in, Bible Distribution, has been the ministry that we have both been directly involved with, even bringing along our two little ones as we go door to door and talk with and pray with people. Just today we led the Bible Distribution time with two volunteers we have on the base, as the rest of our staff are either away or on rest as per doctors’ orders. For me (Francis) it has been very encouraging to be able to lead things in Spanish, something I would not have imagined I would be able to do already when we first got here. I have been able to help with translation in some other settings whilst we had teams here during the last few months as well. I’m not fluent yet, but am encouraged by how far I have come.

Teams’ season was a busy few months as we saw dozens of volunteers come through the base. We were able to help connect them with our ongoing ministries (kids, mums, etc.) but also, in light of the volcanic eruption (which had our families and friends fearing for our safety, though we were thankfully unaffected here) we were able to take them to help in the shelters in the nearby town of Alotenango – some teams bringing practical help, others coming to pray for healing, peace and to be bring good news, and everyone looking to do whatever they could to help those whose lives were so devastated by what happened. As well as the aforementioned translating, I have been driving teams around, including a number of airport runs, helping with meal prep, and generally aiding them during ministry times.

Since getting here I have also been serving in the role of worship leader, since at present no one else on base plays an instrument. This is something that the Lord has been developing me in over the last few years and it has been a real privilege to be able to oversee times of worship at the base. It has been a change for me, displaying lyrics in two languages, and re-learning translations of songs I know in English. I have experimented with switching between languages from one song to another, and also with switching between languages within songs, as I seek to honour both the English- and Spanish-speakers who come to our worship times. It’s been a learning curve, but it’s so exciting being able to praise God in multiple languages.

One main area we have been looking to develop since getting here is to strengthen the Member Care of the base – that is, how, as YWAMers, we are making sure to take care of each other. This has involved a few things, getting the opinions of the staff, having discussions as a base, and speaking with base leaders, to consider how we might develop some of the things we are doing, as well as introduce some new things to help us grow closer as a community. It has been encouraging to see some of the changes that have been implemented over the last few months, and to know of those planned upcoming developments, to see the base growing closer to each other.

Many of my giftings are administrative, and so I have also been spending time helping with the review of our base manual, particularly as we have reviewed the policies and procedures we operate with as a base. We are also developing the processes by which we have teams come through the base, and have been having to look at our financial procedures now that the base has become a legal entity within the Guatemalan system.

The kids’ ministries have been another area that we have been involved with, offering help during ministry times to those who are in charge of running them, and now starting to be involved in some of the planning for the development of those times.

Finally, we have started meeting up with the others who are going to be staffing the next Discipleship Training School, due to start in early February, as we think through what it means to run a DTS, what it means to staff a DTS, some of the practical aspects of doing so, reviewing student applications, and so on.

All in all, it’s been a busy but productive & enjoyable first few months, and we remain excited for what God has ahead. 

Francis and Andrea Frizelle

We are very thankful to God for helping us to make progress in the ministries we serve together with YWAM Antigua.

Ministry to Moms and Dads
The ministry has continued to grow each week through word of mouth, it’s growing because women are seeing changes in themselves, each other, their marriages, and their families. What’s even more exciting is the tremendous personal growth that is seen in so many of the Moms.  Their faith and their relationship with God is maturing, and it is bearing fruit.  Women help one another, pray for one another, and give, even out of their poverty.  

Renzo has always been passionate about ministering to the husbands and fathers of Ciudad Vieja.  Sadly, the economy is very poor, with little work or opportunity to earn a decent living.  As a result, many of the fathers have turned to alcohol or drugs and have avoided being with their families.  It was a huge joy and blessing to all when, in February of 2018, 16 fathers agreed to meet together on a regular basis.  Men’s Ministry is a space where men can connect with one another, lift one another up and support each other in friendship and love.  Renzo guides the men in following Biblical principles and developing a personal relationship with God.  

Thank you for your prayers and for your partnership with us in this ministry.  

Renzo and Emma

The Joy and the Sorrow of Sending

Karin and I have entered into a new phase of life: our children have left home and we are again a couple. This was a very emotional experience for us, both joyful and sorrowful. We are thrilled to see each of our children following Jesus as their Lord and Savior, striving to know God and please Him with their lives, and excited about what is coming next. We are sad, because we miss them dearly and would love to continue to be right there with them as we have been for so many years. Not only that, but as they go, I’m hesitant, apprehensive. Will they be able to make it out there on their own? Did I do a good enough job as their father in preparing them?

In my prayer time, God spoke to me, assuring me that, yes, I had made some mistakes that were not good, was negligent at times. But I had led them to the Father, who is perfect, who will care for them. I had taught them to walk in the Spirit and gave them on many occasions God’s Word. They grew strong and learned to walk with God. I thanked God for the good things He allowed me to share with my children and for His forgiveness of my failures. And I prayed that He would lead them on.

I know that God has allowed Karin and me to be parents of a kind to many others that have been in our base. We saw many of our students in the Discipleship Training Schools grow, and we are thankful that we could love them, guide them and share life with them for a while. It was sad to see them go. Yet we are so proud of many of them who went on to do other schools with YWAM or to grow in serving God in their callings, becoming mature and strong believers. We are looking forward to the next DTS and to other opportunities to rejoice, even when we are a sad to see them go. Honestly, we are praying that God will call some to stay and serve with us!

Joe and Karin Bedford