YWAM Antigua December 2017 Update

 Merry Christmas! 

The voluntary missionaries (VMs) with YWAM Antigua wish each of you the best from God during this special time of year.  It has been a remarkable year for our base and we are grateful to the Lord for the provision for the vision he has given our base.  I asked the VMs to write about some of their experience doing their ministries and what God has been doing in them as well.  Enjoy reading their comments and please continue to pray for us as we pursue God's call on our lives and ministries.

Angela Carey

Every week we go to a neighboring community and distribute bibles.  Some days it feels routine and I catch myself wondering how much good comes of this.  A couple weeks ago we went to a house with 2 sisters living there with their kids and their mom.  One of the sisters’ husband is in prison serving a 28+ year sentence.  They struggle to find work, have no money to feed their kids and the water in the neighborhood has been off for 2 months due to problems with the wells.  We were not only able to sit and listen and pray with this family but we were able to bring them food the next week and connect them with a local pastor who will follow up with them and assist however he can.  This last week we were able to sit with another lady who was overwhelmed with life.  We listened and we prayed with her and her kids.  Sometimes just taking that time with people means the world to them.  If it’s helping provide food or simply sitting with a family who is hurting and offering them comfort and support, it’s worth it.  If those are the only families whose lives are touched by this ministry, it’s worth it.  It’s worth every door knocked on, every bible given, every prayer offered to help one person in need.  

 

Emma and Renzo Garcia

We have implemented a new activity with the moms during our time of ministry with them. Each week after the Bible study, the women split into groups to prepare a presentation or skit that summarize what they have learned. And this has been quite fruitful because the women get very involved in planning what to present. We have even seen some women come to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior after these lessons and activities and it’s evident that what they are hearing about is taking root in their heart.

Susy Ahlberg

God has been showing me how sovereign He is regarding Bible Distribution.  I have been distributing Spanish Bibles in Ciudad Vieja and in the towns around it for about 3 years.  This has always been a great opportunity to spread the Good News in every household.  According to my perspective, our Bible Distribution Ministry was limited to delivering Spanish Bibles to these communities in Guatemala.  However, today, I will have the privilege to deliver an Arabic Bible in El Salvador!  God has AMAZING plans beyond Guatemala for Bible Distribution!  

 About two weeks ago, I unexpectedly received an email from a dear friend who lives in the United States.  She told me that a friend of hers was trying to find a contact in El Salvador to be able to mail an Arabic Bible to a person in El Salvador who had requested it.  My friend, knowing that I am from El Salvador requested my help.  Knowing that the mailing system is not very reliable, I suggested to my friend that it will be better to find someone who would be willing to bring the Bible down from the United States or either El Salvador or Guatemala.  Using Facebook, I was able to find a precious YWAM couple who was traveling down to El Salvador from California the following week.  My friend´s friend bought the bible online and had it shipped to their home.  The bible needed to get there within 7 days before 5 p.m.  When the bible was bought, there was not an option to expedite the shipment and there was no way to know the estimated day/time of arrival in California.  Well, the day came when the couple was leaving their home to travel to a hotel closer to the airport because they had an early flight the following day.  We continued to pray.  I got a message from them at around 4:15 p.m. (California time) telling me that the Bible hadn´t arrived yet.  They mentioned that they had received their mail for that day, and no Bible.  They would probably have to travel to El Salvador without the Bible.  We started to message back and forth about other alternatives to get the Bible down to El Salvador.  Thirty minutes later they sent me a message telling me that the Bible had arrived!  They had a strong feeling that they needed to wait a little bit longer, so they were able to bring the Bible down to El Salvador.  

 

Since I had already planned a time for vacation in El Salvador, I am now here with the Bible.  I do not have an email address or a phone number of the person who requested it.  I only have a name and an address. I do not know the end  of this story, but I do know that God is spreading His Love, Truth, and Word to the world.  So, it is amazing to see His supernatural ways to orchestrate the spread of His Word! God has been showing me how sovereign He is regarding Bible Distribution! 

 

Bruce Ahlberg

Whenever we go on Bible distribution we never know who we will meet or what will happen.  We go making ourselves available to God to use us to bring his Word to people, pray for them, share the gospel and encourage them in their relationship with the Lord.    One family we met recently was in a financial crises as they had a lot of debt and were forced to sell their home and move into a home made of metal and a dirt floor.  The mom of the family poured out her heart to us and we prayed for her.  Afterward she expressed gratitude to our group for taking the time to visit her and encourage her. 

Another family we visited had two children who were so excited when her mom told her that "Gringos" were at the door!  They had never met a "Gringo" in person and they were happy to finally meet one.  The mom worked at a Retreat center and has met many missionaries from the USA whom she spoke very highly of.  I think we left a good impression with her children.

Another new thing God is doing at the YWAM Antigua base is the development of a Mobile Medical Mission.  We have Voluntary Missionaries with medical training and have connected with a Mobile Medical Mission in Costa Rica that is going to help us get started.  Donations are coming in and we are soliciting help with many of the medical instruments we will need to launch this ministry.

Another ministry that has blessed me is our visits to the dump in El Tejar.  We connected with a pastor who does some ministry there and he has helped us get into the dump for ministry.  We recently did a program for the children who come with their parents while they look for recyclable goods they can sell and get some income for the family.  The children according to the pastor don't get ministry like we gave them and they really enjoyed themselves.  We also gave out some food to each person and for many it was a true blessing.

When you make yourself available and go to the people, God opens the door for his love to flow through and impact people's lives!

 

Brenda Roldán

Han pasado 4 meses desde que comencé en JUCUM y hasta ahora, Dios me ha mostrado tanto de lo que él me ha dado. Como he estado a cargo del departamento de limpieza de la base, cuando hice un recorrido por las áreas y de qué tan limpias estaban, noté que muchas cosas solo se hacían por encima, no se limpiaba a profundidad y las instrucciones no eran muy claras, así que desarrollé un sistema de limpieza para cada área de 4 pasos fáciles de seguir totalmente bilingüe con imágenes como guía, los materiales a utilizar e hice un inventario de lo que ya teníamos para no volverlo a comprar. Se etiquetó todo lo que se utiliza el área en dónde se guardan y se capacitó a todo el personal para que pudieran saber cuál era el sistema que se aplicaría, los materiales y así tener un mejor control.

 

Además, con ayuda de algunos miembros del personal fuimos de bodega en bodega revisando todo lo que había y organizamos todo. Se limpiaron completamente las áreas y al sacar todo, se encontraron materiales para ministerios dispersos por todos lados, las herramientas del mismo modo y todo se colocó en cajas con etiquetas de qué contiene cada una.

 

 Y el área de la despensa de la cocina quedó como nueva. Al ver todo lo que se tenía guardado, se encontraron cosas que no pertenecían allí, así que se etiquetó cada espacio para colocar todos los víveres y poder tener un mejor control y evitarse problemas con animalitos no deseados.

 

Siento que el estar en un ambiente ordenado en donde todos sepan qué hay y a dónde pertenece, es una herramienta indispensable cuando se trabajan con un número grande y multicultural de personas.

 

Me siento muy satisfecha de todo en lo que Dios me está utilizando y yo se que aún falta mucho más y todo lo que está por venir, lo espero con ansias. 

 Joe and Karin Bedford

We always try to do a variety of kinds of ministries when we go on outreach with the students of our Discipleship Training School. But I love to see the students themselves are creative and plan their own ministry ideas. We were planning to go to the Plaza Mayor to evangelize. One of the students suggested that the girls could paint fingernails and talk and pray with women. So the girls had some good conversions there. And a couple of the guys would talk with their husbands and boy friends. It was a great idea.

Another day, we went to do a program with 100 children. We were all ready with songs, stories, games and crafts. When we got there, the leader of ministry told us the plan. We thought we already knew the plan, but apparently not. Our new role in the program was to do a couple of skits. But we only had half our team with us, since the other half had been invited to do another program. What now? Time for flexibility and creativity. We modified one of our skits and made up another one in a matter of minutes. It went great and had a super message for the children. It is so cool when the Holy Spirit helps us to touch peoples lives and lets us be His blessings to others. At the same time, we all learn more of God's love and power and wisdom.

Our desire is to bring God's love and salvation everywhere we go and see hearts change, and nations, too.

David & Juli Voncannon 

Since the last base newsletter, our life & ministry has experienced quite the rollercoaster with plenty of ups and downs. This year, we have been in charge of the DTS where we have had the privilege of working with 13 students (6 nations represented!) between our 2 schools. Over this last quarter, our fall DTS completed the lecture phase portion of the DTS before launching out to Huehuetengango, Guatemala and Bluefields, Nicaragua for the outreach portion. Unfortunately for us, we were not able to go along with our students on the outreach as David’s dad suffered a stroke and was in need of temporary in home care. So, with only a few days remaining in the lecture phase, David had to leave for the States, while Juli temporarily stayed back with our 3 children. Juli was later able to join David in Houston right before Thanksgiving, their favorite US Holiday. Though we are still in Houston with David’s dad, the DTS has had a very successful outreach and will soon graduate on the 22^nd of December. We are very proud of our students and look forward to seeing how God will continue to use them to shine His light all over the world!

Throughout this time, God has been teaching us a lot about trust, letting go, and letting Him use us in ways that we had never expected before. During our time in the States with David’s dad, David has had the honor of ministering to his dad by daily serving him practically around the house and getting him to all of his appointments. As a result, his dad has expressed interest in God for the first time in many years and has even gone with David to church a few times. His dad also continues to show marked improvement in his recovery process and as a result, we are expecting to be able to return to Guatemala in February 2018. We have learned in this time that though things do not always work out as we planned, they certainly do all work out for his glory.

Something really fun about our time that we have had in the States is that for the first time in the lives of our children, we got to see snow. Being that we are in Houston, Texas right now, having it snow like it did was a complete miracle! What makes it even more incredible for us was that both of our boys had prayed all year to see snow THIS YEAR. We originally had no plans to come to the States this year, but God saw things differently and responded to our boy’s prayers with an incredible display of snow! We just love how does things to captivate our hearts, even when the circumstance did not begin in a way that we would prefer.

Eder & Carolina Quiacain

Mateo 18:13

Entonces dijo: —Les digo la verdad, a menos que se aparten de sus pecados y se vuelvan como niños, nunca entrarán en el reino del cielo. 

Este versiculo me recordo estos niños en el basurero donde realizamos un ministerio esta semana.

No importando el entorno de la suciedad o los malos olores ellos en su mundo de niño eran felices.Y me puso a pensar de la basura que el enemigo quiere traer en nuestra vida, o quiere que seamos parte de la basura pero no es nuestro destino,. Porque nosotros debemos de estar enfocados en nuestra vida conectada a nuestro Dios, y nuestra identidad como hijos del Rey.