July Update

DTS News: The summer is cruising by quickly and we are preparing for the DTS that will begin in September. We have students from the USA, England and Guatemala registered as well as student from Ghana who would like to be here if a visa can be procured. We are excited about the students God has sent our way and look forward to working with them during the 5 months of training. We have some great teachers coming and we believe that God will speak through them to all us, both students and staff. The Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword and as we sit under anointed teaching it changes lives.

Summer in Antigua: We have hosted groups from Chico, California and Knoxville, Tennessee this summer along with several individuals who have come to Antigua to study Spanish or conduct ministry. The Lord has been faithful to keep the base occupied and has sent volunteers our way to help us with the work. Currently we have a young lady from England working with us for a month. She will be assisting with the teams coming and teaching ESL. We were blessed to have the World Race group pass through the coffee house, all 90 of them! Business has been slow so their visit really helped us financially.

Future of Higher Grounds Coffee House : We have made a decision to close the doors of the coffee house at the end of October when our lease expires. The current owner of the property wants to increase the rent substantially and we are not able or willing to pay what she wants. In addition we will do not have the staff needed to properly run the coffee house with the DTS coming this fall and we want to focus our efforts in other areas. We are praying that God will raise up several people who will carry on the ministry at Higher Grounds. It is a unique ministry and really there is no other place in Antigua that serves the needs of Christians who are passing through or are staying for an extended time and are looking for a safe and pleasent place to study, fellowship and worship in English. Please join us in prayer as we truly desire to see the ministry continue in the hands of another ministry.

Wedding Bells: One of our staff members, Abner, is getting married October 24! We are happy for Abner and Katie and pray that God will bless their union and place them in the ministry he desires for them.

May Update

The month of May has been a great month of ministry. We hosted the CDTS students from Chico and set up ministry for them in Antigua as well as ministry in San Pablo La Laguna. The CDTS is a small group of 4 students so each of them get to be involved in every aspect of the ministry. They have conducted the Thursday night English worship service at Higher Grounds Coffee House and have introduced some new things that have been really good. We will take advantage of their different approach and use it in some of our meetings. The leaders of the team had to return to Canada due to the death of Dawn's father who died suddenly and unexpectantly from a brain aneurism. The entire family of 5 returned for the funeral and the CDTS was left without a leader for a few days until help could be sent. The students continued their ministry and have done an excellent job. They will be returning to Chico on June 4 to complete their training.
May 18-21 we hosted a seminar on Financial Support Raising. It was attended by 30 people who really benefitted from the teachings of Andy Huddleston and John Ray. Their timely and practical advice along with testimonies of God's provision for their ministries was a huge encouragement to all of us. Everyone was given tools to use to help them raise the support they need to continue the ministry God has given them.
We also conducted a seminar on prayer with the ladies of the Assemblies of God in the Lake Atitlan area. Over 200 women along with as many children and a few pastors were in attendance. We had simultaneous ministry going on for each of the groups. We plan to do more of this type of ministry in the future in addition to conducting seminars in Antigua.
We are recruiting students for the September DTS. We are offering 5 scholarships to help Guatemalan youth attend and have 3 applications submitted. It will be a tremendous opportunity for them to participate in the DTS. Please pray that God will supply all we need to make the DTS a reality this September!

April News

We are in the middle of Semana Santa, Holy Week in Antigua. It is a big celebration in the country and Antigua will have thousands of visitors coming to participate in the events. It is a colorful time as people decorate the streets with alfombras which are like rugs made of colored sawdust, flower petals and fruit. Some are very elaborate and take hours to make while others are pretty simple. The processional will walk over them and completely destroy them in a matter of seconds and then the city cleanup crew follows behind to dispose of all the material. It seems like an awful lot of work to have it destroyed so quickly. Higher Grounds Coffee House will be open all night Thursday as this is the big night of the week. At 3 a.m. Roman soldiers will come riding on horseback and the proclamation of Jesus being sentenced to death will be read in various places in town. The entire week places most of its focus on the suffering and death of Christ and in the past the day of the resurrection there is very little celebration and the town returns to a silent state. YWAM Antigua will be conducting a sunrise service at Cero de la Cruz which is on the side of a hill overlooking Antigua. It is a beautiful setting and a great way to begin the most important day of believers in Christ. Without the resurrection our life is being lived in vain. But thanks be to God who raised Christ from the dead and through him we have the promise and assurance that we too will one day rise from the grave and be clothed with immortality!
We are presently hosting a Crossroads DTS group from Chico, California until June 4. They will be doing a variety of mercy ministries and some ministry to children, youth and adults. We are blessed to have them with us and look forward to all that God will do in each member of the team. Please pray for them and pray for the activities we will be involved in during Semana Santa. We want Jesus to be glorified and for people to embrace the resurrection life that is only available through a personal relationship with him.

Outreach teams

Our 2 teams, one from Laramie, WY and the other from Austin, TX are busy with a variety of ministries this week, that include construction, food distribution, drama presentation, music, and evangelism. They will both leave at the end of the week and then we will be hosting a Crossroads DTS from Chico, CA for part of their outreach.
The weekend activites of Lent have begun in Antigua and the city is expecting large crowds. We are looking forward to the ministry opportunities.

March news

During the month of March we will be hosting 2 teams from the USA. One team will be doing a variety of ministries and the other team will focus on constructing a home for a Pastor and establishing a feeding program for children in the mercado. We look forward to working with them and pray that God will give them a great experience while they are here.
The Lent period in Antigua with all of its processions started last Sunday. Each weekend until Easter there will be at least one procession. Thousands of people will be coming to Antigua to watch these activities. It is a time of year when people are open to the gospel message and we ask that you will pray for the believers here to take advantage of these opportunities to share the gospel message.

Construction Project and Prayer Seminar

During the first week of February we joined forces with a group from Canada to help with the construction of a health clinic in San Pablo La Laguna. We began work at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning and finished pouring the roof at 3 p.m. Over 40 men from the community and church came out to help. The clinic will be completed in the next couple of months and will meet a great need for better health care in San Pablo. We also constructed a home for a family of 7. Their small two room adobe style home was replaced with a block home that will be much more comfortable for them. We made a triple bunk bed so the 4 boys will have a bed with a mattress instead of a board or the ground to sleep on.
On February 14 we hosted a seminar on prayer at Higher Grounds Coffee House which was attended by 45 people. It was a great day of learning and practical application on prayer and worship. Our desire is to use the coffee house meeting room to be a place of regularly scheduled prayer as well as personal prayer throughout the week.

Miracle at San Pablo La Laguna!

The YWAM Chico, California DTS students have been ministering in San Pablo La Laguna during the past week. Last Sunday they witness an amazing miracle that our staff member Sue reported in the following:Just wanted to send an encouraging and exciting email! Tonight I
(indirectly) witnessed God do a real live miracle! ... I am here at Lake Attitlan, one of the most beautiful lakes of Central America, translating for a group of 18-25 year olds, who are on their 2 months outreach in Guatemala, as part of a 5 month training school they are doing with YWAM...

anyway...

Tonight whilst I was translating for one of the canadian lads who was preaching in the local church, someone came to the pastor and all of a sudden he had to rush out... then about 15 mins later he came back and got 2 boys from our team who were sitting in the congregation.... then another 15 mins later he came back again and got the rest of the team... all whilst I was up front, interpreting...

Turns out that the 3 month old baby of a couple in the church had died! They rang the pastor... he went..prayed.... felt a block in his prayers... hence he got the lads to go with him to pray... they prayed... with faith.. as they prayed, asking for the Lord to breathe new life, (as they demonstrate in the dramas that they do), they felt the true, living breath of God breathe through them and past them and onto the baby. The baby´s skin, which had been so cold, became warm again, and his eyes started to move, although still closed.... then, suddenly, they popped open and he stared straight at the lad who had been praying... and started smiling! WOW! PRAISE GOD! ... as soon as the lad I had been translating for, finished his preach, the pastor whipped us out of there to go and pray too... when we got there... we saw a happy smily baby.... and a very teary, greatful mum and dad.
Wow! Amazing!